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The main aim of the New Deal was to save American capitalism. To do this, President Franklin D Roosevelt created a series of policies that saw the federal government intervene in the economy more than ever before.

The alphabet agencies

The idea behind the New Deal was for the government to stimulate the economy by ‘priming the pump’. New organisations were created to help different groups of people and address key issues contributing to the Great Depression. They were often shortened to their initials and called ‘alphabet agencies’.

Farmers

• The FCA (Farm Credit Administration) gave money to farmers who were struggling to pay their debts. Around 20 per cent of farmers benefitted from this scheme.
• The AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Agency) paid farmers to produce less so prices could rise and farmers could make more profits. This was criticised as farmers were paid to destroy food.

The unemployed

• The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) gave around 3 million unemployed men aged 18-25 jobs on conservation projects.
• The PWA (Public Works Administration) created jobs by paying unemployed people to build schools, bridges and dams.
• The WPA (Works Progress Administration) replaced the PWA in 1935. It created millions of jobs in construction and public buildings.

Businesses and workers

• The NRA (National Recovery Administration) set fair prices, wages and working conditions. Businesses that chose to participate displayed a blue eagle logo. In total, around 2.5 million firms employing roughly 22 million workers joined the scheme.

Rural America

• The TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) redeveloped a huge area that covered several states known as the Dust Bowl. This had suffered from soil erosion and flooding, and the people who lived there were generally poor. The TVA created dams to improve soil quality and generate electricity.