Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs

A Foundation for Sustainable Rural Community Development

New Deal Programs

• CLC home page
• Introduction
• Report

Summary

• Purpose
• Commissioners
• Survey & Hearings
• Prominent Deficiencies
• Underlying Problem
• Migration
• Agriculture Challenges
• Public Health
• Role of Farm Women
• Conservation & Land Use
• General Corrective Forces
• Commission Recommendations
• Legislative Recommendations
• Remedies
• The Call for Leadership

Legacy

• American Country Life Association
• Rural Sociology
• American Farm Bureau Federation
• Highways
• Agricultural Economics

Resources

• Bibliography
• Web Resources
• Timeline

Following the tradition of Theodore Roosevelt’s “Square Deal,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) termed his administration the “New Deal.” Under this banner, the federal government took an active role in the economy to alleviate suffering and rebuild the nation’s economy during the crisis of the Great Depression. Significant programs that affected rural communities included:

• Agricultural Adjustment Act, 1933
• Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933
• Tennessee Valley Authority, 1933
• Federal Emergency Relief Administration, 1933
• National Industrial Recovery Act, 1933
• Soil Erosion Service, 1933
• Rural Rehabilitation Program, 1934
• Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, 1935
• Works Progress Administration, 1935
• Resettlement Administration
• Rural Electrification Administration
• Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, 1937
• Agricultural Adjustment Act , 1938

Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, Pub. L. 73 10, 48 Stat. 31

Signed into law May 12, 1933. Introduced price support programs, including production adjustments, and incorporated the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) under the laws of Delaware on October 17, 1933. The price support payments were financed mostly by processing taxes on the specific commodity. The act also made CCC price support loans mandatory for designated basic (storable) commodities (corn, wheat, and cotton). Support for other commodities required recommendation by the United States Department of Agriculture with the President's approval. Commodity loan programs carried out by the CCC from 1933 to 1937 included cotton, corn, turpentine, rosin, tobacco, peanuts, dates, figs, and prunes. Provisions in the Act for production control and processing taxes were later declared unconstitutional.

Additional Resource: Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933

National Industrial Recovery Act, 1933

The National Industrial Recovery Act, signed on June 16, 1933, was divided into two parts. Title I, "Industrial Recovery," was "to promote the organization of industry for the purpose of cooperative action among trade groups.” It provided for fair competition along with an anti-trust exemption for businesses and allowed for collective bargaining and labor standards for unions. Most importantly, it established the National Recovery Administration. Title II, "Public Works and Construction Projects," established the Public Works Administration.

Additional Resource: National Industrial Recovery Act, 1933

Soil Erosion Service, 1933

Creation of the Soil Erosion Service on September 19, 1933, was critical to the future of Federal soil conservation activities, establishing the predecessor of the Soil Conservation Service, which was created in 1935.

Additional Resource: Soil Erosion Service, 1933

Civilian Conservation Corps or CCC (1933)

Signed into law, March 31, 1933, Engaged young men largely in forestry and other work, paying them a dollar a day plus room, board, and clothing. The work included erecting telephone lines, preserving endangered species, building truck trails and ranger stations, improving parks and beaches, planting trees, and fighting fires.

Additional Resource: Civilian Conservation Corps

Tennessee Valley Authority Act or TVA (1933)

Signed into law May 18, 1933. Was to improve the navigability and provide for flood control on the Tennessee River; to provide for reforestation and the proper use of marginal lands in the Tennessee Valley; to provide for the agricultural and industrial development of said valley; to provide for the national defense by the creation of a corporation for the operation of government properties at and near Muscle Shoals in the State of Alabama, and for other purposes.

Additional Resource: Tennessee Valley Authority

Rural Rehabilitation Program, 1934

In April, 1934, a Rural Rehabilitation Division was established in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and funds were designated for use only in rural areas to set up relief camps to give families a place to stay until times improved.

Additional Resource: Rural Rehabilitation Program, 1934

Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, Pub. L. 74-46, ch. 85, 49 Stat. 163-164 (1935)

Signed into law April 27, 1935, the measure allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce crop and livestock production to conserve soil and prevent erosion reduce surplus production. Also established the Soil Conservation Service.

Additional Resource: Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act

Resettlement Administration, 1935

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Resettlement Administration with Executive Order 7027 on May 1, 1935. The agency had three functions: (a) to help resettle poor families from rural and urban areas, including setting up communities in rural and suburban areas; (b) to initiate soil erosion, stream pollution, seacoast erosion, reforestation, forestation, and flood control projects; and (c) to make loans to purchase farm lands and necessary equipment for use by farmers, farm tenants, croppers or farm laborers.

Additional Resource: Resettlement Administration, 1935

Works Progress Administration (WPA), 1935

Signed into law May 6, 1935. Established through the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, which set aside $4.8 million dollars for work relief. Over eight years, the WPA employed more than 3.5 million Americans who built 651,087 miles of highways, roads, and streets, and constructed or improved 124,031 bridges, 2,500 hospitals, 125,110 public buildings, 8192 parks, over 3,000 schools, and 853 airports.

Additional Resource: Works Progress Administration

Rural Electrification Administration, 1935

The Rural Electrification Administration was created by Executive Order 7037 of May 11, 1935, under authority of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935. Statutory provision for an agency of the same name was made in the Rural Electrification Act, approved May 20, 1936.

Additional Resource: Rural Electrification Administration

Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937, 50 Stat. 522

Signed into law July 22, 1938. Gave legislative authorization to continue federal programs of rural rehabilitation loans and submarginal land purchase and development, which had been carried out under executive orders and financed by funds from appropriations for relief and work relief projects. It placed these programs under the Secretary of Agriculture, and at the same time authorized him to inaugurate a system of long-term mortgage loans to aid landless rural families in becoming farm owners.

Additional Resource: Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act

Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, Pub. L. 75 430, 52 Stat. 31

Signed into law February 16, 1938. First law to make price supports mandatory for corn, cotton, and wheat to help maintain a sufficient supply in low production periods, along with marketing quotas to keep supply in line with market demand. It also established permissive supports for butter, dates, figs, hops, turpentine, rosin, pecans, prunes, raisins, barley, rye, grain sorghum, wool, winter cover crop seeds, mohair, peanuts, and tobacco for the 1938-40 period. The 1938 Act is considered part of permanent legislation, but its provisions are often superseded by more current legislation. If the current legislation expires and new legislation is not enacted, the law reverts back to the 1938 Act (along with the Agricultural Act of 1949).

Additional Resource: Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938.

Recommended Resources