10 New Deal Programs We Now Take For Granted 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, widely regarded as one of the most successful federal programs in U.S. history, was designed to salvage the country’s economy during the Great Depression. The collection of sweeping social, political, and economic policies and programs was enacted between 1933 and 1938 and focused on what’s commonly called “the three Rs.” They stood for Relief, typically in the form of financial aid to the poor and out-of-work; Recovery, to shore up the economy and get Americans working again; and Reform, to prevent economic collapse in the future. 

Nearly 100 years later, Americans are still benefiting from New Deal programs—and their protections and entitlements have become such a part of the social fabric that we often take them for granted. Here are just a few.

1. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
2. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
3. Social Security 
4. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
5. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
6. Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
7. The Fair Labor Standards Act 
8. Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
9. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
10. Federal Art Project

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Congress created the Security and Exchange Commission in 1934 to rebuild the American public’s trust in the market after the Wall Street crash in 1929 and ensuing economic depression. Between 1929 and 1933, the unemployment rate  skyrocketed from just over 3 percent to nearly 25 percent as roughly 9000 banks with more than $7 billion in deposits shuttered, wiping out people’s savings. By the time the SEC was established in 1934, the real gross national product of the United States, a former economic powerhouse, had plummeted by nearly a third. The SEC is primarily tasked with protecting the public from the kind of market manipulation that contributed to the 1929 crash, promoting an equitable market, and simplifying the generation of capital. It also mandates annual reports and disclosures of corporate financial information to  reduce insider trading and fraud and to protect investors. 

A team of five SEC commissioners including a chairperson is appointed by the president of the United States, and each serves a five-year term. To ensure the SEC’s full independence, the president can’t terminate their service once they are appointed.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

Prior to the creation of the National Archives and Records Administration in 1934, each government agency and department was responsible for storing and organizing its own records—which, somewhat predictably, led to countless documents being misplaced, destroyed, or incorrectly marked. FDR signed the National Archives Establishment Act to preserve government and historical records under a single organization, which historians, government officials, legal scholars, and the public continue to enjoy.

Headquartered at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., the NARA safekeeps the government’s critical records, including those of the U.S. Supreme Court, Congress, federal agencies, and the military. A permanent exhibit in the building’s rotunda contains the Charters of Freedom, comprising the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights (and, beginning in March 2026, the Emancipation Proclamation). The documents are displayed during the day before being moved to a secure, bomb- and fire-proof vault at night. 

Social Security 

Social Security is the collective shorthand for multiple retirement, social insurance, and disability programs managed by the Social Security Administration (SSA). These entitlements are funded by payroll taxes, technically called Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes, that employers are legally required to withhold from employees’ wages; employers also pay the same amount to the IRS. 

Before Social Security, elderly, sick, and disabled Americans had to rely either on the generosity of their families and communities or invest in private company pensions that carried risks of their own. Some company pensions offered benefits similar to Social Security, but they were often underfunded and could be mismanaged by corporations, and they became less popular as Social Security and 401(k) options were adopted. 

Today, Social Security is one of the single largest government programs in the United States, providing benefits to more than 67 million Americans. As pension plans have become less popular over time, more than 90 percent of employed Americans are now covered under Social Security. 

As essential as Social Security is, its future is uncertain. More Baby Boomers are retiring, a smaller tax base is contributing, and the SSA projects that Social Security’s combined funds will be depleted by 2035. Some lawmakers have suggested raising the retirement age and increasing the payroll tax and the income limit to stabilize funding, while others want to cut already-paid-for benefits. 

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

During the Great Depression, the Tennessee Valley region was plagued by widespread poverty and a near total lack of infrastructure for electricity, flood control, or economic development. Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act in May 1933 to bring the struggling areas up to modern standards. The agency built several dams along the Tennessee River to provide flood protection and plentiful hydropower, and managed surrounding land and communities through reforestation, wildlife habitat preservation, erosion control, and public health and education campaigns. The TVA played a significant role in World War II by using its vast electric and power-generating resources to produce munitions and raw materials.

The TVA now provides affordable electricity to more than 10 million people and remains the United States’ largest public utility corporation, though it functions largely like a privately-owned organization. It receives no taxpayer funding while maintaining operations through the sale of electricity. 

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Have you ever noticed that little sign next to a bank teller’s window that says your deposit is “backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government?” It represents a significant banking reform that emerged from the New Deal.

Before the FDIC was established in 1933, customers often lost their entire savings when their banks failed. More than a third of American banks shuttered between the late 1920s and early 1930s, and in the first three years of the Great Depression, Americans lost $1.3 billion in deposits (about $31.5 billion today). The creation of the FDIC, meant to mitigate bank instability,  received overwhelming public support.

The FDIC still provides deposit insurance to shield bank customers from losses if their financial institutions go under. Funded through member banks’ insurance dues, the FDIC provides deposit insurance to more than 4000 banking institutions across the United States, and insures each depositor for up to $250,000.

Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

Following widespread bank closures during the Great Depression, many homeowners could not pay their mortgages and lost their homes, while purchasing new homes became financially untenable for most middle-class Americans. The 1934 National Housing Act established the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to stabilize the housing market, improve housing conditions, and remove many of the financial barriers to homeownership. 

The FHA offers mortgage insurance to protect private lenders from borrowers who default on their loans. If a borrower default on their mortgage, a lender can file a claim with the FHA to recoup losses up to a certain amount. This provision greatly reduces the risk assumed by private lenders, allowing potential homeowners with lower credit scores, higher debt-to-income ratios, or limited funding for down payments to obtain mortgages.

Though the FHA has succeeded in increasing the prevalence of homeownership in the U.S., its legacy is marred by redlining, a discriminatory practice in which lenders deny loans or mortgages to people or in certain neighborhoods based on race. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 made redlining illegal.

The Fair Labor Standards Act 

Prior to the Fair Labor Standards Act, child labor was widely legal and a court struck down a D.C. law that mandated a minimum wage for women workers. Fair wages and hours had been a long-sought goal for union leaders and Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor and Standards Act, dubbed the “wages and hours bill,” in 1938 to end abusive labor policies and worker exploitation.

The act established the federal minimum wage (which was 25 cents an hour in 1938, and has been $7.25 an hour since 2009), a 44-hour work week (which was reduced to the current 40 hours in 1940), time-and-a-half overtime pay, and comprehensive child labor laws. It covers employers grossing at least $500,000 in sales or business per year and offers exemptions for some employers, but it does not cover volunteers or independent contractors under its regulations. The FLSA also sets standards for recordkeeping to ensure employers are correctly classifying their employees.  

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

Concurrent with the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl ravaged the prairies of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and eastern Colorado. It was spurred by unsustainable farming practices that caused widespread soil erosion, culminating in an April 1935 super dust storm known as Black Sunday. This period in the American prairies later became known as “the Dirty Thirties” for the “black blizzards” of dust that would sweep across the plains and ravage agricultural production, which forced more than 2.5 million Americans to relocate. 

Government soil surveyor Hugh Hammond Bennett, author of the influential 1928 study Soil Erosion: A National Menace [PDF], spearheaded the creation of the Soil Conservation Service in 1935—in the worst period of the Dust Bowl—at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The service led demonstrations of soil conservation methods, conducted research and surveys, and created soil conservation districts, which provide sustainable land use resources to landowners. There are now more than 3000 soil conservation districts maintaining the health and integrity of America’s land.

The Soil Conservation Service changed its name to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in 1994 to better reflect the agency’s wider mission. Today, it offers technical and financial assistance to American farmers and landowners for the preservation, improvement, and maintenance of natural resources. For example, its Environmental Quality Incentives Program motivates farmers to adopt environmentally conscious practices like rotational grazing for livestock and planting cover crops to protect and enrich the soil.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

The Civilian Conservation Corps has been called the “largest peacetime mobilization in U.S. history.” The Emergency Conservation Work Act of 1933 created the corps to provide work to young, unemployed, single men on public land and civil engineering projects. More than 3 million men participated in the CCC in its nine-year existence and it was hugely popular with the American public.

Workers received training, lodging, and three meals a day in the CCC camps plus $30 a month in pay ($25 of it was sent to the workers’ families directly). The corps built an incredible number of projects that still benefit the American public. According to the Living New Deal, they included “restoration of 4000 historic structures, the construction of 3100 fire lookout towers, the building of 1500 cabins, the installation of 5000 miles of water lines, the creation of 4600 fish-rearing ponds, [and] the improvement of 3400 beaches.” On top of that, CCC camps planted 3 billion trees and helped established 800 state parks. If you’ve hiked a trail or stayed in a cabin on public land, you should probably thank the CCC.

First lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Secretary Perkins pushed for a CCC-like counterpart (dubbed the “She-She-She”) for unemployed young women. A pilot camp was established in Bear Mountain State Park in New York in 1933, followed the next year by the launch of a national program under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. When the program ended in 1937, about 8000 women had participated at 90 camps, though the daily activities skewed more toward swimming and arts and crafts rather than construction. 

The CCC’s conservation-focused work led to a greater appreciation and awareness of the United States’ natural resources. Despite the program’s popularity, funding was scaled back as the country rebounded from the Great Depression and ceased entirely in 1942 as young men were conscripted for the Second World War. 

Federal Art Project

The Federal Art Project, part of the Works Progress Administration, was the largest of the New Deal arts programs, providing assistance to roughly 10,000 unemployed artists from 1935 to 1943. More than just a funding agency, the program employed artists to create hundreds of thousands of public works in fine arts and design and increased access to the arts for all Americans. Leading painters including Jackson Pollock, Jacob Lawrence, and Willem de Kooning, along with thousands more sculptors, designers, and photographers, created fine artworks and pieces to ornament airports, post offices, and public spaces. The Federal Art Project also established the Index of American Design, a collection of more than 18,000 watercolor paintings of historical objects, to catalogue American art and design from the colonial period through the end of the 19th century.

Discover More U.S. History: