The Welfare System In The 1930's

In the year of 1929 the stock market crashed and hurt many of the people in America as it continued through the rest of the 1930s and into the early 1940s. This left America in a whirlpool of poverty and despair. When the stock market crashed it led to The Great Depression. It led to being where one out of every four workers became unemployed no matter if they were skilled or not. People became homeless and were struggling to survive. They had to make new homes out of cardboard or whatever they could find, these were called “hoovervilles.” Most people didn’t have enough money to buy food to feed themselves or even their families. President Herbert Hoover did not seem to be going out of his way to help the country in any way. He was against most forms of government relief and he believed that the depression would come to an end on its own. Americans were very tired and frustrated with Hoover’s ways and so they elected a new president. They elected Franklin D. Roosevelt who

FDR knew that he had to deal with unemployment in New Deal, and he enacted the Works Progress Administration, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Social Security Act, and the Civilian Conservation Corporation. The Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) goal was to provide jobs for the unemployed, building hospitals, schools, parks, playgrounds, airports, and post offices. The WPA also gave jobs to actors, writers, artists and teachers. For example, artists could paint murals on public buildings. Overall, the WPA managed to build 120,000 public buildings, and paint ½ a million miles of road(Source

Amid the Great Depression, the role of the government altered enormously. Prior to the Depression hit, the government did close to nothing or nothing at all to assistance individuals monetarily. This was not seen as something the administration should do. With the Depression came an adjustment in this discernment. President Roosevelt's New Deal made government in charge of peopling from numerous points of view. These courses run from ensuring that they would not lose cash they had stored in banks (FDIC) to guaranteeing that they would have cash to live on after they resigned (Social Security). When all is said in done, the New Deal brought on another part for government, one in which the legislature did significantly more to help people monetarily.

At the beginning of the 1930s the era known as the “Roaring Twenties” died and from it emerged one of the hardest times known to Americans. The 1930s were centered on the Great Depression and how to alleviate the millions of Americans who were affected by it. During this era the American government, lead by FDR, attempted to reform the American economy and the lives of American people. Contrary to Hoover’s “laissez faire” economics, FDR and his administration created the New Deal to aid the US economy by government intervention. Although FDR’s New Deal did not end the Great Depression, it eased the people's suffering and reformed many issues that contributed to the depression by providing relief and reform, while changing the role of the federal government by creating lasting programs, such as social security, satisfying the needs of many citizens and increasing the

In 1929, the U.S. stock market crashed and the country was beginning to plunge into the largest economic depression they had ever experienced. Millions of people were losing their jobs and nobody could do anything. In 1932, the unemployment rate was at an all time high of 22.5% (Smiley 1983). In that same year, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president. He came up with the New Deal that could save the country from the depression. He started by trying to find people jobs in any field possible for the young men of the country. Many new organizations were founded to help every type of human in the United States. They eventually were able to lower the unemployment rate all the way down to 6% in 1941. It took nine years to get out of the depression.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt the thirty-second President of the United States of America, and the founder of welfare programs was criticized immensely for his work. Completing a tremendous amount of work in the first one-hundred days of his presidency. Reversal of the Great Depression was underway. No thanks to FDR’s predecessor Herbert Hoover whose views supported limited government involvement in economic affairs, leaving the situation to worsen and citizens to fend for themselves. So when FDR came to office with his favorite can of “alphabet soup” relief was on the way and no one was prepared. FDR’s welfare programs did more good for the nation than harm.

The great depression kept going on. Millions of Americans were homeless and jobless. Soup kitchens were popping up everywhere there were people. The people started to turn to the government for help. But America's 31st president, Herbert Hoover, didn't think so. While many people believed that relying on the government was the answer, Hoover thought that self-reliance and relying on each other would relieve them of this economic crisis, not government intervention. And as the people kept prying, Hoover kept refusing. Desperate for a place to call home, and knowing that the government wasn't going to do anything to help, Americans and their families started building shantytowns in cities and in different places around them. They soon became

Food stamps are an important component of low-income families’ monthly resources, increasing the chances that families are able to meet basic needs (Ratcliffe, McKernan & Finegold, 2008). This form of food relief dates back to the Great Depression when many Americans lost their jobs and did not have money to feed their families. People were starving while farmers produced abundant crop that could not be sold due to a lack of consumers with buying power (Dorsch, 2013). The Federal Surplus Relief Corporation which was a part of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, bought basic farm goods at low prices and distributed the among hunger relief agencies in different states and local communities (Congressional Digest, 2013).

In 1930 the American people lost their hope. The stock market had crashed, and the infrastructure of America had crumbled. Families learned the true meaning of deprivation and hard times. The same fear was in the hearts of all the people… Was this the end of the American dream? The citizens were starving, homeless, and hopeless. The only two things that rekindled their dim faith was their pioneer spirit, and a promise from Franklin D. Roosevelt. Those people knew that the only way to rebuild this country was to get back up again and work hard. The government knew that they had to do something, and that something was The New Deal. This was the beginning of government funded financial assistance, which is known today as welfare. This system has adapted and changed over the years. The biggest change that it has undergone was implemented by President Bill Clinton in 1996. The Welfare Reform Act vowed to end welfare as the people knew it, and there have been numerous controversies over the program since. Welfare negatively affects the American dream by devaluing hard work and creating economic unrest.

The welfare system has helped families from around the 1930’s. Social welfare in the United States consists of groups of variety programs. The programs are designed to assist people who are in need of assistance. The goal of the welfare program is to reduce poverty. Poverty undermines the economy by disturbing the normal growth of human capital. Including education, health and professional experience. All the welfare programs require different means of eligibility. There are programs that help with food, housing, Pell Grants, child care, and health care. In this paper I will give a brief review of the most popular programs. I will also tell the requirements to receive benefits. Then I will include a government review of fraud within the

The federal government provides publics assistance to the poor through variety of programs. Public, private nonprofit and private for-profit organizations all cooperate in the provision of these programs. Public assistance includes food stamps programs, cash assistance for single mothers, medical assistance and general assistance. These programs were designed as a safety net for needy families. Many welfare recipients are reluctant to look for a job or continue their education once they start receiving public benefits. Policy wonks have long

The United States economy had turned for the worse; “13 to 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed”(History.com Staff). President Roosevelt thought of a plan to help America out of the Great Depression, this plan would be known as the New Deal. With the New Deal underway President Roosevelt “wanted to work with a wide variety of different groups to create a new equilibrium in both industry and agriculture” (Winkler 145). In 1933 the United States employment rates increased drastically, President Roosevelt would soon get recognition for brilliant

In our country, there are many concerns that the people face in our economy; how are we going to survive? How are we going to provide for our family? How are we going to keep having food at our table or even a place to live in? In many situations, people turn to the government for welfare support. The idea behind the welfare system is to help those in need of assistance. Three main welfare programs that people have acquired and are a concern to the population are: TANF, unemployment insurance and social security.

Welfare was created as an amendment to the social security act of 1935 in 1939. Before this many things were being implemented already as a form of welfare. Such as Medicaid, food stamps, and SSI (Supplement Security Income). During this time was the great depression which extremely affected the American economy, causing thousands of people to become unemployed. These established many of the programs that built the way welfare is shaped today such as the AFDC (Aid to Families with Independent Children). Due to these being created there had to organizations and agencies to supervise

“What is the ‘Poverty Line,’ anyway? According to the 2011 U.S. Census Bureau, it is a family of four (two adults, two children under 18) that earns less than $23,021.” (Dosomething.org). As America being the wealthiest country, it may be hard to believe that Americans face poverty. Welfare programs are meant to reduce this problem by helping those with a low income, but are they misusing these benefits? Some supporters of government programs may say that welfare is completely necessary, but there are many ways these benefits are abused. The welfare programs offered by the government are abused by lower income people who alter their lifestyles to meet benefit requirements, unnecessarily file for unemployment and misuse food stamps.