Claim: Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented a strategy.

The New Deal was a series of programs , including , most notably , Social Security , that were enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938 , and a few that came later . They included both laws passed by Congress as well as presidential executive orders during the first term -LRB- 1933 -- 37 -RRB- of the Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt . The programs were in response to the Great Depression , and they focused on what historians refer to as the `` 3 Rs '' , Relief , Recovery , and Reform : relief for the unemployed and poor , recovery of the economy to normal levels , and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression .   The New Deal produced a political realignment , making the Democratic Party the majority -LRB- as well as the party that held the White House for seven out of nine Presidential terms from 1933 to 1969 -RRB- , with its base in liberal ideas , the South , traditional Democrats , big city machines , and the newly empowered labor unions and ethnic minorities . The Republicans were split , with conservatives opposing the entire New Deal as an enemy of business and growth , and liberals accepting some of it and promising to make it more efficient . The realignment crystallized into the New Deal Coalition that dominated most presidential elections into the 1960s , while the opposing conservative coalition largely controlled Congress from 1939 to 1964 . By 1936 the term `` liberal '' typically was used for supporters of the New Deal , and `` conservative '' for its opponents . From 1934 to 1938 , Roosevelt was assisted in his endeavours by a `` pro-spender '' majority in Congress -LRB- drawn from two-party , competitive , non-machine , Progressive , and Left party districts -RRB- . As noted by Alexander Hicks , `` Roosevelt , backed by rare , non-Southern Democrat majorities -- 270 non-Southern Democrat representatives and 71 non-Southern Democrat senators -- spelled Second New Deal reform . '' In the 1938 midterm elections , however , Roosevelt and his liberal supporters lost control of Congress to the bipartisan conservative coalition .   Many historians distinguish between a `` First New Deal '' -LRB- 1933 -- 34 -RRB- and a `` Second New Deal '' -LRB- 1935 -- 38 -RRB- , with the second one more liberal and more controversial . The `` First New Deal '' -LRB- 1933 -- 34 -RRB- dealt with the pressing banking crises through the Emergency Banking Act and the 1933 Banking Act . The Federal Emergency Relief Administration provided $ 500 million -LRB- $ today -RRB- for relief operations by states and cities , while the short-lived Civil Works Administration -LRB- CWA -RRB- gave localities money to operate make-work projects in 1933 -- 34 . The Securities Act of 1933 was enacted to prevent a repeated stock market crash . The controversial work of the National Recovery Administration was also part of the First New Deal .   The `` Second New Deal '' in 1935 -- 38 included the Wagner Act to protect labor organizing , the Works Progress Administration -LRB- WPA -RRB- relief program -LRB- which made the federal government by far the largest single employer in the nation -RRB- , the Social Security Act , and new programs to aid tenant farmers and migrant workers . The final major items of New Deal legislation were the creation of the United States Housing Authority and Farm Security Administration -LRB- FSA -RRB- , both in 1937 , and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 , which set maximum hours and minimum wages for most categories of workers . The FSA was also one of the oversight authorities of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration which administered relief efforts to Puerto Rican citizens affected by the Great Depression .   The economic downturn of 1937 -- 38 , and the bitter split between the AFL and CIO labor unions led to major Republican gains in Congress in 1938 . Conservative Republicans and Democrats in Congress joined in the informal Conservative Coalition . By 1942 -- 43 they shut down relief programs such as the WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps -LRB- CCC -RRB- and blocked major liberal proposals . Roosevelt himself turned his attention to the war effort , and won reelection in 1940 and 1944 . The Supreme Court declared the National Recovery Administration -LRB- NRA -RRB- and the first version of the Agricultural Adjustment Act -LRB- AAA -RRB- unconstitutional , however the AAA was rewritten and then upheld . As the first Republican president elected after Franklin D. Roosevelt , Dwight D. Eisenhower -LRB- 1953 -- 61 -RRB- left the New Deal largely intact , even expanding it in some areas . In the 1960s , Lyndon B. Johnson 's Great Society used the New Deal as inspiration for a dramatic expansion of liberal programs , which Republican Richard M. Nixon generally retained . After 1974 , however , the call for deregulation of the economy gained bipartisan support . The New Deal regulation of banking -LRB- Glass -- Steagall Act -RRB- was suspended in the 1990s .   Many New Deal programs remain active , with some still operating under the original names , including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation -LRB- FDIC -RRB- , the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation -LRB- FCIC -RRB- , the Federal Housing Administration -LRB- FHA -RRB- , and the Tennessee Valley Authority -LRB- TVA -RRB- . The largest programs still in existence today are the Social Security System and the Securities and Exchange Commission -LRB- SEC -RRB- .