Question

What was the primary focus of the Second New Deal?

Answer 1

The first major legislation that Roosevelt and Congress passed in the Second New Deal—in response to the critics—was the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Created in 1935, the WPA was an effort to appease the “Longites” who clamored for more direct assistance from the federal government.

Answer 2

Roosevelt proposed several pieces of legislation that included: Social Security Act, which provided benefits for the elderly and unemployed, National Labor Relations Act, which organized labor rights to bargain collectively with businesses and forced employers to allow unionization, and Work Progress Administration, which put unemployed people to work in public works projects across the country.