An Introduction

During the presidential election of 1932, the American voters voted overwhelmingly for a New Deal. At the height of the depression, unemployment in the United States jumped from 3.2 percent to 24.9 percent, almost a quarter of the official labor force. Unemployment in some cities was as high as 80 percent. (1) Economist John Maynard Keynes noted in 1931 that the “world was then in the middle of the greatest economic catastrophe…of the modern world…there is a possibility that when the crisis is looked back upon by the economic historian of the future it will be seen to mark one of the major turning points.” (2)

In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigned on a New Deal to the American people and a new hope. In his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention that summer, Roosevelt addressed the American people in saying that, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” (3) During his inauguration on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt said “this nation asks for action, and action now” as he began his First Hundred Days and sent fifteen major legislative proposals to Congress. (4)

New Deal Programs in Connecticut: A Local History Project showcases the New Deal contributions from Roosevelt’s administration in all eight counties of Connecticut. The categories of the projects include the Civilian Conservation Corps, Federal Arts Project, Public Works Administration, Treasury Department, Treasury Section of Fine Arts, and the Works Progress Administration. The eight counties in Connecticut include Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield, Middlesex, New Haven, New London, Tolland, and Windham. In the end, the project shows how the New Deal greatly impacted the state of Connecticut during the Great Depression and by looking at the snapshot of Connecticut, one can see a good overview of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Special thank you to "Living New Deal: Still Working for the American People" for their tremendous legwork in compiling the list of New Deal locations throughout the country. The research arm of the Living New Deal is hosted by the Department of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley. The public service branch of the Living New Deal is a California non-profit organization. The Living New Deal is funded by a mix of public grants and private donations. https://livingnewdeal.org/

Sources:

(1) Jerry D. Marx, “Great Depression: American Social Policy,” Social Welfare History Project, June 10, 2020, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/great-depression/american-social-policy-in-the-great-depression-and-wwii/.

(2) Nicholas Crafts and Peter Fearon. "Lessons from the 1930s Great Depression." Oxford Review of Economic Policy 26, no. 3 (2010): 285-317, Accessed June 14, 2021, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43664566, 285.

(3) “President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal,” The Library of Congress, accessed June 14, 2021, https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/franklin-delano-roosevelt-and-the-new-deal/.

(4) Bradford A. Lee, "The New Deal Reconsidered." The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 6, no. 2 (1982): 62-76, Accessed June 14, 2021, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40256265, 62.