3. Historians have argued that Progressive reforms lost momentum in the 1920s. Evaluate this statement with respect to the following: regulation of business, labor, and immigrants. The Progressive Era was a time of major reconstruction and rehabilitation for the United
States. Beginning in the 1890s and lasting steadily into the 1920s, a series of movements, act, policies, and improvements allowed for the reformation of a great nation that would later flourish as a result of this era of growth and betterment. Some historians argue that the start of World War I may have been the end of the era because the war was not very rooted in Progressive policy. Progressives such as Jane Addams, perhaps the era’s most prominent reformer, implemented and strongly advocated anti­war movements and sentiment. However, after Wilson’s re­election in 1916, such reformers were censored. The politics of the 1920s was inhospitable toward the labor unions and radicals against business so it is understandable that one may think that the Progressivism ended there. However, during this time, the progressives did not simply allow themselves to be trod upon. Progressivism remained popular in many western states and was prominent in Washington during both the
Harding and Coolidge presidencies. There was a continuing importance in the Progressive movement involving increased democracy, efficiency in the government, regulation, social justice, and and public service.
Business progressivism, with its emphasis on efficiency, reached its peak in the 1920s. After the success of the suffrage movement, women payed more attention to causes such as world peace, honorable government, maternal care (Sheppard­Towner Act of 1921), and support for public health and education. Progressivism was an approach to social issues and it was as alive through the 1920s as it was at its onset.
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4. How was the New Deal a culmination (climax) of the era of progressive reform, and how did it differ from the pre­World War I progressive era? Provide specific examples of each. The Progressive Era subsisted from the 1890s and through the 1920s, however, there is general agreement that the era was over by 1932, since a majority of the remaining progressives opposed FDR’s New Deal. Both the New Deal and progressive reform brought together the low­income groups with minorities. During the Progressive Era, people began to use the structure of government to create the conditions for a better life for all Americans and to suppress the excesses of capitalism.
However, during the New Deal policies, the government, instead, distributed it to the poor and

minority groups. Progressivism had originally begun as a social movement and later evolved into a political movement. Reformers wanted to expose the evils of corporate greed by strongly opposing irrational fear of immigrants and urging Americans to think about the true meaning of democracy. Americans were encouraged to vote, fight government corruption, and essentially allow the public to decide how issues should be handled. However, when the horrors of World
War I exposed people’s cruelty, Progressivism came to an end.
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6. How did Roosevelt’s New Deal alter the role of the federal government in American life then
(focus on how well the New Deal’s three R’s (relief, recovery, and reform) addressed the problems of the Great Depression) and now? Provide specific examples using New Deal programs/agencies. With the installment of the New Deal in America came expanded government intervention in the areas of social and economic affairs as well as the widespread implementation of social assistance programs and agencies. Before the New Deal, the government had essentially no role in providing for the people or steering the economy. However, FDR’s New Deal, the government began to take care of the people. Prior to the New Deal, the government was chiefly ‘‘laissez­faire.’’ The economy was to rise or fall naturally. The launch of the New Deal brought about Social Security and Medicare for the elderly, insurance on bank deposits, lowered taxes, the creation of jobs, and economic development. As opposed to earlier the previous decade when the government was, for the most part, absent from social, business, and economic affairs, the New Deal painted the federal government as an executor of action. The “three R’s” of FDR’s New Deal were organized to help America recover from the depression. The first R, representing relief, was aimed at providing temporary aid to Americans suffering from unemployment. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress
Administration (WPA) were set up to provide jobs to unemployed Americans in order to vitalize the economy. The CCC and WPA also built more than 650,000 miles of roads as well as 150,000 schools, airports, hospitals, parks, dams, and other public projects that are still in use today. The
Social Security Act of 1935 was enacted to provide financial security to retirees, the unemployed, people with disabilities, and mothers. This act protected citizens from poverty during retirement and provided temporary relief for unwillingly unemployed American families.
The second R, representing recovery, was designed to help the economy’s resilience in bouncing back up from the depression. The Agricultural Adjustment Act, passed on May 12, 1933, created

the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. The agency put restrictions on the production of corn, cotton, dairy products, tobacco, wheat, etc. and compensated farmers for the crops and livestock they they did not produce with funds raised by a tax on food processing. During the program’s first three years food prices rose and farm incomes increased significantly due to restrictions on supply. The 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was an attempt at reviving the economy as a whole. The bill created the National Recovery Administration (NRA) to stimulate industrial production. This act also helped set up the Public Works Administration
(PWA) to construct public roads, bridges, and buildings. The third R, representing relief, targeted the causes of the depression and sought to prevent it from happening again. When FDR closed all the nation’s banks so as to strengthen them and restore confidence in the national banking system, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was created. It meant that the government guaranteed savings deposits for all Americans so that all citizens could trust private banks, and, to prevent future banking panics. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was set up to regulate Wall Street and its stock market exchanges. The agency prevented fraud in and abuse of the stock markets by banks and corporations. The New Deal produced a new political that sustained the Democratic Party in national politics well into the 1960s.
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