This collection uses primary sources to explore the New Deal.

Original photographs highlight the New Deal programs intended to aid families and individuals during the Great Depression.

Excerpts from Franklin Roosevelt's delivery of the May 7, 1933 Fireside Chat highlighting the purpose and goals of the New Deal.

Text of remarks made by FDR on the effects of the Agricultural Adjustment Act and of other government programs to aid farmers.

Some of the New Deal programs during the Great Depression were designed to support artists and the arts. This National Archives and Records Administration site explores the products of the time period.

Features an archive of editorial cartoons focusing on the debate surrounding FDR'S Court Packing bill and comments on the Supreme Court and the Roosevelt Administration between 1933-36.

Full text of the debates in the House and the Senate over the Social Security Act of 1935, proposed by President Roosevelt for economic relief and recovery as part of his New Deal. Each of the debates can be downloaded in PDF form.

Text of a speech given by Franklin D. Roosevelt after he signed the bill known as the National Industrial Recovery Act. Discusses purposes and intended impact of the legislation.

Text of FDR's speech to Congress on January 17, 1935, regarding Social Security.

Read Franklin Roosevelt's second inaugural address in which he assesses the previous four years and lays out his plan for the next.

A description of the Economic Security Act proposed to Congress by Roosevelt in 1935, with a link for downloading a PDF version of the final bill.

The text of a radio speech given by Secretary of Labor Francis Perkins in 1935 in which he explained the Administration's proposals contained in the Economic Security Bill. This bill formed the basis for what later became the Social...

Site provides cartoons of Franklin Roosevelt's administration. Great primary sources to integrate in the classroom, although image reproductions are not of the best quality.

See the first page of the Social Security Act from the National Archives date stamped August 12, 1935. FDR signed the act into law two days later.

Criticism from Herbert Hoover to President Roosevelt was sent in a private letter. Hoover offered suggestions for the president to help reassure the people of the United States during a time of great fear and desolation.

An in-depth discussion on the constitutionality of the Social Security Act and the 1937 Supreme Court decisions that helped settle it.

Text of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first Inaugural address. In this speech, he outlines the world crisis facing the country in 1933. He also outlines the aims of government programs and his primary goal, which was to relieve unemployment by...

This resource contains 160,000 black and white photos and 1600 color photos documenting America from 1935-1945. These images make up the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Collection.