This Day in History: Second New Deal

In this radio address, President Franklin Roosevelt announced a second set of measures to combat the Great Depression, which become known as the Second New Deal. These included a series of new relief programs such as the Works Progress Administration.

In this campaign speech delivered at Madison Square Garden on October 31, 1936, Roosevelt responded to considerable criticism that the New Deal had not done enough by emphasizing his administration’s continuing plans for relief, reform, and recovery. Historians have often referred to this initiative as the Second New Deal. The major legislation that came out of the so-called Second New Deal was the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act, the Social Security Act, and the Wealth Tax Act, which brought about a sudden increase in taxes on the wealthy and created new and larger taxes on excess business profits, inheritances, large gifts, and profits from the sale of property.

Read the rest of this story and see interactive images of the address at ourdocuments.gov. While you are there, stick around and learn about some of the other 100 milestone documents of American history.