Welfare Programs

Prior to the Great Depression of the late 1920s and 1930s, there was no systematic federal service for providing help or relief to struggling citizens. State programs were fragmented, and charity was sporadically offered by various church organizations and community efforts. As the impact of the Great Depression spread across the United States, it was clear that some type of system was necessary in order to curtail the devastating effects of poverty and joblessness. President Franklin Roosevelt proposed a massive overhaul of the government by devising the New Deal in the 1930s, which was essentially a package of various social and welfare benefits aimed at relieving the effects of the Great Depression. The reality of this new welfare state would provide debate and controversy in political, social, and economic realms from that point forward.