Federal Emergency Relief Administration

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Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was the name given by the Roosevelt Administration to a program similar to unemployment-relief efforts of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) set up by Herbert Hoover and the U.S. Congress in 1932. It was established as a result of the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933. The Federal Emergency Relief Act was the first direct-relief operation under the New Deal, and was headed by Harry L. Hopkins, a New York social worker who was one of Franklin D. Roosevelt's most influential advisers. Hopkins was a believer in relief efforts that emphasized work, and had established a similar program in New York State during Roosevelt's administration as governor.

FERA's main goal was alleviating adult unemployment. In order to achieve this goal, FERA provided state assistance for the unemployed and their families. From when it began in May 1933 until when it closed its operations in December, 1935, it gave states and localities $3.1 billion to operate local work projects. FERA provided work for over 20 million people and developed facilities on public lands across the country. Faced with continued high unemployment and concerns for public welfare during the coming winter of 1933-34, FERA instituted the Civil Works Administration (CWA) as a $400 million short-term measure to get people to work. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration was terminated in 1935 and its work taken over by the WPA and the Social Security Board.

[edit] References

Hopkins, June. "The road not taken: Harry Hopkins and New Deal Work Relief." Presidential Studies Quarterly 29, 2(306-316).
Meriam; Lewis. Relief and Social Security The Brookings Institution. 1946. Highly detailed analysis and statistical summary of all New Deal relief programs; 900 pages
Williams; Edward Ainsworth Federal Aid for Relief 19