Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented a strategy.
Franklin D. Roosevelt . During his first 100 days in office , Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented federal legislation and issued a profusion of executive orders that instituted the New Deal -- a variety of programs designed to produce relief ( government jobs for the unemployed ) , recovery ( economic growth ) , and reform ( through regulation of Wall Street , banks and transportation ) . The New Deal was a series of programs , including , most notably , Social Security , that were enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938 , and a few that came later . The programs were in response to the Great Depression , and they focused on what historians refer to as the `` 3 Rs '' , Relief , Recovery , and Reform : relief for the unemployed and poor , recovery of the economy to normal levels , and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression . The New Deal produced a political realignment , making the Democratic Party the majority ( as well as the party that held the White House for seven out of nine Presidential terms from 1933 to 1969 ) , with its base in liberal ideas , the South , traditional Democrats , big city machines , and the newly empowered labor unions and ethnic minorities .