FDR's New Deal

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt travel to the White House following FDR's inauguration

Franklin Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover, the man FDR thrashed in the election of 1932, shared an awkward, silent ride to FDR's inauguration

Part of the Works Progress Administration, the Federal Writers Project put jobless intellectuals to work on projects such as this guidebook to New York City

Orson Welles was one of many famous dramatists to find work for the WPA's Federal Theater Project during the Great Depression. In New York City, Welles collaborated with the "Negro Units" of the FTP to stage "The Voodoo Macbeth," which featured actual vodun priests from Haiti

The Works Progress Administration provided work relief to more than eight million Americans during the Great Depression

WPA workers labored to build massive public works that remain vital infrastructure to this day. At the time of its construction under WPA auspices, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was the longest and most expensive bridge in the world.

Millions of Americans, thrown out of work, were forced to wait for charity in bread lines across the country. This one, in Louisville, was more ironic than most.

One of FDR's first acts as President—and one of his most popular—was to end Prohibition by legalizing beer and wine.