Which set of programs in the 1930s aimed to provide relief, recovery, and reforms and expanded the federal government?

• A. New Frontier
• B. New Deal
• C. Great Society
• D. Square Deal

Answer: (B)

During the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt launched a wave of programs aimed at providing immediate relief to the unemployed and poor, promoting economic recovery, and instituting reforms to prevent a future collapse. This approach—relief, recovery, and reforms—expanded the federal government by creating new agencies, public works programs, social insurance, and financial regulations that increased federal involvement in everyday life and the economy. Think of measures like the Civilian Conservation Corps, Public Works Administration, and Social Security as concrete examples of how the government grew to address widespread hardship. The combination and scale of these efforts are distinctive of the New Deal in the 1930s. The other options come from different eras and contexts—Square Deal from the early 1900s, and New Frontier or Great Society from the 1960s—so they don’t match the 1930s program set described here.