The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was the most innovative early New Deal measure. It provided for two major recovery programs vastly expanded public works effort, carried out by the Public Works Administration, and a complex program to regulate American business and ensure fair competition. The National Recovery Administration approved and enforced a set of competitive codes for each industry to help ensure fair competition in each. By 1935, several Roosevelt advisers welcomed massive new federal expenditures to induce more private demand, even at the price of budget deficits. A huge relief appropriation of almost $5 billion reinvigorated several programs and funded a new federalized work relief program administered by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Perhaps of greatest enduring significance, Congress in 1935 enacted the Social Security Act, which contained three major programs: retirement fund, unemployment insurance, and welfare grants for local distribution (including aid for dependent children)3. .
In 1937, after a resounding victory in the 1936 election, Roosevelt sought to increase support for his ideas on the Supreme Court. He proposed .
legislation that would add more judges to the Supreme Court, but Congress rejected this "court-packing" attempt. The pressures for new legislation abated after 1937, and opposition to extending the New Deal mounted rapidly, especially in the South. By 1939 public attention focused increasingly on foreign policy and national defense. The New Deal was over, but it had permanently expanded the role of the federal government, particularly in economic regulation, resource development, and income maintenance4.
Paradoxically, the entertainment industry took off at rapid rates during the Depression. The most popular forms of entertainment during the 30s were .
radio, cinema, sports and dancing.