Harry L. Hopkins and His Influences on the Field of Social Work: An Historical Study of the Development of Federal Emergency Relief Policies During the Great Depression and Their Administration by Mr. Hopkins, 1933-1938
Abstract
Background of the Study. National social welfare programs showed little development in the United States prior to the economic collapse dated from the stock market crash in October 1929. The pseudo affluency of the twenties was prolonged by the equally artificial prosperity of the war years. The American economy began to weaken with rapid industrialization, urbanization, and adherence to the political philosophy that the federal government should not involve itself with the machinations of the business world. Woodrow Wilson's political philosophy for affirmative federal action for administrative regulation, for some intervention on behalf of the farmer and the worker, dissolved when business assumed the mantle of morality. Only an upheaval of the economy could destroy the addiction to the spurious concept of rugged individuation in America. From the economic collapse there grew a nation-wide realization that the role of the Federal Government must include responsibility for the ensuring of human dignity and a measure of security and opportunity for the individual. It was this belief that Franklin D. Roosevelt and his followers brought to Washington, D.C. in 1933. Harry Hopkins was appointed Administrator of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Civil Works Administration, and the Works Progress Administration and devoted his talents, energies and time to public service that shaped the course of federal relief policies even until today.
Subject Area
Marketing|Economics
Recommended Citation
Benzinger, Joseph J, "Harry L. Hopkins and His Influences on the Field of Social Work: An Historical Study of the Development of Federal Emergency Relief Policies During the Great Depression and Their Administration by Mr. Hopkins, 1933-1938" (1965). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI31050512.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI31050512
