One of these, the New York state program TERA (Temporary Emergency Relief Administration), was set up in 1931 and headed by Harry Hopkins, a close adviser to then-Governor Roosevelt.

A few years later, as president, Roosevelt asked Congress to set up FERA—which gave grants to the states for the same purpose—in May 1933, and appointed Hopkins to head it.

FERA's main goal was to alleviate household unemployment by creating new unskilled jobs in local and state government.

With as many as two thousand teachers employed at one time, officials conservatively estimated that the program reached at least one million workers nationwide until it was ended in World War II.

[6] Mullins (1999) examines the hesitant relief efforts of Oklahoma City residents during the early years of the Depression, 1930–35, under Governor William H. Murray, emphasizing the community's reluctance to comply with FERA rules.

Although he criticized the welfare bureaucracy, Murray championed the state's yeoman farmers and took credit for the food, seed, and books that they received from federal funds.

New Deal administrators ultimately removed Murray from his oversight role, charging corruption in aid distribution, failure to meet employment quotas, and the inability to determine local funding needs.

Rowland Haynes, the state's emergency relief director, was the major force in implementing such national programs as the FERA and CWA.

Robert L. Cochran, who became governor in 1935, was a "cautious progressive" who sought federal assistance and placed Nebraska among the first American states to adopt a social security law.

While tenant farmers remained terribly disadvantaged politically, their collective efforts improved matters substantially in areas where their organizations were strongest.