[2][3] In his address to Congress on 4 January 1935, Roosevelt called for five major goals: improved use of national resources, security against old age, unemployment and illness, slum clearance, and a national work relief program (the Works Progress Administration) to replace direct relief efforts.
[4] It included programs to redistribute wealth, income, and power in favor of the poor, the old, farmers and labor unions.
In reaction, conservatives—typified by the American Liberty League—were strongly opposed but not as well organized at the grass roots.
However, the increasing presence of agitators on the left, like Huey Long of Louisiana and Upton Sinclair's failed gubernatorial campaign in California, may have forced Roosevelt's hand.
[8][9][10] Other historians point to the influence of millions of organized World War veterans who wanted their bonus.