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Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was the new name given by the Roosevelt Administration to the "Emergency Relief Administration" set up by Herbert Hoover in 1932. It was established as a result of Federal Emergency Relief Act. The Federal Emergency Relief Act was first relief operations under the New Deal, and was headed by Harry L. Hopkins, a New York social worker who was one of Franklin D. Roosevelt's most influential advisers. Hopkins was a believer in relief efforts that emphasized work.
FERA's main goal was alleviating adult unemployment. In order to achieve this goal, the FERA provided state assistance for the unemployed and their families. From when it began in May 1933 until when it closed its operations in December, 1935, it gave states and localities $3.1 billion to operate local work projects. FERA provided work for over 20 million people and developed facilities on public lands across the country. Faced with continued high unemployment and concerns for public welfare during the coming winter of 1933-34, FERA instituted the Civil Works Administration (CWA) as a $400 million short-term measure to get people to work. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration was terminated in 1935 and its work taken over by the WPA and the Social Security Board.
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Primary sources
Hopkins, Harry L. Spending to save: the complete story of relief. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1936.
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