Franklin Roosevelt's transformation of public administration through the New Deal

¶ … Cook, "Franklin Roosevelt's fundamental intention by the beginning of his second term was to place public administration at the heart of a new American political system" (p. 98). In fact, the New Deal could be said to be the primary catalyst for the development of public administration as we know it today. Virtually all of Roosevelt's reform and reorganization efforts placed public administration at the center of their implementation.

Roosevelt did not invent public administration per se, but he transformed it into a new system that was designed to cater to the needs of the people by being responsive to the social issues that were souring the public on the concept of democracy. He created many new agencies and government authorities such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA),that continue to play extremely significant roles in public administration today. Thus it could be argued, the greatest hallmark of Roosevelt's influence on public administration was not necessarily the implementation of new public administration agencies, but the longevity of those agencies and their continued influence on society.

Cook also points out that the "intents and purposes" of the so-called Third New Deal were the most expressive and influential in terms of their impact on public administration development. The Third New Deal was a launching pad for Roosevelt's second term and his concentration on fiscal economic policy and reorganization of the executive branch of government, as opposed to the labor and social welfare reforms highlighted in his first term.