The New Deal refers to the domestic reform program that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt pursued from 1933–1941. Given that the New Deal coincided with the rise of the Axis powers and the coming of the Second World War, military issues had a key bearing on the President's reforms.

Rearmament: the Navy

President Roosevelt took office in March 1933, less than two years after the Japanese conquest of the Chinese province of Manchuria. During the Manchurian crisis, the Hoover administration considered a naval demonstration, but soon learned that the United States Navy would not prove a credible deterrent to the Japanese. Accordingly, and with economic recovery definitely in mind, President Roosevelt allocated nearly $240 million in Public Works Administration (PWA) relief money for naval construction in 1933. The following year, the President's support proved critical in securing congressional approval for the 1934 Vinson-Trammel Act that appropriated money for a sustained naval expansion...