Franklin D. Roosevelt

As New York governor from 1929, Roosevelt responded to the Depression before Washington did: the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration of 1931, run by Harry Hopkins, was the first state agency to give large-scale unemployment relief, and he pressed for old-age pensions and unemployment insurance. Hopkins and the programme became models for the New Deal. Critics noted he was cautious about Tammany corruption until the Seabury investigation forced his hand.