![Picture](/uploads/4/8/9/0/48903641/956487488.jpg?245)
By 1932, many Americans were fed up with Hoover not taking action and what Franklin Roosevelt later called his “hear nothing, see nothing, do nothing government.” The Democratic presidential candidate, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, promised a change. “I pledge myself,” he said, “to a New Deal for the American people.” This New Deal would use the power of the federal government to try and stop the economy’s downward spiral. That year Roosevelt easily won over Hoover. On March 4, 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address before 100,000 people on Washington’s Capitol Plaza. “First of all,” he said, “let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He promised that he would act swiftly to face the “dark realities of the moment” and assured Americans that he would “wage a war against the emergency” just as though “we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.” Roosevelt’s speech gave many people confidence and assurance that they had elected a man who was not afraid to take bold steps to solve the nation’s problems. The next day, the new president declared a four-day bank holiday to stop people from withdrawing their money from shaky banks. On March 9, Congress passed Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act, which reorganized the banks and closed the ones that were insolvent. In his first “fireside chat” three days later, the president urged Americans to put their savings back in the banks, and by the end of the month almost three quarters of them had reopened.
![Picture](/uploads/4/8/9/0/48903641/357032255.gif)
The First Hundred Days
Roosevelt’s mission to end the Great Depression in Americans’ lives was just beginning. He asked Congress to take the first step towards ending Prohibition by making it legal for Americans to buy beer. This was one of the more divisive issues of the 1920s. At the end of the year, Congress ratified the 21st Amendment ending Prohibition for good. In May, he signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act into law, enabling the federal government to build dams along the Tennessee River that controlled flooding and generated inexpensive hydroelectric power for the people in the region. That same month, Congress passed a bill that paid commodity farmers (farmers who produced things like wheat, dairy products, tobacco and corn) to leave their fields uncultivated in order to end agricultural oversupply and boost prices. June’s National Industrial Recovery Act guaranteed that workers would have the right to unionize and bargain collectively for higher wages and better working conditions; it also suspended some antitrust laws and established a federally funded Public Works Administration.
In addition to the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, and the National Industrial Recovery Act, Roosevelt had won passage of 12 other major laws, including the Glass-Steagall Banking Bill and the Home Owners’ Loan Act, in his first 100 days in office. Almost every American found something to be pleased and satisfied about and also something to complain about in this assorted collection of bills. It was now clear to all, that Roosevelt was taking the “direct and vigorous” action that he had promised in his inaugural address.
Roosevelt’s mission to end the Great Depression in Americans’ lives was just beginning. He asked Congress to take the first step towards ending Prohibition by making it legal for Americans to buy beer. This was one of the more divisive issues of the 1920s. At the end of the year, Congress ratified the 21st Amendment ending Prohibition for good. In May, he signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act into law, enabling the federal government to build dams along the Tennessee River that controlled flooding and generated inexpensive hydroelectric power for the people in the region. That same month, Congress passed a bill that paid commodity farmers (farmers who produced things like wheat, dairy products, tobacco and corn) to leave their fields uncultivated in order to end agricultural oversupply and boost prices. June’s National Industrial Recovery Act guaranteed that workers would have the right to unionize and bargain collectively for higher wages and better working conditions; it also suspended some antitrust laws and established a federally funded Public Works Administration.
In addition to the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, and the National Industrial Recovery Act, Roosevelt had won passage of 12 other major laws, including the Glass-Steagall Banking Bill and the Home Owners’ Loan Act, in his first 100 days in office. Almost every American found something to be pleased and satisfied about and also something to complain about in this assorted collection of bills. It was now clear to all, that Roosevelt was taking the “direct and vigorous” action that he had promised in his inaugural address.
![Picture](/uploads/4/8/9/0/48903641/678963784.jpg?575)
The Second New Deal
Despite President Roosevelt and his cabinets best efforts, the Great Depression continued and the nation’s economy continued to suffer. America’s employment persisted and with unemployment, people grew more aggressive and more desperate. So, in 1935, Roosevelt launched a second, and more aggressive series of federal programs, often called the Second New Deal. In April, he created the Works Progress Administration or the WPA, to provide jobs for unemployed people. WPA projects weren’t allowed to compete with private industry, so they focused on building things like post offices, bridges, schools, highways and parks. The WPA also gave work to artists, writers, theater directors and musicians. In July 1935, the National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act, created the National Labor Relations Board to supervise union elections and prevent businesses from treating their workers unfairly. In August, FDR signed the Social Security Act of 1935, which guaranteed pensions to millions of Americans, and also helped set up a system of unemployment insurance and demanded that the federal government would help care for dependent children and the disabled.
In 1936, while campaigning for a second term, at Madison Square Garden FDR announced that “The forces of ‘organized money’ are unanimous in their hate for me and I welcome their hatred.” He went on: “I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match, [and] I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces have met their master.” This FDR had come a long way from his earlier repudiation of class-based politics and was promising a much more aggressive fight against the people who were profiting from the Depression-era troubles of ordinary Americans. He won the election by a landslide.
Still, the Great Depression dragged on. Workers grew more militant and in December 1936, for example, the United Auto Workers started a sit-down strike at a GM plant in Flint, Michigan that lasted for 44 days and spread to some 150,000 autoworkers in 35 cities. By 1937, to the dismay of most corporate leaders, some 8 million workers had joined unions and were loudly demanding their rights.
Despite President Roosevelt and his cabinets best efforts, the Great Depression continued and the nation’s economy continued to suffer. America’s employment persisted and with unemployment, people grew more aggressive and more desperate. So, in 1935, Roosevelt launched a second, and more aggressive series of federal programs, often called the Second New Deal. In April, he created the Works Progress Administration or the WPA, to provide jobs for unemployed people. WPA projects weren’t allowed to compete with private industry, so they focused on building things like post offices, bridges, schools, highways and parks. The WPA also gave work to artists, writers, theater directors and musicians. In July 1935, the National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act, created the National Labor Relations Board to supervise union elections and prevent businesses from treating their workers unfairly. In August, FDR signed the Social Security Act of 1935, which guaranteed pensions to millions of Americans, and also helped set up a system of unemployment insurance and demanded that the federal government would help care for dependent children and the disabled.
In 1936, while campaigning for a second term, at Madison Square Garden FDR announced that “The forces of ‘organized money’ are unanimous in their hate for me and I welcome their hatred.” He went on: “I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match, [and] I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces have met their master.” This FDR had come a long way from his earlier repudiation of class-based politics and was promising a much more aggressive fight against the people who were profiting from the Depression-era troubles of ordinary Americans. He won the election by a landslide.
Still, the Great Depression dragged on. Workers grew more militant and in December 1936, for example, the United Auto Workers started a sit-down strike at a GM plant in Flint, Michigan that lasted for 44 days and spread to some 150,000 autoworkers in 35 cities. By 1937, to the dismay of most corporate leaders, some 8 million workers had joined unions and were loudly demanding their rights.