What Did Fdr Do During The Great Depression
The Great Depression came has a huge hit not only the American economy, but also to the whole world's economy. To stop such a devastating depression, the U.S. government had to come up with a plan to combat the issues. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president at the time, what he came up with to fight the Great Depression was called the New Deal. Within the New Deal there are the three R’s, which are relief, recovery, and reform. Roosevelt believed the New Deal would help heal the U.S. economy, but in the end, only a few aspects of the New Deal helped the economy, whereas a lot of the other aspect did no good for America. To start off with the first of the three R’s is relief. A large issue that started the depression was the lack of trust in big banks. Many big banks would loan out money and so, when everyone wanted to withdraw their money, the banks could
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not follow through. This only caused more issues because then even more people would want to withdraw their funds in fear of banks going out of business. Roosevelt declared a banking holiday. This would freeze all funds in banks and would shut down the banks for a few days. Personally if this was the only thing done, it would have failed. What Roosevelt did that made the difference is he started something called a fireside chat. This is where he would give speeches over the radio. In this one fireside chat he assured people could trust the banks and that people should avoid withdrawing their funds. When the banks finally opened up again, not only did people stop withdrawing, but people even went back and deposited their savings again. This was a large step forward in fighting the depression and was a large success for Roosevelt's New Deal. A long aside the banking holiday was the Emergency Banking Act which was an act passed during the banking holiday. This act was passed to make sure that the banks who were financially stable would be the only ones open. It also included an insurance on all funds put into the bank by the U.S. government. It also gave funds to banks in the form of loans so that they could get back from the brink of bankruptcy. The next form of relief was in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. This administration was formed to help the American population by giving unemployment relief and government jobs. What the FERA did was created another two groups called the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CWA was a program set up to give millions of job to the American people but it was short lived and was only temporary. It gave jobs during the 1933-34 winter. Within this short time the organization was successful in giving 4 million Americans jobs for the winter. However because it was so short is did almost nothing in the long run for the greater population of Americans. Next is the CCC, what the CCC did was give shelter and jobs to young, single people. They the jobs they did were to help other Americans. The money made would be sent home to their families to support them. The CCC was very popular and lasted significantly longer than the CWA. But, just like the CWA, it closed down after some years due to declining support and funds. In the end the relief section of Roosevelt's New Deal was a moderate success and did help the shock of the depression but had no beneficial long term effects. Next is the recovery section of the New Deal. With recovery Roosevelt made this for his goal that last moderately longer that the relief portion. First was the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). The AAA did was to bring recovery to farmers. The AAA gave farmers subsidies and told them to produce less. This was so the prices of grown goods would go up. To the American population this was hard because they could now buy even less food for their dollar. Personally I would say that it did help the economy, but, the downside far outweighed the positives. People died from lack of food and many. In 1936 the AAA was then deemed unconstitutional which abolished the AAA and so, I would say the AAA was a failure. The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was just like the AAA but was for the industry sector. The NRA would set production quotas and also set pay rates for the employees. The NRA set floors that the companies could not set their prices under. This went against all that America was, which is a free market and where competition was good. The NRA took away any competition. The one good thing that came from the NRA would be Section 7a which gave protection to unions and bargaining rights to employees. However, just like the AAA. The NRA was deemed unconstitutional by the supreme court and was abolished. The NRA was again, a failure and gave the New Deal and Roosevelt a bad name. As part of the Second New Deal Roosevelt followed the theory of John Maynard Keynes. What this theory by Keynes was that if the government started spending more, then, the companies that the government spent money would then spend money on other companies and so forth. The government also started taxing more, so that they had more money to spend. The Keynes theory was considered the safety net for Roosevelt and the New Deal. For the reform section of the three R’s is started off with the Glass-Steagall Act. What this did was created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The FDIC separated the commercial banking from the investment banking. This made sure that banks would not take money from normal people and put it into high risk investments. Another reform act was the Securities Act of 1933. This ensured that people who were buying securities would know the all the information which would avoid fraud. Along the same lines the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would oversee the process of stocks and regulate the commerce in stocks, bonds, and other securities. This would prevent another stock market crash in the future. These acts were beneficial to reforming America's banks and investments. Roosevelt's Second New Deal was in response to the failure that was the First New Deal. The Second New deal consisted of some more long lasting reforms and was a more successful take on The New Deal. The Work Progress Administration (WPA) was a recovery program which gave jobs to younger Americans who were unskilled. The program allowed millions of unskilled workers to have jobs and to help fix public buildings and roads. The organization stayed strong for eight years and only dissolved due to low unemployment due to world war 2. Overall the WPA was a successful recovery program and gave millions of Americans jobs.
Next is the Social Security Act (SSA) which laid the groundwork for what we know today as social security. The SSA gave benefits to retired people which would give reason for people to retire and open up jobs for younger people. The SSA also gave benefits the blind and disabled people. Overall, the SSA would give money to people who otherwise don’t have an income of their own due to no fault of their own. The SSA was a very good program for its time and really benefitted American in a rough time.
Finally was the Wagner Act, this gave workers rights and support for labor unions. It offered job security and good wages due to the unions. Roosevelt knew that if people had more money that they would spend it, which would help grow the economy without the help of the government. The Wagner Act was also a very beneficial program to help the economy grow.
With the introduction with the Wagner Act and the growing of unions, there was a large growth of strikes.
One of the large unions was the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO). This organization gave help to unskilled workers and would help give them higher wages and safer working conditions. John L. Lewis was a large factor in the creation of the CIO. The largest strike that was forged by the United Auto Workers, was in Flint, Michigan and was in a General Motors factory. It was a sit down strike which meant that the workers would halt all production and prevent the company from hiring new employees. What made the difference were the women who went and helped their husband by feeding them and also created commotion on the outside. They also would sit on the front lines and would block and stall for the workers inside. These strikes really promoted the joining of unions and in the end it made working conditions for the workers better and got better pay. The Wagner Act was a very good addition for the blue collar workers, and in general made an impact in benefiting and fighting back against the
depression.
Some set backs that the Roosevelt organization had was the Supreme Court controversy. What Roosevelt wanted to do was get the rights to manipulate the legislative branch to help himself grow the economy. The Supreme Court deemed this unconstitutional and kept the 3 branches of government separate. Had this been passed it would have been a bad thing for the future and it's a very good thing for the people. The Roosevelt Recession of 1937-38 also gave FDR a very bad rep and made the New Deal a hard blow in support.
Overall, even with all the organizations made and all the rule changes, the New Deal was not a success and only until World War 2 did America get back on its feet. The relief programs on the First New Deal did little to help the shock of the Great Depression. The only thing that Roosevelt did that benefitted the relief section was the banking holiday and his fireside chats. As for recovery it’s not much better, the CWA and CCC did not last long enough to make an impact and after they dissolved, the people were again unemployed. As for reform, the acts passed such as the Glass-Steagall Act were beneficial and helped people become more aware of investments and had more information to work with. The reform section got even better with the Second New Deal such as the Keynesian economics strategy and the introduction of social security and also the Wagner Act. The New Deal itself did not help combat the depression but in terms of workers rights and better pay, it was beneficial for the people who were part of that.
not follow through. This only caused more issues because then even more people would want to withdraw their funds in fear of banks going out of business. Roosevelt declared a banking holiday. This would freeze all funds in banks and would shut down the banks for a few days. Personally if this was the only thing done, it would have failed. What Roosevelt did that made the difference is he started something called a fireside chat. This is where he would give speeches over the radio. In this one fireside chat he assured people could trust the banks and that people should avoid withdrawing their funds. When the banks finally opened up again, not only did people stop withdrawing, but people even went back and deposited their savings again. This was a large step forward in fighting the depression and was a large success for Roosevelt's New Deal. A long aside the banking holiday was the Emergency Banking Act which was an act passed during the banking holiday. This act was passed to make sure that the banks who were financially stable would be the only ones open. It also included an insurance on all funds put into the bank by the U.S. government. It also gave funds to banks in the form of loans so that they could get back from the brink of bankruptcy. The next form of relief was in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. This administration was formed to help the American population by giving unemployment relief and government jobs. What the FERA did was created another two groups called the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CWA was a program set up to give millions of job to the American people but it was short lived and was only temporary. It gave jobs during the 1933-34 winter. Within this short time the organization was successful in giving 4 million Americans jobs for the winter. However because it was so short is did almost nothing in the long run for the greater population of Americans. Next is the CCC, what the CCC did was give shelter and jobs to young, single people. They the jobs they did were to help other Americans. The money made would be sent home to their families to support them. The CCC was very popular and lasted significantly longer than the CWA. But, just like the CWA, it closed down after some years due to declining support and funds. In the end the relief section of Roosevelt's New Deal was a moderate success and did help the shock of the depression but had no beneficial long term effects. Next is the recovery section of the New Deal. With recovery Roosevelt made this for his goal that last moderately longer that the relief portion. First was the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). The AAA did was to bring recovery to farmers. The AAA gave farmers subsidies and told them to produce less. This was so the prices of grown goods would go up. To the American population this was hard because they could now buy even less food for their dollar. Personally I would say that it did help the economy, but, the downside far outweighed the positives. People died from lack of food and many. In 1936 the AAA was then deemed unconstitutional which abolished the AAA and so, I would say the AAA was a failure. The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was just like the AAA but was for the industry sector. The NRA would set production quotas and also set pay rates for the employees. The NRA set floors that the companies could not set their prices under. This went against all that America was, which is a free market and where competition was good. The NRA took away any competition. The one good thing that came from the NRA would be Section 7a which gave protection to unions and bargaining rights to employees. However, just like the AAA. The NRA was deemed unconstitutional by the supreme court and was abolished. The NRA was again, a failure and gave the New Deal and Roosevelt a bad name. As part of the Second New Deal Roosevelt followed the theory of John Maynard Keynes. What this theory by Keynes was that if the government started spending more, then, the companies that the government spent money would then spend money on other companies and so forth. The government also started taxing more, so that they had more money to spend. The Keynes theory was considered the safety net for Roosevelt and the New Deal. For the reform section of the three R’s is started off with the Glass-Steagall Act. What this did was created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The FDIC separated the commercial banking from the investment banking. This made sure that banks would not take money from normal people and put it into high risk investments. Another reform act was the Securities Act of 1933. This ensured that people who were buying securities would know the all the information which would avoid fraud. Along the same lines the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would oversee the process of stocks and regulate the commerce in stocks, bonds, and other securities. This would prevent another stock market crash in the future. These acts were beneficial to reforming America's banks and investments. Roosevelt's Second New Deal was in response to the failure that was the First New Deal. The Second New deal consisted of some more long lasting reforms and was a more successful take on The New Deal. The Work Progress Administration (WPA) was a recovery program which gave jobs to younger Americans who were unskilled. The program allowed millions of unskilled workers to have jobs and to help fix public buildings and roads. The organization stayed strong for eight years and only dissolved due to low unemployment due to world war 2. Overall the WPA was a successful recovery program and gave millions of Americans jobs.
Next is the Social Security Act (SSA) which laid the groundwork for what we know today as social security. The SSA gave benefits to retired people which would give reason for people to retire and open up jobs for younger people. The SSA also gave benefits the blind and disabled people. Overall, the SSA would give money to people who otherwise don’t have an income of their own due to no fault of their own. The SSA was a very good program for its time and really benefitted American in a rough time.
Finally was the Wagner Act, this gave workers rights and support for labor unions. It offered job security and good wages due to the unions. Roosevelt knew that if people had more money that they would spend it, which would help grow the economy without the help of the government. The Wagner Act was also a very beneficial program to help the economy grow.
With the introduction with the Wagner Act and the growing of unions, there was a large growth of strikes.
One of the large unions was the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO). This organization gave help to unskilled workers and would help give them higher wages and safer working conditions. John L. Lewis was a large factor in the creation of the CIO. The largest strike that was forged by the United Auto Workers, was in Flint, Michigan and was in a General Motors factory. It was a sit down strike which meant that the workers would halt all production and prevent the company from hiring new employees. What made the difference were the women who went and helped their husband by feeding them and also created commotion on the outside. They also would sit on the front lines and would block and stall for the workers inside. These strikes really promoted the joining of unions and in the end it made working conditions for the workers better and got better pay. The Wagner Act was a very good addition for the blue collar workers, and in general made an impact in benefiting and fighting back against the
depression.
Some set backs that the Roosevelt organization had was the Supreme Court controversy. What Roosevelt wanted to do was get the rights to manipulate the legislative branch to help himself grow the economy. The Supreme Court deemed this unconstitutional and kept the 3 branches of government separate. Had this been passed it would have been a bad thing for the future and it's a very good thing for the people. The Roosevelt Recession of 1937-38 also gave FDR a very bad rep and made the New Deal a hard blow in support.
Overall, even with all the organizations made and all the rule changes, the New Deal was not a success and only until World War 2 did America get back on its feet. The relief programs on the First New Deal did little to help the shock of the Great Depression. The only thing that Roosevelt did that benefitted the relief section was the banking holiday and his fireside chats. As for recovery it’s not much better, the CWA and CCC did not last long enough to make an impact and after they dissolved, the people were again unemployed. As for reform, the acts passed such as the Glass-Steagall Act were beneficial and helped people become more aware of investments and had more information to work with. The reform section got even better with the Second New Deal such as the Keynesian economics strategy and the introduction of social security and also the Wagner Act. The New Deal itself did not help combat the depression but in terms of workers rights and better pay, it was beneficial for the people who were part of that.