The first task which the Roosevelt administration set out to accomplish was resolving the banking problem. Thousands of banks had failed, causing people across America to lose their savings. Due to this occurrence, every state had shut down their banks to prevent further disaster. In a few days, the Emergency Banking Act was hastily drawn up and passed, which gave the Treasury Department the power to open banks once they were shown to be healthy and capable of surviving on their own. It also allowed the government to buy stocks of struggling banks to give them time to reorganize and recover. Eight days after Roosevelt became president, the banking system was brought back to life and operational once again. Later in the 100 days, the Glass-Steagall Act was passed which banned banks from investing in the stock market. This was a response to the idea that a large part of the crash was due to banks’ excessive participation in the stock market and the act sought to insure that banks would stay secure in the future.
Another problem which Roosevelt sought to resolve was the strife experienced by the agricultural workers and farmers in America. To combat the dropping prices due to production of surplus crops, the Agricultural Adjustment Act was created, authorizing the government to pay farmers not to grow too many crops. This gave the farmers some desperately needed money as well as raising crop prices to enable them to make a decent living.
Roosevelt also wanted to create welfare programs and support for the poor and unemployed. He did this by creating the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, headed by Harry Hopkins. This program sent out millions of dollars for states to distribute to its poor. Roosevelt also created the Civil Conservation Corps, which gave jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by putting them to work improving national parks. He created a plan which would put $3.3 billion into giving people government jobs. This plan would eventually become the Works Progress Administration. The National Industrial Recovery Act was also passed, which regulated a variety of aspects of industry. Section 7A of this act stated that workers had the right to unionize and collectively bargain with corporations. The NIRA was soon shut down by the Supreme Court, but important sections of it remained, including this critical right of workers to unionize.
Through the quick actions of Roosevelt and his Cabinet, America was rescued from sinking even deeper into the Great Depression. The administration was able to stabilize banks, improve quality of life for farmers, and create a system of employment and welfare to fight poverty. All of this was accomplished in a frenzy of legislation during Roosevelt’s first 100 days of presidency.
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1906802_1906838_1906979-2,00.html
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3439
http://academic.regis.edu/jriley/414%20roosevelts_first_100_days.htm
I liked your detailed discussion of how Roosevelt implemented depression recovery policies within the short span of the first hundred days of his presidency. The Roosevelt administration's Great Depression recovery closely mirrors the Bush and Obama administrations' Great Recession recovery efforts. In 2009, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provided for about $800 billion in government spending and tax cuts as a stimulus package and a safety net for the economy. During the end of the Bush administration, the Treasury Department started buying up risky mortgage bonds (taking them out of banks' hands). The administration also passed the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The Federal Reserve also played a huge role--it lowered interest rates for banks, bought bonds, and in doing so stimulated bank lending and corporate spending. From giving security to banks to increasing government regulation, the Great Recession recovery closely resembles Roosevelt's Great Depression recovery.
ReplyDeletehttp://time.com/money/4176949/who-really-dug-us-out-of-the-great-recession/
Nice post Shawn, I found the whole thing very interesting, but a couple parts peaked my interest in particular. The Glass-Steagall Act was one of these things. Why banks failed when the stock market crashed was a big question I had because I knew that banks today do not really invest in stocks. Your mentioning of this act help to clear this up and give me some incite as to why banks do not invest in stocks. I also wonder what Roosevelt's intentions were with the NIRA. I know that this probably helped out a great number of peopled. However, by strengthening unions, it hurt blacks that were kept out of unions and I am just curious if this was ever considered when making the bill.
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