In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President. He
received 23 million votes
while Hoover got fifteen million. When Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933 he said,
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."The New Deal
In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President. He
received 23 million votes
while Hoover got fifteen million. When Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933 he said,
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Roosevelt felt the government should have a say in how business is carried on. He wanted laws to control business and help the people. He called it social legislation. Others called it the New Deal.
The first set of laws was to declare a
Bank Holiday. Banks were closed for a short time
to recover. Roosevelt went on the radio in what he called a Fireside Chat. He told people
he had closed the banks to help them.
He asked people to leave their money in the banks as
long as possible. People listened to Roosevelt. The bank panic ended.
Roosevelt had three goals for his New Deal.
In first 100 days after Roosevelt was in office Congress passed many laws needed to get this done. They were:
The government lent banks money.
Money in banks was insured.
The government helped the farmers by lending them money.
The government controlled the prices of farm products.Not everything Roosevelt tried worked. The National Recovery Act (NRA) was passed in June of 1933. This was to help people by cutting down the number of hours a person could work, so more could be hired. The law set a minimum wage. The NRA tried to bring the prices of goods down. The NRA did not work because there was no way to set limits for production in every business. In 1935 the Supreme Court found the NRA unconstitutional.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) began
in 1933 and 1935. The CCC offered outdoor work to unemployed men between the ages of 18 to
25. They planted 
trees, cleared brush, made reservoirs. They were given rooms, food, and a
salary of $30 a month.
The WPA was an agency they tried to put out-of-work people back to work. They built
roads, schools, wrote books, painted pictures and worked in
hospital and
libraries.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was set up in 1933. The TVA built
dams to supply
electricity for water and to stop floods.
The Social Security Act was passed in 1935. This took care of the
sick and the old.
The
Unemployment Insurance Act in 1935 made it possible for states to give money to the
people who were out of work.
By 1937 the U. S. Economy was almost back to where it had been. The Depression ended with the Second World War in 1939 - 1940.
The Roaring Twenties ||| The Stock Market Crash ||| The Great
Depression ||| The New Deal
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Activities for the 1930's ||| Return
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