Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The New Deal

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States. In 1932, when he was elected into office, one quarter of the USA was unemployed, this is said to be the worst year of the Great Depression (Roosevelt Institution 1). When Roosevelt took office he immediately began to make changes, including New Deal. Prior to when Roosevelt was elected he promised the citizens of the United States the New Deal. The promise of the New Deal gave people a sense of hope in a time when everyone was suffering. This is one of the main reasons why Roosevelt was voted in, instead of Hoover being re-elected. Roosevelt was also able to relate to the people on a personal level, which is portrayed through his Fireside Chats. Throughout Roosevelt’s thirteen

Roosevelt passed a “Four day Bank Holiday” in March 1933. This made people stop withdrawing their money from the banks that were about to collapse, which gave the banks a chance to calm down and have hope for recovering (History 1). The second major title followed Roosevelt’s three R plan by having it as a form of recovery. The law that was passed was the Banking Conservation Act; this was an act that would only work if the Bank Holiday was passed and successful. Its sole purpose was to reorganize thousands of Banks about to crash. The final major title came as Reform and gave Hoovers, Reconstruction Finance Corporation the jurisdiction over money in the Government to loan out to troubled banks. This was the last time Roosevelt acknowledged Hoover’s previous relief efforts including the RFC. Finally, on March 9th, he passed “The Emergency Banking Act” (EBA), and went on Fireside Chats, which was a radio show, and encouraged people to put their money back into the banks, one month later three banks reopened. This seems like a very small accomplishment but this was the first sign of hope for getting through the Great Depression (FDR Library 1). The