Roosevelt and the Great Depression
The Great Depression of the 1930’s was a great blow to America especially after the seeming prosperity of the twenties. The depression was a result not of false prosperity in the twenties, although the distribution of wealth was very uneven the affluence was very real, but rather from a lack of economic and political maturity to address the problems either before 1929 or as a cure post 1929. The Great Depression is often seen as a result of the twenties when rather it was a failure of the thirties. If the necessary policies had been drawn up in the twenties there would have been widespread hatred for these policies by the wealthy ruling class.
“Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”-- Quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1933). Franklin D.Roosevelt was a man determine to get the United State of America out of the economic depression, and was successful doing so. He created new government programs and organized groups of people to help the financial situation occurring in the United States. In his first hundred days in office he took factitive and immediate action. He took immediate action to halt the economic deterioration. Franklin D. Roosevelt was an instrumental person involved in saving the United States for the Great Depression.
Do you know what it’s like to live in a cardboard home, starve, and raise a family in poverty? Unfortunately, most Americans in the 1930s went through this on a day-to-day basis. In 1929 the stock market crashed. Many people lost their life savings; they invested everything they owned in a failing stock market. The country was falling, everyone needed strong leadership and help from the government.
In July 1932, Roosevelt was chosen by the Democratic Party as its presidential candidate to run against the Republican incumbent, Herbert C. Hoover. In November, Roosevelt was overwhelmingly elected President. He entered the White House at the worst of times, the economic structure of the country severely damaged. “Fear and despair hung over the nation.� Roosevelt’s inaugural speech had words of hope for the troubled country---“Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself�---“ “This Nation asks for action, and action now. We must act and act quickly.� And act quickly he did in what became known as the “Hundred Days.� He and his administration rushed a series of anti-depression measures through congress; all of these changes to the American economy became called the “New Deal.� Some of the major changes included Government agencies, most notably the Agricultural Administration and the Public Works Administration were setup to “reorganize industry and agriculture under controls and to revive the economy by a vast expenditure of public funds.
Roosevelt was elected president in 1932. Once he was elected he came up with the New Deal programs. These programs were a series of government funded projects that lowered unemployment, strengthened the value of the dollar, and kept money in circulation. The purpose of the New Deal programs were the 3 R’s; relief, recovery, and reform. Direct relief and economic recovery were the short term goals and financial reform was the long term goal of the New Deal programs. (Big Tent Democract) The New Deal programs did reach some of their short term goals, but did not ever reach the long term goal of financial reform. Roosevelt’s New Deal did not improve America’s economy as many people believe. In fact, the New Deal has harmed America in the long run.
Between the time Roosevelt was elected president and was actually sworn into office, America continued to suffer due to the Depression and the economy only grew worse. As soon as Roosevelt was finally in office, he immediately began creating policies and organizations to end the depression, and these became known as the New Deal. During the first one hundred days of his presidency alone, 15 major acts were passed by congress in efforts to end the Depression. One of the first issues Roosevelt addressed during these first hundred days was th...
When Roosevelt became president, on March 4, 1933, the Great Depression was at its worst. Sixteen million or more people were unemployed, and many had been out of work for a year or even longer. The American banking system had collapsed. Whether Americans would be satisfied with the new leadership depended on Roosevelt's success in bringing aid to those in distress and in achieving some measure of economic improvement. Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration was able to create many laws that benefited the people, however the people complained that they were not created fast enough, even though they were effective and had a lasting impact on the federal government.
The era of the Great Depression was by far the worst shape the United States had ever been in, both economically and physically. Franklin Roosevelt was elected in 1932 and began to bring relief with his New Deal. In his first 100 days as President, sixteen pieces of legislation were passed by Congress, the most to be passed in a short amount of time. Roosevelt was re-elected twice, and quickly gained the trust of the American people. Many of the New Deal policies helped the United States economy greatly, but some did not. One particularly contradictory act was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was later declared unconstitutional by Congress. Many things also stayed very consistent in the New Deal. For example, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and Social Security, since Americans were looking for any help they could get, these acts weren't seen as a detrimental at first. Overall, Roosevelt's New Deal was a success, but it also hit its stumbling points.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is memorialized in the minds of Americans as one of the greatest presidents we’ve ever known. His programs ended the Great Depression, he brought Americans together after the attacks on Pearl Harbour and he lead the country to victory against fascist Germany during WWII. He was a Democrat, arguably a socialist, and a man of the people. When he was first elected at the height of the Great Depression in 1933, he was faced with what seemed an impossible task of ending the Great Depression. The Great Depression was, at this point, not just a economic problem but a problem deeply imbedded in the American psyche: we didn’t believe anyone could fix the problems. For a president known for how he addressed the people, on
In the 1920’s, The United States exploded joyously, ignited by a fuse of false prosperity. Problems seemed to correct themselves as the economy boomed, the engines of automobiles roared, and people’s attitudes brightened. However, certain problems were simultaneously building such as the fall of the stock market, a reduction in buying all across the board, and overproduction of goods. A reason that these problems persisted was because the federal government didn’t have the power or will to get involved in public affairs. To make matters worse, President Hoover ardently believed that if he left the problems alone, they would fix themselves. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, he acted swiftly to try to stabilize the economy and provide jobs and relief to those who were suffering. Over the next eight years, the government instituted a series of experimental projects and programs, known collectively as the “New Deal”, which aimed to restore some measure of dignity and prosperity to many Americans. More than that, Roosevelt’s New Deal permanently changed the federal government’s relationship to the U.S. population.