President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal, Essay Example

On the morning of March 4, 1933, the American people woke up to find that they had a new President in the form of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. At this time, the United States was experiencing one of the greatest economic catastrophes in American history–the Great Depression which apparently began shortly after the end of Prohibition in 1931. As Brenda Haugen relates, “millions of Americans were confused and fearful as they sought to comprehend the meaning of the economic crisis,” but most had not given up hope of a recovery. ¹ Thus, while in a mood of “mingled anxiety and hopelessness, millions of Americans gathered around their radio sets” to hear the new President outline his plans for America’s future. ²

During his first inaugural address to the American people, President Roosevelt assured the country that “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” and that immediate action on the part of the U.S. federal government and his administration was necessary in order to bring the American economy back from the brink of destruction. Roosevelt also declared that his first and major goal was to put the American people back to work through a series of programs that became known as the New Deal. Roosevelt also declared that if needed, he would seek emergency powers to “carry into effect the policies that he deemed as mandatory” so as to alleviate the suffering of millions of Americans, out of work and desperate for change. ³

The political career of Franklin Roosevelt was somewhat similar to that of his uncle Theodore Roosevelt. Before being stricken with polio, Roosevelt served in theState Senate of New York and was assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy. In 1920, he became the Democratic nominee for Vice President, but this was curtailed when he became sill with polio in 1921. However, Roosevelt “retained an active interest in politics and in 1928 was elected as Governor of New York State.” In 1930, Roosevelt was re-elected as Governor and in the eyes of many in Washington, D.C. appeared to be an ideal Democratic candidate for the Presidency. ⁴

Within the first one hundred days of the creation of his administration, President Roosevelt “moved swiftly to resolve one of the major problems associated with the Great Depression,” namely, the banking crisis. First of all, Roosevelt ordered that the few remaining banks that were open for business close their doors, and on March 9, 1933, he presented a bill to the U.S. Congress that “empowered the Department of Treasury to determine when the banks could reopen” in order to provide Roosevelt with “broad powers to regulate foreign exchange and to expand the authority of the Federal Reserve Board to issue” new banknotes or currency. ⁵

On March 12, 1933, President Roosevelt spoke on American radio via his now famous fireside chats in which he told the American people that restructuring the banking system was of prime importance. As an unidentified newspaper reporter commented several days later, the “reassuring quality of the President’s speech helped to project the image that he was in complete control of the situation.” ⁶ Thus, within the passage of a mere eight days since becoming President, Roosevelt “worked a psychological miracle by reviving the drooping spirits” of the American people. ⁷

The next goal as outlined by the President was to alleviate the distress of the unemployed which at the time was approaching 25% of the total U.S. population. ⁸ On March 21, Roosevelt asked the U.S. Congress to approve a three part attack related to unemployment–first, he recommended an expansion of all federal programs related to public works; second, he insisted that grants of federal funds to the states must be increased in order to provide unemployed Americans with relief assistance; and third, he created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), one of his personal favorites that he hoped would help to “conserve human and natural resources by employing young men and women in federal programs,” such as flood relief, soil conservation, and reforestation. ⁹ In many ways, President Roosevelt was one of America’s earliest conservationists, much like his uncle Theodore Roosevelt who also understood the vital importance of conserving America’s natural resources and using its manpower to bring about change.

In swift progression, President Roosevelt and the U.S. Congress passed a number of federal programs created to help bring an end to the Great Depression. Some of these included the Farm Credit Administration (FCA), the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), and the National Recovery Administration (NRA). Overall, these and other federal programs proved to be highly successful despite the opposition of some who saw them as unconstitutional. By the mid to late 1930’s, America had partially recovered from the Great Depression which in many ways was a godsend because in 1941, the U.S. was attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii which officially began World War II. In retrospect, if Roosevelt’s New Deal has failed to materialize, America might have been conquered by the Japanese which in effect would have altered the future history of the nation.

Endnotes

1. Brenda Haugen, Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The New Deal President (Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2006), 34.
2. Ibid, 35.
3. Harold Whitman Bradley, History of the United States From 1865 (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975), 289.
4. Ibid, 289.
5. Ibid, 290.
6. Ibid, 291.
7. Ibid, 293.
8. Haugen, 134.
9. Bradley, 291.

Bibliography

Bradley, Harold Whitman. History of the United States From 1865. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975.

Haugen, Brenda. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The New Deal President. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2006.