FDR and the New Deal

During the height of the Great Depression in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President. During this point of the depression, unemployment rates reached all-time highs with cities such as Toledo, Ohio having an 80% unemployment rate and a total of 1/4 of the American people were unemployed. Through the next 8 years of his presidency, Roosevelt would try to stabilize the economy and provide relief to Americans through several projects and programs that would be known as the New Deal. 

The day after his inaugural address on March 4, 1933 FDR declared a four-day bank holiday in an attempt to stop people from withdrawing money from the failing banks. Five days later, Congress passed his Emergency Banking Act. Through this Roosevelt reorganized the banks and closed all that were bankrupt. In the following days, he urged the American people to trust the banks again and put their savings back in them, by the end of the month nearly three-quarters of the banks had reopened. 

During the first one hundred days of his presidency, Roosevelt began making huge changes. He started by asking Congress to begin taking the steps towards ending prohibition. By the end of the year the 21st Amendment was passed, effectively ending prohibition. Up until prohibition the federal government had been making hundreds of million of dollars ($483,050,854 in 1919 which is equal to $6,924,460,802 today) in revenue from taxes. It was estimated that upon its repeal the government would make upwards of $500,000,000 or around 7 trillion dollars today. 

He later went on to sign the Tennessee Valley Authority Act in May. This enabled the federal government to build dams throughout the Tennessee River to control flooding and generate power for those in the area. The TVA became a federal entity that had the flexibility of a private business. Congress also passed a bill that paid farmers to stop producing goods such as dairy, corn, and wheat in an attempt to put an end to the surplus and hike up the prices. 

The National Industrial Recovery Act guaranteed the right of the workers to unionize and the ability to negotiate for higher wages and improved working conditions. It forced companies to write industrywide codes of fair competition which effectively set wages and prices. Also, establishing production quotas and restrictions on the entry of other companies into such alliances. It also effectively gave workers the right to unionize. Up until this point, the courts backed the rights of the employer over that of the worker. As a result of the act, the National Recovery Administration was created. The NRA was meant to create industrial codes for companies to use. The act was later declared unconstitutional in 1935 by the Supreme Court. 

Though his initial wave of reform was effective, it began to lose impact as the Great Depression continued and unemployment only worsened. Because of this Roosevelt launched the Second New Deal in 1935. He began by creating the Works Progress Administration which was meant to provide jobs for the unemployed. The WPA wasn't allowed to compete with private industry so they turned to building public areas such as post offices, parks, and schools. 

He then went on to pass the National Labor Relations Act a.k.a the Wagner Act which was created to supervise union elections and protect the workers from businesses treating them unfairly. Its main purpose was to provide legal rights for workers (excluding those in the Agricultural and Domestic industries) to join unions and negotiate with their employers. As a result, the National Labor Relations Board was created to hear out and resolve disputes between unions and employers. 

Finally, Roosevelt went on to sign the Social Security Act of 1935, guaranteeing pensions for the American people. Originally advocated for by Francis E. Townsend, a physician, who demanded a $200 monthly pension for all over the age of 60. 

The act only called for funding from payroll taxes on both employers and employees. It has since been amended to include such services and medicare and to help those who are disabled leaving them unable to support themselves.

Sources:

http://www.history.com/topics/new-deal 

http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1931092500#H2_2

http://www.saving.org/inflation/inflation.php?amount=500,000,000

https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Industrial-Recovery-Act

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wagner-Act

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Social-Security-Act-United-States-1935