What Are Franklin Roosevelt's Three Programs

A document which supports why bank failures were a cause of the Great Depression is document 4 which states, "First of all let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault. It invests your money in many different forms of credit-bonds, commercial paper, mortgages and many other kinds of loans.'' (Doc. 4 Franklin D. Roosevelt). From this it is shown that the president at that time, Roosevelt, clearly states that the banks were "playing" with the money of the U.S. citizens. This comes to support the prior information because the banks were in fact not keeping the lifesavings of the public safe but instead investing it for their own benefit.

After Roosevelt was elected president, one of his first actions was to restore the banking system. The banking crisis can be attributed to risky loans made by the banks following World War One. After the stock market crashed, many Americans rushed to take all of their money out of the banks. The people were gripped with the fear of losing their money, so this forced the banks to shut down. In his inaugural address, Roosevelt “vowed to use federal

The government played a large role in funding the development of the many cutting edge technologies during this time period. This was a time period where government introduced never before seen laws that dramatically increased spending. The most sweeping legislation developed during this time period was the New Deal signed by President Theodore Roosevelt. The New Deal tried to provide relief from the Great Depression through programs of regulation, inflation, price stabilization, and public works. This also created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), National Recovery Administration (NRA), Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), Civilian Conservation Corps, and the Public Works Administration (Columbia, 2013). The most well-known agency today is the FDIC which insures bank deposits up to a limit. This was aimed at preventing future runs on the bank. The New Deal also attempted to

In 1929 the Stock Market crashed was said to have “ushered in” the Great Depression. After Wall Street and the Stock Market crash of 1929, the banks began to fail. By 1933 over half of the banks in the United States had failed and went out of business. The economy came to a full stop as businesses could no longer access credit lines to purchase inventory, checks were no longer accepted as currency due to the multitude of failing financial institutions which led to an unemployment rate reported to be as much as 30 percent of the available workforce. (“First measured century: Timeline,” n.d.)

Thesis: The various programs created by FDR’s New Deal helped bring the United States out of The Great Depression.

After the tragic Stock Market Crash of 1933, America had plunged into a deep depression. Over 9,000 banks nationwide were closing their doors. After the Stock Market Crash, President Herbert Hoover was in office working ceaselessly to fix what was left of the economy. However, his effort did not seem to be enough. In the election of 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt won by a landslide. Roosevelt stated, “This nation asks for action and action now,” and he did just that.(Barbour, 82) He saved countless families from poverty that was spreading like wildfire across the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a portion of the New Deal formulated by Franklin D. Roosevelt to help save America from poverty caused by bank failures. “Roosevelt’s New Deal preserved the American democratic capitalist system.” (Schlesinger 137)

In conclusion, the Great Depression was a downside of America’s history. But, in the dark times, one of our nation’s best presidents came into light. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. This meant in those times that Americans were doing more harm than good. When they withdrew their stocks and money from the banks, they were causing more damage to the economy. With shutting down the banks and getting congress together, they were able to solve the dilemmas of the Great Depression through actions taken by federal and state

Roosevelt had to fulfill his most important campaign promise, the new deal. “If the new deal is a success, a friend told Roosevelt in 1933, you will be remembered as the greatest American president. If I fail, Roosevelt replied, I will be remembered as the last one. “ (“FDR”) Roosevelt moved to put the government itself on a budget, freeing up federal dollars for relief and reform measures. (www.pbs.org) He boosted the morale by making the sale of beer and wine legal. FDR also launched a congregation of recovery endeavors, which were dubbed “alphabet soup” programs for the acronyms that identified them. The civilian conservation Corps (CCC) put 2.5 million men to work on conservation and reforestation projects. (Stolley, 86) FDR believed that the assembling of the National Recovery Administration was the most important legislation of the early New Deal. “The NRA was meant to stop wasteful competition, encourage better regulated pricing and selling policies and provide for higher wages and shorter hours throughout the American business community.” (Alsop, 123) During the Farm crisis, President Roosevelt initiated the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA). This financed farmers for limiting the size of their crops. It assisted to make the farming community more solvent, also at the same time reducing the massive surpluses that had run down produce prices. (Alsop, 124) The most popular New Deal ideas

This caused millions of americans to lose their life's savings as well as build up a distrust of bank in the future. The New Deal established the emergency Banking bill which closed down banks for a while to give them some time to recover. In addition to the banking bill the FDIC( Federal Deposit insurance Corporation) insured banks for up to 5000 dollars this greatly benefited both the banks and the people since it added a safety net for the bank which by association helps the Americans who use them because they are less likely to fail. This improved the low morale of the people during the

Arguably one of the best programs that the New Deal brought on was the WPA (Works Progress Administration). The WPA generated 3 million plus jobs alone for the young men in America (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-creates-the-wpa). The picture shown

Unlike Hoover, FDR was proactive, against rugged individualism and believed in a strong centralized government in order to get out of the deep depression. The programs that FDR initiated through the New Deal are still beneficial and in place to this day. The Social Security Act (SSA) provided checks that ensured the welfare of citizens. This program provided coverage to the disabled, children, adults, and more. Pension is also another aspect that the SSA provided and still provides to the elderly. The SSA provided recovery to many people during the Great Depression and it continues to be used in our society today. Unemployment benefits also originated from FDR’s New Deal and are still available to American citizens today. These forms of government securities benefit the American people and all owe their American benefits to FDR’s forward thinking attitude and his New Deal

The Great Depression is undoubtedly one of the most significant events in American and world history. It was the most widespread depression in the 20th century affecting most nations in the world and lasting for as long as a decade. However, there still remain unanswered questions regarding the cause of the great depression. One of the most debated topics regarding the Great Depression continues to be the role of the Federal Reserve (Fed) in causing and prolonging the crisis. The Federal Reserve, the central banking system of the United States, was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, primarily in response to a series of financial panics in 1907. The Fed had being in existence for 15 years before the

With troubling incidents like the stock market crash of 1929, reform was highly necessary to never have a relapse of these events in the future. Historian Allan Nevins says that the New Deal was the epiphany the government needed to possess greater responsibility for the economic welfare of its citizens. It made the government initiate attempts to reorganize the economic turmoil and restore the people’s faith in banking system which was successful with the Emergency Banking Relief Act and Bank Holiday. Congress allotted for the Treasury Department to weed out the unfit banks and reopen the stable banks, significantly lowering bank failures. Especially with measures like the Glass-Steagall Act it offered assurance and insurance to citizens with a compensation of 5,000 dollars in the case of an inconvenience of their bank and since the creation of the FDIC there were no incidents in which a depositor has lost its insured funds. Many of the legislations passed under the Reform point remained for fifty years to prove the reliability and effectiveness like the Securities and Exchange Commission that regulated stock market activities and prevented another large scale crash to occur, keeping the economy at bay. And the Social Security Act of 1935 to reinforce the sensation of

Fortunately, J.P. Morgan, the exorbitantly rich New York businessman came to the aid of the financial system. He organized a group of bankers who shifted their funds to the failing banks. Depositors were assured their savings were protected and could be withdrawn whenever they wanted. The demand subsided and

The banking industry as a whole after the stock market crashed was going bankrupt due to not being able to carry the “bad debt” that was created from using customer money to buy stock. Because the banks were out of money, they were unable to cover customer withdrawals from their bank, causing many bank customers to lose all of their savings. With the uncertainty of the future of the banking industry, many people withdrew all of their savings, which caused more than 9,000 banks to close their doors and go out of business (Kelly). Due to the effects of the Great Depression, and the collapse of the banking industry, the government created regulations to prevent similar failure in the future. For Example, the SEC, (or Securities Exchange Commission), which regulates the sell and trade of stocks, bonds and other investments was created as a result of The Great Depression. The FDIC (or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), was created to insure bank accounts so that that the consumer would be protected if the bank were to go out of business (Kelly). The Great Depression's effect on the banking industry led to many useful changes to the banking industry and helped restore confidence in banks in the American people.