Roosevelt and the New Deal

-Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the president of America

in 1932 and came up with a new strategy of dealing with the
Great Depression called the New Deal.
-In the presidential election elections, Roosevelt emerged the
winner followed by Hoover. He got 23 million votes against
Hoover’s 16 million votes. It was the greatest victory in the
history of America by that time.
-The following factors made Roosevelt to win;
Hoover’s weaknesses.
1. Americans blamed Hoover for the Wall Street crash
because he had taken office shortly before it happened.
2. He was also blamed for not doing enough to solve the
Depression.
3. Americans hated how he dealt with the “bonus army/bonus
marchers” and felt that the country was descending into
violence.
4. In his campaign, what he offered people was that America
had turned the corner back towards prosperity.
-When he went for campaigns he was faced with hostility; his
train was hit with eggs and tomatoes and placards were raised
that read “hang Hoover”.

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 Roosevelt’s strengths.
1. He was seen as a fighter because polio attack didn’t stop
him from his political ambition.
2. When he was the governor for New York, he helped
ordinary people with old age pensions and un-employment
relief.
3. He believed that the government should use its power to
create a fairer society.
4. He promised a New Deal to the Americans. He outlined
policies that would create more jobs, give relief to the poor
and un-employed, reviving industry, agriculture and
banking crisis.
-Many Americans gained hope from Roosevelt’s words as the
only solution to the problem America was facing.

Source A. (Roosevelt speaking during the 1932 campaign).

I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a New Deal for the American
people. This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms.
Give me your help, not to win the votes alone, but to win in this
crusade to restore America. I am waging war against Destruction,
Delay, Deceit and Despair.

- After winning the elections, Roosevelt assumed the office

after four months according to the constitution.
- The economic situation got even worse;

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 1. The un-employment rate rose to 15million.
2. Thousands of banks went out of business.
-When he assumed office he worked at re building the economy
through the New Deal. It was aimed at 3Rs.
1. Relief-help the un-employed.
2. Recovery-rebuild the economy.
3. Reform-create a fairer and more just society.
-The government was to do that through putting more money
into the economy, which would create more jobs so people
would have money to spend and the demand for goods would
rise. That would lead to more employment and the cycle of
prosperity would continue.

The government spends money on the Alphabet Agencies.

More job creation would lead to more money to spend on
goods that would increase demand for goods and that would
eventually result to an increased production. This cycle would
continue.

The Hundred Days.

-Roosevelt laid down the foundation of the New Deal within
his first 100 days in office which was from March to June 1933.
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- That required a lot of state involvement and the
establishment of agencies. The congress granted him the
emergency powers and therefore he set up the Alphabet
Agencies. They were refered to that way because they were
better remembered through their initials and not their full name.
-He also saw the need of explaining to the people what had
happened and he did that through the radio (fireside chats).
That one was successful and he gained confidence amongst the
people.

Source C. Pg. 494.

Extract from Roosevelt’s first radio broadcast, 1933.
The only thing that we have to fear is fear itself. This nation asks for
action, and action now. Our greatest primary task is to put people to
work. This problem can be solved in part by the government creating
jobs and treating the tasks as we would treat the emergency of war.

Source D. Pg. 494.

Roosevelt’s wife, Eleanor, wrote about him.
His voice lent itself remarkable to the radio. It was a natural gift, for his
whole life he had never had a lesson in public speaking. His voice
definitely helped him to make the people of his country feel that they

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were an intelligent and understanding part of every government task
during his administration.
1. Helping the Banks.
-If the banks closed the economy would cease to work and
nobody would have money. If they opened they would
collapse so Roosevelt did a lot of efforts to solve this
problem.
a) Emergency Banking Act, March 1933.
-Banks were forced to stay closed for four days
(banking holiday).
-Those with hopeless finances were forced to close
permanently.
-The rest were promised grants by the government so
as to gain confidence in the government.
-Roosevelt broadcast to the nation asking them not to
panic and those with money were asked to take to the
banks. That worked and banks were saved.
b) The Securities Act.
-In order to avoid the Wall Street crash, companies
issuing new shares were asked to provide their full
information. The directors who failed were
prosecuted. The goal was so that investors make
informed investment decisions.
c) The Securities and Exchange Commission.
-It was set up in 1934 and given powers to control the
activities of the stock market.

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 -It created reporting and financial disclosure
requirements for companies listed on the stock
exchange (company stock transactions).

-Stopped fraudulent activities like insider trading (the

illegal practice of trading on the stock exchange to
one's own advantage through having access to
confidential information).

2. Helping Agriculture.

-The serious problem was overproduction which made

prices to remain low hence farmers were not able to live
well. Roosevelt was hence supposed to pay farmers for not
producing.

a) Agricultural Adjustment Act (A.A.A).

-It gave the government the power of influencing prices by
destroying the surplus production.
-It gave the farmers compensation for the lost produce.
-It helped the farmers who could not pay mortgage.
-It agreed with farmers on the sensible amounts to be
produced in future.
These measures made the farmers income to increase or
double in the period up to 1939. However, the farm
workers were not paid. Many of them lost their jobs
because there wasn’t much to do.
A ruling by the Supreme Court caused AAA to close.

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 b) Resettlement Administration (R.A).
-It helped poor farmers by purchasing equipment for them
and resettling them in the land they purchased.
- It gave grants to farmers for soil conservation schemes.

3. Helping the un-employed.

-The key to the success of the New Deal was job creation
so as to solve the problem of unemployment.
-A number of agencies were set up to deal with the
problem.
a) Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C)
-The purpose was to provide conservation works for the
un-employed.
-Action: Camps were jointly organised by the US army and
US Forestry service. Young men of ages 18-25yrs. were
given 6 months service in return for food, shelter and
pocket money.
Success:
-300,000 people joined in 1933. By 1941 2.5 million people
had taken part. It was very popular with those that had
participated and they got employment thereafter.
-Millions of trees were planted, reservoirs, forest roads, fire
lookouts and canals built.

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