Honors blog FDR!

FDR became president in some very hard times the The Great Depression was something that he had to deal with in his time in office. Not an easy task for anyone let alone a president. FDR and his administration had a lot on their hands they ,had to do a lot of planning on what they were going to do in order to change the status of the country. Banks were crashing many, many people lost their jobs and they could barely get any money for them and their family to survive. Coming into this FDR knew his was in for a challenge, he made a promise coming into presidency according to the nation of Nations FDR says. " I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people..". He had to prove that once he had become president, the challenge was going to be great with, "more than 12 million unemployed, 30 banks a week failing, factories idle, farms on the auction block, and prices plummeting..." according to Nation of Nations , he was in for a big one. Through this New Deal FDR was able to do many thing to change the economic system, help the people, and the prevention of future depressions.

FDR had to work fast on getting the economic system back up. The very next day after his inauguration he closed all of the nations banks for four days called the "bank holiday". He wanted to reform the economic crisis the nation was in. The government became involved with the banks under FDR's presidency. The banks that were doing ok would reopen with government support, the banks that were having trouble would be handed over, " to the federal conservators, who would guide them to solvency." So basically the government was becoming more involved with the handling of money, they did not want this to happen again. The financial reforms gave the government more authority to manage the currency and regulate the exchange of stocks transactions. The Glass-Steagall Banking act created federal insurance for banks deposits " up to 2,500". Under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) fewer banks failed for the rest of the decade. FDR and his administration had to make plans and this one worked it helped all of the failing banks, Th FDIC was a great thing that was made through the New deal. Now he just had to find ways to better the state of the rest of the problems.

FDR was able to save the banks and the financial markets but this was of no help the the people who were suffering because they could not find a job anywhere. At first FDR and the government were basically giving things away to the people through FERA, (Federal Emergency Relief Administration). Then he felt that instead of just giving things away he could create jobs for the people, the "Civil Works Administration (CWA) employed 4 million Americans." That program was to costly so FDR disbanded it in 1934 . Many other work relief programs were then created, to give many of the unemployed Americans jobs. Another example would be the CCC ( Civilian Conservation Corps). This program gave them jobs to basically conserve the youth, it took unmarried 18-25 year olds, to do work int he woods ,and fields, they would have to ,"plant trees, build parks, and fight soil erosion." This program gave 2.5 million young men jobs. This was a great advance to help relieve the unemployed. in the year 1935 the Social Security act was passed to help the elderly, poor, the infirm, and dependent children. It was liek a "new social contract" between the people and the government, they would get insurance in the work place, and the unemployed would get pension, if they had lost their job. There were many programs that were developed in the time FDR was president in order to make things right in the nation and for the nation, he also planned ahead making things that would hep now and in the future so that this would not happen again.

Some of the things that FDR and his administration had come up with were meant to prevent the another depression. The FDIC gave insurance to the people who deposited their money into the banks. This would help not only the people but also the economy neither of them would loose the money because the deposit was insured. The Securities Exchange act (1934) "established a new federal agency, the securities and exchange commission" would over see the stock. The Social Security gave the people a great amount of help and these are some things that are still here today, helping when we need it. These acts were very well thought out they help the people and the economy.

FDR and his administration came up with he New Deal to establish some order into the nation. With the New Deal the government got to play a bigger role, " according to the Nation Of Nations, "it made lasting reforms in the nation's economic system and committed the federal government to a more active role in managing the ups and downs of the business cycle." The government became more involved in the business world and they had more control over the management of the currency. The New Deal brought many new programs into the nation, many of which fell through after some time, a lot of them were effective but "The welfare state had limits, most of the relief measures were designed to last no longer than the crisis." according to the Nation Of Nations. Even thought a lot of the programs did no last they did help the nation in a hard time, and some of these programs are still here today like the FDIC, FCIC, FHA, and also social security. FDR and his administration where able to help the country then and keep it going into the future they left their mark, and if you know about he New deal you can see what it still does today.


Sources:

Davidson, James West, Brian Delay, William E Gienapp, Christine Leigh Heyrman, Mark H Lytle, and Michael B Stoff. Nation of Nations, Volume 2: Since 1865. New York City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2007.