The election of 1932 led America down a path of both disaster and prosperity. The nominees were Herbert Hoover, running for the Republican Party, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, running for the Democratic Party. Franklin Delano Roosevelt received 59% of the popular votes and 89% of the electoral count. He won the election of 1932 and was inaugurated in 1933. To many Americans, FDR saved the country from the Great Depression; however, many others believe the New Deal hurt the country. No matter the view, the New Deal changed America in a revolutionary way through the Glass-Steagall Act, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the National Recovery Administration, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, and the Social Security Act. The New Deal consists of multiple economic and political policies created by FDR in an attempt to benefit America during the Great Depression. The New Deal had been an idea of FDR’s before the election, but was fully in motion beginning with the Hundred Days Congress. Members of the Democratic Congress worked together from March 9th to June 16th in 1933. During this time, multiple new legislations were produced which tried to quickly improve America’s economic status. The first major act of the New Deal was the Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act, commonly known as the Glass-Steagall Act. The Glass-Steagall Act was passed in 1933 and the main purpose was to provide for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC insured up to individual deposits up $5,000. The Glass-Steagall Act ended the continual demise of bank failures, which had been an occurring issue since Andrew Jackson. Along with this act, FDR tried to protect America’s currency. He required that all private holdings of gold be given to the treasury in exchange for paper money. He then took the nation off of the gold standard, which guaranteed that paper money would be redeemed in gold. The result of these actions was a “managed currency,” which had the goal of inflation. FDR’s gold-buying scheme ended in 1934 when he returned the country to a limited gold standard for the purposes of international trade only. After the Glass-Steagall Act, Roosevelt took charge on the unemployment crisis in our country. Roosevelt thought it would be best to use federal money to assist the unemployed. In response, the Hundred Days Congress created the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, was a very popular “alphabetical agency” of the New Deal. The CCC provided unemployed men jobs in fresh-air government camps. About 3 million uniformed men were helped, and had this law not been passed, many may have ended up as criminals. Many of the workers served in firefighting, reforestation, flood control, and swamp drainage. Quickly after the CCC, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration was founded, which had the goal of immediate relief instead of long-term recovery. The Hundred Days Congress gave relief to two major groups: the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation and the Agricultural Adjustment Act. In an attempt to stimulate a nationwide comeback, the Emergency Congress authorized the National Recovery Administration, or NRA.
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It was authored in an attempt to combine immediate relief with long term recovery and reform. The main design aspect was to assist labor, industry, and the unemployed. Under the NRA, workers were given many benefits, including the ability to organize and bargain collectively by choosing their own representatives. Also, the “yellow dog” contract was forbidden and there were many more regulations placed on child labor. The NRA soon became heavily criticized due to the competition it brought on between companies. A short while after the NRA was authorized, the PWA, or Public Works Administration, was authorized. The goal of the PWA was to help both industrial recovery and unemployment. Over time, about $4 billion was spent on projects such as highways. One of the biggest projects was the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River. This was produced to help irrigate farmland. Another major step towards improving the farming industry was the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration(AAA) had the idea of establishing “parity prices” used to basic necessities. A “parity price” was the price given to a food item from the
It was authored in an attempt to combine immediate relief with long term recovery and reform. The main design aspect was to assist labor, industry, and the unemployed. Under the NRA, workers were given many benefits, including the ability to organize and bargain collectively by choosing their own representatives. Also, the “yellow dog” contract was forbidden and there were many more regulations placed on child labor. The NRA soon became heavily criticized due to the competition it brought on between companies. A short while after the NRA was authorized, the PWA, or Public Works Administration, was authorized. The goal of the PWA was to help both industrial recovery and unemployment. Over time, about $4 billion was spent on projects such as highways. One of the biggest projects was the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River. This was produced to help irrigate farmland. Another major step towards improving the farming industry was the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration(AAA) had the idea of establishing “parity prices” used to basic necessities. A “parity price” was the price given to a food item from the