Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Rise to Presidency in 1932

Rise in Politics

• Privileged upbringing• Studied law at Harvard• NY state senator• Assistant Sec. of US Navy• Struck with polio but gained popularity-kept

political correspondence from bed• Restructured Democratic Party, promoted public

works, social security, and unemployment benefits

Election of 1932

• Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) elected President• Offered Americans a “New Deal”

1st 100 days

• Declared a Bank Holiday: temporarily closed banks to prevent withdrawals. Banks opened as government decided they were stable enough

• Emergency banking Relief Act to stabilize banks and Economy Act to balance Federal Budget

NIRA

• National Industrial Recovery Act: $3 billion for public works to create jobs and set guidelines for fair working conditions

FERA

• Federal Emergency Relief Administration: direct relief to unemployed

AAA

• Agricultural Adjustment Act: encouraged farmers to reduce production of crops, paid farmers to destroy crops or livestock or to not farm at all

TVA

• Tennessee Valley Authority: Build Dams along Tennessee River to create cheap electricity

Fireside Chats

• FDR held informal talks to Americans via Public Radio to encourage them and give them hope

CCC

• Civilian Conservation Corps: hired young men to work on National parks and provided them with necessities, paid them a monthly wage (which was usually sent home to help their families)

Criticism of the New Deal

• Minorities and elderly did not feel like they were gaining support

• American Liberty League thought FDR was a socialist trying to Sovietize America with government created jobs

Union Party

• Formed to Challenge FDR’s policies• Francis Townsend: FDR neglects elderly• Huey Long: FDR is Pro Business• Coughlin: Challenged FDR in the 1936

election-he lost and FDR becomes Pres. for 2nd term

2nd hundred days

• More $$$ for social programs to help those in poverty

• Some begin to question the constitutionality of FDR and the Democratic Party’s policies

• The Supreme Court rules FDR’s NIRA unconstitutional and many of the programs are stopped

FDR’s Legacy

• Women in politics: Frances Perkins-Secretary of Labor, Mary McLeod Bethune-National Youth Administration director

The Legacy continues

• Social Security Act: Workers save for pension to be accessed in later years

• FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-insures $$$$ deposited in banks