FDR’s Alphabet Soup

The TVA was more successful in helping the environment because it greatly improved the condition of the land in the Tennessee Valley, which was thought to be irreparable. A major goal of Roosevelts going into his first presidential term was land preservation. “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people”(Roosevelt). The area of the Tennessee Valley was so badly damaged, the land was believed by some to be nearly beyond repair. As reported by the assistant secretary of agriculture at the time, Rexford Tugwell, the land conditions in the Tennessee Valley were “little better, if any, than that of the early

The article The New Deal, by Thomas Kessner, outlines Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s pre presidency, but more importantly, the policy he used in an attempt to bring America back to its pre Great Depression economic greatness. In order to do so, Roosevelt expanded federal authority over American citizens. He implemented a progressive income tax as well as created numerous federal work projects, aimed at increasing employment, as well as use federal money to help the economy. One example the author uses to prove this point of the large amount of projects is the Tennessee Valley Authority initiative, which spanned across seven states. The projects worked towards economic development and conservation. This projects protected endangered forests, built dams, and brought electricity and running water to the people.

Herbert Hoover was elected president of the United States on November 19, 1928; unfortunately, less than eight months later, the stock market crashed. Hoover mistakenly considered this crash as only a passing point for America. But it was only three years later when economic slowdown and over speculation brought America into an upcoming Great Depression. This was a devastating blow for Hoover, his administration, and the American people. President Hoover attempted many ways to fix the economy. He founded new government agencies and encouraged cooperation between government and business to try to stabilize prices as well as attempt to balance the budget. These relief attempts might have shown positive outcome in the early years of the depression, but as the economy worsened, calls for more government involvement increased.

Herbert Hoover, the president in office when the Great Depression hit the country, did very little to ameliorate the devastating situation. Hoover underestimated the seriousness of the crisis, misdiagnosed the causes of the problems, and clung to his beliefs in individual achievement and self-help. His corrective measures, aimed at inflation and the federal budget, were thus damaging themselves. Furthermore, he hesitated to mobilize government resources to aid Americans and instead appealed to private groups to lend a hand (Encarta). Thus Hoover’s administration did little to mitigate the impact of the Depression.

Towards the end of the 1920’s the economy in America took a drastic turn. This was when Calvin Coolidge’s presidency had ended and changes in the government began to take place. “Just seven months after Herbert Hoover entered the White House, economic trouble mocked his campaign statement about being near ‘the final triumph over poverty.’ On October 24, 1929 panic swept the New York Stock Exchange as nearly 13 million shares changed hands” (Hamilton). The start to Hoover’s presidency was also the start of the Great Depression. His term consisted heavily on working on taking steps to bring America out of the drastic economic fall that they had just entered. He began taking action by launching public works programs, tax reductions, and the formation

The Civilian Conservation Corps accomplishments included the restoration of resources, recreational opportunities, and the building of national state’s parks. The failures of this program were that Civilian Conservation Corps was that it gave money to a small segment of the population, it took taxpayers money ,and it was only for young white men. According to experts of the Digital History Online Textbook, many New Deal Programs discriminated against African Americans. The document said “Roosevelt feared that conservative southern Democrats, who had seniority in Congress and controlled many committee chairmanships, would block his bills if he tried to fight them on the race question.(Document B)” This is why the Civilian Conservation Corps is labeled as a success and a fail. It helps citizens but not many. The second New Deal program that had accomplishment and failures was the Tennessee Valley. The accomplishments that the Tennessee Valley made was it provided cheap electrical power to rural areas, and it provided employment in rural areas. The failures that this program had was that since they provided lots with electricity, they had to build a lot of dams, which is bad for the ecosystem. The Tennessee Valley also had many long term failures. The long-term effect is that it generates power through coal fire plants, which causes pollution that generates global

In 1929, the United States Stock Market crashed, heralding the tumble into world-wide depression. President Hoover tried to pacify the people by telling them it was temporary and would pass over. But a new figure rose out of the people, promising he would do anything and everything he could to restore their lives. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to the presidency, and his new policies would soon sweep over the country. Roosevelt's responses to the problems of the Great Depression were successful in strengthening the power of the federal government and instilling hope in the public, yet were unsuccessful in that they did not help him achieve his intended goal: the restoration of the economy. His responses were, however,

Compare and contrast Hoover and Roosevelt’s actions in the aftermath of the Crash of 1929. How did both administrations attempt to deal with the economic stagnation, social hardship and psychological impact of the depression? What needed to be fixed and which approach proved more successful? In your essay you should address not only the underlying economic and social problems that both administrations had to deal with and the various corrective measures they adopted, but also the underlying philosophical approaches of Hoover and Roosevelt and their supporters.

The New Deal was a set of federal programs with the principle of social-welfare liberalism. President Roosevelt was deeply compromised to help the most vulnerable in the ongoing crisis. In second inaugural address he outlines the progress of the New Deal “We have always known that heedless self-interest was bed morals…. Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose builders boasted their practicality has come to the conviction that in the long run economy morality pays.” At some extend President Roosevelt proudly tell the Nation that he was heading to the right direction to progress. Some of the New Deal successful programs that brought relief and dignify living to many Americans were Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) a direct governmental regulation of farm economy to resolve the overproduction problem. In the unemployment relief, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) that provided federal funds for state relief programs. Public Works Administration (PWA) a construction program that lead to Civil Works Administration (CWA) that provide work for more than 4 million Americans repairing, building, and constructing America's infrastructure. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) that mobilized young men to do reforestation and conservation work helping their family’s income and the country reservation. In 1935 in housing issues Works Progress Administration (WPA) Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) that help many Americans keep their

People lost their life’s savings, their homes and farms. In his first broadcast on the radio Roosevelt speech, declared that “This great Nation will endure as it has endured , we will revive and will prosper the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Heeding the nation to call for action, and action now he promise to exercise broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency. The first step was to save the banks. During his first hundred days as president, FDR ordered all banks to closed to stop people from withdrawing money from the banks, until congress meeting into special session. On March 9 congress passed Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act, in which recognized the banks and closed the ones there were insolvent. Banks would re open immediately with government support, and the ones that were insolvent would be handed over to federal conservators who would guide them to solvency. The President urged Americans to put their savings back to the bank, when banks re open the next day, deposits exceed withdrawals. Saving the banks and financial markets meant little if human suffering continue. One work relief program proposed by FDR was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). This program consist to employed hundreds of thousands of young men from relief rolls, and sent them into the woods and fields to plant trees, build parks and fight soil erosion. During its ten years put more than three million young men with jobs. The need to alleviate starvation led Roosevelt to proposed a new giveaway program. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) which consist in gave grants to the states to operate relief programs.The main goal of the program was to alleviate unemployment by creating new unskilled jobs in local and state government. The Social Security Act, and unemployment insurance were incorporated in a separate piece of legislation. The Social Security Act sought

In response to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt was ready for action unlike the previous President, Hubert Hoover. Hoover allowed the country to fall into a complete state of depression with his small concern of the major economic problems occurring. FDR began to show major and immediate improvements, with his outstanding actions during the First Hundred Days. He declared the bank holiday as well as setting up the New Deal policy. Hoover on the other hand; allowed the U.S. to slide right into the depression, giving Americans the power to blame him. Although he tried his best to improve the economy’s status during the

During the summer of 1933, job recovery was still a major part of ending the Great Depression. The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was the largest piece of industrial recovery and regulations during the time period. FDR stated, “Its object is to put industry and business workers into employment and increase their purchasing power through increased wages.” It did abundantly more than that. It also ended child labor, sweat shops, and lowered weekly wages in the mining industry. It set a “code of fair competition” in place that fixed prices, wages and established production quotas. In March 1934, the NRA created a set of industrial codes for all industries. In total there were more than

In 1932, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office, the citizens of the United States had possessed sufficient time to realize that they could no longer be proud, but they must take anything they could get. Therefore, the programs set up by FDR’s New Deal program were perfect for the country at the time. These programs helped the people directly, providing relief, recovery, and reform. FDR based his plans on the philosophy of Keynesian economics, where the government spends money to make money. The government gave money and jobs to those in need, who in turn, had money to spend in the marketplace. The demand for products increased, and businesses were able to hire more workers and produce more products, as well as pay more money in taxes. FDR’s plans worked because they gave money not to those who would take advantage of the government, but to those who would use it in the way the government intended it to be used. During FDR’s first term in office alone, the unemployment rate dropped 4%. Because of FDR’s success in bringing the country out of the Depression, I give him an A.

On October 24, 1929, a day historically known as “Black Thursday”, the United States stock market crashed due to investors in the market starting to “sell off their shares, which resulted in a decline in stock prices.” (Dau-Schmidt, pg 60) This economic downturn in the market gave birth to financial ambivalence in the country, increasing unemployment, as well as other consequences on the landscape of international economics. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took over as president in the year of 1933, “The country was in its depth of the Great Depression.” (Neal, 2010) Roosevelt’s New Deal consisted of implementing relief programs such as the Work Progress Administration and the Civil Works Administration, which aimed at revitalizing

In the aftermath of the Stock Market of 1929, the American economy was left in an economic depression unlike any experienced in previous history. The federal government was left scrambling, as they tried to control the fallout. The Roosevelt administration and the Hundred Day Senate were in control, and their solution was to set up multiple advisory authorities and progressive programs. The government 's involvement in the economy and its support of the vulnerable citizens evolved in this time through these programs. The "alphabet agencies" are probably the most memorable aspect of the New Deal. To help restart a dying economy nothing is better than hard work. The government provided an outlet for this hard work through many programs. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), established in 1933, provided many jobless men with occupations, while establishing over 800 parks nationwide. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), established in 1935, worked along much of the lines as the CCC, but constructed highways, bridges, and public buildings. These programs provided work for the people (boosting the economy), while bettering and beautifying America for the future. Meanwhile, programs like the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) built dams to provide energy and electricity to many of America 's cities. Many of these dams are still fully functioning and still producing power. More direct intervention on America 's economy was utilized on the Stock Market itself with boards like