A New Deal for America: 1933 - 1934
"Unemployed men queued outside a depression soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone," February 1931
Records of the U.S. Information Agency; National Archives & Records Administration
"THIS NATION ASKS FOR ACTION, AND ACTION NOW!"
President Roosevelt's first inaugural address on March 4, 1933, may be best known for his dramatic assertion that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." However, a declaration near the conclusion of his speech drew the most robust applause of the day. He stated that if Congress didn't act, he would ask for “broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.” In the wake of ongoing social and economic turmoil, Americans were ready to grant Roosevelt sweeping authority to solve the problem. As Roosevelt proclaimed, "This nation asks for action, and action now!"
Immediately after the inauguration, President Roosevelt jumped into action. He first called Congress into special session to pass emergency banking legislation and declared the immediate short-term closure of all banks across the nation. On March 12, 1933, President Roosevelt hosted his first Fireside Chat via radio to discuss the banking crisis with the American people; he spoke directly to them, and they felt heard. During his first 100 days in office, President Roosevelt issued numerous proclamations and Executive Orders (a declaration by the President that has the force of law and doesn't require action by the Congress) and spearheaded a wave of legislation through Congress to relieve hardship and stimulate recovery. The country would not recover without massive assistance and intervention by the government.
In the first 100 days of his presidency--March 9 to June 16, 1933--Roosevelt made good on his promise of "action now," by addressing: 1) financial reforms, 2) jobs and relief, and 3) rural reform. The establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) served as the starting point for the New Deal's creation of "alphabet agencies," many of which are highlighted on this website. For good measure, Roosevelt signed the Beer-Revenue Wine Act on March 22, 1933, a law that paved the way for the repeal of Prohibition. (Read his message to Congress about the Volstead Act on March 13, 1933, here.)
The end result of the first hundred days of Roosevelt's presidency proved to be a mixed bag of trial and error, success and failure. While post-1933 economic recovery was slow and halting, unemployment never returned to the precarious levels seen before Roosevelt's election. Regardless of the economic numbers and forecasts, Americans were grateful, at least at the beginning of this odyssey, that someone was taking action on their behalf. Roosevelt gave the country hope.
Significant legislation, activities and Federal agencies or programs created during the "First Hundred Days" appear below.
THE FIRST 100 DAYS: March 9 - June 16, 1933
Emergency Banking Relief Act of 1933, 03-09-1933
General Records of the U.S. Government; National Archives & Records Administration
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March 9, 1933: Following his declaration of a bank holiday on March 5, 1933, President Roosevelt signs the Emergency Banking Relief Act (Public Law 73-1) into law in an effort to restore public confidence in the nation’s financial system. The law aims to reinforce the nation’s flailing banking system by reopening banks as soon as examiners find them to be financially stable.
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Public Law 73-1, 03-09-1933
Legisworks
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March 12, 1933: In his first “Fireside Chat” radio broadcasts, President Roosevelt makes a promise to the American people: “Your Government does not intend that the history of the past few years shall be repeated. We do not want and will not have another epidemic of bank failures.”
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Audio of "FDR First Fireside Chat," 03-12-1933
FDR Presidential Library & Museum; National Archives & Records Administration
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Unemployment Relief Act of 1933, 03-31-1933
General Records of the U.S. Government; National Archives & Records Administration
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March 31, 1933: President Roosevelt signs the Unemployment Relief Act of 1933 that provides for the relief of unemployment through the performance of useful public work. On the same day, the Emergency Conservation Work Act of 1933 mandates that the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recruit unemployed young men from urban areas to perform conservation work throughout the nation's forests, parks, and fields. The CCC employs about three million men to plant trees, reduce erosion, fight fires, etc.
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"A Nation-wide System of Parks," 1939
Records of the Department of the Interior, Division of Motion Pictures; National Archives & Records Administration
April 5, 1933: President Roosevelt issues Executive Order 6101, Relief of Unemployment Through the Performance of Useful Public Work, to create work opportunities that would not interfere with normal employment and were specifically directed toward conservation of natural resources. This serves as the launch for the CCC.
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Executive Order 6101, 04-05-1933
FDR Presidential Library & Museum; National Archives & Records Administration
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Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933, 05-12-1933
General Records of the U.S. Government; National Archives & Records Administration
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May 12, 1933: The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) is created, via the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933 (Public Law 73-15), to provide employment and cash relief for Americans impacted by the Great Depression. As a grant-making-agency, FERA is authorized to distribute federal aid to the states for relief. Until its dissolution in December 1935, FERA distributes over $3.1 billion and employs more than 20 million people.
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Public Law 73-15, 05-12-1933
Legisworks
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"A Roosevelt County, New Mexico, farmer and a County Agricultural Conservation Committee representative review the provisions of the AAA farm program," 1934
U.S. Department of Agriculture
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May 12, 1933: President Roosevelt signs into law the Agricultural Adjustment Act (Public Law 73-10). The law seeks to increase farmers’ purchasing power by reducing surpluses of agricultural products to encourage prices to rise back to levels that would provide sustainable incomes for farmers. The law also creates the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to oversee implementation of the Act and distribute subsidies and a national income to farmers as emergency relief.
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Public Law 73-10, 05-12-1933
Legisworks
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Tennessee Valley Authority Act, May 18, 1933
Records of the Tennessee Valley Authority; National Archives & Records Administration
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May 18, 1933: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is created with the passage of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act. (Public Law 73-17). Its initial purpose is to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, regional planning, and economic development to the Tennessee Valley. TVA is designed to serve as both a power supplier and a regional economic development agency that will work to help modernize the region's economy and society.
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Public Law 73-17, 05-18-1933
Legisworks
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"Los Angeles, Cal. Site of Cal-4-2, Pico Gardens, before," 1933
FDR Presidential Library & Museum; National Archives & Records Administration
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June 13, 1933: President Roosevelt signs the Home Owners Loan Act of 1933 (Public Law 73-43). The law is designed "to provide emergency relief with respect to home mortgage indebtedness, to refinance home mortgages, to extend relief to the owners of homes occupied by them and who are unable to amortize their debt elsewhere, to amend the Federal Home Loan Bank Act, to increase the market for obligations of the United States and for other purposes." It creates the Home Owners Loan Corporation to administer the provisions of the Act.
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Homeowners Loan Act of 1933, 06-13-1933
General Records of the U.S. Government; National Archives & Records Administration
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Public Law 73-43, 06-13-1933
Legisworks
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Banking Act of 1933, 06-16-1933
General Records of the U.S. Government; National Archives & Records Administration
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June 16, 1933: The Banking Act of 1933 (also known as the Glass-Steagall Act in honor of the bill's co-sponsors) is signed into law (Public Law 73-66). It separates commercial and investment banking and is designed “to provide for the safer and more effective use of the assets of banks, to regulate inter-bank control, to prevent the undue diversion of funds into speculative operations, and for other purposes." It also creates the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure bank deposits and decrease bank runs and failures.
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Public Law 73-66, 06-16-1933
General Records of the U.S. Government; National Archives & Records Administration
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"Clerks at the Farm Credit Administration working on CRCP reports," ca. 1937
Harris & Ewing Collection, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress
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June 16, 1933: President Roosevelt signs the Farm Credit Act (Public Law 73-75), making credit more accessible to farmers via loans at lower interest rates than the private sector. It establishes the Farm Credit System as a group of cooperative lending institutions to provide short-, intermediate-, and long-term loans for agricultural purposes. It refinances a fifth of all farm mortgages in a span of 15 months.
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Public Law 73-75, 06-16-1933
Legisworks
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National Industrial Recovery Act, 06-16-1933
General Records of the U.S. Government; National Archives & Records Administration
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June 16, 1933: President Roosevelt signs the National Industrial Recovery Act (Public Law 73-67) into law. Title I of the Act sanctions, supports, and in some cases, enforces an alliance of industries. Antitrust laws are suspended as companies develop industry-wide "codes of fair competition" leading to fixed prices and wages and production quotas. It also gives employees the right to organize and bargain collectively. (In 1935, the Supreme Court will ultimately rule that Title I is unconstitutional.) Title II creates the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, which eventually becomes known as the Public Works Administration (PWA). During the next 10 years the PWA will contribute billions of dollars to national infrastructure projects.
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Public Law 73-67, 06-16-1933
Legisworks
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"PWA Project, Bonneville Dam in Oregon, Rushing Work on Spillway Piers to Keep Ahead of Expected Crest of Flood," 1936
FDR Presidential Library & Museum; National Archives & Records Administration
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BEYOND THE FIRST 100 DAYS: Mid-June 1933 to 1934
President Roosevelt and Congress continued the frenetic pace of legislative activities of the first hundred days by creating more Federal agencies: the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation, the Public Works Branch of the U.S. Treasury, the Civil Works Administration, and two arts-related agencies/programs, the Public Works of Art Project and the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture. In 1934, Congress passed laws addressing: 1) the regulation of secondary financial markets (Securities Exchange Act of 1934), 2) Indian tribal lands and self-governance (Indian Reorganization Act), 3) centralized regulation of communications (Communications Act of 1934), and 4) stimulation of the residential real estate market (National Housing Act). During this period, the government also purchased millions of acres of land for wildlife refuges and created 8 new National Parks.
By the end of 1934, unemployment had dropped to 16% (from about 23% at the start of Roosevelt's presidency), and the gross domestic product increased 16.9% from 1933. Most notably, nine banks failed in 1934 as opposed to the 4,000 failures in 1933. Most importantly, President Roosevelt put to work his belief that government is ultimately responsible for the welfare of its citizens; he fulfilled his campaign promise of government intervention to address societal and economic ills. He did so through a formula of: 1) relief for the unemployed, 2) economic recovery through federal spending and job creation, and 3) reform of capitalism via legislation and social programs. However, President Roosevelt realized that more work needed to be done.
Significant legislation and Federal programs initiated during the second half of 1933 and 1934 appear below.
Executive Order 6420B creating the Civil Works Administration, 11-09-1933
FDR Presidential Library and Museum; National Archives & Records Administration
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November 9, 1933: The Civil Works Administration (CWA) is created with Executive Order No. 6420B via the power granted to President Roosevelt by the National Industrial Recovery Act. During its 5 months of operations, the CWA employs nearly 5 million individuals, many of whom had previously been on public relief. The CWA includes roughly 200,000 projects on public land sponsored by state, local, or federal government. CWA programs create or improve 255,000 miles of road, 2,000 miles of levees, 1,000 miles of new water mains, 40,000 schools, 3,700 playgrounds, and 1,000 airports.
"Civil Works Administration Job Applicants [National Archives building under construction]," 1933
Records of the National Archives & Records Administration
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"PWAP Report Cover," 1934
Kamekichi Tokita papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
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December 8, 1933: The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) is created by an allocation of funds from the Civil Works Administration. Unemployed artists are hired to create works of art for public buildings and parks. It serves as the first federal art project for artists. Artists are on payroll and receive weekly salaries. The PWAP ceases operations at the end of June 1943.
"Security Exchange Act of 1934," 06-06-1934
General Records of the U.S. Government; National Archives & Records Administration
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June 6, 1934: The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is signed into law (Public Law 77-291) by President Roosevelt. It regulates secondary financial markets to ensure a transparent and fair environment for investors. The law creates the Securities and Exchange Commission that prohibits the buying of stock without adequate funds to pay for it and prevents the unfair use of nonpublic information in stock trading.
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Public Law 73-291, 06-06-1934
Legisworks
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National Housing Act, 06-27-1934
General Records of the U.S. Government; National Archives & Records Administration
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June 27, 1934: President Roosevelt signs the National Housing Act to "encourage improvement in housing standards and conditions, to provide a system of mutual mortgage insurance, and for other purposes." It seeks to increase the number of loans available for home construction, home improvements, and new purchases. It is intended to strengthen the residential real estate market and promote homeownership. The law also creates the Federal Housing Administration and the Federal Savings and Loan Corporation.
"TSPS correspondence," 12-06-1934
John Steaurt Curry and Curry Family papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
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October 16, 1934: Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr., creates the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture (TSPS) (later to be known as the Section of Fine Arts). It awards commissions via juried competitions (for the selection of artists) and seeks the highest quality art work for Federal buildings. The program runs through July 1943.
NAVIGATE TO PAGES ON THIS WEBSITE
The Treasury Section of Painting & Sculpture
The Treasury Relief Art Project
Edward Laning: Reverence for Petersburg, IL and a poet
Edward Laning: The Fourteenth Street School
Edward Laning: The Ellis Island Mural
Edward Laning: WWII and Beyond
Edward Laning: A Laning Gallery