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197-580: President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the first liberty ship, SS Patrick Henry , at the yards of Bethlehem Steel , Baltimore , Maryland, giving a speech as he did so. 27 September became known as Victory Fleet Day during the United States' participation in World War II . President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a speech at the first "Emergency" launch in Baltimore that morning. At

394-829: A prohibitionist with a famous name. Roosevelt, then 38, resigned as Assistant Secretary after the Democratic convention and campaigned across the nation for the party ticket. During the campaign, Cox and Roosevelt defended the Wilson administration and the League of Nations , both of which were unpopular in 1920. Roosevelt personally supported U.S. membership in the League, but, unlike Wilson, he favored compromising with Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and other "Reservationists". Republicans Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge defeated

591-402: A Republican, but Roosevelt decided to seek the 1920 vice presidential nomination. After Governor James M. Cox of Ohio won the party's presidential nomination at the 1920 Democratic National Convention , he chose Roosevelt as his running mate, and the convention nominated him by acclamation . Although his nomination surprised most people, he balanced the ticket as a moderate, a Wilsonian, and

788-459: A campaign team led by Howe and Farley, and a " brain trust " of policy advisers, primarily composed of Columbia University and Harvard University professors. Some were not so sanguine about his chances, such as Walter Lippmann , the dean of political commentators, who observed: "He is a pleasant man who, without any important qualifications for the office, would very much like to be president." However, Roosevelt's efforts as governor to address

985-471: A car. Due to his aggressive campaign, his name gained recognition in the Hudson Valley, and in the Democratic landslide in the 1910 United States elections , Roosevelt won a surprising victory. Despite short legislative sessions, Roosevelt treated his new position as a full-time career. Taking his seat on January 1, 1911, Roosevelt soon became the leader of a group of "Insurgents" in opposition to

1182-507: A close. Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, first and second terms The first term of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt began on March 4, 1933, when he was inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States , and the second term of his presidency ended on January 20, 1941, with his inauguration to a third term . Roosevelt, the Democratic governor of the largest state, New York, took office after defeating incumbent President Herbert Hoover , his Republican opponent in

1379-602: A complex system of registration for all securities sold in America, with a clear-cut set of rules and guidelines that everyone had to follow. By mandating the disclosure of business information and allowing investors to make informed decisions, the SEC largely succeed in its goal of restoring investor confidence. As part of the first hundred days, Roosevelt fostered the passage of the Securities Act of 1933 . The act expanded

1576-471: A court of appeals, as a depository of information, and as a tool of co-ordination; by ignoring or bypassing collective decision-making agencies, such as the Cabinet...and always by persuading, flattering, juggling, improvising, reshuffling, harmonizing, conciliating, manipulating. When Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 4, 1933, the U.S. was at the nadir of the worst depression in its history . A quarter of

1773-524: A descending pattern of recovery. Roosevelt was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down and was diagnosed with polio . A 2003 study strongly favored a diagnosis of Guillain–Barré syndrome , but historians have continued to describe his paralysis according to the initial diagnosis. Though his mother favored his retirement from public life, Roosevelt, his wife, and Roosevelt's close friend and adviser, Louis Howe, were all determined that he continue his political career. He convinced many people that he

1970-420: A distant second place. Roosevelt then promised the vice-presidential nomination to Garner, who controlled the votes of Texas and California; Garner threw his support behind Roosevelt after the third ballot, and Roosevelt clinched the nomination on the fourth ballot. Roosevelt flew in from New York to Chicago after learning that he had won the nomination, becoming the first major-party presidential nominee to accept

2167-662: A four-day national "bank holiday", to end the run by depositors seeking to withdraw funds. He called for a special session of Congress on March 9, when Congress passed, almost sight unseen, the Emergency Banking Act . The act, first developed by the Hoover administration and Wall Street bankers, gave the president the power to determine the opening and closing of banks and authorized the Federal Reserve Banks to issue banknotes. The " first 100 Days " of

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2364-707: A fourth year, taking graduate courses. Like his cousin Theodore, he was a member of The Explorers Club . Roosevelt entered Columbia Law School in 1904, but dropped out in 1907 after passing the New York bar examination . In 1908, he took a job with the prestigious law firm of Carter Ledyard & Milburn , working in the firm's admiralty law division. During his second year of college, Roosevelt met and proposed to Boston heiress Alice Sohier, who turned him down. Franklin then began courting his childhood acquaintance and fifth cousin once removed, Eleanor Roosevelt ,

2561-501: A great deal and incorporated some of his 1924 ideas into the design for the United Nations in 1944–1945. Smith, the Democratic presidential nominee in the 1928 presidential election , asked Roosevelt to run for governor of New York in the 1928 state election . Roosevelt initially resisted, as he was reluctant to leave Warm Springs and feared a Republican landslide. Party leaders eventually convinced him only he could defeat

2758-502: A healthy society. Roosevelt was a strong supporter of the recreation and sports dimension of his programs. The WPA spent $ 941 million on recreational facilities, including 5,900 athletic fields and playgrounds, 770 swimming pools 1,700 parks and 8,300 recreational buildings. The National Youth Administration (NYA) was a semi-autonomous unit within the WPA. It worked closely with high schools and colleges to set up work-study programs. Under

2955-577: A house built for herself alongside that townhouse. Eleanor never felt at home in the houses at Hyde Park or New York; however, she loved the family's vacation home on Campobello Island , which was also a gift from Sara. Burns indicates that young Franklin Roosevelt was self-assured and at ease in the upper class. On the other hand, Eleanor was shy and disliked social life. Initially, Eleanor stayed home to raise their children. As his father had done, Franklin left childcare to his wife, and Eleanor delegated

3152-654: A large scale, and it established a long-lasting federal role in the planning of the entire agricultural sector of the economy. In 1936, the Supreme Court declared the AAA to be unconstitutional for technical reasons. With the passage of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 , the AAA was replaced by a similar program that did win Court approval. Instead of paying farmers for letting fields lie barren,

3349-527: A low level. Today we are continuing that program at accelerated speed. The shipworkers of America are doing a great job. They have made a commendable record for efficiency and speed. With every new ship, they are striking a telling blow at the menace to our nation and the liberty of the free peoples of the world. They struck fourteen such blows today. They have caught the true spirit with which all this nation must be imbued if Hitler and other aggressors of his ilk are to be prevented from crushing us. We Americans as

3546-452: A mission for reform that included William O. Douglas , and Abe Fortas , both of whom were later named to the Supreme Court. The SEC had four missions. First and most important was to restore investor confidence in the securities market, which had practically collapsed because of doubts about its internal integrity, and the external threats supposedly posed by anti-business elements in the Roosevelt administration. Second, in terms of integrity,

3743-868: A network into the new undeveloped areas across the Mississippi River, across the Plains and up into the Northwest, was money which had been made by American traders whose ships had sailed the seas to the Baltic, to the Mediterranean, to Africa and South America, and to Singapore and China itself. Through all the years after the American Revolution your Government reiterated and maintained the right of American ships to voyage hither and yon without hindrance from those who sought to keep them off

3940-480: A niece of Theodore Roosevelt. In 1903, Franklin proposed to Eleanor. Despite resistance from his mother, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were married on March 17, 1905. Eleanor's father, Elliott , was deceased; Theodore, who was then president, gave away the bride. The young couple moved into Springwood . Franklin's mother, Sara Roosevelt, also provided a townhouse for the newlyweds in New York City, and had

4137-447: A political figure. Roosevelt and Smith came from different backgrounds and never fully trusted one another, but Roosevelt supported Smith's progressive policies, while Smith was happy to have Roosevelt's backing. Roosevelt gave presidential nominating speeches for Smith at the 1924 and 1928 Democratic National Conventions; the speech at the 1924 convention marked a return to public life following his illness and convalescence. That year,

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4334-455: A seat in the state senate. The senate district, located in Dutchess , Columbia , and Putnam , was strongly Republican. Roosevelt feared that opposition from Theodore could end his campaign, but Theodore encouraged his candidacy despite their party differences. Acting as his own campaign manager, Roosevelt traveled throughout the senate district via automobile at a time when few could afford

4531-535: A separate home in Hyde Park at Val-Kill and devoted herself to social and political causes independent of her husband. The emotional break in their marriage was so severe that when Franklin asked Eleanor in 1942—in light of his failing health—to come live with him again, she refused. Roosevelt was not always aware of Eleanor's visits to the White House. For some time, Eleanor could not easily reach Roosevelt on

4728-653: A series of severe dust storms known as the Dust Bowl , provoking migration from the affected regions. The 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). The act reflected the demands of leaders of major farm organizations, especially the Farm Bureau , and reflected debates among Roosevelt's farm advisers such as Wallace, M.L. Wilson , Rexford Tugwell , and George Peek . The aim of

4925-833: A staff of physical therapists and using most of his inheritance to purchase the Merriweather Inn. In 1938, he founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis , leading to the development of polio vaccines. Roosevelt remained active in New York politics while also establishing contacts in the South, particularly in Georgia, in the 1920s. He issued an open letter endorsing Al Smith 's successful campaign in New York's 1922 gubernatorial election, which both aided Smith and showed Roosevelt's continuing relevance as

5122-411: A strange wish for you. It is that you may never be President of the United States." Franklin's mother, the dominant influence in his early years, once declared, "My son Franklin is a Delano, not a Roosevelt at all." James, who was 54 when Franklin was born, was considered by some as a remote father, though biographer James MacGregor Burns indicates James interacted with his son more than was typical at

5319-590: A strong influence throughout Roosevelt's life, officiating at his wedding and visiting him as president. Like most of his Groton classmates, Roosevelt went to Harvard College . He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and the Fly Club , and served as a school cheerleader. Roosevelt was relatively undistinguished as a student or athlete, but he became editor-in-chief of The Harvard Crimson daily newspaper, which required ambition, energy, and

5516-425: A third term and three months of a fourth term , becoming the only president to serve more than two terms, breaking Washington's two term tradition and laying the groundwork for the passage of the 22nd Amendment . Roosevelt's first term is unique in that it is the only presidential term not equal to four years in length since George Washington was elected to his second term as a result of the 20th Amendment . With

5713-553: A tour of the battlefield at Verdun . In September, on the ship voyage back to the United States, he contracted pandemic influenza with complicating pneumonia, which left him unable to work for a month. After Germany signed an armistice in November 1918, Daniels and Roosevelt supervised the demobilization of the Navy. Against the advice of older officers such as Admiral William Benson —who claimed he could not "conceive of any use

5910-709: A valuable political player. After the election, Roosevelt returned to New York City, where he practiced law and served as a vice president of the Fidelity and Deposit Company . Roosevelt sought to build support for a political comeback in the 1922 elections , but his career was derailed by an illness. It began while the Roosevelts were vacationing at Campobello Island in August 1921. His main symptoms were fever; symmetric, ascending paralysis; facial paralysis; bowel and bladder dysfunction; numbness and hyperesthesia ; and

6107-478: A vicious cycle in which low prices encouraged individual farmers to engage in greater production, which in turn lowered prices by providing greater supply. The Hoover administration had created the Federal Farm Board to help address the issue of overproduction by purchasing agricultural surpluses, but it failed to stabilize prices. In the 1930s, Midwestern farmers would additionally have to contend with

Liberty Fleet Day - Misplaced Pages Continue

6304-457: A whole cannot listen to those few Americans who preach the gospel of fear - who say in effect that they are still in favor of freedom of the seas but who would have the United States tie up our vessels in our ports. That attitude is neither truthful nor honest. We propose that these ships sail the seas as they are intended to. We propose, to the best of our ability, to protect them from torpedo, from shell or from bomb. The Patrick Henry , as one of

6501-490: Is a real possibility that a romantic relationship existed" between his father and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway , who resided in the White House during part of World War II. Aides referred to her at the time as "the president's girlfriend", and gossip linking the two romantically appeared in newspapers. Roosevelt cared little for the practice of law and told friends he planned to enter politics. Despite his admiration for cousin Theodore, Franklin shared his father's bond with

6698-606: The 1932 presidential election . Roosevelt led the implementation of the New Deal , a series of programs designed to provide relief, recovery, and reform to Americans and the American economy during the Great Depression . He also presided over a realignment that made his New Deal Coalition of labor unions, big city machines, white ethnics, African Americans, and rural white Southerners dominant in national politics until

6895-470: The 73rd United States Congress saw an unprecedented amount of legislation and set a benchmark against which future presidents have been compared. When the banks reopened on Monday, March 15, stock prices rose by 15 percent and in the following weeks over $ 1 billion was returned to bank vaults, ending the bank panic. On March 22, Roosevelt signed the Cullen–Harrison Act , which brought Prohibition to

7092-655: The Aid to Dependent Children , which provided aid to families headed by single mothers. A third major piece of legislation, the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 , guaranteed workers the right of collective bargaining and established the National Labor Relations Board . The result was rapid growth in union membership. After winning re-election in 1936, the second term was a series of disappointments. Roosevelt sought to enlarge

7289-826: The All-American Canal and launched the Central Valley Project , both of which irrigated dramatically increased agricultural production in California's Central Valley . Roosevelt also presided over the establishment of conservation programs and laws such as the Soil Conservation Service, the Great Plains Shelterbelt , and the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 . Throughout his first two terms there

7486-747: The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars also won their campaign to transform their benefits from payments due in 1945 to immediate cash when Congress overrode the president's veto and passed the Bonus Act in January ;1936. The Bonus Act pumped sums equal to 2% of the GDP into the consumer economy and had a major stimulus effect. Government spending increased from 8.0% of gross national product (GNP) under Hoover in 1932 to 10.2% of

7683-532: The Aspinwalls and the Delanos , respectively—and resided at Springwood , a large estate south of Hyde Park's historic center. Roosevelt's father, James, graduated from Harvard Law School but chose not to practice law after receiving an inheritance from his grandfather . James, a prominent Bourbon Democrat , once took Franklin to meet President Grover Cleveland , who said to him: "My little man, I am making

7880-476: The Bonus Army further damaged the incumbent's popularity, as newspapers across the country criticized the use of force to disperse assembled veterans. Roosevelt won 57% of the popular vote and carried all but six states. Historians and political scientists consider the 1932–36 elections to be a political realignment . Roosevelt's victory was enabled by the creation of the New Deal coalition , small farmers,

8077-630: The Democratic Party , and in preparation for the 1910 elections , the party recruited Roosevelt to run for a seat in the New York State Assembly . Roosevelt was a compelling recruit: he had the personality and energy for campaigning and the money to pay for his own campaign. But Roosevelt's campaign for the state assembly ended after the Democratic incumbent, Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler , chose to seek re-election. Rather than putting his political hopes on hold, Roosevelt ran for

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8274-495: The Farm Security Administration (FSA), represented the first national programs to help migrants and marginal farmers, whose plight gained national attention through the 1939 novel and film The Grapes of Wrath . New Deal leaders resisted demands of the poor for loans to buy farms, as many leaders thought that there were already too many farmers. The Roosevelt administration made a major effort to upgrade

8471-724: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation , and Social Security . In 1940 , he ran successfully for reelection , before the official implementation of term limits . Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt obtained a declaration of war on Japan. After Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. on December 11, 1941, the United States Congress approved additional declarations of war in return. He worked closely with other national leaders in leading

8668-625: The Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax . Social Security taxes would be collected from employers by the states, with employers and employees contributing equally to the tax. Because the Social Security tax was regressive , and Social Security benefits were based on how much each individual had paid into the system, the program would not contribute to income redistribution in the way that some reformers, including Perkins, had hoped. In addition to creating

8865-493: The Navy , was well-read on the subject, and was an ardent supporter of a large, efficient force. With Wilson's support, Daniels and Roosevelt instituted a merit-based promotion system and extended civilian control over the autonomous departments of the Navy. Roosevelt oversaw the Navy's civilian employees and earned the respect of union leaders for his fairness in resolving disputes. No strikes occurred during his seven-plus years in

9062-539: The Norris–La Guardia Act of 1932, its passage left labor unions in a favorable legal and political environment. Other factors, including popular works that depicted the struggles of the working class, declining ethnic rivalries, and the La Follette Committee 's investigation of anti-labor abuses, further swung the public mood in favor of labor. The result was a tremendous growth of membership in

9259-688: The Public Works Administration (PWA), was created to fund infrastructure projects, and was led by Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes , one of the most aggressive of the New Deal empire builders. Seeking to increase the federal role in providing work relief, Hopkins successfully pushed for the creation of the Civil Works Administration (CWA), which would provide employment for anyone who

9456-527: The Steel Workers Organizing Committee . The total number of labor union members grew from three million in 1933 to eight million at the end of the 1930s, with the vast majority of union members living outside of the South. Roosevelt argued that the emergency spending programs for relief were temporary, and he rejected the deficit spending proposed by economists such as John Maynard Keynes . He kept his campaign promise to cut

9653-487: The Tammany Hall machine that dominated the state Democratic Party. In the 1911 U.S. Senate election , which was determined in a joint session of the New York state legislature, Roosevelt and nineteen other Democrats caused a prolonged deadlock by opposing a series of Tammany-backed candidates. Tammany threw its backing behind James A. O'Gorman , a highly regarded judge whom Roosevelt found acceptable, and O'Gorman won

9850-535: The United States Navy Reserve and the Council of National Defense . In April 1917, after Germany declared it would engage in unrestricted submarine warfare and attacked several U.S. ships, Congress approved Wilson's call for a declaration of war on Germany . Roosevelt requested that he be allowed to serve as a naval officer, but Wilson insisted that he continue as Assistant Secretary. For

10047-487: The Wagner Act , guaranteed workers the right to collective bargaining through unions of their own choice. It prohibited unfair labor practices such as discrimination against union members. The act also established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to facilitate wage agreements and to suppress labor disturbances. The Wagner Act did not compel employers to reach agreement with their employees, but, together with

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10244-521: The securitization of mortgages , thereby allowing mortgages to be sold on the secondary mortgage market . The housing institutions established under the New Deal did not appreciably contribute to new house building in the 1930s, but they played a major role in the post-war housing boom. Roosevelt had generally avoided the Prohibition issue, but when his party and the general public swung against Prohibition in 1932, he campaigned for repeal. During

10441-430: The $ 100,000 American Peace Award for the best plan to deliver world peace. Roosevelt had leisure time and interest, and he drafted a plan for the contest. He never submitted it because Eleanor was selected as a judge for the prize. His plan called for a new world organization that would replace the League of Nations. Although Roosevelt had been the vice-presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket of 1920 that supported

10638-490: The 1934 mid-term elections, Roosevelt proposed the " Second New Deal ." It consisted of government programs that were designed to help provide not just recovery, but also long-term stability and security for ordinary Americans. In April 1935, Roosevelt won passage of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 , which, unlike the work relief programs of 1933, allowed for a long-term role for

10835-520: The 1960s and defined modern American liberalism . During his first hundred days in office, Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented major legislation and issued a profusion of executive orders . The Emergency Banking Act helped put an end to a run on banks, while the 1933 Banking Act and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 provided major reforms in the financial sector. To provide relief to unemployed workers, Roosevelt presided over

11032-517: The 1960s. In 1941 Mrs. Roosevelt became co-head of the Office of Civil Defense , the major civil defense agency. She tried to involve women at the local level, but she feuded with her counterpart, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia , and had little impact on policy. Historian Alan Brinkley states that gender equality was not on the national agenda: Despite expectations that the 1936 landslide heralded an expansion of liberal programs, everything went wrong for

11229-531: The AAA was to raise prices for commodities through artificial scarcity. The AAA used a system of "domestic allotments", setting the total output of corn, cotton, dairy products, hogs, rice, tobacco, and wheat. The AAA paid land owners subsidies for leaving some of their land idle; funding for the subsidies was provided by a new tax on food processing. The goal was to force up farm prices to the point of "parity," an index based on 1910–1914 prices. To meet 1933 goals, 10 million acres (40,000 km ) of growing cotton

11426-673: The Allies against the Axis powers . Roosevelt supervised the mobilization of the American economy to support the war effort and implemented a Europe first strategy. He also initiated the development of the first atomic bomb and worked with the other Allied leaders to lay the groundwork for the United Nations and other post-war institutions, even coining the term "United Nations". Roosevelt won reelection in 1944 but died in 1945 after his physical health seriously and steadily declined during

11623-596: The CCC. Finally, Roosevelt was a superb communicator with the people, and with Congress, using speeches and especially highly publicized trips visiting key conservation locales. Roosevelt's favorite agency, the CCC, expended most of its effort on environmental projects. In the dozen years after its creation, the CCC built 13,000 miles of trails, planted two billion trees, and upgraded 125,000 miles of dirt roads. Every state had its own state parks, and Roosevelt made sure that WPA and CCC projects were set up to upgrade them as well as

11820-426: The Cox–Roosevelt ticket in the presidential election by a wide margin, carrying every state outside of the South. Roosevelt accepted the loss and later reflected that the relationships and goodwill that he built in the 1920 campaign proved to be a major asset in his 1932 campaign. The 1920 election also saw the first public participation of Eleanor Roosevelt who, with the support of Louis Howe , established herself as

12017-402: The Democrats were badly divided between an urban wing, led by Smith, and a conservative, rural wing, led by William Gibbs McAdoo . On the 101st ballot, the nomination went to John W. Davis , a compromise candidate who suffered a landslide defeat in the 1924 presidential election . Like many, Roosevelt did not abstain from alcohol during Prohibition, but publicly he sought to find a compromise on

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12214-410: The GNP in 1936. In mid-1935, Roosevelt began to prioritize a major reform of the tax code. He sought higher taxes on top incomes, a higher estate tax , a graduated corporate tax , and the implementation of a tax on intercorporate dividends. In response, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1935 , which raised relatively little revenue but did increase taxes on the highest earners. A top tax rate of 79%

12411-402: The Great Depression. Reflecting changing public opinion, the Democratic platform included a call for the repeal of Prohibition; Roosevelt himself had not taken a public stand on the issue prior to the convention but promised to uphold the party platform. Otherwise, Roosevelt's primary campaign strategy was one of caution, intent upon avoiding mistakes that would distract from Hoover's failings on

12608-421: The Gulf and among them is the first Liberty ship, the Patrick Henry . While we are proud of what we are doing, this is certainly no time to be content. We must build more cargo ships and still more cargo ships - and we must speed the program until we achieve a launching each day, then two ships a day, fulfilling the building program undertaken by the Maritime Commission. Our shipbuilding program - not only that of

12805-433: The House John Nance Garner of Texas and Al Smith, the 1928 Democratic presidential nominee. Roosevelt entered the convention with a delegate lead due to his success in the 1932 Democratic primaries , but most delegates entered the convention unbound to any particular candidate. On the first presidential ballot, Roosevelt received the votes of more than half but less than two-thirds of the delegates, with Smith finishing in

13002-414: The House and Senate. Though Hull was not a foreign policy expert, he was a long-time advocate of tariff reduction, was respected by his Senate colleagues, and did not hold ambitions for the presidency. Roosevelt's inaugural cabinet included several influential Republicans, including Secretary of the Treasury William H. Woodin , a well-connected industrialist who was personally close to Roosevelt, Secretary of

13199-433: The Hundred Days he signed the Cullen–Harrison Act redefining weak beer (3.2% alcohol) as the maximum allowed. The 21st Amendment was ratified later that year; he was not involved in the amendment but was given much of the credit. The repeal of prohibition brought in new tax revenues to federal, state and local governments and helped Roosevelt keep a campaign promise that attracted widespread popular support. It also weakened

13396-541: The Interior Harold L. Ickes , a progressive Republican who would play an important role in the New Deal, and Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace , who had advised the Roosevelt campaign on farm policies. Roosevelt also appointed the first female cabinet member, Secretary of Labor Frances C. Perkins . Farley became Postmaster General, taking charge of major patronage issues. Howe became Roosevelt's personal secretary until his death in 1936. The selections of Hull, Woodin, and Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper reassured

13593-610: The Interior and Secretary of Agriculture, respectively. In February 1933, Roosevelt escaped an assassination attempt by Giuseppe Zangara , who expressed a "hate for all rulers". As he was attempting to shoot Roosevelt, Zangara was struck by a woman with her purse; he instead mortally wounded Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak , who was sitting alongside Roosevelt. As president, Roosevelt appointed powerful men to top positions in government. However, he made all of his administration's major decisions himself, regardless of any delays, inefficiencies, or resentments doing so may have caused. Analyzing

13790-431: The Interior; the new department that would include the Forest Service. For Ickes, the land itself had a higher purpose than mere human usage; Wallace wanted the optimum economic productivity of public lands. Both Interior and Agriculture had very strong supporters in Congress, and Roosevelt's plan went nowhere. The status quo triumphed. The New Deal approach to education was a radical departure from previous practices. It

13987-402: The League, by 1924 he was ready to scrap it. His draft of a "Society of Nations" accepted the reservations proposed by Henry Cabot Lodge in the 1919 Senate debate. The new Society would not become involved in the Western Hemisphere, where the Monroe doctrine held sway. It would not have any control over military forces. Although Roosevelt's plan was never made public, he thought about the problem

14184-532: The Liberty ships launched today renews that great patriot's stirring demand: "Give me liberty or give me death." There shall be no death for America, for democracy, for freedom! There must be liberty, world-wide and eternal. That is our prayer—our pledge to all mankind. Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), also known as FDR ,

14381-503: The Maritime Commission, but of the Navy - is one of our answers to the aggressors who would strike at our liberty. I am speaking today not only to the shipworkers in the building yards on our Coasts, on our Great Lakes and on our Rivers - not only to the thousands who are present at today's launchings - but also to the men and women throughout the country who live far from salt water or shipbuilding. I emphasize to all of you

14578-739: The Navy Department as World War I broke out in Europe in August 1914. Though he remained publicly supportive of Wilson, Roosevelt sympathized with the Preparedness Movement , whose leaders strongly favored the Allied Powers and called for a military build-up. The Wilson administration initiated an expansion of the Navy after the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a German submarine , and Roosevelt helped establish

14775-635: The Neutrality Acts prevented the United States from becoming closely involved. After the Fall of France in June 1940, Roosevelt increased aid to the British and began to build up American military power. In the 1940 presidential election , Roosevelt defeated Republican Wendell Willkie , an internationalist who largely refrained from criticizing Roosevelt's foreign policy. Roosevelt later went on to serve

14972-556: The New Dealers. The Democrats feuded and divided, with even Vice President Garner breaking with the president. The labor movement grew stronger but then began fighting itself, while the economy declined sharply. Anti-Roosevelt forces gained strength and the New Deal Coalition lost heavily in the 1938 midterm elections. Roosevelt suffered what historians call the "second term curse." The victors were overconfident, ignoring

15169-473: The Republican Party to launch a third-party campaign against Wilson and sitting Republican president William Howard Taft . Franklin's decision to back Wilson over his cousin in the general election alienated some of his family, except Theodore. Roosevelt overcame a bout of typhoid fever that year and, with help from journalist Louis McHenry Howe , he was re-elected in the 1912 elections . After

15366-458: The Republican gubernatorial nominee, New York Attorney General Albert Ottinger . He won the party's gubernatorial nomination by acclamation and again turned to Howe to lead his campaign. Roosevelt was joined on the campaign trail by associates Samuel Rosenman , Frances Perkins , and James Farley . While Smith lost the presidency in a landslide, and was defeated in his home state, Roosevelt

15563-419: The SEC had to get rid of the penny ante swindles based on false information, fraudulent devices, and unsound get-rich-quick schemes. Thirdly, and much more important than the frauds, the SEC had to end the million-dollar insider maneuvers in major corporations, whereby insiders with access to information about the condition of the company knew when to buy or sell their own securities. Finally, the SEC had to set up

15760-595: The Social Security Act ultimately included only relatively small health care grants designed to help rural communities and the disabled. Roosevelt declined to include a large-scale health insurance program largely because of the lack of active popular, congressional, or interest group support for such a program. Roosevelt's strategy was to wait for demand for a program to materialize, and then, if he thought it popular enough, to throw his support behind it. Jaap Kooijman writes that Roosevelt succeeded in "pacifying

15957-423: The Social Security program, the Social Security Act also established a state-administered unemployment insurance system and the Aid to Dependent Children program, which provided aid to families headed by single mothers. Compared with the social security systems in western European countries, the Social Security Act of 1935 was rather conservative. But for the first time the federal government took responsibility for

16154-822: The Southern whites, Catholics, big-city political machines, labor unions, northern black Americans (southern ones were still disfranchised), Jews, intellectuals, and political liberals. The creation of the New Deal coalition transformed American politics and started what political scientists call the "New Deal Party System" or the Fifth Party System . Between the Civil War and 1929, Democrats had rarely controlled both houses of Congress and had won just four of seventeen presidential elections; from 1932 to 1979, Democrats won eight of twelve presidential elections and generally controlled both houses of Congress. Roosevelt

16351-539: The Supreme Court , but his proposal was defeated in Congress. Roosevelt had little success in passing domestic legislation in his second term, as the bipartisan Conservative Coalition blocked most of his legislative proposals. One success was the Fair Labor Standards Act . The 1930s were a high point of isolationism in the United States. The key foreign policy initiative of Roosevelt's first term

16548-485: The United States had little experience with social insurance programs. For most American workers, retirement due to old age was not a realistic option. In the 1930s, physician Francis Townsend galvanized support for his pension proposal, which called for the federal government to issue direct $ 200-a-month payments to the elderly. Roosevelt was attracted to the general thinking behind Townsend's plan because it would provide for those no longer capable of working while at

16745-576: The United States off the gold standard . Going off the gold standard allowed Roosevelt to pursue inflationary policies, to overcome the sharp fall in prices that hurt the economy. Inflation would reduce the effective size of public and private debt. As part of his inflationary policies, Roosevelt refused to take part in efforts at the London Economic Conference to stabilize currency exchange rates. Roosevelt's "bombshell" message to that conference effectively ended any major efforts by

16942-513: The WPA became the primary New Deal work relief program, and FERA was discontinued. Though nominally charged only with undertaking construction projects that cost over $ 25,000, the WPA provided grants for other programs, such as the Federal Writers' Project . Like the CWA and the CCC, the WPA typically was based on collaboration with local government, which provided the plans, the site, and

17139-554: The ability to manage others. He later said, "I took economics courses in college for four years, and everything I was taught was wrong." Roosevelt's father died in 1900, distressing him greatly. The following year, Roosevelt's fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt became U.S. president. Theodore's vigorous leadership style and reforming zeal made him Franklin's role model and hero. He graduated from Harvard in three years in 1903 with an A.B. in history. He remained there for

17336-685: The administration began to view it as ineffective. The Supreme Court found the NRA to be unconstitutional by unanimous decision in May 1935, and there was little public protest at its closing. To replace the regulatory role of the NRA, the New Deal established or strengthened several durable agencies designed to regulate specific industries. In 1934, Congress established the Federal Communications Commission , which provided regulation to telephones and radio. The Civil Aeronautics Board

17533-750: The administration launched the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a project involving dam construction planning on an unprecedented scale in order to curb flooding, generate electricity, and modernize the very poor farms in the Tennessee Valley region of the Southern United States. Under the leadership of Arthur Ernest Morgan , the TVA built planned communities such as Norris, Tennessee that were designed to serve as models of cooperative, egalitarian living. Though

17730-439: The administration pressured companies to agree to the codes and urged consumers to purchase products from companies in compliance with the codes. As each NRA code was unique to a specific industry, NRA negotiators held a great deal of sway in setting the details of the codes, and many of the codes favored managers over workers. The NRA became increasingly unpopular among the general public due to its micromanagement, and many within

17927-495: The administration's weaknesses. The minority party after losing two elections was eager to strike back. Lawrence Summers states: For the entirety of Roosevelt's first term, the Court consisted of the liberal " Three Musketeers ," the conservative " Four Horsemen ," and the two swing votes in Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Associate Justice Owen Roberts. The more conservative members of

18124-465: The bad economy, Hoover's re-election hopes were further hampered by the Bonus March 1932 , which ended with the violent dispersal of thousands of protesting veterans. Roosevelt won 472 of the 531 electoral votes and 57.4% of the popular vote, making him the first Democrat since 1876 to win a majority of the popular vote , and he won a larger percentage of the vote than any Democrat before him since

18321-426: The big-city criminal gangs and rural bootleggers who had profited heavily from illegal liquor sales. The "Second New Deal" is the designation historians use for the dramatic domestic policies passed during the last two years of Roosevelt's first term. Unlike his efforts in the first two years to be inclusive of all established interest groups, Roosevelt moved left and focused on helping labor unions, poor farmers, and

18518-445: The bill used federal assistance to stabilize privately owned banks. The ensuing " First 100 Days " of the 73rd Congress saw an unprecedented amount of legislation and set a benchmark against which future presidents would be compared. When the banks reopened on Monday, March 13, stock prices rose by 15 percent and bank deposits exceeded withdrawals, thus ending the bank panic. In another measure designed to give Americans confidence in

18715-419: The blame for the economic crisis on bankers and financiers, the quest for profit, and the self-interest basis of capitalism: Primarily this is because rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by

18912-536: The breadwinner in the family. During the 1930s there was a strong national consensus that in times of job shortages, it was wrong for the government to employ both a husband and his wife. Nevertheless, relief agencies did find jobs for women, and the WPA employed about 500,000. The largest number, 295,000, worked on sewing projects, producing 300 million items of clothing and mattresses for people on relief and for public institutions such as orphanages. Many other women worked in school lunch programs. Between 1929 and 1939,

19109-427: The business community, while Wallace, Perkins, and Ickes appealed to Roosevelt's left-wing supporters. Most of Roosevelt's cabinet selections would remain in place until 1936, but ill health forced Woodin to resign in 1933, and he was succeeded by Henry Morgenthau Jr. , who became the most powerful member of the cabinet, followed by Wallace. When Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933, the economy had hit bottom. In

19306-546: The cabinet was Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Roosevelt also appointed Florence E. Allen to the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit , making her the first woman to serve on a federal appeals court. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt played a highly visible role in building a network of women in advisory roles and in promoting relief programs. The New Deal thereby placed more women in public life—a record that stood until

19503-435: The cities. It gave a temporary jobs to unemployed teachers in cities like Boston. Although New Deal leaders refused to give money to impoverished school districts, it did give money to impoverished high school and college students. The CWA used "work study" programs to fund students, both male and female. Women received recognition from the Roosevelt administration. In relief programs, they were eligible for jobs if they were

19700-485: The codes with the approval and guidance of NIRA officials. Other provisions encouraged the formation of unions and suspended anti-trust laws. Roosevelt appointed Hugh S. Johnson as the head of the NRA, based on his experience in directing the national economy in World War I. Johnson used the NRA to curb industrial overproduction and excessive competition through price cutting. He sought to keep wages high. The NRA won

19897-492: The convention with a delegate lead due to his success in the 1932 Democratic primaries , but most delegates entered the convention unbound to any particular candidate. On the first presidential ballot of the convention, Roosevelt received the votes of more than half but less than two-thirds of the delegates, with Smith finishing in a distant second place. Speaker of the House John Nance Garner , who controlled

20094-469: The court adhered to principles of the Lochner era , a period in which courts had struck down numerous economic regulations on the basis of freedom of contract . Reformers like Theodore Roosevelt had long protested the judicial activism of the courts, and Franklin Roosevelt's ambitious domestic programs inevitably came to the attention of the Supreme Court. The court struck down a major New Deal program for

20291-510: The dollar. Roosevelt himself was dubious about insuring bank deposits, saying, "We do not wish to make the United States Government liable for the mistakes and errors of individual banks, and put a premium on unsound banking in the future." But public support was overwhelmingly in favor, and the number of bank failures dropped to near zero. Relief for the unemployed was a major priority for the New Deal, and Roosevelt copied

20488-482: The economic security of the aged, the temporarily unemployed, dependent children and the handicapped. Reflecting the continuing importance of the Social Security Act, biographer Kenneth S. Davis later called the Social Security Act "the most important single piece of social legislation in all American history." Though the Committee on Economic Security had originally sought to develop a national health care system,

20685-541: The economy hurting badly after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 , many Democrats hoped that the 1932 elections would see the election of the first Democratic president since 1916. Roosevelt's 1930 gubernatorial re-election victory in New York established him as the front-runner for the nomination. With the help of Louis Howe and James Farley , Roosevelt rallied some of the supporters of the Wilson while also appealing to many conservatives, establishing himself as

20882-413: The economy. His statements attacked the incumbent and included no other specific policies or programs. After the convention, Roosevelt won endorsements from several progressive Republicans, including George W. Norris , Hiram Johnson , and Robert La Follette Jr. He also reconciled with the party's conservative wing, and even Al Smith was persuaded to support the Democratic ticket. Hoover's handling of

21079-469: The effects of the depression in his own state established him as the front-runner for the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination. Roosevelt rallied the progressive supporters of the Wilson administration while also appealing to many conservatives, establishing himself as the leading candidate in the South and West. The chief opposition to Roosevelt's candidacy came from Northeastern conservatives, Speaker of

21276-441: The election in late March. Roosevelt in the process became a popular figure among New York Democrats. News articles and cartoons depicted "the second coming of a Roosevelt", sending "cold shivers down the spine of Tammany". Roosevelt also opposed Tammany Hall by supporting New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson 's successful bid for the 1912 Democratic nomination . The election became a three-way contest when Theodore Roosevelt left

21473-700: The election, he served as chairman of the Agriculture Committee; his success with farm and labor bills was a precursor to his later New Deal policies. He had then become more consistently progressive , in support of labor and social welfare programs. Roosevelt's support of Wilson led to his appointment in March 1913 as Assistant Secretary of the Navy , the second-ranking official in the Navy Department after Secretary Josephus Daniels who paid it little attention. Roosevelt had an affection for

21670-480: The encouragement of his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt , he returned to public office as governor of New York from 1929 to 1933, during which he promoted programs to combat the Great Depression. In the 1932 presidential election , Roosevelt defeated president Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory . During his first 100 days as president , Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented federal legislation and directed

21867-464: The end of Prohibition . In 1936, Roosevelt won a landslide reelection . He was unable to expand the Supreme Court in 1937 , the same year the conservative coalition was formed to block the implementation of further New Deal programs and reforms. Major surviving programs and legislation implemented under Roosevelt include the Securities and Exchange Commission , the National Labor Relations Act ,

22064-518: The environment and conservation starting with his youthful interest in forestry on his family estate. Although FDR was never an outdoorsman or sportsman on TR's scale, his growth of the national systems were comparable. FDR created 140 national wildlife refuges (especially for birds) and established 29 national forests and 29 national parks and monuments, including Everglades National Park and Olympic National Park . His environmental policy can be divided into three major domains. First of all his focus

22261-694: The establishment of several agencies, including the Civilian Conservation Corps , the Public Works Administration , and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration . The Roosevelt administration established the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to implement new policies designed to prevent agricultural overproduction. It also established several agencies, most notably the National Recovery Administration , to reform

22458-469: The federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing the New Deal , building the New Deal coalition , and realigning American politics into the Fifth Party System . He created numerous programs to provide relief to the unemployed and farmers while seeking economic recovery with the National Recovery Administration and other programs. He also instituted major regulatory reforms related to finance, communications, and labor, and presided over

22655-471: The financial system, Congress enacted the Glass–Steagall Act , which curbed speculation by limiting the investments commercial banks could make and ending affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms. Depositors in open banks received insurance coverage from the new Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), while depositors in permanently closed banks were eventually repaid 85 cents on

22852-433: The fleet will ever have for aviation"—Roosevelt personally ordered the preservation of the Navy's Aviation Division . With the Wilson administration near an end, Roosevelt planned his next run for office. He approached Herbert Hoover about running for the 1920 Democratic presidential nomination, with Roosevelt as his running mate. Roosevelt's plan for Hoover to run fell through after Hoover publicly declared himself to be

23049-470: The general election, Roosevelt faced incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover . Engaging in a cross-country campaign, Roosevelt promised to increase the federal government's role in the economy and to lower the tariff as part of a " New Deal ." Hoover argued that the economic collapse had chiefly been the product of international disturbances, and he accused Roosevelt of promoting class conflict with his novel economic policies. Already unpopular due to

23246-792: The government as the employer of last resort. Roosevelt, among others, feared that the private sector would never again be able to provide full employment on its own. The major program created by the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act was the Works Progress Administration (WPA), led by Harry Hopkins. The WPA financed a variety of projects such as hospitals, schools, and roads, and employed more than 8.5 million workers who built 650,000 miles of highways and roads, 125,000 public buildings, as well as bridges, reservoirs, irrigation systems, and other projects. Ickes's PWA continued to function, but

23443-610: The government would serve as a permanent employer of last resort . The most popular of all New Deal agencies – and Roosevelt's favorite– was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC hired 250,000 unemployed young men to work for six months on rural projects. It was directed by Robert Fechner , a former union executive who promised labor unions that the enrollees would not be trained in skills that would compete with unemployed union members. Instead, they did unskilled construction labor, especially building roads and recreational facilities in state and national parks. Each CCC camp

23640-478: The governor's wife but would also be free to pursue her own agenda and interests. He also began holding " fireside chats ", in which he directly addressed his constituents via radio, often pressuring the New York State Legislature to advance his agenda. In October 1929, the Wall Street Crash occurred and the Great Depression in the United States began. Roosevelt saw the seriousness of

23837-406: The growth of trusts, Hise had favored the creation of governmental organizations charged with regulating trusts. The NRA tried to end cutthroat competition by forcing industries to come up with codes that established the rules of operation for all firms within specific industries, such as minimum prices, minimum wages, agreements not to compete, and production restrictions. Industry leaders negotiated

24034-545: The health facilities available to a sickly population. The Farm Credit Administration refinanced many mortgages, reducing the number of displaced farming families. In 1935, the administration created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), which built electric lines in rural areas providing electricity for the first time to millions. In the decade following the establishment of the REA,

24231-432: The hearts and minds of men. True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence... The money changers have fled from their high seats in

24428-413: The heavy equipment, while the federal government provided the labor. Building new recreational facilities in public parks fit the model, and tens of thousands of recreation and sports facilities were built in both rural and urban areas. These projects had the main goal of providing jobs for the unemployed, but they also played to a widespread demand at the time for bodily fitness and the need of recreation in

24625-585: The industrial sector, though it lasted only two years. After his party's sweeping success in the 1934 mid-term elections, Roosevelt presided over the Second New Deal. It featured the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the largest work relief agency, and the Social Security Act , which created a national old-age pension program known as Social Security . The New Deal also established a national unemployment insurance program, as well as

24822-648: The issue acceptable to both wings of the party. In 1925, Smith appointed Roosevelt to the Taconic State Park Commission, and his fellow commissioners chose him as chairman. In this role, he came into conflict with Robert Moses , a Smith protégé, who was the primary force behind the Long Island State Park Commission and the New York State Council of Parks. Roosevelt accused Moses of using

25019-640: The judiciary, the police force, and organized crime , prompting the creation of the Seabury Commission . The Seabury investigations exposed an extortion ring, led many public officials to be removed from office, and made the decline of Tammany Hall inevitable. Roosevelt supported reforestation with the Hewitt Amendment in 1931, which gave birth to New York's State Forest system . As the 1932 presidential election approached, Roosevelt turned his attention to national politics, established

25216-539: The labor unions, especially in the mass-production sector. When the Flint sit-down strike threatened the production of General Motors , Roosevelt broke with the precedent set by many former presidents and refused to intervene; the strike ultimately led to the unionization of both General Motors and its rivals in the American automobile industry. In the aftermath of the Flint sit-down strike, U.S. Steel granted recognition to

25413-465: The leadership of Aubrey Williams , the NYA developed apprenticeship programs and residential camps specializing in teaching vocational skills. It was one of the first agencies that made an explicit effort to enroll black students. The NYA work-study program reached up to 500,000 students per month in high schools, colleges, and graduate schools. The NYA also set up its own high schools, entirely separate from

25610-440: The leading candidate in the South and West. The chief opposition to Roosevelt's candidacy came from Northeastern liberals such as Al Smith , the 1928 Democratic presidential nominee and a former close ally. Smith hoped to deny Roosevelt the two-thirds support necessary to win the party's presidential nomination 1932 Democratic National Convention , and then emerge as the nominee after multiple rounds of balloting. Roosevelt entered

25807-702: The local and state revenues that it disappeared during the depression, they were well organized, and made repeated concerted efforts in 1934, 1937, and 1939, all to no avail. The federal government had a highly professional Office of Education; Roosevelt cut its budget and staff, and refused to consult with its leader John Ward Studebaker . The CCC programs were deliberately designed not teach skills that would put them in competition with unemployed union members. The CCC did have its own classes. They were voluntary, took place after work, and focused on teaching basic literacy to young men who had dropped out before entering high school. The NYA set up its own high schools independent of

26004-427: The locally controlled public schools. The relief programs did offer indirect help to public schools. The CWA and FERA focused on hiring unemployed people on relief, and putting them to work on public buildings, including public schools. It built or upgraded 40,000 schools, plus thousands of playgrounds and athletic fields. It gave jobs to 50,000 teachers to keep rural schools open and to teach adult education classes in

26201-652: The march of civilization." His platform called for aid to farmers, full employment , unemployment insurance, and old-age pensions. He was elected to a second term by a 14% margin. Roosevelt proposed an economic relief package and the establishment of the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration to distribute those funds. Led first by Jesse I. Straus and then by Harry Hopkins , the agency assisted over one-third of New York's population between 1932 and 1938. Roosevelt also began an investigation into corruption in New York City among

26398-566: The midst of the Great Depression . A quarter of the American workforce was unemployed, two million people were homeless, and industrial production had fallen by more than half since 1929. By the evening of March 4, 32 of the 48 states – as well as the District of Columbia – had closed their banks. The New York Federal Reserve Bank was unable to open on the 5th, as huge sums had been withdrawn by panicky customers in previous days. Beginning with his inauguration address, Roosevelt laid

26595-422: The money supply and respond to business cycles. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 established the independent Securities and Exchange Commission to end irresponsible market manipulations and the dissemination of false information about securities. Roosevelt named Joseph P. Kennedy , a famously successful speculator himself, to head the SEC and clean up Wall Street. Kennedy appointed a hard-driving team with

26792-578: The more ambitious experiments of the TVA generally failed to take hold, by 1940, the TVA had become the largest producer of electric power in the country. The Roosevelt administration also established the Bonneville Power Authority , which performed similar functions to the TVA in the Pacific Northwest , albeit on a smaller scale. The Roosevelt administration launched the National Recovery Administration (NRA) as one of

26989-522: The name recognition of prominent individuals including Roosevelt to win political support for state parks, but then diverting funds to the ones Moses favored on Long Island, while Moses worked to block the appointment of Howe to a salaried position as the Taconic commission's secretary. Roosevelt served on the commission until the end of 1928, and his contentious relationship with Moses continued as their careers progressed. In 1923 Edward Bok established

27186-433: The nation's workforce, and New Dealers hoped that an agricultural recovery would help stimulate the broader economy. Leadership of the farm programs of the New Deal lay with Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, a dynamic, intellectual reformer. The persistent farm crisis of the 1920s was further exacerbated by the onset of the Great Depression, and foreclosures were common among debt-ridden farms. Farmers were locked in

27383-625: The national systems. Roosevelt was particularly supportive of water management projects, which could provide hydroelectricity , improve river navigation, and supply water for irrigation. His administration initiated the construction of numerous dams located in the South and the West. Although proposals to replicate the Tennessee Valley Authority in the Pacific Northwest were not acted upon, the administration completed

27580-501: The new program subsidized them for planting soil enriching hay crops such as alfalfa that would not be sold on the market. Federal regulation of agricultural production has been modified many times since then, but the basic philosophy of subsidizing farmers remains in effect. Many rural families lived in severe poverty, especially in the South. Agencies such as the Resettlement Administration and its successor,

27777-557: The next year, Roosevelt remained in Washington to coordinate the naval deployment, as the Navy expanded fourfold. In the summer of 1918, Roosevelt traveled to Europe to inspect naval installations and meet with French and British officials. On account of his relation to Theodore Roosevelt, he was received very prominently considering his relatively junior rank, obtaining long private audiences with King George V and prime ministers David Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau , as well as

27974-452: The nomination in person. His appearance was essential, to show himself as vigorous, despite his physical disability. In his acceptance speech, Roosevelt declared, "I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people... This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms." Roosevelt promised securities regulation, tariff reduction, farm relief, government-funded public works, and other government actions to address

28171-481: The office, as he gained valuable experience in labor issues, wartime management, naval issues, and logistics. In 1914, Roosevelt ran for the seat of retiring Republican Senator Elihu Root of New York. Though he had the backing of Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo and Governor Martin H. Glynn , he faced a formidable opponent in Tammany Hall's James W. Gerard . He also was without Wilson's support, as

28368-594: The opponents without discouraging the reformers." During World War II, a group of congressmen introduced the Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill , which would provide federally funded universal health care . Roosevelt never endorsed it, and with conservatives in control of Congress, it stood little chance of passage. Health insurance would be proposed in Truman's Fair Deal , but it was defeated. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRB) of 1935, also known as

28565-656: The party's founding in 1828. In the concurrent congressional elections , the Democrats took control of the Senate and built upon their majority in the House. Though congressional Democratic leadership was dominated by conservative Southerners, over half of the members of the incoming 73rd Congress had been elected since 1930. Many of these new members were eager to take action to combat the Depression, even if it meant defying

28762-490: The percentage of female government employees increased from 14.3 percent to 18.8 percent, and women made up nearly half of the workforce of the WPA. From 1930 to 1940, the number of employed women rose 24 percent from 10.5 million to 13 million. Few women worked in the high-unemployment sectors like mining and heavy industry. They worked in clerical jobs or light factories (such as food). Roosevelt appointed more women to office than any previous president. The very first woman in

28959-400: The pledges of two million businesses to create and follow NRA codes, and Blue Eagle symbols, which indicated that a company cooperated with the NRA, became ubiquitous. The NRA targeted ten essential industries deemed crucial to an economic recovery, starting with textile industry and next turning to coal, oil, steel, automobiles, and lumber. Though unwilling to dictate the codes to industries,

29156-404: The political orthodoxy of the previous years. Roosevelt appointed powerful men to top positions but made certain he made all the major decisions, regardless of delays, inefficiency or resentment. Analyzing the president's administrative style, historian James MacGregor Burns concludes: For his first Secretary of State, Roosevelt selected Cordell Hull , a prominent Tennessean who had served in

29353-567: The power to act. During the transition, Roosevelt chose Howe as his chief of staff, and Farley as Postmaster General. Frances Perkins, as Secretary of Labor, became the first woman appointed to a cabinet position. William H. Woodin , a Republican industrialist close to Roosevelt, was chosen for Secretary of the Treasury, while Roosevelt chose Senator Cordell Hull of Tennessee as Secretary of State. Harold L. Ickes and Henry A. Wallace , two progressive Republicans, were selected for Secretary of

29550-641: The powers of the Federal Trade Commission and required companies issuing securities to disclose information regarding the securities they issued. Another major securities law, the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 , broke up large public utility holding companies . The law arose from concerns that the holding companies had used elaborate measures to extract profits from subsidiary utility companies while taking advantage of customers. House construction

29747-483: The president needed Tammany's forces for his legislation and 1916 re-election. Roosevelt was soundly defeated in the Democratic primary by Gerard, who in turn lost the general election to Republican James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr. He learned that federal patronage alone, without White House support, could not defeat a strong local organization. After the election, he and Tammany Hall boss Charles Francis Murphy sought accommodation and became allies. Roosevelt refocused on

29944-589: The president's administrative style, Burns concludes: The president stayed in charge of his administration...by drawing fully on his formal and informal powers as Chief Executive; by raising goals, creating momentum, inspiring a personal loyalty, getting the best out of people...by deliberately fostering among his aides a sense of competition and a clash of wills that led to disarray, heartbreak, and anger but also set off pulses of executive energy and sparks of creativity...by handing out one job to several men and several jobs to one man, thus strengthening his own position as

30141-402: The program was expanded to provide payments to widows and dependents of Social Security recipients. Job categories that were not covered by the act included workers in agricultural labor, domestic service, government employees, and many teachers, nurses, hospital employees, librarians, and social workers. The program was funded through a newly established a payroll tax which later became known as

30338-403: The programs he had initiated as governor of New York as well as the programs Hoover had started. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the largest program from 1933 to 1935, involved giving money to localities to operate work relief projects to employ those on direct relief. FERA was led by Harry Hopkins, who had helmed a similar program under Roosevelt in New York. Another agency,

30535-463: The public school system or academic schools of education. The United States was the lone modern industrial country where people faced the Depression without any national system of social security, though a handful of states had poorly-funded old-age insurance programs. The federal government had provided pensions to veterans in the aftermath of the Civil War and other wars, and some states had established voluntary old-age pension systems, but otherwise

30732-648: The regular federal budget — including a reduction in military spending from $ 752 million in 1932 to $ 531 million in 1934. He made a 40% cut in spending on veterans' benefits by removing 500,000 veterans and widows from the pension rolls and reducing benefits for the remainder, as well as cutting the salaries of federal employees and reducing spending on research and education. The veterans were well organized and strongly protested, and most benefits were restored or increased by 1934. In June 1933, Roosevelt restored $ 50 million in pension payments, and Congress added another $ 46 million more. Veterans groups such as

30929-573: The remaining 13 launches a recording of the President's speech was played. The White House released the following transcript of President Roosevelt's speech: My fellow Americans: This is a memorable day in the history of American shipbuilding - a memorable day in the emergency defense of the nation. Today, from dawn to dark, fourteen ships are being launched - on the Atlantic, on the Pacific and on

31126-450: The same time stimulating demand in the economy and decreasing the supply of labor. In 1934, Roosevelt charged the Committee on Economic Security, chaired by Secretary of Labor Perkins, with developing an old-age pension program, an unemployment insurance system, and a national health care program. The proposal for a national health care system was dropped, but the committee developed an unemployment insurance program largely administered by

31323-407: The seas or drive them off the seas. As a nation we have realized that our export trade and our import trade had a definitely good effect on the life of families, not only on our Coasts but on the farms and in the cities a hundred or a thousand miles from salt water. Since 1936, when the Congress enacted the present Merchant Marine Law, we have been rehabilitating a Merchant Marine which had fallen to

31520-472: The severity of the crisis. Working with the outgoing secretary of the treasury, Ogden Mills , the Roosevelt administration spent the next few days putting together a bill designed to rescue the banking industry. When the special session of Congress that had been called by Roosevelt opened on March 9, Congress quickly passed Roosevelt's Emergency Banking Act . Rather than nationalizing the financial industry, as some radicals hoped and many conservatives feared,

31717-468: The share of farms with electricity went from under 20 percent to approximately 90 percent. Roosevelt appointed John Collier to lead the Bureau of Indian Affairs , and Collier presided over a shift in policy towards Native Americans that de-emphasized cultural assimilation . Native Americans worked in the CCC and other New Deal programs, including the newly formed Soil Conservation Service . In 1933,

31914-421: The simple, historic fact that throughout the period of our American life, going way back into Colonial days, commerce on the high seas and freedom of the seas has been a major reason for our prosperity and the building up of our country. To give you one simple example: It is a matter of history that a large part of the capital which in the middle of the past century went into the building of railways and spread like

32111-513: The situation and established a state employment commission. He also became the first governor to publicly endorse the idea of unemployment insurance . When Roosevelt began his run for a second term in May 1930, he reiterated his doctrine from the campaign two years before: "that progressive government by its very terms must be a living and growing thing, that the battle for it is never-ending and that if we let up for one single moment or one single year, not merely do we stand still but we fall back in

32308-497: The states. The committee also developed an old-age plan that, at Roosevelt's insistence, would be funded by individual contributions from workers. In January 1935, Roosevelt proposed the Social Security Act , which he presented as a more practical alternative to the Townsend Plan. After a series of congressional hearings, the Social Security Act became law in August 1935. During the congressional debate over Social Security,

32505-502: The task to caregivers. She later said that she knew "absolutely nothing about handling or feeding a baby." They had six children. Anna , James , and Elliott were born in 1906, 1907, and 1910, respectively. The couple's second son, Franklin, died in infancy in 1909. Another son, also named Franklin , was born in 1914, and the youngest, John , was born in 1916. Roosevelt had several extramarital affairs. He commenced an affair with Eleanor's social secretary, Lucy Mercer , soon after she

32702-443: The telephone without his secretary's help; Franklin, in turn, did not visit Eleanor's New York City apartment until late 1944. Franklin broke his promise to Eleanor regarding Lucy Mercer. He and Mercer maintained a formal correspondence and began seeing each other again by 1941. Roosevelt's son Elliott claimed that his father had a 20-year affair with his private secretary, Marguerite LeHand . Another son, James, stated that "there

32899-463: The temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit. Historians categorize Roosevelt's economic program into three categories: "relief, recovery and reform." Relief was urgently needed by tens of millions of unemployed. Recovery meant boosting the economy back to normal. Reform meant long-term fixes of what

33096-468: The time Roosevelt took office, gubernatorial proclamations had closed the banks in 32 states; in the remaining states, many banks were closed and depositors were permitted to withdraw only five percent of their deposits. On March 5, Roosevelt declared a federal bank holiday, closing every bank in the nation. Though some questioned Roosevelt's constitutional authority to declare a bank holiday, his action received little immediate political resistance in light of

33293-515: The time. Franklin had a half-brother, James Roosevelt "Rosy" Roosevelt , from his father's previous marriage. As a child, Roosevelt learned to ride, shoot, sail, and play polo, tennis, and golf. Frequent trips to Europe—beginning at age two and from age seven to fifteen—helped Roosevelt become conversant in German and French. Except for attending public school in Germany at age nine, Roosevelt

33490-562: The two major programs designed to restore economic prosperity, along with the AAA. The NRA was established by the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933, and was designed to implement reforms in the industrial sector. The framers of the NRA were heavily influenced by the work of Charles R. Van Hise , a Progressive academic who saw trusts as an inevitable feature of an industrialized society. Rather than advocating for antitrust laws designed to prevent

33687-461: The unemployed. He energetically battled growing opposition from conservatives, business and banking interests. By 1935, the economy was 21% bigger than its nadir, but the real gross national product was still 11% below the apex reached in 1929. It finally caught up and passed 1929 during 1936. Unemployment remained a major problem at 20%. However farm incomes were recovering. With the economy still in depression, and following Democratic triumphs in

33884-439: The unemployed. Recovery meant boosting the economy back to normal, and reform was required of the financial and banking systems. Through Roosevelt's 30 " fireside chats ", he presented his proposals directly to the American public as a series of radio addresses. Energized by his own victory over paralytic illness, he used persistent optimism and activism to renew the national spirit. On his second day in office, Roosevelt declared

34081-405: The votes of Texas and California, threw his support behind Roosevelt after the third ballot, and Roosevelt clinched the nomination on the fourth ballot. With little input from Roosevelt, Garner won the vice presidential nomination. Roosevelt flew in from New York after learning that he had won the nomination, becoming the first major party presidential nominee to accept the nomination in person. In

34278-624: The war years. Since then, several of his actions have come under criticism , such as his ordering of the internment of Japanese Americans . Nonetheless, historical rankings consistently place him among the three greatest American presidents. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York , to businessman James Roosevelt I and his second wife, Sara Ann Delano . His parents, who were sixth cousins, came from wealthy, established New York families—the Roosevelts ,

34475-406: The workforce was unemployed, and farmers were in deep trouble as prices had fallen by 60%. Industrial production had fallen by more than half since 1929. Two million people were homeless. By the evening of March 4, 32 of the 48 states—as well as the District of Columbia—had closed their banks. Historians categorized Roosevelt's program as "relief, recovery, and reform". Relief was urgently needed by

34672-441: The world powers to collaborate on ending the worldwide depression, and allowed Roosevelt a free hand in economic policy. Though Roosevelt was willing to negotiate regarding tariffs, he refused to accept a fixed exchange-rate system or to reduce European debts incurred during World War I . In October 1933, the Roosevelt administration began a policy of buying gold in the hopes that such purchases would lead to inflation. The program

34869-451: Was homeschooled by tutors until age 14. He then attended Groton School , an Episcopal boarding school in Groton, Massachusetts . He was not among the more popular Groton students, who were better athletes and had rebellious streaks. Its headmaster, Endicott Peabody , preached the duty of Christians to help the less fortunate and urged his students to enter public service. Peabody remained

35066-618: Was a fierce turf battle over control of the United States Forest Service , which Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace insisted on keeping, but Interior Secretary Harold Ickes wanted so he could merge it with the National Park Service . The Brownlow Committee report on administrative management convinced Roosevelt to propose the creation of a new Department of Conservation to replace the Department of

35263-429: Was administered by an Army reserve officer. Food, clothing, supplies, and medical and dental services were purchased locally. The young men who worked at CCC camps were paid a dollar a day, most of which went to their parents. Blacks were enrolled in their own camps, and the CCC operated an entirely separate division for Indians. Roosevelt placed a high emphasis on agricultural issues. Farmers made up thirty percent of

35460-450: Was elected governor by a one-percent margin, and became a contender in the next presidential election. Roosevelt proposed the construction of hydroelectric power plants and addressed the ongoing farm crisis of the 1920s . Relations between Roosevelt and Smith suffered after he chose not to retain key Smith appointees like Moses. He and his wife Eleanor established an understanding for the rest of his career; she would dutifully serve as

35657-413: Was elected in November 1932 but like his predecessors did not take office until the following March. After the election, President Hoover sought to convince Roosevelt to renounce much of his campaign platform and to endorse the Hoover administration's policies. Roosevelt refused Hoover's request to develop a joint program to stop the economic decline, claiming that it would tie his hands and that Hoover had

35854-449: Was elected to the New York State Senate from 1911 to 1913 and was then the assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson during World War I . Roosevelt was James M. Cox 's running mate on the Democratic Party 's ticket in the 1920 U.S. presidential election , but Cox lost to Republican nominee Warren G. Harding . In 1921, Roosevelt contracted a paralytic illness that permanently paralyzed his legs. Partly through

36051-518: Was established in 1938 to regulate the fast-growing commercial aviation industry, while in 1935 the authority of the Interstate Commerce Commission was extended to the trucking industry . The Federal Trade Commission also received new duties. The Agricultural Adjustment Act included the Thomas Amendment, a provision that allowed the president to reduce the gold content of the dollar, to coin silver dollars, and issue $ 3 billion in fiat money not backed by gold or silver. In April 1933, Roosevelt took

36248-407: Was hired in 1914. That affair was discovered by Eleanor in 1918. Franklin contemplated divorcing Eleanor, but Sara objected, and Mercer would not marry a divorced man with five children. Franklin and Eleanor remained married, and Franklin promised never to see Mercer again. Eleanor never forgave him for the affair, and their marriage shifted to become a political partnership. Eleanor soon established

36445-431: Was improving, which he believed to be essential prior to running for office. He laboriously taught himself to walk short distances while wearing iron braces on his hips and legs, by swiveling his torso while supporting himself with a cane. He was careful never to be seen using his wheelchair in public, and great care was taken to prevent any portrayal in the press that would highlight his disability. However, his disability

36642-427: Was on a few issues that had long concerned environmentalists: clean air and water, land management, preservation of forest lands, protection of wildlife, conservation of natural resources, and the creation of national parks and monuments. Second, he created permanent institutional structures with environmental missions, including permanent institutions like the Tennessee Valley Authority and temporary operations such as

36839-434: Was plowed up, bountiful crops were left to rot, and six million piglets were killed and discarded. Farm incomes increased significantly in the first three years of the New Deal, as prices for commodities rose. However, some sharecroppers suffered under the new system, as some landowners pocketed the federal subsidies distributed for keeping lands fallow. The AAA was the first federal agricultural program to operate on such

37036-416: Was set for income above $ 5 million; in 1935, just one individual, John D. Rockefeller , paid the top tax rate. In early 1936, following the passage of the Bonus Act, Roosevelt again sought to increase taxes on corporate profits. Congress passed a bill that raised less revenue that Roosevelt's proposals, but did impose an undistributed profits tax on corporate earnings. Roosevelt had a lifelong interest in

37233-524: Was specifically designed for the poor and staffed largely by women on relief. It was not based on professionalism, nor was it designed by experts. Instead it was premised on the anti-elitist notion that a good teacher does not need paper credentials, that learning does not need a formal classroom and that the highest priority should go to the bottom tier of society. Leaders in the public schools were shocked: they were shut out as consultants and as recipients of New Deal funding. They desperately needed cash to cover

37430-401: Was strongly criticized by observers like Keynes, as well as hard money administration officials such as Dean Acheson , but it did appease many in rural communities. In 1935, Congress passed the Banking Act of 1935 , which brought the Federal Open Market Committee under the direct control of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors , thereby increasing the Federal Reserve's ability to control

37627-562: Was the Good Neighbor Policy , in which the U.S. took a non-interventionist stance in Latin American affairs. Foreign policy issues came to the fore in the late 1930s, as Nazi Germany , Japan , and Italy took aggressive actions against their neighbors. In response to fears that the United States would be drawn into foreign conflicts, Congress passed the Neutrality Acts , a series of laws that prevented trade with belligerents. After Japan invaded China and Germany invaded Poland , Roosevelt provided aid to China , Great Britain, and France , but

37824-431: Was the 32nd president of the United States , serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. The longest-serving U.S. president, he is the only president to have served more than two terms. His initial two terms were centered on combating the Great Depression , while his third and fourth saw him shift his focus to America's involvement in World War II . A member of the prominent Delano and Roosevelt families, Roosevelt

38021-436: Was the most urgent task facing the newly inaugurated administration. Thousands of smaller banks had failed or were on the verge of failing, and panicked depositors sought to remove their savings from banks for fear that they would lose their deposits after a bank failure. In the months after Roosevelt's election, several governors declared bank holidays, temporarily closing banks so that their deposits could not be withdrawn. By

38218-411: Was unemployed. In less than four months, the CWA hired four million people, and during its five months of operation, the CWA built and repaired 200 swimming pools, 3,700 playgrounds, 40,000 schools, 250,000 miles (400,000 km) of road, and 12 million feet of sewer pipe. The CWA was widely popular, but Roosevelt canceled it in March 1934 due to cost concerns and the fear of establishing a precedent that

38415-461: Was well known before and during his presidency and became a major part of his image. He usually appeared in public standing upright, supported on one side by an aide or one of his sons. Beginning in 1925, Roosevelt spent most of his time in the Southern United States , at first on his houseboat, the Larooco . Intrigued by the potential benefits of hydrotherapy , he established a rehabilitation center at Warm Springs, Georgia , in 1926, assembling

38612-657: Was widely seen as a potential component of an economic recovery. Though Keynes and Senator Wagner both favored large-scale public housing projects, the Roosevelt administration prioritized programs designed to boost private home-ownership . In 1933, Roosevelt established the Home Owners' Loan Corporation , which helped prevent mortgage foreclosures by offering refinancing programs. The Federal Housing Administration , established in 1934, set national home construction standards and provided insurance to long-term home mortgages. Another New Deal institution, Fannie Mae , made home lending more appealing to lenders by helping to provide for

38809-498: Was wrong, especially with the financial and banking systems. Through Roosevelt's series of radio talks, known as fireside chats , he presented his proposals directly to the American public. To propose programs, Roosevelt relied on leading senators such as George Norris , Robert F. Wagner , and Hugo Black, as well as his Brain Trust of academic advisers. Like Hoover, he saw the Depression caused in part by people no longer spending or investing because they were afraid. Banking reform

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