The New Deal :: essays research papers

In 1933 the new president, Franklin Roosevelt, brought an air of confidence and optimism that speedily rallied the people to the banner of his program, known as the vernal sens. "The simply topic we have to fear is fear itself," the president declared in his initiatory address to the nation. Perhaps he should have said the only issue we have to fear is complacency. What was truly unique about the New Deal was the speed with which it accomplished what previously had taken generations. However, mevery of the reforms were created in rush and weakly executed. And during the New Deal, public reproach and contention were never disrupt or suspended. When Roosevelt took the presidential oath, the banking and credit system of the nation was in a state of collapse. With astonishing speed the nations banks were first closed and then reopened only if they were solvent. The administration adopted a policy of moderate currency lump to start an upward movement in commodity prices and to afford slightly relief to debtors. New governmental agencies brought generous credit facilities to industry and agriculture. The federal official Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured savings-bank deposits up to $5,000, and severe regulations were enforce upon the sale of securities on the stock exchange. In addition to aggressive statute law to corral the failing bank system FDR vigorously attacked unfair commerce practices. The National Recovery Administration (NRA), established in 1933 with the National industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), attempted to end cut-throat competition by backing codes of fair competitive practice to generate to a greater extent jobs and thus more buying. Although the NRA was welcomed initially, business complained bitterly of over-regulation as recovery began to take hold. The NRA was declared unconstitutional in 1935. By this time other policies were fostering recovery, and the government shortly took the position that administered pric es in certain lines of business were a severe give out on the national economy and a barrier to recovery. It was also during the New Deal that organized labor made greater gains than at any previous time in American history. NIRA had guaranteed to labor the by rights of joint bargaining (bargaining as a unit representing individual workers with industry), while not a new concept it was quite radical. Then in 1935 telling passed the National Labor Relations Act, which defined unfair labor practices, gave workers the right to bargain through conjunctions of their own choice and prohibited employers from interfering with union activities.