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31st President, Hoover had a reputation as a humanitarian—earned during and after World War I when he rescued millions of Europeans from starvation. He also created programs for unemployed and the economy.

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Herbert Hoover, in full Herbert Clark Hoover, (born August 10, 1874, West Branch, Iowa, U.S.-died October 20, 1964, New York, New York), 31st president of the United States (1929-33). Hoover's reputation as a humanitarian-earned during and after World War I as he rescued millions of Europeans from starvation-faded from public consciousness when his administration proved unable to alleviate widespread joblessness, homelessness, and hunger in his own country during the early years of the Great Depression. (For a discussion of the history and nature of the presidency, see presidency of the United States of America.)

Hoover was the son of Jesse and Hulda Hoover. His father was a hardworking blacksmith and farm-implement dealer and his mother an extremely pious woman who eventually adopted Quakerism. Amid the streams, woodlands, and rolling hills around West Branch, Iowa, the young Hoover enjoyed an almost idyllic childhood-until age six, when his father died from heart disease; his mother died of pneumonia three years later. The orphaned Herbert then left Iowa for Oregon, where he grew up in the home of John and Laura Minthorn, his maternal uncle and aunt. His parents' character and religiosity and the trauma of his early childhood left an indelible mark on the young Herbert, instilling in him the self-reliance, industriousness, and moral concern for the needy, abandoned, and downtrodden that would characterize him for the rest of his life (his favourite book was David Copperfield). In classic Quaker fashion, his speech, dress, and demeanour were unadorned. Hoover was a member of the first class at Stanford University (1895). He graduated with a degree in geology and became a mining engineer, working on a wide variety of projects on four continents and displaying exceptional business acumen. Within two decades of leaving Stanford, he had amassed a personal net worth of about $4 million.

Hoover, Herbert The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum

Caught in China during the Boxer Rebellion (1900), Hoover displayed his gift for humanitarian rescue by organizing relief for trapped foreigners. He drew on his China experience in 1914, when he helped Americans stranded in Europe at the outbreak of World War I. For the next three years, he headed the Commission for Relief in Belgium, overseeing what he called "the greatest charity the world has ever seen" and exhibiting impressive executive ability in helping to procure food for some nine million people whose country had been overrun by the German army. So skilled was Hoover's performance that President Woodrow Wilson appointed him U.S. food administrator for the duration of the war. Relying primarily on voluntary cooperation by the American public, Hoover won wide support for "wheatless" and "meatless" days so that as much of the nation's agricultural output as possible could be sent to soldiers at the front. Recognized by war's end as the "Great Engineer" who could organize resources and personnel to accomplish extraordinary acts of benevolence, Hoover was the natural choice to head the American Relief Administration. The ARA sent shiploads of food and other life-sustaining supplies to war-ravaged Europe-including Germany and Bolshevik Russia during the famine in that country in 1921-23. The outreach to Soviet Russia garnered Hoover much criticism, but he defended his actions on humanitarian grounds, saying, "Twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed."

Hoover, Herbert Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

In 1921 President-elect Warren G. Harding chose Hoover to serve as secretary of commerce. In the Harding cabinet Hoover proved to be one of the few progressive voices in a Republican administration that generally saw little role for government other than assisting the growth of business. Hoover alienated many Old Guard Republican leaders as he vigorously supported U.S. membership in the League of Nations, collective bargaining rights for labour, and government regulation of such new industries as radio broadcasting and commercial aviation. ( See primary source document: Moral Standards in an Industrial Era.) Continuing as commerce secretary under President Calvin Coolidge, Hoover spearheaded efforts that ultimately led to construction of Hoover Dam and the St. Lawrence Seaway. He illustrated his continuing dedication to humanitarian rescue when he supervised relief efforts during and after the Mississippi flood of 1927.

When President Coolidge decided not to run for another term in 1928, Hoover received the Republican presidential nomination, despite the objections of conservatives opposed to his departure from the party's traditional laissez-faire philosophy. In the ensuing campaign Hoover ran against New York Governor Alfred E. Smith in a contest that focused on Prohibition and religion. Smith opposed Prohibition, while Hoover remained equivocal, calling it an "experiment noble in motive." Smith's Roman Catholicism proved a liability, especially in the South, but the election outcome chiefly reflected the close identification in the public mind of the Republican Party with the enormous prosperity of the 1920s. Hoover captured 21 million votes to Smith's 15 million, 444 electoral votes to his Democratic opponent's 87. ( See primary source document: Inaugural Address. See also Cabinet of President Herbert Hoover.)
Cabinet of President Herbert Hoover

State
Henry Lewis Stimson

Treasury

Andrew W. Mellon
Ogden Livingston Mills (from February 13, 1932)

War

James William Good
Patrick Jay Hurley (from December 9, 1929)

Navy
Charles Francis Adams

Attorney General

William De Witt Mitchell

Interior

Ray Lyman Wilbur

Agriculture

Arthur Mastick Hyde

Commerce

Robert Patterson Lamont
Roy Dikeman Chapin (from December 14, 1932)

Labor

James John Davis
William Nuckles Doak (from December 9, 1930)

During the 1928 presidential campaign, Hoover said, "We are nearer today to the ideal of the abolition of poverty and fear from the lives of men and women than ever before in any land." One year later the Stock Market Crash of 1929 plunged the country into the worst economic collapse in its history. President Hoover parted ways with those leaders of the Republican Party-including Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon-who believed there was nothing for the government to do but wait for the next phase of the business cycle. Hoover took prompt action. He called business leaders to the White House to urge them not to lay off workers or cut wages. He urged state and local governments to join private charities in caring for Americans made destitute by the Depression. He asked Congress to appropriate money for public-works projects to expand government employment. In 1931 he backed creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC, established 1932), a large-scale lending institution intended to help banks and industries and thereby promote a general recovery.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital. id. cph.3c21855)

The nation's economy failed to respond to Hoover's initiatives. As the Depression worsened, banks and other businesses collapsed and poverty stalked the land, and the American people began to blame Hoover for the calamity. The homeless began calling their shantytowns "Hoovervilles." Demands rose for greater government action, especially direct relief payments to the most impoverished of the millions of unemployed. Believing that a dole would prove addictive, sapping the will of Americans to provide for themselves, Hoover adamantly opposed direct federal relief payments to individuals. He was also a firm believer in a balanced budget, unwilling to plunge the federal government into massive debt through a welfare program. This is not to say that Hoover opposed assistance to those in need. For example, expenditures for American Indian schools and health care doubled during his administration, and this earned him accolades as the first president to recognize some basic Indian rights. Hoover also furthered the long-held Quaker interest in prison reform, alleviating prison overcrowding by building new penitentiaries and work camps, expanding educational opportunities for prisoners, and increasing the number of prisoners placed on parole. He also supported RFC loans to states for relief purposes, though this modest program did little to alleviate suffering or to stimulate economic recovery. Also largely ineffective-but sincerely pursued-was Hoover's attempt to defuse international tensions by promoting disarmament negotiations at the London Naval Conference of 1930. Quaker pacifism undoubtedly spurred Hoover's interest in the arms race and international disarmament, but, like his relief schemes on the home front that could hardly suppress or contain the Depression, these efforts failed to reduce world tensions or to prevent Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931.

Washington State Archives/Digital Archives

Hoover also made some critical mistakes in his handling of the Depression. In 1930, for example, he signed into law (against the advice of many leading economists) the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which raised many import duties so high that foreign countries could not sell goods in the United States; as a result, those countries could not-or would not-purchase American goods at a time when the need for sales abroad had never been greater. More problems arose in 1932, when Hoover authorized General Douglas MacArthur to evict from Washington, D.C., the Bonus Army, a group of World War I veterans who had camped in the nation's capital to pressure Congress into awarding a promised bonus many years in advance of the scheduled payout date. MacArthur greatly exceeded Hoover's orders in using military force against the unemployed former soldiers. The result was a public relations nightmare for the president. Hoover's silence regarding MacArthur's excesses led the public to think that the president had been responsible for the brutality. The man who had enjoyed a worldwide reputation as a humanitarian now appeared heartless and cruel.

By the 1932 presidential campaign, Hoover was blaming the Depression on events abroad and predicting that election of his Democratic challenger, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, would only intensify the disaster. The electorate obviously thought differently, as Roosevelt captured nearly 23 million votes (and 472 electoral votes) to Hoover's slightly less than 16 million (59 electoral votes). During the months between the election and the inauguration, Hoover attempted unsuccessfully to gain Roosevelt's commitment to sustaining his policies. When he left the White House on March 4, 1933, Hoover was a defeated and embittered man.

American presidential election, 1932 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Hoover and his wife-the former Lou Henry ( Lou Hoover), also a Stanford-trained geologist-moved first to Palo Alto, California, and then to New York City, where they took up residence at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. For the next 30 years, Hoover was closely identified with the most conservative elements in the Republican Party, condemning what he regarded as the radicalism of the New Deal and opposing Roosevelt's attempts to take a more active role against German and Japanese aggression. He believed fascism lay at the root of government programs like the New Deal and argued so in The Challenge to Liberty (1934) and the eight-volume Addresses upon the American Road (1936-61), as well as in the speeches Against the Proposed New Deal (1932, see original text) and The New Deal and European Collectivism (1936, see original text). An ardent anticommunist and foe of international crusades, he opposed American entry into World War II (until the attack on Pearl Harbor) and denounced American involvement in the Korean and Vietnam wars. His last major activity was heading the Hoover Commission, under Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, which aimed at streamlining the federal bureaucracy. The research-oriented Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University-founded in 1919 as the Hoover War Collection, a library on World War I-is named in his honour.

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Herbert Hoover | president of United States

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Herbert Hoover, in full Herbert Clark Hoover, (born August 10, 1874, West Branch, Iowa, U.S.-died October 20, 1964, New York, New York), 31st president of the United States (1929-33).

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32nd President,  Roosevelt led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and World War II. He started the New deals

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Table of Contents

When was Franklin D. Roosevelt born?

When did Franklin D. Roosevelt die?

What is Franklin D. Roosevelt best known for?

Where did Franklin D. Roosevelt go to school?

When did Franklin D. Roosevelt get married?

Read a brief summary of this topic

Franklin D. Roosevelt, in full Franklin Delano Roosevelt, byname FDR, (born January 30, 1882, Hyde Park, New York, U.S.-died April 12, 1945, Warm Springs, Georgia), 32nd president of the United States (1933-45). The only president elected to the office four times, Roosevelt led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and World War II. In so doing, he greatly expanded the powers of the federal government through a series of programs and reforms known as the New Deal, and he served as the principal architect of the successful effort to rid the world of German National Socialism and Japanese militarism.

Early life

Roosevelt was the only child of James and Sara Delano Roosevelt. The family lived in unostentatious and genteel luxury, dividing its time between the family estate in the Hudson River valley of New York state and European resorts. Young Roosevelt was educated privately at home until age 14, when he entered Groton Preparatory School in Groton, Massachusetts. At Groton, as at home, he was reared to be a gentleman, assuming responsibility for those less fortunate and exercising Christian stewardship through public service.

In 1900 Roosevelt entered Harvard University, where he spent most of his time on extracurricular activities and a strenuous social life; his academic record was undistinguished. It was during his Harvard years that he fell under the spell of his fifth cousin, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, the progressive champion who advocated a vastly increased role for the government in the nation's economy. It was also during his Harvard years that he fell in love with Theodore Roosevelt's niece, Eleanor Roosevelt, who was then active in charitable work for the poor in New York City. The distant cousins became engaged during Roosevelt's final year at Harvard, and they were married on March 17, 1905. Eleanor would later open her husband's eyes to the deplorable state of the poor in New York's slums.

Roosevelt attended Columbia University Law School but was not much interested in his studies. After passing the New York bar exam, he went to work as a clerk for the distinguished Wall Street firm of Carter, Ledyard, and Milburn, but he displayed the same attitude of indifference toward the legal profession as he had toward his education.

Early political activities

Motivated by his cousin Theodore, who continued to urge young men of privileged backgrounds to enter public service, Roosevelt looked for an opportunity to launch a career in politics. That opportunity came in 1910, when Democratic Party leaders of Dutchess county, New York, persuaded him to undertake an apparently futile attempt to win a seat in the state senate. Roosevelt, whose branch of the family had always voted Democratic, hesitated only long enough to make sure his distinguished Republican Party relative would not speak against him. He campaigned strenuously and won the election. Not quite 29 when he took his seat in Albany, he quickly won statewide and even some national attention by leading a small group of Democratic insurgents who refused to support Billy Sheehan, the candidate for the United States Senate backed by Tammany Hall, the New York City Democratic organization. For three months Roosevelt helped hold the insurgents firm, and Tammany was forced to switch to another candidate.

In the New York Senate Roosevelt learned much of the give-and-take of politics, and he gradually abandoned his patrician airs and attitude of superiority. In the process, he came to champion the full program of progressive reform. By 1911 Roosevelt was supporting progressive New Jersey Gov. Woodrow Wilson for the Democratic presidential nomination of 1912. In that year Roosevelt was reelected to the state senate, despite an attack of typhoid fever that prevented him from making public appearances during the campaign. His success was attributable in part to the publicity generated by an Albany journalist, Louis McHenry Howe. Howe saw in the tall, handsome Roosevelt a politician with great promise, and he remained dedicated to Roosevelt for the rest of his life.

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For his work on behalf of Wilson, Roosevelt was appointed assistant secretary of the navy in March 1913. Roosevelt loved the sea and naval traditions, and he knew more about them than did his superior, navy secretary Josephus Daniels, with whom he was frequently impatient. Roosevelt tried with mixed success to bring reforms to the navy yards, which were under his jurisdiction, meanwhile learning to negotiate with labour unions among the navy's civilian employees.

After war broke out in Europe in 1914, Roosevelt became a vehement advocate of military preparedness, and following U.S. entry into the war in 1917, he built a reputation as an effective administrator. In the summer of 1918 he made an extended tour of naval bases and battlefields overseas. Upon his return, Eleanor Roosevelt discovered that her husband had been romantically involved with her social secretary, Lucy Mercer. She offered him a divorce; he refused and promised never to see Mercer again (a promise he would break in the 1940s). Although the Roosevelts agreed to remain together, their relationship ceased to be an intimate one.

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Franklin D. Roosevelt | Accomplishments, New Deal, Great Depression, World War II, & Death

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Franklin D. Roosevelt, in full Franklin Delano Roosevelt, byname FDR, (born January 30, 1882, Hyde Park, New York, U.S.-died April 12, 1945, Warm Springs, Georgia), 32nd president of the United States (1933-45). The only president elected to the office four times, Roosevelt led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and World War II.

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On October 29, 1929, the United States stock market crashed in an event known as Black Tuesday. This began a chain of events that led to the Great Depression, a 10-year economic slump that affected all industrialized countries in the world

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Black Tuesday Definition

Black Tuesday is a term used to signify October 29, 1929, when the US stock market crashed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) reduced by almost 12% on this day. Furthermore, the black Tuesday datesucceeded Black Monday (October 28, 1929) when the DJIA diminished by approximately 13%.

Black Tuesday Explained

Black Tuesday, by definition, implies the unfortunate fall-down of the stock market by almost 12% in October 1929. The continued reduction caused DJIA to lose nearly half of its worth until mid-November. The Dow kept decreasing during the summer of 1932 and closed at the lowest value of the 20th century at 41.22 (89% below the peak).

Economists and Federal Reserve leaders learned two crucial lessons from the stock market crash on Black Tuesday. First, the reserve and central banks must cautiously respond to the . Secondly, they can diminish the damage by any future stock market crash by following their playbook developed in the fall of 1929.

Moreover, here is how the events transpired:

1. 24 August 1921: DJIA commences the post-war advancement at 63.90 points.

2. 22 August 1922: Dow peaks at 100 for the first time and closes the day at 100.75.

3. 1922-1929: Dow increased 400%.

4. 3 September 1929: DJIA touches the pre-crash high and closes at 381.17.

5. 24 October 1929: The onset of the stock market crash A stock market crash occurs when stock prices in all sectors begin to fall rapidly. It is often the result of global factors such as war, scam, or the collapse of a certain industry. In such a crash, panic acts as a catalyst. with the trading of chart-topping 13 million stocks, creating panic. Five banks discharge nearly $20 million individually for stock purchases and retrieval of confidence in the stock market. This works, and the Dow closes at 299.47.

6. 25 October 1929: The late rally exists, and the DJIA closes at 301.22.

7. 28 October 1929 (Black Monday): The rally ends, and panic selling continues with the Dow lessening nearly 40 points to close at 260.64. Investors received multiple margin calls A margin call occurs when the stockbroker notifies the trader about the brokerage account balance falling below the minimum maintenance margin. from their brokers.

8. 29 October 1929 (Black Tuesday): Dow drops additional 30 points and closes at 230.07 on trading $16 million in stocks.

Causes Of Black Tuesday

In 1929, stock rates had increased to the highest level owing to the period of affluence and extravagance in the US. As a result, the DJIA gained from 63 (August 1921) to 381 (September 1929). Numerous individuals presumed the extended market development, and therefore, investors borrowed cash for stock purchases.

The monetary flourishment led to prosperous families and the advancement of telephones, automobiles, and other technologies. Contrary to popular belief, realty values decreased throughout the late 1920s, causing the mitigation in the stock market. However, some fiscal experts still supported the buying of equities.

The National City Bank President Charles E. Mitchell and an alliance of bankers prompted confidence restoration through publicly buying the stocks at high rates. Nonetheless, the attempt went in vain with continued panic selling by investors and the diminishing of share prices.

Consequently, stock rates began to fall on the black Tuesday date, i.e., October 29, 1929. This compelled the masses to hurriedly sell their stock, exit the market, and drive down the rates. The menacing pattern accelerated "panic selling" until the stock market fell to the lowest spot.

Moreover, the tightening of financial regulations is considered the major reason behind its occurrence.

Effects Of Black Tuesday

Ordinary citizens lost their savings, were concerned about their bill payments and worried about employment. Additionally, the high unpredictability and fright lessened the purchases of automobiles and other big-ticket goods purchased with credit.

Throughout the relevant contraction phase between the period above, the actual output of the US decreased by almost 30%. Other aftereffects include a steep deflation (price reduction at an annual rate of 10%), plunging share market, extensive bank failures, and reckless bankruptcies.

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What Caused Black Tuesday?

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Black Tuesday is a term used to signify October 29, 1929, when the US stock market crashed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) reduced by almost 12% on this day. Furthermore, the black Tuesday datesucceeded Black Monday (October 28, 1929) when the DJIA diminished by approximately 13%.

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The stock market crash of 1929; the collapse of world trade due to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff; government policies; bank failures and panics; and the collapse of the money supply.

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What Caused the Great Depression?

Throughout the 1920s, the U.S. economy expanded rapidly, and the nation's total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929, a period dubbed " the Roaring Twenties."

The stock market, centered at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street in New York City, was the scene of reckless speculation, where everyone from millionaire tycoons to cooks and janitors poured their savings into stocks. As a result, the stock market underwent rapid expansion, reaching its peak in August 1929.

By then, production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stock prices much higher than their actual value. Additionally, wages at that time were low, consumer debt was proliferating, the agricultural sector of the economy was struggling due to drought and falling food prices and banks had an excess of large loans that could not be liquidated.

The American economy entered a mild recession during the summer of 1929, as consumer spending slowed and unsold goods began to pile up, which in turn slowed factory production. Nonetheless, stock prices continued to rise, and by the fall of that year had reached stratospheric levels that could not be justified by expected future earnings.

Stock Market Crash of 1929

On October 24, 1929, as nervous investors began selling overpriced shares en masse, the stock market crash that some had feared happened at last. A record 12.9 million shares were traded that day, known as "Black Thursday."

Five days later, on October 29, or "Black Tuesday," some 16 million shares were traded after another wave of panic swept Wall Street. Millions of shares ended up worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks "on margin" (with borrowed money) were wiped out completely.

As consumer confidence vanished in the wake of the stock market crash, the downturn in spending and investment led factories and other businesses to slow down production and begin firing their workers. For those who were lucky enough to remain employed, wages fell and buying power decreased.

Many Americans forced to buy on credit fell into debt, and the number of foreclosures and repossessions climbed steadily. The global adherence to the gold standard, which joined countries around the world in fixed currency exchange, helped spread economic woes from the United States throughout the world, especially in Europe.

Bank Runs and the Hoover Administration

Despite assurances from President Herbert Hoover and other leaders that the crisis would run its course, matters continued to get worse over the next three years. By 1930, 4 million Americans looking for work could not find it; that number had risen to 6 million in 1931.

Meanwhile, the country's industrial production had dropped by half. Bread lines, soup kitchens and rising numbers of homeless people became more and more common in America's towns and cities. Farmers couldn't afford to harvest their crops and were forced to leave them rotting in the fields while people elsewhere starved. In 1930, severe droughts in the Southern Plains brought high winds and dust from Texas to Nebraska, killing people, livestock and crops. The " Dust Bowl " inspired a mass migration of people from farmland to cities in search of work.

In the fall of 1930, the first of four waves of banking panics began, as large numbers of investors lost confidence in the solvency of their banks and demanded deposits in cash, forcing banks to liquidate loans in order to supplement their insufficient cash reserves on hand.

Bank runs swept the United States again in the spring and fall of 1931 and the fall of 1932, and by early 1933 thousands of banks had closed their doors.

In the face of this dire situation, Hoover's administration tried supporting failing banks and other institutions with government loans; the idea was that the banks in turn would loan to businesses, which would be able to hire back their employees.

FDR and the Great Depression

Hoover, a Republican who had formerly served as U.S. secretary of commerce, believed that government should not directly intervene in the economy and that it did not have the responsibility to create jobs or provide economic relief for its citizens.

In 1932, however, with the country mired in the depths of the Great Depression and some 15 million people unemployed, Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt won an overwhelming victory in the presidential election.

By Inauguration Day (March 4, 1933), every U.S. state had ordered all remaining banks to close at the end of the fourth wave of banking panics, and the U.S. Treasury didn't have enough cash to pay all government workers. Nonetheless, FDR (as he was known) projected a calm energy and optimism, famously declaring "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Roosevelt took immediate action to address the country's economic woes, first announcing a four-day "bank holiday" during which all banks would close so that Congress could pass reform legislation and reopen those banks determined to be sound. He also began addressing the public directly over the radio in a series of talks, and these so-called " fireside chats " went a long way toward restoring public confidence.

During Roosevelt's first 100 days in office, his administration passed legislation that aimed to stabilize industrial and agricultural production, create jobs and stimulate recovery.

In addition, Roosevelt sought to reform the financial system, creating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ( FDIC) to protect depositors' accounts and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate the stock market and prevent abuses of the kind that led to the 1929 crash.

The New Deal: A Road to Recovery

Among the programs and institutions of the New Deal that aided in recovery from the Great Depression was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which built dams and hydroelectric projects to control flooding and provide electric power to the impoverished Tennessee Valley region, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a permanent jobs program that employed 8.5 million people from 1935 to 1943.

When the Great Depression began, the United States was the only industrialized country in the world without some form of unemployment insurance or social security. In 1935, Congress passed the Social Security Act, which for the first time provided Americans with unemployment, disability and pensions for old age.

After showing early signs of recovery beginning in the spring of 1933, the economy continued to improve throughout the next three years, during which real GDP (adjusted for inflation) grew at an average rate of 9 percent per year.

A sharp recession hit in 1937, caused in part by the Federal Reserve's decision to increase its requirements for money in reserve. Though the economy began improving again in 1938, this second severe contraction reversed many of the gains in production and employment and prolonged the effects of the Great Depression through the end of the decade.

Depression-era hardships fueled the rise of extremist political movements in various European countries, most notably that of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime in Germany. German aggression led war to break out in Europe in 1939, and the WPA turned its attention to strengthening the military infrastructure of the United States, even as the country maintained its neutrality.

African Americans in the Great Depression

One-fifth of all Americans receiving federal relief during the Great Depression were Black, most in the rural South. But farm and domestic work, two major sectors in which Black workers were employed, were not included in the 1935 Social Security Act, meaning there was no safety net in times of uncertainty. Rather than fire domestic help, private employers could simply pay them less without legal repercussions. And those relief programs for which African Americans were eligible on paper were rife with discrimination in practice since all relief programs were administered locally.

Despite these obstacles, Roosevelt's "Black Cabinet," led by Mary McLeod Bethune, ensured nearly every New Deal agency had a Black advisor. The number of African Americans working in government tripled.

Women in the Great Depression

There was one group of Americans who actually gained jobs during the Great Depression: Women. From 1930 to 1940, the number of employed women in the United States rose 24 percent from 10.5 million to 13 million Though they'd been steadily entering the workforce for decades, the financial pressures of the Great Depression drove women to seek employment in ever greater numbers as male breadwinners lost their jobs. The 22 percent decline in marriage rates between 1929 and 1939 also created an increase in single women in search of employment.

Women during the Great Depression had a strong advocate in First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who lobbied her husband for more women in office-like Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, the first woman to ever hold a cabinet position.

Jobs available to women paid less but were more stable during the banking crisis: nursing, teaching and domestic work. They were supplanted by an increase in secretarial roles in FDR's rapidly-expanding government. But there was a catch: over 25 percent of the National Recovery Administration's wage codes set lower wages for women, and jobs created under the WPA confined women to fields like sewing and nursing that paid less than roles reserved for men.

Married women faced an additional hurdle: By 1940, 26 states had placed restrictions known as marriage bars on their employment, as working wives were perceived as taking away jobs from able-bodied men-even if, in practice, they were occupying jobs men would not want and doing them for far less pay.

Great Depression Ends and World War II Begins

With Roosevelt's decision to support Britain and France in the struggle against Germany and the other Axis Powers, defense manufacturing geared up, producing more and more private-sector jobs.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 led to America's entry into World War II, and the nation's factories went back into full production mode.

This expanding industrial production, as well as widespread conscription beginning in 1942, reduced the unemployment rate to below its pre-Depression level. The Great Depression had ended at last, and the United States turned its attention to the global conflict of World War II.

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Great Depression: Black Thursday, Facts & Effects

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The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. At its peak, the U.S. unemployment rate topped 20 percent.

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The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s
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Roosevelt addressed the American people in some 30 speeches broadcast via radio, speaking on a variety of topics from banking to unemployment to fighting fascism in Europe. Which was know as the Fireside Chats

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took office in early 1933, would become the only president in American history to be elected to four consecutive terms. He would lead his nation through two of the greatest crises in its history-the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II (1939-45)-and would exponentially expand the role of the federal government through his New Deal reform program and its legacy.

From March 1933 to June 1944, Roosevelt addressed the American people in some 30 speeches broadcast via radio, speaking on a variety of topics from banking to unemployment to fighting fascism in Europe. Millions of people found comfort and renewed confidence in these speeches, which became known as the "fireside chats."

Roosevelt's First Hundred Days

As a rising young politician from New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio in 1921. After being completely paralyzed for a period of time, he remained permanently confined to a wheelchair but did not give up his dreams of a political career. In 1928, he was elected governor of New York, and four years later he won the Democratic nomination for president. In the general election, Roosevelt received some 23 million popular votes, compared with only 16 million for the Republican incumbent, Herbert Hoover.

Did you know? Though he worked with speechwriters, Roosevelt took an active role in creating the chats, dictating early drafts and reading aloud revisions until he had almost memorized the text. He was said to be fond of ad-libbing, explaining why official versions of his speeches often vary from the actual recorded version.

By the time Roosevelt took office in early March 1933, the Great Depression had spread across the globe, and America's economy had declined to desperate levels, with banks in failure, industrial production crippled and more than 13 million people unemployed. In his first inaugural address, Roosevelt sought to impart a new sense of confidence for the struggling nation, declaring that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

During its first several months, famously labeled "The Hundred Days," Roosevelt's administration presented a broad array of measures to Congress aimed at jumpstarting America's economic recovery-these would become the building blocks of his revolutionary New Deal. One of his earliest actions as president was to declare a "bank holiday," or a period during which all banks would be closed until they were determined to be solvent through federal inspection.

Addressing the Public

In combination with the bank holiday, Roosevelt called on Congress to come up with new emergency banking legislation to further aid the ailing financial institutions of America. On March 12, 1933, he took one more important step, delivering a relatively informal address on the banking crisis that would be broadcast over the radio. In that first speech, Roosevelt praised the "fortitude and good temper with which everybody [accepted] the hardships of the banking holiday." The holiday, as well as the radio address, seemed to have the intended effect: When the banks opened again, the panicked "bank runs" that people had feared did not materialize, showing that public confidence had been restored in some measure for the time being.

During the 1930s, well before the advent of television, some 90 percent of American households owned a radio. Seeing the potential of mass media to communicate directly and intimately with the public, Roosevelt would give around 30 total radio addresses from March 1933 to June 1944. The topics he spoke about ranged from domestic issues such as the economic policies of the New Deal, drought and unemployment, to Europe's battle with fascism and American military progress in Europe and in the Pacific during World War II.

By the Fireside

Roosevelt was not actually sitting beside a fireplace when he delivered the speeches, but behind a microphone-covered desk in the White House. Reporter Harry Butcher of CBS coined the term "fireside chat" in a press release before one of Roosevelt's speeches on May 7, 1933. The name stuck, as it perfectly evoked the comforting intent behind Roosevelt's words, as well as their informal, conversational tone. Roosevelt took care to use the simplest possible language, concrete examples and analogies in the fireside chats, so as to be clearly understood by the largest number of Americans. He began many of the nighttime chats with the greeting "My friends," and referred to himself as "I" and the American people as "you" as if addressing his listeners directly and personally.

In many of the speeches, Roosevelt invoked memories of the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln or other inspirational figures from America's past. "The Star Spangled Banner" was played after each chat ended, underlining that patriotic message. Finally, the president appealed to God or Providence at the end of almost every speech, urging the American people to face the difficult tasks ahead with patience, understanding and faith. Through depression and war, the reassuring nature of the fireside chats boosted the public's confidence (and Roosevelt's approval rates) and undoubtedly contributed to his unprecedented number of election wins.

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The Fireside Chats - Definition, FDR & Significance

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The Fireside Chats refer to some 30 speeches President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed to the American people via radio from March 1933 to June 1944. Roosevelt spoke on a variety of topics from banking to unemployment to fighting fascism in Europe. Millions of people found comfort and renewed confidence in these speeches.

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New Deal aimed to provide immediate economic relief and to bring about reforms to stabilize the economy by creating different goals and programs

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Table of Contents

What was the purpose of the New Deal?

What were the New Deal programs and what did they do?

What were the most important results of the New Deal?

What New Deal programs remain in effect?

New Deal, domestic program of the administration of U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) between 1933 and 1939, which took action to bring about immediate economic relief as well as reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labour, and housing, vastly increasing the scope of the federal government's activities. The term was taken from Roosevelt's speech accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency on July 2, 1932. Reacting to the ineffectiveness of the administration of Pres. Herbert Hoover in meeting the ravages of the Great Depression, American voters the following November overwhelmingly voted in favour of the Democratic promise of a "new deal" for the "forgotten man." Opposed to the traditional American political philosophy of laissez-faire, the New Deal generally embraced the concept of a government-regulated economy aimed at achieving a balance between conflicting economic interests.

The Hundred Days

Much of the New Deal legislation was enacted within the first three months of Roosevelt's presidency (March 9-June 16, 1933), which became known as the Hundred Days. The new administration's first objective was to alleviate the suffering of the nation's huge number of unemployed workers. Such agencies as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were established to dispense emergency and short-term governmental aid and to provide temporary jobs, employment on construction projects, and youth work in the national forests. The WPA gave some 8.5 million people jobs. Its construction projects produced more than 650,000 miles of roads, 125,000 public buildings, 75,000 bridges, and 8,000 parks. Also under its aegis were the Federal Art Project, Federal Writers' Project, and Federal Theatre Project. The CCC provided national conservation work primarily for young unmarried men. Projects included planting trees, building flood barriers, fighting forest fires, and maintaining forest roads and trails.

Before 1935 the New Deal focused on revitalizing the country's stricken business and agricultural communities. To revive industrial activity, the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was granted authority to help shape industrial codes governing trade practices, wages, hours, child labour, and collective bargaining. The New Deal also tried to regulate the nation's financial hierarchy in order to avoid a repetition of the stock market crash of 1929 and the massive bank failures that followed. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) granted government insurance for bank deposits in member banks of the Federal Reserve System, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was established in 1934 to restore investor confidence in the stock market by ending the misleading sales practices and stock manipulations that had led to the stock market crash. The farm program, known as the Agricultural Adjustment Act, was signed in May 1933. It was centred in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which attempted to raise prices by controlling the production of staple crops through cash subsidies to farmers. In addition, the arm of the federal government reached into the area of electric power, establishing in 1933 the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which was to cover a seven-state area and supply cheap electricity, prevent floods, improve navigation, and produce nitrates.

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New Deal | Definition, History, Programs, Summary, & Facts

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New Deal, domestic program of the administration of U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) between 1933 and 1939, which took action to bring about immediate economic relief as well as reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labour, and housing, vastly increasing the scope of the federal government's activities.

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Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. The CCC or C’s as it was sometimes known, allowed young men between the ages of 18 and 25 to enlist in work programs to improve America’s public lands, forests, and parks.

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Civilian Conservation Corps | American Experience | PBS

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President Roosevelt’s CCC put three million young men to work across America during the 1930s Great Depression.

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The WPA was designed to provide relief for the unemployed by providing jobs and income for millions of Americans. They worked on public infrastructures for schools, hospitals, sewer/pipelines, bridges, roads, etc. A major outcome of the WPA was the creation of rural school lunch programs.

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Works Progress Administration: WPA & New Deal - HISTORY

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The Works Progress Administration or WPA was a New Deal employment and infrastructure program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

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The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law was part of Roosevelt's New Deal domestic program.
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Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (1938)

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Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (1938)

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The new law brought cosmetics and medical devices under control, and it required that drugs be labeled with adequate directions for safe use. For Food the right to conduct factory inspections, and control of product advertising, among other items

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With the election of Franklin Roosevelt and the death in 1930 of the embodiment of the 1906 act--Wiley--the FDA now had a receptive ear to petition for needed changes in the law: legally mandated quality and identity standards

for foods, prohibition of false therapeutic claims for drugs, coverage of cosmetics and medical devices, clarification of the FDA's right to conduct factory inspections, and control of product advertising, among other items. A new generation of muckraking journalists and consumer protection organizations aided in pushing a reluctant Congress to sponsor a bill to replace the old law.

The FDA itself exemplified the state of affairs in the marketplace by assembling a collection of products that illustrated shortcomings in the 1906 law. It included Banbar, a worthless "cure" for diabetes that the old law protected; Lash-Lure, an eyelash dye in which a number of women suffered injuries to their eyes, including one confirmed case of permanent blindness.; numerous examples of foods deceptively packaged or labeled; Radithor, a radium-containing tonic that sentenced users to a slow and painful death; and the Wilhide Exhaler, which falsely promised to cure tuberculosis and other pulmonary diseases. A reporter dubbed this exhibit "The American Chamber of Horrors," a title not far from the truth since all the products exhibited were legal under the existing law.

Languishing in Congress for five years, the bill that would replace the 1906 was ultimately enhanced and passed in the wake of a therapeutic disaster in 1937. A Tennessee drug company marketed a form of the new sulfa wonder drug that would appeal to pediatric patients, Elixir Sulfanilamide. However, the solvent in this untested product was a highly toxic chemical analogue of antifreeze; over 100 people died, many of whom were children. The public outcry not only reshaped the drug provisions of the new law to prevent such an event from happening again, it propelled the bill itself through Congress. FDR signed the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act on 25 June 1938.

The new law brought cosmetics and medical devices under control, and it required that drugs be labeled with adequate directions for safe use. Moreover, it mandated pre-market approval of all new drugs, such that a manufacturer would have to prove to FDA that a drug were safe before it could be sold. It irrefutably prohibited false therapeutic claims for drugs, although a separate law granted the Federal Trade Commission jurisdiction over drug advertising. The act also corrected abuses in food packaging and quality, and it mandated legally enforceable food standards. Tolerances for certain poisonous substances were addressed. The law formally authorized factory inspections, and it added injunctions to the enforcement tools at the agency's disposal.
Next: Drugs and Foods Under the 1938 Act and Its Amendments

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With the election of Franklin Roosevelt and the death in 1930 of the embodiment of the 1906 act--Wiley--the FDA now had a receptive ear to petition for needed changes in the law: legally mandated quality and identity standards for foods, prohibition of false therapeutic claims for drugs, coverage of cosmetics and medical devices, clarification of the FDA's right to conduct factory inspections, and control of product advertising, among other items. A new generation of muckraking journalists and consumer protection organizations aided in pushing a reluctant Congress to sponsor a bill to replace the old law.

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National Venereal Disease Control Act (1938)

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National Venereal Disease Control Act (1938)

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La Follette–Bulwinkle Act or Venereal Diseases Control and Prevention Act of 1938 sanctioned federal assistance to U.S. states establishing preventive healthcare for venereal diseases.

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The National Cancer institute Is established (1971)

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The National Cancer institute Is established (1971)

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The act, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, established the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as the federal government's primary agency to address research and training needs for the cause, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer

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Impact of 1971’s National Cancer Act Marked

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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the National Cancer Act of 1971, the landmark legislation that catalyzed breakthroughs in cancer research and care and improved the lives of the American people. “The NCA advanced NIH’s mission to improve the public’s health through scientific d…