Blog 3
Relation And Relief
The Great Depression had brought the American Economy to a halt; its beloved institutions were failing such as Banks, factories, and farms. FDR policies when enacted were questionable at best this is shown in the article when it states “The New Deal worked to solve the current crisis and prevent future catastrophe in America alone, by American methods, “with a minimum of relationship with the outside world, which was indeed to some degree part of American political tradition.” The Roosevelt agenda grew by experiment: the parts that worked, stuck, no matter their origin. Indeed, the program got its name by just that process: Roosevelt used the phrase “new deal” when accepting the Democratic nomination for president, and the press liked it. (pg 1).” I assert it would not be until WW2 and the massive increases of production and spending previously unimaginable by scale did America manage to climb out of this slump.
It can also be frequently seen that Roosevelt tried to assure and garner the support of the people. His fireside chats explained to the public what decisions he was taking such as rescuing the banks. He passed the Emergency Banking Act and increased the amount of money printed by the Federal bank. The goal of these was to keep these banks operational and liquidity in the market up. Even the currency’s relation to the gold standard has been altered to the beliefs of people that Bankers were responsible for the economic mess Roosevelt had increased powers to act in financial affairs.
Roosevelt was desperate to reach average Americans as the impacts of the policies he was making could not be felt by them. Thus he decided to launch massive public works project as a form of aid this is shown in the article when it states “The spring of 1935 brought a new Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, giving the president nearly $5 billion for relief projects including highways, conservation, irrigation, electrification, housing, sanitation, reforestation, flood control, and indeed almost any conceivable public good(pg 7).” These Fireside Chats banking regulations and increased government assistance were a myriad attempt to fix a failing economy which its citizens felt the hardest hit. Economic troubles can be difficult to deal with and governments have to maintain the delicate balancing act, there was good which came of this. Such as the SEC to regulate wall street and the FDIC ensuring our money.