So I'm researching about Roosevelt's first 100 days in office and his start to the presidency is perhaps the most accomplished in U.S. History. During this time, FDR passed five monumental reforms that essentially saved the U.S. from the collapse of the banking system as well as farmers, from destitution. The first thing that Roosevelt attended to was the aging banking structure that had made the critical error of tightening credit lines during the peak of the Depression. In his Emergency Banking Act of 1932, which was compiled by Hoover's cabinet as well as Roosevelt's (this marked a rare moment in history where both political parties set about working together), Roosevelt single-handedly saved American capitalism, or so Freedom from Fear states. Yet, at the same time, Roosevelt brought in the "money pushers," - bankers, industrialists back to capitol hill, something that the average citizen believed was ironic considering they were the ones who started the panic in the first place (not entirely true). The consequences of the Banking Act were enormous-the Dow Jones recorded its highest ever one day gain: 15%. By the end of March (the EBA was enacted on the 12th), 66% of deposits had made its way back into banks. FDR conclusively restored American confidence back into the banks.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act however is the one that I find rather more interesting. In this piece of legislation, farmers were paid subsidies to not produce any crops. In a way, the Department of Agriculture does this as well today. It's bizarre, but it was probably the only perk of being a farmer during that time.
I did some research on the AAA and found that the AAA was created because Congress declared that it was their right to regulate supply and demand of farm commodities. The AAA controlled the seven "basic crops" - corn, wheat, cotton, rice, peanuts, tobacco and milk. They controlled these by paying the farmers not to plant these crops on certain sections of land. Very few farmers were able to say no to the AAA because farmers couldn't turn down the money. In 1937 the AAA was deemed unconstitutional (because it limited property) but was later rewritten and was passed into law. The AAA gave farmers hope and money much like the WPA did for the average worker in the cities.
ReplyDeleteFDR's achievements in his first hundred days were quite impressive. After all, his hundred days is the reason we use that time period as a sort of early checkpoint for new presidents. This post is good to get an idea of the "standard" that FDR's hundred days has become.
ReplyDeleteThe AAA is something i find very interesting, for it shows an artificial inflation of prices, generating revenue to pay farmers by taxing industries that used the farm products (double whammy right?). However, according to the video we saw in class and the article below, the act dealt a severe blow to the tenant farmers and sharecroppers that were forced to let their fields lie fallow and weren't compensated by their landowners. This proved for disastrous results, for these people were forced to survive under even worse conditions than previously, living more precariously than ever.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Agricultural_Adjustment_Act.html
Hey Kevin, you have a nice summary about one of the pieces of legislation, but you could have also talked about the administration that followed the act as well. Regardless other types of reforms that you could have included would be: the Tennessee Valley Authority which much like the triple A, sought to assist farmers and works who had careers which was intertwined with the Farmers. People organized by them were put to work making projects which tried to restore and remodel agricultural technology.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post on how FDR saved the economy. I completely agree with you that FDR was one of the most efficient and accomplished presidencies of its time. Without all those acts and the 100 days congress, the US economy would have probably taken much longer to recover. However, I believe that the greatest factor in giving new life to the American economy was definitely World War II. Without the war, I feel that it would have taken America much longer to get back to the same place they were during the 20's.
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