exceedingly pliant, Roosevelt's first hundred days in office are usually described in terms akin to that of the "steamroller effect." The new president proposed - and both houses of Congress passed - omnibus legislation that gave the executive branch of government broad administrative and enforcement powers that were largely undefined, often contained contradictory amendments, and invested in Mr. Roosevelt the opportunity to address the country's economic woes within terms he felt were his. But those bills were not passed blindly; rather, as in the case of the Agricultural Adjustment Act passed on May 12, 1933, they were the end-result of an open-eyed redress to the political process.
The process began with Roosevelt's nomination as presidential candidate by the Democratic Party in the summer of 1932. Anticipating success in the November elections - not a major display of
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