Franklin Delano Roosevelt and The Great Depression

Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood astride the Great Depression and World War II and witnessed and, in many ways, brought about a radical change in the United States of America. The era spanning from 1933 to 1945 began in the throes of Depression and ended in triumph, in large part due to the New Deal policies of FDR and his administration. The New Deal, itself emblematic of a troubled time, was a sweeping agenda of reform that was an experiment in big government and the expansion of the executive power base. The strengths and weaknesses of the New Deal reflected back upon the American society that existed then, and continue to reverberate in the American society that exists now.

That the Great Depression cast a long shadow over FDR's administration is certain; FDR's first presidential victory in 1932 was predicated on a promise to the "forgotten man" that lasting economic recovery would come in the form of a "new deal for the American people" (Polenberg 7-8). According to FDR, this recovery would require that agricultural purchasing power be restored to the farmers, that homeowners be protected from the threat of foreclosure, and that tariff barriers be lowered to make foreign markets more attainable (Polenberg 8).

The National Industrial Recover Act (NIRA) was, according to Richard D. Polenberg, "the most important early New Deal initiative" (9); the NIRA created the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which forged a partnership between business and government

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measure because it encouraged a lower overhead and a higher price. In this, once again the strength of a New Deal policy appeared to provide a much needed relief. However, like the NRA, the AAA had its downside as well, as farm laborers and tenant farmers were made unnecessary by its provisions. Land-owning farmers, having reduced their output, had less need for labor, and adjusted their practices accordingly. In spite of raising gross farm income by 50% and commodity prices by 66%, the Supreme Court also ruled against the AAA in 1936 (Polenberg 11-12). As Polenberg aptly summarizes, "by the end of his first term in office�[FDR] had expanded the role of government in people's lives and�had permanently altered their assumptions about what government could and should do to protect them against economic adversity" (14). In 1936, FDR won re-election in a landslide that appeared to indicate America's unswerving faith in his New Deal policies and his contention that a big, strong central government was desirable for the American people. The expansion of the state and executive power base that characterized the early New Deal years attached a stigma to the liberal agenda that has defined it ever since. And yet, as Alan Brinkley

Category: Economics - F