Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Term in Presidency

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as the thirty-second president of the United States on March 4, 1933 during the country’s worst economic depression in history. At this time, one out of four Americans were unemployed, and agricultural prices fell by sixty percent. That same day, thirty-two of forty-eight states closed their banks and discarded the key until further notice.ⁱ People entered a frenzied panic and began withdrawing their money in lump sums. Roosevelt started his inauguration address by blaming the crisis on financiers and bankers, capitalism, and greed. Roosevelt said:

“Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.”ⁱⁱ

With this speech, Franklin D. Roosevelt firmly separated himself from the origins of the Great Depression, claiming that he believed the United States would rise up. He firmly stated that basic economic rights should be seen as a Second Bill of Rights. He looked forward to a new time, a better time for which the people could hope and anticipate.

Franklin soon went about initiating what many historians refer to as his relief, recovery, and reform plan. Under this plan, Franklin would supply relief to the millions of people unemployed in the United Sates, recovery to the economy that desperately needed normalizing, and reform to the tanking financial and banking systems.

Franklin engaged with public radio as a means to present his ideas to the American public, and these talks became known as fireside chats. Public opinion was very important to Roosevelt; therefore, he initiated a method to speak directly to his electorate through mass communication. At this point, Roosevelt’s opposition controlled many of the major newspapers. Historian Betty Houchin Winfieled said, “He and his advisors worried that newspapers’ biases would affect the news columns and rightly so.”ⁱⁱⁱ Historian Douglas B. Craig continued to say that Roosevelt’s use of the radio “offered voters a chance to receive information unadulterated by newspaper proprietors’ bias.”^ivOf course, Franklin utilized these chats for more than simply a conduit for information. Each time he spoke to listeners, crowds would send letters to legislation that asked to pass measures Roosevelt proposed over the radio.

The fireside chats created a sense of security for Roosevelt’s listeners because they could actually hear his own voice. Inspiring the term, Franklin’s press secretary, Stephen Early, said that Roosevelt wanted to consider the listeners as people who were sitting with him around his fireside. CBS broadcast executive Harry C. Butcher coined the term in a press release on May 7, 1933. “Fireside chats” trickled throughout the news, and Roosevelt began using it, as well. Eventually, the term grew to become part of American folklore.

Roosevelt’s presidential fireside chats began eight days after his inauguration, on March 12, 1933, and they were especially helpful when the general public panicked over the banks’ closings. He told them “what has been done in the last few days, why it was done, and what the next steps are going to be.”^v Historian William L. Silber said the fireside chats initiated a “remarkable turnaround in the public’s confidence … The contemporary press confirms that the public recognized the implicit guarantee and, as a result, believed that the reopened banks would be safe, as the president explained in his first Fireside Chat.”

Of course, the first one hundred days of every new presidency is closely critiqued, but Franklin was under particularly heavy pressure to succeed in a time of such distress. His efforts and legislation became known as the New Deal. In regard to the anxiety that arose due to the banking crisis, Franklin stated, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”^vi People were no longer spending money because they were afraid, which made the economic depression worse. The day after his inauguration, Roosevelt initiated a bank holiday and called for a special session of Congress on March 9. He sent Congress a record number of bills between March 9 and June 16, 1933, all of which were passed with no issue and no complaints. As one of the first problems addressed, Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first step to recovery.^vii Then, Roosevelt signed the Glass-Steagall Act, which created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), a program that assured Americans that their money was safe inside banks. In other words, the FDIC underwrote savings deposits.

Franklin’s primary concern was to look at the relief part of his plan. To do so, he continued measures to ensure that Hoover’s major relief program for the unemployed continued under a new name: Federal Emergency Relief Administration. In an attempt to create new jobs, Roosevelt generated a multitude of new agencies, one of the most successful of which was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a program that employed 250,000 young men to work on local rural projects. Additionally, he moved to expand the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, one of Hoover’s projects, which provided a major source of financing for industry and railroads. One of Franklin’s main concerns was the agricultural industry; therefore, he set up the first Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which forced higher prices for commodities through paying farmers to cut down on herds and crops.^viii He also pushed through the Federal Trade Commission, which provided regulatory powers and mortgage relief to millions of farmers and homeowners. With no doubt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a busy man.

The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933 aimed to reform the economy through attempting to end intense competition by requiring that industries create codes to establish the rules of operation. Mandated requirements included minimum prices, non-competition agreements, and production restrictions. As a condition for approval, industry had to raise wages. Later, on May 27, 1935, the NIRA was found to be unconstitutional by a unanimous decision in the US Supreme Court. In reply, Franklin said, “The fundamental purposes and principles of the NIRA are sound. To abandon them is unthinkable. It would spell the return to industrial and labor chaos.”^ix

As a continued effort to reform the banking system, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was commissioned to regulate Wall Street. This organization is responsible for enforcing all federal securities laws and proposing securities rules, while regulating the nation’s stock and options exchanges, the securities industry, and other organizations, which include the electronic securities markets in the United States.^x Franklin was determined to push through a federal minimum wage as part of the NIRA. He argued, “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.”^xi He eventually achieved this goal with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which provided the last major domestic reform measure of the New Deal.^xii

For the most part, federal spending was Roosevelt’s idea of recovery in the United States. The Public Works Administration allowed $3.3 billion worth of spending to stimulate the economy. Out of this idea rose the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a new program which employed people to build dams and power stations, thereby providing flood-control and modern technology for agricultural areas in the Tennessee Valley, one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the United States. Additionally, Roosevelt moved to repeal prohibition—one of his campaign promises—which brought in new tax revenues. He signed the Cullen-Harrison Act, redefining 3.2% alcohol as the allowed maximum.

As a measure to boost the economy by countering inflation, Franklin pushed through Executive Order 6102, which required that all American citizens were to sell their privately held gold to the United States Treasury; this move raised the price of gold from twenty dollars per ounce to thirty-five dollars per ounce.^xiii

All of Franklin’s ideas did not rest as well with the American people, though. One of his most unpopular commissions was his idea to cut the federal budgets by reducing military spending, veterans’ benefits, federal employees’ salaries, and spending on research and education. The American veterans groups came close to a full revolt. They protested heavily, and most benefits were increased or restored by 1934. In fact, Roosevelt restored $50 million in pension payments, then Congress added an additional $46 million.^xiv When veteran groups campaigned to alter their benefits to payments due in 1945 to immediate cash—henceforth called the Bonus Act—in January 1936, the economy boosted.

Roosevelt was quickly learning that a change would be necessary for continued growth in the country, and he commenced working toward that goal. In 1935, Franklin began to pursue what was later known as the Second New Deal. He had the largest majorities in both houses after the 1934 Congressional elections, and he started with a fresh set of new legislation ideas. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was one of the first initiatives. The WPA employed two million family heads—usually unemployed male leaders of family units—to carry out public works projects, including the construction of many public roads and buildings. In 1938, the WPA helped bring unemployment down by twenty percent in comparison to 1933’s count.^xv

Not only was Roosevelt concerned for younger families, but he also labored toward legislation for those who could not work. Enacted in 1935, the Social Security Act established economic security for the poor, sick, elderly, and otherwise financially unstable citizens of the United States of America. Senator Robert Wagner pushed through the Wagner Act, or the National Labor Relations Act, which established and guaranteed the basic rights of employees to organize unions, engage collective bargaining for better conditions at work, and take collective action to ensure their needs are met. As a result, labor unions became strong proponents of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s re-elections.^xvi

Roosevelt was determined to use his power to help the citizens of his country in their pursuits. He did not leave them to struggle out of dark holes on their own; rather, he provided assistance when they fell until they could stand on their own again. As to his ideas on how to improve the country, Franklin said, “The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation … It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”^xvii In other words, Roosevelt took action.

In addition to his progress in the economy, Franklin maintained a heavy focus on environmental conservation. In 1931, he said, “Heretofore our conservation policy has been merely to preserve as much as possible of the existing forests. Our new policy goes a step further. It will not only preserve the existing forests, but create new ones.” While in office, Franklin established one hundred and forty national wildlife refuges, twenty-nine national forests, and twenty-nine national parks and monuments.^xviii The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built 13,000 miles of trails, upgraded 125,000 miles of dirt roads, and planted two billion trees. Although later critics knew that dam systems were not a component of conservation, Franklin thought they would help the environment and commissioned many dams, thinking they would provide a way to further help the earth’s longevity.^xix

During his first term of presidency, Roosevelt had to deal with the onslaught of foreign policy issues, along with all the problems happening within his own country. Roosevelt sided with isolationism, rejecting the League of Nations treaty in 1919. He determined that the best method was to be prepared for war but to avoid taking sides unless absolutely necessary. For the most part, Franklin wanted the United States to mind their own business and avoid dallying in foreign issues. He listed that one of his primary goals with foreign policy was to end European colonialism, as he was vastly opposed to imperialism.^xx He wanted each country to rule itself.

Continuing on the topic of foreign policy, one important aspect of Roosevelt’s first term as president was the Good Neighbor Policy. This policy terminated the United States Marines’ occupation of Nicaragua in 1933 and occupation of Haiti in 1934. In this, he was taking additional steps toward isolationism. Additionally, this political and military move led to the extinction of the Platt Amendment by the Treaty of Relations with Cuba in 1934 and, in 1938, the negotiation of compensation for Mexico’s nationalization of foreign-owned oil assets. Cuba and Panama were no longer United States protectorates, as well, and Roosevelt signed the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States in 1933, giving up the country’s rights to intervene in Latin American affairs.^xxi During this term, Roosevelt signed a mandatory arms embargo.^xxii The United States was slowly withdrawing its long-reaching arms.

These New Deal policies were bold and impressive, especially for a new president. The people of the United States obviously considered Franklin’s first term successful because he won the next election by a large majority as a New Deal Democrat, carrying every state except Maine and Vermont.

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