Great Depression and Fdr and Recovery and Relief Measures

Great Depression and FDR and Recovery and Relief Measures

When Franklin D Roosevelt became the President of the United States, America was dealing with the worst economic crisis in the American history, the Great Depression. During his presidency, he initiated several programs, named “New Deal”, to reduce the effects of the Great Depression in the U.S. One of the key measures, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, was enacted to revive the hardest hit agricultural sector of the economy. Another important measure, the National Industrial Recovery Act or the National Recovery Administration, aimed at the recovery of the industrial sector of the economy. The most important and long-lasting reform measure, the Social Security Act, goal was to support the elderly and the unemployed and promote welfare benefits.

When the stock Market crashed on October 24, 1929, the widespread prosperities of the 1920s ended, and it marked the beginning of the Great Depression. It’s adverse and enormous impact on the economy of the United States affected all Americans. The gross national product had plunged from $104 billion to $59 billion between 1929 and 1932. The already lower farm prices fell by 60 percent. By 1933 thousands of banks had closed and the banking system collapsed. Nearly 25 percent of the labor forces were unemployed and the rate exceeded the national average in some cities. Also, there was sharp reduction in the wages and hours of those working (Boyer, Enduring, 744-747).

In the midst of this economic crisis Franklin D. Roosevelt got elected as the president of the United States in the election of 1932. He implemented innovative emergency measures to deal with the critical problems that the country faced due to the Great Depression. He initiated an array of disparate programs with the help of a group of advisers known as “the brain trust”. These measures came to be known as the New Deal that had two parts, the First and the Second New Deal. The New...