An overview of Roosevelt’s New Deal policies Essay

Roosevelts New Deal policies tried to treat the symptoms and help cure the causes of the Great Depression in many ways. The early stages of the New Deal began in 1933, when President Roosevelt was sworn in as the 33rd president. He swore to exercise broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency. In the spring of 1933 President Roosevelt had 100 days of unorganized legislation, in which recovery was highly stressed. Roosevelt felt that through planning and cooperation with businesses, people could be aided and become unemployed. His New Deals main goal was to reform the economic system. The early New Deal helped break the cycle of despair. Most people felt that Roosevelts plans with the New Deal could take them out of the depression.

One of the first things Roosevelts had to do with the New Deal was to save the banks. Roosevelt created a group called the Brains Trust. This was a group of economic advisers that used planning, intervention, and experimentation in aiding the banks. On March 5th, Roosevelt ordered every bank to close for four days and he called this a bank holiday. Four days later, on March 9th Roosevelt introduced the emergency banking legislation. Instead of nationalizing the banks like many people wanted, this act allowed for the government to aid them. With this, banks were able to reopen gradually. President Roosevelt explained this process to the people in the first of his many fireside chat radio broadcasts. President Roosevelts fireside chats allowed him to communicate with the public over pressing matters in an almost unformal way. He acted as if he was just having normal conversation with the people and as if he wasnt the President. This helped him in that it gave him much respect from Americans and people trusted his New Deal more. To guard against another stock crash when the banks opened, financial reforms gave the government greater authority to manage the currency and regulate stock transactions. Acts such as the GlassSteagall Banking Act restricted speculation on banks and helped insure bank deposits over a certain price so that people wouldnt lose their money again. With the help of the New Deal, much fewer banks failed for the remainder of the decade.

Another big portion of the New Deal was to aid the unemployed Americans. Saving the banks wouldnt mean anything if Americans werent working. Roosevelt was persuaded by Harry Hopkins to starts up government relief programs to allow people to work. The Civil Works Administration was created and it employed nearly 4 million Americans. The CWA ended up being disbanded after about a year because if its large price. But, it helped create new ideas to help the unemployed and it was an important precedent for future aid programs. Multiple programs were created over the years of the New Deal that helped aid unemployed Americans because of the CWA. Government planning helped out the whole economy and it was a key to the recovery of the