The Great Depression

4 Pages 1015 Words

The United States struggled through the depression but got through it by many different ways. I was the press secretary in 1932. At the start of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency the U.S. was in the greatest depths of the depression. In his first Inaugural Address in 1933 he stated that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. ”1 FDR’s main goal was trying to restore confidence to the people. He was also letting them know that as a Nation we can get out of the depression, and the only thing that is keeping us in it is ourselves. During the depression Roosevelt tried one thing after another such as, heavy spending, public works, direct relief, NRA codes, regulation of industry and restrictions on spending.
FDR also stated that, “Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. ”2 FDR thought that the government needed to be in charge by building and creating new jobs. As soon as people went back to work they would have an income and could afford to start buying things and paying for things which in the end would give the economy a boost. FDR started lots of work programs and helped stabilize the economy.
In addition, “…there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments….” 3 FDR closed all banks two days after he was inaugurated. This day is known as a Bank Holiday. They inspected all banks to see if they could re-open. They re-organized the banks and put 1 billion dollars back into the banks after they re-opened. He also passed a act known as the Emergency Banking Act. The purpose was to protect the larger banks from the smaller banks. It also enlarged federal authority over private banks and government loans to private banks.

“We must act and act quickly. ”4 In FDR’s first one hundred days he pushed for many acts through congress that were designed to beat the depression in lots of different aspects. His programs focused primarily on reviving both the agri...