President Roosevelt’s Goals

Upon his election to deliver the New Deal, an unprecedented number of reforms addressing the catastrophic effects of the Great Depression, Roosevelt felt it was the federal government's duty to help the American people weather these bad times. His first duty as president was to declare a four-day bank Holiday, during which time congress drafted the Emergency Banking Bill of 1933, which stabilized the Banking ystem.This restored faith in the Banking systems for the people. Three months later he signed the Glass-Steagall Act, which created the FDIC, federally insuring deposits. The Civil Conservation Corps was one of the New Deal's most successful programs. It addressed the pressing problem of unemployment sending millions of men to the Nations' forests to work. The Works Progress Administration program; Roosevelt's major work program, would employ 8. 5 million Americans to build airports, parks, ridges, etc.Other programs included were, The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and The National Recovery Administration (NRA) were created to help unemployment. The Federal Emergency Relief Program (FERA) gave 3 million to states for work relief programs. The Agricultural Act subsidized farmers for reducing crops and provided loans for farmers facing bankruptcy. The Home Owner's loan Corporation (HOLC) helped people save their homes from foreclosure. The Deal Programs did not end theGreat Depression, they did however help Americans by taking care of their basic needs and giving them the dignity of work and hope. President Roosevelt not only got the American people a start in the Great Depression but he would go on to pass a few more important deal programs. The Wagner Act, one of the most important pieces of labor legislation in History. It supported the rights of working class Americans, guaranteeing workers' the right to organize Unions and bargaining with management. Then there was the SocialSecurity Act in 1935 proposed by Roosevelt. This Act has proved to be the most significant and far-reaching of all the New Deal initiatives. The Social Security Act was to help those who were disabled, blind, or elder. The New Social Security tax took money right out of worker's pockets and placed it into a retirement trust fund, exacerbating the shrinking money supply that was one of the main causes of the Great Depression. President Roosevelt created another major bill called the Revenue Act, it raised taxes on annual income above $50,000.Estate and Gift taxes also rose as did the corporate tax rate. This caused an uproar among businessmen and conservatives, who were fuming at Roosevelt saying he was moving dangerously into a radical direction. Roosevelt countered by stressing he had no love for socialism. Roosevelt steered a zigzag course between the extremes of unregulated Capitalism and socialism. The Greatest failure of the New Deal was its inability to restore economic regulatory powers of t federal welfare system.Roosevelt was no socialist, he sought o preserve the basic capitalist structures. The New Deal represented a â€Å"halfway revolution† that altered the Nation's social and political landscape. President Roosevelt had three main goals while in office, to provide assistance to millions of needy Americans, to improve the level of the Economy, and to pass laws that would eradicate poverty and unemployment. People called this the Three R's; Recovery, Relief, and Reform. Due to his dedication to save America from the Great Depression we today can live a better life.