Who Was The Most Helpful During The Great Depression

The Great Depression had battered the nation and the economic situation was desperate. During Herbert Hoover's presidency, more than half of all Americans were living below the poverty line. Herbert Hoover was an idealist that believed Americans could reach their potential and so he felt that intervention by the federal government would repress the American potential. Roosevelt understood the suffering of his countrymen and introduced economic reforms to alleviate the effects of the depression.

First, Roosevelt tackled the most pressing crisis: the bankruptcy of the banks. Since the start of the Depression, 11,000 of the nation's 25,000 banks had failed, and millions of Americans had lost their life's savings. Roosevelt realized that if he kept the banks open, panicked depositors would withdraw their money and more banks would fail. On March 5, FDR declared a three day "bank holiday." While programs like the CCC helped ease the immediate pain of the Depression, Roosevelt worked to effect more permanent changes on the economy. In May, Congress passed FDR's Agricultural Adjustment Act. The AAA provided aid to farmers who decreased the production of goods, which, the president hoped, would cause farm prices to rise. Roosevelt sent Congress his National Industrial Recovery Act, which set fair-practice codes for business and industry, established minimum wages and maximum hours, and gave labor the guaranteed right to bargain collectively. The bill quickly became law. In the "First Hundred Days" of his presidency, FDR pushed through a vast amount of legislation highlighted by a reformed banking program, agricultural aid laws, and a new plan for industrial recovery. To meet the immediate crisis of starvation and the dire needs of the nation's unemployed, FDR provided for direct cash relief for the poor, and established the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Public Works Administration. Thousands of men throughout the country began working to build bridges, roads, and sewage systems and to plant trees. His Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) guaranteed the bank savings of American families. By the end of his second term, Roosevelt had institutionalized the role of the federal government as the economic patron and stimulator of the American economy. The Roosevelt legislation machine could stop a bank panic, put thousands of Americans back to work, and give people the right to have a drink, but it could not end the Depression. In fact, the pace with which legislation was crafted during the Hundred Days