Editing Franklin D. Roosevelt (section)

====First New Deal (1933–1934)====
{{Main|New Deal}}
On his second day in office, Roosevelt declared a four-day national "bank holiday", to end the run by depositors seeking to withdraw funds.<ref name = "FDR Domestic Affairs">{{cite web|url=https://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/domestic-affairs|title=FDR: Domestic Affairs|publisher=Univ. of Virginia Miller Center of Public Affairs|last=Leuchtenburg|first=William E.|date=October 4, 2016|access-date=January 29, 2022}}</ref> He called for a special session of Congress on March 9, when Congress passed, almost sight unseen, the [[Emergency Banking Act]].<ref name = "FDR Domestic Affairs"/> The act, first developed by the Hoover administration and Wall Street bankers, gave the president the power to determine the opening and closing of banks and authorized the [[Federal Reserve Bank]]s to issue banknotes.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=147–48}} The "[[Hundred Days Congress|first 100 Days]]" of the [[73rd United States Congress]] saw an unprecedented amount of legislation and set a benchmark against which future presidents have been compared.{{sfn|Smith|2007|p=312}}<ref name="kliptak1">{{cite news|last1=Liptak|first1=Kevin|title=History of measuring presidents' first 100 days|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/23/politics/donald-trump-history-100-days/index.html|access-date=October 9, 2017|publisher=CNN|date=April 23, 2017}}</ref> When the banks reopened on Monday, March 15, stock prices rose by 15 percent and in the following weeks over $1 billion was returned to bank vaults, ending the bank panic.<ref name = "FDR Domestic Affairs"/> On March 22, Roosevelt signed the [[Cullen–Harrison Act]], which brought Prohibition to a close.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=151–52}}

[[File:FDR video montage.ogg|thumb|left|Collection of video clips of Roosevelt]]
Roosevelt saw the establishment of a number of agencies and measures designed to provide relief for the unemployed and others. The [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]], under the leadership of Harry Hopkins, distributed relief to state governments.{{sfn|Smith|2007|p=322}} The [[Public Works Administration]] (PWA), under Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, oversaw the construction of large-scale public works such as dams, bridges, and schools.{{sfn|Smith|2007|p=322}} The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) brought electricity for the first time to millions of rural homes.<ref name = "FDR Domestic Affairs"/> The most popular of all New Deal agencies—and Roosevelt's favorite—was the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] (CCC), which hired 250,000 unemployed men for rural projects. Roosevelt also expanded Hoover's [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]], which financed railroads and industry. Congress gave the [[Federal Trade Commission]] broad regulatory powers and provided mortgage relief to millions of farmers and homeowners. Roosevelt also set up the [[Agricultural Adjustment Administration]] to increase commodity prices, by paying farmers to leave land uncultivated and cut herds.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=318–23}} The policies were criticized when, in a few cases, crops were intentionally plowed under and livestock was killed as a result.<ref name = "FDR Domestic Affairs"/>

Reform of the economy was the goal of the [[National Industrial Recovery Act]] (NIRA) of 1933. It sought to end cutthroat competition by forcing industries to establish rules such as minimum prices, agreements not to compete, and production restrictions. Industry leaders negotiated the rules with NIRA officials, who suspended [[United States antitrust law|antitrust]] laws in return for better wages. The [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] in May 1935 declared NIRA unconstitutional, to Roosevelt's chagrin.{{Sfn|Hawley|1995|p=124}} He reformed financial regulations with the [[1933 Banking Act|Glass–Steagall Act]], creating the [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] to underwrite savings deposits. The act also limited affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=331–32}} In 1934, the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission|Securities and Exchange Commission]] was created to regulate the trading of [[Security (finance)|securities]], while the [[Federal Communications Commission]] was established to [[Telecommunications policy of the United States|regulate telecommunications]].{{sfn|Smith|2007|p=346}}

The NIRA included $3.3&nbsp;billion (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|3.3|1933|r=2}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation-year|US}}) of spending through the Public Works Administration to support recovery.{{sfn|Savage|1991|p=160}} Roosevelt worked with Senator Norris to create the largest government-owned industrial enterprise in American history—the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] (TVA)—which built dams and power stations, controlled floods, and modernized agriculture and home conditions in the poverty-stricken Tennessee Valley. However, locals criticized the TVA for displacing thousands of people for these projects.<ref name = "FDR Domestic Affairs"/> The Soil Conservation Service trained farmers in the proper methods of cultivation, and with the TVA, Roosevelt became the father of soil conservation.<ref name = "FDR Domestic Affairs"/> [[Executive Order 6102]] declared that all privately held gold of American citizens was to be sold to the U.S. Treasury and the price raised from $20 to $35 per ounce. The goal was to counter the [[deflation]] which was paralyzing the economy.{{Sfn|Freidel|1952–1973|pp=4, 320–39}}

Roosevelt tried to keep his campaign promise by cutting the federal budget. This included a reduction in military spending from $752&nbsp;million in 1932 to $531&nbsp;million in 1934 and a 40% cut in spending on veterans benefits. 500,000 veterans and widows were removed from the pension rolls, and benefits were reduced for the remainder. Federal salaries were cut and spending on research and education was reduced. The veterans were well organized and strongly protested, so most benefits were restored or increased by 1934.{{Sfn|Freidel|1952–1973|pp=4, 448–52}} Veterans groups such as the [[American Legion]] and the [[Veterans of Foreign Wars]] won their campaign to transform their benefits from payments due in 1945 to immediate cash when Congress overrode the President's veto and passed the [[Adjusted Compensation Payment Act|Bonus Act]] in January 1936.{{Sfn|Dallek|2017|p=249}} It pumped sums equal to 2% of the GDP into the consumer economy and had a major stimulus effect.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Joshua K.|last=Hausman|title=Fiscal Policy and Economic Recovery: The Case of the 1936 Veterans' Bonus|journal=[[American Economic Review]]|volume=106|issue=4|pages=1100–43|date=April 2016|doi=10.1257/aer.20130957|url=http://behl.berkeley.edu/files/2013/02/WP2013-06_Hausman.pdf|access-date=October 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031231820/http://behl.berkeley.edu/files/2013/02/WP2013-06_Hausman.pdf|archive-date=October 31, 2014}}</ref>