The cost of the program was assumed by a tax on middlemen and food processors, such as grain elevator operators and meatpacking companies. The targeted commodities were wheat, cotton, corn, tobacco, rice, milk, and hogs (young livestock were slaughtered). Through the AAA, farmers were paid to reduce their crops, either by plowing them under or by not cultivating a certain amount of acreage. The purpose of the AAA was to get at the root of the farmers' dilemma - whenever prices fell, farmers increased production, which caused a market glut and depressed prices further. The most important New Deal program aimed at helping agriculture, however, was the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), passed on May 12.
Meanwhile, agencies such as the Soil Conservation Service (1935), the Resettlement Administration (1935), and the Farm Security Administration (1937) were committed to improving farming techniques as well as the lot of migrant farm workers, tenant farmers and sharecroppers, and the rural poor. The loans made to electrical cooperatives through the Rural Electrification Administration (1935) doubled the number of farms receiving electricity by 1941. The Farm Credit Act (1933) protected farmers against foreclosure on their property, while the Commodity Credit Corporation extended loans to farmers on their crops. Its emphasis was on those who were severely hurt by the Depression, and it had significant success in restoring a measure of prosperity to agriculture even before the start of World War II. The New Deal significantly enlarged the role the federal government played in agriculture. As useful as much of the Hundred Days legislation was, however, the two most important and controversial acts passed in that period dealt with agriculture and industry.Ĭhanges in agriculture. Building dams and power plants and stringing transmission lines, the TVA brought electricity, flood control, and recreational facilities to the seven states through which the Tennessee River flowed, substantially improving the economy and daily lives of the people in one of the poorest regions of the country. An advocate for public power while governor of New York, Roosevelt supported the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), established May 18.
After the war, the future of the Muscle Shoals plants was caught up in the struggle between private utilities and public power. In preparing for war in 1916, the federal government had developed hydroelectric‐power and nitrate plants at Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), headed by social worker Harry Hopkins, provided money to states and municipalities for direct relief through massive public works projects.ĭuring the Hundred Days, the administration also implemented a regional planning program. The Civilian Conservation Corps (March 31) addressed unemployment and provided work for young men between the ages of 18 and 25 in national parks and on road building, reforestation, and flood‐control projects. The Glass‐Steagall Banking Act (June 16) boosted confidence even further by setting up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which guaranteed bank deposits up to $5,000. Roosevelt's quick action did much to restore faith in the banking system. All financial institutions in the country were closed and, under the Emergency Banking Reform Act (March 9), only those that were fiscally sound were allowed to reopen. On March 5, Roosevelt declared a four‐day bank holiday. The Hundred Days refers to the almost frantic period of legislative activity initiated by the White House between March and June 1933 to deal with the immediate economic crisis and the country's long‐term recovery. Through his speeches and famous radio addresses (popularly called “fireside chats”), he encouraged Americans to have confidence in the future. With the aid of a group of economic and academic advisors known as the brain trust and a cabinet that included the first woman (Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor), Roosevelt met the devastation of the Depression with a willingness to act and experiment. Industrial production fell to its lowest level, more Americans lost their jobs, and banks failed at such an alarming rate that virtually all were closed by the time Roosevelt took the oath of office. In the four‐month interregnum between the election and the inauguration, the economy deteriorated rapidly. The Twentieth Amendment, which moved the presidential inauguration from March 4 to January 20, was ratified in early 1933, making Roosevelt the last president elected under the old system. From Vice President to President: George H.W.The United States under Ford and Carter.A New Society: Economic & Social Change.American Society and Culture, 1865–1900.
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