Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the thirty-second President of the United States on March 4, 1933.
First "Fireside Chat"
The President delivered the first of His "fireside chats" from the White House on March 12, 1933. The "fireside chats" were weekly radio broadcasts made by President Roosevelt to inform the public on the progress of his recovery program.
Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace
In July of 1934, President Roosevelt attended the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Legislation
"Bank Holiday", Emergency Banking Relief Act
President Roosevelt's first official action in the White House was to declare a "bank holiday" which he did within twenty-four hours of his inauguration. On March 9 Congress passed President Roosevelt's Emergency Banking Relief Act which empowered the Treasury Department to, after reviewing the books of the nations banks, provide help in the form of federal loans to those banks which proved salvageable and to permanently close those banks which could not be saved. President Roosevelt's "bank holiday" put an end to the panic rushes on banks which had driving the banking industry into the ground. Savings holders could now rest assured that if a bank was allowed to open it was in good standing and their savings were safe.
Economy Act
Passed by Congress on March 20, 1933, the Economy Act cut the salaries of federal employees by fifteen percent, and reorganized several government agencies. The economy Act also reduced the pensions of veterans.
Beer-Wine Revenue Act
Passed by Congress on March 22, 1933, the Beer-Wine Revenue Act legalized beer and wine with an alcohol content of 3.2 percent or lower and placed a consumer tax on both.
Civilian Conservation Corps Act (CCC)
Congress passed the bill creating the Civilian Conservation Corps on March 31, 1933. The CCC would put thousands to work restoring, improving, and protecting the nation's natural resources.
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
On May 12, 1933 Congress passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act to guarantee farmers a minimum price for their product by limiting production. Through the Agricultural Adjustment Administration the federal government paid farmers to reduce the acreage they cultivated each year.
Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)
The law establishing the Federal Emergency Relief Administration was passed by Congress on May 12, 1933. Through FERA the federal government authorized the spending over $500 million in direct relief which was to be channeled through state agencies.
Tennessee Valley Authority Act
Congress passed the law creating the Tennessee Valley Authority on May 18, 1933. The Tennessee Valley Authority was a public corporation authorized to sell electricity and fertilizer to private citizens and to local governments. The TVA created jobs for the unemployed through projects to build damns, power plants, and transmission lines as well as through conservation projects for soil replenishment and reforestation in the Tennessee Valley.
Federal Securities Act of 1933
On May 27, 1933 Congress passed the Federal Securities Act which required new businesses entering the stock market to make full public financial disclosures. The Securities Act also empowered the Federal Trade Commission to regulate stock transactions.
Gold Repeal Joint Resolution
Congress passed the Gold Repeal Joint Resolution on June 5, 1933 to take the American dollar off the gold standard.
Home Owners' Refinancing Act
On June 13, 1933 Congress passed the Home Owners' Refinancing Act to protect home owners against foreclosures by helping them refinance their mortgages.
Farm Credit Act
Congress passed the Farm Credit Act on June 16, 1933 in order to protect bankrupt farmers against foreclosure.
Banking Act of 1933
On June 16, 1933 Congress passed the Banking Act which gave the Federal Reserve System more power over the lending policies of member banks. The Banking Act also created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which provided up to $2500 in federal insurance on deposits in covered banks.
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
On June 16, 1933 Congress passed National Industrial Recovery Act which permitted manufacturers to confer and devise industry-wide business standards without breaking anti-trust laws. The law addressed labor concerns by setting a minimum wage and regulating the number of hours which workers could be required to work,. as well as guaranteeing their right to bargain collectively with their employers. The law also established two new federal agencies, the Public Works Administration (PWA), and the National Recovery Administration (NRA). The PWA was appropriated with the spending of over $3 billion on job creating construction projects. The NRA was created to ensure that all members adhered to codes agreed upon at the industry-wide meetings sanctioned by NIRA.
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Congress established President Roosevelt's Civil Works Administration in November of 1933. The CWA put millions of men to work building roads, schools, and playgrounds.
United States Recognizes Soviet Government
In hopes of establishing trade with the Soviet Union, President Roosevelt recognized the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic in November of 1933.
Twenty-first Amendment
The Twenty-first Amendment, repealing Prohibition, was ratified on December 5, 1933.
Gold Reserve Act
In January 1934 Congress passed the Gold Reserve Act, which enabled President Roosevelt to set the price of gold at $35 an ounce.
Platt Amendment Repealed
As part of President Roosevelt's "Good Neighbor" policy with the other nations of the Americas he had Congress repeal the Platt Amendment of 1900. Under President Wilson the United States had used the Platt Amendment to interfere in the affairs of Cuba.
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
The Works Progress Administration was established by Congress in January of 1935. The WPA created millions of jobs and spent billions of dollars building hospitals, schools, airports, and playgrounds. The WPA also employed thousands of writers, artists, photographers, and actors on various projects designed to preserve and celebrate American culture.
Schechter V. United States
On May 26, 1935 the Supreme Court declared the NRA unconstitutional when it handed down its decision in the case of Schechter V. United States. The case involved four brothers from Brooklyn, New York whose business of slaughtering chickens was found to be in violation of the NRA's Live Poultry Code. The Supreme Court ruled that an agency of the federal government could not legislate poultry that did not fall under the classification of interstate commerce.
National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
Congress passed the law creating the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in June of 1935. The NLRB was established to regulate the union election process, and to insure the rights of workers to bargain collectively with their employers.
Social Securities Act
On August 15, 1935 Congress passed the Social Securities Act which established insurance programs for the elderly and the unemployed. The new programs were to be funded not only by workers, through a tax on wages, but also by employers, through a tax on payrolls. The Social Securities Act also established relief funds for the handicapped and for orphaned children.
Banking Act of 1935
In August of 1935 Congress passed the Banking Act which gave the Board of Governors (formerly the Federal Reserve Board) greater control over member banks. The act also gave the Board of Governors more power to set interest rates and commercial credit.
Public Utility Holding Company Act
Passed in August of 1935 the Public Utility Holding Company Act outlawed practice of creating pyramids of holding companies designed to monopolize the utility market. The act also gave the federal government the power to regulate the rates utility companies charged their customers.
Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
In 1935 Congress passed the law creating the Rural Electrification Administration. The REA was established to lend money at low interest rates to companies interested in bringing electricity to rural areas.
Wealth Tax Act
Congress passed the Wealth Tax Act in August of 1935 to help pay for President Roosevelt's New Deal programs.
Neutrality Act of 1935
The Neutrality Act empowered the President to forbid the sale of munitions to all belligerent nations in foreign wars.
Neutrality Act of 1936
In February of 1936 Congress passed a neutrality act which empowered the President to forbid all loans to belligerent nations in foreign wars.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1937-1941
Second Term
Events
Inauguration
Franklin Roosevelt's second inauguration was the first to be affected by the Twentieth Amendment (ratified in January of 1933) which moved the date of the Presidential inauguration from March 4 to January 20. Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his second inaugural address on January 20, 1937.
President Roosevelt Attempts to "Pack" Supreme Court
At the start of Roosevelt's second term, the Supreme Court declared a number of "New Deal" agencies, including the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and the National Recovery Administration, unconstitutional. Arguing that the current justices were far too conservative, President Roosevelt submitted a proposal to Congress which called for the retirement of Supreme Court justices over the age of 70. If a justice refused to retire at 70 an additional justice would be added to ease the case burden of the elderly judge. Under Roosevelt's proposal up to six justices could be added to the Supreme Court, raising the number of justices from 9 to 15. President Roosevelt's plan to "pack" the Supreme Court was rejected. Many members of Congress previously willing to work with the President to achieve recovery now began to fear that the President had too much power and started to put up resistance to his projects.
"Roosevelt Recession"
Encouraged by rising stock prices, employment figures, and industrial production, President Roosevelt cut back sharply on spending for federal relief programs in June of 1937. In the months that followed the economy took a drastic turn for the worse. The resulting recession was dubbed the "Roosevelt recession" by the President's critics.
Legislation
Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938
Congress passed a second Agricultural Adjustment Act in February of 1938. The second AAA set production quotas for, and limited acreage on staple crops such as wheat, tobacco, and cotton.. The second AAA also established the Commodity Credit Corporations which lent money to farmers in exchange for surplus crops. The surplus was stored until market prices rose. Farmers could then reclaim their crops and sell them at the new inflated price in order to pay off their federal loan.
Fair Labor Standards Act
In February of 1938 Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act which outlawed child labor and set a national minimum wage (40 cents an hour) as well as a maximum workweek (40 hours a week with time and a half for overtime).
Selective Service Act
In September of 1940 Congress enacted a selective service act which provided for the drafting 1.2 million men for one year of service. This was the first peacetime draft in the history of the United States.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1941-1945
Third Term
Events
Inauguration
Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his third inaugural address on January 20, 1941.
Atlantic Charter
In August of 1941, President Roosevelt met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Newfoundland where they drew up the Atlantic Charter. The Atlantic Charter was an agreement which stated that if the United State entered the war, neither the United States nor Britain could seek monetary or territorial gains in the event of an Allied victory. It also provided for the right of liberated nations to choose their own form of government, for freedom of the seas, and measures ensuring a peaceful world trade.
President Orders Attack on German Shipping
By 1941 United States ships had long been providing protection to convoys of British merchant ships carrying war supplies to the home front, but in September of that year, President Roosevelt issued an order to U.S. ships to attack any German ship within range, thus declaring unofficial war on Germany.
Roosevelt Cuts Off Trade with Japan
President Roosevelt had issued many warnings to Japan against interfering with American trade before Japanese aggression forced him to cut off trade with Japan completely in 1940.
Pearl Harbor
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack lasted less than two hours. When it was over 2,300 American servicemen lay dead and the bulk of the Pacific Fleet lay in ruin.
Philippines Lost
In March of 1942 Allied forces under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur were driven from the Philippines by the Japanese.
Battle Midway
On June 3, 1942 the Japanese launched an offensive against the Midway Islands in the Pacific. The Battle of Midway was a decisive victory for the Allied forces under the leadership of Admiral Chester Nimitz.
Guadalcanal
On August 7, 1942 Allied forces attacked the Japanese airstrip at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese surrendered Guadalcanal on February 9, 1943.
Allied Victory in North Africa
In November of 1942 Allied forces under the leadership of General Dwight D. Eisenhower launched a campaign against German and Italian forces in French North Africa. The Axis forces surrendered North Africa on May 12, 1943.
Casablanca
In January 1943, President Roosevelt met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Casablanca, French Morocco. At Casablanca Roosevelt and Churchill made the decision to put off starting a second front in France, opting instead to launch a campaign on Sicily, followed by an attack on Italy. The conference also yielded a pledge from Roosevelt and Churchill to not accept peace with the Axis powers unless they surrendered unconditionally.
Italy Surrenders
Allied forces launched a campaign on Sicily in July of 1943. Sicily surrendered in August. In the invasion Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was deposed and placed under arrest by Italian forces. Mussolini was later rescued by German forces and made leader of the small section of Italy still under German control. From Sicily the Allies launched an attack on Italy, now under the leadership of Marshal Pietro Badoglio. Italy surrendered to the Allies on September 8, 1943, and promptly declared war on Germany
Tehran
In November 1943 Roosevelt and Churchill met with Soviet Premiere Joseph Stalin in Tehran, Iran. At the conference the "Big Three" discussed starting a second front in France, and set the target date for the invasion in May 1944. Stalin promised to coordinate Russia's spring offensive with the invasion in order to increase the odds of an Allied Victory. At Tehran the order of the post war world was also discussed, but no agreements were reached.
D-Day
On June 6, 1944 Allied forces under the leadership of General Dwight D. Eisenhower landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. Within two weeks over a million Allied soldiers were on French soil and fighting their way inland. Paris was liberated on August 25, less than a month later the Allies crossed the German border.
Saipan, Tinian, and Guam
Allied forces attacked the island of Saipan on June 15, 1944. The Japanese surrendered the island on July 9. Soon after the islands of Tinian and Guam also fell into Allied hands.
Philippines Retaken
Allied forces under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur recaptured the Philippines on October 21, 1944.
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Allied forces secured domination of Pacific waterways with their victory at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October of 1944.
Battle of the Bulge
The Germans launched their last major counteroffensive on December 16, 1944 against the center of the Allied Army in the Ardennes Forest. The offensive got as far as Bastogne, fifty miles into the Belgium border, before the Allies' Third Army under General George Patton stopped them and drove them back into Germany.
Legislation
Lend-Lease Act
In March of 1941, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act which authorized the President to supply military aid to any country whose survival he deemed necessary for the United States' own security.
United States Enters World War II
On December 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes attacked the United States Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. President Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war on Japan, which he received the following day. A pact Japan had recently signed with Germany and Italy obliged those two countries to declare war on the United States. The United States declared war on Germany and Italy on December 11.
War Production Board
President Roosevelt created the War Productions Board in January of 1942 to oversee the war-time economy.
War Relocation Authority
In February of 1942 President Roosevelt created the War Relocation Authority to resettle the more than 100,000 Japanese Americans across the country into ten Internment camps scattered throughout the western states.
Smith-Connally Act
In 1943 Congress passed the Smith-Connally Act over President Roosevelt's veto. The Smith Connally Act prohibited strikes in war industries, limited the rights of unions, and gave the president the power to seize any factory he deemed useful to the war effort.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1945-1945 (d. 1945)
Fourth Term
Events
Inauguration
President Roosevelt delivered his fourth inaugural address on January 20, 1945.
Iwo Jima
Allied forces under the leadership of Admiral Chester Nimitz attacked Iwo Jima in February of 1945. The Japanese surrendered the island the following month.
Yalta
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at the Yalta resort in Crimea, U.S.S.R. in February 1945. At Yalta, Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan after the defeat of Germany, in exchange for territorial gains in Asia. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin drew up new post-war borders for Poland and signed the Crimea Declaration which remade the promises of the Atlantic Charter, including the promise to let every liberated country choose its own form of government by way of free elections.
Okinawa
Allied troops attacked Okinawa on April 1, 1945. The Japanese surrendered the island after a month of intense fighting in which over 70,000 Japanese soldiers had died.
President Roosevelt Dies
In April of 1945, President Roosevelt was at his home in Warm Springs, Georgia, preparing for the United Nations conference to take place in San Francisco later that month. While having his portrait painted on April 12, 1945, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died. His body was taken to Washington D.C. for services and then buried at his Home in Hyde Park, New York, which is now a national museum.
San Francisco
In April of 1945 Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at San Francisco, there they established an organization for the maintaining of post-war order. Roosevelt called the new organization the "United Nations."
