Record of the Seventy-Second Congress

Report Outline
Emergency and Permanent Measures Enaoted by 72Nd Congress
Emergency Financial and Relief Legislation
Permanent Banking and Agricultural Measures
Taxes, Federal Expenditures, Tariffs
Prohibition Repeal and Beer Legislation
Changes in Other National Policies
Record Votes in the 72nd Congress
Outstanding Roll Calls in the House
Special Focus

Emergency and Permanent Measures Enaoted by 72Nd Congress

The 72nd congress met for its first session on December 7, 1931, at the opening of the third winter of the depression. The Congress expired by constitutional limitation at noon on March 4, 1933, in the midst of a national financial emergency, with banking holidays in effect in most of the states and the country's leading security exchanges closed. Continuous conferences of congressional leaders were held during the closing hours on proposals for remedial legislation, but no comprehensive action to deal with the emergency was attempted before the Congress expired.

President Roosevelt in his inaugural address, delivered immediately after the 72nd Congress had come to a close, gave notice that in the event the new Congress should fail to adopt measures adequate to the emergency….

…I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.