Roosevelt Policies in Practice

Report Outline
The Campaign and the Roosevelt Record
Industrial and Agricultural Recovery Programs
Changing Relief Policies: Social Security
Monetary and Tax Policies: Deficits and Economy
Reform of Business by Regulation and Yardstick
Tariffs, Foreign Policy, and Neutrality

The Campaign and the Roosevelt Record

Experiments undertaken and reforms instituted by the Roosevelt administration since March 4, 1933, have stirred up more general controversy over the respective powers and prerogatives of the state and federal governments than has occurred at any time since before the Civil War. The President's championship of the exercise of federal power in attempts to cure national ills and promote recovery has evoked from adherents of “rugged individualism” charges of “regimentation” and of undue centralization of authority at Washington. Coincidentally, there has been evidenced in some quarters a feeling of personal resentment against the Chief Executive that is reminiscent of the bitterness once displayed toward Woodrow Wilson.

While the current presidential campaign has scarcely fulfilled Postmaster General Farley's prediction of last January that it would be “the bitterest and certainly the dirtiest political struggle that any of us here can remember,” the Roosevelt policies are now in the normal course of events the subject of vigorous attack and staunch defense. In the midst of campaign oratory and extravagance, it is instructive to recall the original statements of those policies and, through an examination of the record, to trace the extent to which they have been carried out, modified, or reversed.

Reform and Recovery as Objectives of New Deal

Almost all of the outstanding legislative measures supported by the administration have been advocated for the purpose of instituting a reform of one sort or another or of promoting economic recovery. In some instances, as in that of N. R. A., reform and recovery have been objectives of equal importance, but by and large reform has been the dominant motive underlying the policies and acts of the President. In public speeches and statements he has constantly emphasized that aspect of his efforts. To his mind, in fact, reform was essential to the achievement of enduring recovery. In his letter to Roy W. Howard on September 2, 1935, announcing a “breathing spell” for business, he said: