On October 24th, 1929 the ten-year party that Americans had enjoyed during the twenties came to a halting stop when the stock market crashed, and hundreds of Americans lost everything they had ever worked for. That day, now known as "Black Thursday,” was a true reality check that caught the American public off guard and resulted in the first ever Great Depression of the 30’s. However, the silver lining of this black cloud is that it finally made the federal government open it’s eyes and develop an elaborate system of public works projects and social security to get the American people back on their feet. The “New Deal” platform, developed by Franklin Roosevelt encompassed a variety of these projects and was the main tool that slowly pulled America out of the depression.
From the moment Roosevelt stepped into office he made sure to let everyone know that his policy was going to be drastically different from the one applied by Hoover (ie. Hoover believed in letting the depression play out with minimum government interference). Roosevelt’s plan “represented necessary modifications to ensure the preservation of the American political and economic system” (US. History p.202). His determination to keep America independ
Other Measures adopted into government policy were specifically to help the farmers who were severely hurt by the depression. Organizations such as the Resettlement Adminstration bought submarginal farms to help owners resettle on lands that would provide adequate living income. The Agriculture Adjustment Adminstration made rental payments to farmers for retiring acreage from cultivation in the basic crops and paid farmers to reduce the number of hogs and cattle. Although it was later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Courth, the AAA caused for millions of acres to be retired and farm prices improved. Other acts such as the Soil Conservation and Domstic Allotment Act and second AAA paid farmers to follow soil conservation practices and established marketing quotas to keep surpluses down. The Bank Head Jones Act assisted tenant farmers in buying larger farms under long-term, low interest loans. Then to benefit workers The National Labor Relations Act was passed and created the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB then became the main organization for enforcing fair practices on the part of labor and management in conductive collective bargaining. One measure that received a lot of criticisim was the Tennessee Valley Authority which was a public corporation that created a yardstick for determining the cost of producing electricity to regulate electric power rates over the whole country. This received criticism because many were against the government owning such companies and feare
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