President Roosevelt not only faced a banking crisis but also faced a growing dilemma concerning the value of the US Dollar. With the pressing matter of a currency getting considerably worth less, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102. This order made citizens turn over gold to Federal Reserve banks and then, in turn, “receive an equivalent amount any form of coin and currency coined under the laws of the United
States”(Roosevelt Executive Order 6102).
A removal of the Gold
Standard in the United States was extremely important because “with less and
less gold, a United States on the gold standard would not have enough backing
for credit to industry and agriculture to enable it to restart its economy”(Rose
“How FDR Reversed the 1933 Banking Crisis”). Also, this allowed the United States to not be tied down to gold and be able to add or subtract money from the economy as needed more easily.
In Franklin Roosevelt's first actual day as President, he signed the Emergency Banking Act, which saved the entire United States' (and possibly the worlds') banking system from entire collapse. It mainly was comprised of a so-called "Bank Holiday", in which all US banks closed for four days and went under major scrutiny to determine whether the banks were solvent enough to reopen. As the below table shows almost 4,000 banks closed during the peak of the Great Depression in 1933 and bank users lost almost $550,000 collectively.
Table 3-1. Commercial Bank Suspensions, 1921-1933 ($ Thousands)
Year
Number of Suspensions (1)
Deposits (2)
Losses Borne by Depositors (3)
Losses to Depositors As a Percent of Deposits in All Commercial Banks (4)
Furthermore, to not only combat banks closing, the 1933 Banking Act included a the formation of a new government corporation called the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or FDIC. The FDIC certified citizens trust in the banking system by backing
up citizens’ deposits which made sure that if a bank went under, investments
would be backed up regardless.These two acts passed in less than 8 hours of debate in Congress and proved to be the silver bullet to fix the Banking System. Two weeks after the Bank Holiday, the American public had “already invested more than half of its money back into the banking system”(Silber 19).
The Inauguration Speech is considered the President's first act in office. The Inaugural speech is a speech in which the President is supposed to mollify the American people about the pressing issues concerning them.
Here are Presidents Roosevelt, Carter, Obama Inaugural Adresses
Franklin Roosevelt:
The famous line " we have nothing to fear but fear itself" was spoken during Roosevelt's first Inaugural address to the country. This line served the American people as a reassurance that President Roosevelt and the rest of the government will turn around the Great Depression and that America's best days are ahead. He focused on specific policies he would change in his first hundred days, not just using empty rhetoric.
Jimmy Carter:
Jimmy Carter ran as an outsider for President. This "outsider" persona would come back to bite him with a vengeance in his first hundred days. As an outsider, Jimmy Carter did not know how to pass legislation in Washington or how to play politics. Without any real experience in Washington, Carter resorted to idealistic rhetoric without mentioning any real plan he had for the American Public in his speech.
Barack Obama:
Barack Obama ran on a message of changing politics as usual with slogans such such "Yes We Can" and Hope and Change. He, alike Jimmy Carter, has little experience in Washington DC (Obama represented Illinois from 2006 till his 2008 election as a Senator). But Obama was not an idealist, he told it exactly as it was and what the American public wanted: a plan for recovery of the American Recovery and way of life.
The theme of leadership will be key when examining the rest of the each President's First Hundred Days.
Here are a few Campaign Ads/Speeches to show how these three men persuaded the American Public to allow them to become their next President.
Franklin Roosevelt:
Barack Obama:
Jimmy Carter:
The point of this post was to foreshadow the type of leadership styles these three men would show as President. Without watching the entire speeches, it is very clear how exceptional two of these men (Franklin and Obama) were able to unite the American people as well as talk about important issues to the constituency. On the other hand, Carter resorts to empty political rhetoric without actually attempting to unite as a leader should. More on the leadership styles will be said in later blog posts.
This Blog will take a look at Presidents Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter and Franklin Roosevelt and their accomplishments in the first hundred days of their Presidency. Also, the implications of the first hundred days on the rest of each presidents' term will be discussed as well. I chose these three Presidents because FDR is considered the benchmark for every other President's first hundred days, Carter's Presidency was a blunder in itself and Obama is the newest President. I wanted to take the benchmarks of good (FDR) and bad (Carter) and be able to evaluate Barack Obama with these standards The purpose of this blog is open up the discourse about the accomplishments of these three Presidents in their first hundred days. This blog is meant to spark debate and debates are not one-sided, so please leave comments or suggestions.
