Roosevelt's PresidencyDuring Roosevelt's presidency he focused on alleviating the problemsof the Great Depression which became known as the "New Deal". The new deal was a phrase taken from his campaign speech which promised the American people a new deal. The new deal focused on relief for the needy, economic recovery, and financial reform.Roosevelt's first step of presidency was to get people to believe in banks again.On March 5, one day after taking office, Roosevelt declared a bank holiday and closed all banks to prevent further withdrawals. Banks that could repay their debts could open the others that couldn't would remain closed. The president then explained that when too many people demanded their savings in cash, banks would fail. This was not because banks were weak but because even strong banks could not meet such heavy demands. Over the next few weeks, many Americans returned their savings to banks.The next thing that Roosevelt focused on was the stock market crash. The Federal Securities Act, passed in May 1933, required corporations to provide complete information on all stock offerings and made them liable for any misrepresentations. That allowed people to gain back some trust in the stock market. In June of 1934, Congress created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate the stock market. One goal of this commission was to prevent people with inside information about companies from “rigging” the stock market for their own profit.
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