Roosevelt and the First Hundred Days

US History – The Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933-45

In this course, Professor Iwan Morgan (University College, London) explores the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45), widely-regarded as one of the greatest presidents in US history. In the first module, we think about Roosevelt’s road to the presidency and the unprecedented level of legislative activity that marked his first hundred days in power. In the second module, we think about the reasons for Roosevelt's shift to the left in his second legislative burst in 1935-36, before turning in the third module to his battle with the Supreme Court. In the fourth module, we explore the transformation of the Democratic Party under Roosevelt and the emerging tension between the party’s traditional base in the South and the new (liberal, urban, minority) constituencies that entered the party in the 1930s. Finally, in the fifth module, we think about Roosevelt’s transformation of the presidency itself, including his unprecedented role in legislation, the economy, the judiciary, and foreign affairs.

Roosevelt and the First Hundred Days

In this module, we think about Roosevelt’s road to the Presidency and his first hundred days in power, focusing in particular on: (i) his background and early life, including his relation to Theodore Roosevelt; (ii) his political career from his time as Assistant Secretary to the Navy (1913-20) to his election as US President in 1932; (iii) the problems faced by the United States when Roosevelt becomes President; (iv) Roosevelt’s immediate actions on taking office – his four-day national banking holiday and the Emergency Banking Act; (v) his actions in the first hundred days of his Presidency, including the passage of fifteen pieces of major legislation; (vi) the agencies set up to alleviate unemployment – the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC); (vii) Roosevelt’s reform of the finance industry, including the establishment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC); and (viii) the creation of the National Recovery Agency (NRA) under the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA); and (ix) the extent to which Roosevelt’s first hundred days should be seen as a success – in humanitarian, political and economic terms.