FDR prolonged the Great Depression? Really?

THE FIRST 100 DAYS

Roosevelt entered office at a time when fear and panic had paralyzed the nation. In a famous passage, historian Arthur Schlesinger described the mood at FDR's inauguration: "It was now a matter of seeing whether a representative democracy could conquer economic collapse. It was a matter of staving off violence -- even, some though -- revolution."

FDR's natural air of confidence and optimism did much to reassure the nation. His inauguration on March 4 occurred literally in the middle of a terrifying bank panic -- hence the backdrop for his famous words: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The very next day, to prevent a run on banks, he declared a "bank holiday," closing all banks indefinitely until bankers and government could regain control of the situation. The term "holiday" was meant to give a festive air to what was actually a desperate situation, but such was FDR's desire to provide hope to the nation.

Congress was almost entirely compliant and gave the President everything he wanted. The Emergency Banking Bill, which strengthened, reorganized and reopened the most solvent banks, was passed overwhelmingly by Congress with little debate. On March 12, Roosevelt announced that the soundest banks would reopen. On March 13, deposits at those banks exceeded withdrawals -- a tremendous relief to a worried nation. "Capitalism was saved in eight days," said Raymond Moley, a member of the President's Brain Trust.

The bank holiday was a vivid example of the effectiveness of government intervention in an economic crisis. Hoover had allowed two previous bank panics to run their course, which contributed to over 10,000 bank failures and $2 billion in lost deposits. The bank holiday secured Roosevelt's political reputation, and convinced both Congress and the public that the New Deal was the right road to follow.

Roosevelt's strategy consisted of two parts: first, provide relief for those who needed it most, which often involved a redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor. Second, provide long-lasting reform to the nation's economy, through reorganization and the creation of new agencies. Most of Roosevelt's policies can be described as "taking from one pocket to put in the other." Fixated with a balanced budget, and fretful when it was not, Roosevelt made sure that anything given to one sector of the economy was taken from somewhere else. He did not accept Keynes' recommendation to begin heavy deficit spending, and did not do so until the threat of World War II forced him to.

Roosevelt's legendary "First 100 Days" concentrated on the first part of his strategy: immediate relief. From March 9 to June 16, 1933, FDR sent Congress a record number of bills, all of which passed easily. These included the creation of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA the same one that just poisoned us and denied it).

Congress also gave the Federal Trade Commission broad new regulatory powers, and provided mortgage relief to millions of farmers and homeowners.

The success of the First 100 Days was important, because it got the New Deal off to a strong and early start. Later, the conservative Supreme Court would declare much of the New Deal unconstitutional, and Roosevelt's political prestige would decline as his policies failed to resolve the Depression. If Roosevelt had not passed his agenda early, we would probably be without many New Deal programs we take for granted today.

I don't want to pile on but...

it's not just conservative opportunists (like the assholes at fox-spews) who doubt the efficacy, morality, and utility of the policies of FDR. (to start with there's me --and I voted for Obama)

Here's that so conservative rag of repute the New York Times:

"Roosevelt instituted a disastrous legacy of agricultural subsidies and sought to cartelize industry, backed by force of law. Neither policy helped the economy recover."

"The New Deal’s legacy of public works programs has given many people the impression that it was a time of expansionary fiscal policy, but that isn’t quite right. Government spending went up considerably, but taxes rose, too... When all of these tax increases are taken into account, New Deal fiscal policy didn’t do much to promote recovery."

"He also took steps to strengthen unions and to keep real wages high. This helped workers who had jobs, but made it much harder for the unemployed to get back to work. One result was unemployment rates that remained high throughout the New Deal period. Today, President-elect Barack Obama faces pressures to make unionization easier, but such policies are likely to worsen the recession for many Americans."

"The good New Deal policies, like constructing a basic social safety net, made sense on their own terms and would have been desirable in the boom years of the 1920s as well. The bad policies made things worse. Today, that means we should restrict extraordinary measures to the financial sector as much as possible and resist the temptation to “do something” for its own sake."

The author of the piece is Tyler Cowen an economist and GMU. He's not alone; With the exception of our most recent noble laureate (many feel that the timing of Paul Krugman's award was deeply political) the vast majority of modern economists (scientists who do research--and on average vote democrat by the way--) are highly skeptical of many of FDR's policies because they were based of Keynesian economics theories now know to be disastrously wrong.

You can say that all these smart people are mistaken but... bring the facts because they sure as hell do.

And, look, I'm not a fan of Fox's petulant punditry either, but vile and ill-considered reactions against it only serve to widen the divide.

"We are not a nation of red states or of blue states; we are the United States of America." -B. Obama

I’m sorry to say but calling out some of FDR’s economic policies is not simply part of a “republican memo.” A lot of people believe FDR did some questionable things, including the supreme court. They did of course overturn his National Industrial Recovery Act since it was absolutely unconstitutional and damaging to the economy. Apparently Nixon takes after FDR with respect to the idea that when the president does something it can’t be illegal.

If Fox were around in the thirties they probabaly would have joined the fascist plot to seize power in Washington. (I have even read that Bush's grandfather Prescott Bush was involved with this plot as well, (though it isn't verified.) His assets from his company Brown Harriman however, were subsequently seized for violating the Trading With The Enemies Act during WW2 when he supported I.G. Farben, the company that provided the steal to build the Nazi concentration camps.)

They can then criticize FDR all they wish, it only shows what partisan political hypocrites they are. It was the banks that were the ones looking to seize this government and bring it down. Did they finally do it with this current bailout? Of course, Fox wouldn't dare reminisce about the depression Hoover left us in to begin with. It seems to be only Democrats that they hate.There were problems with the New Deal, but it gave jobs and hope to many who had lost everything.That main premise seems to get lost in all of the jockeying to rewrite history.