This is a really good Introduction to the legislation passed in the first hundred days of the FDR administration. First up was the banking crisis. The day after he was inaugurated, FDR declared a banking holiday to stop the run on the banks that was threatening the collapse of the entire US banking system. Four days later, congress passed the Emergency Banking Act. Three days after that, FDR gave his first fireside chat on the radio, explaining the banking crisis and the newly passed legislation and persuading people to put their money back in the banks. The next day, the first of the banks were successfully re-opened.
I got it for a few dollars on Amazon.
From Chapter 1:
“On March 4, 1933, the nation’s banks had been closed. At least a quarter, but more likely a third of American workers were unenployed. Those fortunate enough to have work had seen their incomes fall by a third in three years. Farmers had been crushed by catastrophic price falls, drought and debt. A thousand homeowners a day were losing their homes.”
- Anthony J. Badger, FDR The First Hundred Days
