President Franklin D. Roosevelt did many things to try to deal with the Great Depression. At times, he used his fireside chats to communicate his plans. Most people had radios, and President Roosevelt became a master at utilizing the radio to spread his messages to the American people.
One of the first actions that President Roosevelt took was the passage of the Emergency Banking and Relief Act. This law closed all of the nation’s banks. Only the strongest banks would be allowed to reopen. President Roosevelt used one of his fireside chats to tell the American people they needed to have confidence in what he was doing with the banking system and in the banking system itself. He explained to our people what he was doing with the banks and why he was doing it. He suggested that our banks were placed in a difficult spot partially because people lost...
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confidence in the banking system. His message was heard. When the banks reopened, more money was deposited in the banks than withdrawn from them.
President Roosevelt also used the fireside chats to inform the people about his various job creation programs. The Civilian Conservation Corps, the Civil Works Administration, and the Public Works Administration were programs that created jobs for the American people. He explained what these programs were trying to accomplish.
President Roosevelt wanted to promote the National Industrial Recovery Act. In one of his fireside chats, he told our people how businesses, workers, and the government could work together to help bring recovery to our economy.
He also used the fireside chats to explain how the government was going to help our people pay their mortgages if they were struggling to do so. The Home Owners Loan Corporation and the Farm Credit Administration helped people refinance their mortgages, and they received more time to repay the loans.
President Roosevelt created many programs to try to help ease the effects of the Great Depression. He wanted the people to know what he was doing, and why he was taking these actions. The fireside chats allowed him to do this.
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