What did Roosevelt do in ‘The Hundred Days’?

Learning objective – to examine the actions of Roosevelt in his first one hundred days as President. I can describe some of what Roosevelt did during his first hundred days as President. Grade D I can explain most of what Roosevelt did during his first hundred days as President. Grade B I can explain and analyse the actions of Roosevelt during his first hundred days as President. Grade A/A*

Starter This word cloud summarises the content of the story Bonus Army. In pairs, find the 11 terms in the word cloud and using the PowerPoint and the sheet given to you, list the 11 terms and, for each term, write their relevance to Roosevelt’s first one hundred days in office in two sentences.

Terms Hundred Days Fireside Chats Banking Acts Roosevelt Alphabet Agencies New Deal Relief Recovery Reform Prohibition Glass-Stegall

What were ‘The Hundred Days’? The Hundred Days were the first 100 days in Roosevelt’s Presidency and lasted from March 9 th to 16 th June It was a period of intense activity where Roosevelt tackled the problems of the Great Depression. During this period Roosevelt tackled – The Banking Crisis Ended Prohibition Established the New Deal by creating Alphabet Agencies. Began his Fireside Chats.

Why was the Banking Crisis a priority during the Hundred Days? In the Great Depression, over 4,000 banks closed and Americans were losing confidence in the banking system. People felt that to save in a bank was risking their money. As a, result, many banks experienced a high level of withdrawals and people kept their money at home.

What did Roosevelt do to stem the Banking Crisis? Roosevelt declared a three day banking holiday immediately after being sworn in as President. In this three day period, the Emergency Banking Act was passed which only allowed financially sound banks to reopen. Those that were not financially sound were helped as part of a government rescue plan in the Glass-Steagall Banking Act and opened in June.

What was the New Deal? The New Deal was Roosevelt’s plan to rescue America from the Great Depression. It included Republicans and Democrats in its creation. The New Deal had three stated aims – Relief – help people from the ravages of the Great Depression by providing short term support for those in need. Recovery – to rebuild the economy, in the medium term, by aiming for stability.. Reform – to ensure welfare provision to those who needed it and ensure that the Great Depression would never happen again.

What was the economic idea behind the New Deal?

What were the Alphabet Agencies? To set up and manage the New Deal, Roosevelt created a group of bodies that were responsible for a particular problem caused by the Great Depression, such as unemployment. They became known as Alphabet Agencies, because they were know by their initials, such as the WPA [Works Progress Administration] and the NRA [National Recovery Administration].

What were Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats? To communicate his policies to the people, Roosevelt made regular national radio broadcasts. Roosevelt did this to win support for the New Deal. The became known as Fireside Chats because of the warm and friendly style Roosevelt deployed.

Task – use these images to explain the aims and idea behind the New Deal.

Plenary Stick a copy of this visual representation of the Bonus Army into your exercise book. Beside each image write how it can contribute to answering the central question – ‘What did Roosevelt do in his first Hundred Days as President?’