NEW DEAL: Men labor on an Arkansas River public-works
project
March 4, 1933
Launching the New Deal
By Margot Roosevelt
It was
a cold and somber day. Nearly a quarter of the labor force was out of
work. Banks had shut their doors. Farms were going belly up. Breadlines
snaked through city streets. Standing jut jawed at the lectern before
the Capitol's assembled throng on his first Inauguration Day, Franklin
Delano Roosevelt countered the sense of helplessness, telling the shaken
nation, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." He then
outlined a plan of economic revolution: bank and stock-market reforms,
public-works programs, and emergency relief for farms. But the day's
solemnity made room for celebration too, as Roosevelt answered cheers by
shaking his hands over his head like a prizefighter. Later he wagged his
top hat at marchers in the Inauguration parade, including four men
pushing lawn mowers, a gibe at outgoing President Hoover's remark that
if Democrats won, grass would grow in the streets.
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