During his first 100 days as
president, Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented federal
legislation and directed the federal government during most of
the Great Depression, implementing the New Deal in response to
the most significant economic crisis in American history. He
also built the New Deal coalition, realigning American
politics into the Fifth Party System and defining American
liberalism throughout the mid-20th century. He created
numerous programs to provide relief to the unemployed and
farmers while seeking economic recovery with the National
Recovery Administration and other programs. He also instituted
major regulatory reforms related to finance, communications,
and labor, and presided over the end of Prohibition.
In 1936, Roosevelt won a landslide
reelection with the economy having improved from 1933, but the
economy relapsed into a deep recession in 1937 and 1938. He
was unable to expand the Supreme Court in 1937, the same year
the conservative coalition was formed to block the
implementation of further New Deal programs and reforms. Major
surviving programs and legislation implemented under Roosevelt
include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National
Labor Relations Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, and Social Security. In 1940, he ran successfully
for reelection, one entire term before the official
implementation of term limits.
With
World War II looming after 1938 in addition to the Japanese
invasion of China and the aggression of Nazi Germany,
Roosevelt gave strong diplomatic and financial support to
China, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, while the
U.S. remained officially neutral. Following the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he obtained a
declaration of war on Japan.
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