FDR - Jean Edward Smith [198]
Public response was overwhelming. “When millions of people can hear the President speak to them directly in their own homes, we get a new meaning for the old phrase about a public man ‘going to the country,’ ” said The New York Times. When the banks reopened Monday, reassured depositors returned much of the money they had withdrawn. Not only was there no run on the banks, but the Federal Reserve reported that deposits exceeded withdrawals by more than two to one despite the cash-starved existence most had led the past week. The banking crisis was over. On foreign exchanges the dollar soared. Raymond Moley proclaimed, “Capitalism was saved in eight days.”36 When the New York Stock Exchange reopened March 15 (it had been closed since March 3), stock prices rose by a whopping 15 percent—the greatest one-day rise in living memory.
Conservatives vied with liberals in shouting Roosevelt’s praise. “The new Administration in Washington has superbly risen to the occasion,” said The Wall Street Journal. Henry Stimson wrote FDR, “I am delighted with the progress of your first week and send you my heartiest congratulations.” Newton D. Baker called Roosevelt “a providential person at a providential moment.” William Randolph Hearst said, “I guess at your next election we will make it unanimous.”37
Roosevelt stayed on the offensive. At dinner the evening he delivered his fireside chat, the president told guests with a twinkle in his eye, “I think this would be a good time for a beer.”38 That sent Louis Howe scurrying for a copy of the Democratic platform. When FDR finished his radio address, he wrote a seventy-two-word message to Congress quoting word for word the Democratic pledge to amend the Volstead Act and permit the sale of beer and light wine.39* The message, perhaps the shortest on record, went to the House at noon Monday. Divided Democrats rallied back to the president’s side. The Ways and Means Committee drafted the requisite legislation within five hours of FDR’s request. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives, ignoring the pleas of the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, voted for beer, 316–97. On Wednesday the Senate passed FDR’s economy measure 62–13, and on Thursday it voted to amend the Volstead Act 43–30. Roosevelt signed the Economy Act on March 20 and the Beer-Wine Revenue Act two days later. The administration was three for three, and the Democratic ranks were now more solid than ever.
Originally FDR had assumed that Congress would remain in session only so long as necessary to deal with the banking crisis. But with the legislative tide running so strongly in favor of the administration, he decided to hold it in Washington until the bulk of the New Deal program could be enacted. Public confidence had recovered, but the economy remained in the doldrums. Freight car loadings, electric power, and steel production continued to slide, employment had drifted downward, and there was as yet no glimmer of relief for farmers or those without work. “I haven’t any real news,” Roosevelt told his press conference on Wednesday, March 15. And after that casual disclaimer he broke the story that he was going to move immediately to assist the nation’s farmers and the unemployed. The banking bill, the economy measure, and the amendment of the Volstead Act had done nothing constructive for the economy, he said. What was needed was a definite effort to put people to work and a program to raise farm prices. FDR said he could not go into detail because the measures were still being worked out. But he made it clear that he planned no letup.40
Congress