Let's Start Again!

Roosevel's speeches against the crisis

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the central figure in the political history of the last century, set up the American social security system, legitimated the role of the unions, introduced rigid regulations for banking activity, extended the presence of federal government in the economy (to fight unemployment and stimulate infrastructures) and promoted competitive devaluation.

He became President of the United States on 4 March 1933, in the dark years of the Great Depression; in that year there were 13 million people unemployed and many banks had closed. In his first “one hundred days” Roosevelt had the Congress approve a series of measures to stimulate commerce, agriculture and employment. His period has gone down in history as the period of the New Deal

In his speeches, the most important of which are re-proposed in this book, he puts forth his view of the economy and explains what the roles and duties should be of a government capable of rebuilding strength in a nation in times of crisis.