Lend-Lease Act (1941)
Passed on March 11, 1941, this act set up a system that would allow the United States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed “vital to the defense of the United States.” In July 1940, after Britain had sustained the loss of 11 destroyers to the German Navy over a 10-day period, […]
President Franklin Roosevelt’s Annual Message (Four Freedoms) to Congress (1941)
This speech delivered by President Franklin Roosevelt on January 6, 1941, became known as his “Four Freedoms Speech,” due to a short closing portion describing the President’s vision in which the American ideals of individual liberties were extended throughout the world. Very early in his political career, as state senator and later as Governor of […]
President Franklin Roosevelt’s Radio Address unveiling the second half of the New Deal (1936)
In this radio address, President Franklin Roosevelt announced a second set of measures to combat the Great Depression, which become known as the Second New Deal. These included a series of new relief programs such as the Works Progress Administration. In this campaign speech delivered at Madison Square Garden on October 31, 1936, Roosevelt responded […]
Social Security Act (1935)
On August 14, 1935, the Social Security Act established a system of old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped. Before the 1930s, support for the elderly was a matter of local, state and family rather than a Federal […]
National Labor Relations Act (1935)
Also known as the Wagner Act, this bill was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt on July 5, 1935. It established the National Labor Relations Board and addressed relations between unions and employers in the private sector. After the National Industrial Recovery Act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, organized labor was again looking for […]
National Industrial Recovery Act (1933)
On June 16, 1933, this act established the National Recovery Administration, which supervised fair trade codes and guaranteed laborers a right to collective bargaining. The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was enacted by Congress in June 1933 and was one of the measures by which President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to assist the nation’s economic […]
Tennessee Valley Authority Act (1933)
This act of May 18, 1933, created the Tennessee Valley Authority to oversee the construction of dams to control flooding, improve navigation, and create cheap electric power in the Tennessee Valley basin. President Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act on May 18, 1933, creating the TVA as a Federal corporation. The new agency was […]
Boulder Canyon Project Act (1928)
This act authorized the construction of the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River and the All-American Canal to the Imperial Valley in California. Long before there was a Boulder Canyon Act or a Hoover Dam, the Colorado River flowed uninterrupted along its 1,450-mile course from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California. Winding through […]
19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women’s Right to Vote (1920)
Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. The 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations […]
President Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points (1918)
In this January 8, 1918, address to Congress, President Woodrow Wilson proposed a 14-point program for world peace. These points were later taken as the basis for peace negotiations at the end of the war. In this January 8, 1918, speech on War Aims and Peace Terms, President Wilson set down 14 points as a […]