Claire Netemeyer APUSH website 2015-16
National Recovery Administration (NRA)
Created: June 16, 1933
Ended: January 1, 1936
Purpose and Background
At the time of president Franklin Delano Roosevelt's inauguration in 1933, roughly 25% of the nations workforce did not hold a job during this Great Depression (Social Welfare History). FDR planned to remedy this crisis when he signed the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA), which put the National Recovery Administration officially into place (Social Welfare History). The NRA was created to allow codes of "fair competition" and set prices among cooperations (Social Welfare History). Employees were given the right to bargain collectively and as a right of employment, were not fored to join or not to labor organization (Infoplease). Business leaders would create their own code of wage and working hours to send to the president for approval and could also be subject under federal courts and attourneys (Social Welfare History). Violations of the NRA could be fined not more than $500 for each offense (Social Welfare History).
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Reforms and Accomplishments
FDR appointed former army general Hugh S. Johnson to direct the NRA, who first called for a minimum wage of between 20 and 45 cents per hour for workers, a maximum workweek of 35 to 45 hours, and the abolition of child labor (Brinkley, 631). Johnson created the "Blue Eagle" logo for the NRA, which was used by all businesses in support of the plan (Social Welfare History). Overall, certain sections of the NRA led to great successes and accomplishments for the plan since it caused a dramatic increase in union membership. (Social welfare History). "The Amalgamated Clothing Workers union doubled its membership from 60,000 to 120,000 between early 1933 and mid-1934 and the United Mine Workers of America quadrupled its membership, from 100,000 to 400,000, less than a year after passage of NIRA" (Social Welfare History). The NRA successfully ended child labor in the textile industry and created the Public Works Administration (PWA) to award $3.3 billion in contracts for the construction of public works, which oversaw the building of schools, hospitals, and many other public buildings (Social Welfare History).
"Blue Eagle" Logo
Criticisms and End of the Program
Since the NRA was sometimes attacked in certain aspects as an authoritarian and unjust plan, the NRA did not last long enough to fully implement its policies (InfoPlease). Public support for the NRA fell through soon after its beginning and despite its 500+ codes that it implemented, the NRA failed to really follow through with those codes and some contradicted each other (Encyclopedia.com). Some individuals did not think that the NRA was strong enough to end the coercion of people into labor unions (Social Welfare History). Three weeks before NIRA’s two-year expiration date, the Supreme Court declared the plan unconstitutional in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States on the grounds that the NRA violated an agreement between legislative and executive orders (Encyclopedia.com). The futile NRA was then held until the coming of the next year when it officially ended (Encyclopedia.com).
People affected by the NRA
Since the NRA supported reform already within the workplace, current workers benefitted the most since they had governmental support against the coorporation leaders (since leaders had to submit their plans for the run of the workplace to be approved by the government) (InfoPlease). They benefitted from a "blanket code" of a workweek with fewer hours and a set minimum wage (Brinkley, 631). Since the NRA really did not create any new jobs, the poor and unemployed were impacted the least positively and were actually hurt since there was a greater lack of opportunities for them (Britannica).
My personal assessment...
I think that the NRA and NIRA were somewhat successfull overall since it created many reform codes within the workplace and ended child labor in the textile industry, however since it lead to a real increase in new jobs (which were needed during the Great Depression) and lost support so quickly, it was not very successfull. I would characterize this progam as a long-term recovery plan since it aimed to change workplaces in general rather than provide immediate jobs or money to those who did not have jobs. I would also say that the NRA was a liberal program since it challenged big businesses and tried to spread the concentration of power from the workplace to the workers and give them a say.
Bibliography
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation. 6th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
"National Recovery Administration." Social Welfare History Project. The Social Welfare History Project, 21 Jan. 2011. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. <http://www.socialwelfarehistory.com/eras/great-depression/u-s-national-recovery-administration/>.
"National Recovery Administration." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. <http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/national-recovery-administration.html>.
"National Recovery Administration." Encyclopedia.com. The Gale Group Inc., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/National_Recovery_Administration.aspx>.
"National Recovery Administration (NRA)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 15 Feb. 2016
<http://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Recovery-Administration>.