ere mainly reform laws. Franklin Roosevelt had been a reformer, a believer in progress and in government-sponsored social and economic change, from the time he first took public office in 1911. The reform impulse in America had been frustrated since the 1918 election victories by conservative politicians, who believed that government should not be involved in social reform. Now that impulse was revived in the Great Depression by President Roosevelt, often under pressure from congressional liberals, who were concerned with the development of personal freedom and social progress, and from reform movements outside the government. Between 1933 and 1938, major legislation passed by Congress constituted the most sweeping reform program since the progressive period of 1901 to 1907. In general, these reforms increased the existing regulatory activities of the federal government. After Roosevelts administrations the government was involved in regulating many more areas of economic activity.Banking and currency were in obvious need of attention, since the banking system had virtually collapsed by March 1933 and the drain of gold had placed a great strain on the dollar. Banking legislation passed in the first Roosevelt term created insurance for small savings depositors, separated commercial and investment banking, and greatly increased the authority of the Federal Reserve Board, the government agency that oversees banking activity. In order to protect the currency, Roosevelt secured authority from Congress to take the United States off the gold standard and to devalue the dollar. However, once he discovered that devaluing the dollar did not in itself help to bring about economic recovery, he was unenthusiastic about tinkering with the currency. Related to these reforms was the establishment of the Securities and Exchange Commission, an independent agency empowered to regulate the sale of stocks and bonds. The first chairman of the commission was ...
