ABSTRACT
When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in March, 1933, the nation was threatened by complete economic collapse: industry was operating at half speed, enormous numbers were unemployed, the farmers were in desperate need of relief, prices were at the lowest point of the depression, and the country’s banking structure was on the verge of disintegration. On March 5 Congress was called into special session and the President proclaimed a banking holiday. Congress passed an Emergency Banking Act providing for the inspection of banks and the reopening of sound banks under license. The special session of Congress in 1933 passed many important measures during “the hundred days" before it adjourned.
