Timeline Image:
Workplace safety posters sponsored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) were an example of federal support for the arts.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Timeline Story:
Image Caption
Work with Care, by Nathan Sherman, 1936
Workplace safety posters sponsored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) were an example of federal support for the arts.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Image 1 of 1
History of Congress and the Capitol
The Senate 1913-1945
History of Congress and the Capitol
The Senate 1913-1945
The crisis of the Great Depression demanded action. During his 1932 presidential campaign, Franklin D. Roosevelt advised: “Take a method and try it. If it fails . . . try another. But above all, try something.” When Congress convened on March 9, 1933, it joined President Roosevelt in a flurry of legislation to restore America’s confidence and prosperity.
On the first day, Congress passed, and the president signed, emergency banking relief. In the weeks ahead, senators and representatives approved bills creating public-works jobs, insuring bank deposits, refinancing home and farm mortgages, reorganizing railroads, stabilizing prices and wages, establishing power plants and flood control projects, and helping farmers sell surplus crops. The session lasted 100 days—a creative burst of energy that initiated economic recovery and established a more activist role for the federal government.
"Take a method and try it. If it fails ... try another. But above all, try something."
— President Franklin D. Roosevelt, May 22, 1932