On Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at 3:25:24 AM UTC+8, David P. wrote:
The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate "cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and government together to create
codes of "fair practices" and set prices.
LEGACY:
The NRA tried to end the Great Depression by organizing thousands of businesses under codes drawn up by trade associations and industries. Hugh Johnson proved charismatic in setting up publicity that glorified his new NRA. Johnson was recognized for
his efforts when Time named him Man of the Year of 1933—choosing him instead of FDR.
By 1934 the enthusiasm that Johnson had so successfully created had faded. Johnson was faltering badly, which historians ascribe to the profound contradictions in NRA policies, compounded by Johnson's heavy drinking on the job. Big business and labor
unions both turned hostile.
According to biographer John Ohl (as summarized by reviewer Lester V. Chandler):
Johnson's priorities became evident almost immediately. In the prescription, "Self regulation of industry under government supervision" the emphasis was to be on maximum freedom for business to formulate its own rules with a minimum of government
supervision. Consumer protection and the interests of labor were of decidedly lesser importance. To induce business to formulate and abide by codes of fair competition Johnson was willing to condone almost any type of price fixing, restriction of
production, limitation of productive capacity, and other types of anti-competitive practices....even with the benefit of a more efficient and diplomatic management and a more tolerant Supreme Court the NRA probably would not have survived much longer. It'
s inherent conflicts and inconsistencies were just too strong.
Historian William E. Leuchtenburg argued in 1963:
The NRA could boast some considerable achievements: it gave jobs to some two million workers; it helped stop a renewal of the deflationary spiral that had almost wrecked the nation; it did something to improve business ethics and civilize competition;
it established a national pattern of maximum hours and minimum wages; and it all but wiped out child labor and the sweatshop. But this was all it did. It prevented things from getting worse, but it did little to speed recovery, and probably actually
hindered it by its support of restrictionism and price raising. The NRA could maintain a sense of national interest against private interests only so long as the spirit of national crisis prevailed. As it faded, restriction-minded businessmen moved into
a decisive position of authority. By delegating power over price and production to trade associations, the NRA created a series of private economic governments.
According to historian Ellis Hawley in 1976:
at the hands of historians the National Recovery Administration of 1933–35 has fared badly. Cursed at the time, it has remained the epitome of political aberration, illustrative of the pitfalls of “planning” and deplored both for hampering
recovery and delaying genuine reform.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Recovery_Administration
Not relevant. Not useful, and not suited to this time. Best to dismantle and end it.
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