MEMORANDUM FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
THE WHITE HOUSE - WASHINGTON, DC
TO: Vice President Garner, Speaker Rainey, all Cabinet members, all Committee Chairmen
FROM: The President of The United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt
DATE: March 13, 1933
SUBJECT: Current Administration Agenda
First, I want to congratulate everyone on the hard work so far- it looks like the bank holiday has ended with no problems. Thanks to the Emergency Banking Act's passage, and my speech last night to the people, it looks like we've restored enough confidence in the system to keep the banks from failing. Secretary [of Treasury, William H.] Woodin, make sure your people have the resources they need to administer all the necessary bailouts, inspections, et cetera.
I'm also glad to see the Economy Act passed without a hitch- that will keep our long-term budget stable to allow the emergency spending needed to end this recession.
And on that note- we did some great work passing those two bills so quickly, and I'm hearing a lot of guys in Congress talking about keeping this momentum going, so I'm going to keep this Emergency Congressional Session open for a full hundred days. We have a great opportunity right and we're not going to let it go to waste. So let's do this.
From now until June this administration's one and only priority is its legislative agenda. I want every Cabinet official spending their days at the Capitol- find some vacant office space for your entire staffs, if you need to- I want everyone collaborating directly with the Congressional committees that are related to your own jurisdiction. I'll be there every day working with the Speaker and Vice President to coordinate the overall agenda. I want to see dramatic steps that will work, I want to see good bills, I want to see our country saved.
Framework Agenda:
1. I want to see permanent Federal oversight and regulation of the banks, to bolster what the Emergency Act is doing. We gotta keep them from crashing Wall Street again.
2. Henry Wallace, you're Agriculture Secretary, come up with a solid proposal to give relief to farmers, I'm sure subsidies or something will work. The country needs cheap food so people can eat but we need to pay agriculture workers enough to live on
3. I want to see massive works programs to give people jobs and build up our infrastructure. Useful stuff, not digging holes: I'm talking bridges, roads, parks, ports, trains, power plants, etc.
4. Establish a minimum wage that's enough for someone to live on. If not nationally implemented then at least let's follow through on that with the proposals above.
5. I want a law on reciprocal tariffs- our rate for each nation should be lowered to their rate for ours. Secretary Hull, get to work on this, get as many countries as possible to agree to bilateral withdrawals.
6.
Start a massive investment effort in the private sector. The Federal Government will invest money into any company that requests the aid, which can be used for expanding the industries to create more jobs. The United States government will thereafter own the percentage of the company it's entitled to by the investment. If we pressure enough companies to work together on this then we'll end up owning slices of many companies- we can use that stake in corporate America to help harmonize the economy. (Addendum: nobody even dare call this "nationalization", we're not godless communists, the term to use here is "Americanization" and that's what we're sticking with)
7. Let's give some financial assistance for the elderly and the cripples, god bless them
PS: Mr. Speaker and Mr. PPT, don't worry about us stepping on your toes, like I said this is temporary and we'll leave the Capitol to you two in June. For now I think you'll agree we need all hands on deck right now. It's your prerogative to change anything you might need to get it passed. Just remember who swept your fearsome supermajority into office eh
