Timeline

Work in progress — cycles are added one at a time. Every quote is machine-verified against an archived source; follow the links to read it.

Timeline 1934–1946

Yearly indicator series (each archived from its publisher), an event lane (red = war, amber = economic, grey = political), election years (dotted), and presidential actions — follow-through mechanisms — placed on the indicators their position's category targets (data/schema/indicator_links.yaml). The before/after table shows the indicator in the action's year and 1, 2 and 4 years later. That is a reading of what happened next, not a measurement of what the action caused: many actions and events share the same years.

Unemployment rate (NBER series, 1929–1942) — percent · FRED (St. Louis Fed) · annual mean of published observations · NBER Macrohistory series M0892; monthly, averaged to annual. Use with unemployment-rate (BLS, 1948–).

47 presidential action(s) in 6 year(s) on this series — before/after

Year	Actions	At year	+1	+2	+4	Δ 4y
1934	1934-01-03 budget FY1935 budget message with continuing deficit — Balance the federal budget annually within revenues Franklin D. Roosevelt broken 1934-01-03 budget Budget message FY1935: 'regular' versus 'emergency' expenditures — Cut the cost of the federal government by at least 25 percent Franklin D. Roosevelt reversed 1934-01-30 statute Gold Reserve Act (devaluation to $35) — A sound currency preserved at all hazards Franklin D. Roosevelt reversed 1934-03-02 message Message requesting authority regarding foreign trade — Revise the tariff downward through reciprocal trade agreements Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1934-04-13 statute Johnson Act (Foreign Securities Act) — No cancellation of the war debts — make payment possible by restoring trade Franklin D. Roosevelt superseded 1934-05-22 message Message on silver policy / Silver Purchase Act — A sound currency preserved at all hazards Franklin D. Roosevelt reversed 1934-06-12 statute Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act — Revise the tariff downward through reciprocal trade agreements Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1934-06-27 statute National Housing Act (FHA) — Slum clearance and modern housing for the urban poor as a "human necessity" among public works Franklin D. Roosevelt partial	19.06	17.58	14.24	18.42	-0.64
1935	1935-01-17 message Message to Congress on social security — Old-age insurance under state laws Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1935-01-17 message Message to Congress on social security — Unemployment insurance under state laws Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1935-04-08 statute Emergency Relief Appropriation Act (WPA) — 'Employment for all surplus labor at all times' through self-liquidating public works (the Shearon letter, as Hoover read it) Franklin D. Roosevelt partial 1935-04-08 statute Emergency Relief Appropriation Act (WPA) — Public works spending is only a stopgap, not a cure for unemployment Franklin D. Roosevelt reversed 1935-04-08 statute Emergency Relief Appropriation Act (WPA) — Expand self-sustaining public works and temporary federal work (forests, flood control, waterways), with advance planning Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1935-07-05 statute National Labor Relations Act — An "economic declaration of rights" — the right to make a living and the right to safe savings Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1935-07-05 statute National Labor Relations Act — A more equitable distribution of national income — higher reward to labor, lower to speculative capital Franklin D. Roosevelt partial 1935-08-14 statute Social Security Act — An "economic declaration of rights" — the right to make a living and the right to safe savings Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1935-08-14 statute Social Security Act — "A new deal for the American people" — work and security through liberal, planned government action Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1935-08-14 statute Social Security Act, Titles I and II — Old-age insurance under state laws Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1935-08-14 statute Social Security Act — no health insurance title — Sickness insurance as a "minimum requirement" alongside old-age and unemployment insurance Franklin D. Roosevelt abandoned 1935-08-14 statute Social Security Act, Title III — Unemployment insurance under state laws Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1935-08-23 statute Banking Act of 1935 — Prevent another runaway credit expansion through government information, not government control of credit Franklin D. Roosevelt superseded 1935-08-26 statute Securities Act, Securities Exchange Act, Banking Act, PUHCA — Government as a check on concentrated economic power — "individualism" redefined as equality of opportunity Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1935-08-30 statute Revenue Act of 1935 ('wealth tax') — A more equitable distribution of national income — higher reward to labor, lower to speculative capital Franklin D. Roosevelt partial 1935-08-30 statute Revenue Act of 1935 — Raise revenue by graduated income, inheritance and profits taxes, not taxes on necessities Franklin D. Roosevelt partial	17.58	14.24	12.16	16.35	-1.23
1936	1936-03-01 statute Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act — Raise staple farm prices by a tariff-equivalent benefit plus voluntary production control, at no cost to the Treasury Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1936-03-01 statute Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (after Butler struck the AAA) — Restore purchasing power to the farming half of the nation Franklin D. Roosevelt kept	14.24	12.16	18.42	14.02	-0.21
1937	1937-02-10 message Message on a program for the Great Plains — Continue drought and flood aid and a nation-wide flood-control and water-conservation policy Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1937-04-05 message Message on making the CCC a permanent agency — Continue help for young people to obtain an education and a chance to use it Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1937-04-12 litigation Wagner Act upheld in NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel — Guard the worker's right to organize and bargain collectively Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1937-05-12 message Message transmitting the water conservation and flood control report — Continue drought and flood aid and a nation-wide flood-control and water-conservation policy Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1937-05-24 message Message on minimum wages and maximum hours — Revive the NRA's principles 'by one device or another' (imputed; the President would not say) Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1937-06-01 budget Spending cuts of 1937 and the recession — Balance the federal budget annually within revenues Franklin D. Roosevelt broken 1937-12-14 message Letter recommending amendments to the Social Security Act — Build on the Social Security Act toward economic security for all Franklin D. Roosevelt kept	12.16	18.42	16.35	6	-6.16
1938	1938-04-14 message Message on stimulating recovery (spending program) — Balance the budget within a year or two out of rising national income, without new taxes Franklin D. Roosevelt broken 1938-06-10 message Letter refusing a commission to revise the NLRA — Guard the worker's right to organize and bargain collectively Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1938-06-15 veto Veto of the farm-loan interest-rate extension — Low interest rates, sounder home financing, better banking Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1938-06-21 statute Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1938 — Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1938-06-25 statute Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 — Shorter hours, higher wages, end child labor and sweatshops Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1938-06-28 statute Flood Control Act of 1938 — Continue drought and flood aid and a nation-wide flood-control and water-conservation policy Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1938-12-13 executive_order FHA insurance authorization raised to $3 billion — Extend the federal housing program toward adequate housing for those in slums; encourage private building Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1938-12-13 executive_order FHA insurance authorization raised — Low interest rates, sounder home financing, better banking Franklin D. Roosevelt kept	18.42	16.35	14.02	2.38	-16.04
1939	1939-01-05 message Message on the WPA — Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1939-01-16 message Transmittal of the Social Security Board report — Build on the Social Security Act toward economic security for all Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1939-04-03 statute Reorganization Act of 1939 / Federal Security Agency — A long-range plan consolidating the federal government's scattered public-health and welfare agencies Franklin D. Roosevelt partial 1939-07-01 other National Youth Administration continued — Continue help for young people to obtain an education and a chance to use it Franklin D. Roosevelt kept 1939-08-10 statute Social Security Act Amendments of 1939 (financing changes) — Defense of the payroll-tax financing: the employer pays an equal share and the reserves are safe Franklin D. Roosevelt partial 1939-08-10 statute Social Security Act Amendments of 1939 — Build on the Social Security Act toward economic security for all Franklin D. Roosevelt kept	16.35	14.02	6	—	—

Timeline 1934–1946

Events

Unemployment rate (NBER series, 1929–1942) — percent · FRED (St. Louis Fed) · annual mean of published observations · NBER Macrohistory series M0892; monthly, averaged to annual. Use with unemployment-rate (BLS, 1948–).