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NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL RECOVERY ACT

National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was the centerpiece of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's (1933–1945) initial New Deal programs that were aimed at reversing the economic collapse of the Great Depression. Enacted by Congress in 1933 during the president's First Hundred Days in office, the NIRA was designed to improve standards of labor, promote competition, reduce unemployment, and increase consumer's purchasing power. As the legislation went through Congress, it met with much debate and passed by a slim margin of seven votes.

Title I of the act attempted to accomplish the goals of the NIRA by creating the National Recovery Administration (NRA) to establish codes of fair competition, which were rules governing the wages, prices, and business practices of each industry. Representatives of firms in various industries joined NRA officials in drafting the codes. Although the codes were not intended to foster monopolies or discriminate against small business, applicable antitrust laws were temporarily suspended to prevent the NIRA from being challenged on grounds that it engendered unfair competition. Initially, the codes received wide public support, but over time that support diminished. Enforcement of the codes was limited, and the successes it did achieve, like the end of child labor in the textile industry, were eventually overshadowed by higher prices and limited production.

Title II of the act created the Public Works Administration (PWA) to award $3.3 billion in construction contracts for public projects. The PWA oversaw an enormous number of such projects, including the construction of schools, hospitals, post offices, courthouses, water systems, roads, bridges, and dams. The NIRA also included provisions for increasing minimum wages, limiting the hours in a workweek, and recognizing the right of labor to unionize and collectively bargain with management. Among the PWA's biggest successes are the construction of the Tirborough Bridge in New York City and the Hoover Dam in Arizona. Overall, the Public Works Administration completed 34,000 projects nationwide.

Three weeks before the NIRA's two-year expiration date in 1935, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously declared the act unconstitutional. In the case of Schechter Poultry Corporation vs. the United States, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress had impermissibly delegated its legislative power to the National Recovery Administration. The NIRA ceased operations.

See also: Great Depression, National Recovery Administration, New Deal

FURTHER READING

Bailyn, Bernard, David Brion Davis, David Herbert Donald, John L. Thomas, Robert H. Wiebe, and Gordon S. Wood. The Great Republic: A History of the American People. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Co., 1977.

Johnson, Paul. A History of the American People. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997.

Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. London: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Ketchum, Richard M. The Borrowed Years 1938– 1941: America on the Way to War. New York: Random House, 1989.

Manchester, William. The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America 1932–1972. New York: Bantam Books, 1974.