Arguably the most vital, enduring, and effective feature of FDR's New Deal was the creation of the FDIC (federal bank deposit insurance), which effectively ended the age of massive bank runs that was the key ingredient in every depression in U.S. history.
I was stunned to learn (after reading two biographies of FDR over Spring Break) that Roosevelt was VEHEMENTLY opposed to the creation of federal deposit insurance, and repeatedly threatened to veto any banking legislation that contained deposit insurance!
The creation of the FDIC was largely the work of a Senate Republican, Arthur Vandenburg, and a House Democrat, Congressman Steagall. As the result of crafty parliamentary maneuvering of FDR's vice-president, John Nance Garner (who believed fervently in deposit insurance but apparently no other government activities), Vandenburg's FDIC was tacked on as an amendment to larger banking legislation, which FDR reluctantly signed only when confronted with the likelihood that his veto would suffer an override.
The most successful aspect of the New Deal was in large measure the work of a Senate Republican, and was fiercely opposed by Dr. New Deal himself!
I was flabbergasted. I double-checked and triple-checked the story. It's true!! All this time I'd given FDR great credit for the far-seeing wisdom of his FDIC proposal, when it was never his proposal, and he kept threatening to strangle it in its cradle!
The things that history nerds find compelling...
