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| 1932 |
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| The Communist Party's presidential candidate proposed a Marxist program for transforming American society in the book Toward Soviet America. | 1 |
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| 1933–45 |
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| Under Commissioner John S. Collies, executive secretary of the American Indian Defense Association, the Bureau of Indian Affairs emphasized “autonomy and self-determination” over the earlier policy of forced assimilation. | 2 |
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| 1933 |
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| Following the suggestions of Charles S. Johnson of Fisk University, FDR organized a cluster of black advisers called the “black cabinet.” | 3 |
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| Feb. 6 |
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| Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution proclaimed. It provided that after Oct. 15, 1933, senators and representatives should take office on Jan. 3 following the election and that Congress should convene annually on that date. The president and vice president were to take office on Jan. 20, after election. | 4 |
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| Feb. 14 |
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| Closing of all banks in the state of Michigan gave warning of an impending banking crisis. Bank holidays spread from state to state until the climax was reached on the night of March 3. | 5 |
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| March 4 |
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| FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, 32d president. Banks closed and business virtually at a standstill. | 6 |
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| March 6 |
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| Banks closed for four days by proclamation of the president, and an embargo was placed on the export of gold in order to protect the gold reserve. | 7 |
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| March 9 |
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| Congress convened in special session. It legalized the president's action with respect to banks and authorized the comptroller of the currency to take charge of insolvent banks. Within a week after the president's proclamation the sound banks began to reopen. | 8 |
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| May 18 |
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| The Tennessee Valley Authority Act created the Tennessee Valley Authority to maintain and operate Muscle Shoals and to develop the water-power resources of the Tennessee Valley. Also to improve the economic and social status of the valley population. | 9 |
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| June 16 |
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| The Emergency Railroad Transportation Act created a federal coordinator of transportation. | 10 |
| The National Industrial Recovery Act created a national recovery administration to supervise the preparation of codes of fair competition and to guarantee to labor the right to organize and bargain collectively; it also made provision for a program of public works. The act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on May 27, 1935. | 11 |
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| Dec. 5 |
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| Ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, repealing the Eighteenth, or Prohibition, Amendment. | 12 |
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