What was the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, and what did it attempt to accomplish?

• A. Authorized industry-wide codes for fair competition and workers' rights; aimed to stimulate industrial recovery; later declared unconstitutional in 1935.
• B. Abolished all wage and hour regulations.
• C. Created the federal highway system.
• D. Established the Federal Reserve as the sole regulator of industry.

Answer: (D)

The National Industrial Recovery Act was a New Deal attempt to lift the economy by letting industries draft codes for fair competition, which included rules on wages and hours and a guarantee of workers’ right to organize. It created the National Recovery Administration to enforce these codes and aimed to coordinate business, labor, and the government to raise production, stabilize prices, and reduce unemployment. This ambitious plan reflected the belief that coordinated industry-wide standards could spark recovery and give workers some protections at the same time. The Supreme Court later struck it down in 1935, ruling that it gave the federal government too much power to regulate intrastate commerce, effectively ending the act. The other descriptions don’t fit: it did not abolish wage and hour regulations (it sought to set them), it did not create the federal highway system, and it did not establish the Federal Reserve as the sole regulator of industry.