National Industrial Recovery Act

Passed by Congress in 1933, the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was one of several measures that were passed by Congress and supported by the Roosevelt administration that were aimed at helping the nation recover from the Great Depression. The NIRA was a unique experiment in U.S. history as it suspended the antitrust laws that were passed to root out conspiracies and combinations in restraint of trade and sanctioned and supported an alliance of industries. Under the law, companies were required to write industrywide codes of fair competition that effectively fixed wages and prices, established production quotas, and placed restrictions on the entry of other companies into the alliances. These codes were a form of industry self-regulation and represented an attempt to regulate and plan ...