poster produced by the National Recovery Administration. The poster would be displayed by employers agreeing to participate in NRA industry codes of fair trade. In September 1932, Richberg, Ickes, Fred C. Howe,
Felix Frankfurter, and
Henry A. Wallace organized the National Progressive League to support
New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt for President of the United States. Moley asked Richberg to assist him in putting final touches on the bill after various competing drafts had been reconciled,
National Recovery Administration and Presidential councils On June 20, 1933, at the request of Hugh S. Johnson, President Roosevelt appointed Richberg general counsel of the
National Recovery Administration (NRA), the agency established to implement NIRA. As general counsel, Richberg also was tasked with implementing and defending Section 7(a). Richberg, like NRA Administrator Hugh Johnson, believed Section 7(a) would be self-implementing. On August 5, 1933, just 46 days after the passage of the NIRA, President Roosevelt established the
National Labor Board (NLB) to take over the implementation of Section 7(a). In direct contradiction of NLB policy and rulings, he publicly declared that Section 7(a) did not prohibit
company unions or the
closed shop, opposed the NLB's concept of
representational exclusivity, opposed any attempt to impose a requirement of
good faith bargaining on employers. Even as a national strike of 200,000 auto workers seemed imminent in February 1934, Richberg joined with Johnson to issue a "clarification" of Section 7(a) in which they declared that company unions were acceptable under federal labor policy. On November 17, 1933, he created a similar coordinating body called the National Emergency Council, composed of four key Cabinet secretaries and the heads of six economic recovery agencies, to coordinate and make "more efficient and productive the work of the numerous field agencies of the Government established under, and for the purpose of carrying into effect" the provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act, the
Agricultural Adjustment Act, and the
Federal Emergency Relief Act. Now, through an
Executive Order, Roosevelt made Richberg director of the Industrial Emergency Committee, composed of the secretaries of the Interior and Labor and the heads of the NRA and
Federal Emergency Relief Administration, to "make recommendations to the President ... with respect to problems of relief, public works, labor disputes and industrial recovery and to study and coordinate the handling of joint problems affecting these activities." At the same time, Roosevelt put Richberg in charge of the Executive Council and the National Emergency Council, placed him over the
Cabinet. His extensive power earned Richberg the sobriquet of "assistant president." But Richberg's role didn't last. The Executive Council was merged with the National Emergency Council and the Industrial Emergency Committee was made a subcommittee of the new body in October 1934. By the end of December 1934, Richberg had resigned from his role as "assistant president" after political attacks from others in the administration.
Return to NRA Richberg also returned to the NRA. NRA Administrator Hugh Johnson was showing signs of mental breakdown due to the extreme pressure and workload of running the National Recovery Administration. After two meetings with Roosevelt and an abortive resignation attempt, Johnson resigned on September 24, 1934. of which Richberg was named Executive Director. Richberg resigned the next day. ==Later life==