CHAPTER 23:The Great Depression and the New Deal

Shannon O’Malley

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

1.) What were the victories and failures of Roosevelt’s “New Deal”?

2.) In what ways was the Great Depression resolved or made worse?

3.) What federal programs designed to bring about relief, recovery, and reform, actually helped the American citizens the most?

VOCABULARY:

AAA Agricultural Adjustment Administration

Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO).

CWA Civil Works Administration

FERA Federal Emergency Relief Administration

FHA Federal Housing Administration

FSA Farm Security Administration

HOLC Home Owners Loan Corporation

NRA National Recovery Administration

The Emergency Banking Relief Act

PWA Public Works Administration

The Hundred Day’s Congress

SSA Social Security Administration

TVA Tennessee Valley Authority

WPA Work Projects (Progress)

Administration The New Deal

F D R :   P O L I T I C I A N I N A W H E E L C H A I R

He suffered from infantile paralysis, was put in a wheelchair.

His wife, Eleanor was his “legs”. She was the first active first lady, helping the impoverished and oppressed.

FDR (Democrat) proposed the New Deal for the “forgotten man”.

He promised to balance the budget, and help ease the deficits brought on by Hoover’s administration.

P R E S I D E N T I A L H O P E F U L S O F 1 9 3 2

Hoover was persuaded not to run by the Republican party. Too many voters were dissatisfied with him because of the depression.

25% of workers were unemployed.

Black voters shifted political parties.

They were originally Republican, because they were grateful to Lincoln’s party, however a majority became Democrats.

They also began to gather in great urban centers.

H O O V E R ' S H U M I L I AT I O N I N 1 9 3 2

F D R A N D T H E T H R E E R ' S : R E L I E F, R E C O V E R Y , R E F O R M

FDR was inaugurated March 4th, 1933

He declared a nationwide banking holiday.• March 6-10, they would be reopened on a

sounder basis

The “Hundred Days” began, from March to June.

• Congress cranks out a plethora of new legislation.

The New Deal included the three R’s: Relief, Recovery, and Reform.

Congress granted him extraordinary bank-check powers.

…CONTINUED

ROOSEVELT MANAGES THE MONEY

Congress passes the Emergency Banking Relief Act of 1933

FDR does the first “Fireside Chat” over the radio.

His soothing words convince the scared Americans to put their money and trust back into the banks.

…CONTINUED

During the Hundred Days, Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act. It insured individual bank deposits and ended the epidemic of bank failures.

Roosevelt ordered all private holdings of gold to be surrendered to the treasury in exchange for paper currency. He took the nation off the gold standard.

This caused inflation to help the debtors’ burdens.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), most popular of the new legislation, created government camps to provide employment for young men.

Jobs such as reforestation, firefighting, flood control, and swamp drainage.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), was headed by a zealous Harry L. Hopkins (For adult unemployment).

CREATING JOBS FOR THE JOBLESS

…CONTINUED

Two new corporations to help with mortgages.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), and the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC).

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) provided emergency jobs during the winter emergency.

A DAY FOR EVERY DEMAGOGUE

Father Charles Coughlin, fascist, anti-Semitic and anti-New Deal. Had millions of radio fans, until he was silenced. His slogan was “Social Justice.”

Senator Huey P. (“Kingfish”) Long wanted a “Share our Wealth” campaign, where the rich would give each poor family $5,000. There was fear of him becoming a fascist dictator, and he was assassinated in 1935.

…CONTINUED

Dr. Francis E. Townshend, a poor, retired physician asked that everyone sixty years of age or older would receive $200 a month.

Congress created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935 under Hopkins to promote employment for useful projects.

• Ultimately spent around $11 million on public buildings, bridges, and roads.

• The point was to give the people jobs, not handouts.

Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins became the first woman cabinet member.

Mary McLeod Bethune was the director of the Office of Minority Affairs. She was the highest ranking African American in the Roosevelt Administration.

NEW VISIBILITY FOR WOMEN

Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead helped to develop cultural anthropology.

Pearl S. Buck was a novelist who won a Nobel Prize by introducing readers to the Chinese peasant society.

To stimulate America’s comeback was the National Recovery Administration (NRA).

It assisted industry, labor, and the unemployed.

Labor received additional benefits, “fair competition”, less working hours, child labor laws, and the illegalization of anti-union contracts.

HELPING INDUSTRY AND LABOR

An eagle became their symbol, from which sprang forth the Philadelphia Eagles.

It tried to produce patriotism and have people self-sacrifice for the good of all.

NRA collapsed with the supreme court Schecter decision .

• The justices ruled that Congress could not grant legislative powers to the executive.

Congress also created the Public Works Administration (PWA), headed by Harold L. Ickes.

• The purpose was long-range recovery, and their major achievement was the Grand Coulee Dam, which made millions of acres of farmland irrigated.

…CONTINUED

…CONTINUED FDR stimulated

the liquor industry.

Congress legalized light wine and beer.

They also added a $5 tax on every barrel.

PAYING FARMERS NOT TO FARM

The Emergency Congress established the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA).

• It would eliminate price-depressing surpluses by paying growers to reduce their crop acreage.

• The millions of dollars needed for payments would be raised by taxing processors of farm products.

• The Supreme court declared the AAA unconstitutional in 1936.

Then they passed the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936 and the Second Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938.

DUS T B O WL S AND BL ACK BLIZ ZARDS1933 was the prolonged drought (Dust Bowl) from eastern Colorado and Western Mississippi.

Many from Oklahoma and Arkansas moved from their ruined farms to California.

It was the plot for the 1939 Steinbeck novel, The Grapes of Wrath.

The Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act helped farmers suspend foreclosures.

In 1935, the President set up the resettlement Administration.

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 helped preserve Native traditions and establish local self-governments.

BAT TL ING BAN KERS AN D B IG BUSIN ESS

The Hundred Days Congress passed the Federal Securities Act to protect those investing in stocks and bonds.

In 1934, they took further steps to protect the public against fraud, by creating the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

THE TVA HARNESSES THE TENN ESSEE

The area around the river was developed into a hydroelectric power center, and supplied jobs for many.

1933 was when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created to discover the cost of electricity to be fair to all companies.

Helped transform the once poverty-stricken area into a flourishing chunk of land.

New Dealers were proud of this, and began to federally build dams and urbanize the west.

HOUSING AND SOCIAL SECURITY

Roosevelt set up the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to stimulate the building industry with small loans to house-holders.

Congress then authorized the United States Housing Authority (USHA) in 1937 to lend money to states for low-cost construction.

One of the New Dealer’s greatest victories was the Social Security Act of 1935, which provided federal-state unemployment insurance, and security for old age.

Congress passed the National Labor Relations (Also known as Wagner) Act of 1935.

• It created a powerful new National Labor Relations Board to assert rights to self-organization, bargaining, and representative choosing.

A NEW DEAL FOR LABOR

John L. Lewis became the leader of an unskilled worker’s union in 1935 called the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO).

• They occasionally conflicted with the AFL, which was for skilled labor.

In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was created to set up minimum wage and maximum hour limitations.

Mostly for industrial workers.

In the presidential campaign of 1936 approached, the Democrats renominated Roosevelt to endorse the New Deal, and the Republicans nominated a moderate, Alfred M. Landon.

The Democrats claimed more than 2/3 of the seats in the House and the Senate.

LAN DO N CHAL L EN GES “THE CHAMP”

FDR won by appealing to the “forgotten man”, by giving so many government checks to people, and immigrant support.

The twentieth amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1933, eliminating the lame duck period.

Roosevelt believed the conservatism of the Supreme Court to be obstructive, and requested that a new justice be added for every judge over seventy that would not retire.

NINE OLD MEN ON THE BENCH

Scared the nation, they thought he was trying to take on more power and infringe on the legislative branch.

The court became more open to New Deal policies, while Congress became more conservative.

• Upheld the minimum wage for women and the Wagner Act.

THE COURT CHANGES COURSE

TWILIGHT OF THE NEW DEAL

From 1933 to 1936 unemployment dropped 10%, but was still high.

In 1937, the economy took a downturn in the “Roosevelt Recession”. It had much to do with Social Security taxes, and other new government policies.

1939, Congress passed the Reorganization Act to give Roosevelt limited administrative reform powers.

The Hatch Act of 1939 tried to stop the use of federal funds being used for campaign purposes, and to stop people who receive money from the government from contributing to campaigns. This legislation ultimately failed.

The national debt skyrocketed from 19.5 billion in 1932 to 40.5 billion by 1938.

America was becoming a “handout state”.

FDR’s anti-capitalistic policies had some folks suspicious of socialism.

It wasn’t until WWII that the unemployment was resolved.

NEW DEAL OR RAW DEAL?

REVIEW:1.) What was the name “Hundred Day’s Congress” in reference to?

2.) What was FDR’s platform slogan in both of his elections, and who were they meant to assist?

3.) Name two reasons why FDR was accused of being Socialist and power-abusive:

4.) Name two organizations created during FDR’s presidency, and which group of people did they foster the needs of?