Great Depression and New Deal Grade Levels: 1112

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Great Depression and New DealGrade Levels 11-12

• Presented by
• Fabian Estrugo

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Great Depression ConsequencesBy 1933

• 20 percent of the population had no sources of
  income.
• Workers didnt have employment insurance.
• Businesses failed.
• Ten thousand banks had permanently closed.
• There was no deposit insurance (all savings
  lost).
• Stocks in the New York Exchange lost more than 75
  percent in 4 years.
• Farm and urban incomes decreased 50 and 60
  percent.
• There were no minimum wage laws.
• Many Americans couldnt pay their home mortgages.
• No social security system existed.

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Role of the government before the New Deal

• Before the New Deal government in the United
  States had a limited function.
• Was inadequate when economic debacles came.
• Only planned and advised but never would have
  provide credit and resources to reactivate the
  economy or to deal with relief
• Political leaders matured with the theory of
  Social Darwinism where in a natural process of
  survival of the fittest the strong would prosper
  and the weak would fail.

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Franklin D. Roosevelt Unveils a New Direction
for the Nation

• In this historic context, it was understandable
  that a new conception of government should arise.
• Americans started to believe on the necessity of
  a guarantor state.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt didnt agree with the
  theories and practices of the free enterprise
  and laissez faire.
• Instead, he used the government intervention to
  fight those ideas.
• The Roosevelt Administration decided to take
  action and urged the Congress to approve a huge
  package of legislative items called the New Deal.

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First New Deal1933-1935

• Emergency Banking Act (EBA)
• Made federal loans available to private bankers.
• Economy Act (EA)
• Committed the government to balancing the budget.
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDCI)
• Assured depositors that the government would
  protect up to 5,000 of their savings.
• Securities Act
• Imposed long overdue regulation on the New York
  Stock Exchange by reining on bying on the margin.

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First New Deal1933-1935

• Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
• Granted 500 million for relief to the poor.
• Civilian Corporation Corps (CCC)
• Put more than two million single young men to
  work planting trees, halting erosion, and
  improving the environment.
• Civil Works Administration
• Hired 4 million unemployed in 400,000 government
  projects.
• Homeowners Loan Corporation
• Refinanced mortgages for middle-class Americans
  threatened with the loss of their homes.

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First New Deal1933-1935

• National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
• By shrinking the supply of agricultural and
  manufactured goods, prices raised and revenues
  climbed.
• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
• Paid farmers to keep a portion of their land out
  of cultivation and to reduce the size of their
  herds.
• Soil Conservation Service (SCS)
• SCS experts taught plains farmers how to plow
  along contour lines and how to build terraces.

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First New Deal1933-1935

• Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act
• Justified the removal of land from cultivatin for
  reason of conservation rather than economics.
• National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA)
• Manufacturing producers wee asked to work out a
  code that would specify prices, wages and hours
  through the sector.
• Public Works Administration (PWA)
• 3.3 billion budget to sponsor internal
  improvements (roads, bridges, sewage systems,
  hospitals, airports, and schools).

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First New Deal1933-1935

• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
• Promoted economic development throughout the
  Tennessee Valley. Harnessed its water to generate
  electricity, developed local industry, and
  improved river navigability.
• Bureau of Reclamation
• Dispensed funds for dam construction, reservoir
  creation, and the provisions of water to western
  cities and farms.
• Holding Company Act
• Broke up the 13 utility companies that controlled
  75 percent of the nations electricity power.

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First New Deal1933-1935

• Wealth Tax Act
• Increased taxes on the wealthy from 59 to 75
  percent and on corporations from 13¾ to 15
  percent.
• Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
• Brought electrical power to rural households.
• National Youth Administration (NYA)
• Provided work and guidance to the nations youth.

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Second New Deal1935-1936

• Social Security Act
• The states set up welfare funds for the elderly
  poor, unemployed unmarried mothers with dependant
  children, the disabled, and a pension program
  that guaranteed a steady income upon retirement.
• National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
• Every worker had the right to join a union on his
  or her own choosing, and employers had the
  obligation to bargain with that union in good
  faith.

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Second New Deal1935-1936

• National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
• Supervised union elections and investigated
  claims of unfair labor practices.
• Work Progress Administration (WPA)
• Built or improved schools, playgrounds, airports,
  and hospitals. WPA crews rakes leaves, cleaned
  streets, and landscaped cities.
• Funded a vast programs of public art, supporting
  the work of painters, architects, playwrights,
  actors, and intellectuals.

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New Deal Accomplishments

• The New Deal was a revolution in ideas,
  institutions, and practices which contrasted with
  the political and social world that precede it.
• The most striking alteration of American thought
  the role of government in the economy.
• Never before Congress in the course of two years
  enacted legislation giving artificial support to
  those not strong enough to survive through their
  own devices.

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References

• Changing Interpretations of Americas Past,
  271-288.
• Liberty Equality Power, 857-871.
• The New Deal Network, www.newdeal.feri.org