THE NEW DEAL: 1933-1941

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THE NEW DEAL 1933-1941

• CHAPTER 26 (690-717)

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THE HUNDRED DAYS

• VIDEO FDRs Inauguration
• As Roosevelts inauguration approached, the
  banking system collapsed many states declared a
  bank holiday to avoid a total panic
• Prohibition ended with the 21st Amendment
• The Economy Act cut federal salaries by 15 and
  cut some veterans benefits
• A new banking plan was devised, which Roosevelt
  explained during several fireside chats
  people loved him
• The FDIC was formed to guarantee bank deposits,
  and more control was given the Federal Reserve
  Board over investment and commercial banking
• The Federal Securities Act required full
  financial disclosure

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THE NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION

• To help solve unemployment, the Civilian
  Conservation Corps (CCC) was formed to give jobs
  to men 18-25 in reforestation and other
  conservation projects
• To stimulate industry, the National Industrial
  Recovery Act was passed this allowed
  manufacturers to create fair business practices,
  raise prices and limit production, and protected
  workers with minimum wages and maximum hours and
  guaranteed them the right to organize
• This had the effect of increasing the size of
  unions, but many large manufacturers raised
  prices and limited production without hiring more
  workers

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THE AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ADMINISTRATION

• Designed to stimulate agriculture, these laws
  provided government subsidies to not grow or
  raise anything initially millions of acres of
  cotton were plowed up and millions of pigs were
  slaughtered eventually prices did go up for
  most farmers but cattlemen, dairy farmers and
  railroads were all hurt, as well as consumers
• It also hurt many sharecroppers an tenant farmers
  who lost their livelihoods when lands were taken
  out of production

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THE DUST BOWL

• Midwestern farmers had perfected dry farming
  techniques dragging, plowing deeply, and
  constantly raking to remove weeds in order to
  absorb more water quickly
• In 1933-34 heavy storms and winds blew away
  much of the loosened topsoil many died of dust
  pneumonia
• Over 30 of crops in N Dakota, S Dakota, Kansas,
  Nebraska, and Oklahoma failed
• 2 years later another drought came tens of
  thousands abandoned their farms

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THE NEW DEAL SPIRIT

• Most labeled the New Deal a solid success
• Roosevelt brought new energy and optimism to the
  White House and the administration
• Roosevelt was willing to try just about anything
  and his New Deal agencies were full of bright
  minds with many ideas
• Populist tradition, nationalism, progressivism,
  Wilsonianism, FDR used it all

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THE UNEMPLOYED

• In 1934, at least 9 million Americans were out of
  work many were in real trouble
• 1933 (FERA) Federal Emergency Relief
  Administration gets 500 million
• (CWA) Civil Works Administration puts 4 million
  people to work building and repairing roads and
  public buildings, teaching, and many other tasks
  thousands of these were refurbished
• 1935 (WPA) Works Progress Administration found
  jobs for 8.5 million people by 1943

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DEPRESSION LITERATURE

• John Dos Passos - USA
• John Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath
• William Faulkner The Sound and the Fury
• Depression era writers were pessimistic

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THREE EXTREMISTSLONG, COUGHLIN, TOWNSEND

• Huey Long Louisiana Senator
• Share our Wealth confiscate family fortunes
  over 5 million, 100 tax incomes over 1
  million, all to buy each family a homestead and
  provide an small income, provide veterans
  pensions, and educational benefits

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THREE EXTREMISTSLONG, COUGHLIN, TOWNSEND

• Father Charles E. Coughlin the Radio Priest
• National Union for Social Justice
• Wanted to inflate the currency
• Attacked bankers, New Deal planners, FDRs farm
  programs, and alleged sympathy for communists and
  Jews

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THREE EXTREMISTSLONG, COUGHLIN, TOWNSEND

• Dr. Francis E. Townsend
• old-age revolving pensions
• Pay every person 60 and over 200 per month
  which they were required to spend (stimulating
  the economy) and they could not work

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THE SECOND NEW DEAL

• The Depression was not over conservatives began
  denouncing Roosevelt and extremists were taking
  some of his support yet many saw the partial
  success and wanted more reforms even though some
  of them had been declared unconstitutional
• National Labor Relations Act restored labor
  guarantees and the right of collective bargaining
• National Labor Relations Board supervised plant
  elections and enforced good faith bargaining

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THE SECOND NEW DEAL

• Social Security Act set up old-age insurance
  financed partly by employers and employees
• Rural Electrification Administration lent low
  cost money to farmers and rural areas wanting
  electricity only 1 farm in 10 had it
• Wealth Tax Act raised taxes on large incomes,
  increased estate taxes and corporate taxes
• John Maynard Keynes British economist who
  believed that government should deliberately
  unbalance their budgets and spend heavily to
  stimulate consumption Roosevelt disagreed but
  essentially did exactly that
• Roosevelt swept back into office in 1936 46
  states

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ROOSEVELT TRIES TO UNDERMINE THE SUPREME COURT

• During his first term, the Supreme Court refused
  to increase the scope of federal authority to
  deal with the crisis only 3 of the 9 justices
  were for Roosevelts New Deal policies and many
  of the original New Deal policies were overturned
  The Wagner Act and Social Security Act seemed
  about to be
• Roosevelt tried to manipulate the court by
  proposing that at age 70 they could retire with
  full pay if they chose not to, then he could
  appoint additional justices, up to 6,to help
  lighten their burden this was a clear case of
  court packing and it met serious resistance in
  Congress, the press and the justices themselves

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THE NEW DEAL WINDS DOWN

• A series of social and economic changes affected
  the New Deal policies
• Several sit-down strikes got the attention of
  business and wages rose and a 40 hour work week
  was agreed to
• On the other hand, the aggressive union behavior
  caused many people to lose their taste for
  immediate reform

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THE NEW DEAL WINDS DOWN

• As the economic situation improved, in 1937
  Roosevelt cut back sharply on government
  spending, sending the economy spiraling down
  again stock prices plummeted, unemployment rose
  by 2 million, and production slumped
• Finally after several months he agreed to deficit
  spend and the economy began to recover but his
  reputation took a big hit
• While new AAA programs and the Fair Labor
  Standards Act passed, many were now backing away
  from Roosevelt Republicans gained several seats
  in the 1938 elections

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NEW DEAL

• Government was now larger than ever
• Trends were set in motion that seemed to threaten
  the balance of power
• Citizens began recognizing that the government
  should accept responsibility for the national
  welfare
• Many areas previously unregulated came under the
  government eye the stock exchange, agriculture,
  labor relations, old-age pensions, relief for the
  needy
• Precedent was established for the government to
  act swiftly to prevent future depression of this
  magnitude

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WOMEN AS NEW DEALERSTHE NETWORK

• Partly due to the influence of Eleanor Roosevelt,
  the administration employed far more women in
  important positions than any earlier one the
  first female cabinet member was Secretary of
  Labor Frances Perkins
• Eleanor headed an informal network of key women
  who were seeking to place reform minded women in
  important government posts
• Eleanor was an important civil rights activist
  particularly for the cause blacks obtaining
  better treatment

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BLACKS DURING THE NEW DEAL

• Many blacks became Democrats during the
  Depression
• Roosevelt did nothing about civil rights before
  1941 and little after
• However, New Deal efforts brought them some
  relief and hope as well even as segregation
  continued and many were excluded because they
  were farm workers
• There were several high ranking blacks in the
  administration Charles Foreman, special
  assistant to the Secretary of the Interior, Mary
  Bethune, head of the Division of Negro Affairs in
  the National Youth Administration, William Hastie
  these formed a black cabinet that lobbied on
  behalf of blacks

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A NEW DEAL FOR INDIANS

• In 1924 Indians had finally been granted
  citizenship but they were still treated as wards
  of the state Indians still resisted
  assimilation
• John Collier was named commissioner of Indian
  Affairs and immediately tried to help the
  Indians were affected by the Depression too
• Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act
  which did away with the allotment system and
  encouraged the Indians to reform tribal
  governments some of the land lost by the Dawes
  allotment system returned to tribal control

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THE TRIUMPH OF ISOLATIONISM

• Roosevelt was an internationalist, but like most
  leaders, internal problems dominated politics
  during the 30s
• Secretary of State Stimson worked for an arms
  embargo law to be applied by the president to
  aggressor nations it was jumped by
  isolationists and modified to embargo al
  belligerents the measure died in congress
• The Nye investigation into WWI arms manufacturers
  revealed that their profits soared during the war
  though they made far more during neutrality
  than actual war Nye convinced many Americans
  that the bankers and merchants of death forced
  us to war and that mistake should never happen
  again

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THE TRIUMPH OF ISOLATIONISM

• Walter Millis published The Road to War America,
  1914-1917 and convinced readers that British
  propaganda, heavy supply purchases from the
  Allies, and Wilsons reactions to violations by
  Great Britain and Germany caused us to go to war
• As Germany, Italy, and Japan were resorting to
  force to expand their influence, Congress passes
  a series of neutrality acts designed to keep the
  United States out of another war
• Americans were overwhelmingly in favor of such
  acts

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WAR AGAIN IN EUROPE

• Roosevelt increasingly felt that resisting
  aggression was more important than keeping out of
  the war, though many didnt agree
• March 1938 Germany annexed Austria Jews were
  being persecuted but the America public refused
  to change immigration laws
• September 1938 Hitler demands the Sudetenland
  from Czechoslovakia Britain and France agree
• March 1939 Hitler seizes the rest of
  Czechoslovakia Roosevelt speaks out a calls for
  methods short of war to check the fascists
• Spring 1939 Hitler demanded parts of Poland and
  Italy invaded Albania, Roosevelt called for the
  repeal of the neutrality acts so we could sell
  arms to Britain and France
• August 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union sign a
  nonaggression pact, Hitler invades Poland,
  Britain and France Declare war

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WAR AGAIN IN EUROPE

• Cash and Carry Congress allows the sale of arms
  to the allies on a cash only basis, in their own
  ships
• After the attack on Poland, preventing a Nazi
  victory became the objective of many citizens
  finally coming in line with Roosevelts thinking
• By June 22, 1939, Germany had used blitzkrieg
  tactics and had control of Belgium, The
  Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and France
  Britain stood alone against Hitler

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WAR AGAIN IN EUROPE

• The Manhattan Project reacting to reports about
  Hitler working on an atomic bomb, Roosevelt
  appropriated money to begin a project here in the
  US
• He sold surplus arms to Britain and France
• In 1940 he asked Congress to appropriate 4
  billion for national defense
• When Britain asked to buy older American
  destroyers, Roosevelt traded them for bases in
  the Caribbean (He could not sell them or he would
  violate various laws)
• September 1940 Congress drafted 1.2 million for
  1 year of service and 800,000 reservists were
  called up
• That same month, Japan signed a mutual assistance
  treaty with Germany and Italy and together they
  became the Axis Powers now it was a true global
  war

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A THIRD TERM FOR FDR

• Breaking tradition because of such extreme
  circumstances, and because there was really no
  other Democratic candidate, he ran again
• Roosevelt raised the ire of Republicans and
  isolationists alike however, their candidate
  had trouble finding issues to fight Roosevelt
  with the economy was beginning to come to life,
  and he seemed to have a grip on the war situation
• FDR won easily 449-82

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THE UNDECLARED WAR

• Roosevelts election caused him to act even more
  boldly
• As the British were running out of money and cash
  and carry would no longer work, he decided to
  provide whatever they needed and devised the
  lend-lease program and went on the radio in more
  fireside chats explaining the need for the war
  effort and that supporting Britain was a form of
  self-defense
• In 1941 the Lend-Lease Act gave Roosevelt 7
  billion worth of war materials the he could sell,
  lend, lease, exchange, or transfer to any country
  whose defense he deemed important

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THE UNDECLARED WAR

• The US Navy began patrolling the North Atlantic
  reporting the positions of German submarines to
  the British
• April 1941 US forces occupied Greenland and
  Roosevelt declared an unlimited national
  emergency
• When Hitler invaded Russia in June, 1 billion of
  lend-lease aid was provided the them
• August 1941 the draft was extended by 1 vote
• After the Greer was attacked Roosevelt declared
  German U-Boats as the rattlesnakes of the
  Atlantic and ordered them shot on sight
• September, Congress allowed the arming of
  merchant vessels and the carrying of cargoes to
  allied ports