Ch. 16: The New Deal (1933-1941)

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Ch. 16 The New Deal (1933-1941)
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Section 1 Forging a New Deal

• FDR campaigned and took office on the promise of
  offering the country a new deal between the
  citizens and their government. A deal in which
  the government responded to citizens needs.

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Restoring Hope

• Both FDR and Eleanor exuded optimism.
• In his inaugural address, FDR stated that the
  only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
• Eleanor went to visit the angry Bonus Army and
  when she left they thanked her and wished her
  good luck.

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Stabilizing Financial Institutions

• FDR took quickly passed emergency programs within
  just his first 100 days of office.
• The Emergency Banking Act- authorized government
  to inspect banks.
• Most banks were deemed secure and reopened.
• Passed Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1933
• Established the Federal Deposit Insurance
  Corporation (FDIC), which insures bank deposits.

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Stock Market Regulation

• Congress passed the Federal Securities Act.
• Required companies to provide information about
  their finances if selling shares to public.
• FDR took the country off the gold standard, which
  caused inflation, thus raising the prices of farm
  products and devalued debt.

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Relief and Job Creation FERA

• To provide relief for those in need, Congress
  passed the Federal Emergency Relief
  Administration (FERA).
• To put people to work, the FERA started numerous
  public works programs.
• Civil Works Administration (CWA)
• Gave unemployed people work building or improving
  roads, parks, airports, and other facilities.
• Employed 4 million people

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Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

• Gave 2.5 million young, unmarried men work
  maintaining forests, beaches, and parks.
• Earned only 30/month but lived in camps free of
  charge and received food, medicine, and job
  training.

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Regulating the Economy

• The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was
  established to regulate industry.
• The NRA regulated wages, working conditions,
  production, prices, and set minimum wage.
• Gave organized labor increased bargaining rights.

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Public Works Administration (PWA)

• The Public Works Administration (PWA) was founded
  to offer employment and build large federal
  projects.
• Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State
• NYCs Triborough Bridge
• Connecter from Key West to mainland Florida.

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Assisting Homeowners and Farmers

• The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)
  refinanced mortgages to make payments more
  manageable.
• The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
  raised farm prices through subsidies, government
  financial aid.
• AAA paid farmers NOT to raise certain crops, to
  reduce supply and raise prices.

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Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

• Aided an undeveloped part of the country, the
  Tennessee and Appalachia region.
• Reactivated and improved a hydroelectric plant
  started during WWI.
• The TVA provided electric power, flood control,
  and recreational opportunities to the entire
  Tennessee River valley.
• Not only provided jobs, but helped develop the
  entire region.

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Key Players in the New Deal

• Roosevelt leaned on his brain trust, a group of
  intellectuals who helped develop policies.
• FDR appointed the first ever woman to a Cabinet
  post, Frances Perkins (Secretary of Labor).
• African American, Mary McLeod Bethune, held the
  highest position in government for an AA to that
  point, as director of the Division of Negro
  Affairs, a part of the National Youth
  Administration.

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Eleanor Roosevelt

• Eleanor was integral to FDRs early success.
• Due to his secret handicap, Eleanor often
  traveled and provided a public presence when FDR
  could not.
• She pushed social limits
• Once, in the South, she sat in the center aisle
  separating blacks and whites in an auditorium,
  protesting Jim Crow segregation laws.

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Early Results

• By 1934, it was evident that most people were
  supportive of the New Deal and FDRs attempts at
  change, though the new programs failed to bring
  significant change.
• Some people criticized the New Deal as giving the
  President new, unregulated and unwarranted power.

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Second New Deal

• Midterm elections of 1934 showed strong support
  for FDR.
• In 1935, he launched a new, even bolder series of
  legislation and programs.
• This became known as the Second New Deal, and it
  further intensified the changes of the first New
  Deal.

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Works Progress Administration (WPA)

• Set up in 1935, lasted 8 years and provided work
  for 8 million people.
• Built tens of thousands of schools, hospitals,
  playgrounds, etc.

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Rural Electrification

• Founded the Rural Electrification Administration
  (REA)
• Attempted to extend power lines to rural farmers
  and homeowners.
• The REA brought power to 98 percent of U.S. farms.

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Labor Legislation

• Congress passed the Wagner Act, after New York
  Senator Robert Wagner.
• The Wagner Act legalized union practices like
  closed shops- workplaces open only to union
  members.
• Banned employer spying and blacklisting of union
  employees.
• The Act set up the National Labor Relations Board
  (NLRB) to reinforce the laws.

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Social Security

• Congress passed the Social Security Act, which
  established the Social Security system.
• Provided regular payments to the following
• everyone over 65 years old
• Unemployed
• dependent children, the blind, and the disabled

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1936 Election

• Although FDR was expected to win, he shocked the
  world with the margin of his victory.
• Won every state but Vermont and Maine, won 523-8.
• His popularity demonstrated Americans support
  for the New Deals responsiveness to need.

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Section 2 The New Deals Critics

• Those who benefited from the New Deal believed
  FDR to be a hero. Others thought the New Deal
  either went too far, or not far enough.

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New Deal Does Too Little

• Some people thought that the New Deal didnt do
  enough to help suffering Americans.
• For example, the new minimum wage set at 25 cents
  an hour was lower than most employees made anyway.

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Then v. Now Government not doing enough

• Then- FDR critics
• Unemployment still high
• Government should increase business regulation
• Minimum wage too low
• No opportunities for women or African Americans

• Now Obama critics
• Unemployment still high
• Not enough public work projects to put people to
  work
• Not enough stimulus money
• Healthcare reform not drastic enough

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Women

• The New Deal disproportionately benefited men
  more than women.
• NRA codes allowed lower wages for womens work in
  many cases.
• In relief programs, men and boys received
  preference.
• Jobs went to male heads of families.

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African Americans

• Federal relief programs in the South reinforced
  segregation.
• Kept out of skilled jobson dam and electric
  projects.
• Received lower pay for doing the same work.
• With jobs scare and discrimination strong,
  finding work became exceptionally difficult for
  African Americans.

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New Deal Does Too Much

• Other critics believed that the New Deal did too
  much.
• Believed FDR was becoming too powerful.
• Opposed the expanded power of the Federal
  Government.
• Thought public works programs were socialistic.
• FDR raised taxes on the rich.

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American Liberty League

• In 1934, American Liberty League was founded to
  oppose the New Deal.
• Led by former Democratic presidential candidate,
  Alfred E. Smith.
• The league charged the New Deal with limiting
  individual freedom in an un-American, communist
  leaning fashion.

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Father Coughlin

• Father Charles E. Coughlin used the radio to
  reach an audience of 10 million people by 1934.
• A dynamic, passionate speaker, the Radio Priest
  first supported the New Deal, then vehemently
  attacked it.
• By the end of the 1930s, Coughlin was issuing
  openly anti-Jewish statements and praised Adolf
  Hitler and Benito Mussolini, and lost much of his
  support.
• In 1942, Roman Catholic officials ordered him to
  stop his show.

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Huey Long The Kingfish

• Powerful, revolutionary, and controversial figure
  in Louisiana politics.
• Long grew up in poverty, became the Louisiana
  governor in 1928 and a U.S. senator in 1932.
• Forcefully advanced his agenda to redistribute
  wealth.
• Extremely popular among the lower class.
• Feared and criticized by many for his dictatorial
  tendencies and power.

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Huey Long The Kingfish

• Developed a program called Share-Our-Wealth in
  which government would redistribute wealth with
  steep progressive taxes.
• Long was a democrat, but an opponent to FDRs New
  Deal, believed it wasnt radical enough.
• Long was considering a run for presidency when he
  was assassinated in 1935.

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Modern-Day Critics

• Today, the New Deal is generally perceived to
  have successfully lifted the country out of
  Depression, but some critics view it as a
  negative turning point for the countrys
  government.

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Modern Criticisms

• Expanded the power, size, and role of Federal
  Government
• Threatened American principles of free enterprise
  (laissez-faire)
• Created make work jobs instead of letting the
  free market determine work needs
• Relied on deficit spending increased National
  Debt

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Then v. Now Government Doing Too Much

• Then FDR critics
• Expanded government socialistic programs
  (public works programs, social security program)
• Too much government regulation of business
• Raising taxes on rich
• Deficit spending

• Now Obama critics
• Expanded government socialistic programs
  (stimulus package, health care)
• Too much government regulation in business
• Raising taxes on rich
• Deficit spending

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Comparisons
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Court-Packing

• Roosevelt also received criticism for attempting
  to pack the Supreme Court with judges
  supportive of the New Deal.
• The Constitution doesnt specify the number of
  Supreme Court justices.
• Since 1869, there had always been nine justices.

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Court-Packing

• FDR received some early opposition from the nine
  Supreme Court justices.
• He proposed adding six additional members to the
  Supreme Court, one per justice over 70 years old,
  to lighten their load.
• His intention was to pack the Court with judges
  supportive of the New Deal.
• He received harsh criticism from both sides and
  withdrew his reform bill.

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Court-Packing
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Section 3 Last Days of the New Deal
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Recession of 1937

• After a period of temporary improvement, the
  economy collapsed again in 1937.
• In attempt to balance the budget
• FDR cut back government spending on programs
  that provided work for Americans
• Raised taxes
• Both these actions reduced money circulation and
  sent the economy into recession.

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Unions Triumph

• The 1935 Wagner Act made union membership more
  attractive.
• Membership rose from 3 million in 1933 to 10.5
  million in 1941.

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New Labor Organization

• The American Federation of Labor (AFL) had done
  little to attract new members.
• John L. Lewis helped create a Committee for
  Industrial Organization (CIO) within the AFL.
• AFL didnt support the CIO, which recruited
  unskilled industrial workers.
• The AFL suspended the CIO in 1936, they changed
  their name to the Congress of Industrial Unions
  and soon had more than 4 million members.
• John L. Lewis served as president.

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Strikes

• The Wagner Act legalized collective bargaining,
  leading to new union demands and strikes.
• The Congress of Industrial Organizations used a
  new strike method
• Sit-down strikes workers refused to work but
  didnt leave the building, preventing the company
  from hiring scabs, non-union replacement
  workers.

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GM Sit-down strike

• Strikers occupied General Motors main plants in
  Flint, Michigan.
• GM turned off the heat, blocked external food
  supplies, and called in police to break up
  outside picketers and violence erupted.
• Wives of the strikers organized food deliveries
  and formed a Womens Emergency Brigade to
  continue picketing outside.
• Government did not break up the strike and
  eventually GM gave in.

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New Deal Cultural Legacies Literature

• The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck (1931)
• A book about peasant struggle in China
• The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck (1939)
• Dust Bowl victims who travel to California in
  search of a better life
• Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941)
• James Agee and Walker Evans of Fortune magazine
  Lived among Alabama sharecroppers and wrote of
  their experiences

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Radio

• Radio was increasingly popular
• soap operas appear, named after the soap
  companies that sponsor them.
• Short, 15-minute stories that provoke strong
  emotions.

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Fireside Chats

• FDRs attempt to restore Americans faith in the
  economy and government.

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Movies

• Movies presented an escape from hard times for
  those who could afford them at all.
• Drive-in theaters introduced in 1933
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
• A common man overcomes the corrupt, entrenched
  political system in Washington
• The Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Walt Disney begins releasing cartoons.

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WPA and the Arts

• FDR believed the arts to be not luxuries, but
  essential to human flourishing.
• He earmarked WPA funds to support unemployed
  artists, musicians, historians, theater people,
  and writers.
• Federal Writers Project
• Assisted more than 6,000 writers
• Federal Music Project
• Organized community orchestras and free lessons

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Federal Art Project

• Employed artists to produce 2,000 murals, 100,000
  paintings, and 17,000 sculptures

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Lasting Achievements

• While the New Deal era is considered to end with
  Americas entrance into WWII, the New Deal left
  significant, lasting influence on the U.S.
  identity.

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Public Works and Federal Agencies

• Public works programs built much of our
  infrastructure today roads, bridges, dams,
  tunnels, and hospitals remain.
• Key agencies remain
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC)
• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

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Social Security

• Social Security has become a foundation to the
  U.S. economic and retirement system.
• Largest social welfare program in the U.S.
• Has undergone significant revisions, but the
  concept remains the same.

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Legacy of Hope

• Above all, the New Deal restored the confidence
  of many Americans in the country and their
  government.
• FDR represented someone who cared about peoples
  individual needs.