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Reminders
• Great Depression Began– October 29, 1929
• President at the Time– Herbert Hoover
• President Elected in November 1932– Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Key Goals of the New Deal
The First Hundred Days
• restore the nation’s hope
• stabilize financial institutions
• provide jobs and relief to the poor
• plan and regulate the economy
The Second Hundred Days
• pass new labor laws• create and expand
New Deal agencies• establish Social
Security to provide old-age pensions and unemployment insurance
Setting the Scene• Hoover remained in office a
“lame duck” – a leader whose authority is weakened because he or she is about to leave office– with improvements in
communication and transportation the nearly four month wait for the next president was no longer necessary
– Twentieth Amendment – changed the inaugural to January 20th from March in 1933
Restoring the Nation’s Hope• Franklin and Eleanor
Roosevelt set out to build public confidence in the future
• Second Bonus March– White House provided
campsites for the veterans
– Eleanor Roosevelt paid them a visit• helped to demonstrate
compassion and soothe popular fears about renewed radical agitation
Franklin Delano Roosevelt– March 4, 1933 – “The only thing we
have to fear is fear itself.”– “fireside chats” – regular broadcasts
over the radio made by Roosevelt to update people on the nation’s progress
– promised “bold, persistent experimentation”
– said that there would be “a new deal for the American people”
• New Deal – came to refer to the relief, recovery, and reform programs of FDR’s administration that were aimed at combating the Great Depression
The First Hundred Days
• hundred days – Roosevelt pushed program after program through Congress to provide relief, create jobs, and stimulate economic recovery– inspired in part by agencies during World War I, and
by state programs created to ease the Depression
• Stabilizing Financial Institutions– 1. restore public
confidence in the nation’s banks• closed all banks for four days• Emergency Banking Act –
authorized the government to inspect the financial health of all banks– wanted people to feel secure
with their savings in the banks, and most Americans regained support for the banking system
• Glass-Steagall Banking Act – established a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to insure bank deposits
– 2. correct problems in the stock market• Federal Securities Act – required companies to
provide information about their finances if they offered stock for sale• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – to
regulate the stock market• Federal Reserve Board – given power to regulate
the purchase of stock on margin
– 3. attempt to stimulate the economy• decreased the value of
U.S. currency by taking it off the gold standard – hoped it would help to
raise the prices of farm products and other goods
– hoped it would also help to stimulate export trade
• Providing Relief and Creating Jobs– 1. help relief
agencies• Federal Emergency
Relief Administration (FERA) – sent funds to these agencies– “Give a man a dole
[handout], and you save his body and destroy his spirit. Give him a job and pay him an assured wage and you save both the body and the spirit.”
» Harry Hopkins, FERA Administrator
– FERA put money into public works programs – government-funded projects to build public facilities• Civil Works Administration (CWA) – built and improved
roads, parks, airports, and other facilities– “When I got that [CWA identification] card, it was the biggest day
in my whole life. At last I could say, ‘I’ve got a job.’”» former Alabama insurance salesman
– Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) – 2.5 million young, unmarried men, worked maintaining forests, beaches, and parks• earned only $30
month, lived in camps free of charge, and received food, medical care, and job training– Eleanor Roosevelt
persuaded the CCC to create a similar program for women
– some programs were also created to help Native Americans• funds were used along with Native American
workers to build schools, hospitals, and irrigation systems• Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 – ended the
sale of tribal lands begun under the Dawes Act (1887) and restored some lands to Indian owners
• Regulating the Economy– National Industrial
Recovery Act (NIRA) – established the National Recovery Administration (NRA), set out to balance the unstable economy through extensive planning• attempted to spell out
fair business practices– regulated wages,
restraining wage competition; controlled working conditions, production, and prices; set a minimum wage
– one of the most visible parts of the NIRA’s efforts was the Public Works Administration (PWA)• launched large projects like the Grand Coulee
Dam (Washington), Triborough Bridge (New York City), to the causeway that connects Key West and the Florida mainland
• Assisting Homeowners and Farmers– Great Depression caused
many middle-income homeowners to fall behind on their mortgages
– Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) – refinanced mortgages
– National Housing Act – established the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)• worked to improve housing
standards and conditions, to insure mortgages, and to stabilize the mortgage market
– Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)• tried to raise farm prices by paying subsidies, or
government financial assistance, to farmers who cut production of certain crops– government hoped that lowering the supply of a
product would increase its price» some farmers would plow under crops that were
already growing, many Americans couldn’t understand how the government was encouraging the destruction of food when so many were going hungry
Agent of Agricultural Adjustment Admin. gunning down starving cattle for which government will reimburse farmers $13 a head during drought in the Midwest.
Farm equipment sitting unused next to farmhouse
& barn during drought in the Midwest.
• The TVA– Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
• reactivated a hydroelectric power facility started during World War I
• provided cheap electric power (along with the Rural Electrification Administration [REA]), flood control, and recreational opportunities to the entire Tennessee River Valley
• helped farmers and created jobs in one of the country’s least developed regions
Key Players in the New Deal• Roosevelt surrounded himself with eager
and hard-working advisors– “brain trust” – an informal group of
intellectuals who helped draft policies• Raymond Moley, Adolf A. Berle, and Rexford G.
Tugweel
• Groundbreaking Appointments– first president to ever appoint a
woman to a Cabinet post ~ Frances Perkins (Secretary of Labor)
– also hired African Americans in more than a hundred policymaking posts, like Mary McLeod Bethune• she became director of the
Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration (NYA)
• also organized a Federal Council on Negro Affairs– “black cabinet” – met weekly to
hammer out priorities and increase African American support for the New Deal
Mary McLeod Bethune enters the White House circa 1950.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Eleanor Roosevelt– became one of FDR’s most
important colleagues• traveled widely for her
husband, whose disability made traveling difficult
– made some stands that her husband disagreed with, like when she sat in the center of the aisle, between the divided races @ the Southern Conference for Human Welfare
– she showed how First Ladies should take a more active approach to the presidency
The New Deal Falters
• when the new programs failed to bring about significant economic improvement, criticism began to mount– many worried that the government was gaining too much
power
• Supreme Court also attacked FDR’s programs– declared the NIRA unconstitutional
• because it gave the President lawmaking powers and regulated local commerce
– struck down the tax that funded AAA subsidies to farmers
A Second New Deal• launched a new,
even bolder burst of activity
• Second New Deal – Second Hundred Days– response to critics
who said that he was not doing enough for ordinary Americans
– included more social welfare benefits, stricter controls over business, stronger support for unions, and higher taxes on the rich
• New and Expanded Agencies– attacked joblessness–Works Progress Administration (WPA) – built or
improved tens of thousands of playgrounds, schools, hospitals, and airfields• also supported the creative work of many artists and
writers
– National Youth Administration – provided education, jobs, recreation, and counseling for young men and women ages 16 through 25
– Resettlement Administration – loaned money to owners of small farms and helped resettle tenants and sharecroppers on productive land
– Farm Security Administration (FSA) – loaned more than $1 billion to farmers and set up camps for migrant workers
• Rural Electrification– brought electricity to the
American countryside• Roosevelt felt that the
government had an obligation to provide this essential service where private enterprise would not
– Rural Electrification Administration (REA) – offered loans to electric companies and farm cooperatives for building power plants and extending power lines• as well as to farmers and
other rural residents to wire their homes and barns
– brought power to 98% of US farms
• New Labor Legislation– National Labor Relations Act
(Wagner Act) – legalized such union practices as collective bargaining and closed shops – workplaces open only to union members• outlawed spying on union
activities and blacklisting
– National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – enforced the provisions
– Fair Labor Standards Act – banned child labor and established a minimum wage for all workers covered under the act
• Social Security– Social Security
System – created to provide financial security, in the form of regular payments, to people who could not support themselves• old-age pensions
and survivors benefits
• unemployment insurance
• aid for dependent children, the blind, and the disabled
Unemployed insured workers registering for jobs and filing
benefit claims at a State employment office.
Part of the biggest bookeeping job in the world: filing workers' applications for social security account numbers.
The 1936 Election
• no one expected the Republican candidate Alfred M. Landon to win
• Roosevelt carried every state except Maine and Vermont– winning 523-8 in the electoral college
