The Great Depression and the New Deal

1. The Great Depression and the New Deal Sirena Rowland Block 4

2. Essential Questions • How did Roosevelt help the U.S. to overcome The Great Depression? • Why did the NRA fail, but the PWA work for the American people? • In what ways did the New Deal help the United States? In what ways did it hurt the country?

3. Vocabulary • Franklin Delanor Roosevelt • Three R’s • The New Deal • Emergency Banking Relief Act • Federal Deposit Insurance Company • Civilian Conservation Corps • Home Owners’ Loan Corporation • Civil Works Administration • Works Progress Administration • John Steinbeck • Mary Bethune • National Recovery Administration • Schechtner Case • Bureau of Indian Affairs • Federal Housing Authority • Social Security Act • The 20th Amendment • The Hatch Act

4. FDR: A Politician in a Wheelchair • Hoover tries to get reelected. • Democratic Roosevelt runs against him (FDR). • Wife Elanor Roosevelt very involved in politics as well.

5. Presidential Hopefuls of 1932 • Democrats and FDR speak of confidence and a bright future. • Hoover tries to cover up the past with slogans like “It might have been worse”. • The people forget about Hoover and love FDR.

6. Hoover’s Humiliation in 1932 • FDR crushes Hoover. • Black voters now switch to the Democratic party rather than Republicans (saw the Democrats as a way to help them not be in last place anymore). • Hoover talks crap on FDR during the lame duck period when presidents are switching over. • Unemployment at 25%, ultimate high.

7. FDR and the Three R’s: Relief, Recovery, and Reform • Relief is food and shelter. This is instant fixes. • Recovery gets them out of the depression. • Reform keeps them out of the same situation. • The democrats ruled Congress and listened to whatever FDR wanted. Everything got passed. • “Bank Holiday” closes banks for a week to get everything straightened out. • The New Deal has begun. This is FDR’s solution to ending the Great Depression.

8. Roosevelt Manages the Money • Emergency Banking Relief Act (the bank holiday is set up) • Roosevelt used radios to get all his news out to the public. Many families frequently listened. • Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC)is set up. This insures the money people put in the banks.

9. Roosevelt Manages the Money cont. • No more dollar on the gold standard. • People had been hoarding gold and FDR didn’t like it. • FDR increased inflation so it was easier to pay back debts. • Made gov’t pay more for gold so people would release it. • He then put US back on gold standard with foreign countries in 1934 to fix things.

10. Creating Jobs for the Jobless • Agricultural Adjustment Act (low interest on loans to farmers) • Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (homes at lower interest rates) • Federal Relief Administration (FERA) • Gave people government money • Headed by Harry Hopkins • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) • Young men worked in the national forests. • Basically like boy scouts, but they got paid for it.

11. Creating Jobs for the jobless cont. • End of the Great Migrations • Black in the south moving up to the north from 1910-1930 • Civil Works Administration • Provide jobs for the people through winter • Many made-up jobs “boondoggling”

12. A day for every demagogue • Father Charles Coughlin (catholic priest) talks on radio about “Social Justice” • Didn’t like the New Deal, made to stop his talks by higher clergy • Senator Huey Long of Louisiana wanted to give $5000 to every poor family. IMPOSSIBLE. • Dr. Francis Townsend wants $200 to seniors a month. IMPOSSIBLE. • Works Progress Administration created. $11 billion to build public things. Gave people jobs. John Steinbeck (won Nobel Prize) originally counted dogs as a job from this.

13. New Visibility for women • Frances Perkins first female cabinet member. (Secretary of Labor) • Mary Bethune headed Office of Minority Affairs (highest ranking in FDR’s admin.) • Ruth Benedict was anthropologist with Margaret Mead • Pearl S. Buck wrote book The Good Earth and won a Nobel peace prize in 1938

14. Helping industry and labor • National Recovery Administration (NRA) to help industry and the unemployed find labor. • Maximum work hours and minimum wages created. • Labor unions allowed, and child labor slowed. • NRA eventually hated because it tried to run businesses for themselves. • The Schechtner case rules the NRA unconstitutional.

15. Helping industry and labor cont. • The Public Works Administration (PWA) is created. • Created to build Public Works. • Headed by Harold Ickes • 21st Amendment also passed. Legalizes beer and alcohol again.

16. Paying farmers not to farm • Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) paid farmers not to farm. • Animals slaughtered and made into fertilizer. • Farm incomes rose, but so did farmer unemployment. • Second Agricultural Adjustment Act passed to have farmers plant less but also get paid by gov’t. Same concept as before.

17. Dust Bowls and Black Blizzards • Drought of 1933 in the lower Plains so people went west to California in search of jobs. • Inspired Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath. • Resettlement Administration tried to move farmers to better soil. • Bureau of Indian Affairs changing. Wants the indians to stay with their original ways, but many saw this as a rude thing for the whites to do.

18. Battling bankers and big business • The Federal Securities Act requires companies to be honest on financial reports. • Securities Exchange Commission watched the companies. • Samuel Insull had a multi-billion dollar company that crashed. • Public Utility Holding Company created to stop things like this.

19. The TVA Harnesses the Tennessee River • Electricity companies targeted with New Deal. They overcharged customers and wanted in to reach out to rural areas. • Tennessee Valley Authority build dams along Tennessee River to provide jobs and electricity. • 2.5 million people helped.

20. Housing reform and social security • Federal Housing Authority offers lower interest on home loans. • Very popular program and lasted longer than FDR and the New Deal. • Social Security sets up payment plan for the old age, delinquent children, handicapped. • Payments from taxes. • Opposed by Republicans and seen as a socialistic measure.

21. A New Deal For Labor • Many strikes, and some are violent. The Wagner Act is passed so unions can organize and bargain with the management. • John Lewis organized the Committee for Industrial Organization (split from AfofL) • Won against General Motors and the U.S. Steel Corporation. • Fair Labor Standards Act passed with minimum wage, max working hours, and no one under 16 can work.

22. Landon Challenges “The Champ” • Republican candidate Alfred M. Landon criticized FDR’s spending, but supported the same programs he was bashing. • American Liberty League formed with some Republicans and Democrats against socialism. • FDR defeats Landon by a landslide.

23. Nine old men on the bench • The 20th Amendment cut the lame duck period by 6 weeks, so the president was now sworn in during January, not March. • Congress still with FDR, but the Supreme Court not so much. • FDR wanted to make 15 justices on the court, but Congress did not agree with this (a first time disagreement) and they said NO. 9 justices is enough.

24. The court changes course • FDR seen as a bit of a dictator. • Justice Owen J. Roberts was no longer conservative, and started to be more liberal. • The court began to favor FDR. • The Congress wasn’t so sure of FDR anymore because of his court-packing scheme. Less New-Deal bills were passed.

25. Twilight of the new deal • Unemployment drops from 25 to 15 percent from in 1937, but the depression outlasted FDR’s first term. • “Roosevelt Recession” caused another fall in the economy from gov’t spending. • FDR slows spending, then increases it again. John Keynes said it was good to have “deficit spending”.

26. Twilight of the new deal cont. • Congress agrees with the more spending too. • The Reorganization Act passed allowed administrative reforms by FDR. • The Hatch Act stopped any federal official who was not one of the highest officers from campaigning.

27. New deal or raw deal? • New Deal was a ton of spending and almost nothing accomplished. • FDR was thought to be moving towards communism, rather than the usual capitalism. • U.S. debt rose from 19 billion to 40 billion by 1939. • Americans looked for many government handouts, without working for them. • The U.S. still in the Depression. It takes WWII to get out of it.

28. FDR’s balance Sheet • The New Deal was said to help the Depression from getting any worse than it was. • FDR ended up hated by both socialists and capitalists. He avoided radical change during this time. • He still remembered the common man, and helped the “little people”. • FDR’s true leadership wasn’t seen until WWII.

29. REVIEW TIME! • What union won the fight again General Motors and the U.S. Steel Corporation? • A. The AF of L • B. The Committee for Industrial Organization • C. The Knights of Labor • D. The New Deal strikers

30. Review Cont. • Answer: B

31. Review Cont. • Who was the Republican candidate that ran against FDR for his second term in office?

32. Review cont. • Answer: Alfred M. Landon

33. Review Cont. • Which of FDR’s programs outlasted his presidency and The New Deal? • A. The Federal Housing Authority • B. The Public Works Administration • C. Resettlement Administration • D. Agricultural Adjustment Act

34. REview • Answer: A

35. Review Cont. • What were FDR’s 3 R’s?

36. Review Cont. • Answer: Relief, Reform, Recovery

37. Review Cont. • Which company helped out 2.5 million people with electricity and jobs? • A. The Federal Housing Administration • B. The Tennessee Valley Authority • C. The Reorganization Act • D. The Hatch Act

38. Review Cont. • Answer: B