100 likes | 171 Views
FDR’s New Deal. Relief, Recovery, and Resistance. Election of 1932.
E N D
FDR’s New Deal Relief, Recovery, and Resistance
Election of 1932 • “The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and to try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt • “This campaign is more than a contest between two men. . . It is a contest between two philosophies of government.” – Herbert Hoover
A Diverse Team • Republicans: Henry Wallace as Secretary of Agriculture, Harold Ickes as Secretary of the Interior • A Woman: social worker Frances Perkins as secretary of Labor • A Wife: Eleanor Roosevelt as a sympathetic public face for the administration • “Black Cabinet” • Informal circle of advisors • Mary McCleod Bethune • FDR reluctant to support measures aimed directly at assisting black Americans • NAACP & the push for an anti-lynching law • “” -
The First Hundred Days • 15 bills in the first Hundred Days • Rebuilding confidence • Fireside chats • Financial Reform • FDIC • Helping Farmers • AAA • Helping Rural Southerners • TVA • Industrial Relief and Recovery • CCC • NRA • PWA
Second New Deal • Works Progress Administration • Social Security Act • Pension System for Retirees • Unemployment Insurance • Disability Insurance • Flaws • Widows vs. Widowers, “Holes just large enough for • Rural Electrification Administration • In 1935
Legacy of FDR and the New Deal • Programs such as Social Security, the FDIC, and the SEC still exist to this day • Creation of US welfare State • Expanded role of Federal Government in economic matters • “Promote the general welfare” • Evolving role of the president • Expanded size of executive branch • Closer relationship between president and citizens through mass media • Increased role in social and economic policy • 22nd amendment (2-term limit)
Opposition to the New Deal From the Right, from the Left, and from Below
Opposition from the Right • Hoover and other Conservatives claimed that the New Deal destroyed free enterprise and brought the country closer to fascism • “the most stupendous invasion of the whole spirit of liberty.” • Leading politicians and captains of industry formed the American Liberty League in 1934 to oppose FDR
Opposition from the Left • Socialists claimed that the administration was too concern with saving the banking system • American Communist Party: New Deal is a “capitalist ruse.”
Oppositions from Populists • Public figures with Populist roots clamored for more aggresive help for the poor • Francis Townsend • Government wealth redistribution • Father Charles Coughlin • Wealth redistribution plus anti-Communism and anti-Semitism • Huey Long • “Share Our Wealth” program • Assassinated in 1935