Roosevelt and the New Deal

Roosevelt and the New Deal The Second New Deal

Criticism From Left and Right • Deficit Spending: borrowing money to pay for New Deal Programs • American Liberty League: purpose was to organize opposition to the New Deal Challenges to the New Deal

Leaders such as Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and Francis Townsend posed a serious threat to Roosevelt being re-elected in 1936. • Huey Long: Senator/Governor of Louisiana who championed the downtrodden and built a powerful and corrupt political machine. He wanted to share the wealth of the rich. • Francis Townsend: proposed a monthly government pension for citizens over age 60 to be entirely spent each month. This would free up jobs for the unemployed. Challenges to the New Deal

The Second New Deal launched by Roosevelt was begun due to a lack of recovery by the economy from the first New Deal. Works Progress Administration (WPA): 8.5 million workers put to work building stuff A controversial part of the WPA was the a program called “Federal Number One”. It offered jobs to artists, musicians, theater people, and writers. Launching the Second New Deal

In 1935 the Supreme Court unanimously struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) in Schechter v. United States. The Supreme Court’s Role

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) guaranteed workers the right to form unions without interference from employers. Binding arbitration (Wagner Act) was set up as a process where union members could take their complaints to a neutral party where both sides were heard and a binding decision on the issue could be made. Rise of Industrial Unions

The United Mine Workers Union • Led by John L. Lewis, began working with several other unions to organize workers in industries where unions did not yet exist. • Formed the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) Rise of Industrial Unions

Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO)The CIO set out to organize industrial unions, or unions that included all workers in a particular industry, skilled and unskilled. The CIO began by focusing on the automobile and steel industries. (United Steel Workers of America) Rise of Industrial Unions

The Social Security Actprotected workers from unemployment and not being able to work due to elderly age. • The framers viewed it as an insurance bill. Workers paid premiums. • Also provided welfare payments to needy people (the disabled and poor families with young dependent children) • The main part of Social Security was the monthly retirement benefit which people could collect at age 65. • SSA also provided unemployment insurance supplying unemployed workers temporary income • The SSA left out farm and domestic workers. The Social Security Act

Fill in the diagram about the Social Security system. Then write an essay describing how it initially worked, who benefited, and who did not. Essay Question

Fill in the diagram about the Social Security system. Then write an essay describing how it initially worked, who benefited, and who did not. Source of Funding: workers’ pay Groups receiving benefits: (1)people with disabilities and poor families wth young dependent children; (2)retirees; (3) Unemployed workers looking for new Jobs. Those left without: many farm and domestic workers. The framers of the Social Security Act viewed it primarily as an insurance bill, with workers earning the right to receive benefits by paying premiums. The law provided modest welfare payments to other needy people, including those with disabilities and poor families with young dependent children. The core of Social Security was the monthly retirement benefit, which people could collect when they stopped working at age 65. The plan also included unemployment insurance, providing temporary income to unemployed workers looking for new jobs. Social Security initially left out many of the neediest members of society—farm and domestic workers, many of whom were African American workers. Essay Question

Describe the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act and the work of the board it created. Essay Question

Describe the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act and the work of the board it created. The act guaranteed workers the right to organize unions without interference from employers and to bargain collectively. The law set up the National Labor Relations Board, which organized factory elections by secret ballot to determine whether workers wanted a union. The NLRB then certified the successful unions. The new law also set up a process whereby dissatisfied union members could take their complaints to binding arbitration in which a neutral party would listen to both sides and decide the issues. The NLRB was authorized to investigate the actions of employers and could issue “cease and desist” orders against unfair practices. Essay Question

Roosevelt and the New Deal