FDR and the ‘New Deal’ Fighting the Depression

1. FDR and the ‘New Deal’ Fighting the Depression

2. Photo of Roosevelt and Hoover on the way to Roosevelt’s Inauguration in 1933

3. Roosevelt Prepares to Take Over • There Was a 4 Month Lay-Over Between When Roosevelt Was Elected and Inaugurated • The 20th Amendment Pushed Inauguration to January, But Didn’t Apply to Roosevelt • Roosevelt and His Most Trusted Advisors Worked in the Mean Time to Come Up w/ Programs to Alleviate Struggles of the Depression • The ‘Brain Trust’ • His Program Eventually Became Known as the ‘New Deal’ • The New Deal Focused on • Relief (for the Needy) – Immediate (Food, Shelter, Clothing) • Recovery (economic) – Jobs • Reform (financial) – Government Legislation

4. The Hundred Day’sMarch 9 – June 16, 1933 Hundred Days: Period of Intense Political Activity During the First 100 Days of Roosevelt’s Presidency Where 15 Major Pieces of New Deal Legislation Was Passed by Congress

5. Fixing the Banks • Declared a ‘Banking Holiday’ From March 5 - 12 and Closed all Banks in the United States • Purpose: To Prevent Further Money Withdrawals • Emergency Banking Relief Act • Treasury Department Inspected All Banks in U.S. • Solvent Banks Could Re-Open • Banks That Couldn’t Pay Debts Remained Closed and the Government Helped to Reorganize / Give Loans to Eventually Open Back Up • Roosevelt Then Made the First Fireside Chat • Informal Radio Talks About Public Concern Issues and Explaining New Deal Programs to Americans • Convinced Americans to Reinvest Money into Banks and that they Were Secure and Stable

6. Ensuring the Money System in America • Helping the Banks – Glass – Steagall Act (1933) • Established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation • Federal Insurance Provided for Individual Bank Accounts Up to $5,000 • Securing the Stock Market • Federal Securities Act • Required Companies to Give Complete Information of Stock Offerings and Held Companies Liable for Misrepresentations • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) • Regulated to Stock Market • Main Goal: Prevent People w/ Inside Information About Companies from “Rigging” Stock Market in their Favor

7. 1925 1931 1932 1920 1930 1933 1934 1935 1935

8. Finding Jobs For the Jobless Roosevelt believed government money should go to help the unemployed in America. He called it “Priming the Pump”

9. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) • Employed Young Men (18-25) in Fresh – Air Government Camps • Men Who May Otherwise Be Driven to Criminal Corruption • Useful Work • Reforestation • Firefighting • Flood Control • Swamp Drainage • Recruits Required to Send a Portion of Wages Home to Parents

10. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) • Goal: To Raise Crop Prices by Lowering Production • How: • Government Would Pay Farmers For Every Acre of Unplanted Soil • Government Paid Farmers to Plow Under Already Planted Crops • Government Paid Hog Farmers to Slaughter Hogs and Used as Fertilizer • Some Americans Were Upset that Food Was Being Destroyed at a Time When Millions Were Hungry

11. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) • Problem: • The Tennessee River Drained Poorly and Eroded in an Area the Size of England • 2.5 Million of the Most Poverty Stricken People in the U.S. Lived in the Area • Solution: • Use Governmental Money to Construct an Electricity Plant to Create Hydroelectric Power from the River • Result: • Many People Will be Provided w/ Jobs (Pump Priming) • The Government Can Have this Electricity and Provide to People at a Cheap Rate (As Opposed to the Expensive Electric Producers in the Area) • Conclusion: • Rivers in Area Ran Blue Instead of Brown • Soil Did Not Erode Allowing for Agricultural Use of the Area

13. National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) • Purpose: • To Authorize the President to Regulate Business in the Interests of Promoting Fair Competition, Supporting Prices, Creating Jobs for Unemployed Workers, and Stimulating the Economy to Recover From the Depression • Public Works Administration (PWA) • Provided Money to States to Create Jobs in the Construction of Schools, Community Buildings, and Highways • National Recovery Administration (NRA) • Attempted to Help Industry, Labor, and the Unemployed • How: (to stop the trend of falling wages, prices, and layoffs) • Reduced Hours of Labor • Ceiling on Maximum Hours • Floor on Minimum Wages • Workers Given Formal Rights of Collective Bargaining

14. Providing Food, Clothing, and Shelter to Americans • Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) • Government Loans Provided to Homeowners Who Faced Foreclosure • Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) • Specifically Granted Money to States to Give to Unemployed Who Needed Food and Clothing • Money Was Given in Aid and Also in Work Relief Programs • “Wheras money helped people buy food, it was meaningful work that enabled them to gain confidence and self – respect” • Civil Works Administration (CWA) • Designed to Create Jobs in the Winter of 34-35 • ‘Boondoggle Jobs’ Created • Spent More Money Creating Jobs Than Actually Paid

15. Problems and Critics of the New Deal

16. Problems With the New Deal • The New Deal Helped Millions of Americans and Instilled a Public Confidence and Faith in FDR and the Government • Deficit Spending: • Government Spending More Money Than Revenues • Critics Arguments: • Liberals: New Deal Didn’t Do Enough to Help the Poor and the Economy • Conservatives: New Deal Went too Far in Helping Americans • Believed the Government Interfered too Much in American Society and Free Enterprise

17. Huey ‘Kingfish’ Long "Every Man a King" • Was an Early Supporter Then Critic of the New Deal • Personally Wanted to Become President Himself • Proposed a “Share the Wealth” Program • Caps on Net Worth / Year • Families Guaranteed Yearly Allowances and Minimum Wage • Higher Income Taxes for Rich to Be Given to Poor • Eventually Assassinated by a Lone Gunman in 1935 Louisiana Senator Huey Long

18. Dr. Francis Townsend • Was a Retired Doctor Who Lost Most / All of His Wealth in the Market Crash • Believed Roosevelt Wasn’t Doing Enough to Help the Poor or the Elderly • Plan to Help Elderly: • Each Retired American Received $200/Month to Allow to Live Middle Class Lifestyle • Had to Spend Within 30 Days of Receiving Pension California Doctor Francis Townsend

19. Father Charles E. Coughlin • Catholic Priest From Detroit Who Gave Sunday Radio Sermons That Included: • Economic • Political • Religious Ideas • Criticized New Deal and Called It a “Raw Deal” • Supported a Guaranteed Income for All Citizens and the Nationalization of Banks • Eventually Included Anti – Semitic Views Which Cost Many Supporters and Silenced by the Church Father Charles E. Coughlin The “Radio Priest”

20. Supreme Court Opposition to the New Deal • Conservative Opposition to the New Deal Eventually Led to Two Supreme Court Decisions That Struck Down New Deal Programs • The NIRA Was Struck Down as Unconstitutional • Too Much Control on Interstate Commerce by the Government • The AAA Was Also Struck Down • Agriculture Was a Local Matter and Should Not Be Regulated by the National Government

21. Roosevelt and the Second Hundred Days

22. Problems With the First New Deal • The First New Deal Wasn’t Incredibly Successful • The Economy Remained Stale and Unemployment Was Still Extremely High • Roosevelt Was Looking For Ways to Build on His First New Deal Programs • Roosevelt Launched a New Campaign Often Called the ‘Second Hundred Days’ • The Second New Deal Changed Course From the First New Deal: • More Focus on Fighting Poverty and Unemployment • Less Efforts to Support and Help Business and More to Help Individual Citizens

23. How Roosevelt Tried to Help the Farmers Again • The First AAA Was Ruled Unconstitutional By the Supreme Court • Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936 • Rewarded Farmers for Planting Soil Conserving Crops and Cutting Production – Not Ending Production Completely • The Supreme Court Supported This • Second Agricultural Adjustment Act – 1938 • Further Gave Farmers Rewards for Observing Restrictions on Planting Specific Crops (Cotton, Wheat) • Didn’t Have a Processing Tax to Pay for Farm Subsidies that the First AAA Had

24. Works Progress Administration (WPA) • Purpose: • To Set Up a Series of Programs to Help Youths, Professionals, and Other Workers • Spent $11 Billion to Give Jobs to Over 8 Million People Between 1935 and 1943 • Many of the Projects Were Public Works Programs

25. New Deal Programs to Help Labor • National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) • Purpose: • To Reinstate the Right of Labor to Engage in Self – Organization and Bargain With Their Own Representatives • Tried to Prohibit Unfair Labor Practices, Threatening Workers, and Firing Union Members • Done as a Result of the Unconstitutionality of the NIRA • Created National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) • Heard and Made Decisions on Testimony About Unfair Business Practices • Result: • Many Unskilled Workers Began to Organized in Unions • Fair Labor Standards Act – 1938 • Maximum Weekly Work Hours to 44 • Minimum Wage of 25 Cents / Hour • Set Limitations of Age of Workers

26. The Development of the Social Security System • The Social Security Act – 1935 • Purpose: • To Help the Needy in Society and to Cushion Further Depressions • Major Parts: • Old – Age Insurance for Retirees 65 or Older and their Spouses • Helped to Make Retirement Comfortable for Many Americans • Unemployment Compensation System • Funded by Federal Taxpayers • Payments From $15 – $18/Week • Aid to Families w/ Dependent Children and the Disabled • Result: The Government Recognizes Its Responsibility to Care for the Citizens

27. Expanding and Regulating Utilities • The Second New Deal Also Attempted to Promote Rural Electrification • 12.6% of Americans Had Electricity in 1935 • Rural Electrification Administration (REA) • Attempted to Bring Electricity to Rural Areas • 90% of Americans Had Electricity by 1949 • Public Utility Holding Company Act – 1935 • Outlawed Ownership of Utilities by Multiple Holding Companies

28. The Election of 1936 • Republican Candidate Alfred Landon • Governor of Kansas • Moderate Who Accepted Some New Deal Reforms • Challenged Deficit Spending of Roosevelt • Democratic Candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt • New Deal Success • Support From the ‘Forgotten Men’

29. Election Results Franklin Roosevelt 523 Electoral Votes 98.5% Popular Vote Alfred Landon 8 Electoral Votes 1.5% Popular Vote • This Was the First Election That: • All Southern States United Toward Democrats • Unions Largely Supported the Same Candidate

30. FDR and the Supreme Court The Conflict: · The Supreme Court ruled that many New Deal laws were unconstitutional. Ex.) AAA February 10, 1937, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, "Trying to Change the Umpiring"

31. · After winning the 1936 presidential election, FDR proposed increasing the number of Supreme Court Justices from 9 to 15. February 14, 1937,Waterbury (CT) Republican, "Do We Want A Ventriloquist Act In The Supreme Court?"

32. * This would allow FDR to appoint 6 new pro-New Deal Justices to the Supreme Court. February 18, 1937,Oakland (California) Tribune, "New Blood"

33. The Results: · Many Americans, including New Deal supporters, felt that FDR was unfairly trying to control the Supreme Court. February 28, 1937,Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch, "What Has Become of the Old-Fashioned Man...?"

34. · FDR withdrew his plan six months later. * However, one anti-New Deal Justice eventually changed his mind, and FDR appointed a pro-New Deal Justice to the Supreme Court after an anti-New Deal Justice retired. August 30, 1937 Brooklyn Citizen, "Good For Another Meal"

35. Culture, Life, and Change of the 1930’s Actor, Director, Producer, and Writer: Orson Welles

36. How the New Deal Affected Minority Groups Roosevelt named the first woman, Frances Perkins (left) to the Presidential cabinet. She played a key role in the development of the Social Security System. Roosevelt and the Democrats kept these minority groups happy in the United States, thus keeping control of the political system. The New Deal Coalition (an alignment of minority groups who supported the Democratic Party)

37. African – American Activism • Roosevelt Appointed Many African Americans to Key Positions in Government • Mary McLeod Bethune • Head of the Division of Negro Affairs in the National Youth Administration • Ensured the NYA Hired African American Administrators and Provided Job Training to Africans • A ‘Black Cabinet’ Was Organized to Advise Roosevelt on Racial Matters • Roosevelt However Refused to Commit to Full Civil Rights • Didn’t Want to Upset White Democrats in the South • New Deal Agencies Discriminated Against African Americans Mary McLeod - Bethune

38. Native American Change • The New Deal Supported Native Americans • Moved Away From Assimilation Policies of the Past • Indian Reorganization Act (1934) • Native American Lands Belong to Entire Tribe (economic) • Number of Boarding Schools Reduced (Children Now Go to Own Schools) (cultural) • Tribes Given Power to Elect Tribal Councils to Govern Own Reservations (political) Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier He advocated the revival and support of Native American cultural life on communal lands held by self-governing tribes. 

39. Entertainment in America • Movies • Helped People Escape From Harsh Realities of Depression • Sound Films Emerged for the First Time • Gone With the Wind (1939), Wizard of Oz (1939), Snow White and Seven Dwarfs (1937) • Radio • Most Direct Means to Contact American People • Families Spent Hours Around Radio for News and Entertainment Needs • Fireside Chats • “The War of the Worlds”

40. Writing and Art in the Depression • Art During the Depression • Much Art Depicted Strength of American Character and Values of American People • Federal Art Project (Part of WPA) • Artists Paid to Produce Public Art and Promote Positive Images of American Society • Writers in American Life • Federal Writers’ Project (Part of WPA) • Writing Investigated Difficulties Living in the Depression and Tried to Allow Readers to ‘Get Away’ • John Steinbeck

41. Artist: Grant Wood Title: American Gothic