United States History

1. United States History Chapter 25: The New Deal

2. Roosevelt’s First 100 Days • Upon election in 1932, FDR promised the American people a “New Deal” to help the nation’s economy recover • He took several actions in his first 100 days to alleviate the crisis • Bank Holiday: closed all banks to assess the health of the banks, reopening those that were good • FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, created in June 1933, to protect people’s deposits up to $5000 • HOLC: Home Owners Loan Corporation helped those struggling with their mortgages to stay in their homes • Many other programs addressed the needy and job creation

3. Roosevelt’s First 100 Days • FERA: Federal Emergency Relief Administration, designed to give aid to state and local agencies in help with the unemployed • CWA: Civil Works Administration created jobs such as cleaning of parks • CCC: Civilian Conservation Corps, Roosevelt’s favorite program • Sent young men to Army camps for training • Provided housing and jobs to millions of men building roads, parks, planting trees, etc. • Earned $30/month, most of which was sent back to families

4. Economic Recovery • Roosevelt pushed to reform the economy so that a large scale depression could be lessened or prevented in the future • SEC: Securities and Exchange Commission regulates the trade of stocks and bonds • NIRA: National Industrial Recovery Act, designed to stimulate industrial growth • Created the Public Works Administration (PWA) and National Recovery Administration (NRA) to oversee the program • NRA found unconstitutional in 1935 • Roosevelt based his thinking on the ideas of John Maynard Keynes, a British economist • Keynesian economic theory states that to lessen the shock of a downturn, the government must spend money to stimulate the economy

5. Agriculture and Land Development • AAA: Agricultural Adjustment Administration created to help farmers • Paid farmers to REDUCE output, which lessened supply, causing prices to rise • As prices were raised, farmers made more money • Also struck down by the Supreme Court in 1936 • TVA: Tennessee Valley Authority, created to control flooding and build power plants • Built dams on rivers throughout the South (TN, AL, GA, KY, and MS) • Created large man-made lakes for recreation, powered the rural areas of the South, and controlled flooding • Overall, created to improve the low standards of Southern living of the time

6. The New Deal and Equality • Not everybody benefitted from the New Deal • Racial tensions were made worse by the Great Depression • Roosevelt did not endorse civil rights legislation, most notably, an anti-lynching law proposed by NAACP • However, FDR did appoint many blacks to government positions, known as the “Black Cabinet” • Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her position in the Daughters of the American Revolution after black singer Marian Anderson was denied performance at DAR’s music hall • Mrs. Roosevelt arranged for Anderson to perform a free concert at the Lincoln Memorial, which 75,000 attended, in 1939 • Native Americans suffered greatly, but Roosevelt addressed concerns • Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 reversed the Dawes Act and returned tribal rule, encouraged education, and preservation of Native culture

7. New Deal Critics • Many were opposed to FDR’s New Deal programs • Some of the more prominent ones were Dr. Francis Townsend, Charles Coughlin and Huey Long • Townsend called for a $200/month pension to all seniors, requiring it to be spent in 30 days • Coughlin, a radio priest, wanted the government to take over all banks and return to the silver standard • Long’s ideas were the most radical • Proposed the Share-Our-Wealth program • High taxes on the rich would guarantee a minimum income for all people and a home • Gained popular support, but many saw him as trying to become a dictator • Killed by an assassin in 1935, ending the idea

8. Second New Deal • Elections in 1934 gave Democrats more power and the ability to pass more reform programs • These programs became known as the Second New Deal • WPA: Works Progress Administration created public sector jobs, such as building streets, airports, bridges, etc. • NYA: National Youth Administration granted part time jobs to high school and college students • Social Security Act: provided unemployment insurance, retired pensions, and assistance people with disabilities and to families where male workers had died • Revenue Act of 1935: raised taxes on the rich • Many other acts were passed as well • The Second New Deal helped catapult FDR to a second term in the election of 1936 • Democrats also made gains in both houses of Congress

9. FDR and the Supreme Court • Because the Court had struck down so many laws passed by FDR and Democrats, he set out to “reform” the court • He asked Congress to allow him to appoint 6 more justices, on top of the 9 already in place • Many, Republicans and Democrats, accused FDR of trying to “pack” the courts with justices favorable to his views • Some even felt FDR was acting like a dictator • This would upset the balance of powers in the gov’t • However, by 1945, enough justices died or retired that FDR was able to nominate 8 new justices

10. Effects of the Second New Deal • Many laws, including the NIRA were ruled unconstitutional • Other laws were passed to counteract • Wagner-Connery Act: guaranteed the right to unionize and collectively bargain • AFL still fought for workers, but a new union, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) formed as well • Led to many strikes, such as the GM strike of 1936-37 • Workers held a sit down strike, where they didn’t leave the plant • Stayed on strike for 6 weeks before GM gave in to demands and allowed workers to organize • Farmers continued to limit production and were also granted various types of aid • However, a recession hit in 1937 and FDR lost a great deal of support for his programs, to the point that he do not propose any more major programs

11. Life During the Depression • Many people migrated to California during the Depression looking for work • This mass migration was caused by the Dust Bowl • A severe drought in the Great Plains occurred during the 1930s • Winds picked up the topsoil and blew it away • It was so severe that ships hundreds of miles away at sea reported seeing dust clouds • Many packed up their belongings and headed west on Route 66 • Competition for jobs in CA was fierce, and people, especially Mexicans and Filipinos, struggled mightily • This life has been preserved in thousands of pictures from the time period, most famously by Dorothea Lange

12. The Dust Bowl

13. Dorothea Lange • Hired by the government to document the life of migrant workers in California • Published thousands of photographs that revealed to the world the suffering of people during the Depression

14. Migrant Mother

15. Other Lange Photos

16. Evaluating the New Deal • The New Deal provided millions of jobs to people • It also helped keep kids in school, improving education of the nation • However, critics say that it created a welfare state that exists today and severe deficit spending • Critics also say that the president has too much power because of the New Deal • Supporters say that it was necessary to expand government to prevent another Great Depression • Many aspects exist today, such as the FDIC, SEC, TVA and Social Security

17. WPA Programs • Part of the Works Progress administration was to put artists, authors, actors, etc. to work • Throughout the Depression and New Deal, the WPA helped produce thousands of works of writing, music, art, and theatre • Several famous authors depicted Depression life in their works • John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath • ZoraNeale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God • Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind • Movie studios were also hard at work, creating masterpieces loved to this day • The Wizard of Oz • Gone with the Wind • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

19. Music and Art • Different types of music gained popularity in the 1930s • Country: borrowed from southern folk music • Gospel: cross of jazz and spiritual • Swing: jazz played by big bands, smoother and easier to dance to • Painters created dozens of masterpieces during the Depression, none more well known, however, than Grant Wood’s American Gothic • The decade closed out with the United States still not fully recovered from the Depression, but that would all change with the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and the American entry to the war in 1941

20. American Gothic