Chapter 33 Presentation

1. Chapter 33 Presentation Victoria Yim Suman Rhee Allen Ho Lucy Xiao

2. Why did Roosevelt ask Congress for a bill that would allow him to add justices to the Supreme Court? •  Supreme Court kept blocking Roosevelt's programs • a member to the Supreme Court for every existing member over 70 maximum possible total of 15 total members. • Congress voted against him because it did not want to lose its power. • Roosevelt was ripped for trying to become a dictator.

3. What were the consequences of FDR's attempt to pack the Court? • Court Packing- Franklin Roosevelt's politically motivated and ill-fated scheme to add a new justice to the Supreme Court for every member over seventy who would not retire. His objective was to overcome the Court's objections to New Deal reforms. • Hugo Black- justice appointed by FDR, into the New Deal, replaced the oldest justice • FDR’s “court-packing scheme” failed.some justices to start to vote his way (Owen J.Roberts, former conservative). • failure showed Americans did not want to tamper with the justice system.

4. How did labor respond to the improvement of conditions brought about by the New Deal?  • strikes and walkouts in 1934 • Congress struck down the National Recovery Administration • passed the Wagner Act • guaranteed the right of unions to organize and to collectively bargain with management •  under the management of the National Labor Relations Board, unskilled workers began to organize into effective unions • John L. Lewis - Head of United Mine Workers • also formed the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) • led series of strikes, including the sit-down strike at General Motors automobile factory in 1936

5. What was the significance of the 1936 election? • Republican nomination: Alfred Landon (gov. of Kansas) • criticized FDR's massive spendings • however, he supported many of FDR's New Deal = hypocrite • weak on radio and personal campaign • 1934 - American Liberty League formed by conservative Democrats and wealthy Republicans • against "socialist" New Deal  • FDR won election: 523 vs 8 electoral votes • won because he appealed to the "forgotten man"  • forged a powerful and enduring coalition of the South, blacks, urbanites, and poor

6. What did William Leuechtenburg mean when he called the New Deal a “half-way revolution”? • Not too radical but not conservative • It was created in response to the Great Depression • First time government assisted people to help hardship • Going against capital ideals

7. Assess the sucessfullnessof FDR in his second term. • In 1937, the economy took another brief downturn when the “Roosevelt Recession,” caused by government policies. • Finally, FDR embraced the policies of British economist John Maynard Keynes. • In 1937, FDR announced a bold program to stimulate the economy by planned deficit spending. • In 1939, Congress relented to FDR’s pressure and passed theReorganization Act, which gave him limited powers for administrativereforms, including the key new Executive Office in the White House. • The Hatch Act of 1939 barred federal administrative officials,except the highest policy-making officers, from active politicalcampaigning and soliciting.

8. What criticism of the New Deal seems most fair to you? Least fair? • foes of the New Deal condemned its waste, citing that nothing had been accomplished. (least fair) • Critics were shocked by the “try anything” attitude ofFDR, who had increased the federal debt from $19.487 million in 1932 to$40.440 million in 1939. (most fair)