The New Deal

1. The New Deal

2. Reeling from the economic downturn and angry about President Hoover’s refusal to use the government to relieve the suffering of the people many Americans looked to the upcoming Presidential election in 1932 as a way to change their circumstances.

3. The 1932 election changes everything • Herbert Hoover’s efforts to combat the effects of the Great Depression were viewed by the public as too little too late. His chances for re-election were not good. • His opponent, Franklin Roosevelt, was a cousin of Theodore Roosevelt and a member of one of the wealthy families on the East Coast.

4. The 1932 election changes everything • FDR campaigned as someone who knew the problems of average people and pledged that he would help them. • The combination of Roosevelt’s charm and humor and the public dissatisfaction with the Republican Hoover administration meant FDR won the election easily.

5. Right from the start it’s obvious the new president intends to act quickly.. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself….”

6. The First 100 Days Once he was President Franklin Roosevelt moved quickly to counteract the problems caused by the Depression A desperate Congress supported Roosevelt’s efforts and rubber-stamped his proposals in order to expedite the reforms. During the first 100 days of his presidency, a never-ending stream of bills was passed, to relieve poverty, reduce unemployment, and speed economic recovery.

7. The First 100 Days (con’t) • His first act as president was to declare a four-day bank holiday, during which time Congress drafted the Emergency Banking Bill of 1933. • This stabilized the banking system and restored the public's faith in the banking industry by putting the federal government behind it. • Three months later he signed the Glass-Steagall Act which created the FDIC, federally insuring deposits, so people could put their money in the bank with confidence.

8. The First 100 Days (con’t) • The Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) was one of the New Deal's most successful programs. • It addressed the pressing problem of unemployment by sending 3 million single men from age 17 to 23 to the nations' forests to work. Living in camps in the forests, the men dug ditches, built reservoirs and planted trees. The men, all volunteers, were paid $30 a month, with two thirds being sent home. • The Public Works Administration (PWA),and in the Second 100 Days the Works Progress Administration (WPA)Roosevelt's major work relief program, would employ more than 8.5 million people to build bridges, roads, public buildings, parks and airports.

9. The First 100 Days (con’t) • The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and the National Recovery Administration (NRA) were designed to address unemployment by regulating the number of hours worked per week and banning child labor. • The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), created in 1933, gave $3 billion to states for work relief programs. • The Agricultural Adjustment Act subsidized farmers for reducing crops and provided loans for farmers facing bankruptcy. • The Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) helped people save their homes from foreclosure.

10. The First 100 Days (con’t) While they did not end the Depression, the New Deal's experimental programs helped the American people’s spirits by taking care of their basic needs and giving them the dignity of work, and hope.

11. Repeal of 18th Amendment • Roosevelt had long felt that Prohibition was detrimental to the economy and society in general. • With FDR’s support Prohibition was repealed December 5, 1933 with the ratification of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.

12. Native Americans and the New Deal • In 1924 all Native Americans were finally made full citizens of the U.S. through the Indian Citizenship Act. • In 1933 FDR appointed John Collier as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Collier helped to create the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

13. Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 • Marks an abrupt shift in policy from the previous drive for total assimilation of native people, and supports a return to autonomous tribal control. • The act restored some reservation lands to tribal ownership that had been lost during the days of the Dawes Act.

14. Dawes Act • An attempt to force the Native nations to be more like the dominant culture this act divided up reservation lands and gave them to individuals as private property. • In most cases these lands ended up in the hands of people outside the Native community…further reducing the territory controlled by indigenous people.

15. Change was mandated in 3 areas • Economic – Native American lands would now return to tribal ownership. • Cultural – the number of boarding schools for Native American students would be reduced and schools created on the reservations. • Political – tribes could elect tribal councils and govern reservations directly

16. Most traditional people… felt this was a step forward. But Native Americans who were more assimilated into the larger society and had become individual landholders through the Dawes Act resented yet more white interference in their affairs.

17. FDR is re-elected in 1936 Mostly through the support of • Urban people • Ethnic minorities • Women voters He was not as well-liked in rural areas, or by the traditional elites.

18. Culture in the 1930’s • FDR had a weekly radio “Fireside Chat” that made most people feel very connected with their government in Washington D.C.

19. Escapist movies and radio entertainment were extremely popular, and helped people forget their cares during very tough times. Wallace Beery & Jean Harlow in Dinner At Eight (1933)

20. Novelists like Richard Wright and John Steinbeck won awards for their realistic portrayals of the human drama of life during the Depression – books like “The Grapes of Wrath” (Steinbeck) and “Native Son” (Wright)

21. Thousands of artists, writers and photographers were put on the government payroll through the Works Progress Administration. When federal support of artists was questioned, Director of the WPA Harry Hopkins answered, "Hell! They've got to eat just like other people." The WPA supported tens of thousands of artists, by funding creation of 2,566 murals and 17,744 pieces of sculpture that still decorate public buildings nationwide. Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”

22. The federal art, theater, music, and writing programs, while not changing American culture as much as their adherents had hoped, did bring more art to more Americans than ever before or since. The WPA program in the arts led to the creation of the National Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities which still offers support for artists and art projects of all kinds throughout the United States.

23. This photograph, known as Migrant Mother, is probably WPA photographer Dorothea Lange's most famous. It depicts destitute pea pickers in California, centering on a mother of seven children, age thirty-two, in Nipomo, California, March 1936. The woman in the picture is Florence Owens Thompson, whose partner and sons had gone to get help for their broken down car.

24. This WPA mural "Parks, the Circus, the Klan, the Press"by Thomas Hart Benton is located in Woodburn Hall, Indiana University-Bloomington Campus

25. Another Thomas Hart Benton WPA mural -- "Electric Power, Motor-Cars, Steel"also located in Woodburn Hall, Indiana University-Bloomington Campus

26. This Land is Your Land – Woody Guthrie This land is your land, this land is my land From California, to the New York Island From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters This land was made for you and me As I went walking that ribbon of highway I saw above me thatendless skyway I saw below me that golden valley This land was made for you and me (chorus) This song is considered by many people to be the truest expression of the American spirit….but you have to wonder if they’ve heard the whole thing….

27. As I was walkin' – I saw a sign there And that sign said – no tresspassin‘ But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin! Now that side was made for you and me! (Chorus) In the squares of the city – In the shadow of the steeple Near the relief office – I see my people And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin' If this land's still made for you and me. (Chorus) Woody Guthrie wrote many protest songs about ordinary people and their struggles during the Depression -- these lyrics, rarely heard, are very typical of his view of the world.

28. How do we pay for the New Deal? The federal government was not bringing in enough tax dollars to cover the costs of all of the New Deal programs. • Money was needed to fund all of the recovery and relief efforts being introduced. • Some felt the answer was in the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes.

29. How do we pay for the New Deal? • The answer was something called deficit spending – meaning that the government would go into debt to bring the economy out of the emergency by putting money into the hands of people and thereby spark a recovery. John Maynard Keynes

30. John Maynard Keynes • This British economist thought government should spend its way out of a depression. • Keynes believed that if the government put money into the hands of consumers, and they will buy goods and services. • This, Keynes thought, will fuel economic growth. • So, even if government has to go deeply into debt it should spend whatever it takes to get the economy going again.

31. Deficit spending is not popular • FDR didn’t like the idea. He felt it may be a necessary evil at a time of extreme crisis and agreed to try it. • When it did not produce the immediate economic miracle many people expected there was protest. • Liberal critics felt the program did not go far enough to help the poor, and bring about success. • Conservative critics felt that too much direct relief was creating a socialist state.

32. The Supreme Court and the New Deal • The Court declares that the NIRA and the AAA violate the Constitution. • FDR doesn’t like the Court interfering with New Deal programs • He responds by trying to get Congress to expand the Supreme Court from nine members to fifteen. He is not successful.

33. Three critics challenge FDR • Father Charles Coughlin supported FDR at first but later felt the New Deal did not go far enough. • He favored a guaranteed income and nationalization of banks. “Roosevelt or Ruin!”

34. Three critics challenge FDR • Dr. Francis Townsend felt that FDR wasn’t doing enough to help the poor and the elderly. • He devised a monthly payment plan that would help those disadvantaged groups

35. Three critics challenge FDR • The most serious challenger to FDR’s office was Huey Long. • His Share the Wealth club had a plan to give money to every single person in the US

36. Huey Long speaks about his ideas to Share the Wealth The Kingfish was killed on September 10 1935

37. The Second New Deal • The programs of the Second New Deal built on the programs from the first New Deal • Some gains had been made but not as quickly as everyone had hoped. • FDR named his new program the Second Hundred Days and centered on further relief for the people who were still suffering from the depression.

38. The First Lady was the inspiration for many programs • Eleanor Roosevelt traveled the country and could speak to the suffering and troubles of ordinary people across the nation. • Mrs. Roosevelt also encouraged FDR to bring more women into the government

39. An array of programs…. • A second round of agriculture bills addressed some of the problems that farmers were having. Soil conservation, and moving away from soil depleting crops would be supported by the government. • Migrant workers, sharecroppers, and poor farmers were helped by the Resettlement Administration, and the Farm Security Administration provided loans for tenant farmers and migrant workers to get farms of their own

40. The WPA gave millions jobs doing everything from building roads and airports to collecting oral histories. Women and minorities and young people especially benefitted from WPA employment. • The Wagner Act protected the rights of workers to organize unions and collectively bargain. • The Fair Labor Standards Act set maximum hours and minimum wages for workers; set rules for workers under 16, and banned hazardous work for those under 18.

41. The Social Security Act – 1935 • Old age insurance for retirees 65 or older and their spouses • Unemployment compensation • Aid to dependent children and the disabled

42. Rural electrification • In 1935 12.6% of American farms had electricity. With the REA electrical cooperatives to bring power to 90% of the farms and rural homes by 1949. • The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 outlawed ownership of utilities by multiple holding companies – and though it was a good idea, it proved hard to enforce.

43. The New Deal • Brought relief to the many people who suffered from the financial crisis of the Great Depression. • Gave new opportunities to women and minorities • Brought many reforms that made the banking and financial life of the United States more secure. • Brought new art, art forms and literature to American society.

44. Impact of the New Deal • Expands government’s role in the economy • Promotes worker’s rights, creates Social Security to • Improved life in rural America with electrification, improved farming methods, soil conservation measures • Environmental improvements like flood control, creation of parks and conservation areas, reduced grazing on pubic lands, protection of natural resources.

45. All of these actions as much as they helped people, could not end the Great Depression. • And New Deal programs, because they reflected the biases of 1930s American politics and culture, did not offer the same aid to all Americans • White men generally received better benefits than women, blacks, or Latinos.

46. Still, FDR did much to reshape the United States. • With FDR in the White House, the federal government played a greater role than ever before in managing the American economy and in protecting the welfare of the American people.

47. In short, through his policies and attempts to end the Depression FDR oversaw major and important changes in American politics and governance that would define life in the United States for most of the twentieth century. 

48. So, what did end the Great Depression? American mobilization for the coming war in the early 1940s finally brought the United States out of its economic doldrums but that is another story for another day…..

49. Thanks for your kind attention