Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal 1929–1939: Fighting the Great Depression

1. 26 Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal1929–1939

2. During the Great Depression, market prices for produce were so low that farmers could scarcely afford to harvest their crops. Many resorted to destroying produce in an attempt to limit supplies and force prices higher, among them were these striking dairy farmers in Illinois dumping cans of milk into the street.

3. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal1929–1939 • The Great Depression • Fighting the Depression • Reforming American Life • The Impact of the New Deal • The New Deal’s End • Conclusion: The New Deal and American Life

4. The Struggle Against Despair • The Depression decade had profound effect on individuals and institutions • Americans looked to government like never before and transformed American politics and public life • Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s answer to country’s demand: New Deal

5. The Great Depression

6. The Great Depression • 1920s optimism drove increase in expectations of continual improvement • Stock market collapsed, factories closed, unemployment went up, optimism shattered

7. The Great Crash • 1928: Soaring stock prices attracted individual, corporate investment; speculation • 1929:Black Thursday—Stock market crashed • Directly affected 3 million • Credit crunch stifled business

8. The Great Crash (cont’d) • Businesses laid off workers; cutbacks • Demand for consumer goods declined • Banks suffered losses • People did not have enough money to buy consumer products

9. Figure 26.1 U.S. Unemployment, 1929–1942

10. The Effect of the Depression • Hardship affected all classes • The middle class lost belief in ever-increasing prosperity • Thousands of young homeless, jobless

11. The Great Depression devastated millions who lost their jobs and often the means to provide food and shelter for themselves and their families. Local and private charities could not keep up with the demands for assistance, and many looked to the federal government. Breadlines stretched as far as the eye could see.

12. Fighting the Depression

13. Fighting the Depression • Republican attempts to overcome catastrophe floundered • Depression gave Democrats opportunity to regain power

14. The Emergence of Roosevelt • Depression took Hoover by surprise; Hoover initially sought solution through voluntary action, private charity • Eventually aided farmers with Farm Board to buy surpluses and bankers with loans through Reconstruction Finance Corporation • Bonus Army and General MacArthur

15. The Emergence of Roosevelt (cont’d) • Roosevelt • Born to wealth and privilege • 1921: Crippled by polio • 1928: Elected governor of New York • Talented and persuasive politician • 1932: Defeated Hoover with farmer- worker-immigrant-Catholic coalition

16. Map 26.1

17. The Hundred Days • FDR inaugural inspired with the term “nothing to fear, but fear itself” • Banking system saved from collapse • Fireside chats • Fifteen major laws provided relief • Tennessee Valley Authority was the most ambitious

18. The Hundred Days (cont’d) • 1933: Civilian Conservation Corps provided employment to young people • 1935: Works Progress Administration placed unemployed on federal payroll • No New Deal agencies completely successful but psychologically, nation turns corner.

19. Steps Toward Recovery • National Recovery Administration • Industries formulated codes to eliminate cut-throat competition, ensure labor peace • Codes favored big business, unenforceable • 1935: NRA ruled unconstitutional

20. Map 26.2 The Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) served a seven-state region in the Southeast.

21. Steps Toward Recovery (cont’d) • Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 • farmers paid to take land out of cultivation • prices increased, mainly because of government payments, but Dust Bowl helped by cutting supply • sharecroppers, tenant farmers dispossessed

22. The National Recovery Administration blue eagle signaled a firm’s participation in the National Recovery Act. Roosevelt’s innovative program met resistance, and signs modeled on this original example attempted to make participation patriotic and respectable.

23. Reforming American Life

24. Reforming American Life • 1933–1934: Focus on immediate problems • 1935: Shift to permanent economic reform, “broker state”

25. Federal work relief programs helped millions maintain their self-respect. Workers in the CCC received $30 a month for planting trees and building parks and trails.

26. Challenges to FDR • Father Charles Coughlin advocated nationalizing banks, anti-Semitism • Francis Townsend called for $200 per month pensions to all those over 60 if they spent it within the month • Huey Long and the Share the Wealth Clubs called for redistribution of wealth by seizing private fortunes

27. Social Security • 1935: Social Security Act passed • Criticisms • Too few people would collect pensions • Unemployment package inadequate • Established pattern of government aid to poor, aged, handicapped

28. Despite the administration’s boosterism, many believed that Social Security could not fulfill its promises.

29. The Impact of the New Deal

30. The Impact of the New Deal • Had a broad influence on the quality of life in the U.S. in the 1930s • Helped labor unions most • Helped women, minorities least

31. The Rise of Organized Labor • 1932: National Recovery Act spurred union organizers; Most in American Federation of Labor (AFL) • Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) formed by John L. Lewis; unionized steel, auto industries

32. The Rise of Organized Labor (cont’d) • 1940: Only 28% of labor force unionized • 1935: Wagner Act—Allowed unions to organize; outlawed unfair labor practices

33. The New Deal Record on Help to Minorities • Crop reduction program allowed whites to fire or evict blacks, Hispanics • Public works programs helped by providing employment • New Deal figures convinced minorities that the government was on their side • 1934: Indian Reorganization Act gave American Indians greater control

34. With the statue of Abraham Lincoln as a backdrop, African-American contralto Marian Anderson sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in a concert given April 9, 1939.

35. The New Deal’s End

36. The New Deal’s End • 1936: New Deal peaked with Roosevelt’s reelection • Congress resisted programs after 1936

37. The Supreme Court Fight • Supreme Court blocked several of FDR’s first-term programs • 1937: FDR sought right to "pack" Court • Congressional protest forced retreat • FDR’s opponents emboldened

38. FDR’s battle with the Supreme Court provoked both sympathy and contempt among political cartoonists of the day. The cartoon, titled “Do We Want a Ventriloquist Act in the Supreme Court?” satirizes FDR’s “court-packing” scheme.

39. FDR’s battle with the Supreme Court provoked both sympathy and contempt among political cartoonists of the day. In the cartoon, the NRA blue eagle lies dead, nailed to the wall by the Supreme Court.

40. The New Deal in Decline • 1936: Cutbacks for relief agencies • 1937: Severe slump hit economy • Roosevelt blamed, resorted to huge government spending • 1938: Republican party revived

41. Conclusion: The New Deal and American Life

42. Conclusion: The New Deal and American Life • New Deal’s limitations • Depression not ended • Economic system not fundamentally altered • Little done for those without political clout • Achievements • Social Security, the Wagner Act • Political realignment of the 1930s

43. Timeline