“I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for
the American People.” – FDR 1932
Essential Questions
1. How did FDR’s New Deal attempt to use
government power to provide relief to the poor,
stimulate recovery, and reform the American
economy?
2. What were liberal and conservative criticisms
of the New Deal and how did FDR’s
administration respond?
3. What was the New Deal coalition and how did
FDR alter the American political party
alignment?
4. What was the long-term political, social, and
economic legacy of the New Deal? How did it
permanently alter the role of the federal
government?
1932 Election
•President Hoover vs. NY Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Roosevelt wins 472 to 59 in the electoral college
•Democrats also win big majority in House & Senate
• Brain Trust – professors/economic experts
(Rexford Tugwell, Raymond Moley, Adolph Berle Jr.)
•Most diverse administration in US history: including
blacks, Jews, Catholics, and women.
•Frances Perkins became 1st female Cabinet
member as Secretary of Labor
II. plans for
I. Relief for
economic
the unemployed
Recovery
The New Deal had three major goals:
III. Reforms to
prevent another
depression
First Hundred Days 1933
• Banks: “Bank Holiday” & EBRA, Glass-Steagall Act FDIC –
also led to 20th Amendment “Lame Duck” move to Jan 20th
• Regulate Stock Market: SEC – no margin buying
• Abandon Gold Standard
• Beer-Wine Revenue Act & 21st Amendment &
• Farmers: Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
• Industrial Recovery: NIRA Sec. 7(a) union rights, creates NRA
(Hugh Johnson), & PWA (Harold Ickes)
• Regional Planning: TVA dams & hydro-electrification
• Jobs & Relief: CWA, CCC & FERA (Harry Hopkins)
Fireside Chats
• FDR gave 30 radio speeches to the nation, which
became known as fireside chats.
FDR’s
first
fireside
chat on
the bank
crisis.
(March
12,
1933)
New Deal Clips
Critics from the Left
• Father Charles Coughlin: wants guaranteed annual income
& nationalization of banks
• Dr. Francis Townsend from Long Beach, CA called for a
pension plan for the elderly the “Townsend Plan”
• Huey Long of Louisiana “The Kingfish” “Share-Our-Wealth
Societies” “Every man a king” assassinated in 1935
• Organized Labor frustrated by NRA & Tenant farmers
• Radicals: not far enough, esp. socialists, communists
Father Coughlin Dr. Francis Townsend
Huey Long
nd
2
New Deal - 1935
• New progressive/graduated income tax rates
• WPA – Harry Hopkins $11 billion to create jobs –
NYA & Federal Arts projects.
• Wagner Act (creates NLRB) – protects unions
• Social Security: pension, unemployment,
disability, mothers w/dependent children
“insurance”
Sen. Robert Wagner
1936 -New Deal Referendum?
• With over 60% of popular vote seen as a thumbs up to the
New Deal – FDR defeats Republican Alf Landon in a Landslide
• New Democratic “New Deal” coalition:
1. Southern Whites
2. Progressives (including Republicans)
3. White ethnic groups in the cities
4. Midwestern farmers
5. Labor unions
6. African-Americans - why significant?
Alf Landon on election day
Electoral College: 523 to 8 largest in history, Popular
vote % margin (61% to 36%) largest margin in history,
FDR wins popular vote by 11+ million
2nd Term Problems
• Conservatives say his Big
Government has gone too far American Liberty League (led by
the Du Pont family)
• The conservative Supreme Court
already struck down the NRA
(Schechter v. U.S. “sick chicken
case”) and AAA (U.S. v Butler) & NY
minimum wage law.
• “Court-Packing Plan” would have
expanded Supreme Court to 13
members – rejected
• “Conservative Manifesto”
Republicans & Southern Democrats
in revolt
• “Roosevelt recession” after
attempt to balance budget in 19371938 – what did this seem to
provide evidence for?
African Americans & Native Americans
• Eleanor Roosevelt, the “conscience of the New Deal,”
pushed FDR to do more for poor, women, & blacks
• “Black Cabinet”: Robert Weaver, William Hastie, Mary
McLeod Bethune
• Marian Anderson Lincoln Memorial performance 1939
• Increased opportunities BUT faced discrimination in some
New Deal programs (CCC, TVA)
• Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 – repealed Dawes
Act, John Collier return of tribal land, culture & rights
Organized Labor in 1930s
• National Labor Relations Board 1935 (Wagner Act)
• Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) John Lewis
(head of United Mine Workers)- became official in 1938
• Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA)
– 40 hours work week – official ban of child labor
– Minimum wage – 25 cents (40 cents by 1945)
• United Auto Workers – “Sit Down Strike” 1936-1937
at General Motors– GM gives in & recognizes union, but
tactic ruled illegal in 1939
• Union membership rose from 3 to 10 million from ’32-’41
New Deal Impact & Legacy
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Expanded role of the federal
government in the lives of Americans
(Social Security)
Support - rise of power of unions &
government subsidies for farmers
Minor advances for minorities: blacks
& Native Americans
Support for Keynesian Economics –
“pump priming” & “Broker State”
Political realignment of the Democratic
and Republican Parties
Significantly lowers unemployment but
WWII production brings Depression to
an final end
12.6% rural farms had
electricity in 1932, by
1949 90%
John Maynard Keynes