FDR and the New Deal
“The only thing we have to fear is
fear itself”
March 1933
1933 America
• High unemployment
• Bank failures
• poverty
• Hunger in shantytowns
• “Dustbowl”
FDR
“New Deal”
http://www.youtube.com/v/amNpx
QANk0M
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
FDR’s first “100 Days”
1. Closed the banks for 4 days –
“Emergency Banking Act”
2. “Fireside Chats”
3. Slash government spending – “The
Economy Act”
4. Amendment 21 – repeal Prohibition!
http://www.youtube.com/v/yhB7Ua
Mn0IY&feature=related
The New Deal
• The creation of “Alphabet Agencies”
Agricultural Adjustment Act
Civilian Conservation Corps
Tennessee Valley Authority
Public Works Administration
John Maynard Keynes
• if the amount of
money being saved
exceeds the amount
being invested –
which can happen if
interest rates are too
high – then
unemployment will
rise
Keynesian Economics
• Government intervention in the economy
Results?
• Unemployment remained high, but
decreased greatly through his term
• restored hope and self-respect to tens of
millions of desperate people
• built labor unions
• upgraded the national infrastructure
• Saved capitalism instead of nationalizing
banks and railroads
FDR’s popular appeal
• All letters and phone calls to the White
House were answered
• Fireside Chats brought the President into
the American family’s home
• Through most of his 1st term, Americans
were unaware of his disability
The negative side…
The Agricultural Adjustment Act
Farmers paid subsidies NOT to plant part of
their land AND to kill excess livestock =
raised value of goods
Tenant farmers and sharecroppers were hit
the hardest
The drought of 1933 - 1935
New Deal Opponents
Huey “Kingfish” Long
“Share Our Wealth”
Against big banking
Put a cap on personal
fortunes
Guaranteed minimum
income per family
New Deal Opponents
Charles Coughlin
Early supporter of FDR
Attacked communism
and socialism
Sympathetic to Hitler and
antisemitism
New Deal Opponents
Dr. Francis Townsend
Called for greater social
security reforms that
FDR would offer
New Deal Opponents
Supreme Court
Struck down the NRA
Threatened other
programs as
“unconstitutional”
New Deal Opponents
Employers, Banks,
Republicans
Relief is a waste of
taxes
Communist form of
Government!
http://www.youtube.com/v/qqt7b9ve
Fo8&feature=related