FDR and
the New
Deal
The Bonus Marchers
• In May of 1932, about 1,000 WWI veterans began to march
toward Washington DC. to try and pass legislation to have their
bonuses paid early
• They called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force…
• The public called them the Bonus Army
• They were supposed to receive $1,000 in 1945…but they
needed it now
• As they passed towns more veterans joined in.
• They wore their old military uniforms and sang war songs.
• Their numbers grew to about 17,000. This was known as the
Bonus Army.
• Totaled 43,000 marchers including their families and supporters
• They found places to stay in shantytowns or abandoned
buildings.
• Camps were very organized…
"We Done a Good Job in France, Now
You Do a Good Job in America"
5
Donations for the Bonus Army
Bonus Marchers continued
 House passed the vote to give them $, Senate rejected it,
and things grew more tense
 President Hoover ordered them to leave.
 The police were first responsible for making them
leave…two protesters are killed…
 Federal Army called in to restore order…
 Two veterans were shot and killed...
 MacArthur leads the Calvary on horses, Patton leads the
tanks, Eisenhower is liaison with the police
 They began to tear gas the crowd until everything calmed
down.
 A women and her two babies die
 The mishandling of these WWI veterans would tarnish
Hoover’s image forever.
MacArther
Patton
• This request was shot down by the Senate with a vote of 6218. Most of the Bonus Army went home at that point, aided
by Hoover’s offer of free rail transportation. Ten thousand
men remained behind. On the morning of July 28, forty
protesters tried to reclaim an evacuated building in
downtown Washington scheduled for demolition. The city's
police chief, Pellham Glassford, sympathetic to the marchers,
was knocked down by a brick. Glassford's assistant suffered a
fractured skull. When rushed by a crowd, two other
policemen opened fire. Two of the marchers were killed. At
this point, the District of Columbia asked for federal troops to
preserve order. Hoover agreed and enlisted the help of Major
General Douglas MacArthur, who basically burned down the
entire shantytown where the Bonus Army was living in. Two
children and their mother were killed.
Bonus Army Brick Throwers
8.6
Life of FDR
• He grew up on the Hudson River at his families estate in
Hyde Park NY.
• He married a distant cousin named Eleanor Roosevelt.
• Teddy Roosevelt was Eleanor’s Uncle, and stood at her
wedding in the place of her father
• He served as assistant Secretary of the Navy throughout
WWI.
• He got Polio at age 39. This disease would permanently
paralyze his legs.
• Elected 4 times (4 times total: 1932, 36, 40, and 44)
FDR in 1893
1 of only 2 only known photographs of
him in a wheelchair
Franklin with Eleanor/
Secretary of the Navy
Sad Marriage
• FDR had an affair with Eleanor’s
secretary early in their marriage
• Nicknamed “Mrs. Johnson” by
secret service
• Eleanor offered a divorce so that he
could be with the women he loved
• He promised not to see her…liar
• They remained married, but all love
was gone
• Marriage was political
partnership…not love
Lucy Mercer
Together in Hyde Park
FDR and the New Deal
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D) won the 1932 election vs Herbert
Hoover
• Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) is a distant cousin of Teddy Roosevelt.
• FDR was serving as governor of New York state.
• He created the “New Deal” which aimed at economic recovery
– Relief
– Recover
– Reform
• “Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the
political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for
guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the
distribution of national wealth... I pledge myself to a new deal
for the American people. This is more than a political campaign.
It is a call to arms.”
Democrats lay the smack down in 1932
Electoral votes: 472 -- 59
FDR takes over in troubled times
• March 4th, 1933 – Roosevelt takes office (33
days after Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
• Benito Mussolini has already taken control of
Italy
• 25% of population is unemployed
• 2 million are homeless
• Industrial production cut in half from 1929
• price of farming crops are down 60%
• America is in the worst economic situation it
had ever been in
Americans were
anxious to see
what FDR would
do once he took
over. He needed
the people’s
confidence.
FDR wanted to end prohibition
immediately
Inauguration Address
“the only thing we have to fear,
is fear itself.”
First Hundred Days in Office
• FDR picked advisers with many different view points so he could
weigh everything equally and make a sound decision.
• When he took office there was an immediate bank run and over
4,000 banks collapsed (scared the same thing would happen
when Hoover was elected)
• On the second day he was in office, he declared a national bank
holiday which closed all banks and gave him time to make
changes to the banking system
• He would make radio speeches to the public known as “fireside
chats.” These talks helped restore confidence.
• He would begin with “Hello friends” and they became more
popular than any of the famous shows during this “Golden Age
of Radio”
• During this time Congress passed 15 acts to help the crisis of the
Depression.
• These Acts are what is known as the New Deal.
FIRST FIRESIDE CHAT
Carl Carmer, April 1945 regarding
FDR’s Fireside Chats
“I never saw him, but I knew him. I
can never forget how, with his
voice, he came into our house,
the President of the United
States, calling us friends…”
Examples of the New Deal
1. The Emergency Banking Relief
- This issued Treasury Department licenses to banks
2. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- Regulated the stock market and prevented fraud
3. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
- Provided government insurance for bank deposits up
to a certain amount
4. Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
- Gave money to farmers not to grow certain crops to
raise demand
5. National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
- Allowed business and government to set up rules for
each industry
Examples of the New Deal part 2
6. Civil Works Adminstration (CWA)
• Employs people in the raking leaves cycle…selfesteem
7. Farm Credit Administration (FCA)
- Helped farmers refinance their mortgages
8. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
- Gave young men age 18-25 jobs outdoors jobs like
building parks
9. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
- Created dams and reservoirs that were used to
provide electricity in rural areas
10. Great Smokey Mountains
Second New Deal
• Some of the Second New Deal policies were:
1. Works Progress Administration(WPA)
-- Biggest New Deal program
-- Spent 11 billion fixing streets,
bridges, airports, and parks
2. Committee for Industrial Organization
- Organized industrial unions
3. Social Security Act
- Provides money for elderly
people when they retire
- People could begin collecting at age 65
WPA Construction Workers
WPA Sewing Shop
The most controversial part of the
WPA was the hiring of artists,
playwrights, orchestras, and
journalists.
WPA Artists
90% of WPA work went to unskilled
labor…but artists were also hired for
propaganda purposes (and to give work)
WPA Propaganda
WPA Park Photographer
WPA Art Mural
WPA-made art poster
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
• This provided the first federal minimum wage at 25
cents an hour and provided more protection.
• This was the LAST MAJOR piece of New Deal
legislation
• Republicans won back many seats in Congress and
by 1939 the New Deal was over.
• FDR began to focus more on world issues rising out
of Germany and Europe.
• Indian Reorganization Act- gave back sacred Native
American lands
PWA dam in Montana gave work to
over 10,000 workers
CWA making a scenic highway in
California…look how many workers
Civilian Concervation Corps (CCC)
TVA got water to the rural areas
NEW
DEAL
BEGINS
RECESSION
Of 1937
New Deal cont…
• The New Deal showed how FDR was willing to help
America.
• Jobs were created, people got to keep their homes,
and farmers went back to work.
• This plan helped to restore American’s faith in the
government.
• Things were still rough in America…but seemed
better
• What FDR did best?
• THE NEW DEAL CHANGE THE SPIRIT OF
AMERICA…PEOPLE HAD HOPE AGAIN…
My Grandmother and FDR
LEGACY OF THE NEW DEAL
• Only moderately successful
• We wouldn’t fully get out of the depression
until after WWII
• Increased the role of the federal government
incredibly—and this debate still goes on today
• BUT it did instill faith in the lower classes that
the federal government would help them
when they need it
• NATIONAL DEBT!!!!!!!!
Criticism of the New Deal
• Roosevelt began deficit spending by borrowing
money to pay for his programs.
• Others believed
that FDR had
turned the US into
a socialist
country
Court-Packing Plan
• Roosevelt called the Supreme Court “nine old men.”
• FDR’s idea was to increase the number of justices.
If a justice did not retire at the age of 70, the
President could appoint another justice to serve.
• This idea was cancelled in Congress but made the
Supreme Court realize it needed to work more
closely with FDR.
Your Assignment:
You are President Roosevelt. Together with a partner
I want you to write your own Fireside chat. Your
goal is both INFORM AND INSPIRE HOPE regarding
New Deal Programs and Initiatives. Your talking
points include:
-- Social Security
-- CCC
-- TVA
-- WPA
-- FDIC
-- Fair Labor Standards Act