Know your New Deal Alphabet Soup
First New Deal, 1933-1935
FDIC
Insured bank deposits up to $5000. Created by the Glass-Steagall
Banking Act.
Created to oversee practices in the stock market.
Restored confidence in banks.
AAA
Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation
Securities and Exchange
Commission
Agricultural Adjustment Act
Attempted to raise prices by paying farmers to not plant crops or raise
livestock on a percentage of their land. Controversial: Millions of acres
of crops and over 6 million pigs were destroyed.
STRUCK DOWN by United States v. Butler (1936) 
agriculture is a local concern reserved to the states; the
US gov’t may not intervene.
TVA
Tennessee Valley Authority
CCC
Civilian Conservation Corps
Authorized the construction of hydroelectric dams in the Tennessee
Valley.
Put 18-25 year old males to work on conservation projects throughout
the US; $25 of their $30 salary was sent home to parents.
PWA
Public Works
Administration
Provided jobs, flood control, and electricity to an
impoverished region.
Reduced crime and competition for jobs by taking young
men out of urban areas; source of income for families;
did useful work.
Built needed infrastructure (roads, bridges, dams,
schools).
SEC
CWA
Civil Works Administration
Spent $6 billion on 34,000 large-scale construction projects; headed by
Harold Ickes. The PWA gave contracts to private construction
companies; it did not hire workers directly.
Program created by FERA (see below) to address unemployment during
the harsh winter of 1933-34.
Notable projects: The Lincoln Tunnel (NYC); the Grand
Coulee Dam
Directly employed 4 million for shovel-ready jobs (laying
sewer pipe; road and bridge repairs; airport
construction).
Controversy: The program was criticized as a costly
“make-work” program.
NRA
FERA
National Recovery Act
Federal Emergency Relief
Act
Attempted to eliminate destructive competition (which was driving
down wages) by creating “codes of fair conduct” for each industry.
These codes established minimum wages, maximum hours, and
minimum prices for goods. Participation was voluntary, but only
businesses that participated could display the “Blue Eagle” insignia;
many businesses that didn’t were boycotted.
Importantly, Section 7(a) of the NRA guaranteed the right to join a
union and barred yellow dog contracts.
Gave $500 million in loans to states to provide food, clothing, and create
jobs for the unemployed.
STRUCK DOWN by Schechter Poultry v. United States
(1935) aka “the sick chicken case.” The NRA was
unconstitutional because it: a) regulated trade that
wasn’t interstate in nature (Schechter Poultry was a local
store), and b) the codes were drafted and enforced by
the White House and were, in effect, laws. Only
Congress can write laws.
Second New Deal - 1935-1938
WPA
Works Progress Administration
Implemented to address continuing unemployment in 1935
(ahead of the 1936 election!); spent $11 billion; employed
8 million.
Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA was more controversial
than the PWA because it hired workers directly.
NYA
NLRB
National Youth Administration
National Labor Relations Board
Social Security Act
Fair Labor Standards Act
REA
Rural Electrification
Administration
“A New Deal for the Arts” -- In addition to construction
jobs, the WPA also included the WPA Theater Project ;
WPA Writer’s Project; WPA Artists project, which employed
those in the arts economy to write, act, put on production,
paint murals on public buildings, etc.
Offered “work-study” programs for youth age 16-24
through their schools.
Created by the Wagner Act, the NLRB was an agency that
was created to hear complaints about unfair labor practices,
oversee union elections. In essence, it created a special
administrative court (complete with its own judges) for
labor disputes.
Provided:
- Old-age insurance for retirees over 65 and their
spouses. Workers and employers would contribute
equally through payroll taxes.
- Unemployment compensation. Paid by a new tax on
employers.
- Disability insurance to aid families. Paid by federal
funds given to states.
Replaced the NRA Codes. Created maximum hours (44 hrs
per week; later 40); barred child labor; established a
minimum wage.
Aimed to bring electricity to rural areas. In 1935, only
12.6% of farms had electricity. By 1949, 90% did.
A few notable projects:
John Steinbeck’s novels Of Mice and Men and The
Grapes of Wrath.
The WPA Slave Narratives – journalists recorded
interviews with hundreds of former slaves.
Mary McLeod Bethune was appointed head of the NYA’s
Division of Negro Affairs to ensure funding for training
programs for African-American youth. For example, she
successfully pushed for a new Civilian Pilot Training
Program to be extended to African-American schools; as
a result Tuskegee Institute became a center for training
pilots and would later develop the famed Tuskegee
Airmen.
Bethune was the first black head of a federal agency and
an influential member of Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet”
Restored the organized-labor provisions of the NRA,
which had been struck down by the Schechter Case in
1935.
Designed to create a “social safety net.”
Unemployment insurance would reduce the overall
economic shock of downturns by maintaining some
income for those looking for work.