Chapter 12
Section 3
The New Deal Coalition

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democrat
Alf Landon
Republican

• The New Deal caused shifts in party loyalties.
• People in the South had been the core of the
Democratic Party.
• Support for the New Deal came from a coalition that included farmers, industrial workers, immigrants,
African Americans, women, and ethnic minorities., progressives, and intellectuals.

• FDR (blue) won the 1936 election in a landslide against
Alf Landon (red).

U.S. Supreme Court and the New Deal
• Just like the NRA and the NRIA, the Supreme
Court struck down the
Agricultural Adjustment
Act as unconstitutional in 1936.
• Other New Deal programs seemed threatened.

• After winning re-election,
FDR tried to change the political balance on the U.S.
Supreme Court through a court-packing plan.
• Under FDR’s plan, the president would be allowed to appoint an additional member to the Supreme
Court for every justice over the age of 70.
• At that time, FDR would be allowed to appoint six new justices.

• This court-packing plan was a political mistake.
• Roosevelt appeared to be threatening the
Court’s independence.
• Many people opposed the idea, and the courtpacking bill never passed.

• In 1937 the economy seemed on the verge of recovery.
• Roosevelt decided to balance the budget.
• Then unemployment surged again.

• This recession led to a debate in his cabinet.
• Treasury Secretary Henry
Morgenthau favored cutting spending.
• Economist John Maynard
Keyes wanted the government to spend heavily in a recession, even if it required deficit spending.
• Roosevelt was hesitant to start deficit spending but decided to ask for more funds in 1938.

• In Roosevelt’s second term, Congress passed:
– Laws to build low-cost housing.
– The Farm Security Administration gave loans to tenant farmers so they could purchase farms.
– The Fair Labor Standards Act which provided for the abolition of child labor, and also set the first federal minimum wage.

• The New Deal did give Americans a stronger sense of security.
• However, the New Deal had only limited success in ending the Depression.
– Unemployment remained high until after World
War II.

• The Roosevelt recession enabled more
Republicans to win seats in the 1938 mid-term elections.
• As Republicans and some conservative Southern
Democrats began blocking New Deal legislation, FDR shifted his attention to the growing threats posed by
Germany and Japan.

What did the New Deal actually do?
• By 1939, the New Deal had ended.
• As a whole, the New Deal tended to operated so that it balanced competing economic interests.
– As a result, business leaders, farmers, workers, and consumers expected the government to protect their interests.

• Two Supreme Court rulings encouraged the government to take on this role.
• One was the 1937 case of
NLRB v. Jones and Laughlin
Steel.
• In the case, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had the constitutional authority, under the interstate commerce clause, to regulate production within a state.

• Another Supreme court case,
Wickard v. Filburn in 1942.
• A farmer (Filburn), was growing an excessive amount of wheat to use on his farm.
• During the Great Depression, the government ordered excessive crops to be destroyed so that farm prices would rise.
• The government ordered the excessive wheat destroyed and for
Filburn to pay a fine
• This time the Supreme Court allowed the government to regulate consumption.
• These decisions increased federal power over the economy and gave the government a mediator role.

• The New Deal set up this role of broker state.
– This means the government brokers, or works out, conflicts between different interest groups.

• The biggest change brought about by the
New Deal is Americans’ view of government.
• New Deal programs created a safety net for average Americans.
• Safeguards and relief programs protected them against economic disaster.

• People wanted the government to keep this safety net in place.
• However, some critics thought the New Deal gave the government too much power.
• People still debate today whether the government should intervene in the economy.

• Another issue still debated today is how much the government should support disadvantaged people.