The New Deal 1932-1941
Chapter 13
FDR OFFERS RELIEF
AND RECOVERY
Section 1
Roosevelt Takes Charge
• The Great Depression challenged the faith of Americans
that democracy could handle the crisis
• Franklin D. Roosevelt - In July 1932, the unknown
governor of New York, accepted the Democratic Party’s
nomination for President
Roosevelt Overcame Obstacles
• Americans choose a candidate that had never known
economic hardship
• Eleanor Roosevelt – married Franklin in 1905 a distant
cousin
• In 1921 FDR was diagnosed with polio, he never fully
recovered the use of his legs
Voters Elect a New President
• “New Deal” – FDR’s pledge to America on how to combat
the depression (primary source pg. 397)
• The 1932 campaign pitted Roosevelt against President
Hoover (Hoover / local and state, Roosevelt federal)
Putting Together a Winning Team
• FDR pulled together a divers group of women and men
professionals and academics and gave them the name
“Brain Trust”
• Frances Perkins – served as FDR’s Secretary of Labor,
the first women Cabinet member in U.S. history
The First Hundred Days Provide Instant
Action
• 15 bills known as the First New Deal, the three goals were
relief, recovery, and reform
FDR Swiftly Restores the Nation’s
Confidence
• One day after his inauguration, Roosevelt called
Congress into a special session
• Roosevelt delivered an informal radio speech to the
American people called fireside chats
Reforming the Financial System
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) –
insured bank deposits up to $5,000
• The purpose was to restore confidence in the economy,
bank runs in large part ended
Helping Farmers
• As output rose prices dropped to the point that farming
was no longer profitable
• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) – sought to end
overproduction and raise crop prices (HOW)
The TVA Aids Rural Southerners
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) – built a series of
dams to control flooding and generate power, replanted
forests, and built fertilizer plants
Providing Relief and Promoting Industrial
Recovery
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) – jobs for more than
2 million young men, replanted forests, built trails, dug
irrigation ditches, and fought fires
• Roosevelt said this was his favorite New Deal Program
Cont…
• National Recovery Administration (NRA) – Roosevelt
worked with business and labor leaders, to develop codes
of fair competition to govern industries
• Public Works Administration (PWA) – built bridges,
dams, power plants, and government buildings
Opposition to the New Deal Emerges
• Roosevelt had little difficulty gaining support from
Congress however some in the public thought the
program went to far or not far enough
The Right Says “Too Much”
• Chief complaint against the New Deal was that it made
the government too powerful
• Spending, government oversight, lack of free enterprise,
socialism
The Left Says “Not Enough”
• The Socialist and Communist said the New Deal only
helped the banking system and big business, while not
going far enough to help the people
Populist Critics Challenge FDR
• Father Charles Coughlin – had a weekly radio show and
accused FDR of not doing enough to fight the depression
“the raw deal”
• Huey Long – Long’s solution to the depression was his
“Share Our Wealth” program (redistribution of wealth)
(Primary Source pg. 403)
THE SECOND NEW
DEAL
Section 2
Extending Social and Economic Reform
• Second New Deal – legislation to promote the general
•
•
•
•
•
welfare, and to intervene to protect citizens rights
Elderly
Poor
Unemployed
farmers
workers
New Programs Provided Jobs
• Works Progress Administration (WPA) – 5 billion
dollars for the creation of new jobs
• WPA workers improved highways, dredged rivers /
harbors, promoted water and soil conservation, and
employed artists
• John Maynard Keynes – argued that
deficit spending was needed to end
the depression / pump priming
Social Security Eases the Burden on
Older Americans
• Social Security Act – established unemployment
insurance for workers, insurance for work-related
accidents, aid for poverty-stricken mothers and children,
the blind, and disabled
• Flaws in the SSA left out domestic and farmworkers /
blacks, widows vs. widowers
More Aid Goes to Farmers
• When the depression hit only 10% of farmers
had electricity
• REA (rural electrification administration) – loaned
money to electric utilities to build power lines to rural
areas
• New Deal programs also provided price supports, or
subsidies for agriculture, some argued it undermined free
market
Labor Unions Find a New Energy
• During the Great Depression there was an upsurge in
union activity, unions enlisted millions of workers from the
mining and automobile industries
Granting New Rights to Workers
• Wagner Act – recognized the right of employees to join
labor unions
• Collective Bargaining – meant that employers had to
negotiate with unions about hours, wages, and conditions
• National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – looked into
workers complaints
• Fair Labor Standards Act – established a minimum
wage / maximum of 44 work week, and outlawed child
labor
Workers Use Their Newfound Rights
• American Federation of Labor (AFL) – represented skilled
workers, plumbers, carpenters, and elections
• Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) – started
campaigns to organize lower paid and ethnically divers
workers
• Sit Down Strike – workers refuse to leave the workplace
until a settlement is reached
• Flint Michigan
(primary source pg. 409)
Challenges to the New Deal
• Roosevelt won an overwhelming victory in 1936, with 61
percent of the vote
• He entered his second term determined to challenge the
enemy of the New Deal, the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court Opposes the New
Deal
• The court, in the case of Schechter Poultry v. United
States, ruled the President has no power to regulate
interstate commerce thus the NRA was unconstitutional
FDR Proposes “Packing” the Court
• In 1937 in an address to Congress FDR unveiled a plan
that would dilute the power of the sitting Justices
• He wanted to add six new Justices the was termed court
packing
Cont.…
• With Roosevelt’s popularity he could have convinced
Congress to enact his plan but the tide began to turn in
his favor
• The Court upheld the Wagner Act and minimum wage law,
and Roosevelt was able to fill a vacancy with a pro New
Deal Justice
A New Downturn Spurs Conservative
Gains
• Unemployment fell 10 percent in four years and the
economy was doing better, Roosevelt looked to reduce
spending to reduce the rising deficit
• Less spending and higher interest rates caused a tail spin
in the economy, unemployment soared again to 20
percent
EFFECTS OF THE NEW
DEAL
Section 3
Women Help Lead the New Deal
• Women had more opportunity and political influence,
Eleanor Roosevelt was the leader among them
• The New Deal did not fight to end gender discrimination
• WPA
• CCC
• SS
African Americans Make Advance and
Face Challenges
• Eleanor Roosevelt used her position to protest against
racial discrimination (pg. 413)
• Black Cabinet – Black leaders invited by the President to
advise him
• Roosevelt did not always follow the advice though, “Antilynching law,” southern Democrats “would block every bill
I ask Congress to pass”
The New Deal Affects Native Americans
• Indian New Deal – program that gave Indians economic
assistance and greater control over their own affairs
• Land management changes the 1887 Dawes Act
• Not all programs were in the Native Americans favor
(Navajo Livestock Reduction program)
The New Deal Creates a New Political
Coalition
• By his death Roosevelt had been elected to four terms as
President
• New Deal Coalition – united southern whites, blue-collar
workers, Midwest farmers and African Americans
• Prior to the New Deal most blacks voted Republican the
party of Lincoln, responding to Eleanor Roosevelt's efforts
during the 1930’s African Americans began to vote
Democratic
The Role of Government Expands
• New Deal programs greatly increased the size and scope
of the federal government / taxes to benefits to the elderly
• Though the New Deal did not end the depression it did
help economic growth
• Rural Americans benefited greatly from the New Deal
(TVA and REA) pg. 418
• Welfare State – a government that assumes responsibility
for providing for the poor, elderly, sick, disabled and
unemployed
Cont.
• In no area did FDR have a greater impact than on the
office of the President.
• Expanding the role of government
• More power to the President $
• Style of the presidency (radio)
• 22nd Amendment