FDR
Friendly
Dependable
Resourceful
Election of 1932
• Americans were ready for a new president
• Hoover v. Roosevelt, former NY governor
– proved that relief programs could provide jobs for
the unemployed
• Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt wins
– level of energy and can-do attitude attracted
voters
– golden speaking voice
– “aid must be extended by government…as a
matter of social duty”
– carried 42 of the 48 states
Background
• 1921: paralyzed
• wife: Eleanor
– “conscience of the New Deal”
• loved by liberals
– “traitor to his class”
FDR Takes Office
• 4 months would elapse between the
election in 1932 and his inauguration
on March 4, 1933
• 20th Amendment, ratified in February
1933, moved the presidential
inauguration to January 20th
Inaugural Address 1933
• “We have nothing to fear but fear
itself.”
Ready…
• “Brain Trust”
– select group of professors, lawyers, and
journalists handpicked by FDR to help
advise the newly elected president
Set…
• New Deal
– 2 goals in mind
• relieve as much human suffering as possible in the
shortest amount of time
• try to correct some of the underlying conditions that had
brought about the suffering
– focused on 3 objectives
• relief for the needy
• economic recovery
• financial reform
GO!
• The First Hundred Days
– March 1 - June 16, 1933
– Congress passed more than 15 pieces of
legislation
• (1) March 5, 1933: BANK HOLIDAY!
– declared by executive order
– intended to stop runs on the banks
Keep it HOT
• Fireside Chats
– radio talks about issues of public concern,
explaining New Deal measures in clear, simple
language
– allowed Americans to feel as though the president
was talking directly to them
• “When I am asked whether the American
people will pull themselves out of this
depression, I answer, ‘They will if they want
to.’”
Alphabet Agencies (1)
• Business Assistance & Reform
– EBRA: Emergency Banking Relief Act
• allowed the Treasury Department to inspect
the country’s banks
– (2) Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1935
• created the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC)
– insured bank accounts up to $5000
Alphabet Agencies (2)
• Business Assistance & Reform
– Federal Securities Act
• required corporations to provide complete
information on all stock offerings
– (7) SEC: Securities and Exchange
Commission
• prohibited insider trading and buying on
margin
Alphabet Agencies (3)
• Business Assistance & Reform
– (9) NIRA: National Industrial Recovery
Act
• cornerstone of the New Deal
• cooperation of government, business, and
labor to form enforceable fair competition
codes
– abolished child labor
– created public works projects
– set minimum wages
– set maximum hours
– guaranteed the right of labor to bargain collectively
Alphabet Agencies (4)
• Farm Relief/Rural Development
– (5) AAA: Agricultural Adjustment Act
• paid farmers for reducing crop production by
up to one half to strengthen prices
– (6) TVA: Tennessee Valley Authority
• constructed dams and power plants at Muscle
Shoals, Tennessee
• provided jobs and rural electrification in the 7
states in the Tennessee River Valley
– less than 2% of farmers had electricity
Alphabet Agencies (5)
• Employment Projects
– (3) CCC: Civilian Conservation Corps
• provided jobs in reforestation and flood control
• most popular program
– CWA: Civil Works Administration
• provided 4 million immediate jobs
Alphabet Agencies (6)
• Employment Projects
– (4) FERA: Federal Emergency Relief
Administration
• provided direct relief to the needy
• granted money to states for relief
Alphabet Agencies (7)
• Employment Projects
– (10) PWA: Public Works Administration
• provided money to states to create jobs
– 39,000 schools
– 2,500 hospitals
– 325 airports
– libraries
– bridges
– highways
– parks
– college football stadiums in the south
Alphabet Agencies (8)
• Housing
– (8) HOLC: Home Owners Loan
Corporation
• provided government loans to homeowners
who faced foreclosure
• appropriated money to pay mortgages which
supported homeowners, banks, and the
building trade
Just Good Sense
• (11) passes the 21st Amendment
– repeals the 18th Amendment
The Court’s Reaction
• 1935: Supreme Court began to strike
down New Deal programs as
unconstitutional or because the federal
government was overstepping its
boundaries
– NIRA gave legislative powers to the
executive branch
Court-packing Scheme
• 1937: FDR proposed that the federal
judiciary allow him to appoint 6
additional Supreme Court judges
– “Court-packing bill”
• select judges sympathetic to the New
Deal programs
Liberal Reaction
• did not go far enough to help the
“forgotten man” or remake society
Conservative Reaction
• too autocratic
• created a welfare state
• view TVA negatively because the
government became a provider of
electricity instead of a private firm
• see court packing scheme as destroying
checks and balances
Other Options? (1)
• The Liberty League
– led by Democrat Al Smith
– industrialists and conservative Democrats
– opposed the Wagner Act
– wanted to end the New Deal
Other Options? (2)
• 1934
• Dr. Francis Townsend called for
payments of $200 to people over 60
Other Options? (3)
• Huey “The Kingfish” Long
– Governor then Senator of Louisiana
– proposed “Share Our Wealth” Program
• “Every Man a King”
• guaranteed annual income for each family of
$2,500
• paid for by limiting annual income to $1
million; total assets per person $5 million
– announced he would run for president in
1936
– assassinated in 1935
Other Options? (4)
• Father Charles E. Coughlin
– Catholic Priest
– “the radio priest”
– called for living wage
– supported nationalization of the banks
– anti-banker
– anti-Communist
– anti-Semite
FDR v. HOOVER
How are they similar and different?