FDR & the New Deal
The Election of 1932
• Hoover v. FDR
• Hoover:
– “The Worst is Past”
– “It Might Have
Been Worse”
– “Prosperity is Right
Around the Corner”
• FDR
– Optimism: “Happy Days
Are Here Again”
– Promises a “new deal” –
but what is it?
– Personality / Image
Election of 1932
- Anti-Hoover
referendum
- FDR wins:
472-59
- AfricanAmericans
shift to the
Dems
FDR First Inaugural
What language does FDR use to describe the Depression?
This is a day of national consecration, and I am certain
that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction
into the Presidency I will address them with a candor
and a decision which the present situation of our
nation impels.
This is pre-eminently the time to speak the truth, the
whole truth, frankly and boldly.
Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in
our country today. This great nation will endure as it
has endured, will revive and will prosper.
So first of all let me assert my firm belief that the only
thing we have to fear. . .is fear itself. . .
The First Hundred Days
- Special Session of Congress
- “Three R’s”
- Relief, Recovery, Reform
- Banking
- FDRs “First Fireside Chat”
- Response?
- Bank Holiday
- Emergency Banking Relief
Act
- Glass-Steagall Banking
Reform Act
- Federal Securities Act
Employment & Aid
Employment & Aid
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
-
Civilian Works Administration (CWA)
PWA
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
Loans to halt
Home Owner’s Loan Corp (HOLC)
foreclosures
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
45,000 kilovolt-ampere waterwheel c. 1938
National Recovery Administration (NRA)
Industrial codes – hrs, wages, no child labor, permit
unions
Struck down by Schechter v. United States (1935) – the
“sick chicken” case
Works Progress Administration
(1935)
- New Deal effective? Depression still looms.
- $11 billion for buildings, roads, bridges, schools,
airports, libraries.
- “ New Deal for the Arts ”
- WPA Art / Writers / Theater Projects
- Photography, murals, painting.s, sculpture, plays, oral
histories, guidebooks, novels, recordings
Jane Addams Memorial
By Mitchell Siporin, Illinois Federal Art Project, WPA, 1936
Tempera on paper
Poster for Festival of American
Dance
Los Angeles Federal Theatre
Project, WPA, 1937
Myra Kinch and Clay Dalton in the Los Angeles production
of American Exodus
By an unknown photographer, 1937
Dorothea Lange
“Migrant
Mother”
WPA Slave Narratives
- Writers interviewed and recorded the
stories of 2000+ former slaves in 17 states.
First New Deal  Limitations  Second New Deal
PWA, CCC, CWA  still unemployment  WPA
AAA  declared unconstitutional  2nd AAA
NRA  declared unconstitutional  Fair Labor
Standards Act; NLRB
TVA  still large areas w/o electricity  REA
No unemployment insurance; old age pensions 
Social Security
Critics of the New Deal
Liberals
• Wanted more government action
• Communist Party of America
• Sen. Huey P. Long
–
–
–
–
Share Our Wealth Program
“Every man a king!”
Guaranteed income of $5000 + house + car
100% tax on incomes over $1 million
• Dr. Francis Townshend
– Old age pensions of $200/mo for citizens 65+
Critics of the New Deal
Conservatives
• Wanted less government action
• Fr. Charles Coughlin
– Denounced bankers, the New Deal, and Jews.
• Republican Party
– Criticized FDR’s “alphabet soup” as too communistic
• Supreme Court
– Dominated by older, Republican-appointed justices
– Struck down many of the First New Deal programs: AAA, NRA
– FDR responds with the Court Packing Plan
• Asks Congress to pass a bill allowing him to appoint a new justice for every
judge over 70.
• This would expand court from 9 to 13 judges immediately.
• FDR is accused of trying to overpower the Supreme court and backs down.
Effects of New Deal
Criticisms
• Never brings about full
employment.
• Puts the US into debt.
• Expands the power of the US
gov’t (especially Pres)
• President dominates other
branches of gov’t
Successes
• NO ONE STARVES!
• THERE ISN’T A
REVOLUTION!
• Needed reforms are made.
• NO DICTATORSHIP (even if
FDR has unusual power)
• President now seen as
accessible by the American
people.