The New Deal and the Second New Deal
AP Ch. 25B (814-833)
The student will understand FDR’s response
to the Great Depression, specifically the
1st 100 Days, critics of the New Deal, and
he 2nd New Deal.
"Do something. And when you have
done that something, if it works, do it
some more. And if it does not work,
then do something else."
--FDR
1st inaugural address: March 4, 1933
“This is a day of national consecration,
and I am certain that my fellowAmericans 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. . . nameless,
unreasoning, unjustified terror
which paralyzes needed efforts to
convert retreat into advance.”
I. FDR
A. Fought the depression with business-govt.
cooperation and pump-priming, subsidized
crop reduction, and short-term direct relief
for the jobless Fireside chats
B. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt advised her
husband, promoted social reform, and
acted as observer for husband
Eleanor Roosevelt: worked for public
housing legislation, state government
reform, birth control, and better
working conditions for women.
1st Hundred Day Legislation
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March 9: Emergency Banking Act
March 20: Economy Act
March 31: Civilian Conservation Corps
established
April 19: End of the gold standard
May 12: Emergency Farm Mortgage Act
May 18: Tennessee Valley Authority
established
May 27: Truth in Securities Act
June 13: Home Owners' Loan Act
June 16: National Industrial Recovery Act
and Farm Credit Act
First 100 Days: FDR’s push of programs after
programs through Congress in 1933 to help
improve the economy.
C. First 100 Days (Relief and Recovery)
1. Bank crisis
a. Emergency Banking Act
b. Declared a “bank holiday”
c. Assured the Americans they could again
trust the banks
bank closings: 1st step to restore the
public’s faith in the banking system.
Glass-Steagall Act (1933): created the
FDIC which guarantees personal bank
accounts
•Henry B.Steagall of Ozark, AL drafted the Glass-Steagall Act
of
1933, which created the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation
(guaranteeing bank deposits).
Federal Securities Act: Regulated the sale of
stocks
CCC camp
#472
Ft. Payne, AL
http://www.trackingyourroots.com/data/ccc.htmlTracking CCC relatives
2. CCC employed jobless young men in rural
projects such as reforestation, park
maintenance, and erosion control
Civilian Conservation Corps: created
March 31, paid $30 per month to youth
18-25 from relief families, would total
2 million young people by 1941 (GRE)
Little River Canyon and the Falls
were helped by the CCC when it was
decided that that it would be a good
opportunity to build nature trails,
bridle paths, etc. while the Civilian
Conservation Corps boys were
available.
De Soto Falls on the Little River
Mentone, AL
3. Agricultural Adjustment Act which paid
farmers not to farm in order to revive the
farm economy; parts of it later declared
unconstitutional
Agricultural Adjustment
Administration (AAA): tried to raise
farm prices through subsidies or
governmental financial assistance such
eroded land, AL
as lending them cash.
Soil erosion
1936, AL
4. National Industrial Recovery Act, which
encouraged business-government cooperation
and major industries drafted codes of "fair
competition; declared unconstitutional in
order to reduce competition
National Recovery Administration
(NRA): industry wide codes that helped
stop the tailspin of industrial prices; this
was FDR’s attempt to help businesses
by stabilizing prices.
5. TVA—Built dams that made rural
electrification possible
Tennessee Valley Authority: works
project that created jobs, cheap
electricity, flood control, and
recreational areas in Tennessee and
north Alabama. (GRE)
Flood damage
TVA Tree Nursery at Muscle Shoals, AL
Navigation Locks at Dam No. 2, Florence, AL
Wilson Dam, Sheffield, AL
Electrical generator
TVA Interactive Map
TVA homesite
6. fireside chat: FDR speaking on the
radio directly to the country to reassure
it.
http://www.mhric.org/fdr/fdr.html or
http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/firesi90.html for
transcripts of fireside chats
7. Reconstruction Finance Corporation cont.
8. Accepted John Maynard Keynes (Keynesian
economics which calls for deficit spending
which can stimulate economic recovery)
theory but reluctant to deficit spend
9. Farm Security Administration sent
photographers (Dorothea Lange) to take
pictures of the Dust Bowl victims.
10. Fair Labor Standards Act banned child labor
and established a minimum wage and
maximum workweek
Another way to help those in need
PWA low income housing
Public Works Administration (PWA):
government funded projects to build
public facilities and provide jobs.
The PWA was headed by Harold Ickes, Secretary
of the Interior. Congress gave permission for the
PWA to spend $3,300,000,000 for various public
works projects. This included the construction of
schools, hospitals, post offices, roads and dams.
By June 1934 the agency had distributed its entire
fund to 13,266 federal projects and 2,407
non-federal projects.
school stadium built by PWA, Carbon Hill AL
Carbon Hill High School today
"In 1931 both banks were closed and the mining
industry upon which the City was 75%
dependent reached a standstill. Property values
decreased 60%, and revenue to the City from
taxes was reduced in proportion," wrote the City
Commission to the Alabama League of
Municipalities,
funding and relief work provided by the New
Deal's Works Progress Administration (WPA)
and the Public Works Administration (PWA).
By 1937, $182,000 in federal funds for local
work relief and infrastructural projects, matched
by $105,000 raised by local sponsors, had funded
sewer, sidewalk, and street improvements, gone
to the construction of a new high school, and
provided work relief for hundreds of local
residents.
see http://newdeal.feri.org/carbonhill/ for slide show
Other jobs created by the WPA:
Fletcher Martin painting of Kellogg arriving in Kellogg, Idaho. Painted
on a post office wall. One example of putting artists to work
Other artwork
Brewton, AL Post Office
"Logging" - missing*
by John Von Wicht (1939)
II. Opponents of FDR
A. Father Coughlin: a popular radio
personality who made reckless,
contradictory,
and antiSemitic
statements to
his large
audience.
B. Huey Long: governor of Louisiana
who called for FDR to do more to
redistribute the wealth from the rich
to the poor.
Share Our Wealth Movement demanded that the
government make “Everyman a King,” that is to say,
every family could get an annual income of $2,000 and
a homestead or $6000 to build a home. To pay for this,
the government would nationalize all banks and allow
no one to be over a " ten millionaire. "
Gov. of La. From 1928 to 1932. Elected U.S.
Senator in 1930 but did not go to Washington
until 1932. Assassinated in 1935 byDr. Carl
Weiss, who received 31bullet holes from guards
C. Dr Francis Townsend: Old Age
Revolving Pension Plan, called for
payments of $200 per month to persons
over 60 years of age
Dr. Francis E. Townsend (right),
confers with Sheridan Downey,
U.S. Senator from California
D. The rich
E. A more conservative Congress in his
second term which cut relief, passing the
Hatch Act (forbids federal workers from
participating in electoral campaigns), and
rejecting FDR's proposal to reorganize the
executive branch
political right: Typically Republicans
who wanted to preserve the current
system and considered FDR’s programs
to be socialist.
political left: Typically Democrats who
sought radical changes and did not
believe FDR’s programs went far
enough to helping the economically
disadvantaged.
Second New Deal: Reforms that
included more welfare benefits, stricter
controls over business, stronger support
for unions, and higher taxes on the rich;
in part to help the common people.
•WPA
•Wagner Act
•Social Security Act
•The Wealth Tax Act
Wagner Act: or National Relations
Labor Act which included collective
bargaining and closed shops to help to
strengthen unions and protect union
workers.
National Labor Relations Board:
enforced the provisions that were
designed to protect unions.
III. The 2nd New Deal--in response to declining
economics and the 1936 election
A. Fair Labor Standards Act—banned child
labor and established a minimum and
maximum hours for the work week
B. National Housing Act
C. National Labor Relations Act-guaranteed
collective bargaining, outlawed
blacklisting, and outlawed spying on union
Social Security Act (1935): provide for
old-age pensions, unemployment
insurance, and aid for dependent
children and the disabled.
FDR signing
Soc. Security
Act
D. Social Security Act—established the principle
of federal responsibility for social welfare
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and created the basic framework for the
welfare system
E. AAA of 1938 established the practice of
giving farmers loans and storing the surplus
during times of low prices and big harvests.
F. African Americans: results were mixed in
that some New Deals helped blacks, but there
was no specific civil rights legislation; Eleano
a supporter of civil rights but also FDR had to
deal with the Southern Dems.
African Americans: were less likely to
receive relief assistance or job programs
because of discrimination.
Working the docks in
Mobile, AL 1937
African Americans: did not receive
much help federal help in response to
discrimination in the North so that
African Americans had to picket and
boycott businesses on their own.
AL, 1938
Manchester, Georgia, 1938
lynching: became worse in the early
30’s but FDR would not help to enact
new laws because he feared alienating
Southern Congressmen.
Jesse Owens
History of the U.S. cd
Mary McLeod Bethune: African
American educator and activist who
was appointed director of the Division
of Negro Affairs of the National Youth
Administration.
conservative Supreme Court: caused
FDR his greatest frustration
by striking
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down his legislation as unconstitutional.
He responded by trying to “pack” the
court. Public reaction to
this attempt was very
negative. However, FDR
would appoint 8 justices
from 1937 to 1945.
Supreme Court: declared the NIRA
unconstitutional because it gave the
President lawmaking powers.
G. "Court Packing” was attempted by FDR after
the 1936 election because of his frustration of
their declaring his legislation unconstitutional;
many people were upset with his attempt; it
became unnecessary because the attempt, old
age, or death led to 4 being replaced.
Justice Hugo Black, born in Clay Co., AL,appointed in
1937 by FDR to offset the conservative court. Later
revealed that Black had been a member of the KKK in
the 20s. This would help kill FDRs effort to restructure
the court. Black would later be pro-civil rights.
1936 election: landslide victory by FDR
over Alf Landon.
"Roosevelt Recession“ or
Recession of 1937: brought about by
the new Social Security tax and the
cutback in the WPA which both led to
consumers having less money to spend
H. Results of the New Deal: did not bring
about full economic recovery or eliminate the
problem of unemployment; however, it did get
the American people through an economic
crisis without major political upheaval.
End of the New Deal: By 1938, Republicans had made heavy
gains and more moderate Democrats began rejecting some of
FDR’s proposals. Finally, FDR began to focus on foreign
relations by 1939.
Hatch Act: . Prohibits federal employees from
participating in political partisanship.
enduring legacy of the New Deal:
agencies today include TVA, FDIC,
and the SEC. Plus the Presidential
powers were greatly enhanced.