FDR and the Second New Deal
THE SECOND NEW DEAL
• Although the economy
had improved during FDR’s
first term (1932-1936), the
gains were not as great as
expected
• Unemployment remained
high and production still
lagged
The “Second” New Deal
• 1st New Deal = Relief/Recovery
• 2nd New Deal = Social Reform
• Election of 1936 - Cements “New Deal Coalition”
– South
– Farmers
– Labor
– Urban
– Blacks
V. New Deal Programs:
B. Second New Deal:
1) Works Progress Adm. (WPA): 1935
-employed writers, teachers, librarians,
actors, musicians, and artists
-also expanded the number of workers in
existing organizations (ex: CCC)
-created 100,000’s of jobs - relief
Works Progress Administration
• 9 million employed in over 250,000
public jobs
• Cost more than $11 billion
• Over 40% of population involved
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
• Employed 8.5 million
workers in
construction and
other jobs, but more
importantly provided
work in arts, theater,
and literary projects.
• Helping urban workers
was critical to the success
of the Second Hundred
Days
ARTISTS
HERALDED
• Painters like Edward Hopper,
Thomas Hart Benton, and
Iowa’s Grant Wood were all
made famous by their work
in the WPA program
• Photographer Dorothea
Lange gained fame from her
photos during this era
(featured throughout this
presentation)
Wood’s American Gothic is perhaps the most
famous piece of the era (1930)
NATIONAL YOUTH ADMINISTRATION
• The National Youth
Administration (NYA) was
created to provide education,
jobs and recreation for young
people
• Getting young people off the
streets and into schools and
jobs was a high priority for the
NYA
National Labor Relations Act (Wagner
Act)
• Purpose: reform
• Put restraints on
employers and set
up a National Labor
Relations Board to
protect the rights of
organized labor to
bargain collectively
with employers.
Called the “Magna Carta” for labor
Congress of Industrial Organization
Second Agricultural Adjustment Act
• Purpose: recovery
for agriculture
• Paid farmers for
conservation
practices, but only
if they restricted
production of
staple crops.
Fair Labor Standard Act
• Minimum wage (.40 an hour) $6.13 today
• 40 hour week
• No children under 16
Revenue Act
• Wealth Tax Act
• Tax on income over $50,000, (75% tax on
income over $1 million
• Tax on estates over $40,000
• Corporate tax
V. New Deal Programs:
2) Social Security Act (SSA): 1935
-required a social security tax to be taken
out of every workers’ paycheck
-gave money to those who were disabled or
too old to work
-relief
New Deal Part II
•
•
•
•
•
•
WPA - Libraries, Roads, Artists
NYA - Youth
RA - Resettle tenant farmers
REA - Rural Electrification
Public Utility Holding Company - Regulate Utilities
Wagner Act (NLRB) - Collective Bargaining/Labor
Rights
– CIO - “One Big Union” Again?
• Social Security
Big policies from New Deal
• FDIC – banking insurance
critical to sound economy
• Deficit spending has
became a normal feature
of government
• Social Security is a key
legacy of the New Deal in
that the Feds have
assumed a greater
responsibility for the social
welfare of citizens since
1935
Decline of New Deal Reform
after 1937
• Reasons for decline of New Deal reform after 1937:
• Court-packing plan made Congress irritable.
• Recession of 1937-38 weakened confidence in New
Deal measures. Republicans gained strength in both
houses.
• Attempted purge of Democratic party failed.
• Conservative Democrats were elected to office.
Resentful of attempted party purge, they joined ranks
with Republicans to block New Deal legislation.
• Increasing focus on foreign affairs.
Physical Rehabilitation of Country
• Attacked soil erosion
• Built dams and planted trees
to prevent floods
• Reclaimed the grasslands of
the Great Plains
• Developed water power
resources
• Encouraged regional
reconstruction projects like
the TVA and Columbia River
project
Revitalization of Politics
• Strengthened executive
branch
• Reasserted presidential
leadership
• Revitalized political party
as a vehicle for the
popular will and as an
instrument for effective
action.
Maintenance of a Democratic System
• The New Deal maintained a
democratic system of government
and society in a world threatened by
totalitarianism.
– Increased size and scope of
government to meet needs of the
depression
– Provided the leadership that
enabled Congress to put through
the necessary relief, recovery, and
reform measures.
– Sponsored moderate legislation
to neutralize the popularity of
radical opponents
VI. Impact of the New Deal:
• Increased the power of the Pres.
• Conservation gains – dams built, trees
planted, etc.
• Created new federal social programs – social
security, established modern welfare state
• Deficit spending – the gov’t spends more
money than it brings in from taxes
Legacy
• The New Deal established the foundation of the modern
welfare state while preserving the capitalist system.
• Legislation passed as part of the New Deal
experimented with a new level of governmental
activism in an attempt to relieve social and economic
suffering of Americans.
• Federal New Deal programs addressed areas such as
business, agriculture, labor, the arts, and even people's
daily lives.
• Despite a mixed legacy with respect to recovery and
reform, the political response under Roosevelt proved
that the economic crisis did not require Americans to
abandon democracy.