FEAR ITSELF:
FDR & THE NEW DEAL
Mr. Ermer
U.S. History
Miami Beach Senior High
THE RISE OF FDR
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, politician from New York
Takes break from politics, gets sick with polio (paralyzed legs)
Eleanor Roosevelt (wife) gets involved with politics while FDR recovers
Elected president in 1932, economy gets worse before his inauguration
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People worried FDR would get rid of the gold standard—states issue bank holidays
 FDR had no firm ideology, believed in “bold experimentation”
 Depended on advisors for information and advice:
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Some advise FDR get gov’t to help big business get out of Depression
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Some advise FDR to allow the gov’t to plan the economy, exclude big business
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Some advocate Wilson’s “New Freedom”, break big business up and regulate the new
competition
THE FIRST NEW DEAL
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Inaugural Speech: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself ”
Prohibition Repealed
Fireside Chats: Roosevelt uses the radio to uplift nation
Help for Banks:
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) insures bank deposits
Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate stock market
Glass-Steagall Act: separates investment and commercial banks
Home Owners Loan Corp. restructures mortgages (longer period, lower interest)
Farm Credit Administration (FCA): helps farmers refinance mortgages
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) controls farm production
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) authorizes the National Recovery
Administration (NRA) suspends anti-trust laws and supports cooperation
between business and government
ALPHABET SOUP
RELIEF PROGRAMS
• Civilian Conservation Corp. (CCC) puts young men to work with forestry
service, Tenn. Valley Authority (TVA) concentrates on infrastructure
• Federal Emergency Relief Admin. (FERA) funds state-level relief projects
• Public Works Admin. (PWA) puts young men to work in construction
• Civil Works Admin. (CWA) combines efforts of PWA and CCC
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CWA puts 4 million to work (including 300,000 women)
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CWA builds/improves 1,000 airports, 500,000 miles of road, 40,000 schools, 3.500 parks and
playgrounds
SECOND NEW DEAL
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Conservatives believed the New Deal regulated business too much
Liberals believed did not believe the New Deal regulated or did enough
FDR abandons balanced budget and begins deficit spending, new programs
Works Progress Admin. (WPA) employs 8.5 million people and spent $11
Million on roads, airports, bridges, and parks as well as public art projects
• 1935: Supreme Court strikes down the NRA in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United
States
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Supreme Court’s decision struck down organized labor allowed by NIRA
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1935: Congress passes the Wagner Act creating the National Labor Relations Board, binding
arbitration and gave unions more leverage—sit down strikes
• Social Security Act: provides a retirement pension
CRITICS OF THE NEW DEAL
• First wave of New Deal programs does not end the Depression
• American Liberty League
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DuPont family repurposes ALL as a conservative organization to fight the new deal
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ALL calls FDR “dictatorial” but fails to gain much support besides industrialists
• Communist and Socialist parties also critical, but also unsuccessful
• Townsend Plan for a retirement pension gains support, defeated in Congress
• Father Coughlin’s radio show rallies conservative opposition to New Deal
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Coughlin creates the National Union for Social Justice
• Senator Huey Long of Louisiana breaks ranks with Roosevelt over New Deal
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Long calls for drastic wealth redistribution call the Share-Our-Wealth Program
FDR REELECTED
• Election of 1936: Democrats forge new party base (working class whites,
African Americans, Women, progressives, white southerners, farmers)
• Supreme Court threatens to strike down the New Deal
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Roosevelt proposes court-packing plan to appoint new “friendly” justices
• Depression GNP: from $82 billion in 1929 to $40 billion in 1932 to $72 billion
by 1937
• Recession of 1937: Roosevelt ended some programs, raises taxes
• Fair Labor Standards Act: minimum wage
• National Housing Act: creates U.S. Housing Authority (public housing)
• The New Deal allowed the U.S. to be a broker state, mediating between interest
groups, and created a safety net while providing the infrastructure needed for
future growth