The Great
Depression and
New Deal
1929-1939
7.1
NATIONAL, STATE, AND LOCAL REFORMERS
RESPONDED TO ECONOMIC UPHEAVALS,
LAISSEZ-FAIRE CAPITALISM, AND THE
GREAT DEPRESSION BY TRANSFORMING THE
UNITED STATES INTO A LIMITED WELFARE
STATE.
Financial Panic or Great Depression?
 What makes the 1930s different from
the Panics of 1819, 1837, 1873, 1893?
Causes and Effects
Causes
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uneven distribution of income
stock market speculation/buying on
margin
excessive use of credit
overproduction
weak farm economy
government policies
global economic problems
Causes and Effects
Effects
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20% of all banks closed
GNP drops
Unemployment reaching
25%, not including farmers
Republican domination will
end
“Hoovervilles”
Mortgage foreclosures
Hoover’s Policies
Rugged Individualism
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Later response
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Urges voluntary action and restraint
Believed direct relief should come
from state and local governments
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
Federal Farm Board
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Despair and Protest
 Farm
holiday association
 Bonus Army March disaster
The Election of 1932
 Republicans nominate Hoover
 Democrats nominate Franklin Delano Roosevelt who
promises a “new deal” for the American people
 Landslide victory for Democrats
 20th Amend. reduces lame duck session (Jan. 20)
 21st Amend. repeals prohibition
“Hoovervilles” represent President
Hoover’s failure to act in the crisis
 The liberalism of FDR’s
New Deal drew on earlier
progressive ideas and
represented a multifaceted
approach to both the
causes and effects of the
Great Depression.
 His plan used government
power to provide relief for
the poor, stimulate
recovery, and reform the
American economy.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Advisors
 Eleanor Roosevelt
Most active first lady in history
 Voice of the “forgotten man”
 Brain trust & black “Cabinet”
 Most diverse administration in history
 Frances Perkins (Sec. of Labor)

Marian Anderson and Eleanor Roosevelt
Franklin Roosevelt’s First New Deal
Financial Recovery
& Reform
Programs
Industrial &
Agricultural
Recovery Programs
• Emergency
Banking Relief
Act
• Federal Deposit
Insurance
Corporation
• Home Owners
Loan Corporation
• Securities &
Exchange
Commission
• National
Recovery
Administration
• Agricultural
Adjustment Act
• Both declared
unconstitutional
Relief for
Unemployed
• Federal
Emergency Relief
Administration
• Civilian
Conservation
Corps
• Tennessee Valley
Authority
National Recovery Administration
 Businesses worked together to
set codes for fair practice and
reasonable prices
 Ruled unconstitutional by the
conservative Supreme Court in
1935
 However, many of the provisions
were seen again in later acts (i.e.
the Wagner Act)
Businesses that were
members of the NRA
displayed this seal
Tennessee Valley Authority

In the 1930s the Tennessee Valley was one of the poorest regions in
the U.S. facing many problems including
Soil erosion
 Deforestation
 Lack of electricity

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The TVA put men to work:
Building dams to control flooding and erosion
 Building electric power plants to bring electricity to homes, farms, and
businesses
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TVA hired experts to teach farmers about fertilizers and improved
farming methods
The Second New Deal
1935-1936
Relief Programs
Permanent Reforms
• Works Progress
Administration(WPA)
• National Labor
Relations (Wagner
Act)
• Fair Labor
Standards Act
• Social Security
Fireside Chats
• Weekly radio
addresses to reassure
the public
Permanent Workers’ Rights
National Labor Relations
Act (Wagner Act)
 Replaces the NRA
 Guarantees collective
bargaining
 NLRB deals with laborlaw violations
Fair Labor Standards Act
 Federal minimum
wage, maximum hours,
& no child labor
Social Security
 Retiree benefits
 Disability insurance
 Unemployment
compensation
Federal Writers’ Project
 Part of the Works’ Progress
Administration, 1935-1939
 Employed writers, teachers,
historians, librarians and other
white-collar workers
 Originally focused on the
creation of an American Guide
Book
 Project expanded to employ
people to chronicle personal
narratives, folklore, studies of
social and ethnic groups, former
slave testimonies, etc
Liberal Critics of the New Deal
Huey Long
Dr. Francis Townsend
 Senator and populist
 Believed the New Deal did not go far
 Doctor and activist for the elderly
 Developed the “Townsend Plan”
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enough and was too friendly to
banking
“share our wealth” campaign –
promoted redistribution of wealth
Proposed a minimum annual income
of $5,000
This would be raised by taxing the
wealthy
Partnered with controversial Father
Charles Coughlin (best known for his
anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish
bankers)
for an old-age pension program
 His ideas were adopted in the
Social Security Act
Conservative Critics of the New Deal
Conservative Critics


American Liberty
League
(businessmen)
The Supreme Court
FDR’s Response
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1937 Court packing
scheme
Defeated by
Congress
Aftermath - Justices
begin backing off and
retiring
Progression of the New Deal
 1936: FDR easily wins reelection and began to
appoint new, liberal justices
 1937-1939: FDR scales back deficit spending,
resulting in the Roosevelt recession
 1940: FDR wins reelection in a campaign that
focused almost entirely on the war in Europe (WWII
began in 1939)
 1941: the U.S. enters WWII, resulting in full
employment and higher wages
Political Impact of the New Deal
 Although the New Deal did not completely overcome
the Depression it left a legacy of government reforms
and agencies that endeavored to make society and
individuals more secure--creation of the “welfare
state”
 Helped foster a long-term political realignment in
which many ethnic groups, African-Americans and
working-class communities identified with the
Democratic Party
Impact of the New Deal on Labor
Rise of Unions
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Congress of Industrial Organizations
(C.I.O) breaks away from American
Federation of Labor (AFL)
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Federal minimum wage,
maximum hours, no child labor

Precedent of government
mediation of major labor
disputes
Impact of the New Deal on Minorities
 African-Americans
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Racial discrimination
continues
Were able to take jobs with
WPA and CCC
Appointed to federal
department and leaders were
invited to Washington
Fair Employment Practices
Committee
Assists minorities in gaining
jobs in the defense industry
 A. Philip Randolph
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 Native Americans
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John Collier appointed
Commissioner of the Bureau
of Indian Affairs
Native Americans involved in
the CCC and WPA
Indian Reorganization
(Wheeler-Howard Act) 1934
 Mexican Americans

As white migrant workers
push West, Mexican
agricultural workers tend to
return to Mexico