A History of the United States, 7 th Edition
By: Goldfield • Abbott • Anderson • Argersinger • Argersinger • Barney • Weir
Chapter
25
The Great Depression and the New Deal
1929–1939

The Great Depression and the New Deal 1929–1939
25.1
25.2
25.3
Hard Times in Hooverville
What triggered the Great Depression?
Herbert Hoover and the Depression
How did Herbert Hoover respond to the depression; why did his policies fail?
Launching the New Deal
What were the goals of the early New Deal?

The Great Depression and the New Deal 1929–1939
25.4
25.5
25.6
Consolidating the New Deal
How did the major accomplishments of the Second
New Deal affect America’s social and economic life?
Ebbing of the New Deal
Why did the New Deal lose momentum after 1936?
Good Neighbors and Hostile Forces
How did Roosevelt respond to the rise of fascism in
Europe?

Video Series: Key Topics in U.S. History
•
The Great Depression and the Promise of the
New Deal: 1929–1940
•
The Great Depression
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The President Takes on the Depression
•
The New Deal

•
Crash!
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The Depression Spreads
• “Women’s Jobs” and “Men’s Jobs”
•
Families in the Depression
• “Last Hired, First Fired”
•
Protest
Home

•
The New Deal

Federal intervention in the economy

Response to economic disaster
Hard Times in
Hooverville

•
October 1929

Panic selling

Onset of Great Depression
•
Long-term causes

Inequities in wealth and income

Oligopolies kept prices high

Overproduction

International debt
Hard Times in
Hooverville

•
Factories closed, income plummeted, layoffs
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Farmers
•
Evictions

Hoovervilles
•
Soup kitchens, breadlines
Hard Times in
Hooverville

“
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“
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”
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Women less likely to be fired overall
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But many married women fired
•
Women worked more overall in the 1930s
Hard Times in
Hooverville

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Many divisive factors
• Women’s responsibilities grew

Took in laundry
•
Children suffered
Hard Times in
Hooverville

Explore the Great Depression on MyHistoryLab
•
The Great Depression History Explorer reviews the causes of the Great Depression and illustrates the differences in the rate of unemployment across regions and races. The growing importance, throughout the 1930s, of urban life and the mass media are also considered and assessed.

“
”
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Disproportionate unemployment
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Less public assistance
•
Latinos displaced from farm work

Often barred from work

Many moved to Mexico
Hard Times in
Hooverville

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Surprisingly little protest
•
Political radicals
 Communist “unemployment councils”

Socialist organizations
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Rural protests
Hard Times in
Hooverville

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The Failure of Voluntarism
•
Repudiating Hoover: The 1932 Election
Home

•
Hoover relied on voluntary relief

Organization of private charities
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Cities largely failed to provide relief
•
Some government intervention

Federal Farm Board

Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Herbert
Hoover

Repudiating Hoover: The 1932 Election
•
Bonus Army
‒ 1932

Conflict with police
•
Election of 1932
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Wilson versus Hoover

The New Deal

Landslide victory for Wilson
Herbert
Hoover

•
Action Now!
•
Creating Jobs
•
Helping Some Farmers
•
The Flight of the Blue Eagle
•
Critics Right and Left
Home

•
The Hundred Days

Closed banks

Emergency Banking Act
•
Fireside chats
•
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC)
•
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Launching the
New Deal

•
Federal Emergency Relief Administration
(FERA)

Harry Hopkins

Civil Works Administration (CWA)

Public Works Administration (PWA)
•
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Launching the
New Deal

• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) ‒ 1933
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Improvement

Prices rose

Gross farm income rose
•
Helped larger commercial farmers most
•
Tenants and sharecroppers left out
Launching the
New Deal

•
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)

National Recovery Administration (NRA)

Supported business

But protected labor unions and collective bargaining
•
Helped management more than labor
Launching the
New Deal

•
Democrats successful in 1934 elections
•
Critiques

Large government

Not enough done for the poorest

Labor wanted more support
•
Francis Townsend
•
Charles Coughlin
•
Huey P. Long
Launching the
New Deal

•
Weeding Out and Lifting Up
•
Expanding Relief
•
The Roosevelt Coalition and the Election of
1936
•
Labor on the March
•
Women and the New Deal
•
Minorities and the New Deal
•
The New Deal: North, South, East, and West
•
The New Deal and Public Activism
Home

•
New opportunity to do more
•
Social Security
•
Money, tax, and land reform

Revenue Act of 1935
•
Dust Bowl

Resettlement Administration
Consolidating the New Deal

•
Works Progress Administration

Harry Hopkins

Infrastructure

The arts

National Youth Administration
Consolidating the New Deal

The Roosevelt Coalition and the Election of 1936
•
New Deal Coalition

Middle-class, workers, white southerners, urban ethnic groups, women
•
Landslide
•
Broadened opportunity
Consolidating the New Deal

•
Second New Deal helped labor resurgence
•
Industrial workers

American Federation of Labor split

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) ‒
1937
•
Important labor victories

Some strikes crushed
Consolidating the New Deal

•
Women underrepresented in work relief programs
•
Raising minimum wage helped women
•
Traditional roles reinforced
•
Political power
•
Eleanor Roosevelt
Consolidating the New Deal

•
Mixed results

Discriminatory practices
•
Harry Hopkins and Eleanor Roosevelt supported equality
• Black Cabinet ‒ Mary McLeod Bethune
•
Better education for minorities
• John Collier and the Indians’ New Deal
•
Latinos fared poorly
Consolidating the New Deal

The New Deal: North, South, East, and West
•
The New Deal in the South

Support for farmers

Infrastructure

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
•
The New Deal in the West

Bureau of Reclamation
Consolidating the New Deal

•
Activism

Often supported by New Deal programs
•
Some exploitation of New Deal programs
•
Some local groups welcomed expansion of federal activity
Consolidating the New Deal

•
Challenging the Court
•
More Hard Times
•
Political Stalemate
Home

•
Expanding the Supreme Court

Battle with Congress

Failed

Court supported New Deal legislation
•
Court conflict harmed the New Deal
Ebbing of the
New Deal

• 1936 ‒ economy improved

Attempt to balance the budget
• 1937 ‒ recession
 “Roosevelt recession”
•
War solved the problem
Ebbing of the
New Deal

•
Conservative reaction
•
New legislation

National Housing Act of 1937

Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
•
1938 elections

Republican Congress
Ebbing of the
New Deal

•
Neutrality and Fascism
•
Edging toward Involvement
Home

•
Hitler and Mussolini created fascist governments
•
Appeasement and more neutrality

Anti-Semitism
•
Relations with Japan deteriorated
 Invasion of Manchuria ‒ 1931
 Attacks on China ‒ 1937
Good Neighbors,
Hostile Forces

•
Preparedness after Munich conference
•
Arms sales
•
German invasion of Czechoslovakia and
Poland
Good Neighbors,
Hostile Forces

•
The Great Depression and the New Deal mark a major divide in American history, casting doubt on traditional economic, social, and political attitudes, policies, and practices.
•
The New Deal brought partial economic recovery but also expanded the roles of the federal government and the presidency.
•
The New Deal also revitalized the Democratic
Party.