essential question: how did new deal programs provide relief, recovery, and reform for the american...
TRANSCRIPT
Essential Question:
• How did New Deal programs provide relief, recovery, and reform for the American economy and people?
Herbert HooverHerbert Hoover• Elected 1928• Noted Humanitarian• WWI Food Relief to
war torn Europe• Depression
Policy>From Top Down
• Reconstruction Finance Company– (loans to banks,
insurance companies, and railroads)
• Bonus Army fiasco
FDR’s Background
• From Prosperity
• 5th Cousin to T.R.– Eleanor was Teddy’s Niece
• Polio Victim
FDR inspired American
public • bulldog determination to
succeed • the Brain Trust• instill hope and courage
in the people - "We have nothing to fear but fear itself"
• pragmatist rather than ideologue
Fireside Chats
Hundred Days• 4 day bank holiday--
Emergency Banking Relief Act
• June, FDIC, guaranteed deposits up to $5,000
• Federal Securities Act--SEC regulate the stock market
• abandoned gold standard• 21st Amendment, ending
prohibition• Farm Credit Administration
& Home Owner's Loan Act-- low-interest rates on refinancing mortgages
• CCC created jobs for young men aged 18-25
• Federal Emergency Relief Administration--Harry Hopkins--$500 million – state construction
projects– adult literacy programs– college aid for poor
students– day-care centers for low-
income families
• TVA--bring electricity to poorest region of nation
• AAA (May 1933)• National Industrial
Recovery Act (June 1933) – immunity from antitrust– regulate labor conditions--
right to organize National Recovery Administration (NRA)
– set production limits, wages, and working conditions
– forbade price cutting & unfair competitive practices
– publicity program buy only from “Blue Eagle”
• PWA--$3.3 billion public-works program, Harold Ickles– 35,000 projects
• Reconstruction Finance Company (Hoover) continued loans to banks, insurance companies, and railroads
Legislation after the Hundred
Days
• Civil Works Administration --$1 billion on short-term projects
Problems for the New Deal
• Southern Tenant Farmers
• braintrust split between concentrating on all agricultural versus helping rural poor
• New Deal didn’t end depression, but most people support FDR's programs
FDR challenged by conservatives & radicals
• Father Charles Coughlin—Catholic radio program– new system based on
"social justice"– nation's problems
were caused by bankers
– anti-Semitism– censured by Catholic
church
Huey Long ("Kingfish")
• Governor then Senator of Louisiana– Share Our Wealth program– liquidate all personal fortunes
above certain amount – give every family enough
money to buy home, automobile & radio
– elderly would receive pensions – assassinated in 1935
Biggest challenge to New Deal comes from Supreme Court
• 1935--AAA & NIRA ruled unconstitutional
FDR wins reelection in 1936 > Second New Deal
• focuses on needs of urban and rural poor and workers
• expand federal relief efforts to American workers
• deficit spending -- John Maynard Keynes economic policy– deficit spending will pump
money into economy & combat depression
• WPA - Harry Hopkins - 11 billion to put people to work – 8 million people in 34,000
construction projects– murals, photographs, Slave
narratives • National Labor Relations
Act (Wagner Act)– requires employers to
bargain with unions– National Labor Relations
Board • Resettlement
Administration--farmers, tenants, sharecroppers– Rural Electrification
Administration– replaced by the Farm
Security Administration
• Social Security Act – old-age pensions– survivors' benefits for
families of deceased workers
– unemployment insurance
• Revenue Act--Raised tax rates on incomes over $50,000 – established federal tax on
corporations
• Fair Labor Standards Act– Set minimum wage and
maximum work-week – prohibited child labor under
age of 16
Court-packing
• 1937, FDR tried to stop Supreme Court striking down New Deal
• Proposes court-reform bill• Allowed president to
appoint a new justices to sit with any justice over 70 who would not retire
• Killed by Congress, but• Court stops striking down
New Deal• Hurt FDR’s public image
Recession of 1937, caused by…
• reduced consumer spending due to social security deductions
• cutbacks in New Deal work and relief programs to balance budget
Recession of 1937, caused by…
• reduced consumer spending due to social security deductions
• cutbacks in New Deal work and relief programs to balance budget
FDR and Congress
• revived and expand the PWA, WPA, etc.
• and other work programs • revival of economy
begins and unemployment declines
FDR and Congress
• revived and expand the PWA, WPA, etc.
• and other work programs • revival of economy
begins and unemployment declines
Eleanor Roosevelt• Changed role of 1st
Lady
Relief Recovery Reform
3 R’s
Letters to Mrs. Roosevelt
• Who wrote to the First Lady?
• What did they write about?
• What can you learn from the letters about the Great Depression & New Deal?