Ch. 15

Section 1

• Republicans nominated Herbert Hoover for a second term

• Democrats selected New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• FDR will become the first to deliver an acceptance speech to a nominating convention

• FDR’s plan to end the suffering that the Great Depression was putting on the people was called the New Deal

• FDR will win the election in a landslide victory

• FDR will get 472 electoral votes to Hoover’s 56

• Came from a wealthy New York family. He was a distant cousin

of Teddy Roosevelt.

• Educated at Harvard and Columbia Law

• He will marry Teddy Roosevelt’s niece, Eleanor

• 1910 he won a seat in the New York Senate. President

Woodrow Wilson will appoint him to Assistant Sect. of the Navy

• In 1920 he is diagnosed with polio, a paralyzing disease with

no cure. FDR did not give in; he discovered a retreat in Warm

Springs, Georgia that had hot springs and a soothing and

somewhat healing effects. While in Georgia he got to know the

Southern people and began to understand their hardships

• FDR depended on his wife to keep his name in politics while in Georgia and will narrowly win the governorship of New York in 1928

• FDR used the power of the government to help the people in New York

• His struggle with polio made the people feel like he could understand their own hardships

• His popularity in New York paved the way for his run at the presidency.

• Elected as President in November 1932 but the inauguration will not take place until March of 1933- unemployment continued to rise, bank runs increased and people began converting their dollars into gold

• 20th Amendment will change inauguration from March to January beginning in the next election

• Between March 9 and June 16, 1933 is referred to as the Hundred Days, FDR sent many bills to Congress

• Congress passed 15 major acts to help ease the economic crisis

• These programs made up the First New Deal

• To generate new ideas and programs FDR put together a group of advisors in the fields of academia, business, agriculture, government, law and social work

• They were divided into 3 main groups. The first group supported the New Nationalism of TR and believed government and business should work together. Another group distrusted business and wanted the government to run the economy, The final group supported New Freedom of Wilson’s presidency and wanted the government to restore competition to the economy.

• FDR needed to restore confidence in the banking system. He called for a national bank holiday and called Congress into session

• Congress passed the Emergency banking Relief Act

• Federal Examiners

• Treasury Department Licenses to “healthy” banks

• FDR will speak directly to the people in what became known as fireside chats

• In his first he assured the American public that the banks were again safe to put their money into

• The following Monday in EVERY city deposits outweighed withdrawals and the banking crisis was over

• Established to help farmers refinance their mortgages

• While FCA helped many in the short term, looking back the money would probably have been better spent helping small businesses survive

• Farmers were too far gone in debt for the money to help much

• FDR will introduce several programs to help Americans deal with their debt.

• HOLC, Home Owners Loan Corporation, bought mortgages of homeowners behind on their payments and restructured them with longer terms of payment. The one “catch” the owner had to be presently employed

• HOLC refinanced 1 out of every 5 mortgages in the US

• FDR promoted a series of works programs to immediately get people to work.

• The CCC, Civilian Conservation Corp, gave unemployed men 18-25 the opportunity to work with the National Forestry Service, planting trees, fighting forest fires and building reservoirs. It closed in 1942 having put three million men to work.

• FERA, Federal Emergency Relief Administration, channeled money to help state and local agencies fund relief projects of their own.

• PWA, Public Works Administration, began construction projects across the country creating thousands of jobs.

• The most important act

of all of FDR’s relief

programs was not even a

program itself… it was

the hope and the change

of spirit that spread

across the land. People

were optimistic and their

faith in America was

restored.

• The Supreme Court did not support the New Deal

• In January 1936, the court declared the AAA as unconstitutional. After the election FDR will make his biggest mistake as President in the court packing scheme

• An attempt to add 6 more justices to the Supreme Court

• Americans felt this would give the President too much power

• He eventually appointed seven justices to the Supreme Court

• FDR began to get some backlash starting in 1935 from left and right wing politicians. By using deficit spending FDR had doubled the National debt.

• American Liberty League formed by business leaders and anti-New Deal politicians from both parties

• Democratic Senator from Louisiana Huey Long proposed taking property from the rich and giving it to the poor

• Father Charles Coughlin of Detroit supported Huey Longs proposal

Section 2

• Created to address Supreme Court rulings as well as look

towards two groups left out of original New Deal legislation…

Women and African-Americans

• FDR hoped this second New Deal would get him re-elected in

1936

• In Schechter v United States, the Supreme Court struck down the

NIRA saying Congress could not delegate its powers to the

President.

• FDR feared the Court would strike down the New Deal and

ordered Congress to stay in session until his new bills were

passed. This was called the “second hundred days” by the press.

• New labor legislation because FDR wanted higher wages to

stimulate spending

• In July of 1935 the Wagner Act was passed, guaranteeing

workers the right to organize unions without employer

interference. The law set-up the NLRB which worked with unions

in different industries.

• In 1935 the CIO, Committee for Industrial Organization, was

formed to organize industrial unions.

• The UAW, United Auto Workers Union was formed and quickly

became one of the most powerful unions in the United States

• Millions of voters owed their jobs, homes and some even their lives to FDR and his help.

• By 1936 Democratic Party membership had shifted from mainly white southerners to include laborers, African-Americans, new immigrants, women, progressives and intellectuals

• First lady, Eleanor had spoken with many from various groups and will persuade FDR to include them in his New Deal programs

• He will appoint Frances Perkins as Sect. of Labor, the first woman cabinet member in US History!

• Through the AAA, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, FDR asked Congress to approve a plan that would pay farmers not to raise certain crops or in some cases not plant anything at all.

• Reduced production, increased prices and did help some farmers, but thousands of tenant farmers became unemployed and homeless.

• NIRA, National Industry Recovery Act, suspended anti-trust laws and allowed business, labor and government to set up rules for fair competition in each industry. Eventually it was declared unconstitutional in 1935.

• Remember, the more aid, the bigger the government in individual lives.

Works Progress Administration

• The WPA, Works Progress

Administration, headed by

Harry Hopkins, created jobs

for workers. It was

controversial because it

offered money to artists,

writers, poets and other

talented people

• Was to create jobs as

quickly as possible

National Youth Administration

• Provided part-time jobs to

many high school and college

students

• Allowing them to get their

education and help with the

family finances at home

• Taught many of them needed

skills for after their school

years

• A former public health official gave FDR the idea that has lasted through today

• He proposed that the government pay people over 60 a pension of $200 to stay home

• Increase spending and open up more jobs

• SSA was established in 1935

• Workers earned the right to receive benefits by paying premiums during their working career

• Social Security helped many people but left out many of the neediest, farmers and domestic workers

Section 3

• Frances Perkins

• Women, African-

Americans and Native

Americans

• Labor Unions and the

shift to the Democratic

Party

• FDR steering clear of

Civil Rights

• Mary McLeod-Bethune

• Plight of the Mexican-Americans

• John Collier and the shift in political stance on Native Americans

• Appointment of many different groups of people in Washington D.C.

• “Roosevelt touched the temper of the Black community. You did not look upon him as being white, black, blue or green. He was President Roosevelt.”

Section 4

• Families gathered around the radio and listened to the news and then their shows. Comedy shows with George Burns or series like the Lone Ranger

• Orson Welles and “The War of the Worlds”

• Hindenburg crashing May 6, 1937

• Americans escaped the Depression by going to the movies or

listening to radio shows where most of the stories tended to be

about overcoming obstacles

• Walt Disney produced the first full-length animated film, Snow

White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937

• Others like The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

and Gone with the Wind were made during the Depression and

all had themes of triumph over adversity

• Radio programming became set…

• Soap Operas during the days and Lone Ranger late afternoon

• Family programming in the evening

• Homeless and unemployed were often the subjects of art and literature during the time

• John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, was a story about a family from Oklahoma trying to get to California

• American Gothic- painted during the Depression

Section 5

• A sudden rise in unemployment in 1937 added to FDR’s woes. He cut spending just as the first Social Security premiums were being deducted from checks.

• The economy plummeted and soon 2 million people were out of work.

• This recession led to debate as to how to handle the situation. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau wanted to balance the budget and cut spending. The opponents wanted to follow Keynesianism philosophy and increase deficit spending to jump start the economy back to life.

• In 1938 FDR asked Congress for another $3.75 billion for WPA and PWA programs.

• FDR’s success was limited in his second term.

• The National Housing Act, Farm Security Administration and Fair Labor Standards all passed

• After that New Deal legislation begins to get blocked in Congress.

• The New Deal Era ended by 1939

• The situation in Europe and Asia were starting to get the President’s attention

• The New Deal had limited success but gave people a sense of security

• Established the Broker State

• Generated a new public view of the government by the people. FDR gave Americans a safety net to protect them from economic disaster

• TVA, SSA, FDIC, CCC the list goes on and on as to the achievements of FDR’s New Deal