FDR’s “New Deal”

The First 100 Days

Stabilizing Financial Institutions:

• The Bank Holiday (March 1933)– Federal audit of all banking institutions over a 4

day period.

• Glass-Steagall Act: (May 1933) established the– Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) …

the FDIC insures bank deposits, making them safe from bank failure.

Regulating the Stock Market:

• The Federal Securities Act: (May 1933)– Created the Securities and Exchange Commission

(SEC) which creates the rules that govern the stock market to this day. Since its creation, buying stocks on margin as well as other practices like “insider trading” are great ways of getting thrown into Federal Prison.

Providing Relief and Creating Jobs:• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) March 1933– Provided jobs to young, unmarried men (and later,

women) to work on conservation and resource development projects.

• Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) May 1933– Provided funds to cash-strapped state and local relief

agencies.• Civil Works Administration (CWA) Nov. 1933– Provided federal jobs in building and improving roads

and public facilities of all varieties.

CWA

Regulating the Economy:• National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) June 1933

established the:– National Recovery Administration (NRA) This

administration set out to create a set of regulations to spell out fair business practices.

– Public Works Administration (PWA) Organized to carry out the construction of some of the biggest infrastructure building jobs in modern American history: Grand Coulee Dam, Triborough Bridge, the Florida Keys Causeway

Assisting Home Owners and Farmers:• The Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC)– Established to refinance mortgages to make payments more

manageable.• The National Housing Act: established the– Federal Housing Administration (FHA) which still exists was created to

improve housing standards and conditions, and to stabilize the mortgage market.

• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) tried to raise farm prices by paying subsidies to farmers who cut production of certain crops.

• The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Major public works project targeting one of the least developed regions of the US, southern Appalachia.

The New Deal Falters

• All of the previous Federal institutions came into existence within FDR’s first 100 days in office… however, when the new programs failed to show immediate significant improvement in the economy, criticism began to mount.

• Many worried that the agencies were giving increasing power to the Federal government

• In 1935, the Supreme Court will judge one of the New Deal agencies (NIRA) unconstitutional.