Chapter 25 Section 1 – Restoring Hope

Restoring Hope  New Deal = 15 Relief and recovery measures  “Broaden executive power to wage a war against emergency”  Called Congress into a special session  100 days Congress approved all 15 measures of President’s New Deal program

Banking System  1 st focus  Closed every bank in the nation for a few days  Called a Bank Holiday – was designed to stop massive withdrawals  March 9 th Congress passed the Emergency Bank Act  Federal Gov’t examined banks  Financially sound banks were reopened  Hoped this would restore confidence in banking system

American Reactions  Americans scrambled to find substitutes since they could not withdraw cash  Used subway tokens, postage stamps, and IOU’s  March 12 th – 60 Million Americans tune in to hear President  First of many “fireside chats” = radio broadcasts from the Whitehouse  “I can assure you that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress.”

Banks Reopening  Banks began to reopen  By end of the month $1 Billion in deposits had flown into system  Confidence increased with Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) – June 1933  Insured each bank deposit up to $5,000  Now insures some deposits up to $100,000

Help for Urban and Rural Residents  April 1933 Congress created Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)  Assist home owners who could not meet mortgage payment  Saved homes of some 1 million families  Granted low-interest, long term mortgage loans  Issued an executive order to create Farm Credit Administration (FCA)  Low-interest, long term loans to farmers  Pay off mortgages and back taxes, buy back lost farms, and purchase seed, equipment, and fertilizer

Relief for the Needy  Direct relief to nation’s 13 Million unemployed workers  May 1933 Established Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)  $500 Million in relief aid to state and local agencies  ½ of FERA relief went to states for direct distribution for families  Grants provided to States for creating work-relief projects  By 1935 $3 Billion had been distributed  Most Americans wanted JOBS not handouts

Civilian Conservation Corps  250 thousand young men left for army camps for CCC training  Planted trees, cleared brush, created park trails, and developed campgrounds and beaches in the nation’s parks and forests  Earned $30 a month  During 10 years of its existence employed more than 2.5 million  Planted millions of tress mostly in South and Southwest

Recovery  Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – regulates companies that sell stock and bonds  John Maynard Keynes – for a nation to recover the government had to spend money to encourage investment and consumption  National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) - stabilize prices, raise wages, limit work hours and provide jobs  Created Public Works Administration (PWA) and National Recovery Administration (NRA)  NRA – codes of fair competition  NIRA – workers had right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their choosing.  1935 Supreme court declared NIRA and NRA Unconstitutional

Agricultural Recovery  Roosevelt wanted farmers to cut production  Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)  Paid farmers to reduce output of corn, cotton, dairy products, hogs, rice, tobacco, and wheat.  In 1 year reduced cotton crops by 3 million bales  Raised cotton prices  Consumers vs. farmers income

AAA  Critics – benefited large landholdings more than small scale farmers  Farmers kicked sharecroppers off their land and kept money for themselves  Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union (STFU) in 1934 – Urged government to force landowners to share federal payments  1936 Supreme Court struck down AAA  Court claimed tax on food processors was unconstitutional  Supreme Court had a general opposition to New Deal legislation

Equality  Some programs discriminated  200,000 African American men received work and training through the CCC.  Some worked for TVA, although they were not allowed to live in towns built by the organization  NRA codes set lower wages for African-Americans  Depression increased racial tensions  Roosevelt offered little support for an anti-lynching law for fear of backlash from southern Democrats

Fighting Discrimination  African Americans did make advancements under Roosevelt  Roosevelt named more than 100 African Americans to posts in the federal gov’t  Many came at the request of Eleanor Roosevelt  Roosevelt appoints John Collier to new commissioner of Indian Affairs  Reversed the Dawes Act – It tried to revive Tribal rule and give back Tribal lands to Native Americans  Funds to start Tribal businesses and pay for the college education of young American Indians