The New Deal Week 6 Notes

Key Terms Glass-Stegall Act Wagner Act Social Security Works Progress Administration (WPA) Public Works Administration (PWA) Hundred Days First and Second New Deal Court Packing Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Fireside Chat Congress of Industrial Workers (CIO) Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) National Recovery Act (NRA)

The Depression The Great Depression was the culmination of many economic circumstances in the 1920s… 1.Unequal distribution of income 2.Over-speculation in real estate and stock markets leading to bust 3.A decade of decline for farmers 4.Demands for goods declining 5.Prices for good remaining high while wages remained stagnant or even declined 6.Over use of installment buying and margin buying on stocks feeding consumerism and risky investments

Americans in the Depression The Crash and bust of the American economy hit Americans hard… 1.Thousands of families evicted from homes and building Hoovervilles 2.Thousands standing on bread lines each day 3.Americans move back to country to hope to grow food for themselves 4.Suicide rate jumps 5.Bonus Army marches to Washington only to be beaten back by US Military 6.New membership climbs in the US Communist Party

A New Deal In the election of 1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) promised the American person a New Deal 1.Repeal Prohibition 2.Balance the Budget 3.Every man has the right to make a comfortable living He wins 57% of popular vote as do new Democratic party majorities in Congress

Banking Banks had invested and lost millions in the stock market and now could not give their depositors their money… 1.FDR using fireside chats looked to calm the nerves of the American People 2.Congress passes Emergency Banking Act: which establishes a bank holiday and provided funds to shore up faltering banks 3.Congress passes Glass-Stegall Act which until 1990 made it illegal for banks to buy and sell stock 4.Passes FDIC which insures Americans their deposits are safe in banks up to a determined dollar amount

The Hundred Days Motivated by the support of the Banking legislation FDR and Congress move to pass a flurry of new legislation to provide relief 1.NRA: work to establish industry codes for output, prices, and wages 2.Federal Emergency Relief Agency (FERA): gave grants of money to local agencies to help impoverished Americans 3.Providing public works jobs to the unemployed TVACCCPWACWA Built dams in Tennessee for electicity Gave young men jobs in national forests Jobs building roads, schools, bridges Building highways, tunnels, airports

Helping Farmers and Home Owners Farmers were helped with the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) 1.Gov’t tries to help raise farm prices a) setting quota b) paying farmers to not farm 2. Most progress was ruined by the drought and Dust Bowl of Home owners were boosted by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) 1.Try to protect home owners from losing home 2.Issuing long term mortgages 3.Built thousands of low rent “public housing” 4.Ratification of the 21 st amendment (Ending Prohibition)

FDR and the Court Most of the first new deal was struck down by the Supreme Court The court saw the executive branch having too much authority FDR during the second New Deal proposes to “pack the court” and add judges for every one over 70 (6 of the 9) Not successful and seen as a power grab for FDR But Supreme Court doesn’t put down any more New Deal acts

Labor During the New Deal labor groups were increasing angry at a lack of progress made. 1.AFL not inclusive 2.Wages still not rising 3.Communists making inroads A New Union: the Congress of Industrial Workers (CIO) is formed by John Lewis in Advocated the sit-down strike with much success 2.By 1934 the Wagner Act gives labor the rights to organize and bargain (The Magna Carta of Labor)

Second New Deal FDR in the Second New Deal looked to other issues like economic equality 1.Social Security passed 1935 as a way to provide unemployment insurance and old age pensions. A.Paid for through taxes on bosses and workers B.Distributed at a National Level 2.Works Progress Administration (WPA) puts people to work in all aspects of life. A.Construction of buildings B.Funding music, art, and dance

Eleanor Roosevelt FDRs wife played a big role in the implementation of the New Deal 1.Visited Public Works Sites 2.Reported back to her husband 3.Advocated for downtrodden Her role is seen as a step forward in woman’s rights

New Deal Legacy During 1938 the economy falls back into a recession… 1.Many of the gains in jobs were lost in this downturn 2.Many argue that the New Deal only succeeded in enlarging the size and authority of the Federal Government 3.The US economy would not see rebounding growth until the beginning of World War II