Section 1 Restoring Hope Chapter 16 The New Deal Section 1 Restoring Hope

Roosevelt Confronts the Emergency {With the help of his advisory group, the Brain Trust, Roosevelt drew up a “new deal for the American people” that consisted of 15 relief and recovery measures. Congress approved all 15 measures} Roosevelt first focused on banking On March 6 he ordered every bank to close for a couple of days. This {bank holiday was designed to stop massive withdrawals} The government inspected all the banks during the holiday. Only those that were financially ready were allowed to reopen. {In the first of many radio broadcasts called, fireside chats }Roosevelt urged people to return their $ to banks. Assuring them that the banks were safe

Fireside Chats

Continued…. Confidence in banks raised even more when Congress made the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insured deposits up to $5,000. In 1933, {the Home Owners Loan Corporation was created to assist home owners who could not meet their mortgages to refinance}. By 1936 the HOLC had saved more than 1 million homes Roosevelt then created the Farm Credit Administration to provide low-interest, long-term loans to farmers. This allowed farmers to pay off mortgages and back taxes, buy back lost farms and purchase farming supplies

Relief for the Needy Roosevelt launched large scale direct relief aid to the nation’s 13 million unemployed In May 1933 Congress established the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). Headed by Harry L. Hopkins It distributed $500 million to state and local agencies. These were grants, not loans. It was up to the states an cities to create work-relief programs Most Americans disliked relief. They wanted jobs not handouts. So Hopkins created the Civil Works Administration that created jobs like raking leaves or picking up litter, employing 4 million people Hopkins also created the {Civilian Conservation Corps which oversaw the planting of trees, developing campsites, clearing of brush} and the creation of park trails

Helping the Nation Recover Relief was a short-term remedy. Roosevelt saw recovery as his long-term goal Roosevelt supported the Securities and Exchange Commission that regulated the companies that buy and sell stock in order to protect investors and guard against stock fraud {Many of the New Deal recovery programs were influenced by John Maynard Keynes} In June 1933, {Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act to stimulate industrial & business activity} To do this the Act created the Public Works Administration and the National Recovery Administration to set work hours, prices, production levels, wages. Later, in 1935, the NRA was considered unconstitutional because with the codes in place, workers could not advance in their wages

John Maynard Keynes

Agricultural Recovery In 1933 Congress created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, which paid farmers to reduce the amount of crops they were growing. These reductions helped to raise the prices and stimulated overall economic recovery Wanting all the new profits for themselves the farmers began pushing sharecroppers off their land All races of sharecroppers joined together to form the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. They urged the gov. to force landowners to share federal payments with the farmers who rented land from them In 1936 the Supreme Court declared the actions of the AAA unconstitutional

Revitalizing a Region In May 1933 the Tennessee Valley Authority was created to aid a 7 state rural region fighting the battle of disease, literacy, malnutrition and poverty The TVA provided the region with electricity, flood control, disease control & recreational facilities Although the New Deal provided relief for all races, some programs discriminated. The TVA employed African Americans but would not let the live in the same model towns built by the organization as the white workers

Fighting Discrimination The head of {the NAACP brought in Robert C. Weaver to advise the Department of the Interior to discuss racial matters} Roosevelt named more than 100 African Americans to posts in the federal government during his term Much of the credit goes to Eleanor Roosevelt who was very passionate about civil rights. It was her goal to open greater educational & economic opportunities for African Americans In 1939, when the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let Marian Anderson (an African American) sing at their hall, Mrs. Roosevelt resigned her membership, publicly denounced their behavior and gave Marian Anderson her own concert at the Lincoln Memorial

Marian Anderson singing at the Lincoln Memorial.

Continued…. A social worker named {John Collier, was moved by seeing the poor living conditions of Native Americans and founded the American Indian Defense Association} {The American Indian Defense Association fought to protect religious freedom and tribal property} Congress put these reforms into law with the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, reversing the Dawes Act. It provided funds to start tribal business ventures and to pay for the college education of young American Indians The bill also ordered Congress to “promote the study of Indian civilization and preserve and develop Indian arts, crafts, skills and traditions

Check out these trees. Nope they are not digitally altered Check out these trees. Nope they are not digitally altered. You can find them at Bonfante Gardens in California. The man who invented this “tree art” took their genetic secret to his grave with him.