Chapter 24 The Great Depression and the New Deal

The Depression Begins Why? Superficial prosperity in the 20s Farmers & textile workers suffered Wealth distribution Business / employee profits Consumer purchasing power Unemployment Rampant speculation Flawed financial systems Global economic issues World War I Federal Reserve Board Tightened credit (opposite needed)

Hoover and the Great Depression Aggressive response Consulted business leaders Encouraged public works Federal agencies National Credit Corporation Emergency Committee for Employment Tax cuts Ultimately failed

Economic Decline Decline continued Industry Cutbacks, closures, wage reductions, layoffs Revolution? Despair Alteration of family life

Global Depression German financial system Britain → gold standard “Fall guy” “Hoovervilles” Public works projects Reconstruction Financing Corporation Home Financing Corporation Federal Home Loan Bank Act of 1932 Federal Housing Administration

The Bonus Army World War I veterans Veterans’ bonuses (loans) House / Senate “Hoovervilles” Douglas MacArthur

Election of 1932 Republicans Unpopular Hoover Democrats Franklin Roosevelt New York governor Progressive Roosevelt’s campaign Ambiguous “New deal” “Only thing to fear” “Fireside chats”

Roosevelt’s Advisors Bipartisan advisors Harold Ickes: Interior Henry Wallace: Agriculture Francis Perkins: Labor Informal “brain trust” Eleanor Roosevelt Editorialist Speechmaker Civil rights?

The Banking Crisis Most pressing concern Trust? “4-day holiday” Broad Executive powers Banks Stock Market FDIC Economy Act 21 st Amendment

Relief Measures Federal Emergency Relief Administration Civil Works Administration Public Works Administration

Agricultural Adjustment Act Control production “Parity prices” – paid not to produce Beneficial to large farmers Later, unconstitutional

Industrial Recovery National Industrial Recovery Administration Raise prices, control production, and increase employment National Recovery Administration Labor organization Beneficial to large business Later, unconstitutional

Civilian Conservation Corps Conservation Reforestation Road / park construction Flood control

Tennessee Valley Authority Theodore Roosevelt? George Norris (R- Neb) Flood-control projects Electricity Land reclamation Dams

Critics of the New Deal Initial alleviation of concerns Depression loomed Socialism? Liberty League Communism Father Charles E. Coughlin Anti-Semitic Huey Long “Share the Wealth” program

Work Relief and Social Security WPA Unemployment relief Socially useful projects Construction The “arts” 6,000 schools, 2,500 hospitals, 13,000 playgrounds Social Security Act (1935) Old-Age, survivor, unemployment insurance

The New Deal for Labor National Labor Relations Act Outlawed blacklisting “Right to organize” American Federation of Labor Omission of farm laborers and unskilled workers Committee of Industrial Organization John L. Lewis Auto & steel workers Sit-down strikes United Auto Workers Expelled from AFL Congress of Industrial Organization

America’s Minorities in the 1930s Lynching “Scottsboro boys” Emigration to north Northern ghettos Segregated New Deal No anti-lynching No anti-poll tax” “Black cabinet” Eleanor Roosevelt Asians Native Americans Indian Reorganization Act

The Election of 1936 Republicans Alf Landon Cheap, efficient “new deal” policies Democrats Roosevelt Democratic South Organized labor Farmers Urban voters African Americans

Completing the New Deal Middle class Homeowner’s Loan Association Federal Housing Administration Fair Labor Standards Act