Forging a New Deal

 Election held in November, Roosevelt didn’t take office until March 4 th.  Why did it take so long?  Hoover remained in office as a “lame duck”  20 th Amendment passed  Changed the date of the inauguration to January 20 th.

 FDR and Eleanor’s efforts  What happened during the second Bonus March?  FDR said “the only thing…”  FDR held “fireside chats”  New Deal referred to the relief, recovery, and reform programs FDR’s administration used to end the Great Depression

 March – June 1933  Programs were pushed through Congress.

 First step was to restore public confidence in the banks  March 5, 1933 ordered banks closed for 4 days  Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act on March 9 th ▪ Inspection of banks. ▪ People began putting money back into the banks  Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1933 passed ▪ Established FDIC to insure bank deposits

 Federal Securities Act (FSA), May 1933  Required companies to provide information about their finances if they offered stock for sale.  Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)  Regulate the stock market  Federal Reserve Board (FRB)  Regulate the purchase of stock on margin  Decreased the value of U.S. currency by taking off the gold standard

 Next step to help local relief agencies  Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)  Sent funds to agencies  Harry Hopkins was the director  FERA put federal money into public works programs ▪ Civil Works Administration (CWA) ▪ Unemployed to work building or improving roads, parks, airports, and other facilities ▪ Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) ▪ Unmarried men worked on maintaining forests, beaches, and parks ▪ Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) ▪ Ended the sale of Tribal lands and restored some lands to Indian owners.

 National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)  Set to raise industrial prices ▪ Under the NIRA the National Recovery Administration (NRA) ▪ Balance the unstable economy though extensive planning by using industry-wide codes for fair business practices.  Discuss examples of this code.  Some thought they were too rigid ▪ Public Works Administration (PWA) ▪ Most visible part of the NIRA’s efforts  Discuss examples

 Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC)  Refinanced mortgages  National Housing Act established the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)  Improved housing standards and conditions, insures mortgages, stabilizes the mortgage market  Agriculture Adjustment Administration (AAA  Tried to raise farm prices through subsides ▪ What are they? ▪ Government financial assistance

 Tennessee Valley Authority  Helped farmers and created jobs in one of the least developed regions

 Roosevelt surrounded himself with advisors  “Brain trust” ▪ An informal group of intellectuals who helped draft policies ▪ Harry Hopkins, Adolf Berle, Rexford G. Tugwell

 First to appoint a women to a cabinet post.  Frances Perkins ▪ Secretary of Labor  Hired African Americans  Mary McLeod Bethune ▪ Director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the Youth Administration ▪ She organized the Federal Council on Negro Affairs (aka “black Cabinet”)

 Strong supporting, traveled since it was hard for FDR to travel  Some of her actions caused FDR problems  Discuss the Southern Conference for Human Welfare in Birmingham, Alabama

 When new programs didn’t bring significant economic improvements, critic arouse  Discuss what Hoover said  Supreme Court ▪ Declared NIRA unconstitutional ▪ Struck down the tax that funded AAA subsidies to farmers

 Included more social welfare benefits, stricter controls over business, stronger support for unions and higher taxes on the rich

 Works Progress Administration (WPA)  Built or improved playgrounds, schools, hospitals, and airfields, and it supported the creative work of many artists and writers  National Youth Administration  Provided education, jobs, etc for young people ages 16-25

 Resettlement Administration  Loaned money to owners of small farms, tenants and sharecroppers  Farm Security Administration (FSA)  Loaned $1 billion to farmers and set up camps for migrant workers

 1930’s  90% of cities had electricity  10% of rural areas  Rural Electrification Administration (REA)  Offered loans to businesses and farmers to provide electricity

 When NIRA declared unconstitutional, new legislation was passed  National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)  Legalized union practices like collective bargaining and closed shops. ▪ What are closed shops?

 Outlawed spying and blacklisting.  What is blacklisting?  National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)  Enforced the Wagner Act  Fair Labor Standards Act  Banned child labor and minimum wage set

 Provided financial security to people who could not support themselves  Three types of insurances (discuss each) 1. Old-age pensions and survivors’ benefits 2. Unemployment insurance 3. Aid for dependent children, the blind, and the disabled.

 Alfred M. Landon vs. Roosevelt  FDR won by a landslide