New Deal: Big Deal! Although the nation had begun to recover under the New Deal, the recovery was incomplete. Incomes and farm prices still lagged behind pre-crash levels. In addition, more than 20 percent of the working population was still unemployed.

New Deal: Big Deal! (cont.) The AAA did some farmers more harm that good. Landowners tended to reduce the number of acres planted by evicting tenant farmers and keeping AAA subsidies for themselves. The interracial Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU) tried to win a fair share of the subsidies, but it met strong opposition from landowners and inaction by Roosevelt.

New Deal: Big Deal! (cont.) The NIRA helped spur unionization but did little to ease conflicts between workers and management. Because unionization tended to increase the number of strikes and protests, many business leaders and factory owners illegally tried to prevent unionizing. Roosevelt, who worried about labors power to halt economy recovery, did not always protect workers rights.

New Deal: Big Deal! (cont.)

Frustrated with the slowness and the limited scope of Roosevelts New Deal, many Americans turned to leaders who promised simple and sometimes radical solutions to the nations pressing problems.

New Deal: Big Deal! (cont.) Popular New Deal opponents included: (1) Dr. Francis Townshend, who proposed retirement and a government pension for everyone over age 60, (2) Father Charles Coughlin, a demagogue whose anti-Semitic tirades called for a redistribution of wealth, and (3) Louisiana Senator Huey Long, who launched his own Share the Wealth campaign.

New Deal: No Deal Roosevelt not only faced opposition from people who demanded that the government do more for the needy, but also from people who demanded it do less.

New Deal: No Deal (cont.) Many business leaders charged that Roosevelt was interfering too much with private businesses, spending an excessive amount of money on relief, and leading the nation toward socialism. In 1934 a number of unhappy politicians and businesspeople formed the American Liberty League to destroy the New Deal, but it never gained much support.

New Deal: No Deal (cont.) The Supreme Court had more success in attacking the New Deal. In the mid-1930s the Court overturned the NIRA and the AAA. Commerce Clause Article, Section 8, Clause 3 To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States The court read that clause to mean Congress could only regulate goods that passed between states

Court packing FDR introduced a bill to add six new judges to the Supreme Court While he argued it was only to help lessen the workload of the judges, it was clearly an attempt to manipulate the court The Supreme Court soon changed its interpretation of the commerce clause in NLRB v Jones Laughlin Steel Company and Wickard v Filburn – this allowed the government to now regulate almost all areas of the economy

New Deal: No Deal (cont.) Faced with attacks by radicals, liberals, and conservatives and hampered by the Supreme Court, FDR revamped his recovery and reform policies. In 1935 he launched the Second New Deal.

To put more people back to work, FDR proposed the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in April The WPA, headed by Harry Hopkins, funded a variety of building projects and put unemployed artists, teachers, writers, and actors back to work. In August 1935 Congress also passed the Social Security Act, which instituted pensions and survivors benefits for the elderly and the orphaned and aid to individuals injured in industrial accidents. The Second New Deal

The Second New Deal (cont.) Roosevelt further aided recovery by restoring to workers and farmers the rights and privileges that the Supreme Court had revoked. The Wagner Act of 1935 restored the right of workers to form unions and to bargain collectively. It also set up the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to ensure that employers followed the new law.

The Second New Deal (cont.) The Soil Conservation Act of 1936 required farmers to reduce the acreage of the same crops the AAA had previously paid them not to plant. To further help farmers, Congress passed the Rural Electrification Act of 1935, which lent money to groups of farmers who organized to build power plants.

The Second New Deal (cont.) Roosevelt won widespread popular support with passage of the Public Utility Holding Company Act, which pared down huge utility conglomerates, and the Revenue Act of 1935, which increased the taxes paid by wealthy corporations and individuals.

Roosevelt geared his 1936 election campaign toward the lower and middle classes, which handed him a lopsided victory over Alf Landon. Reelection and Redirection