ALPHABET SOUP AGENCIES We now know FDR was a progressive president…. Progresso?...eh?...anyone?.... He developed TONS of new agencies to help achieve his 3 New Deal Goals: A.Jobs for the jobless B.Fix the economy C.Prevent another depression

There are A LOT of these… use your handy- dandy grid that I’ve created for you to help with studying/ understanding.

In 1933 when FDR took office, 13,000,000 Americans were out of work! Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): hired unemployed single men For $1 a day, they planted trees, built bridges, worked on flood-control projects, parks Conserved natural resources & gave jobs to young people

Works Progress Administration (WPA): 1935 – put the jobless to work Making clothes & building hospitals, schools, parks, playgrounds, and airports Hired artists, photographers, actors, writers & composers to entertain & educate the public WPA writers collected information about American life, folklore & traditions

Promoting Recovery To bring recovery, the President had to boost industry & farming

Helping Industry Overproduction & declining prices had been a major cause of the depression Low prices had caused businesses to fail & had caused high unemployment rates

National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA): each industry wrote a code, or a set of rules & standards for production, wages, prices & working conditions The NIRA tried to end price cutting & firings

(NRA) To enforce the new codes, Congress set up the National Recovery Administration (NRA) – Companies that followed the NRA codes stamped a blue eagle on their products – The gov’t encouraged people to business only with companies displaying the eagle – This caused competition between companies

The NIRA also set up the Public Works Administration (PWA): promoted recovery by hiring workers for thousands of public works projects Workers built dams, schools, aircraft carriers for the navy Workers built dams, schools, aircraft carriers for the navy

Helping Farmers On farms, overproduction remained the major problem Surpluses kept prices and farmers’ incomes low Surplus: when company or farm produce more than they can sell

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA): gov’t paid farmers NOT to grow certain crops – Roosevelt hoped that with smaller harvests, laws of supply & demand would cause prices to rise – By limiting the amount of “available” options, people would pay more lump sums for staple crops

The gov’t paid for farmers to plow surplus crops under the soil & destroy surplus cows & pigs – People thought this was crazy when people in cities were starving – The plan was necessary to help farmers recover & keep them growing food

Rural Electrification Administration (REA): help people in rural areas get the same electrical service as people in urban areas – Provided $$ to extend electric lines to rural areas – # of farms with electricity rose from 10-25% – Electricity helped to save many farms from ruin Refrigeration – dairy farmers could keep milk & eggs longer

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): set out to remake the Tennessee River Valley – a vast region that had suffered from terrible floods that had caused ½ of the areas farms & families to fail 49 dams were built in 7 states – also produced cheap electric power The TVA deepened river channels for shipping Planted new forests to conserve soil Developed new fertilizers to improve farmland Set up schools & health centers Result: transformed a region of desperation & poverty into a prosperous & productive area

Preventing Another Depression During the Hundred Days, Congress passed laws regulating the stock market & banking system

Truth-in-Securities Act: end the risky buying/ selling of stocks in the hope of making a quick profit

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): Insured savings accounts in banks approved by the gov’t – if a bank insured by the FDIC failed, the gov’t would make sure depositors received their $$