1. The Second New Deal
Objective 9.05

2. Objective 9.05
Assess the impact of the New Deal reforms in enlarging the role of the federal government in American life.

3. New Deal by the Numbers – What did it really do?
“FDR threw a bunch of policies against a wall, and the ones that stuck became the New Deal.”
New York Times

4. Unemployment 25 percent in 1933 17 percent for most of the 30s
Never below 14 percent until World War II

5. Deficits
Biggest New Deal deficit - $4.2 billion in 1936 – largely due to Veteran’s “Bonus Bill” (passed over FDR veto)

6. Taxes?
“wealth tax” or “soak the rich” tax – 1935 – 79% marginal tax on incomes over $5 million (JDR)
Basic rate 4% - minority of Americans
Fewer than 1 in 20 households paid any tax at all

7. Taxes continued
Depression-era couple w/ income of $4,000 would be in top 10% of incomes – federal income tax of $16 in 1936
$12,000 would be in top 1% - would pay $600

8. Bank Failures 100s per year before Depression
<10/year in decades after 1933

9. Accounting
Gained new status as a result of New Deal Stock Market regulations

10. Home Ownership Before New Deal – 4 Americans in 10
1920s typically paid cash or large down payments – not less than 30%
By turn of 21st century - ~70% of Americans were homeowners

11. Democratic success continues
Democrats increase their majority in both houses of Congress in the 1934 Congressional elections.

13. FDR launches the Second New Deal
2nd Hundred Days
FDR called on Congress for more relief for farmers and workers.

14. Eleanor Roosevelt
Very socially conscious First Lady

19. Indian Reorganization Act
“Indian New Deal”
1934
Commissioner of Indian Affairs – John Collier

20. Indian New Deal (continued)
Also known as “Wheeler-Howard Act”
Departure from 1887 Dawes Act
Encouraged Native American Seperatism
Paternalistic?

21. 1936 Election Republicans nominate Alfred Landon (Gov. of Kansas)
Criticized FDR (not whole New Deal)
Didn’t like Social Security
Supported by Hoover

23. New Deal Coalition New political coalition of Democratic support
Solid South
White ethnic groups in cities
Midwestern farmers
Labor unions
Liberals
African-Americans
Lincoln was finally dead

24. “Nobody shoots Santa Claus”
Al Smith

25. Farm Recovery
Congress replaced AAA (declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court).
Replaced w/ Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act.
Paid farmers for practicing good soil conservation.

26. 2nd AAA
Many of the features of the same (except for unconstitutional parts)
Resettlement Administration – created in 1935 to loan small farmers money for land.
Replaced in 1937 by the Farm Security Administration
FSA loaned over $1 billion to help tenant farmers.

27. Everybody else
Works Progress Administration (WPA) – provided jobs in construction, textiles, teaching, the arts, and other fields.
$5 million budget
Most WPA workers – unskilled laborers

28. Everybody else (continued)
National Youth Administration (NYA) – created to proved employment for young people.

29. Mary McLeod Bethune Head of Office of Minority Affairs in NYA
Organized “black cabinet”
Est. Federal Council on Negro Affairs

30. Labor Reforms NIRA declared unconstitutional.
Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act) – said that gov’t supported the right of workers to unionize and engage in collective bargaining

31. Labor Reforms (continued)
National Labor Relations Board – heard worker testimony about unfair labor practices.
Fair Labor Standards Act – 1938 – est. max. working hours and set a national minimum wage for the first time.

32. C.I.O. (Committee) Congress of Industrial Organizations
Originally allied with AFL – later broke
CIO organized unskilled workers in auto, steel, southern textiles

33. Strikes Sit-down strike at GM in 1937 Ford later recognized UAW
Republic Steel – Chicago – police fired into crowd

34. Help for the elderly
Social Security Act – passed in 1935, provided old-age insurance for retirees 65 and older and their spouses.
Provided unemployment compensation, and aid to families w/ dependent children and the disabled

36. Frances Perkins
First Female Cabinet Member – Secretary of Labor

37. Recession of 1937
New Social Security tax reduced spending as FDR reduced relief funding (balance the budget attempt)
J.M. Keynes – “prime the pump”

38. Improvements for Minorities
Marian Anderson
Refused Constitution Hall by DAR
Lincoln Memorial thanks to H. Ickes and E. Roosevelt

41. Let there be light
Rural Electrification Administration (REA) – created, financed, and worked w/ co-ops to bring electricity to previously isolated areas.