1. The New Deal and its Discontents
Aim: Was FDR’s New Deal a success?

2. Voices of Protest American Liberty League Huey Long
Conservatives, corporate leaders, Republicans
Huey Long
Make “every man king”
“Share the wealth” – limit the size of fortunes, redistribute wealth, guarantee $5k per family
Father Charles Coughlin (Radio Priest)
Blamed Depression on international bankers and Jews
Called for nationalization of banks
National Union for Social Justice
Dr. Francis Townsend
Wanted old-age pensions and health insurance

3. Supreme Court vs. FDR Schechter Poultry v. US (1935)
Declaring the NIRA unconstitutional, the Court held that Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce, not the president
US v. Butler (1936)
Court declared AAA unconstitutional because it attempted to regulate and control agricultural production, an area reserved to the states.

4. Court Packing

6. Court Packing
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, frustrated with the US Supreme Court's treatment of some of his economic reforms, proposed a plan to add judges to that and other federal courts whenever a sitting judge reached the age of seventy but declined to retire.
Critics accused Roosevelt acting like a dictator. Roosevelt eventually dropped the initiative, but was nonetheless able to fill seven vacancies on the Court over the next four years, achieving his goal indirectly.

7. Was the New Deal a Success?

8. The New Deal’s Effect on…
Workers
Union membership increased
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) – led by John Lewis; organized unskilled workers (auto, steel, textiles, etc.)
UAW sit-down strike (GM plant - Flint, Mich.)
Women
Eleanor Roosevelt championed women’s rights
New Deal programs paid them lower wages than men
African Americans
Often excluded from state and local programs
WPA & CCC offered them low-paying, segregated jobs
FDR hired over 100 Blacks in mid-level federal positions
Mary Bethune – Federal Council on Negro Affairs
Fair Employment Practices Committee
Marion Anderson Constitution Hall
Native Americans
Involved in some CCC and WPA programs on reservations
Indian Reorganization Act – repealed Dawes Act and returned tribal lands
Mexican-Americans
Discrimination