1. The New Deal

2. “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”
1.FDR Takes Office
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.”
~Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 inauguration speech
-1932 Inauguration Speech
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”
Restore hope for Americans
-Public Relations
Must get Americans to support New Deal policies
-Fireside Chats
Radio talks about issues of public concern, explaining things in simple terms

3. On March 12, the day before the first banks were to reopen, President Roosevelt gave the first of his many fireside chats—radio talks about issues of public concern, explaining in clear, simple language his New Deal measures. These informal talks made Americans feel as if the president were talking directly to them. In his first chat, Roosevelt explained why the nation’s welfare depended on public support of the government and the banking system. “We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system,” he said, “and it is up to you to support and make it work.” He explained the banking system to listeners:
“When you deposit money in a bank the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault. It invests your money…A comparatively small part of the money that you put into the bank is kept in currency—an amount which in normal times is wholly sufficient to cover the cash needs of the average citizen.”

4. -Launches series of Progressive programs Experiment with solutions
During the “lame duck” period, Franklin Roosevelt worked with his wife Eleanor and his group of advisors, commonly known as his Brain Trust, to develop his New Deal plan for the American people. This plan took action whenever Roosevelt took office, and he accomplished much during his first 100 days as President.
2.A Call to Action
-Launches series of Progressive programs
Experiment with solutions
-Group Effort
Eleanor Roosevelt
Wife of FDR who urged him to work harder for the people
Brain Trust
Team of carefully-picked advisors (professors, lawyers, journalists)
-1st 100 Days
Period of intense activity during which Congress passed more than 15 pieces of New Deal legislation
“The country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”
~Franklin Roosevelt

5. 3.First New Deal
-designed for recovery, relief, and reform (The 3 R’s)
-deficit spending
Spend more money than the government actually has
Controversial, turns many against the New Deal
-Bank Holiday
Closed all banks to prevent more withdrawal; inspected banks to see if they were okay to reopen
FDIC-Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation
SEC-Securities and Exchange Commission)
To regain the people’s faith in the banking system, one of Roosevelt’s first moves was to close all the banks in what he declared as a “Bank Holiday.” During this time, the federal government inspected the banks to ensure that they were all right to reopen and operate. A few days later, the President addressed the nation to ensure Americans that banks were safe.

6. 4.Alphabet Soup (New Deal Programs) ~Roosevelt’s 1st Inaugural
-FDIC
Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation
Insures bank accounts to $500
-SEC
Securities and Exchange Commission
Regulates stock markets; Corporations must give investors information on stocks
-PWA
Public Works Administration
Gave money to states to create jobs, not very successful
-CWA
Civil Works Administration
4 million men went to work; built schools and roads
“Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war.”
~Roosevelt’s 1st Inaugural

7. 4.Alphabet Soup -TVA Tennessee Valley Authority
Renovated existing dams and gave jobs, flood control, and hydroelectric power to impoverished region
-CCC
Civilian Conservation Corp
Gave men (18-25) jobs fixing roads, trees, and conserving soil
-AAA
Agricultural Adjustment Act
Paid farmers to leave land unplanted to lower supply and increase prices
-NRA
National Recovery Administration
Set prices and standards to relieve wage cuts, falling prices, and layoffs
“I can remember the first week of the CWA checks. It was a Friday. That night everybody had gotten a check. The first check a lot of them had in three years…I never saw such a change in attitude.”

8. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federal agency that was established in 1933 to construct dams and power plants along the Tennessee River and its tributaries. The Tennessee River basin is one of the largest river basins in the U.S., and people who live in this area have a number of common concerns. The TVA has helped the region in various ways: through flood and navigation control, the conservation of natural resources, and the generation of electric power, as well as through agricultural and industrial development. The Tennessee Valley covers parts of seven states. Thus, the TVA became an enormous undertaking, eventually comprising dozens of major dams, each with associated power plants, recreational facilities, and navigation aids.

9. The Agricultural Adjustment Act sought to raise crop prices by lowering production, which the government achieved by paying farmers to leave a certain amount of every acre of land unseeded. The theory was the reduced supply would boost prices. In some cases, crops were too far advanced for the acreage reduction to take effect. As a result, the government paid cotton growers $200 million to plow under 10 million acres of their crop. It also paid hog farmers to slaughter 6 million pigs. This policy upset many Americans, who protested the destruction of food when so many people were going hungry. It did, however, help raise farm prices and put more money in farmers’ pockets.

10. ~Economist Gardiner Means
“The National Recovery Administration was created in response to an overwhelming demand…that certain elements in the making of industrial policy…should no longer be left to the market place…but should be placed in the hands of administrative bodies…”
~Economist Gardiner Means

11. ~Ann Marie Low, North Dakota
Dust Bowl
-great drought had hit the lower plains
-mid 1930’s wind storms started
7-year dust storms
-farms destroyed
Cleaned up and renovated by the CCC
-many people migrate to the west
migrant farm workers
“Okies” – farmers from Oklahoma who move west to California
-Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
Story of farmers moving West during the Dust Bowl
“Last weekend was the worst dust storm we ever had…Many days this spring the air is just full of dirt coming, literally, for hundreds of miles. It sifts into everything…”
~Ann Marie Low, North Dakota

12. 5.Not Enough Help -By 1935 the economy has still not recovered
Getting better, but still not fixed; deficit spending angers many
-there is enough relief to keep people from starving
Gave $500 million to the states to provide food and clothing to the needy
-some people start to demand more action
Conservatives (Rep.) vs. Liberals (Dem.)

13. Liberal critics argued that the New Deal did not go far enough to help the poor and to reform the nation’s economic system. Conservative critics argued that Roosevelt spent too much on direct relief and used New Deal policies to control business and socialize the economy. Conservatives were particularly angered by laws such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act, which they believed gave the federal government too much control over agriculture and industry. Many critics believed the New Deal interfered with the workings of a free-market economy.

14. 6.New Deal Critics -Father Charles Coughlin
heavy taxes on the rich to provide income for all
Socialist ideas: nationalize banks, guarantee income for all
Used the radio to spread ideas
-Huey Long
“Every man a King”
level income, home and college for all
Presidential hopeful with the Share Our Wealth program
Assassinated before election
-Francis Townsend
proposed income for elderly
Monthly pension