1. Essential Question: What major issues did the Second New Deal address?

2. Second New Deal
Addressed the issue of the “general welfare” by helping the
Elderly
Poor
Workers rights
Farmers
Unemployed
Created public works projects
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
$5b. For new jobs
Worked on highways, rivers, promoted soil, and water conservation
Also helped artists

3. Social Security Act Farmers Pension for retirees
Unemployment insurance for those who lost jobs
Insured for victims of work related accidents
Aid for poverty stricken mothers/children, blind and disabled
Flaws
Didn’t apply to domestics or farm workers
Made many Af. Amns ineligible for SS
Widows had smaller benefits than widowers
Farmers
Rural Electrification Administration
Loaned money to electric utilities to build power lines

4. Labor Unions Find New Energy
Roosevelt believes he needed to raise the standard of living for industrial workers in order for the New Deal to work
New Deal Labor Legislation
National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
AKA: Wagner Act
Recognized rights of employees to join labor unions
Gave workers the right to use collective bargaining
Created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)
Gave workers rights
Established a minimum wage and maximum work week
Outlawed child labor

5. Workers Use Their Rights
Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO)
Made up of labor leaders
Created United Automobile Workers Union
Staged a sit-down strike at a General Motors plant
Wanted to be recognized as a union
Lasted 44 days
Gained better wages and working conditions

6. Challenges to the New Deal
FDR wins 1936 election
Supreme Court
Schechter Poultry v. US
National Industrial Recovery Act is unconstitutional b/c the president does not have the power to regulate commerce
Rules part of the Agricultural Adjustment Act was unconstitutional

7. FDR Dilutes the Supreme Court
Proposes to add 6 new justices to the Supreme Court since the Constitution does not give a limit
Critics called this “court packing” b/c they would be in favor of the New Deal
FDR doesn’t go through with it b/c SC ruled in his favor on minimum wage and Wagner Act

8. Downturn gives Conservatives Momentum
economic conditions improve
Unemployment down 10%
b/c the economy is doing better, FDR cuts back on federal spending to reduce the rising deficit
FDR lowers federal spending while Federal Reserve Board (people who control the money supply) raises interest rates
These two put together means it is more difficult for businesses to expand and for consumers to borrow money
In response to this, the unemployment rate goes up to 20% and FDR’s power is shaken and therefore does not try to force any more reforms through Congress