1. APUSH: Chapter 24
The New Deal pp pp pp

2. Launching the New Deal
FDR’s first task → reduce the panic threatening the financial system →
Force of personality
Rapid and diverse program of legislation

3. Restoring Confidence
Roosevelt’s personality: optimism, enthusiasm, activism
The “fireside chats”
Handicapped → legs paralyzed by polio in 1921
Bank Holiday → closed the banks for 4 days → inspection and reorganization
Repeal of Prohibition → 21st Amendment

4. Agricultural Adjustment
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) → reduce crop production → halt decline in farm prices
Rural Electrification → fed program to make electric power available to farmers

5. National Recovery Administration (NRA) → new industrial recovery program
Set “codes”/rules for prices and wages → businesses and stores that participated could display the “blue eagle”
Industrial Recovery

7. Regional Planning
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) → one of the most celebrated accomplishments of the New Deal
Built dams → generate electricity for the public → stimulate development and eliminate flooding

8. Currency, Banks, and the Stock Market
Glass-Steagall Act → curb irresponsible speculation by banks, separate commercial and investment banking
FDIC → Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation → guaranteed bank deposits
Securities and Exchange Commission → police the stock market

9. The Growth of Federal Relief
Federal Emergency Relief Agency (FERA) → cash to bail out state relief agencies
Civil Works Administration (CWA) → work relief → govt jobs program
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) → putting hundreds of thousands of young men to work on environmental conservation projects.

10. The New Deal in Transition
FDR → remarkable popularity in his first 2 yrs.
Depression continues → begins to be a target of fierce criticism
1935 → FDR launches major new program of legislation → called the “ Second New Deal”
The New Deal in Transition

11. Critics of the New Deal
Dr. Francis Townsend
American Liberty League → conservatives and business leaders → said New Deal was anti free enterprise
Townsend Plan → federal pensions for the elderly
Father Coughlin → catholic radio priest → monetary reforms

12. Huey Long → governor and senator from Louisiana → growing national popularity
The “Kingfish” → dramatic personality
Share-Our-Wealth Society → radical income redistribution program → take from the rich, give to the poor

13. The “Second New Deal”
Second New Deal → launched in 1935 → shift in emphasis → second and more aggressive series of federal programs
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) → created by the Wagner Act → guarantees basic rights of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining ...
Wagner Act → the most important piece of labor legislation of the 20th century

14. Labor Militancy
Emergence of a powerful trade union movement → important polit./social development of 1930’s
AFL and the craft union v. industrial unions → all workers in a particular industry should in a single union
United Mine Workers (UAW) → led by John L. Lewis
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) → split from the AFL → led by John L. Lewis → more militant

15. Organizing Battles United Auto Workers (UAW)
The sit-down strike → workers sat down inside the plants and refused to work or leave
1937 General Motors recognized the UAW
Organized labor’s rapid growth in the 1930’s

16. Social Security
Social Security Act 1935 → federal old age pension program
The Act also creates a system of unemployment insurance
“insurance” not “welfare”

17. New Directions in Relief
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Work relief → jobs for the unemployed
Directed by Harry Hopkins
Renovated of built public buildings, airports, roads, bridges
On average 2.1 millions workers employed
New Directions in Relief

18. The 1936 “Referendum” Economy revives a bit
Alf Landon → republican candidate → runs weak campaign
Huey Long → assassinated in Louisiana in 1935
FDR wins 1936 in a landslide
Democrats control both houses of Congress
Electoral Realignment → the New Deal political coalition:
Farmers
Urban working class
Poor and unemployed
Black communities
progressives

19. The New Deal in Disarray
In 1936 → FDR is at the peak of his popularity
But…New Deal encounters serious new difficulties
Continuing opposition
President’s political errors
Economic setbacks

20. The Court Fight
FDR attempts to add 6 new justices to the Supreme Court → wanted to appoint new, liberal justices who would support the New Deal
Conservatives and critics outraged → “Court-packing plan”
Fails in Congress and the Court becomes more moderate in their decisions

22. Retrenchment and Recession
Economy seemed to be in recovery → cuts spending/tries to balance budget → economy collapses again
Roosevelt Recession 1937
FDR increases spending in 1938
By the end of 1938 → New Deal essentially ends
Congressional opposition to new programs
New focus on looming international crises

23. Limits and Legacies of the New Deal
Conservatives critics of FDR in the 1930’s:
His actions violated the Constitution
Too much power to the government → threat of tyranny
Later critics on the left → problems left unsolved and groups it failed to represent
In the 21st century → new conservative attacks on the New Deal

24. The Idea of the Broker State
Liberals use the New Deal as the model for future reform efforts
Establishment of the “broker state” → New Deal elevated and strengthened new interest groups → allowed them to compete in national marketplace of ideas
Federal govt becomes the mediator or ref in this continuous competition →
Corporate world
Labor
Agriculture
Consumers
Later → racial, ethnic, religious minorities, women, and others

25. African Americans & the New Deal
One criticism of the New Deal → did little to assist African Americans
Exception → the work of Eleanor Roosevelt
Marian Anderson → concert at the Lincoln Memorial
The “Black Cabinet”
Existing discrimination reinforced → did not challenge lynching, poll tax, or segregation
African Americans & the New Deal

26. The New Deal and the “Indian Problem”
Govt policies towards Indian tribes in 1930’s → continue long effort to assimilate Indians into the larger society
John Collier → cultural relativism → resist assimilation → preserve Indian culture
Indian Reorganization Act 1934 → restored tribal land
The New Deal and the “Indian Problem”

27. New Deal was not hostile to feminism → but it did little to advance the it
FDR appoints 1st female cabinet member → Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins
Women and the New Deal
Eleanor Roosevelt → advocate of women’s rights and champion of humanitarian causes
Aid to Dependent Children program → focus on women as mothers
New Deal relief programs offered little employment for women

28. The New Deal in the West and the South
West and South → disproportionate benefits from New Deal
More money spent in the west
Great infrastructure projects in the west → water and power → the Grand Coulee Dam in the northwest
Economic development plans assisted the south → it was the least economically developed region in the 1930’s

29. The New Deal and the National Economy
Primary criticism of the New Deal → failure to genuinely revive or reform the American economy
World War II not the New Deal ended the Depression
Elevated new groups
Western and southern development
Regulation led to stabilization
New federal fiscal policies
The welfare state

30. The New Deal and American Politics
Biggest effects:
Enhanced power of the fed govt
Presidency as the center of power in the federal govt
Creation of a ruling Democrat coalition
Increased expectations of govt