1. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal

3. CONGRESS GETS BUSY
FDR’s philosophy: get people help & work through “deficit” spending
During the famous “100 Days”
(March--June 1933), Congress
passed 15 major laws (the New Deal)

4. Purposes of the New Deal
The Three Rs
Relief: provide immediate help to the desperate
Recovery: provide
jobs & get the economy
going
Reform: prevent
future depressions

6. Immediately declares 4-day bank holiday

7. Created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Insured account holders up to $5,000
(today up to $250,000)

8. ALPHABET SOUP AGENCIES
CCC – Civilian Conservation Corps
3 million men ages worked building roads, parks, planting trees
Paid $30/month; $22 went to the family

9. CCC
Civilian Conservation Corps

10. National Recovery Administration (NRA)
FDR believed Depression was caused by too much cutthroat competition
Created partnership of business, labor & government to set prices, wages, work hours
Businesses who participated got to fly Blue Eagle flag
Huge government involvment in the economy

12. ROOSEVELT’S FIRESIDE CHATS
FDR communicated to Americans via radio
His frequent talks explained to Americans what he was doing

13. ALPHABET SOUP AGENCIES
FERA – Federal Emergency Relief Agency—
$500 million in direct
relief (food &
clothes) to the
neediest Americans
Citizens wait outside a FERA in Calipatria, CA for relief checks

14. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Huge government program to provide work building dams
Provided flood control, electricity & irrigation
Copyright 2000, Bedford/St. Martin’s

18. Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
Goal: Raise crop prices for farmers
Paid farmers who reduced production of basic crops such as wheat, corn
In first year 2 million cows & 6 million pigs destroyed

19. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)
Created in 1934 to regulate trading practices in stocks and bonds

20. CRITICS EMERGE Liberals-- FDR’s NOT doing enough!
Conservatives—FDR’s doing TOO much and interfering with free market economy

21. Criticisms of Conservative Opponents
New Deal = socialism (killed individualism)
Added to national debt ($35 billion)
Wasted money
FDR reaching toward dictatorship

22. American Liberty League Forms
This conservative organization had $ but was small in numbers

23. Father Charles Coughlin
Every Sunday Coughlin broadcast radio sermons slamming FDR
He called for a guaranteed annual income and nationalized banks
45 million listeners
Increasingly anti-Semitic remarks cost him support

24. Dr. Francis E. Townsend Elderly doctor from CA.
Wanted government to pay $200/month to people over 60.
Each pensioner would have to spend the $ in 30 days.
Would be paid for by a 2% national sales tax

25. Senator Huey Long (LA)
Long said New Deal measures were “mere crumbs” and advocated a share the wealth plan
---a guaranteed annual income
of $5,000 for every American
---to be paid for by taking wealth
of people who made over $1
million per year)

26. The Second New Deal (1935-36) Many were still out of work
FDR took still more action

27. Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Biggest New Deal agency; employed 8 million
WPA workers built 850 airports, 651,000 miles of roads and streets, 125,000 public buildings, reservoirs, irrigation, sewage, schools, playgrounds
Also hired artists, writers, musicians, photographers to create art
The Davis Street School Extension in Atlanta under construction as part of the Works Progress Administration Program, November 2, 1936

28. Federal Theatre Project

29. WPA Murals
Tam Mural
WPA Murals In SF
San Geronimo mural

30. The W.P.A. at Work

31. REA
Rural Electrification Administration 1935

32. SUPREME COURT REACTS 1935
Struck down NRA as unconstitutional (too much govt control over industry)
Also killed AAA (said agricultural was a local not a federal matter)
The Supreme Court

33. Wagner Act Guaranteed unions right to organize & bargain collectively
Established National Labor Relations Board to mediate disputes

34. SOCIAL SECURITY ACT Pensions for those over 65
Paid for by tax out of people’s paycheck (payroll tax)
Unemployment compensation
Aid to families with dependent children & disabled (1st direct welfare program)

35. Soak the Rich”Act of 1935 Response to Huey Long
Increased taxes on large incomes & corporations.

36. Second Agricultural Adjustment Act
Educated farmers how to use land without damaging it
Paid farmers to follow conservation practices

37. FDR & Eleanor campaign by rail in 1936
FDR WINS AGAIN IN 1936
Wide appeal, especially in urban areas
Blacks, Jews, Catholics, immigrants all supported the popular president
FDR & Eleanor campaign by rail in 1936

39. Court-Packing Plan FDR frustrated w/Court’s conservative members
Proposed increasing Court
from 9 to 15 members, so he
could appoint supporters
Even fellow Democrats
outraged

40. Court packing plan cartoon here

42. Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)
Set minimum wage & maximum
40-hour work week

44. THE IMPACT OF THE NEW DEAL
Opinions range from harsh criticism to high praise – usually along partisan lines
Conservatives feel FDR made government too large & powerful
Liberals feel govt intervention was necessary and effective

45. LEGACIES OF THE NEW DEAL
FDIC – banking insurance critical to sound economy
Deficit spending has became a normal feature of government
Social Security is a key legacy of the New Deal in that the Feds have assumed a greater responsibility for the social welfare of citizens since 1935