Transcript Chapter 16: The New Deal

Chapter 16: The New Deal
Section 1: Forging a New Deal
Section 2: The New Deal’s Critics
Section 3: The Last Days of the New Deal
TRIVIA!
 The Constitution said that presidential elections
are to be held in November.
 Inaugurations in March.
 WHY????
In the old days it took time to get ballots to the
counters.
It took time for the new president to get to
Washington.
“Lame Duck” Amendment
 That left the outgoing president in office for four
months.
No power – like a lame duck.
 Congress passed the “Lame Duck” Amendment
the 20th Amendment in 1933 – moving the
Inauguration to January.
Franklin Roosevelt was the last president sworn in in
March and the first one to be sworn into office in
January.
Who was Franklin Roosevelt
1882 – 1945
 Rich and spoiled by his
mother.
 Interest in politics came
from his distant cousin,
Theodore Roosevelt.
 Smart, well-educated,
and ambitious

Franklin Roosevelt
Married his distant
cousin, Eleanor
Roosevelt in 1905
 Six children, five
survived to adulthood.

Franklin Roosevelt
Lawyer, politician, in New
York and in government
work.
 1921 – contracted polio

Never regained the use
of his legs
Franklin Roosevelt
Fight for his life from
polio
 Fight for his life between
his mother and wife

Franklin Roosevelt

Campaigned for a “New
Deal”
Meant to recall his cousin
TR’s “Square Deal” for
voters
Eleanor Roosevelt


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
1884 – 1962
Shy daughter of
dysfunctional family.
Raised mostly by her uncle
TR.
“Traditional” wife and
mother until Franklin’s polio.
Became his eyes and ears
with the public.
FDR: Restoring the Nation’s Hope

Building public
confidence in the future
was essential to calm
panic and create
support.
FDR: Restoring the Nation’s Hope

“We have nothing to fear
but fear itself.”
FDR first inaugural
FDR: Restoring a Nation’s Hope
The Fireside Chats
 First Sunday of every
month in the evenings.
 Spoke to the nation as if
they were conversing in
their living room.
 Explained what he was
trying to do.

Eleanor Roosevelt

MY DAY columns and
radio broadcasts
FDR: Restoring a Nation’s Hope

Eleanor: The Secret
Weapon!
The New Deal
Recalling his cousin
President Theodore
Roosevelt’s “Square
Deal” for Americans.
 Progressive belief that
government can help
people with their
problems that TR had
started in 1900.

The First Hundred Days: The New
Deal

Roosevelt pushed
program after program
through Congress to
provide relief, create
jobs, and stimulate
economic recovery.
What would you do?

With everything that was
wrong in the country,
what would you do – if
you were president – to
get people working and
prosperous again?
Roosevelt: The First Hundred
Days
Stabilize financial
Institutions
 Provide relief and create
jobs
 Regulate the economy
 Assist homeowners and
farmers
 The TVA

Stabilizing Financial Institutions


People needed to be able to
trust their banks.
Closed ALL banks for ten
days. BANKING HOLIDAY.
Federal officials went to all
banks and went through their
records to check their financial
health.
2/3 of banks passed the test
and reopened.
Stabilizing Financial Institutions



Americans regained
confidence in the banking
system.
Began to put money in the
bank.
Established FDIC
Govt. regulators check bank
books to make sure good
loans are being given.
Guarantee depositor’s money.
Give money to banks to give
out as loans to help a local
economy.
Stabilizing Financial Institutions


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
Regulate the Stock Market.
1933: All companies had to
provide information on their
finances before they can
offer stock for sale.
Govt. regulation of buying on
margin.
Stockwatch and the SEC to
monitor stock sales and
business.
FDR: The New Deal’s First
Hundred Days

Regulated the value of
American money to get
more exports of
American farm goods
and factory goods.
FDR: Providing Relief and
Creating Jobs
Federal Emergency
Relief Administration
(FERA)
 Put money into PUBLIC
WORKS PROGRAMS –
building government
facilities.

FDR: Providing Relief and
Creating Jobs
CWA: Civil Works
Administration – put the
unemployed to work
building or improving
roads, parks, airports
and other facilities.
 Four million employed.

FDR: Providing Relief and
Creating Jobs
CCC: Civilian
Conservation Corps
 2.5 million unmarried
young men put to work
creating and maintaining
forests, beaches and
parks.

$30 a month
Free housing, food and
medical care.
FDR: Regulating the Economy



NIRA: National Industrial
Recovery Act – June 1933.
NRA: National Recovery Act
Create fair business
practices in the country.
Regulate fair wages / minimum
wage
Encouraged unions
Controlled working conditions.
FDR: First Hundred Days

PWA: Public Works
Administration
Built Grand Coulee Dam
in Washington
New York City’s
Triborough Bridge
The causeway that
connects Key West to the
Florida mainland.
FDR: Assisting Homeowners and
Farmers


Most middle-income
homeowners were behind in
their mortgages.
HOLC – Home Owners’
Loan Corporation –
refinanced mortgages.
Made payments more
manageable .
1 million loans – but for many it
still wasn’t enough to help
keep houses.
FDR: Assisting Homeowners and
Farmers

FHA: Federal Housing
Administration –
improves housing
standards and
conditions, insures
mortgages, stabilizes
mortgage market.
FDR: Help for Farmers

AAA: Agricultural
Adjustment
Administration, offered
subsidies to farmers.
If corn was only 50-cents
and a farmer needed $1
to stay in business – the
government guarantees
the other 50-cents.
AAA

Also encouraged farmers
in what to plant and what
not to plant.
TVA: Tennessee Valley Authority
May 1933: Helped
farmers and created jobs
in one of the least
developed regions.
 Create cheap electric
power and recreational
opportunities in the entire
Tennessee River valley.

REA: Rural Electrification Agency
1930s: 90% of
Americans in urban
areas had electricity.
 Only 10% of rural areas
had electricity.
 REA changed that!

Brought power over 15
years to 98% of farms.
Key Players of the New Deal

Roosevelt’s “Brain
Trust”
Informal group of
intellectuals who helped
draft policies.
Key Players of the New Deal:
Appointments
Frances Perkins:
Secretary of Labor
 Mary McLeod Bethune:
Director of the Division of
Negro Affairs of the
National Youth
Administration

Key Players in the New Deal
Don’t forget Mrs.
Roosevelt!
Traveled widely for her
husband.
Advocated for causes.
Took stands against Jim
Crow laws.
The Second New Deal: Second
100 Days
More social welfare
benefits
 Stricter controls over
business
 Strong support for unions
 Higher taxes on the rich.

Social Security System
1935 Old Age Pensions
and Survivors Benefits
 Unemployment benefits
 Aid to dependent
children, blind and
disabled

Did NOT include farmers
or domestic servants until
1954
Roosevelt’s Popularity in 1936
Ran against Republican
Alfred M. Landon.
 Electoral Vote: 528-8.

Limitations of the New Deal
Women
 African Americans

Limitations of the New Deal:
Women
Codes in Work Projects
allowed for women to be
paid less than men.
 Men and boys were to
receive preference for
jobs.

Limitations of the New Deal:
African Americans
Federal Work Projects in
the South reinforced
segregation.
 Not allowed to apply for
management jobs or jobs
on the TVA.
 Received lower wages
than whites for the work
they did get.

Limitations of the New Deal:
African Americans

Because most African
Americans were farmers
or domestic servants –
Social Security did not
cover 2/3 of African
Americans!
African Americans in the New
Deal

Roosevelt would not
push for an anti-lynching
law.
Too many Southern
senators would have
blocked every Roosevelt
law if he tried to push
through to retaliate.
African Americans in the New
Deal
Segregated Northern
neighborhoods often had
stores owned by whites
and employed only white
workers.
 Boycotts “Don’t show
where you can’t work”

Political Critics of the New Deal
It didn’t go far enough!
 There was still poverty in
America.
 Government needed to
own and operate
factories and farms.

Political Critics of the New Deal
It goes too far!!!
 Republicans didn’t like it.

Too much govt. in
peoples’ lives.

Wealthy people
considered paying extra
income tax unfair.
Roosevelt was a traitor to
the rich class.
Political Critics of the New Deal
Social Security penalized
successful rich people by
making them pay into the
system.
 Social Security numbers
was the first step to
making ours a militaristic
society.

Dog tags with our SS
numbers.
Other Critics of the New Deal:
Demagogues

Leaders who manipulate
people with half-truths,
deceptive promises and
scare tactics.
Father Coughlin
Huey Long
Demagogue: Father Coughlin

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Radio Priest who sermonized
to 10 million people.
At first liked the New Deal,
then turned against it.
Openly anti-Semitic (hated
and blamed Jews for
problems in the country)
Praised Hitler.
Catholic Church shut him up
in 1942.
Demagogue: Huey Long
Louisiana governor and
US senator.
 Unlike other Southerners
he did NOT use racism
in campaigns.

Improved education
Medical care
Public services
Huey Long
BUT: You had to support
him to get the services!
 Broke from FDR
because he wanted to
raise income tax on the
wealthy to 60%
 Gunned down by a rival.

Looking Back on the New Deal

Deficit – If the
government SPENDS
more than it collects in
taxes.
Yearly number
Looking back on the New Deal

Roosevelt thought it was
more important to get
people working.
Thought more people
working meant more
taxes being collected to
pay for programs.

Deficit Spending.
Looking back on the New Deal

US Debt – YEARS of
deficits add up.
The New Deal’s Affect on Culture

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Federal funds given to
support the arts.
Literature
The Grapes of Wrath – John
Steinbeck
Their Eyes Were Watching
God – Nora Neale Hurston
Let Us Now Praise Famous
Men – Agee and Evans
The New Deal’s Effects on
Culture

Radio and Movies
Comedies on Radio
– Jack Benny, George
Burns, Gracie Allen
Soap Operas
– 15 minute dramas meant
to create emotional
responses in listeners.
– Housewives were the
target audience.
The New Deal’s Effects on
Culture

Hollywood movies showed
common people who
triumphed over evil.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
The Wizard of Oz

Zany comedies
Marx Brothers

Disney animation
Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves
Mickey Mouse
The WPA and the Arts
FDR said arts were not
luxuries that people
should have to give up in
hard times.
 WPA: Funded
unemployed artists,
musicians, historians,
theater people and
writers.

The WPA and the Arts

Historians wrote state
guidebooks and
collected life stories of
immigrants, former
slaves, etc.
The WPA and the Arts
Sent musicians and
actors out to visit the
remote areas of the
country and perform.
 Sent musicians out to
start community
symphonies and give
free music lessons.
 Collected American folk
music.

The WPA and the Arts
Thousands of artists
went to work painting
2,000 murals in mostly
public buildings.
 100,000 paintings
 17,000 sculptures
 Photographs of people in
the Depression.

What did the New Deal Leave
Behind?
FDIC monitors banks
 TVA model of
government planning
providing jobs, power,
flood control and
recreation.
 SEC monitors the Stock
Market and businesses.

What did the New Deal Leave
Behind?

Social Security
A Legacy of Hope

Greatest Achievement of
the New Deal
Restoring hope in the
nation.
The nation was more
ready for the sacrifices
and organization needed
for WWII.