Transcript The Great Depression

The Great Depression
Section 2
Was the New Deal helpful?
• Arguments against it:
-didn’t do enough (Share our wealth)
-government was too powerful
-FDR was a dictator
-was unconstitutional
-government was spending more than it
took in
-did not end the Depression
Helpful? (cont’d)
• Arguments for the New Deal:
-FDR guided the nation during the worst days of
the Depression
-ended the banking crisis
-found jobs for millions of people
-preserved democracy
The New Deal
• In the election of 1932, frustrated
Americans chose Franklin D. Roosevelt as
the next president
• Promised a “new deal for the American
people” and that the nation “asks for action
and action now”.
The Hundred Days
• Refers to the first hundred days Roosevelt
was in office
• Declared a bank holiday, closing every
bank in the country for 8 days
• Emergency Banking Relief Act- only the
banks with enough funds could reopen
• Fireside chats- radio addresses given by
Roosevelt to help reassure the American
people
The Hundred Days (Cont’d)
• The bank act was part of a series of new
laws passed in the Hundred Days
• Relief from unemployment, recovery
planning, and reforming the country to
prevent future economic crisis
Relief Programs
• CCC-Civilian Conservation Corps; hired
unemployed single men to develop parks,
build bridges, plant trees etc. for $1 a day.
• FERA-Federal Emergency Relief
Administration; gave federal money to
state and local agencies to give to the
unemployed
Programs (Cont’d)
• WPA-Works Progress Administration; put
jobless to work building hospitals, schools,
and other public facilities
• Hired artists and writers to paint murals
and write plays as well as record history
Promoting Recovery
• NIRA-National Industrial Recovery Act;
tried to end price cutting and worker
layoffs
• NRA-National Recovery (not rifle)
Administration; worked to enforce the new
programs (blue eagle sticker)
Farmers
• Overproduction was still a major problem
• Surplus-when there is more product than
there is a demand for
• AAA-Agricultural Adjustment Act; paid
farmers NOT to grow certain crops and get
rid of extra crops and livestock
Tennessee Valley Authority
• Tried to remake the Tennessee River
Valley which had been destroyed by floods
• Farmland was very poor; half the families
in the area were on relief
• Built dams (flood control and electric
power), planted new forests and tried to
improve the area farmland
Long Term Reforms
• Speculation- high risk buying and selling of
stocks to make a quick profit
• FDIC-Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation; insured savings accounts in
approved banks. If an FDIC bank failed,
the government would repay the money to
the depositor