1930's New Deal, FDR's America

Election: Hoover

Election: Hoover

• president of USA

• had endured many hardships, lost both parents at age 8, worked in mines

• Republic politician: pro-business, many wealthy/upper class voters, laissez-faire

• not many ideas in terms of what to do to support USA during the depression and rebuild the country

• “In Hoover we trust and now we are busted”

• he believed too much help would damage the spirit of self-reliance that made USA great

• viewed as a do nothing president

Election: FDR

• governor of NY

• very privileged and wealthy upbringing, became a lawyer then went into politics

• very senior position in the US navy during WW1 and later developed polio which almost killed him, made him appear strong to voters

• Democratic politician: welfare state, high state intervention,

• united the whole nation giving them the sense that it was them vs the problem

• he was a great public speaker, worked hard to take his message to ordinary men and women

• travelled across the country talking about the problems they faced

• promised to end Prohibition

• had a very specific, hopeful plan for the future of America, inspire the country with his New Deal plan, RRR plan, had up to 15 speeches a day to garner support

Relief: The First 100 days

• he began a series of much needed changes in order to address the most pressing issues

• “prime the pump” massive government spending in an attempt to restart the economy

• keynesian approach used (increasing government spending and lowering taxes, you can spark demand and get the economy moving again)

• congress gave FDR the same presidential powers as he would’ve received if the USA was being invaded so he could enact bills extremely fast

• Emergency banking act

• Beer Act

• Fireside Chats

Emergency banking act

• March 9, 1933

• FDR closed all banks for 4 days for inspections, it gave his officials time to check which were sound banks and also time to pass the legislation to set rules for banks which would restore confidence in them

• A set of rules and regulations to stop reckless lending were imposed on the banks

• only honest well run banks with plenty of cash were allowed to stay open

• 5% of banks were closed down

• his banking regulations were extremely successful, with a combined total of $ 1B being put back into accounts

• re-stabilised banking system

• He explained to the public what he was doing in his ‘fireside chats

• Roosevelt managed to restore public confidence in banks.

• He persuaded people to return their money to the re-opened banks

Beer Act

• April 1933

• put an end to prohibition

• made it legal to manufacture, transport and sell alcohol again

• led to an increased tax revenue for the government since legally brewed alcohol could be taxed

• the government was no longer wasting vast sums of money trying to enforce Prohibition

• this also had the added benefit of drastically reducing crime rates since gangsters were no longer making money supplying illegal liquor

Fireside Chats

• March 22 1933

• as over 40% of american households own a radio by 1930,  this new method of communication was effective and quick

• he went on air with his informal, hopeful chats about his plan and new legislation to reassure American people

• he even spoke about his family and dog

First New Deal

• focused on relief and recovery

• high level of presidential power in terms of ability to pass bills quickly

• initially high level of public confidence and trust in FDR’s schemes

• addressed most pressing matters and those who were most badly affected by the great depression

• 1935, FDR and New Deal face lots of criticism from both sides of political spectrum

• many felt he didn’t support the women and elderly enough

Effect of WWII

• important since it drastically reduced unemployment to under 3 million by 1942

• this was because millions of people were either drafted into the armed forces or worked in munitions factories

Second New Deal

• focused on reform

• focused on helping victims of the Depression and creating a fairer society in the USA

• e.g Wagner & Social Security Acts

Women good

• women were given positions of responsibility running the agencies

• Mary Bethume, a black woman became the head of the NYA and helped thousands of young blacks

• Francis Perkins became secretary of Labour in Roosevelts government

• This was the first time a woman had every reached such a high level

• Perkins was responsible for supervising many of the New Deal Labour regulations

Native american indians

• Indian re-organisation act of 1934 provided money to buy reservation land so that it could be owned by tribes rather than individuals

• Gave them the right to manage their own affairs such as setting up their own courts of law

• Government loans helped native Americans to set up businesses and buy farming equipment

• They were encouraged to follow their own cultural and religious traditions

Opposition to the New Deal

• wealthy

• businesses

• supreme court

• republicans

• radical critics

wealthy

• in order to raise money for the government to surge in spending, FDR created new tax rates that made the rich pay significantly more than the poor

• many rich people felt their money was being wasted on boondoggling

• they felt the high taxes discouraged people from working hard

businesses

• New Deal’s actions interfered with their operations

• acts such as the Wagner Act promoted workers rights, introduced a minimum wage and in some cases cost businessmen money

• disliked having to pay Social Security contributions

• hated schemes like the TVA, which competed unfairly with privately owned businesses

• criticized all codes and regulations of NRA,  (confusing, difficult to administer)

• 1934, business leaders united in opposition in Liberty League and fought against trade union laws and insurance schemes of the Second New Deal

supreme court

• they were mainly republican and automatically against the policies of the ND

• 1935, the Supreme Court ruled that the AAA was unconstitutional as the federal government was not permitted to intervene in state matters, same ruling was made against many of the NRA codes

• e.g Schechter Poultry Corp case of 1935, was accused of breaking NRA codes

• in 1937, FDR announced that he would impose a retirement age of 70 on Supreme Court justices, however he met strong opposition from Congress on the matter and was as such unsuccessful

• Roosevelt was accused of “packing the court” with appointing 6 more like-minded democratic judges, there was overwhelming opposition and he was even labelled a dictator

republicans

• many still firmly believed in rugged individualism

• said TVA and NRA schemes = communist economic planning

• SSA 1935 = destroys American idea of rugged individualism and self reliance, makes people lazy and dependent on government

Huey Long

• Senator of Louisiana

• Won the election by promising to increase taxes for the rich and use the money to build more roads, hospitals and schools

• attacked New Deal for not doing enough for the poor

• “Share Our Wealth” scheme in which anyone with $ >5M in savings would have the rest of their wealth redistributed

• Every American family should be given between 4000 and 5000$

• had around 8 mil supporters

Father Coughlin

• popular radio DJ with >30 mil supporters

• used radio to broadcast criticisms of the New Deal

• accused Roosevelt of failing to tackle the problems of the poor

• formed the National Union for Social Justice to address the problems he saw

• confused ideas

Francis Townsend

• retired doctor formed “Townsend Club”

• groups consisted mainly of the elderly who campaigned for 200$/month pension for the old

• more job opportunities for the youth

• 7000 Townsend clubs sprang up across the USA

Was the opposition signifcant?

• Roosevelt was re-elected

• radical opponents had only attracted a fraction of the nation

• Republic opposition mainly ignored as they were associated with the “do nothing” president

• Roosevelt set up the Resettlement Act and FSA after the AAA was closed down

• forced Supreme Court to back down after he tried to ‘pack’ the Court with more judges, extending it from 9 judges to 15

Who he failed to help

• women

• African americans

Women

• agencies based around manual labour, and looked to hire men, as traditionally that would be their work

• only 8000 women in CCC

• women's wage half of mens

• number of states avoided paying SS payments by introducing conditions such as no payment for women with illegitimate children

African Americans

• blacks remained second-class citizens, widespread racism and discrimination

• segregation continued in education, transport, even the CCC had separate government camps for black people,

• black people were less likely to be employed, and were more likely to be fired first

• 1 in 20 black people had a desk job, as opposed to 1 in 3 white people

• FDR failed to put through civil rights laws specifically an anti lynching law, claiming he needed the support of democratic congressmen in the south to carry on with the ND