FDR and the Second New Deal

When + what was the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act?

1935 — established the Works Progress Administration

What did the Works Progress Administration (WPA) do?

Most significant relief agency of New Deal
Received $4.8b funding from Congress
From 1935-1943, the WPA spent over $11bn on work and relief and employed 8m Americans — 15% of nation's entire workforce

Also built hospitals, schools, airports and road

What programmes of the second New Deal helped artists/ creatives?

Federal Project One aided musicians and actors
The Federal Writers' Project aided writers, especially African Americans
In 4 years WPA spent $46m aiding unemployed artists

When + what was the Resettlement Administration set up?

1935 — built on Agricultural Administration of First New Deal which had caused increased poverty in rural areas due to decreased demand + effects of Dust Bown

RA intended to relocate over 450,000 poor farming families from worse affected areas
Over 5000 families moved to 'Green communities' in states like Wisconsin or Ohio

Was the Resettlement Administration effective?

Aimed to address mistakes of first New Deal but of limited success due to cost of the operation + reluctance of many farming families to move

When + what was the National Youth Administration?

1935 — est by the WPA to encourage training + education of youth

Operate from 1935-1939 (disbanded bcs of WW2)

Included young women unlike CCC and had an annual budget of $580b to help provide employment programmes for youth

What impact did the National Youth Administration have?

By 1938, college youth were paid from $30 to $40 a month for "work study" projects at their schools.

155,000 boys and girls from relief families were paid $10 - $25 a month for part-time work that included job training.

When + what was the Wagner National Labour Relations Act?

1935 — Wagner act intended to strengthen power of TUs by giving employees the right to join a union, the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike


Set up National Labour Relations Board — preside over labour relations and enable unions to have collective bargaining rights with federal support

First time that pressure and authority of federal govt was used to encourage + support union rights

What impact did the Wagner Act have?

Union membership rose from 3.7 million in 1935, to 8.5 million in 1940.

Did not entirely eliminate union violence — protest at Chicago plant in 1937 ended with death of 10 demonstrators who were all shot by police

When + what was the Public Utility Holding Company Act?

1935 — Public Utility Act aimed to end procedures of holding companies

All holding companies to register under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — SEC given pow to control issues of shares of holding companies on stock market

Act as a compromise — FDR wanted to end practice of holding companies altogether but Congress under pressure from business

What was a holding company?

Holding companies owned several other companies that were all involved in trading/manufacturing of one product — power generation industry had many holding co.s whic led to high cost of electricity

When + what was the Social Security Act?

1935 — Social Security Act intended to provide long-term permanent assistance where the WPA dealt with immediate relief

Introduced federal-funded pensions + unemployment benefits (FDR responding to demands of the Left)

Social Security Act financed by contributions from employees + workers

Federal govt provided pensions scheme whilst states administered unemployment programme — FDR worried SC would declare Act unconstitutional if states not given a role

How successful was the Social Security Act?

The Act provided the basis for welfare for decades to come, however from the outset, it excluded millions of workers who pursued occupations not covered in the act.
Pensions were not to begin until 1940

When + what was the Banking Act?

1935 — Strengthened powers of Federal Reserve Board — given direct control over regional branches of banks

enhanced authority of federal government
centralised power of the Federal Reserve System over monetary policy

When + what was the Revenue Act?

1935 — raised taxation to pay for New Deal reforms
Raised top level of income tax from 63% to 79%
Not popular with big business + wealthy

BUT needed ti pay for New Deal reforms, reduce govt deficit spending + silence critics from the Left (Huey Long's 'share our wealth' campaign demanding wealth redistribution)n

What impact did the Revenue Act have?

law regulating taxes paid by corporations contained loopholes, which clever lawyers easily exploited

only 1% population earned $10,000 +, so the increased income taxes didn;'t raise large amounts of revenue

When + what was the Guffey-Snyder Coal Act?

1935 — created the Bituminous Coal commission to set price of coal + end other unfair practices

Attempted to bring order to wages, working conditions and hours of coal workers — protected their right to organise + bargain collectively

Eventually abolished in 1939

What was the reaction to the Guffey-Snyder Coal Act?

faced opposition from businesses, republicans + conservatives for too much government interference in business, many felt it was a socialist policy.

SC declared the Act unconstitutional in 1936

When + what was the Farm Security Administration?

New Deal agency created in 1937

Intended to combat rural poverty + built on Resettlement Administration
Stressed rural rehabilitation efforts to improve lifestyles of poor farmers — helped them sell suboptimal land and buy land that was suitable for farming instead

Strongly opposed by Farm Bureau as an alleged experiment in collectivising agriculture

When + what was the Housing Act?

1937 — appropriated $500 mil for slum-clearance and public-housing projects that would vastly expand in the 1950s

Provided govt subsidies for public housing agencies to improve living conditions

When + what was the Fair Labour Standards Act?

1938 — provided for a 40cent an hour national minimum wage, 40 hour maximum work week and minimum working age of 16

Despite many loopholes, the law helped workers who had previously been exploited

What was FDR's stance on civil rights?

Reluctant/ tepid
Rejected proposals such as abolishing the poll tax or declaring lynching a federal offence
Refused to specifically target African American needs in any of his larger relief + reform packages

Why was FDR's stance on civil rights so reluctant?

Did not want to provoke southern Democrats and pit his New Deal coalition (an uneasy alliance of national liberals, urban labourers, farm workers and southern whites) at risk

What impact did the Social Security Act have on African americans?

Southern politicians did not want African americans to benefit from federally sponsored welfare — afraid that social security would enable black southerners to escape cycle of poverty that kept them tied to land as exploitable farm labourers

FDR agreed to remove domestic workers and farm labourers from provisions of the bill (targeted African Americans)

How was the New Deal limited in helping women?

many New Deal programs were built on the assumption that men would serve as breadwinners and women as homemakers, and consumers

New Deal social programmes funnelled women into means-tested, state-administered relief programmes while reserving entitlement benefits for mean —- two-tiered system of social welfare

What was the outcome of the 1936 election?

Landslide victory
Republican Alf Landon lost in every state except Vermont and Maine

What issues did FDR face with the Supreme Court?

Highly conservative and had overturned many of FDR's New Deal programmes

When did FDR announce his 'court-packing scheme' + what was it?

1937 — FDR concerned that SC would overthrow social security act in upcoming case

Court-packing — FDR wanted to expand SC + add a new,younger justice for each justice over 70

Argued this was to speed up proceedings + deal with backlog of cases

Why can it be said that FDR ultimately got his way regarding the court-packing scheme?

Senate voted against the scheme in 1937 and FDR dropped it BUT the scheme acted as a powerful political warning to justices

In 1937, court upheld several New Deal measures e.g. Wagner Act + state minimum wage laws

4 conservative justices retired allowing FDR to make more liberal appointments + create long-lasting judicial legacy

What evidence was there of a Roosevelt Recession by 1937?

Economy dipped in summer 1937 — industrial production slumped + rising unemployment

How did FDR respond to the Roosevelt Recession?

Initially — FDR cut back on many New Deal relief programmes due to concerns over mounting deficits and told his cabinet to sit back as everything would work itself out

What did FDR's advisor's encourage him to do regarding the recession?

Some advisors encouraged FDR to embrace Keynesian econ + deficit spending — aware that political rather than economic arguments carried weight with FDR

Convinced FDR who authorised more relief spending in late 1938

To what extent was FDR's recession-response of deficit spending successful?

by 1938, unemploy declined and industrial output ^ but by 1939, 17% still jobless

Why was FDR's second term (1936-1940) less marked by major legislation?

SC tensions, recession and events abroad

HOWEVER, Congress still enacted several; significant measures such as the Farm Security Administration

When + what was the Agricultural Adjustment Act?

1938 — aimed to raise farmer's incomes by creating a mechanism by which govt could, in years of big harvests and low prices, would make loans to farmers and warehouse their surplus crops

when prices rose, farmers could sell these commodities and repay their loans

How successful had New Deal farm policies been?

Mixed results
Large-scale farmers benefitted from govt payments but cumbersome price-support mechanisms created many problems

fsa helped some tenants, sharecroppers + small farms but did little to slow long term decline of family farms and rise of agribusinesses

What do the 1938 midterm elections tell us?

Reps made gains in the House + Senate and won a net of 13 governorships

What is the significance of the 1939 State of the Union Address?

Highlighted foreign affairs
FDR proposed no new measures + noted need to 'preserve our reforms;

End of ND

What was the impact of the Depression on unemployment and the unemployed?

¼ farm families sought public/priv assistance in 30s
unemployment never below 14% in the 30s

What was the impact of the GD on women?

25% employment in 1930 -\> female jobless rate exceeded 20% for much of the remaining decade

working women took lower paid jobs (eg waitress) as jobless men competed w women for traditionally 'women's work (eg teaching)

married women accused of stealing men's jobs

What was the long-term impact of the GD on women?

strengthened long term movement of women in workplace -\> married women in work ^ from 12-16% in 1930s

birth rates fell