7.10 The New Deal

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)

U.S. President from 1933 to 1945, led the country during the Great Depression and World War II.

Eleanor Roosevelt

FDR's wife, a strong advocate for civil rights, women's rights, and humanitarian causes.

New Deal

A series of programs and reforms launched by FDR to help the U.S. recover from the Great Depression.

Three Rs

The goals of the New Deal: Relief (help for the needy), Recovery (economic improvement), and Reform (prevent future depressions).

Fireside Chats

Radio broadcasts by FDR to explain his policies directly to the American people in a comforting way.

Public Works Administration (PWA)

A New Deal program that funded large public construction projects to create jobs.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

A New Deal program that gave young men jobs in environmental projects like planting trees and building parks.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

A New Deal program that built dams and power plants in the Tennessee Valley to provide electricity and control floods.

Emergency Banking Relief Act

A law that stabilized the banking system by allowing only healthy banks to reopen after the banking crisis in 1933.

Glass-Steagall Act

A law that separated commercial and investment banking and created the FDIC to protect bank deposits.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

A government agency that insures bank deposits to prevent bank failures.

National Recovery Administration (NRA)

A New Deal agency that set rules for fair business practices, wages, and working hours.

Schechter v. U.S.

A 1935 Supreme Court case that ruled the NRA unconstitutional, limiting FDR's power to regulate the economy.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

A government agency created to regulate the stock market and prevent fraud.

Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

A New Deal program that helped people get mortgages to buy homes.

Second New Deal

The second phase of New Deal programs (1935-1938) focused on social welfare, job creation, and workers' rights.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

A New Deal agency that created millions of jobs through public works projects, like building roads and schools.

National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act (1935)

A law that protected workers' rights to form unions and bargain for better conditions.

Election of 1936

FDR won re-election in a landslide, showing strong public support for the New Deal.

John Maynard Keynes

A British economist whose ideas about government spending to boost the economy influenced the New Deal.

Coughlin, Townsend, and Long

Critics of FDR's New Deal—Father Coughlin (radio priest), Dr. Townsend (pension plan advocate), and Huey Long ('Share Our Wealth' program).

Court Packing

FDR's failed plan to add more justices to the Supreme Court to get favorable rulings for New Deal laws.

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

A labor union that organized industrial workers to fight for better wages and conditions.

Fair Labor Standards Act

A 1938 law that set minimum wage, maximum work hours, and banned child labor.

Dust Bowl

A severe drought and dust storms in the 1930s that devastated farms in the Great Plains.

Okies

Migrant farmers from Oklahoma and nearby states who moved west, especially to California, to escape the Dust Bowl.

John Steinbeck

An American author who wrote The Grapes of Wrath, a novel about Dust Bowl migrants during the Great Depression.

Mary McLeod Bethune

An African American educator and civil rights leader who advised FDR and helped promote racial equality.

A. Philip Randolph

A civil rights leader who organized African American labor movements and pushed for fair treatment in defense industries.

Indian Reorganization Act

A 1934 law that ended the U.S. policy of assimilating Native Americans and promoted tribal self-government.