social studies
31–4: FDR’s Leadership and the Hundred Days
Inauguration Day (March 4, 1933):
FDR inspires Americans during the Great Depression with his speech:
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Promised government action to fight the economic crisis “as it would wage war on an armed foe.”
Banking Holiday (March 6–10, 1933):
Closed all banks temporarily to restore public confidence and reopen them on a sound basis.
Hundred Days Congress (March 9–June 16, 1933):
Congress passed massive amounts of New Deal legislation.
Focused on Three Rs:
Relief – immediate help to the unemployed and suffering.
Recovery – getting the economy back on its feet.
Reform – fixing the system to prevent future crises.
Congress gave FDR extraordinary power; lawmakers followed his lead in passing laws.
Many ideas borrowed from earlier Progressive reforms and foreign social programs (German social insurance, English housing, etc.).
Introduced ideas like unemployment insurance, old-age insurance, minimum wage, conservation, and child labor restrictions.
31–5: Banking Reform and the Gold Standard
Emergency Banking Relief Act (1933):
Passed in 8 hours; gave the president control over banking transactions and allowed reopening of sound banks.
“Fireside Chats”:
FDR reassured Americans via radio that banks were safe again—confidence was restored.
Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act:
Created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), insuring deposits up to $5,000.
Ended widespread bank failures.
Gold Policy:
FDR took the U.S. off the gold standard and ordered private gold to be exchanged for paper money.
Created a “managed currency” to cause mild inflation, easing debt and boosting spending.
Gold price raised from $21 → $35 per ounce (1933–1934).
Critics called it the “baloney dollar.”
1934: U.S. returned to limited gold standard only for foreign trade payments.
31–6: Relief and Recovery Programs
Unemployment Crisis:
1 in 4 workers jobless; many families without income.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC):
Hired 3 million young men for outdoor work (reforestation, firefighting, flood control).
Sent wages home to families; prevented crime and poverty.
Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA):
Directed by Harry L. Hopkins; provided $3 billion for direct aid and work projects.
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA):
Gave money to farmers to help pay mortgages.
Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC):
Refinanced home mortgages; helped 1 million homeowners.
Civil Works Administration (CWA):
Temporary jobs during the winter of 1933–1934 (mostly “make-work” projects).
Critics mocked it as “boondoggling.”
31–7: Opposition and the Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Rise of Demagogues:
Father Charles Coughlin – Catholic priest with radio show preaching “Social Justice,” became anti-Semitic.
Dr. Francis Townsend – proposed $200 monthly pensions for everyone over 60.
Senator Huey “Kingfish” Long – “Share Our Wealth” program promised every family $5,000; assassinated in 1935.
Works Progress Administration (WPA, 1935):
Led by Harry Hopkins; created jobs for 9 million people over 8 years.
Built public works—bridges, roads, public buildings.
Included Federal Art Project – employed artists, writers, musicians.
Critics called it “We Provide Alms,” but it restored dignity through work.
31–8: Women and Cultural Influence
Eleanor Roosevelt:
Active First Lady, champion of social reform and minority rights.
Frances Perkins:
First female cabinet member (Secretary of Labor).
Mary McLeod Bethune:
Head of the Office of Minority Affairs in the National Youth Administration; top-ranking Black official in the FDR administration.
Cultural Contributions:
Ruth Benedict – developed the “culture and personality” theory in anthropology (Patterns of Culture, 1934).
Margaret Mead – studied Pacific Island cultures; wrote on gender and adolescence.
Pearl S. Buck – author of The Good Earth (1931); won the 1938 Nobel Prize; increased sympathy for China.
31–9: The NRA and PWA
National Recovery Administration (NRA):
Aimed to help industry, labor, and the unemployed.
Established codes of fair competition, minimum wages, maximum hours, and collective bargaining rights.
Banned child labor and “yellow-dog” contracts.
Symbol: Blue Eagle (“We Do Our Part”).
Eventually failed—too complex; businesses cheated; Supreme Court struck it down in Schechter v. U.S. (1935) (“sick chicken case”).
Public Works Administration (PWA):
Led by Harold Ickes; funded large infrastructure projects—bridges, highways, dams.
Built the Grand Coulee Dam (largest human-made structure since the Great Wall).
End of Prohibition:
1933: Congress legalized 3.2% beer and light wine; 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition.
31–10: Agricultural Adjustment and Reform
Farm Crisis:
Overproduction and low prices since WWI worsened in the Depression.
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA):
Paid farmers to reduce crop acreage; goal was “parity prices.”
Funded by taxes on processors.
Destroyed surplus crops and livestock (criticized as wasteful).
Declared unconstitutional in 1936.
Replacement Acts:
Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (1936) – encouraged planting soil-saving crops.
Second AAA (1938) – continued price supports; permanently tied farming to government aid.
31–11: The Dust Bowl and Native American Policy
Dust Bowl (1933–1940):
Drought + poor farming = massive dust storms across the Great Plains.
350,000 “Okies” and “Arkies” migrated to California.
Described in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939).
Government Response:
Resettlement Administration (1935): moved struggling farmers to better land.
CCC planted over 200 million trees as windbreaks.
Indian Reorganization Act (1934):
Pushed by John Collier (Commissioner of Indian Affairs).
Restored tribal self-government and preserved native culture.
Some tribes accepted; others rejected as “back-to-the-blanket” policy.
31–12: Financial Reform and Regulation
Federal Securities Act (1933):
Required companies to provide truthful financial information to investors (“Truth in Securities”).
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, 1934):
Regulated stock markets; prevented fraud and insider trading.
Public Utility Holding Company Act (1935):
Broke up huge monopolies like those of Samuel Insull; limited corporate pyramids.
31–13: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Purpose:
Addressed poverty and erosion in the Tennessee River Valley.
Created by the Hundred Days Congress (1933) with Senator George Norris’s support.
Goals:
Flood control, reforestation, soil conservation, cheap electric power, housing, and job creation.
Impact:
Provided electricity, employment, and modern living standards to millions.
Served as a “yardstick” for fair electricity prices.
Critics called it “creeping socialism in concrete.”
Inspired ideas for similar projects, but opposition limited expansion beyond the Tennessee Valley.
31–14: Housing and Social SecurityFederal Housing Administration (FHA, 1934):
Created to stimulate home construction and improvement through small loans to homeowners.
Helped revive the building industry; became one of the few New Deal agencies to outlast Roosevelt.
United States Housing Authority (USHA, 1937):
Lent money to states and cities for low-cost housing.
About 650,000 units for low-income families were started, but fell short of need.
Faced opposition from real estate promoters, landlords, and anti–New Dealers who called it wasteful.
Result: For the first time in a century, urban slums stopped expanding.
Social Security Act (1935):
One of the most significant New Deal laws.
Created a federal-state system for unemployment insurance and old-age pensions.
Provided payments of $10–$85/month to retirees, funded by payroll taxes on employers and employees.
Included aid for the blind, disabled, and dependent children.
Inspired by European welfare systems.
Marked a major shift—government accepted responsibility for citizens’ welfare.
By 1939: 45 million Americans were eligible.
Initially excluded many—especially farm, domestic, and informal workers, leaving out many Black and female workers.
Critics (like Hoover) said it created a “cult of leisure.”
Supporters saw it as vital “security against poverty.”
31–15: Organized Labor’s TriumphsLabor’s new power:
The end of the NRA (struck down in 1935) left a gap in labor protections.
Congress responded with strong pro-labor laws.
Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act, 1935):
Sponsored by Senator Robert F. Wagner (NY).
Guaranteed workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively.
Created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to enforce fair labor practices.
Called the “Magna Carta of labor.”
Rise of the CIO (Committee for Industrial Organization):
Led by John L. Lewis, head of the United Mine Workers.
Formed within the AFL to organize unskilled and semi-skilled workers (auto, steel, rubber).
Clashed with the AFL and was expelled; later became the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1938.
By 1940, had over 4 million members, including 200,000 Black workers.
Sit-down strikes (1936):
Most famous: General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan.
Workers refused to leave the factory, preventing strikebreakers from entering.
Result: GM recognized the union—major victory for industrial labor.
U.S. Steel (1937):
Voluntarily recognized unions to avoid strikes.
But “Little Steel” companies resisted; led to violence, including the Memorial Day Massacre in Chicago (1937), where police killed and wounded workers.
Fair Labor Standards Act (1938):
Set minimum wage (40¢/hour) and maximum workweek (40 hours).
Banned child labor under 16 (or under 18 for dangerous jobs).
Excluded agricultural, domestic, and service workers → excluded most Black, Mexican American, and female workers.
Strongly opposed by southern industrialists.
Labor became a powerful New Deal ally, helping FDR win elections.
“Roosevelt wants you to join a union” was a common slogan.
31–16: The Election of 1936Democrats:
Renominated FDR, celebrating lower unemployment and New Deal relief.
Platform: continued support for New Deal reforms.
Republicans:
Nominated Alfred M. Landon (Kansas) — honest and moderate, supported some New Deal programs but opposed Social Security.
Platform attacked FDR’s deficit spending, “waste,” and “socialism.”
Supported by Herbert Hoover and the conservative American Liberty League.
Campaign Tone:
Roosevelt attacked “economic royalists” who hid behind the flag and Constitution.
Accused wealthy elites of opposing reform.
Landslide victory for FDR:
Popular vote: 27.7 million (FDR) to 16.7 million (Landon).
Electoral vote: 523 to 8 (only Maine and Vermont for Landon).
One columnist joked: “If Landon gave one more speech, Roosevelt would have carried Canada.”
Coalition of Support:
FDR built a lasting New Deal coalition of:
Southern whites, Black voters, urban poor, immigrants (Catholics & Jews), and labor unions.
Many working-class Americans saw FDR as a defender of the “forgotten man.”
31–17: FDR’s Court-Packing Plan20th Amendment (1933):
Changed inauguration date from March 4 → January 20 (effective 1937).
FDR’s Frustration with the Supreme Court:
Court had struck down several New Deal laws (7 out of 9 major cases).
Six justices were over 70 years old and seen as conservative “old men.”
The Plan (1937):
Proposed adding 1 new justice for every current justice over 70 who refused to retire (up to 15 justicestotal).
Claimed it would speed up the Court’s work, but this was untrue.
Public Reaction:
Accused of trying to “pack” the Court and upset checks and balances.
Seen as a power grab or step toward dictatorship.
31–18: The Court-Packing BacklashMassive Opposition:
Even Democrats saw it as dangerous; “God Bless the Supreme Court” became a popular phrase.
“Switch in Time That Saved Nine”:
Justice Owen J. Roberts shifted from conservative to liberal votes, helping uphold New Deal laws (like minimum wage for women in 1937).
The Court also upheld the Wagner Act and Social Security Act.
Outcome:
Congress passed only a watered-down reform bill for lower courts.
FDR suffered his first major political defeat—lost prestige and congressional support.
However, over time, he appointed nine justices, reshaping the Court anyway.
Political cost: conservatives in both parties united against further New Deal reforms.
31–19: The “Roosevelt Recession” and Decline of the New DealEconomic downturn (1937):
“Depression within the Depression.”
Caused by new Social Security payroll taxes and cuts in government spending to balance the budget.
Unemployment rose again.
Keynesian Economics:
FDR adopted John Maynard Keynes’s idea of deficit spending to “prime the pump.”
Marked a turning point—government would use spending to manage the economy.
Reorganization Act (1939):
Created the Executive Office of the President, expanding administrative power.
Hatch Act (1939):
Banned most federal employees from active political campaigning or fundraising.
Political Consequences:
By 1938, New Deal momentum faded; Congress grew more conservative.
Republicans gained seats but not control.
Focus shifted toward the growing international crisis (Europe/WWII).
“The New Deal had shot its bolt.”
31–20: Critics of the New DealConservative and Business Opposition:
Accused the New Deal of:
Waste, corruption, bureaucracy, and socialism.
Hiring “crackpot professors” and “Communist sympathizers.”
Expanding government into business (“planned economy,” “creeping socialism”).
Claimed Roosevelt was creating a “handout state” that weakened individual initiative.
National debt rose from $19 billion (1932) to $40 billion (1939).
Business leaders feared loss of states’ rights and rise of a “dictatorship of do-gooders.”
Critics said New Deal failed to end the Depression—millions still jobless in 1939.
Only World War II finally ended unemployment.
31–21: The New Deal DefendedSupporters’ Arguments:
Primary goal was relief, not efficiency—some waste was inevitable.
Prevented mass starvation and economic collapse.
Promoted “balancing the human budget”—valuing people over profit.
Improved income distribution and preserved self-respect of the unemployed.
Created vital infrastructure—roads, dams, bridges, and electrification projects that boosted postwar growth.
Defense of FDR:
Though business leaders hated him, he saved capitalism by reforming its abuses.
Prevented radical revolution (Communism/Fascism).
Took the middle road between extremes—Hamiltonian in power, Jeffersonian in concern for the people.
Strengthened presidential leadership and preserved American democracy when others (Germany, Italy) fell to dictatorships.
His reforms helped prepare the U.S. for World War II and for a more active federal government.