The New Deal, Part II (Second New Deal)
Q: What time period does the “Second New Deal” refer to?
A: Roughly 1935–1939.
Q: Why did FDR launch the Second New Deal?
A: In response to left-wing/populist criticism, labor activism (especially the CIO), and critics like Huey Long, Frances Townsend, and Charles Coughlin.
Q: What was the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)?
A: A labor federation founded in 1935 that broke from the AFL and organized industrial workers.
Q: Which major union was part of the CIO?
A: The United Auto Workers (UAW).
Q: What was the UAW “sit-down strike”?
A: A 1937 strike at a GM factory in Flint, Michigan, where workers occupied the plant.
Q: What was the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) of 1935?
A: A law that made it easier for workers to join unions and protected collective bargaining.
Q: What was the purpose of the Works Progress Administration (WPA)?
A: To provide jobs by building roads, bridges, and other public works.
Q: How did the WPA support artists and writers?
A: By funding public art, murals, oral histories, and other cultural projects.
Q: What is an example of WPA-funded infrastructure?
A: The Columbia, Missouri Armory built in 1938.
Q: According to FDR’s 1936 speech, what does liberty require?
A: Economic opportunity and a decent living, not just political equality.
Q: How did FDR define the problem of the Great Depression in his 1936 speech?
A: Economic power was concentrated in the hands of a few, creating “economic tyranny.”
Q: What solution did FDR argue was necessary to fight economic tyranny?
A: The organized power of the federal government.
Q: What was the Rural Electrification Administration (REA)?
A: A New Deal agency that brought electric power to rural areas.
Q: What did the Social Security Act of 1935 provide?
A: Benefits for retirees, the disabled, and families with dependent children.
Q: Who was excluded from Social Security benefits?
A: Domestic and agricultural workers, who were often non-white.
Q: Which programs are central to the Second New Deal?
A: The Wagner Act, WPA, REA, and Social Security Act.
Q: Who made up the New Deal Coalition?
A: Urban workers, farmers, Catholics, Jewish Americans, white Southerners, and Black Northerners.
Q: Who ran against FDR in the 1936 presidential election?
A: Alf Landon.
Q: How did the Supreme Court challenge the New Deal?
A: By striking down major programs like the NIRA and AAA.
Q: What was Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935)?
A: A Supreme Court case that struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA).
Q: What was United States v. Butler (1936)?
A: A Supreme Court case that struck down the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA).
Q: What was FDR’s “court-packing” plan?
A: A 1937 proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court.
Q: Who was Eleanor Roosevelt?
A: First Lady who played an active public and political role.
Q: Who was Frances Perkins?
A: Secretary of Labor from 1933–1945 and the first woman to hold a Cabinet position.
Q: What was the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934?
A: Part of the “Indian New Deal” that restored some tribal rights.
Q: How were Mexican-Americans affected during the New Deal era?
A: Many were encouraged or pressured to leave the U.S. for Mexico.
Q: Why was Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert significant?
A: It symbolized federal support for civil rights and racial equality.
Q: Who were the Scottsboro Boys?
A: Black teenagers falsely accused of rape in 1931, highlighting racial injustice.
Q: How did the New Deal both help and limit racial equality?
A: It expanded welfare and labor rights but excluded many non-white workers and reinforced practices like redlining.
Q: What is redlining?
A: Federal policies that made it harder for African Americans to get mortgages.
Q: How did the CIO affect Black workers?
A: It actively unionized Black workers.
Q: What happened to lynching during the New Deal era?
A: It became much less common.