“Alphabet Soup” Agencies

• The abbreviated names of New Deal agencies that were used to alleviate the effects of the Great Depression

• Symbolized how the New Deal was confusing and very disorganized at times

Harry Hopkins

• FDR’s top advisor

• An American statesman, public administrator, and presidential advisor

• Led the Federal Emergency Relief Act, Works Progress Administration, etc.

• Directed New Deal relief programs before serving as the 8th United States Secretary of Commerce from 1938 to 1940 and as Roosevelt's chief foreign policy advisor and liaison to Allied leaders during World War II

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

• 1933

• Created public works projects in order to provide work for unemployed young men

• Provided temporary relief for families as they tried to get back on their feet

• Accustomed men to military life that would later be needed for World War II

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

• 1933

• With the federal government paying farmers not to produce, farm surpluses decreased

• The government refinancing farm mortgages helped create inflation

• 1936 - The AAA was later declared unconstitutional

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

• 1933

• Tackled important problems facing the valley

• Projects included water-powered electricity, controlling flooding, and building dams and power plants

• A symbol of big government taking over aspects of the private sector

Mary McLeod Bethune

• Advisor to Eleanor Roosevelt

• An American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist

• Motivated African Americans to vote Democrat for FDR

National Recovery Administration (NRA)

• 1933

• Used to boost employment and business activity

• Self-regulation of businesses based on codes, or standards

• Collective bargaining

• Eliminated "cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and government together to create codes of "fair practices" and set prices

• 1935 - The NRA was later declared unconstitutional

Public Works Administration (PWA)

• 1933

• The administration constructing public buildings provided jobs and relief to workers

• Followed the ideas of Keynesian economics, which used deficit money in order to improve the economy and provide jobs

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

• 1935

• An American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads

• Employed writers, actors, artists, musicians, etc.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

• 1933

• Americans were guaranteed $5,000 banking deposits

• Preventing corrupt banking would ensure the prevention of a future panic

• Goal to lessen speculation and risky investment

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

• 1934

• Denying licenses to corrupt exchanges would help regulate stock sales to prevent another stock market crash

• Banned price-manipulation and lessened risky speculation

• Corporations were forced to publish reports, preventing corrupt practices

Social Security

• 1935

• Under unemployment insurance, taxes were collected and the money given to the unemployed

• Under old-age insurance, retired elders were given federal pensions

• Provided public health care and job training

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

• 1935

• Protected the rights of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve their wages and working conditions

• With workers being allowed to join unions and collectively bargain, there was less corrupt collective bargaining

• Prevented strikes

Fair Labor Standards Act

• 1938

• Enacted a minimum wage and maximum work hours

• Banned child labor

• Unfortunately, their policies didn’t protect many workers

Rubber Stamp Congress

• A person or institution with considerable de jure power but little de facto power — one that rarely or never disagrees with more powerful organizations

• Because of democratic majorities in Congress, FDR’s legislation was quickly passed

• Raised the question of whether or not this was ignoring checks and balances

Boondoggling

• Wasted New Deal money on useless projects with shiftless workers

• Symbolized the disorganization and rushed-ness of the New Deal

Dust Bowl

• 1930s - Huge dust storms and drought

• As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region

• The Soil Conservation Act prevented soil erosion

• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck detailed the stories of families who lived in the midst of the Dust Bowl

Election of 1936

• 1936

• The Republican Party attacked FDR and the New Deal but had no other plan to deal with the Great Depression

• By winning 523 electoral votes, FDR received 98.49% of the electoral vote total, which remains the highest percentage of the electoral vote won by any candidate since 1820

• Democratic majorities

Ida B. Wells

• An American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement

• Early founder of the NAACP

• Prevented the segregation of schools and supported women’s suffrage

Hatch Act

• 1939

• Prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president and vice president, from engaging in some forms of political activity

Pack-the-Court Scheme

• 1937

• Because the Supreme Court was resistant to the New Deal, slowing down FDR’s policies, he wanted to reorganize the Supreme Court in order to make it more difficult to slow the progress of the New Deal

• It was sharply criticized and strongly hurt FDR’s reputation

Sick-Chicken Case

• 1935

• Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that invalidated regulations of the poultry industry according to the nondelegation doctrine and as an invalid use of Congress' power under the Commerce Clause

• SCOTUS declared that the executive branch was too powerful, and that the federal law didn’t apply to the Schechter Corporation

John L. Lewis

• An American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960

• The driving force behind the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which established the United Steel Workers of America and helped organize millions of other industrial workers in the 1930s, during the Great Depression

Congress of Industrial Organization

• 1938 - Founded by John L. Lewis

• Allowed both skilled and unskilled workers to join

• Once it joined with the American Federation of Labor, it became the AFL-CIO

BIG PICTURE

• Great Depression - New Deal (FDR)

• Fed. gov’t - Regulate economy + provide social welfare

• New Deal = CONTROVERSIAL

• FDR didn’t go far enough vs. FDR abused gov’t power

• Controversial policies BUT maintained unity of US