The New Deal

Discussion following the Great Depression module focusing on the New Deal.
Key topics covered include:
- FDR's approach to the Great Depression.
- Definition and components of the New Deal.
- Various programs, reforms, projects, and regulations were included in the New Deal.
- Impact of the New Deal on American society with a focus on racial dynamics.

Hoover's Approach:
- Believed in volunteer action—relying on churches, businesses, and charitable organizations to provide support for the people.
- Advocated for minimal government intervention (laissez-faire).
- Thought that the economy would naturally recover without government interference.
- Argued that FDR's plans would abandon traditional American values and labeled them as communist.
FDR's Approach:
- Advocated for extensive government intervention to combat the Great Depression.
- Emphasized the need for hands-on governmental policies.
- Utilized persistent experimentation with economic solutions during crises.

The New Deal encompassed a series of policies and programs designed to fight the Great Depression.
Aimed to expand the authority and role of the American government significantly.
- Government relief programs
- Job programs
- Labor-rights bills
Debates over government intervention continue to this day, stemming from the New Deal's legacy.
Objectives of the New Deal included:
- Creating jobs.
- Expanding conservation projects.
- Stimulating the economy.
- Preserving American capitalism.

First New Deal (1933-1934):
- Focused on relief, recovery, and reform.
- FDR's "First 100 Days" demonstrated his vision for the New Deal.
Second New Deal (1935-1938):
- Provided additional legislative reforms.
- Established foundational aspects of the modern social welfare system.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC):
- Formed through the Glass-Steagall Act
- Glass-Steagall Act: Federal deposit insurance system
- Insured personal savings accounts up to $5,000.
- Separated commercial banks from investment banks.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC):
- Established to regulate stock markets to prevent the risk that contributed to the Great Depression.
21st Amendment:
- Ended Prohibition, allowing federal taxation on alcohol sales and reducing policing costs related to Prohibition enforcement.

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA):
- Increased crop prices by reducing agricultural production.
- Provided subsidies primarily benefiting larger farmers, not small farmers or sharecroppers.

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA):
- Provided grants to states to aid local relief efforts.
- Allowed local governments to dictate how funds were used.
Public Works Administration (PWA):
- Focused on infrastructure projects (schools, bridges, hospitals, libraries) while creating jobs through public works.
Civil Works Administration (CWA):
- Offered temporary relief work for four months, providing short jobs on public infrastructure projects like roads, playgrounds, and schools.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC):
- Recruited young men (ages 18-25) for a two-year program
- One of FDR’s most successful programs:
  - conservation projects → planting trees, cleaning up beaches, rivers, and parks, and building bridges and dams
- Employed approximately 2.5 million men at a wage of $1 per day
- The government sent $25 of the $30 monthly wages to their families.

Works Progress Administration (WPA):
- Built on the Civil Works Administration's (CWA) success
  - Unemployed men and women
  - Projects designed and proposed by local governments
  - Employed 8.5 million Americans in various projects focused on the arts and humanities.
- Federal Writers Project:
  - Included initiatives like the Slave Narrative Project to document the stories of formerly enslaved people.
    - Collection of the formerly enslaved autobiographies, testimonies, and reminiscences
    - More than 2,300 personal experiences and over 500 photographs
    - Historians continue to use these materials
  - Florida Folklife
- Federal Art Project
- Federal Music Project
- Federal Theatre Project

National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act):
- Guaranteed workers' rights to unionize and bargain collectively, a significant victory for labor rights.
Social Security Act (1935):
- FDR considred this the cornerstone of his administration
- Established retirement pensions for individuals 65 years and older
- Unemployment insurance for people temporarily laid off
- Welfare for the disabled
- Excluded: many low-wage earners (e.g., farmers, domestic workers, laundry workers).

New Deal programs often failed to address issues faced by minority communities.
New Deal policies, regulations, and programs at times reinforced racial inequality and discrimination.
Exclusions included:
- The Social Security Act did not cover jobs predominantly held by black and brown workers.
- The Agricultural Adjustment Act encouraged the displacement of black sharecroppers and tenants.
- The National Recovery Administration paid lower wages to minorities and displaced minority workers.
Exclusion from:
- New job benefits
- Minimum wage
- Social security
- Unemployment insurance
- Unionization rights

The New Deal Coalition
- The Democratic Party broadened its voter base significantly by appealing to small farmers, urban political bosses, ethnic blue-collar workers, Jews, intellectuals, African Americans, and Women.
It raised awareness that democracy encompasses not just political rights, but also economic security and social justice.
Was the New Deal a success?
- Did not get America out of the Great Depression
- Did not stop unemployment
- Did not help minorities, the South, and farmers
- While it did not entirely resolve the Great Depression, it established frameworks that influenced modern economic policies.
Continued debates about the size and role of government can be traced back to the initiatives started during the New Deal.

Lasting Effects:
- Federal regulation of wages and hours
- Collective bargaining rights
- Social Security System
Shift in voting patterns among African-Americans from the Republican to the Democratic Party during the New Deal era.
Overall, the New Deal represented extensive governmental efforts to mitigate the fallout from the Great Depression, with mixed success across various demographics.