The New Deal

The Rise of Franklin D. Roosevelt

  • Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1913).
  • Contracts polio (1921), leading to loss of leg use.
  • "If you spent two years in bed trying to wiggle your big toe, after that anything would seem easy.”
  • Becomes Governor of New York (1928).

Election of 1932

  • Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democrat).
    • Argued the government had to play a greater role.
    • Advocated direct relief payments.
  • Speaks on his New Deal proposal, framing it as a "matter of social duty”.
  • Defeats Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory.
  • President FDR was viewed as being for the "common people”.
  • Focused on the 3 R’s: Relief, Recovery, Reform.
  • “Let’s get to work”.

Banking Crisis

  • Depositors began pulling their money out of banks, leading to bank runs.
  • Bank Runs: angry crowds demanding money.
  • After inauguration:
    • Summons Congress to an emergency meeting.
    • Emergency Banking Relief Bill was enacted.
  • Americans had to trust to deposit money back.

The First Hundred Days

  • First priority was economic recovery.
  • Focused on economic planning & relief.
  • Congress passes 77 new laws.
  • The “Brain Trust” assisted FDR.

National Industrial Recovery Act

  • Allowed industries to cooperate to limit production, establish prices, & set workers’ wages.
  • Aimed to prevent competition from driving prices & wages down.
  • The belief was that this would motivate consumer spending.
  • Industrial workers were given the right to organize and bargain collectively, allowing them to unionize.
  • Participation was voluntary; symbolized by the Blue Eagle symbol.
  • Deemed unconstitutional in 1936.

Agricultural Adjustment Act

  • Government offered subsidies to farmers who agreed to limit the production of specific crops.
  • Aimed to limit production but resulted in wasted tons of food.
  • Sharecropper farms dropped by 33%.
  • Deemed unconstitutional in 1936.

Relief Programs

  • Viewed as the “poor relief”.
  • 33 billion allocated in 1935.
  • Work relief was emphasized.
    • “…give him a job and pay him an assured wage and you save both the body and the spirit.” - Harry Hopkins.
  • Work relief problems ignored needs of women.

Lowering Tariffs

  • Reciprocal Trade Agreements Acts (1934).
    • The act failed due to American bias.
  • Export-Import Bank.
    • Provided loans to foreigners to purchase American goods.
  • The American public was split on these policies.

U.S. Recognition of Soviet Union

  • FDR expands diplomatic recognition.
  • Republicans refused to acknowledge the Soviet Union (1920s).
  • General Electric entered the Soviet market for business.
  • Henry Ford signed a contract to build an automobile plant.
  • The Soviet Union & American farm and industrial equipment.
  • FDR & Japanese expansion.

Good Neighbor Policy

  • FDR wanted a different approach to Latin America.
  • FDR administration supported dictators in the region, but why?
  • Cuba was taken over by a radical government (1933).
    • Did not send U.S. troops.
    • Instructed the U.S. ambassador to work with conservative Cubans.
    • Batista takes power in 1934.

Demagogues & Populists

  • Populists felt that the government favored business too much.
  • Father Charles Coughlin had a radio show; anti-New Deal & anti-Semitic.
  • Huey Long supported the New Deal but switched sides.
    • Share Our Wealth Society.
  • Long is killed by a bodyguard’s bullet.

Left-Wing Critics

  • New Deal was saving capitalism, not lessening the gap of power & wealth.
  • The U.S. Communist party gains support; social welfare & relief.
    • Begin to work with labor unions, student groups, & writers’ organizations.
  • The idea that communism is no longer trying to overthrow the government.

The Second New Deal

  • Influence of Eleanor Roosevelt.
  • Push to focus on social justice; progressive reforms.
  • Leading up to the Election of 1936.
  • Americans wanted stability & security.
    • “Greater security for the average man than he has ever known before in the history of America.” - FDR.
  • Emergency Relief Appropriation Act; 44 billion in public works.

Works Progress Administration

  • Employed more than 8.58.5 million people.
  • Built 650,000650,000 miles of highways.
  • 125,000125,000 public buildings.
  • Bridges, reservoirs, irrigation systems, sewage treatment plants, parks, playgrounds, schools, hospitals.
  • Artists, musicians, actors commissioned.
  • Cultural programs were controversial.

Social Security Act

  • Roosevelt’s long-term strategy.
    • Federal Pension System.
      • Social Security taxes are taken out of the paycheck.
      • The employer has to match that amount.
  • Unemployment compensation.
  • Teachers, nurses, librarians, social workers, public-sector workers were excluded.
  • Retirement benefits were added to spouses & widows (1939).

FDR’s Populist Strategies

  • Wins Election of 1936 by a landslide.
  • Democrats win huge majorities in Congress.
  • New Deal Coalition; many begin to leave the Republican party.

The Labor Issue

  • United Auto Workers & the largest strike of the 1930s.
  • General Motors (GM) refused to negotiate & recognize the union.
  • UAW performed the “Sit-Down Strike”.
  • The Michigan governor refuses to send in the National Guard.
  • Chrysler gives in & Ford holds out.

New Deal in the West

  • The West was impacted more than any other region.
  • Public works projects reshaped the West.
  • Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam).
    • Water & hydroelectric power.
  • Electricity was cheaper in the West.
  • Taylor Grazing Act (1934); cattle.

New Deal for Native Americans

  • Native Americans were the poorest group in the nation (1930s).
  • The infant mortality rate was double that of any other ethnic group.
  • FDR appointed John Collier.
  • Indian Reorganization Act (1934).
    • Restored Indian lands to tribal ownership.
    • Gained internal sovereignty.
  • 181181 tribes organize under the IRA.

New Deal in the South

  • FDR spent time in Georgia during his fight with polio.
  • The South had to be part of mass consumerism.
  • FDR creates the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
    • Water & hydroelectric power.
  • Benefited poor southerners.
  • Southern states liked FDR but were cautious.

Mass Media & Popular Culture

  • The radio brought people closer together.
  • Manufacturers produced cheaper radio models.
  • The average time listening to the radio was 5 hours per day.
  • FDR had his “Fireside Chats”.
  • Radio lessened the isolation feeling of individuals & communities.
  • Movies, of course, were a big hit.
  • Films begin to glamorize crime (e.g., Scarface).
  • Production Code Administration.

Youth Culture

  • Stronger than ever.
  • 1.51.5 million youths lost jobs and stayed in school.
  • 7575% of youths went to high school.
  • Graduation rates doubled.
  • School was free, cool/warm, a promise of a better future.
  • Youth culture spread among America.

Limits of the New Deal

  • The U.S. Supreme Court didn’t fully support FDR’s New Deal agenda.
  • FDR feared they would invalidate legislation.
  • 33 out of 9 Supreme Court justices showed support.
  • FDR tried to get 6 more justices appointed through Congress.
  • The American public did not support this.
  • New judicial pension program for justices.

Assessment of the New Deal

  • Eleanor Roosevelt dealt with the social justice & human rights portion of it.
    • “Conscience of the New Deal”.
  • Conservative criticism was deflected away from FDR to First Lady.
  • FDR strengthened the federal government & presidency.
  • The first time that government safeguarded economic security for the American people.
  • Saved millions from hunger & misery.
  • Decides to run for a 3rd term (1940).