Essential Question: How did New Deal programs provide relief, recovery, and reform for the American economy and people?

Essential Question:

• How did New Deal programs provide relief, recovery, and reform for the American economy and people?

Herbert HooverHerbert Hoover• Elected 1928• Noted Humanitarian• WWI Food Relief to

war torn Europe• Depression

Policy>From Top Down

• Reconstruction Finance Company– (loans to banks,

insurance companies, and railroads)

• Bonus Army fiasco

FDR’s Background

• From Prosperity

• 5th Cousin to T.R.– Eleanor was Teddy’s Niece

• Polio Victim

FDR inspired American

public • bulldog determination to

succeed • the Brain Trust• instill hope and courage

in the people - "We have nothing to fear but fear itself"

• pragmatist rather than ideologue

Fireside Chats

Hundred Days• 4 day bank holiday--

Emergency Banking Relief Act

• June, FDIC, guaranteed deposits up to $5,000

• Federal Securities Act--SEC regulate the stock market

• abandoned gold standard• 21st Amendment, ending

prohibition• Farm Credit Administration

& Home Owner's Loan Act-- low-interest rates on refinancing mortgages

• CCC created jobs for young men aged 18-25

• Federal Emergency Relief Administration--Harry Hopkins--$500 million – state construction

projects– adult literacy programs– college aid for poor

students– day-care centers for low-

income families

• TVA--bring electricity to poorest region of nation

• AAA (May 1933)• National Industrial

Recovery Act (June 1933) – immunity from antitrust– regulate labor conditions--

right to organize National Recovery Administration (NRA)

– set production limits, wages, and working conditions

– forbade price cutting & unfair competitive practices

– publicity program buy only from “Blue Eagle”

• PWA--$3.3 billion public-works program, Harold Ickles– 35,000 projects

• Reconstruction Finance Company (Hoover) continued loans to banks, insurance companies, and railroads

Legislation after the Hundred

Days

• Civil Works Administration --$1 billion on short-term projects

Problems for the New Deal

• Southern Tenant Farmers

• braintrust split between concentrating on all agricultural versus helping rural poor

• New Deal didn’t end depression, but most people support FDR's programs

FDR challenged by conservatives & radicals

• Father Charles Coughlin—Catholic radio program– new system based on

"social justice"– nation's problems

were caused by bankers

– anti-Semitism– censured by Catholic

church

Huey Long ("Kingfish")

• Governor then Senator of Louisiana– Share Our Wealth program– liquidate all personal fortunes

above certain amount – give every family enough

money to buy home, automobile & radio

– elderly would receive pensions – assassinated in 1935

Biggest challenge to New Deal comes from Supreme Court

• 1935--AAA & NIRA ruled unconstitutional

FDR wins reelection in 1936 > Second New Deal

• focuses on needs of urban and rural poor and workers

• expand federal relief efforts to American workers

• deficit spending -- John Maynard Keynes economic policy– deficit spending will pump

money into economy & combat depression

• WPA - Harry Hopkins - 11 billion to put people to work – 8 million people in 34,000

construction projects– murals, photographs, Slave

narratives • National Labor Relations

Act (Wagner Act)– requires employers to

bargain with unions– National Labor Relations

Board • Resettlement

Administration--farmers, tenants, sharecroppers– Rural Electrification

Administration– replaced by the Farm

Security Administration

• Social Security Act – old-age pensions– survivors' benefits for

families of deceased workers

– unemployment insurance

• Revenue Act--Raised tax rates on incomes over $50,000 – established federal tax on

corporations

• Fair Labor Standards Act– Set minimum wage and

maximum work-week – prohibited child labor under

age of 16

Court-packing

• 1937, FDR tried to stop Supreme Court striking down New Deal

• Proposes court-reform bill• Allowed president to

appoint a new justices to sit with any justice over 70 who would not retire

• Killed by Congress, but• Court stops striking down

New Deal• Hurt FDR’s public image

Recession of 1937, caused by…

• reduced consumer spending due to social security deductions

• cutbacks in New Deal work and relief programs to balance budget

Recession of 1937, caused by…

• reduced consumer spending due to social security deductions

• cutbacks in New Deal work and relief programs to balance budget

FDR and Congress

• revived and expand the PWA, WPA, etc.

• and other work programs • revival of economy

begins and unemployment declines

FDR and Congress

• revived and expand the PWA, WPA, etc.

• and other work programs • revival of economy

begins and unemployment declines

Eleanor Roosevelt• Changed role of 1st

Lady

Relief Recovery Reform

3 R’s

Letters to Mrs. Roosevelt

• Who wrote to the First Lady?

• What did they write about?

• What can you learn from the letters about the Great Depression & New Deal?