Outline: Great Depression & WW II I.Initial New Deal Relief Actions II.Aid for the Farmers III.New Deal Work Programs.

Outline: Great Depression & WW II

I. Initial New Deal Relief Actions

II. Aid for the Farmers

III. New Deal Work Programs

Miriam A. “Ma” Ferguson

Franklin D. Roosevelt & the “New Deal”

John Nance Garner (w/ FDR)

A “Bank Run”

“Bank Holiday”

• Banks closed until relief bill drafted & passed by Congress

• Approved in 7 hrs.; signed into law by FDR

Emergency Banking Act

• Gov’t inspection of banks; approval needed to reopen

• “Good banks” allowed to reopen

• Banks about to collapse closed forever

• Banks “in between” received gov’t aid (loans + purchase of bank stock) & reopened soon

Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)

• Gov’t guaranteed many mortgages if lenders changed loan terms:

• Lower monthly payments & longer pay periods

• 20% of the US home mortgages refinanced to stop further foreclosures

Agricultural Adjustment Admin. (AAA)

Agricultural Adjustment Admin. (AAA)

• Farmers paid to reduce production ¼ to ½

• Farmers were to benefit by: a) gov’t subsidy checks; b) increased prices for crops raised/sold

AAA

• AAA began as a voluntary program

• In 1st year, farmers asked to “plow up” part of growing crops for $$ + hope to raise crop prices

• After overcoming problems & resistance, about 1/3 of TX crop reduced; cotton prices doubled

AAA • After 1st year, reductions became practically mandatory

• Cooperating farmers’ demanded change b/c non-cooperators profiting more at their expense

• Quotas put in place; excess cotton taxed so heavily it would be pointless to sell it (The “Bankhead Act”)

• S. Court later forced further changes

AAA

• Big losers under the AAA = sharecroppers & tenant farmers (black & white)

• Less land in use = less laborers needed

• Tens of thousands evicted in TX; hundreds of thousands South-wide

Public Works Administration (PWA)• Created June 1933

• Purposes: To provide jobs

To stimulate demand for materials

To construct long-lasting large-scale projects of social & economic worth

Public Works Administration (PWA) PWA granted about ½

labor/material costs; matched by localities/states

Over $6 billion granted nationally

Over $100 million for 922 projects in TX

Port of Brownsville

Mansfield Dam (Lake Travis)

UT Main Building & Tower

John Peter Smith City-County Hospital (Ft. Worth)

Terminal & Hangar at Houston Municipal (Hobby) Airport

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

• Primary Purpose: to provide jobs, jobs, jobs

• Employed 8 million in US; 600,000+ in TX

• ¾ worked on construction (smaller scale than PWA)

Houston City Hall

San Jacinto Battlefield Monument

Ft. Worth Botanic Gardens

Dallas & San Antonio Zoo improvement

Dealey Plaza in Dallas

Art Deco Buildings & Lagoon in Fair Park (Dallas)

San Antonio’s Riverwalk

Corps of Cadets Dorms at Texas A&M

WPA Gym in Plano (now the Courtyard Theater)

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

• ¼ performed non-construction work

WPA Theater Project

WPA Music Project: Concerts

WPA Music Project: Music Classes

WPA Art Project: Exhibitions

WPA Art Project: Art Classes

WPA Library Project: Bookmobiles

WPA Library Project: Audio Books for the Blind

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)• Purpose: to conserve the

nation’s natural & human resources

• 2.5 million men, ages 18-25 (50,000 in TX) served

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)• Multiple agencies involved:

Labor Dept. for recruitment

US Army to house & feed enrollees in work camps

Depts. of Interior & Agriculture to oversee work projects in parks & forests

Planting Millions of Trees & Fighting Forest Fires

Pavilions at Angelina & Davy Crockett Nat’l Forests

Access Roads at Big Bend Nat’l Park

Dam & Refectory at Huntsville State Park

Swimming Pool & Rec Hallat Abilene State Park

White Rock Lake (Dallas)

Longhorn Cavern State Park

Longhorn Cavern State Park

Mission Excavation/Restoration: Goliad

National Youth Administration (NYA)

•Open to male & female youth

•Purpose #1:

To provide part-time jobs for 2 million high school & college students (175k in TX)

Texas NYA Administrator Lyndon Johnson

NYA Library Assistance

NYA Office Work at a High School

National Youth Administration (NYA)

Purpose #2: To aid 2.5 million out-of-school youth aided through various work programs (75k in TX)

Aid = wages + skills training

Mixing Cement at an NYA Work Center

NYA Machine Shop Training

San Benito (Cameron County) Public Library

Little Chapel in the Woods at Texas Woman’s University

La Villita (San Antonio)

La Villita (San Antonio)

La Villita (San Antonio)

Miriam FergusonJohn Nance Garner

“Bank Holiday”Emergency Banking Act

Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC)Ag. Adjustment Admin. (AAA)Public Works Admin. (PWA)

Works Progress Admin. (WPA)Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)National Youth Admin. (NYA)