3. The Main Idea
In 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt became
president of a suffering nation. He quickly
sought to address the country’s needs,
with mixed results.
4. A Political Partnership
Franklin Roosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt
Appealing blend of “Eyes and ears” of her
cheerfulness, optimism, and husband
confidence
Directed efforts to solve
An effective communicator several major social issues
(ex. fireside chats) (ex. lynching of African
Americans)
A reform-minded Democrat
Wrote her own newspaper
Believed the government
column
could solve economic and
social problems Had the trust and affection
of many Americans
5. IX. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Creates model for the
active first lady
Activist, especially for
Blacks and women
Real concern for the
poor
FDR’s “eyes and legs”
Reputation for being
constantly on the go
6.
7. Franklin Roosevelt as President
Banking Crisis Hundred Days Beyond the
Hundred Days
• Temporarily • Critical period of
closed all the government • FDR and
nation’s banks to activity Congress passed
stop panic and • Roosevelt pushed important
large-scale Congress to put legislation after
withdrawals most of his New the Hundred Days
• Passed the Deal into • Created the Civil
Emergency practice. Works
Banking Act • The New Deal Administration
• Glass-Steagall Act promised relief, • Passed the Indian
created the FDIC recovery and Reorganization
reforms. Act
8. • FDR gathered
information from
many economic
experts, known as the
Brain Trust, on how
to fight the
depression.
9. • Roosevelt declared a “bank holiday”, closing every bank in
the nation for eight days.
11. Fireside Chats
• FDR gave radio speeches to the nation, which became
known as fireside chats.
FDR’s
first
fireside
chat on
the bank
crisis.
(March
12,
1933)
14. • Congress then
passed the
Emergency Banking R
, which only allowed
banks to open if they
had enough funds to
pay their depositors.
FDR signing the
Emergency Banking
Relief Act into law.
15. The New Deal
• FDR developed many
new bills that created
programs to help end the
Great Depression.
• These programs were
known as the New Deal.
16. II. plans for
I. Relief for the economic
unemployed
Recovery
The New Deal had three major goals:
3 R’s
III. Reforms to
prevent another
depression
17. The New Deal
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Helped unemployed young men 18 to 25 years old
Agriculture Adjustment Act (AAA)
Helped farmers by paying them not to grow crops
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
Helped business by requiring that businesses in the same industry cooperate with
each other to set prices and output
Federal Securities Act
Helped investors, restored confidence in the markets
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Helped build dams and other projects along the Tennessee River and its tributaries
18.
19. CCC
Civilian Conservation
Corps (CCC—spring,
1933)
Tree Army
Male
18-25
Unmarried
Physically fit
$30 month (keep $5)
Run by Army
22. AAA
Agr. Adj Act
Part of Alphabet Soup
Paid farmers to not
grow things
Controlled what was
grown and at what
price
Schechter Poultry v. US
Unconstitutional
24. National Industrial Recovery Act
National Recovery
Administration (NRA
—1933)
National recovery
administration
Sets prices of goods
and output
Unconstitutional
25.
26. SSA 1935
Social Security Act
Bi-monthly payments
Myth of poor being lazy
exposed
13 weeks of unemployment
insurance
Pension fund for retired
people over 65
Funds also for disabled and
single parent families
Response to more radical
schemes
28. WPA 1935-1943
Works Progress
Administration
8 million Americans
Constructed or repaired
Schools
Hospitals
Airfields
Culture
FWp- fed. Writers Proj.
FTP- Fed. Theater Proj.
FAP-Fed. Arts Proj.
29.
30.
31. Workers covering the
stream in Cain Park,
Cleveland Park, OH
Edward Laning and
assistants at work on his
mural “The Role of the
Immigrant in the Industrial
Development of America” –
New York, NY
32. Art of the Great Depression
Painters and sculptors fashioned works depicting the struggles of
the working class.
Authors and playwrights focused on the plight of the rural and
urban poor.
Writer John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
Songwriter Woody Guthrie celebrated the lives of ordinary
people.
Writer James Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
Photographers
Dorothea Lange recorded images of jobless people and the rural
poor.
Walker Evans depicted the lives of sharecroppers in the Lower
South.
33. FDIC
Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp.
Protects deposits
Exists today
100,000, now 250k
34. Ms. Lydia Lobsiger, the first
person to be paid for deposits
in an insured closed bank.
35. TVA
Tennessee Valley
Authority
Power
Flood control
Irrigation
Jobs
Cheap goods.
36. Perhaps the most
ambitious undertaking of
the New Deal, the TVA
was a comprehensive
federal agency created in
1933 for the economic
development of the
Tennessee River
watershed. The TVA built
twenty dams to control
flooding, generate
hydroelectrical power,
increase agricultural
production, and revitalize
the Tennessee Valley
region. The TVA also
provided jobs, low-cost
housing, reforestation
and other services.
38. REA- 1935
Rural electrification
Administration
Only 10% of farms had
electricity
Too expensive for private
companies
Dams used to create
cheap electricity in
isolated regions
40. FLSA- 1938
Fair Labor Standards
Act (1938)
--minimum wage: 40
cents
--prohibition of child
labor
--maximum work week
of 40 hours
41. NLRA
National Labor Relations
Act.
AKA- Wagner Act.
Union member have the
right to:
Strike
Collectively bargain
Closed shops
Creates NLRB(oard) to
enforce its provisions.
42.
43. The New Deal Revives Organized Labor
The Wagner act allowed
the creation of the CIO
The Committee for
Industrial
Organization (CIO)
was born in 1935.
John L. Lewis led this
group to break away
from the American
Federation of Labor
(AFL).
The United Auto
Workers (a division of
the CIO) launched a
successful sit-down
strike in 1936.
45. IRA-1934
Indian Reorganization
act
Ended sale of tribal
lands
Restored unallocated
lands to indian tribes
Indians were one of the
poorest groups in the
nation.
47. Trouble for the New Deal
Radical Reactions to the New Deal
• Believed the New Deal did not go far enough in reforming the
economy
• Wanted a complete overhaul of capitalism
• Huey P. Long, Father Charles Coughlin, Dr. Francis Townsend
Conservative Reactions to the New Deal
• Attacked the New Deal as a radical break with traditional
American ideals
• Thought the New Deal would drive the country to destruction.
• American Liberty League
48. Leading Critics of the New Deal
Huey P. Long (senator from Louisiana)
Believed Roosevelt’s policies were too friendly to banks and businessmen (started the Share
Our Wealth Society)
Father Charles Coughlin (the “radio priest”)
Believed Roosevelt was not doing enough to curb the power of bankers and financial leaders
Dr. Francis Townsend
Criticized the New Deal for not doing enough for older Americans (wanted pensions for
people over 60)
The American Liberty League
Believed that the New Deal went too far and was anti-business
Opposition from the courts
Critics of the New Deal feared that it gave the president too much power over other branches
of government.
Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States
United States v. Butler
49.
50.
51.
52.
53. The Court-Packing Plan
Roosevelt’s Plan The Result
Gave the president power to Plan did not pass; however,
appoint many new judges the Supreme Court made
and expand the Supreme some rulings that favored
Court by up to six judges New Deal legislation.
Roosevelt argued that Supreme Court upheld a
changes were needed to minimum wage law in
make the courts more Washington state.
efficient.
Court ruled in favor of a key
Most observers saw plan as element of the Wagner Act.
effort to “pack” the court
with friendly justices. Court declared Social
Security plan to be
constitutional.
54. XVI. Roosevelt’s Second Term
(1937-1941)
Election of 1936
FDR vs. Alf Landon
(R-Kan)
Biggest landslide
since 1820
The “Roosevelt
Recession” of
1937-1938
Harsh CIO strikes
56. The Election of 1936
Roosevelt His Critics The Results
• Passed the Rural • Republicans argued • A tremendous
Electrification Act, that the New Deal victory for
which provided was overly Roosevelt
electricity to bureaucratic and
• Alf Landon carried
millions of farmers was creating a
only two states.
• Showcased his planned economy.
• The Union Party
achievements: • American Liberty
candidate polled
unemployment cut League tried to
less than 2 percent
in half, income and stop Roosevelt’s
of the popular
business earnings attack on big
vote.
were up, New Deal business.
programs provided • The Democrats
• Republican Alf
hope and help again gained seats
Landon did not
in both houses.
• Spoke out against pose a serious
big business threat.
57. Economic Downturn of 1937
The Nation’s Economy
• 1937 witnessed an economic downturn that began with a
sharp drop in the stock market. By the end of the year, about
2 million Americans had lost their jobs.
• Roosevelt had hoped to cut back on government spending, for
he feared the growing federal budget deficit.
• As unemployment rose during 1937 and 1938, the
government spent large sums of money to help the
unemployed.
Economic Theory
• British economist John Maynard Keynes argued that deficit
spending could provide jobs and stimulate the economy.
• The economy did begin to rebound in the summer of 1938.
58. New Roles for Women
Women
Roosevelt promoted and recognized women.
Frances Perkins – Secretary of Labor – was the first woman to head an
executive office.
Ruth Bryan Owen served as minister to Denmark.
Roosevelt appointed women to such posts as director of the U.S. Mint
and assistant secretary of the Treasury.
Women served as leaders in several New Deal agencies.
Still, women faced challenges and discrimination.
Lower wages
Less opportunities
Hostility in the workplace
59. New Roles for African Americans
Roosevelt’s administration also appointed many African Americans.
William Hastie became the first black federal judge.
A group of African Americans hired to fill government posts were known as the Black
Cabinet, and they served as unofficial advisors to the president.
The Black Cabinet met under the leadership of Mary McLeod Bethune, director of Negro
Affairs in the National Youth Administration.
Still, African Americans continued to face tremendous hardships during the 1930s.
Severe discrimination
Thousands of African American sharecroppers and tenant farmers were not helped by New
Deal programs.
Southern Democrats in Congress opposed efforts to aid African Americans.
Many African American switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party during the 1930s.
60. The Impact of the New Deal
The New Deal promised relief, recovery, and reform.
Relief programs put billions of dollars into the pockets of poor Americans.
The New Deal was less successful in delivering economic recovery.
New Deal reforms were successful and long-lasting.
The New Deal changed the link between the American people and
their government.
Roosevelt believed that government could help businesses and individuals achieve
a greater level of economic security.
The New Deal required a much bigger government.
Americans now began to look regularly to government for help.
61. The Impact of the New Deal
Relief Recovery Reform
• Millions of • Not as successful • More successful
Americans at economic and long-lasting
enjoyed some recovery
• FDIC restored
form of help. • Unemployment public confidence
• Direct relief or remained high. in the nation’s
jobs that • Some critics banks.
provided a argued that • SEC restored
steady paycheck Roosevelt public confidence
• Programs such needed the in stock markets.
as Social support of big
• New Deal left
Security and business.
thousands of
unemployment • Other critics said roadways,
insurance that the New bridges, dams,
became a fixture Deal didn’t spend public buildings,
of government. enough money. and works of art.
62. Limits of the New Deal
Relief programs gave aid to millions of people, but they were
not meant to be a permanent solution to joblessness. Also,
they did not provide jobs to everyone who needed one.
The level of government assistance varied by state. For
example, a family needing assistance in Massachusetts might
receive $60 per month, while a family in Arkansas might get $8.
New Deal programs permitted discrimination against African
Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, and others.
63. The End of the New Deal
• Setbacks such as the court-packing fight and the
1937 economic downturn gave power to anti-New
Deal senators.
Weakening
• Opposition in Congress made passing New Deal
Support legislation more difficult. Only one piece passed in
1938: the Fair Labor Standards Act (which set up a
minimum wage).
• Roosevelt tried to influence voters in the South during
1938 the congressional elections of 1938; however his
candidates lost.
Elections
• The Republicans made gains in the both houses.
• Roosevelt lacked the congressional support he needed
to pass New Deal laws.
• The New Deal ended in 1938.
After the
New Deal • Americans turned their attention to the start of WWII.
