FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AND THE NEW DEAL

1. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AND THE NEW DEAL America: Past and Present Chapter 26

2. The Great Depression • 1920s optimism drives increase in expectations of a better way of life • After 1929 despair sets in

3. The Great Bull Market • 1928--soaring stock prices attract individual, corporate investment • 1929--stock market crashes • Directly affects 3 million • Credit crunch stifles business • Businesses lay off workers • Demand for consumer goods declines

4. The Great Depression • Hardship affects all classes • The middle class loses belief in ever-increasing prosperity • Thousands of young homeless, jobless

5. Unemployment, 1929-1942

6. Fighting the Depression • Republican attempts to overcome catastrophe flounder • Depression gives Democrats opportunity to regain power

7. Hoover and Voluntarism • Hoover initially seeks solution through voluntary action, private charity • Eventually aids farmers and bankers • Resists Democratic efforts to give direct aid to the unemployed • Perceived as indifferent to human suffering • Programs seen as incompetent

8. Bank Failures, 1929-1933

9. The Emergence of Roosevelt • Franklin Roosevelt • Born to wealth and privilege • 1921--crippled by polio • 1928--elected governor of New York • Talented politician • 1932--defeats Hoover with farmer- worker-immigrant-Catholic coalition

10. The Hundred Days • Banking system saved from collapse • Fifteen major laws provide relief • New Deal aims to reform and restore, not nationalize, the economy

11. Roosevelt and Recovery • National Recovery Administration • Industries formulate codes to eliminate cut-throat competition, ensure labor peace • Codes favor big business, unenforceable • 1935--NRA ruled unconstitutional • Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 • Farmers paid to take land out of cultivation • Prices increase • Sharecroppers, tenant farmers dispossessed

12. Roosevelt and Relief • 1933--Harry Hopkins placed in charge of RFC to direct aid to unemployed • 1933--Civilian Conservation Corps provides employment to young people • 1935--Works Progress Administration place unemployed on federal payroll • Programs never sufficiently funded

13. Roosevelt and Reform • 1933-34--focus on immediate problems • 1935--shift to permanent economic reform

14. Angry Voices • Father Charles Coughlin advocates nationalizing banks, anti-Semitism • Francis Townsend calls for wealth redistribution from young to the elderly • Huey Long calls for redistribution of wealth by seizing private fortunes

15. Social Security • 1935--Social Security Act passed • Criticisms • Too few people would collect pensions • Unemployment package inadequate • Establishes pattern of government aid to poor, aged, handicapped

16. Labor Legislation • 1935--Wagner Act • allows unions to organize • outlaws unfair labor practices • 1938--Fair Labor Standard Act • maximum hour • minimum wage

17. Impact of the New Deal • Roosevelt’s leftward turn erodes support for Coughlin, Townsend, Long • Remains within mainstream of American traditions • Helps labor unions most • Helps women, minorities least

18. Rise of Organized Labor • 1932--National Recovery Act spurs union organizers • Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) formed by John L. Lewis • CIO unionizes steel, auto industries • 1940--CIO membership hits 5 million, 28% of labor force unionized

19. The New Deal Record on Help to Minorities • Crop reduction program allows whites to fire or evict blacks, Hispanics • Public works programs help by providing employment • New Deal figures convince minorities that the government is on their side • 1934--Indian Reorganization Act gives American Indians greater control

20. Women at Work • Position of women deteriorates in ‘30s • Jobs lost at a faster rate than men • Hardly any New Deal programs help • Progress in government • Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor, the first woman cabinet member • Women appointed to several other posts • Eleanor Roosevelt a model for activism

21. End of the New Deal • 1936--New Deal peaks with Roosevelt’s reelection • Congress resists programs after 1936

22. The Election of 1936 • FDR’s campaign • Attacks the rich • Promises further reforms • Defeats Republican Alf Landon • Democrats win lopsided majorities in both houses of Congress • FDR coalition: South, cities, labor, ethnic groups, African-Americans, poor

23. The Supreme Court Fight • Supreme Court blocks several of FDR’s first-term programs • 1937--FDR seeks right to "pack" Court • Congressional protest forces retreat • FDR’s opponents emboldened

24. The New Deal in Decline • 1936--cutbacks for relief agencies • 1937--severe slump hits economy • Roosevelt blamed, resorts to huge government spending • 1938--Republican party revives

25. Evaluation of the New Deal • New Deal’s limitations • Depression not ended • Economic system not fundamentally altered • Little done for those without political clout • Achievements • Social Security, the Wagner Act • Political realignment of the 1930s