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3.5 'The New Deal and race relations, 1933-41' > 2. FDR and the New Deal > Flashcards

2. FDR and the New Deal Flashcards

1
Q

What was the US unemployment rate in 1932?

A

25%

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2
Q

What did FDR pledge when he was nominated the Democratic nominee?

A

‘I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people’

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3
Q

When Roosevelt became president in March 1933, what were his New Deal proposals?

A

1) Subsidies for farmers
2) Help for the unemployed
3) Welfare payments for the poor and elderly

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4
Q

How did FDR interact with Congress early in his presidency?

A
  • Sought and obtained from Congress unprecedented powers and money necessary to implement his programmes - resulted in proliferation of ‘alphabet agencies’
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5
Q

What were ‘alphabet agencies’?

A

Aimed to lift the nation out of the economic depression and to ameliorate suffering.

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6
Q

Did FDR have black Americans in mind when implemented the ‘New Deal’?

A
  • Knew that the Depression hit black Americans particularly hard - that they suffered exceptionally unfavourable social and political conditions in the South

1933 - appointed a liberal white Southerner - Clark Foreman - as his ‘Special Adviser on the Economic Status of the Negro’ - succeeded by black assistant, Robert Weaver

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7
Q

Who was Harold Ickes?

A

1874-1952

  • Pennsylvania-born reporter, lawyer and Chicago politician - became Secretary of the Interior (1933-46) under FDR - who wanted a progressive Republican in his cabinet
  • Important in the implementation of the New Deal
  • Weaver and Foreman owed their appointments to him
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8
Q

How was federal government aid overseen and distributed?

A

Although several leading FDR appointees, led by Harry Hopkins, were sympathetic to the black plight - administration relied heavily upon local and state authorities to oversee and distribute federal aid

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9
Q

Who was Harry Hopkins?

A

1890-1946

  • Born in Iowa - social services administrator in NYC - impressed Governor Roosevelt
  • FDR employed him to supervise New Deal programmes - FERA, WPA, NYA
  • Important aide and advisor to FDR - during WWII
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10
Q

Give a timeline for FDR.

A

1882 - born to wealthy family in NY State
1900-4 - studied law at Harvard
1905 - married distant cousin Eleanor Roosevelt
1913 - Assistant Secretary of the Navy
1928-33 - popular Governor of NY State, usually elected effective in combating unemployment
1933-7 - 1st presidential term dominated by Great Depression and New Deal
1937-41 - 2nd presidential term dominated by deteriorating international situation
1941-5 - led the country through WWII in his 3rd term
1945 - died in April - few weeks into his fourth term

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11
Q

What were FDR’s achievements?

A
  • Used federal govt power and expenditure to stimulate economy during the Great Depression
  • Combination of his policies and wartime demand helped bring about economic recovery
  • Led the nation through the war but died on the verge of victory
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12
Q

List examples of measures taken by federal govt in ‘New Deal’.

A
  1. AAA
  2. TVA
  3. CCC
  4. NRA
  5. PWA
  6. WPA
  7. NYA
  8. FERA
  9. Social security Act
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13
Q

What was the AAA?

A

Agricultural Adjustment Administration

  • Set up in 1933 under the Agricultural Adjustment Act - to aid farmers
  • Federal govt considered overproduction the greatest problem in American agriculture
  • Farmers invited to voluntarily reduce their acreage and production in exchange for govt subsidies - AAA - paid farmers to decrease production of staples such as corn, cotton, milk, pigs, rice tobacco and wheat
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14
Q

Who ran the AAA at a local level?

A
  • Invariable run by country committees dominated by most powerful landowners - actions frequently harmed black Americans
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15
Q

How did actions of the AAA harm black Americans?

A

1) Landowners didn’t hesitate to evict sharecroppers or tenants - 1933 - around 800,000 AAs worked on farms in South - only 13% owned their land - rest were tenants and sharecroppers (on white-owned land) - between 1933-40 - 200,000 sharecroppers evicted
2) Federal govt have large landowners cheques made out to individual AA - but many landowners simply threatened the workers until they signed over the cheques
3) Many planters - added to black problems - used AAA money to buy machinery that replaced AA farm workers
4) When landowners needed additional labour - persuaded local relief administrators to remove AAs from welfare tolls - labour surplus: workers willing to accept very low wages

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16
Q

Overall, how did the AAA impact black Americans?

A
  • Was of little help - AAA officials tried but failed to prevent evictions (in face of resistance from landowners)
  • Evicted sharecroppers or tenants - sometimes attempted resistance - e.g., Communist-led Alabama Sharecroppers Union - 8,000 members by 1934 - federal govt condoned use of violence against resistance
17
Q

What was the TVA?

A

Tennessee Valley Authority
- New Deal programme - to revitalise the economy of several impoverished Southern states through provision of flood control, electricity and employment

18
Q

How did the TVA impact black Americans?

A
  • Set up by federal govt in May 1933 - AA TVA workers given segregated facilities
  • Restricted to unskilled jobs - given limited access to new housing - excluded from model farm programmes
  • Situation improved when J. Max Bond - TVA’s black Supervisor of Negro Training - leaked info about discrimination
  • NAACP published exposé - congressional committee called for improved treatment
19
Q

What was the CCC

A

Civilian Conservation Corps:

  • New Deal agency est. 1933 - offered employment through public works
  • Department of Labor recruited 17-24-year-old unemployed males to work in the CCC
20
Q

How many worked in the CCC?

A
  • Around 250,000 worked on reforestation, soil conservation and forest management projects in 1933-4 and 500,000 in 1935
21
Q

With most White Americans usually considering the CCC a great success, why weren’t black Americans not so impressed?

A
  • CCC headed by Robert Fechner - racially conservative Tennessean - did nothing to encourage black American recruitment until Roosevelt administration intervened
22
Q

What happened as a result of the Roosevelt administration intervening in the CCC?

When did they intervene?

A

1935

  • CCC doubled black recruitment
  • Around 200,000 AAs in its 9 year existence - but often restricted to low-skilled jobs
  • Fechner issued directive ordering the ‘complete segregation of coloured and white enrollees’ in July 1935
23
Q

How did working for CCC in the North impact black Americans?

A
  • AA recruits arrived at Fort Dix - soon, 100 from Newark, New Jersey, went on strike
  • Said food was scarce and poor - claimed that had been evicted from their barracks to make way for white recruits and forced to give up hot meals for raw potatoes
  • White Army officers who ran camp - claimed they ate too much
24
Q

Who were Company 235-C?

A
  • Fort Fix’s 180 AA recruits from Harlem - sent to upstate NY to plant trees at $30 per week
  • White major brought in 20 white recruits - replaced black clerks - Harlem recruits refused to work
  • 6 of them arrested - sent home - 35 Harlemites still refused to work - only 1 returned
  • 34 sent home
  • White recruits transferred to another company - trouble continued - CCC said local white pop. was ‘somewhat nervous’ about the ‘possibility of rape’ by black recruits
  • Company 235-C sent far away from white towns
25
Q

What problems were experienced in a Northern CCC in Ohio?

A
  • 2 Ohio senators interrogated Fechner on treatment of AAs in their state - demonstrated considerable contemporary concern over black Americans working for New Deal agencies
  • Sense of awareness owed to NAACP and FDR
26
Q

What did FDR say to Fechner?

A

Sept 1935 - FDR sent brief handwritten letter to Fechner - revealed that there was both promise and prejudice in the President’s attitude toward AAs
- “please try to put in coloured foremen, not of course in technical work but in the ordinary manual work’

27
Q

What was the NRA?

A

National Recovery Administration

- New Deal agency set up in 1933 - to help businesses and manufacturing

28
Q

What were the methods of the NRA?

A
  • Codes that encouraged employers to establish minimum wages and maximum hours for workers - allowed regionally differentiated wage rates and excluded workers in agriculture and in domestic service
29
Q

How did NRA impact black Americans?

A
  • 3/4 of black workers were employed in agriculture and domestic service - how lower wages
  • Group called National Association for Domestic Workers - wrote to NRA and pointedly drew up a code for domestic workers, who were excluded from New Deal legislation
  • AA workers in industries covered by codes often had job classification redefined - so employers could avoid the set wage levels - NRA famous amongst the black population for its unfairness
30
Q

What happened to NRA in 1935?

A

Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional - Congress assisted workers by passing the Wagner Act.

31
Q

When and what was the Wagner Act?

A

July 1935:

- Forced employers to allow unions and collective bargaining

32
Q

When and what was the Fair Labour Standards Act? What was its impact?

A

1938:

  • Fixed minimum wage at 25 cents per hour - set a maximum number of hrs weekly for workers (44 hours) in several industries
  • 300,000 workers had an immediate wage increase - 1.3 million had their work hours reduced
33
Q

How did FDR get Southern Democrats to accept Wagner Act and Fair Labour Standards Act?

A
  • Had to make crucial exemptions
  • Waiters, cooks, janitors, domestic and farm workers excluded from provisions of both acts
  • Most of these workers were black
34
Q

How were the Wagner and Fair Labour Standards Acts limited?

A
  • Many unions excluded black workers and NAACP lobbying failed to persuade Congress to include a non-discrimination clause in the Wagner Act

3.5 'The New Deal and race relations, 1933-41' (6 decks)

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