5.4 USA How successful was the New Deal?

Question 1

What were the ‘fireside chats’?

Answer 1

Every Sunday, Roosevelt broadcasted on radio to the nation to tell them what was he doing and why was he doing it. 60million Americans listened to him.

Question 2

EBA, 1933

Answer 2

Emergency Banking Act:
Roosevelt closes all the banks (5 March) and 5,000 trustworthy banks that had been checked by government officials were reopened. (9 March)
Saved 20% of the population from repossession.

Question 3

SEC, 1933

Answer 3

Securities Exchange Commission:

Set of rules and regulation that prevented the reckless speculation that had led to the Great Depression.

Question 4

FERA, 1933

Answer 4

Federal Emergency Relief Administration:

$500 million were spent on blankets, soup kitchens, employment schemes…

Question 5

CCC, 1933

Answer 5

Civilian Conservation Corps:
Young men were employed for 6 months; they worked on environmental projects in natural parks, acquiring skills in order to search for a job and money for their family.
2.5 million were helped by this.

Question 6

AAA, 1933

Answer 6

Agricultural Administration Act:
Set quotas to reduce overproduction, forcing prices to move upwards. The government bought livestock and slaughtered it and it paid subsidies for farmers not to plant more crops. Helped farmers modernise and use methods to conserve the soil.

Question 7

NIRA, 1933

Answer 7

National Industrial Recovery Act:

Sets up two important organisations, the PWA and the NRA.

Question 8

PWA, 1933

Answer 8

Public Works Administration:
Built roads, schools, dams, bridges, airports to create millions of jobs+useful infrastructure.
Created 600,000 jobs + built San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge.

Question 9

NRA, 1933

Answer 9

National Recovery Administration:
Drew up voluntary codes for each industry: regulated prices, working hours and wages. It was optional and businesses that followed it had the Blue eagle with the motto “We do our part”. 2 million employers joined it.

Question 10

TVA, 1933

Answer 10

Tenessee Valley Authority:
The Tenessee Valley cut across 7 states. People there lived in poverty, had no electricity and the land had turned into a ‘dust bowl’.
The TVA built Dams (like the Cherokee dam and the Fontana Dam) which helped irrigate, provided electricity + employment.

Question 11

How was the Second New Deal created?

Answer 11

14 May 1935: Roosevelt meets with senators+advisers and they develop a new series of laws he wanted to pass to make the USA a fairer place for all Americans. One month later, he presented it to Congress.

Question 12

Wagner Act (2nd New Deal)

Answer 12

Forced employers to allow trade unions that could negotiate wages and conditions in their companies. It made it illegal to sack workers for being in a union.

Question 13

Social Security Act (2nd New Deal)

Answer 13

Unemployment Insurance: paid a tax and received money when unemployed.
Provided state pensions for eldery+widows.
Cooperated the federal+state governments help for sick and disabled.

Question 14

WPA (2nd New Deal

Answer 14

Brought together all employment administrations.
Also created jobs for office workers, actors, artists + photographers (Farm Security administration = 80,000 photographs of farming areas)

Question 15

RA (2nd New Deal)

Answer 15

Resettlement Administration:

Moved over 500,000 families to better-quality land+housing, helping farmers that weren’t helped by the AAA.

Question 16

FSA (2nd New Deal)

Answer 16

Farm Security Administration:
Replaced the RA in 1937.
Gave farmers special loans to buy new land, machinery…
Built camps for migrant agricultural workers (like the one at Shafter, California)

Question 17

How did the New Deal encounter opposition from Huey Long?

Answer 17

Huey Long: Governor of Lousiana, 1928 and Senator, 1932. He used intimidation+bribery to get this power.
He taxed big corporations in Lousiana and built roads, schools, and hospitals.
Employed African Americans
Share our Wealth scheme: all fortunes reduced to $3 million, max income $1 million per year. The money from this would be used to provide pensions for over 60 and free washing machines and radios.
Roosevelt regarded him as one of the two most dangerous men in the USA.
Was assassinated in 1935.

Question 18

How did the New Deal encounter opposition from Francis Townsend?

Answer 18

Townsend clubs: campaigned for a pension of $200 per month for people over 60.

Question 19

How did the New Deal encounter opposition from Father Coughlin?

Answer 19

Criticised it on his radio programme for not doing enough.

Set up National Union for Social Justice: reached 7.5 million people.

Question 20

What critics did Republicans + employers make of the New Deal?

Answer 20

Had too many regulations.
Govt. shouldn’t support trade unions and shouldn’t regulate wages - the market should.
TVA created unfair competition for private companies.
Criticised it for being similar to communist plans.
High taxes discouraged people from working hard and encouraged people not to work.
Roosevelt was abusing his power.

Question 21

What happened in the 1936 election? what did Roosevelt say?

Answer 21

Roosevelt won 27 million votes with the highest margin of victory ever achieved in the US.
he said: ‘everyone is against the New Deal except the voters’

Question 22

How did the New Deal encounter opposition from the Supreme Court?

Answer 22

9 judges (mainly republican; had political dislike towards the New Deal)
They declared the NRA + AAA unconstitutional in the Schelter poultry case, claiming it violated the US Constitution's separation of powers and that it regulated commerce.
Roosevelt proposed the Judicial Reform Act, which allowed him to appoint 6 new judges.
FDR was seen as a dictator, but the court stopped criticising the New Deal.

Question 23

Had happened in 1937, concerning the New Deal and what was its consequences?

Answer 23

1937: New Deal budget cut
This leads to a small recession;
which causes Republicans to gain more representation in Congress (after the congressional elections).
Although Roosevelt was elected again in 1940, this made harder for Roosevelt to push his reforms through Congress.

Question 24

How did the New Deal contribute in building a better society?

Answer 24

• Restored faith+hope
• It was the base for future social policies. (Social security act)
• No corruption scandals: Harold Hopkins, head of CWA, managed $10 billion but never earned more than his salary ($15,000). Harold Ickes, Secretary of Interior, tapped phones of his employees to prevent corruption.
• Inclusion: Harold Ickes, Secretary of Interior, employed African Americans + supported Native Americans.

Question 25

How did the New Deal fail to build a better society?

Answer 25

• It divided the USA, Harold Ickes (Secretary of Interior) + Harold Hopkins (head of CWA) were accused of being Communists: Red Scare still persisted.
• The New Deal undermined the state govt.

Question 26

How did the New Deal benefit industrial workers?

Answer 26

• NRA+2nd New Deal strengthened the Trade Union’s position.
• Unions combined to form the Committee for Industrial Organisation (CIO)
• Union of Automobile Workers was recognised by General Motors (after sit-in strike, 1936) and Ford (after ballot, 1941)

Question 27

How did the New Deal fail to benefit industrial workers?

Answer 27

• Businesses remained powerful:
  Ford+Chrysler employed their own thugs + Strikes were broken up with violence in 1930s.
• Unions were still treated with suspicion.
• Unions really became powerful after the war (1939: 7 million members)

Question 28

How did the New Deal benefit employment and the economy?

Answer 28

• Reformed the American Banking system (EBA)
• Improved standard of living in deprived parts (TVA)
• Whilst employing people, it built roads, schools, hospitals.

Question 29

How did the New Deal fail to benefit employment and the economy?

Answer 29

• The US economy took longer to recover than Europe.
• When the budget was cut in 1937, the country went into recession: failed to reform the economy.
• Unemployment still 15% in 1940, only went to 5% in 1942, after the USA entered the war, in 1941.

Question 30

How did the New Deal benefit African Americans?

Answer 30

• 200,000 gained benefits from the New Deal
• Housing projects benefited them (like the camp for migrant agricultural workers in Shafter, California built by the FSA)

Question 31

How did the New Deal fail to benefit African Americans?

Answer 31

• Racial segregation in the CCC
• More black workers unemployed
• Domestic workers (Mainly black women) weren’t included in the Social Security Act.
• Roosevelt failed to put civil rights legislation or anti-lynching laws, fearing senators in the south wouldn’t support him.

Question 32

How did the New Deal benefit women?

Answer 32

• Eleanor Roosevelt: important campaigner.
  Mary Macleod: Black woman, head of National Youth Administration.
  Frances Perkins = secretary of Labor.

Question 33

How did the New Deal fail to benefit women?

Answer 33

• State governments, tried to exclude women from the Social Security Act.
  Frances Pekins, secretary of labor, was criticised.

Question 34

How did the New Deal benefit Native Americans?

Answer 34

Indian Reorganisation Act, 1934:

Money helped natives buy+improve land, controling their tribal areas; helped preserve their traditions, laws + culture.

Question 35

How did the New Deal fail to benefit Native Americans?

Answer 35

Native Americans still remained poor+excluded.