Depth Study - New Deal Flashcards

1
Q

What was Roosevelt’s priority during his first hundred days of residency?

A

Work on a range of measures with his advisers, the ‘Brains Trust’, to solve the problems caused by the depression.

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2
Q

What measures were part of the New Deal to combat the depression?

A
  • Emergency Banking Act
  • Securities Exchange Commission
  • Fireside Chats
  • Federal Emergency Relief Administration
  • Civilian Conservation Corps
  • Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
  • Public Work Administration (PWA) (Set up by National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA))
  • National Recovery Administration (NRA) (Set up by National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA))
  • Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
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3
Q

Describe the Emergency Banking Act

A

Aimed to tackle - The banking crisis

Actions taken/powers of agency - Roosevelt ordered all banks to close until government officials had checked them over. 5000 trustworthy banks were allowed to open again in the next few days.

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4
Q

Describe the Securities Exchange Commission

A

Aim - Restore confidence in the Economy after the Wall Street Cash

Actions taken/powers of agency - This commission oversaw securities transactions and activities of financial professionals, to prevent fraud

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5
Q

Describe the Fireside Chats

A

Aim - Restore confidence in the Economy after the Wall Street Cash

Actions taken - Increase in connection, communication and trust with the American people, as Roosvelt talked to the American people via the radio

Evidence that it was effective - 60 million Americans tuned in to these chats

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6
Q

Describe the Federal Emergency Relief Administration

A

Aim to tackle - Urgent needs of the poor
Actions taken/powers of agency - 500 million was spent on soup kitchens, blankets, employment schemes and nursery schools

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7
Q

Describe the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

A

Aim to tackle - Unemployment of young men

Actions taken - Unemployed young men could sign in for periods of six months, which could be renewed if they could not find jobs. They worked on environmental projects and the money they earned went back to their families

Evidence that it was effective - 2.5 million people were helped by this scheme

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8
Q

Describe the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)

Aims, Actions taken & Evidence it was effective

A

Aim to tackle - Problems faced by farmers

Actions taken
- Quotas to reduce farm production, to force prices upwards
- Helping farmers to modernise and use farming methods that would not damage the soil.
- Farmers were helped to pay their mortgages.

Evidence that it was effective - Many farmers were helped, the dustbowl recovered.

Evidence that it was ineffective - More farm labourers were put out of work due to modernisation, as machinery replaced their jobs.

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9
Q

Describe the Public Works Administration (PWA)

A

Aim to tackle - Lack of infrastructure and unemployment

Actions taken - Used government money to build schools, roads, dams, bridges and airports.

Evidence that it was effective - The US got lots of infrastructure, and millions of jobs were created

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10
Q

Describe the National Recovery Administration (NRA)

A

Aim to tackle - Working conditions and child labour

Actions taken
- Set out wages and sensible levels of production
- Stimulated the economy by giving workers money to spend, without overproducing.

Evidence that it was effective
- It was voluntary, but firms that joned it used the blue eagle as a symbol of presidential approval
- Over 2 million employers joined the scheme

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11
Q

What was the final meausre passed as part of the hundred days on the 18th of June 1933?

A

The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), which set up the Public Works Administration (PWA) and the National Recvery Administration (NRA)

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12
Q

Describe the condition in the Tennesse Valley before the TVA

A
  • Flooding in the wet season of the Tennessee River
  • Drought of the river during the dry season, creating a dustbowl. The area also suffered from soil erosion and desertification
  • Poverty - the majority of Tennessee Valley people had no electricity
  • The problems concerning the valley were too large so that one state could fix them, and it was difficult for the states to cooperate
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13
Q

Wht did the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Achieve?

A
  • Set up an independent organisation called the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which cut across the powers of local state governments.
  • Built a series of dams along the Tennessee River to irrigate dried-out land
  • These dams provided electricity to the area.
  • Building Dams caused thousands of jobs to spring up in this area, which had been badly hit by the depression
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14
Q

What problems did America face when Roosevelt came to power?

A
  • No public confidence
  • The great depression
  • High unemployment
  • Banking system collapse
  • Struggle of the Agricultural sector and other sectors due to overproduction and the lack of demand
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15
Q

What were the achievements of the Hundred Days program?

A
  • It restored confidence and stopped investors from pulling money out of banks
  • Banking measures saved 20% of hoem owners and farmers from repossession
  • Farmers were 50% better off under the AAA by 1936
  • The TVA brough electrical power to underdeveloped areas
  • The public works administration created 600,000 jobs and built landmarks like San Fransisco’s Golden Gate bridge
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16
Q

What were the main events of the Hundred days Program?

A
  • 4 March - Roosevelt is inaugurated
  • 5 March - Banks are closed by the emergency banking act
  • 9 March - SAround 5000 selected banks are reopened
  • 12 March - Roosevelt’s first Fireside Chat, encourages Americans to put money back into banks, and some do so
  • 31 March - The CCC is set up
  • 21 May - The AAA is passed
  • 18 May - The TVA is created
  • 18 June - The NIRA is passed
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17
Q

What were the main aspects of the Second New Deal?

A
  • Wagner Act
  • Social Security Act
  • Works Progress Administration (WPA)
  • Resettlement Administration (RA)
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18
Q

Describe the Wagner Act

A

An act that forced employers to allow trade unions to negotiate minimum wages and working conditions.

It also made it illegal for workers to be fired just because they were part on a union.

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19
Q

What were the key differeces between the first and second new deals?

A
  • The first new deal dealt mainly with emergency measures, initially
  • It attempted to cover the base of the economy - the workers - and it raised employment be creating generic jobs via the PWA or the CCC, so the USA can continue to develop
  • It also worked on restoring confidence into the economy

vs

  • The second new deal reached out and helped people whose lives had not been improved by the first new deal e.g. Photographers, Artists and Journalists, done by the WPA
  • It increased the social security, and helped unions to form, via the Social Security and Wagner Acts
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20
Q

Describe the Social Security Act

A
  • It provided state pension for elderly or widows
  • It allowed state governments to work with the rederal government to help th esick and disabled
  • A scheme was set up for unemployment insurance
  • All employers and workers made a small contribution every week, and a small sum would be provided if one became unemployed to support them until they found employment
21
Q

Describe the WPA

A

The Works Progress/Project Administration

  • Brought together all organisations striving to create jobs
  • It extended the job creating strategey beyond simply making project sto create jobs - it created jobs for office workers, actors, artists and photographers
  • The new deal period is well docuented due to the anount of artists and photographers working for the New Deal Agency
22
Q

Describe the RA

A

The Resettlement Administration
- Helped small farms and landowners not helped by the AAA
- 500,000 families got better quality housing and land

The Farm Security Administration (FSA) replaced the RA in 1937.
- It gave loans to farmers to help them buy land
- It built camps to improve the living conditions and work for migrant workers

23
Q

What was Roosevelts response to criticism in May 1925?

A
  • He met with his advisers on May 14th 1925 to take radical steps and make the USA a fairer place
  • One month later, he presented congress with the second new deal
24
Q

What were the aims of the Second New Deal?

A
  • Strengthening unions to fight for workers rights
  • Achieve financial security for old age
  • Tackling unemployment
  • Create long-term changes that would affect the lives of ordinary people
25
Q

Who opposed the New Deal?

A
  • Huey Long
  • Dr Francis Townsend
  • Father Coughlin
  • National Society for Social Justice
  • The Supreme Court
26
Q

Why was there critisism against Roosevelts policies?

A

Some believed that roosevelt’s policies were not doing enough to help the people of America, while others believed they were doing too much and ruining American Values.

Americans also remained poor, especially African Americans and the farmers in poor rural areas, and they protested in saying that not enough was being done to help them.

27
Q

Describe Huey Long

A
  • He became the Governor of Louisiana in 1928, and a senator in 1932
  • He used illegal methods of obtaining power
  • Once he had power, he used it to help the poor
  • He was aggressive and forceful, withmany freind and enemies (Roosevelt regarded him as one of the most dangerous men in the USA)
  • He was assassinated in 1935
28
Q

Describe Huey Long’s Actions

A
  • He taxed large cororations in Louisiana to buld roads, schools and hospitals
  • He employed African Americans on the same terms as whites
  • He clashed with the KKK
  • He Supported the New deal up until 1934, as he started to criticise is for being too complicated
  • He put forward a scheme called Share Our Wealth, which wanted to push personal fortunes down to 3 million dollars, and make make maximum income be 1 million dollars a year. Government taxes would also be shared between all americans
  • He proposed pensions for everyone over 60, free washing machines and radios
29
Q

Describe Dr Francis Townsend and his Actions

A

He founded multiple ‘Townsend Clubs’ to campaign for a pension of 200 dollars per month for people over 60, providing that they spent it in a month, which would stimulate the economy

30
Q

Describe Father Coughlin and his Actions

A

He was a catholic priest who used his radio programme to attack roosevelt.

He set up the National Union for Social Justice and had a large membership.

31
Q

What criticisms did the Business Community and the Republicans have against the New deal?

A
  • It was too complicated - too many codes and regulations
  • The government should not support trade unions or call for higher wages as the market would deal with these issues
  • Schemes such as the TVA created unfair competition for private companies
  • The New Deal schemes were smilar to the schemes being carried out in the USSR
  • Roosevelt behaved like a dictator
  • High taxes discouraged peoplefrom working hard and gave money to people for doing ‘nothing’
32
Q

How did criticisms affet Roosevelt’s reputation and how did he respond?

A
  • He was upset by the criticisms
  • The tactics used against him included saying he was disabled due to a STD and slpping notes into worker’s pay slips saying that the New Deal schemes would ever happen
  • Roosevelt, in response, urned on these enemies and kept the support of the people, winning the election of 1936 (winning by 27 million votes, highest margin of victory ever achieved by a US president)
33
Q

Describe FDR’s Life

A
  • He was born in 1882 in a rich NYy family
  • he went to university and became a successful lawyer
  • He entered politics in 1910
  • He was paralysed by polio in 1921 and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair
  • Became president in 1933
  • Very good public speaker, opimist, and believer in the ‘American Dream’
  • Elected 4 times, New deal policies made him popular
  • Led the USA through WW2, died in 1945
34
Q

Describe opposition to the New Deal and Roosevelt from the Supreme Court

A
  • The Supreme Court had the power to reject FDRs policies
  • The Supreme Court was also composed mainly of Republicans who opposed the New Deal
35
Q

Describe the Schechter Poultry Corportion Incident

A
  • They commited multiple infractions of NRA reglations e.g. selling diseased chickens, filing false sales claims, exploiting workers and threatening government inspectors
  • The Supreme Court ruled that the government had no right to intervene as the NRA was ‘unconstitutional’ because it undermined the power of local states
36
Q

Describe FDRs attempt to ‘pack the supreme court’

A
  • He asked Congress if he could add 6 more Supreme Court Judges for each member of the Supreme Court over 70 and half years
37
Q

Describe the end of the New Deal

A

In early 1937, FDR wanted to be more cautious as prosperity was returning, so he cut New deal budget and laids of workers who had been employed by the New Deal.

This caused Unemployment to spiral upwards once more, which created a recession, which damaged FDRs reputation. This meant that more Republicans were voted into congress, making it harder for him to push through his reforms.

38
Q

What were the positive impacts of the New Deal on the confidence in the government?

A
  • Faith was restored in the American Government
  • It opened new horizons in the terms of government help on a large scale
  • Billions of dollars were handled with no corruption scandals, e.g. Head of Civil Works Organisation, Harold Hopkins, distributed 10 billion dollars in schemes but was never paid more that 15,000
  • Harold Ickes, Secretery of the Interior, tapped his employees telephone lines to counter corruption (as well as employing African Americans and campaigning against Anti-Semitism)
39
Q

What were the negative impacts of the New Deal on the confidence in the government?

A
  • The New Deal divided the USA, as Roosevelt and his officials were accused of being a communists and undermining American values
  • The New Deal Undermined local governments
40
Q

What were the positive impacts of the New deal on industrial workers?

A
  • The NRA and Second New Dealstrengthened the position of labour unions
  • Roosevelt’s government generally supported unions, and large corporations had to negotiate with them
  • Unions combned into the CIO in 1935, Committee for Industrial Organisation, large enough to tackle large corporations
  • Union of Automobile Workers (UAW) was recognised by two of the most anti-union corporations - General Motors, 1936, and Ford, 1941
  • Over 7 million union members existed byy the end of the 1930s
41
Q

What were the negative impacts of the New deal on industrial workers?

A
  • Large corporations remained immensely powerful despite being challenged by the Government
  • Unions were still treated with suspicion by employers
  • Some strikes were still broken up with violence in the 1930s
  • Companies such as Ford controlled thugs and local police
42
Q

What were the positive impacts of the New deal on unemployment and the economy?

A
  • Millions of jobs were created
  • The US banking system was stabilised
  • Multiple business failures were prevented
  • Projects e.g. the TVA brought work and improved the standard of living in poor parts of the USA
  • The USA was provded with roads, schools and power stations
43
Q

What were the negative impacts of the New deal on unemployment and the economy?

A
  • The New Deal helped mitigate the depression but did not solve underlying problems
  • The US ecnomy still took longer to recover than that of most European countries
  • Confidence remained low and only spent or invested 75% of the money they earned before 1929
  • As Roosevelt cut the New Deal budget in 1937, country went back into recession
44
Q

What were the positive impacts of the New deal on African Americans?

A
  • Around 200,000 African Americans gained benefits from the Civilian Conservation Corps and other New Deal programmes
  • Many benefited from slum clearance and housing projects
45
Q

What were the negative impacts of the New deal on African Americans?

A
  • Some New Deal Agencies discriminated against African Americans, e.g. rcial segregation in the CCC and Mortgages not given to African Americans in white neighbourhoods
  • More African Americans were unemployed (35% of them lived on relief in 1935) but were less likely to be given jobs,and the ones they did get were often menial
  • Domestic workers, whom were mainly African American women, were not included in the Social Security Act
  • Roosevelt failed to establish civil rights legislation to prevent lynching of African Americans as he feared senators from Southern States would not suppport him
46
Q

What were the positive impacts of the New deal on women?

A
  • The New Deal allowed some women to reach prominent social positions (Eleanor Roosevelt helped capaign against social issues)
  • These women were for example; Mary Macleod Bethune, National Youth Administration, who was African American, and Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labour, who removed 59 corrupt officils from labour depmartment
47
Q

What were the negative impacts of the New deal on women?

A
  • Most New Deal programmes employed male workers rather than women (only around 8000 women were involved in the CCC)
  • Local governments tried to avod paying social security to women by adding extra qualifications and conditions to the security
  • Famous women such as Frances Perkins were attacked as Jew and Soviet spies
48
Q

What were the impacts of the New deal on Native Americans?

A
  • The Indian Reorganisation Act in 1934 provided money to help Native Americans buy and improve land, and control tribal areas
  • The Indian Reservation act in 1934 helped Native Americans to preserve and practice thir traditions
  • Native Americans remained a poor and excludeed minority