Depth Study - New Deal Flashcards
What was Roosevelt’s priority during his first hundred days of residency?
Work on a range of measures with his advisers, the ‘Brains Trust’, to solve the problems caused by the depression.
What measures were part of the New Deal to combat the depression?
- 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)
Describe the Emergency Banking Act
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.
Describe the Securities Exchange Commission
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
Describe the Fireside Chats
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
Describe the Federal Emergency Relief Administration
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
Describe the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
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
Describe the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
Aims, Actions taken & Evidence it was effective
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.
Describe the Public Works Administration (PWA)
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
Describe the National Recovery Administration (NRA)
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
What was the final meausre passed as part of the hundred days on the 18th of June 1933?
The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), which set up the Public Works Administration (PWA) and the National Recvery Administration (NRA)
Describe the condition in the Tennesse Valley before the TVA
- 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
Wht did the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Achieve?
- 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
What problems did America face when Roosevelt came to power?
- 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
What were the achievements of the Hundred Days program?
- 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
What were the main events of the Hundred days Program?
- 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
What were the main aspects of the Second New Deal?
- Wagner Act
- Social Security Act
- Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Resettlement Administration (RA)
Describe the Wagner Act
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.
What were the key differeces between the first and second new deals?
- 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