Depth: The New Deal & CR Flashcards
- Situation of women, African Americans, Native American Indians and workers and trade unions by 1932 - Roosevelt and the New Deal – motives as regards minority groups - how far the New Deal improved economic status and civil rights for women, African Americans, Native American Indians and workers and trade unions - nature, extent and effectiveness of opposition to relevant parts of the New Deal especially the Second New Deal and workers’ rights
Overall judgement on the extent to which AAs benefitted from the New Deal
The New Deal certainly provided some support to African Americans, increasing their position through increased job opportunities, relief programs, and greater political influence. However, the gains made were often limited by systemic racism, and many New Deal policies and programs did not significantly improve their social or economic position. Overall, while the New Deal helped African Americans to some degree, its impact was constrained by entrenched racial discrimination.
Politically - positive
- Growth in NAACP membership in the 30s!!
- Appointment of AAS to political positions gave them the increased ability to sway legislation in favour of their rights i.e. Weaver as the head of PWA = ensured that $45 million in grants given to build schools, hospitals & homes for AAs.
- FDR appointed 45 AA to political/administrative positions throughout the New Deal, dubbed the ‘Black Cabinet’ = signified that the Govt. was paying attention to AAs in ways that they never had before.
- 1939 establishment of Civil Liberties Unit/Civil Rights Section in the Department of Justice = to protect individuals, especially the oppressed, from violations of their Civil Rights. = important precedent for a Federal Role in protecting the rights of the individual.
- Appointed 8 judges to the SC, 7 of which united to dismantle the legal doctrine protecting & justifying segregation which provided the groundwork for AA use of legal systems & litigation to dismantle segregation
Politically - negative
Roosevelt failed to increase AA voting rights = this was only seen after the New Deal in 1944 when the SC voted to reverse 1935 support of white primaries, now declaring them unconstitutional.
Socially - positive
- A combination of New Deal programmes helped to rebuild African American Schools & improved education, helping 300,000 illiterate AAs to read & write.
- New Deal saw an explosion of bi-racial trade unionism, even in the South, so there was some cooperation between Whites & Blacks in this period. = seen through the Congress of Industrial Organisations (CIO) and the Communist party which organised legal defence for the Scottsboro boys.
- 1939 establishment of Civil Liberties Unit/Civil Rights Section in the Department of Justice = to protect individuals, especially the oppressed, from violations of their Civil Rights. = important precedent for a Federal Role in protecting the rights of the individual.
- Executive order 8802 in 1941 created a commission to investigate complaints of discrimination.
- Public Works Administration (PWA) was desegregated in terms of departments, restaurants etc = changing attitudes.
- 1938 Missouri ex rel. Gaines vs. Canada = landmark case which essentially ruled it unconstitutional for the Missouri law school to not provide a separate school for Blacks as this was ‘exclusionary’.
Socially - Negative
- Despite speaking out against the ‘lynch law’, FDR continued to refuse to support an anti-lynch bill which would have made lynching a federal crime = fearful of alienating Southern Democrats.
- Racial discrimination in wages & assignments still rife in factories building apparatus for WW2 i.e. Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) = reinforced inequality as Black men, although accepted into their programs, they were segregated from whites e.g. Tennessee Valley Dam & type of work offered wasn’t the same as AAs received worst & most poorly paid work.
Economically - Positive
(What % of Alabama’s united mine workers were black by 1935, what % of WPA jobs did AAs fill, how many black tenant farmers did the farm security admin help?)
- 60% of Alabama’s 23,000 united mine workers were Black by 1935.
- AAs filled around 30% jobs of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
- Farm security administration allowed/helped 50,000 Black tenant farmers & sharecroppers to access low mortgage rates, enabling them to buy land.
Economically - negative
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) = paid farmers to take land out of cultivation, refused to distribute payments to AAs causing 200,000 of poor AA sharecroppers to be evicted from their lands w/ no compensation.
- Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) = reinforced inequality as Black men, although accepted into their programs, they were segregated from whites e.g. Tennessee Valley Dam & type of work offered wasn’t the same as AAs received worst & most poorly paid work.
- Economic conditions in the South remained poor with many migrating to the North to access better paid jobs.
- The National Recovery Administration (NRA) attempted to establish fair rates of pay & better conditions but didn’t encourage similar requirements in the North & many employers in the South evaded its regulations.
- Strengthening of unions by the Wagner Act tended to ensure that big employers used unionised labour = acted against AA interests as often merely casual workers & not large no. AA union members.
- Social Security act provisions didn’t apply to majority of AAs work.
Overall judgement on the extent to which the New Deal improved the rights of workers
Whilst it must be recognised that the New Deal did engender some improvements for workers’ rights, recognising workers in ways the Federal Government had never done before, ultimately its impact was quite limited. Not only was the New Deal significantly limited by the sustained attitude of opposition to workers rights of the SC, but the New Deal at its core was not constructed with the sole or main aim to improve workers rights but rather to bolster the US’ damaged economy so could ultimately never fully improve workers rights.
- Extension of rights had failed to impact ALL workers & no true enforcement of the gains put in place, as evidenced by Ford’s ignorance of NIRA.
Right to exist - positive
- Industries that had previously resisted recognising unions changed their position: General Motors recognised the United Automobile Workers union in 1936 & US Steel recognised the Steel Workers organising committee in 1937
- Recognition of unions = growth in union membership, rose from 3.7 million to 9 million in 5 yrs (by 1938).
Right to exist - negative
Henry Ford (key employer) didn’t recognise the NIRA or Wagner Act. – no real enforcement of workers’ rights.
- NIRA declared unconstitutional in 1935 by the SC.
Right to strike - positive
- Wagner Act 1935 = workers had the right to elect their own representatives to take part in collective bargaining & right to join unions.
- National Labour Relations board (NLRB) = collective bargaining recognised
Right to strike - negative
- Some employers intimidated workers, used violence against them & attempted to crush strikes.
Pay & Conditions - positive
- Fair Labour Standards Act 1938 = established a weekly minimum wage, over 700,000 workers received higher pay & 1.5 mil worked fewer hrs a week as a result.
Pay & Conditions - negative
- Unemployment jumped back to 10 million in 1938 = New Deal clearly unable to wholly resolve financial issues.
- Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) 1933 worsened rural poverty esp. in the South bc reduced land to grow cotton crops.
- By end of 1934, still nearly 22 million unemployed = almost the same as in 1932.
- Henry Ford (key employer) didn’t recognise the NIRA or Wagner Act. – no real enforcement of workers’ rights.
- NIRA declared unconstitutional in 1935 by the SC.
HAS NOT BEEN ASKED YET!!! Overall judgement on the extent to which the New Deal improved the position of Native Americans?
Although it could be said that Native Americans benefitted from some New Deal policies, such as the IRA Act which reestablished self-governance& improved protections of NA land, ultimately its impact was limited by the overall lack of funding to the program, causing it to fail to reverse the impact of the Dawes Act. Furthermore, the New Deal could never fully positively improve the position of NAs as it was merely an extension of the assimilation policy, with the FG’s persistent desire to pursue Westward Expansion & Manifest destiny clashing with the desires of NAs themselves. BUT clearly was still significant as there were no movements to replace this legislation after its implementation.
Land - positive
- IRA stopped the sale of NA lands & helped recover unallocated land from the settlers, creating or expanding reservations.
- Through the New Deal the Dawes Act’s allotment policy was abandoned!
- Training was provided for NAs to improve their farming techniques & preserve the quality of land.
Land - negative
- Insufficient funds to recover & buy back former NA land which had already been sold off.
Sovereignty - positive
- IRA act 1934 = gave NAs a greater role in administering their reservations.
- Tribes on reservations could now be led by tribal councils , encouraging tribal loyalty & ‘ending’ govt. attempts to dismantle tribes.
- Alaskan Reorg. act 1936 = amendment to the IRA, allowing tribes that were not previously recognised to organise.
Sovereignty - negative
- The idea of a separate Federal Court for NAs was abandoned.
- Though tribes were organised into self-governing bodies, 75 out of 245 rejected measures.
- Voting to decide on the IRA act was carried out by secret ballot = alien to NAs who preferred tribal councils, seeing this as an imposition of ‘white man’s culture.’
- Many tribes were unable to vote for or against the IRA, such as the Winnebago tribe.
Culture - positive
- NA children were bale to attend local schools and learn about their own culture rather than being forced to adapt to US culture.
- IRA 1934 = allowed NAs to practice cultural religious traditions e.g. the use of the hallucinatory drug ‘peyote’ for religious visions.
Culture - negative
- Despite the IRA, the policy of assimilation was still pursued, which was NOT in the interests of NAs, furthered by the termination policy which was introduced shortly after WW2.
- There were still many laws in place that prohibited the use of peyote & the practice of the Lakota Indian religion.
HAS NOT BEEN ASKED YET!! Overall judgement on the extent to which the New Deal improved the rights of women/Women benefitted from the New Deal?
Ultimately, The New Deal did provide some benefits for women, particularly in terms of employment and social welfare, but these were limited to a short-term impact and often undermined by prevailing gender roles and discrimination. While some progress was made, the New Deal did not fundamentally transform the position of women in American society or secure long-term gains because it was never intended to resolve social ills but rather the failing economy.
Women - Economically - positive
- NLRA/Wagner Act (1935) = guaranteed workers of both sexes to organise into unions, granting women the opportunity to secure higher wages & workplace protections associated with union contracts.
- FLSA (1938) & National Recovery Administration’s limit on hours & minimum wage policy indirectly benefitted women.
- Social Security Act 1935 - aided married women as provided financial aid to dependent children, helping struggling single mothers/widows.
Women - Economically - negative
- 1/4 of industries participating in NIRAs practices adopted separate & unequal codes for women, reaffirming the belief that women were 2nd class citizens.
- FLSA (1938) & Social Security Act (1935) excluded farm workers & domestic workers, two industries that women dominated, so they received minimal benefits.
- National Recovery Admin. 1933 = estab. lower pay for women = still seen as unequal.
Women - Socially - positive
- Women appointed to major political positions i.e. Frances Perkins as 1st female secretary of labour = shifting narrative & perception of women’s abilities.
Women - Socially - negative
- GENDER DISCRIMINATION STILL RIFE ISSUE!!
- Priority of ND legislation was to get MEN back to work, FDR and admin. felt familial stability depended on male breadwinner rather than independent women worker. - hesitant to fully improve rights of women.
- The majority of jobs provided by the New Deal i.e. the 275,000 in the Civil Works Administration relegated women to more traditionally feminine & domestic roles as receptionists or sewing. = reinforcing misogynistic, restrictive stereotypes.
- CCC & other work relief programmes = discriminatory & unequal opportunities for women = provided 2.5 mil jobs for men, 8,500 for women + the camps were segregated.
Women - Politically - positive
- Many women were appointed to significant political positions during Roosevelt’s presidency:
- Florence Allen = 1st female Appeal Court Judge
- 1st female ambassador = Ruth Bryan Owen
- 1st Female Secretary of Labour = Frances Perkins
- Between 1930-40 = 300% rise in unionised female labour = increased political activity & lobbying for rights.
- Eleanor Roosevelt & Molly Dewson speaking for womens rights & influential Mary Mcleod Bethune (AA) all emerging as women lobbying for increased rights.
Women - Politically - negative
- Female advisors w/ in FDRs cabinet were restricted to trad. female roles i.e. advising on social policy & family matters.
