First New Deal Flashcards
1
Q
Why did Roosevelt win the 1932 presidential election?
- Roosevelt himself as factor?
A
- by far the strongest Democratic nominee for president
- Good relations with press (whilst Hoover’s poor)
- Exuded charisma (Hoover lacked)
- determined to win
- national radio address in April 1932 he called for the government to help “the forgotten man”
- used radio effectively
- above all americans voting for change
2
Q
Why did Roosevelt win the 1932 presidential election?
Hoover’s shortcomings?
A
- Hoover only possible Republican nominee
- too busy fighting Depression to campaign effectively
- poor relations with press
- lacked charisma
- most importantly expected to lose
3
Q
Why did Roosevelt win the 1932 presidential election?
What did Roosevelt promise/ or not promise?
A
- Roosevelt did not promise gov action to solve eco problems
- speech on 19 Oct attacked Hoover’s “extravagant government spending” + pledged 25% cut in fed budget
- many promises vague/ contradictory
- San Francisco advocated economic regulation as last resort
- Georgia spoke of “bold experimentation” to beat Depression + redistribution of national income
4
Q
Describe Roosevelt’s presidential win
A
- won biggest majority since Abraham Lincoln in 1864
- not overwhelming: 57% of popular vote
- no one really knew what he stood for
5
Q
How did the New Deal begin?
A
- following inauguration:
- Roosevelt called Congress into special session that lead to the 100 days and development of First New Deal
- this resulted in setting up many “alphabet agencies”
- measures intended to bring about “relief, recovery or reform”
6
Q
What were Roosevelts aim’s and how did he address these?
A
- create economic improvements + improve infrastructure
- ensure the system would be modern
- charismatic + used personality
- “fireside chats” explained his policies helped restore confidence
7
Q
Why was agriculture more important than industry?
A
- higher priority
- 30% of labour force worked in agriculture
- if they could afford to buy more, industry would be stimulated
8
Q
What acts did roosevelt pass in first new deal to help agriculture?
A
- Agricultural Adjustment Act, May 1933
- Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), May 1933
9
Q
What did the AAA do?
A
- Agricultural Adjustment Act
- 1933
- Overproduction greatest problem in agriculture
- Gov would subsidise farmers to reduce acreage and production voluntarily
- By producing less, cost of food would increase and also farmer’s income
- Agency set up: Agricultural Adjustment Administration:
- pay farmers to reduce prodution of “staple” items e.g corn, cotton, milk, tobacco and wheat
- programme self financing through tax placed on companies that processed food
10
Q
What was the effect of the AAA on cotton production?
A
- reduction of cotton production most pressing need
- 1933: unsold cotton in US exceeded average annual world consumption of A cotton
- paid to destroy basically
- 10.5 million acres of land ploughed under
- price of cotton rose 6.5 cents per pound in 1932 to 10 cents in 1933
11
Q
What was the effect of the AAA on food production?
A
- 6 million piglets bought and slaughtered
- many carcasses ed to unemployed
- public outcry enourmous
- Western ranchers sought to bring beef cattle under protection of AAA in 1934
- By Jan 1935: gov had purchased 8.3 mill head of cattle
- in return ranchers agreed to reduce breeding cows by 20% in 1937
12
Q
What was the effect of the AAA on crops?
A
- Drought helped make the 1933 wheat crop the poorest since 1896
- agreements reached to limit acreage in other crops in subsequent years
13
Q
How successful was the AAA?
A
- Total farm income rose from $4.5 billion in 1932 to $6.9 billion in 1935
- The percentage of farmers signing up high e.g 95% of Tobacco farmers
- Overall AAA effective to deal with crisis of overproduction, although there were problems
14
Q
What was the TVA?
A
- Tennessee Valley Authority 1933
- TVA set up to deal with underdevelopment and poverty in Tennessee Valley
- to harness power of River Tennessee which ran through seven of poorest states in US - the area had population of 2 million
- several major tasks:
- construct 20 dams to control floods
- develop ecological schemes such as tree planting to stop soil erosion
- to encourage farmers to use more efficient means of cultivation - e.g contour ploughing
- provide jobs by setting up fertiliser manufacture factories
- develop welfare and educational programmes
- produce hydro-electric power for area whose existing supplies of electricity limited to 2/ every 100 farms
15
Q
Was the TVA successful?
A
- largely responsible for the modernisation and improved living standards
- residents increased their average income by 200% in period 1929-1949
16
Q
Describe the state of the banking sector by the time of Roosevelt’s innaugauration?
A
- pressing concern - American banking system
- 1932: banks were closing at the rate of 40 a day
- 1932: Governor of Nevada declared a bank holiday and closed every bank in the state
17
Q
What acts did Roosevelt pass in relation to banking?
A
- Emergency Banking Relief Act 1933
- The Glass-Steagall Act 1933
More smaller ones: - The Truth-in-Securities Act, 1933
- The Securities Act, 1934
18
Q
What did the EBRA do?
A
- Emergency Banking Relief Act 1933
- 1933: Roosevelt closed all banks in country for 4 days
- act aimed to restore confidence in banking sector
- gave Treasury power to investigate banks threatened by collapse
- The Reconstruction Finance Corporation authorised to buy their stock to support them and take on many of their debts
- Roosevelt gave fireside chats to restore confidence in banks
- By beginning of April $1 billion in currency returned to bank deposits - crisis over
19
Q
What did the G-S Act do?
A
- The Glass-Steagall Act 1933
- Commercial banks that relied on small-scale depositors banned from involvement in type of investment banking that fuelled 1920’s speculation
- Bank officials not allowed to take personal loans from own bank
- Authority over open-market operations was centralised by being transferred from Federal Reserve Banks to the Federal Reserve Board in Washington
- Individual bank deposits to be insured against bank failure up to $2500, with insurance fund administrated by FDIC
20
Q
What were the two security acts passed and what did they do?
A
- The Truth-in-Securities Act, 1933: required brokers to offer clients realistic information about the securities they were selling
- The Securities Act, 1934: set up to oversee stock market activities + prevent fraudulent activities
21
Q
How important and successful was Roosevelt with industrial recovery?
A
- priority
- limited success due to scale of industrial collapse
- Economy grew 10% during R first term from 1933-1936
- however, output had fallen so low since 1929: unemployment at 14%
22
Q
What act did roosevelt pass to stimulate industrial growth?
A
National Industry Recovery Act (NIRA) 1933
came in two parts:
- National Recovery Administration (NRA)
- Public Works Administration (PWA)
Separate thing:
Civil Works Administration (CWA) 1933
23
Q
What was the NRA?
A
- Headed by General Hugh Johnson
- suspended anti-trust legislation for 2 years
- Firms encouraged to agree to codes of practice to prevent unfair competition
- agree matters of working conditions and minimum wages
- codes did not help economic recovery
- so attempted “Buy Now” campaign 1933 - to encourage people to spend –> stimulate production
- advocated 10% wage increase and 10-hour cut in working week (neither successful)
24
Q
Problems with NRA
A
- critics say NRA codes did nothing except give large firms op to indulge in unfair practices
- codes seen to be unworkable - not planned through
- Many large manufactures, e.g Henry Ford - never subscribed
- small firms struggled to comply with regulations esp minimum wage one
25
Q
What was the PWA?
A
- Public Works Adminstration
- headed by secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes
- funded with $3.3 billion - stimulate economy
- PWA put hundreds of thousands of people to work
- built 13,000 schools and 50,000 miles of roads
- pumped billions of dollars into economy
- West: enabled dams to be built to help irrigate former semi-desert land, electricity to be produced and 4 vast National Parks to be created
26
Q
What was the CWA?
A
- Civil Works Administration: Nov 1933
- $400 mill grant primarily to provide emergency relief to unemployed during winter 1933-1934
- put 4 mill people to work
- closed when winter over
27
Q
Downsides of these industrial measures
A
- Unemployment and social problems remained
28
Q
What did the Federal Government pass in the way of relief?
A
- Federal Emergency Relief Act 1933
- Civilian Conservation Corps 1933
29
Q
What did the FERA do?
A
- Federal Emergency Relief Act 1933
- Run by Harry Hopkins
- $500 million to be divided equally among states to help provide for unemployed
- half as outright relief
- remainder: gov would pay each state $1 for every $3 it spent on relief
- Act said that each state should set up a FERA office and organise relief programmes
- When states such as Kentucky and Ohio refused to comply - he threatened to deny them federal monies
- set important precedent of fed gov giving direct funds for relief
30
Q
What were the limitations of the FERA?
A
- Many states found idea of expenditure on relief extremely distasteful
- felt poor ur own fault
- waits and delays + bad treatment: thus scheme limited
- 1935: it was paying about $25 per month to average family o relied: whilst average monthly minimum wage for subsistence estimated $100
31
Q
What did the CCC do?
A
- Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933
- Men between ages 17-24 recruited to work in CCC in national forests, parks and public lands
- CCC set up for 9 years
- CCC installed 65,100 miles of telephone lines, spent 4.1 mil man hours fighting forest fires and planted 1.3 billion trees
32
Q
Changes unemployment between 1933 + 1934
A
- 1933: 12.8 million
- 1934: 10.6 million
