History USA Flashcards
What were the weaknesses of the New Deal?
Unemployment was at 9m and so it was the the war that reduced it further not the new deal and in 1939 1/5 of Americans required a form of relief
1939-49 let the average wage fall by $2
1938 the deficit fell to $1.2bn
The alphabet agencies did not actually do more harm than good and they enforced industrial relations by legislation.
War. Increased industrial production after the Roosevelt recession
Poverty still widespread - conscription in 1940 led to the discovery that half a million conscripts were unfit due to malnourishment
Not OK much help for the blacks it was only symbolic not actually right - CCC accepted segregation and NRA had lower min wages for blacks and the TVA banned black Americans and AAA benefitted the land owners not the sharecroppers and Roosevelt railed too support the anti-lunching bill presented to Congress and only 1.3% of clerical workers were black.
Male trade unionists view did not change.
The role of women not addressed - 1933 Employment forbade employment in federal offices by two members of the same family worked against women. Focus of the new deal was on the breadwinner not women and the propaganda reinforced the normal view of women. 82% of the public said that women should not work. 2m unmarried women unemployed. 1939 a female school teacher still earned 20% less than her male colleagues.
Immigration quotas stood at 180,000 in the 1930s but only 75,000 German Jews were allowed into the USA. Mexican and African Americans were evicted from farms.
Roosevelt did not know where he was going with it and he vague and evasive.
Housing was weak as the government bout only 180,000 new homes.
What were the successes of the New Deal?
Economic recovery did take place - unemployment fell from 18m to 9m
Minimum standards of labour relations - although some companies did not adhere to them e.g. Ford 1941
Expanded role of federal government through the alphabet agencies - AAA or WPA and a new office EXOP (executive office of the president).
The role of the president - after Roosevelt the public expected more for their president and this still stands today and he introduced a more compassionate role than before.
All Americans could expect a basic provision of welfare provided directly by the federal government
He improved the confidence and morale of the people through his fireside chats although he created only 27broadcasts in 12years as President and he allowed people to open up to the role of the president.
He created a large and modern bureaucracy and economic regulation was no longer considered to be economic regulation
There was 15.6% married women in the workplace a rise from 11.7%.
‘Same work same pay’ became a famous motto.
Increased the budget for the WPA arts section to $46m and Marian Anderson was the first black singer to perform at Lincoln memorial in front of 50m people.
Roosevelt had his first woman in the cabinet Frances Perkins and he also increased the number of female federal judges.
Third New Deal - Agricultural Acts
Bankhead Jones Farm Tenant Act July 1937 - a decline in farm ownership prompted the creation of the Farm Securities Act (replaced the resettlement administration). It aimed to help tenants to acquire low Interest loans to restock their farms, it established 30 camps and provided medical and dental centres and it enabled small farmers to purchases heavy machinery and by 1947 40,000 fArmers had their own land and 900,000 families had borrowed $800m (most loans were repaid too!).
Second AAA 1938 - stored the surplus of the good years in preparation for the bad ones. It established quotas for 5 stable crops - tobacco, rice, wheat, corn and cotton - 66% majority and if these quotas were kept then they would receive subsidies.
Overproduction was solved with the Commodity Credit Corporation would have loans to farmers so that they could store surpluses. When prices feel farmers would store and when they rose they would sell.
Food Stamp Plan allowed the surpluses to be distributed to people
BUT it was widely distrusted and was largely made up of small scale farmers.
Third New Deal what was the Wagner Steagall National Housing Act 1937 ?
They were involved in slum clearance and they built public housing. It established the Us Housing Authority (USHA) which provided loans at low rates to build new homes. Congress allocated $500m (1/2 what was requested). 1941 160,000 homes built for slum dwellers at $12-15 a month.
BUT
Roosevelt had little enthusiasm and the biggest problems was in the northern cities but the regulations said that only 10% could be spent in one month. Urbanisation was the key measure that cured the housing issue and this was post-war period.
What was the Fair Labor Standards Act 1938 -
It fixed minimum wages and max working ours in all industries engaged in interstate commerce. It intended to raise minimum wages from 25 to 40 cents and a working week was 44 hours with the hope of it falling to 40 within 3 years. The wage changes affected 300,000 and the hours affected 1.3m.
Interstate shipment of good made by children working under the age of 16 was forbidden and children under 18 were forbidden to work in hazardous employment.
It was supervised by the wage and hour division of the Department of Labor and they had the power to impose fines.
BUT
To get it passed Roosevelt had to exclude farm labourers and domestic servants.
Who were the main left wing enemies to Roosevelt and what were their aims?
Upton Sinclair - EPIC state run cooperatives for labour
Farm Labor Party - Floyd B Olsen - all idle factories to be made into work and the nationalisation of public utilities.
Progressive party - Robert Lafeelotte Jr supported eastern intellectuals and wanted unemployment insurance and pensions.
Huey long - Share our wealth scheme - everyone with $3m+ to give it up so that every family could have a radio,car and house. He also wanted free college education. 27,000 clubs with 4.6m members.
Old age pensions inc - Francis Townsend - he wanted everyone who was elderly in jobs to give them up for the young and he wanted everyone who was old and not in work to be given $200 a month to be spent not saved. It would have taken 1/2 of the nations wealth to pay for it. 500,000 members
Father Charles Coughlin - he wanted the redistribution of wealth
American Liberty leaguers - they wanted privatisation and unregulated enterprises 125,000 members and $500,000 and $1.5m on campaigns.
Communists - 30,000 members in 1937.
Red Scare
It was sparked by the Fall of China in 1949 which scared many and sparked an investigation . Pat MCcarren also managed to convince people that the government was Infiltrated and the Soviets said that they had 221 spies in the government.
Union leaders were forced to sweat against communism
State departments were accused of harbouring communists and so were the wealthy
Universities banned controversial speakers
One librarian banned Robin Hood because it had a communist storyline and this led to many classics to be reconsidered.
Magazines had headlines like ‘Reds are after your child’
NACCP and CIO purged their memberships
Spy’s scandals in Britain and Canada scared the USA for example Klaus Fucks a brutish so physicists was accused of being a spy and Harry Gold was later accused of similar wrongdoings later on.
1947 Executive Order 9835 Truman set up the Loyalty Review Board 1,200 dismissed and 6,000 resigned.
Churches packed because people feared that if they were atheist they may be accused of being a communist.
They infiltrated the Manhattan Project (code name for the nuclear project) Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for giving away atomic secrets.
Alger Hiss was a prominent government member and he was accused by Whittaker Chambers of being a communist. He spent 5 years in prison.
Charlie Chaplin had to move back home.
1954 there was a ‘blacklist’ of 450 individuals who were permitted to be employed In the film industry.
HUAC denounced the New Deal as communist.
Joesph McCarthy
9th Feb 1950 he gave a speech in which he stated that the state department was infested with spies he had no evidence but he was believed.
He said that there were 205 communists in the government as a result 6,924 government workers lost their jobs.
He was given control of the Senate committee in 1953.
1954 he investigated the army (even though they had just fought in Korea) and he accused 45 army officers.
He used the radios but he was constantly drunk and children mocked him for it.
He had support from the American Legion and Christian Fundamentalists and the less well educated.
He turned on the HUAC committee chairman Senator Tydings and defeated him.
He intimated the Mccarren Internal Security Act 1950 which made all communist organisations registers with the government.
He died of alcoholism in 1957.
