How did the political environment change, 1933-1945?

Question 1

What was the New Deal responsible for?

Answer 1

• The government was responsible for the welfare of the people
• New Deal thinking stressed the importance of rapid, national action - this meant federal government had to take over some policy-making that was, under the Constitution, the role of individual states - this was considered contentious

Question 2

NRA

Answer 2

National Recovery Administration - set up and enforced codes of practice for businesses, including setting working hours and a minimum wage - Businesses could choose not to join the NRA; however the public were encouraged to support businesses that displayed the NRA symbol of a blue eagle in their windows

Question 3

AAA

Answer 3

Agricultural Adjustment Agency - regulated major crops such as wheat, cotton and milk - brought up surplus crops and and subsidised farmers to grow less of crops that were being overproduced

Question 4

Roosevelt as a president

Answer 4

• Roosevelt was confident, charming and persuasive
• He knew his own mind and was very pragmatic
• He freely admitted that he was prepared to work with anyone to get things done
• Great communicator and was determined to restore confidence to the American people

Question 5

Quote that Roosevelt used in the first months of his Presidency

Answer 5

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself”

Question 6

Increasing the importance of the Presidency

Answer 6

• Created a significant White House Staff to make increased federal intervention in government work - Hoover in contrast only had 3 assistants and some secretaries
• Roosevelt set up a separate Executive Order of the President, which had several departments to help deal with the administration
• Where Congress wasn’t helpful, he used Presidential Executive Orders, designed for use in emergencies only, to push laws through
• Roosevelt did not understand economic theory well, so was more concerned with general policy than detail

Question 7

Instances where Roosevelt was a successful President

Answer 7

• he instituted several radio broadcasts called ‘fireside chats’ in which he explained policies to people as if he were chatting to them
• First President to receive sacks full of letters from the general population, both asking for help and thanking him for giving help
• He understood the power of the media and the need for their support
• Held ‘off the record’ press meetings twice a week with selected reporters in the White House

Question 8

Groups who didn’t approve of Roosevelt

Answer 8

• Wealthy business people disliked his policies
• Republicans disliked his enlarging of the powers of the President, as did some Democrats
• During the 1940 presidential campaign, some opponents compared him to dictators such as Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin
• From 1936, the Supreme Court, which initially accepted many of his federal agencies and laws that infringed state rights as temporary and emergency measures, began to rule against them as unconstitutional
• Both the NRA and the AAA were ruled as unconstitutional in 1937
• Roosevelt tried to increase the number of Supreme Court judges so that he would have more supporters - seen as an extreme violation of the ‘separation of powers’ and shocked his most ardent supporters

Question 9

Presidency that Truman inherited - changes

Answer 9

• President was expected to be involved in the forming and running of policy and legislation
• White House had many more federal boards and committees, both to run the country as a traditional executive and also to discuss policy and draft laws
• White House was expected to tell the media, and the public, about policy
• Gov was now seen as responsible for welfare throughout the country
• Truman’s Fair Deal and Kennedy’s New Frontier were both examples of welfare reform packages with names that deliberately referred to Roosevelt’s New Deal
• Many people looked to the President to solve all their problems
• Roosevelt was credited when things went well and when things went badly, people tended to blame his advisors, not the President himself

Question 10

Presidency that Truman inherited - things that stayed the same

Answer 10

• The theory of the separation of powers still held
• Supreme Court had upheld state rights against a great deal of federal legislation
• The President did take part in policy and law-making but (apart from Executive Orders) needed the agreement of Congress for them to become law
• The personality of the President still affected how much he could do and how much people reacted to what he did, as did the way the media presented the President and his ideas