New Deal NEW

Question 1

How did Roosevelt win the 1932 election and figures to show this?

Answer 1

-Won by promising voters that he would use federal government money to help the unemployed directly, and called his plans a new deal.
-majority in congress were Democrat which would authorise his decisions
-42/48 states were won by Roosevelt.

Question 2

Roosevelt’s aims for the new deal

Answer 2

Recovery:
1. Increased income for farmers
2. Higher rates of industrial production
3. End to the banking crisis
Relief:
1. States provided with enough money to meet needs for relief
2. Short-term work relief projects available for unemployed
Reform:
1. Social security system that looks after US citizens
2. Improvements in the way banks ad businesses were run to secure long term recovery

Question 3

What actions (not policies) did Roosevelt do to try achieve his aims

Answer 3

1. gain support using radio broadcasts called fireside chats to share his message
2. used his majority in Congress to run New Deal policies into law
3. Restore economic activity by using government money
4. Expand the federal government by setting up new agencies to organise recovery and relief

Question 4

What were the ‘First Hundred Days’

Answer 4

-the first 100 days in office, Roosevelt started introducing measures to tackle the depression

Question 5

How did Roosevelt gain support for the hundred days

Answer 5

-‘fireside chats’ on 30 separate occasions to explain new laws and agencies.

Question 6

List the alphabet agencies and achievements of the hundred days

Answer 6

1. Emergency Banking act 1933
2. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) (after first hundred days)
3. National Industrial Recovery Act (set up NR Administration)
4. Agricultural Adjustment Act (set up AA administration)
5. Federal Emergency Administration (FERA)
6. Economy Act
7. Beer and Wine Revenue Act
8. Farm Credit Association (FCA)
9. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
10. Public Works Administration (PWA) (after 100 days)
11. Civil Works Administration
12. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
13. Home Owner’s Refinancing Act

Question 7

Emergency Banking Act features, date and statistics?

Answer 7

1933
-Roosevelt needed time to sort out the banks (too many closing down), so he closed all banks for 4 days
-5000 trustworthy banks reopened, and promised people would get $2,500 back if a bank failed
-Americans had deposited $1 million in their bank after 20 days

Question 8

Securities Exchange Commissions features, date and statistics?

Answer 8

1934
-took steps to regulate trading on Wall Street to stop reckless speculation
-ensured companies that wanted to be on the stock market had to release truthful accounts of their business before they could sell shares to people

Question 9

National Industrial Recovery Act features, date and statistics?

Answer 9

1933
-created National Recovery Administration
-NRA worked with major industries to create industry-wide codes which had an optional scheme, offering incentives to those that followed the code (companies wanted to join, but didn’t have to)
-set up quotas on how much was produced, controlled prices, set wages, limited working hours and banned child labour.
-companies could display the Blue Eagle if they followed the code, showing to the public
-2.3 million businesses took part in the scheme 1.5 months after setting up
-NIRA also gave workers the legal right to join unions to fight for better wages, working hours and conditions.
-caused union membership to rise fro 3.1m to 3.9m in 7 years

Question 10

Agricultural Adjustment administration features, date and statistics?

Answer 10

1933
-set up by agricultural adjustment act
-aimed to end overproduction and falling prices in farming.
-Farmers were paid to destroy some crops and livestock to force up prices. E.g. farmers were paid $11 to keep 1 acre of land empty
-Farmers earned around one and a half times as much in 1936 as they had in 1933.

Question 11

Commodity credit corporation

Answer 11

-AAA did not work initially as farmers still had many farm products from previous harvest. Roosevelt set up Commodity Credit Corporation after 100 days to pay farmers to keep extra goods in warehouses

Question 12

Farm Credit Administration

Answer 12

-Farmers who struggled to sell goods struggled to pay for their mortgages, and could lose their farms
-FCA helped to improve mortgage arranges for 20% of USA farms, helping farmers to stay on their land

Question 13

Federal Emergency Relief Act date, features and statistics

Answer 13

1933
-provided $500 million for states to spend on relief, to help with unemployment, providing them with a basic income to survive in the short term

Question 14

Home Owner’s Refinancing Act date, features and statistics

Answer 14

-unemployed were at risk of being thrown out of their homes
-this act was introduced to extend mortgage payments from 5 years to 20 years
-made it easier for 1 million people to keep their homes

Question 15

Economy Act date, features and statistics

Answer 15

1933
Government Employees’ pay were cut by 15%, saving almost $1bn to spend on the New Deal

Question 16

Beer and Wine Revenue Act date, features and statistics

Answer 16

1933
-made it legal to buy and sell alcohol under 3.2%, which the government taxed, raising funds to help finance the New Deal

Question 17

Civilian Conservation Corps date, features and statistics

Answer 17

1933
-Took unemployed men into the countryside and gave them tough outdoor jobs for $30 a month, which mostly had to be sent back home so families benefitted from this too.
-only for 17-23 year olds, so only employed 500,000 men after two years

Question 18

Power Works Administration date, features and statistics

Answer 18

1933
-CCC did not employ many people, so Congress established the PWA
-gave $3.3 billion of federal money to spend on big construction projects, such as Grand River Dam to create jobs
-projects took a long time to get started, so unemployed could not wait for them, leading to CWA

Question 19

Civil Works Administration date, features and statistics

Answer 19

1933
-Head of FERA realised some poor Americans would freeze to death in Winter as the PWA projects took a long time to start and CCC did not employ too many people
-CWA was the temporary agency for this, with $400 million to spend on short-term projects like refurbishing schools and road building
-helped 4.2m workers survive the winter

Question 20

Tennessee Valley Authority date, features and statistics

Answer 20

1933
-Southern state governments had not enough to help the poor, so TVA was set up
-Huge federal planning agency that helped 7 states by: providing work, generating and extending coverage of electricity in remote farms, controlling flooding and improving the productivity of land
-planned to build 20 dams and redevelop Tennessee Valley, and farmers would be educated in new farming methods and ways to look after the land
-partly solved problem of droughts and dust storms, so a similar environmental disaster was less likely

Question 21

Why was the second new deal needed

Answer 21

-National Income was still low, unemployment remained high and workers continued to strike over poor conditions.
-elections in Congress in 1934 brought in politicians that wanted reform
-Supreme Court shut down some agencies of the first New Deal as they were unconstitutional

Question 22

List of programmes set up in the Second New Deal

Answer 22

1. Works Progress Administration (CCC and PWA helped as well)
2. Resettlement Administration
3. Housing Act
4. National Labor Relations Act (Wagner)
5. Farm Security Administration (replaced RA)
6. 2nd Agricultural Adjustment Act (1st invalid by Supreme Court)
7. Social Security Act
8. 1938 Fair Labour Standards Act
9. Revenue Act
10. 1935 Banking act

Question 23

Works Progress Administration date, features and statistics

Answer 23

1935
-same activities as CWA, employing people in projects
-employed 8 million Americans
-spent $11bn in its lifetime
-second new deal gave work relief projects $4bn (CCC, PWA, WPA)

Question 24

Resettlement administration date, features and statistics

Answer 24

1935
-built new suburban towns for urban families and families from overworked land (farming)
-only three constructed, so Congress passed Housing Act
-replaced by Farm Security Administration
-moved 500k families to better quality land and housing overall
-only moved a few thousand families from overworked land

Question 25

Farm security administration

Answer 25

1937
-helped rural poor buy their own farms and get new equipment to use on them
-$1bn in loans to help farmers in 4 years
-helped migrant workers who travelled across USA to find work by setting up migrant camps to provide shelter and paid for doctors and dentists.

Question 26

Housing Act date, features and statistics

Answer 26

1937
-RA only built three new towns for families, so this act was passed to create a new agency to replace shanty homes
-160,000 homes were built between 1939 and 1943

Question 27

2nd AAA date, features and statistics

Answer 27

1938
-created compulsory measures to limit production using quotas.
-effectives as they did not rely on the co-operating from farmers.
-enforced through heavy taxes on sales above the quotas.

Question 28

Social security act date, features and statistics

Answer 28

1935
-created a federal pension system. Employees paid into a scheme for their retirement, with their contributions matched by a tax on their employer
-contributions went from 1% to 3% of their income.
-Created Federal unemployment insurance. Employers of more than 8 people paid a tax to the government, and was sued to provide unemployment pay for up to 16 weeks at half the normal rate
-Federal support for disadvantaged groups. Federal matching grants(gov matches state money) provided money for very poor old people, families with dependent children and disabled groups.
-$50m set aside for needs of elderly and $25m for dependent children
-7,000 children helped after 4 years from grants
-payments only covered a third of workers
-self-funded, so US economy took longer to recover
-domestic servants and farmers were not included in the unemployment and pension schemes

Question 29

National Labour Relations Bill (Wagner act) date, features and statistics

Answer 29

1935
-workers became legally allowed to join unions
-banned unfair practices like firing union members and company unions
-offered federal protection to unions. NLR Board was set up, which defended workers who had been fired, supervised union negotiations and helped union gain recognition from employers
-union membership rose to 9 million by 1940
-NLR Board had grown by 16 times in 4 years
-strikes were violent sometimes

Question 30

Banking act date, features and statistics

Answer 30

1935
-created a board of governors of the Federal Reserve System
-gave financial powers to the Board, taking them away from powerful banks
-in 1936 no national bank closed and little had to be paid out in deposit insurance

Question 31

Fair labour standards act date, features and statistics

Answer 31

1938
-enforced employment laws such as minimum wage
-helped 700,000 workers to get high pay
-enabled 1.5 million people to work fewer hours each week

Question 32

Revenue act date, features and statistics

Answer 32

1935
-Raised the highest rate of tax to 75% for incomes grater than $5 million
-raised taxes on business profits

Question 33

Why was rural electrification needed

Answer 33

-There were many remote poor farms, and it was not profitable for private electrical suppliers to run electricity lines to them
-only 10% of farms had electricity, and only 1% in some areas, whereas 90% of all other homes had electricity
-farmers could not use modern methods of production like keeping chicks in electric brooders or other consumer appliances

Question 34

How did the 1st and 2ndNew Deal help with rural electrification

Answer 34

1st New Deal
1. TVA: built dams to generate electricity and lent money to co-operatives to lay power cables
2. Electric Home and Farm Authority” helped farmers to buy electrical appliances. Encouraged appliance companies to make cheaper models for the TVA areas and provided loans for farmers to buy items. Backed up the RFC
2nd New Deal
1. Rural Electrification Administration (REA) took over TVA (was very successful) for the electrification programme and made loans to rural co-operatives across the USA

Question 35

How successful were the rural electrification schemes together

Answer 35

-35% of farms had electricity by 1941 (10% in 1930)
-417 co-operatives had been helped with loans to lay electric wires for new customers by 1939
-EHFA had arranged 100,000 contracts for electrical goods by 1938
-spite lines were built along proposed REA routes to link up richer communities by utility companies that were worried about losing profit, REA still continued, and 40% of farms electricity by 1945

Question 36

When did the new deal end

Answer 36

1939, where although Alphabet Agencies continued to operate, the start of WW2 became the focus of his presidency

Question 37

How successful was the New Deal in accomplishing its aims for recovery (farm income, industrial production and banking crisis)

Answer 37

Successful because:
-farm income had risen from $2.6bn to $4.6bn a year
-farmers received $4bn of direct help from
-farmers received $4bn of direct help from government
-businesses that survived after 1933 were able to make a profit
-New deal helped unemployment fall from 12.68million in 1933 to 9.5 million by 1939
Unsuccessful because:
-farm income rarely reached 1929 levels during the 1930s
-tenant farmers were thrown off their land and recovery relied on regular government payments
-NRA codes did not work as many businesses ignored them
-old industries like coal and textiles remained unprofitable and the entire country experienced a deep recession in 1937-38
-106 banks that received extra funds were forced to close despite help form the RFC
-by the end of the 1930s, unemployment was at 17.2% compared to 3.2% in 1929

Question 38

How successful was the new deal in the aim of relief (work and federal relief)

Answer 38

Successful Because:
-WPA employed 8 million people
-work relief projects created new parts, roads and schools
-35% of the population received relief from the government
-social security act provided unemployment insurance for the first time
Unsuccessful because:
-the projects relied heavily on government spending
-work relief projects provided work for only about 40% that needed it
-little social housing for the poor
-recovery relied on government spending: Roosevelt tried cutting spending in 1937 and unemployment rose by 5% and the president had to go back to Congress to ask for $3bn work relief
-Americans were very dependent on federal relief

Question 39

How successful was the new deal in achieving its aim of reform

Answer 39

Successful:
-Social Security: provided help to disadvantage groups
-industrial labour: unions were recognised, minimum wages introduced and working hours limited
-living conditions of agriculture: families provided with electricity, land improved and financial help provided to help them keep it
-financial regulations: banking system centralised and greater controls placed on the stock market
Unsuccessful:
-social security system left out large groups of people such as agricultural workers and household servants. Payments were also small
-social security was also mostly paid for out of people’s wages instead of federal money, so the gap between rich and poor was not reduced

Question 40

How successful was the new deal in helping women

Answer 40

Successful:
-More influence in politics because of Roosevelt’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt
-given specific help by women’s and professional division in the WPA
-grants provided for women with dependent children due to the social security act
Unsuccessful:
-Paid less than men: in 1937, a woman earned around half a man’s wage
-the number of women in professional jobs fell from 14.2% to 12.3%
-alphabet agencies provided ore help for men: CCC created 2.5 million jobs for men, camps for women only offered 5,000 places a year

Question 41

How successful was the new deal in helping black people

Answer 41

Successful:
-‘Black Cabinet’ gave black people more political power
-30% of black families received relief
-early signs of the end of segregation as some CCC camps were integrated
Unsuccessful:
-AAA forced black tenants off farmlands and NRA caused many black people to lose their jobs
-Relief payments were often lower than those given to white people
-most black workers had no access to social security

Question 42

How successful was the new deal in helping native Americans

Answer 42

Successful:
-the Indian Reorganisation Act 1934 restored 7.4m acre as of land to tribes
-Native American were given a chance to vote and govern themselves
-the new law recognised the right of Native American women to vote
Unsuccessful:
-some new deal policies such as a plan to kill large numbers of the Navajo tribe’s sheep and goats were unpopular
-most were still very poor
-reliance on New Deal agencies like the WPA left native Americans without help when they closed down

Question 43

Other reasons why the American economy recovered

Answer 43

WW2:
-Roosevelt convinced Congress to allow the USA to sell military supplies to Britain and the Allies
-this created jobs in industry and agriculture, to meet needs to the allies
-unemployment fell from 9.5m in 1939 to 5.5m in 1941
-US farms rose by 50% between 1939 and 1941
-in the first 3 years of the war, US exports grew by 70%
-the number of people on work relied fell from 3.3m in 1939 to 2.2m in 1941