Roosevelt And The New Deal Flashcards
Election fo Roosevelt
By 1932 people had lost confidence in hoover. Roosevelt won in the November elections in 1932. In his election campaign he promised government action to help poor and unemployed and to hive more protection to workers. He also promised to end prohibition. People felt that he cared about their problems, unlike hoover who believed it was the individuals own fault if they were poor. Roosevelt promised “a New Deal for the American people “. When he took to office, the Great Depression was at its wort. Unemployment had reached 16 million, and the country was in the middle of a massive banking crisis. Roosevelt,t realised that capitalism would no longer work on its own and that the government would have to get involved
What is Roosevelt’s full name
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The New Deal
Which advise from a panel of experts, Roosevelt launched a series of measures to rescue the American economy, The New Deal. It had three main aims
- relief: to provide immediate relief to those wort affected by the depression
- recovery: t promote them recovery of the economy by getting industry going again and people back to work
- reform: to introduce fundamental reforms of the whole economic system too ensure that similar crisis would not happen again
Roosevelt introduces ‘Fireside Chats’ : a series of radio broadcasts aimed at ordinary citizens, in which he explained the measures that the government was taking. By communicating his optimism, he restored people’s confidence, which was essential for economic recovery
The First New Deal
The emphasis of the first new deal was of relief and recovery. Almost immediately after Roosevelt became president, the American congress was called into a special session to make romantic decisions that were necessary. It lasted from march to June and was called the 100 days. During this time, new laws were passed to deal with the most pressing problems. Much of the work was carried out by new government agencies. They were known by their initials, so they became known as ‘alphabet agencies’
Analysis of the first new deal
It tackled 4 key areas of the economy Financial crisis Unemployment Agriculture Industrial collapse They tried to improve things by legislation and programmes
Legislation
The financial crisis
The financial crisis
The government closed all banks and only allowed financially sound ones to reopen. Other laws guaranteed the investment of small investors and stopped unsound business practices on the stock exchange. The government made loans available to help people to pay their mortgage bonds and avoid losing homes
Programmes
Unemployment
Agriculture
Industrial collapse
Unemployment
The First New Deal gave money to provide relief and to set up public works projects using money borrowed by the government.
Two examples were:
The CCC and PWA
What does CCC stand for
Civilian Conservation Corps
What does PWA stand for
Public Works Administration
Civilian conservation corps
They gave work and taught skills to 3 million unemployed young men from the cities. Work amps for these men were set up n rural areas. They worked in projects or lasting benefit, such as erosion control, tree planting, forest firefighting and flood control
Public works administration
This provided government funding to build schools, hospitals, bridges and other public buildings. All projects funded by the PWA required the hiring of some African American workers, which se and example for other New Deal Agencies
Agriculture
To help farmers tackle the problems in agriculture, the first new deal set up two agencies:
The AAA and the TVA
What does AAA stand for
Agricultural Adjustment Administration
What does TVA stand for
Tennessee Valley Authority
AAA
Paid farmers subsidies to reduce production and to destroy crops and livestock. This was to reduce the surpluses and stabilise prices. This helped farmers recover, but many people criticised the destruction of produce at the time when there was great poverty and even starvation. Although AAA helped farmers who owned land, many tenant farmers and sharecroppers were evicted because there was no longer as much work for them
TVA
They built dams to control flooding and to provide hydro-electricity for industries, and planted trees to stop erosion. The TVA created thousands of jobs and improved living conditions for millions of people across seven states
Industrial collapse
The First New Deal aimed to promote recovery by increasing wages, in this way making it possible for workers to buy more. It stabilised prices so that businesses could make a profit and employ more workers
NRA
What does NRA stand for
National Recovery Administration
NRA
It drew up codes for each industry, to fix prices, limit working hours, set minimum wages and ban child labour
The second new deal
The main aim was to reform the American economy. The social security act established a system of old-age pensions, health benefits, unemployment insurance, child welfare, and poor relief. Other laws laid down a minimum wage and maximum working hours in certain industries. Another measure boosted the trade union movement, by recognising the rights of workers to join unions and to take strike action.
WPA
What does WPA stand for
Works Progress Administration
WPA
It provided work for 8 million people. It set up constriction and conservation projects, and gave work to unemployed writers, artists, musicians, actors and teachers in cultural arts projects. One project recorded interviews with over 2 thousand surviving ex-slaves. It is one of the most valuable historical records about slavery in America
Opposition to the new deal
The New Deal’s measures had spread wide support and Roosevelt was re-elected by a huge majority of voters.
- people accused Roosevelt of behaving like a dictator and taking over the power of individual states. They said the new deal underestimated self-reliance and ‘rugged individualism’ by making people dependant on the government and welfare grants
- many people felt that Roosevelt;s policies were too revolutionary and that he was taking the country towards socialism
- business leaders accused the government of interfering in areas beyond its control, by setting minimum wage and maximum working hours and recognising trade unions. They resented having to pay social security contributions for their employees. They criticised schemes like the TVA which they felt provided unfair competition with probate enterprises
- many wealthy Americans resented having to pay higher taxes to pay for the new deal. They criticised Roosevelt, who himself came from a very wealthy background, for ignoring the concerns of the rich. They said he was a traitor to his class.
- the Supreme Court declared many new deal acts to be unconstitutional. For example it ruled the AAA threatened powers of individual states and theta the NRA interfered in business practice. There was a constitutional crisis when Roosevelt threatened to replace many of the older and more conservative judges, with others more sympathetic to his policies. Even Roosevelt’s supporters felt that the government should not threaten the independant even of the court. After the crisis the court accepted modifies versions of some of the laws.
- some felt the new deal did not go far enough into solving economic problems and social inequalities.
Assessment of the new deal
It restored the economy
Strengthened confidence in democracy
Gained long term benefit
The principle of the government’s responsibility for the welfare of citizens was accepted for the first time
Strengthened the position of the president
Not everyone benefited
New deal restored the economy
Confidence returned, prices stablaised, the banking system was reformed and unemployment was reduced, although there was recession and unemployment rose agin. This was because the government started to cut back spending on projects because it though that the problems of the economy had been stoves. The economy remained fragile and unemployment was only solved by the outbreak of WWII
Success of the new deal strengthened confidence in democracy
At a time when democracy was under threat in other parts of the world as a result of the depression
Gained long-term benefits
Building of dams
Welfare of citizens was accepted
This overturned the Republican belief that the government had no role to play in providing for the unemployed, old or sick
Strengthened position of president
And gave increased power to federal government. She were critical of this, saying that it undermined the constitution
Not everyone benefited
Problems of share-croppers, tenant farmers and migrant workers remained. Despite some attempt to correct this, the position of african Americans and Native American did not improve much and neither did the status of women
did the new deal weaken or strengthen capitalism in the USA
It abandoned some of the practices of pure, uncontrolled capitalism. Because of this, critics accused the government of destroying capitalism and democracy. They said the new deal undermined the underlying principles of capitalist economic policies - minimal taxation, weak trade unions and free enterprise
Who did the new deal challenge capitalist economic thinking
- Government intervention in the economy contradicted ideas about free marked capitalism with no government controls or interference
- large scale government spending to provide employment challenged the idea that the state should not interfere with the working of a capitalist economy. The state artificially provided jobs when capitalist employers did not need these workers.
- some measures of the TVA were seen a as a threat to the free enterprise, because they competed with private power companies to generate and sell electricity to local authorities
- business leaders accused government of interfering in areas beyond its control.
- the social security act wet against capitalist belief that the government had no role to pay in providing for unemployed, the old or sick.
How did the new deal strengthen capitalism
It attempted to make capitalism work by adopting sine if the methods associated with socialism, such as government support for welfare and jobs. They also believed that the success of the new deal gave the USA the economic stability that it needed to maintain democracy at a time when many countries were being taken over by totalitarian regimes
The outbreak of WWII and the economic recovery of the USA
The new deal did not solve all the economic problems of the depression. The unemployment problem was only really solved by the outbreak of WWII, and the US entry into the war. The American economy when into full war production and became the main source or arms and ammunition die the allied armies, providing a solid base for the allied victory in the war. It also brought back full employment and better wager for workers who were in great demand. Roosevelt was re-elected, the only president to ever have served more than 2 terms in office. Despite shortcomings, the new deal was partly responsible for the emergence of the USA as one of the two superpowers after WWII.
