The Hundred Days and Alphabet Agencies Flashcards
What were the Three Rs?
- Relief (aid to people)
- Recovery (end Depression)
- Reform (prevent future depressions)
Why was it called a ‘new deal’?
- ‘Fresh’ approach to American citizens who were struggling
- ‘New’ framework to address unprecedented challenges
How did Roosevelt provide immediate relief to Americans?
- Cash aid
- Short term employment
- Through ‘alphabet agencies’
What is a president’s ‘honeymoon period’?
- Newly-elected
- Give benefit of doubt
- Press not as critical
- Important to take full advantage (Roosevelt did)
- ‘Hundred days’
Why did Roosevelt repeal prohibition?
- ‘Feel good factor’
- Was a disastrous policy
- Improve public morale
What are alphabet agencies?
- Refers to any of the numerous federal government agencies created by Roosevelt in the New Deal
- Term came from the use of acronyms
What was the purpose of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)?
- Provide work relief
- For young, unemployed, unmarried men (18-25 year olds)
What were the benefits CCC applicants received?
- Fully government funded
- Bed, food and meals
- $30 a month; $25 sent to family
- Schooling
- Taught trades (e.g. auto mechanics) to enhance future employment prospects
How was Roosevelt’s instigation of the CCC helpful politically?
- Prevented young men from drifting towards extremism
- Inspired by trends in Europe
How did the CCC contribute to conservation efforts?
- Planted three billion trees
- Built dams
- Built national parks
- Built wildlife shelters
Why was the CCC considered the most successful alphabet agency?
- Work relief while offering valuable job experience
- Made significant contributions to environmental conservation
- Gave sense of purpose for young men
- Economic impact on families
Describe two features of the CCC
- Work relief: employment, sense of purpose, decent living conditions, money to send back home, working in environmental programs (lasting impact on federal land)
- Education and training: training in trades, opportunity to attend schooling (learn basic literacy skills), beneficial for their future
What was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)?
- To provide hydroelectric power
- Improve soil conservation
- Flood control in 7 Southern states
What were the health and economic benefits of the TVA?
- Eradicated diseases (e.g. malaria)
- Brought electricity into homes for the first time
- Attracted industry which led to job creation and demand
What opposition did the TVA face?
- Republicans opposed
- Displaced farmers (forced to leave ancestral homes)
What was the overall impact of the TVA?
Huge improvements to quality of life in 7 southern states despite some human costs
What was the main goal of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)?
- Boost industrial production on a large scale
- Through government guidance to stimulate cooperation of business and labour (regulations on wages, prices, working hours)
- Fair competition
What agency did the NIRA establish?
- National Recovery Administration (NRA)
- Facilitate monopolies
- Organise large scale public programs
What protections did the NIRA offer workers?
- Minimum wage levels
- Maximum working hours
- Collective bargaining rights
- Eliminate child labour
What were the criticisms of the NIRA?
- Although well intentioned
- Overly ambitious
- Created harmful monopolies
- Alienated many initial supporters of the New Deal
- Fixed high prices
- Did not benefit most African American workers (sectors not covered by legislation)
What was the Infamous Sick Chicken Case?
- Declared unconstitutional
- Setback for FDR and New Deal
- Government should not interfere/regulate these things
Why was it unrealistic to expect FDR to achieve full employment?
- Economic problems created and intensified by the Great Depression too serious
- Impossible for a single president to resolve
What was the impact of FDR’s ‘bold, persistent experimentation’?
- Near inevitable consequences
- Some ideas did not work, worked in the opposite ways from those intended (e.g. the NIRA)
How did racism affect the implementation of New Deal policies?
- Political realities in Souther states
- Prevented full policy implementation
- Local level racism could ensure ‘last hired, first fired’ policy persisted
What was the nature of the jobs created by the New Deal?
- Short term relief
- Instead of permanent employment
What economic issue arose during FDR’s second term?
- Cut spendings due to criticism
- Led to a spike in unemployment
How did the New Deal initially aim to help the industry?
- Focus on stabilising banking crisis
- Allowed lending to firms for expansion
What role did the NIRA play in industrial recovery?
- NRA to oversee labour-business relations
- Allow companies to not be subject to monopoly restrictions by signing codes for minimum wages and hours
What was the focus of FDR’s farming policies?
- Restoration of purchasing power of the rural sector
- Crucial for overall economic recovery
What significant act was part of the Farm Relief Bill?
- Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
- Paid farmers to reduce production
- Enables farmers to raise prices and incomes
What consequences rose from the AAA?
- Human cost attracted bitter criticism
- Livestock slaughtered on a large scale (originally would have fed city-dwellers)
- Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers evicted
What happened to the AAA in 1936?
- Supreme court declared unconstitutional
- FDR forced to re-introduce modified version in 1938 which did not have tax
What was the aim of the Emergency Banking Act?
- Temporarily closed all banks
- Prevented withdrawals to stabilise banking system
- Only financially sound banks could reopen
- To restore public confidence
