The New Deal Flashcards
What were the 3 R’s?
- relief
- reform
- recovery
What was relief?
- financial aid for the poor
What was reform?
- making a change to ensure the GD never happens again
What was recovery?
- jobs for the 13 million unemployed
What was Roosevelt’s first change?
- The Emergency Banking Act
↳ closed all banks for 4 days
↳ only allowed trustworthy banks and banks with enough money to reopen
What was the impact of the Emergency Banking Act?
- people put $1 billion back into banks
What was Roosevelt’s second change? How much did this save?
- The Economy Act
↳ cut the pay of everyone working for the government and armed forces by 15%
↳ saved $1 bn
What was Roosevelt’s third change?
- the Beer Act
↳ made it legal to sell and produce alcohol again
What was the impact of the Beer Act?
- government made money by taxing alcohol
- put gangsters out of business
What was Roosevelt’s ‘Brain Trust’?
- a group of highly intelligent people, who came up with ideas to deal with the Great Depression, for Roosevelt.
What was Roosevelt’s theory behind his Alphabet Agencies?
- ‘Priming the Pump’
↳ government spends money to create jobs, more people earn wages & pay taxes etc.
What was FERA?
- Federal Emergency Relief Administration
↳ $500 million was given to the poor,
↳ spent on blankets, clothes, soup kitchens etc.
What was AAA?
- Agricultural Adjustment Agency
↳ paid farmers to produce less food and destroy crops
What was the impact of the AAA on farmers?
between 1933 and 1939, farmers’ income doubled
Why was the AAA controversial?
food was being destroyed while millions were starving
What happened to the AAA in 1936?
declared unconstitutional
What was the NRA? What was its impact?
- National Recovery Administration
↳ stated that workers have a right to join a trade union
↳ 2.5 million firms joined, resulting in 22 million workers joining
What was the problem with the NRA?
it wasn’t mandatory to join trade unions
↳ led to strikes
What was the CCC? What did it do?
- Civilian Conservation Corps
↳ created 2.5 million jobs for men (18-25)
↳ ended Malaria in America
What was the Indian Reserve Act (1934)?
- gave Native Americans the right to manage their own affairs
What were the successes of the New Deal? (4)
- Indian Reserve Act (1934)
- CCC = 2.5 mn jobs
- 200,000 AA gained jobs in the CCC
- FDR introduced measures to save farmers from eviction
What were the failures of the New Deal? (4)
- (some) NRA codes set wages for women lower than. wages for men
- only large-scale farmers received help
- CCC campsites were segregated
↳ FDR did nothing about this - by 1939, 10.5 mn were still unemployed
What party was Roosevelt?
democratic
Why did Republicans oppose the New Deal?
- believed in Rugged Individualism
- believed that Roosevelt was acting like a dictator
Why did businesses oppose the New Deal?
- believed in ‘laissez-faire’
- didn’t like FDR’s support for trade unions
Why did the rich oppose the New Deal?
- didn’t like having to pay high taxes
Who believed that the League did not go far enough?
- Huey ‘Kingfish’ Long
- Doctor Francis Townsend
- Father Coughlin, ‘radio priest’
What did Huey ‘Kingfish’ Long suggest?
- ‘Share our Wealth’ scheme
- all belongings over $5 mn confiscated
↳ so that a car, house and cheap food could be bought for the poor
How many members did ‘Share our Wealth’ have?
7.5 million
What did Doctor Francis Townsend suggest?
- everyone over 60 should get a pension of $200
↳ if they gave up their jobs for young people - encouraging the old to retire to make more jobs for the unemployed
How many members did the ‘Old Age Revolving Pension Plan’/Townsend Clubs have?
5 million by 1935
What did Father Coughlin, the ‘radio priest’ suggest?
- FDR had failed at tackling the problems of the poor
- broadcasted his ideas to 40 million Americans on the radio, every Sunday
- called FDR ‘anti-God’ as he was not helping the needy
