The Second New Deal, 1935-1938 (T2)

Question 1

What were the reasons for the Second New Deal?

Answer 1

• A change in direction.
• Prevention of action in the new Congress.
• Re-introducing measures to replace New Deal legislation.
• Seeking support of the political left.
• To deflect opposition from the wealthy.

Question 2

What was the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act (EERA), April 1935?

Answer 2

• Authorisation of the largets appropriation for relief.
• Set up new agencies to provide employment through federal works.

Question 3

How much was allocated to EERA?

Answer 3

$45.5 billion, equivalent to $400 billion today.

Question 4

What did EERA set up?

Answer 4

The Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Question 5

What did the WPA do?

Answer 5

Recruited people for public works projects.

Question 6

How many people did the WPA employ?

Answer 6

About 2 million employees by 1941, 20% of the nations workforce had found employment with it.

Question 7

What was pay like in the WPA?

Answer 7

Approx. $52 per month, greater than any relief but less than going rate in industry.

Question 8

What did the WPA build?

Answer 8

1,000 airport landing fields, 8,000 schools and hospitals and 12,000 playgrounds.

Question 9

What else was the WPA responsible for?

Answer 9

Cutting the Lincoln Tunnel, and building Fort Knox in Kentucky.

Question 10

What was the Resettlement Administration, May 1935?

Answer 10

Merged all rural rehabilitation projects into one new agency.

Question 11

What were the plans of RA?

Answer 11

To move 500,000 families from overworked land and resettle them in more promising surroundings.

Question 12

What did RA need to do to make their aim possible?

Answer 12

• Buying good land
• Encouraging farmers to move to it
• Teaching them how to farm it effectively using modern machinery.

Question 13

Was the RA a success?

Answer 13

Only ever resettled 4,441 families so could not be judged as a success.

Question 14

What were the reasons for the RA’s apparent failure?

Answer 14

Partly to do with costs involved and partly to do with people reluctant to move.

Question 15

What was the Revenue (Wealth Tax) Act, June 1935?

Answer 15

Implemented to pay for New Deal reforms.

Question 16

How did people view the Revenue Act?

Answer 16

Perceived by those affected by it to be an attack on the fundamental right of Americans to become rich.

Question 17

What did the government plan to do?

Answer 17

Sought to raise more revenue through taxation and to do this by targeting those who could most afford it.

Question 18

What did the Revenue Act do?

Answer 18

Created a graduated tax on corporate income and an excessive profits tax on corporations.

Question 19

How much were tax on incomes increased by?

Answer 19

Max tax on incomes of over $50,000 was increased from 59% to 75%.

Question 20

How much did the new taxes raise?

Answer 20

Comparatively little: about $250 million.

Question 21

What was the problem with the new taxes on corporations?

Answer 21

Contained loopholes, which clever lawyers could easily exploit.

Question 22

How much of the population earned more than $10,000?

Answer 22

1%

Question 23

What was the impact of this on the increased taxes on income?

Answer 23

Did not raise large amounts of revenue.

Question 24

Why couldn’t Roosevelt tax the middle classes?

Answer 24

He would have cut their spending power and thus delayed economic recovery.

Question 25

What was the impact of the Revenue Act?

Answer 25

Did little in itself, but did act as a precedent for higher taxes during WW2.

Question 26

Why was Roosevelt reluctant to become involved in labour relations legislation?

Answer 26

• Mistrust of labour unions in the USA, particularly among conservatives.
• He had no more wish to become the champion of the unions than to upset big businesses further.

Question 27

Was the ‘Wagner’ Act initiated by Roosevelt?

Answer 27

No, but he approved it only when it had passed through the Senate and looked likely to become law.

Question 28

How did the National Labour Relations Act (Wagner Act) come about?

Answer 28

Born out of the disappointment with the Labour Board set up under the NRA.

Question 29

What did the National Labour Relations Act (Wagner Act) do?

Answer 29

Guaranteed workers the rights to collective bargaining through unions of their own choice.

Question 30

What could workers do under the ‘Wagner Act’?

Answer 30

Could choose their union through a secret ballot.