THEME 2: c - the New Deal Flashcards
What were Roosevelt’s THREE aims?
Relief, Recovery, Reform
to restore faith in the US economy
What did Roosevelt begin doing after 8 days of his presidency?
Fireside chats
- he would explain his policies via RADIO
- aided by his charismatic personality
- his reassuring voice helped restore confidence & gave optimism
Was the New Deal planned or specified?
NO - there was no blueprint
What is meant by ‘The 100 Days’?
The first 100 days of Roosevelt’s presidency saw more legislation passed than any other previous time in history - most of the ND legislation
What emergency relief did Roosevelt establish?
1933: The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
* $500 million to divide equally among states to provide unemployment relief
* Half $ given by FERA to the states
* Other half kept back (to give states $1 for every $3 of their own funds they spent on relief)
What were the issues with FERA?
- Some states refused to comply
* It was insufficient for the scale of the problem - but it did set the precedent for future direct relief
What does relief mean?
Financial/practical help given to those in special need or difficulty
What does recovery mean?
A return to a normal state of economic strength
What does reform mean?
Governmental and economic restructuring and change
How many alphabet agencies were there in total?
16
What alphabet agency helped farmers?
The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) 1933
- paid farmers to reduce their production of ‘staple’ items
- corn, cotton, milk etc
What were the issues with the AAA?
- Cotton prices still increased from 6.5c - 10c.
- fields of food destroyed when many were hungry
- contentious issues like the slaughter of 6 mil piglets
What were the aims of the TVA & how did they go about achieving them?
The Tennessee Valley Authority
* modernise the Tennessee Valley
* relief from poverty
HOW?
* harness the power of the river there (20 huge dams)
* develop welfare & educational programmes
* produce hydro-electric power
Which alphabets agency helped industry?
The National Industry Recover act (NIRA)
* set up: national recovery admin (NRA) & the public works admin (PWA) - later financed the Civil Works admin (CWA)
What did the NRA do?
(part of the NIRA)
- firms were encouraged to accept codes of practice
- codes regulated unfair competition (price cutting)
- codes = working conditions & min wage
What problems did the NRA face?
- codes turned out to be unworkable
- big businesses didn’t comply
- small ones couldn’t comply & put them at a disadvantage
- if codes were followed, unions said they were insufficient for needs
Did the work of the NRA help the economy?
NO
What did the PWA do?
- funded w/ $3.3 bil
- purpose = ‘pump-priming’
- hoped this would stimulate the economy
- eventually put hundreds of thousands to work
How successful was the PWA?
VERY -
- employed hundreds of thousands
- built nearly 13,000 schools
- pumped billions into economy
- responsible for massive public work schemes
What did the CVA do?
- aimed to create employment
- got a $400 mil grant from PWA
- ^ provide emergency unemployment relief
Which two acts reformed the banking system?
- The Emergency Banking Relief Act
* The Glass-Steagall Act
What did the Emergency Banking Relief act do?
- aim = restore faith in the banking system
- close all banks for 4 days
- gave the state power to investigate all banks threatened w/ collapse
- authorised the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to buy stock, support & take on the debts of those failing banks
- R. explained all this through his ‘fireside chats’ and $1 mil redeposited in banks by the people
What did the Glass-Steagall Act do?
- commercial banks banned from involvement in the type of investment banking which fuelled the 20s speculation
- bank officials not allowed to take out personal loans from their bank
- open-market operations (buying & selling gov securities) centralised by being transferred to the Federal Reserve Boards
- individual depositors insured against bank failure
How was the stock exchange regulated?
1933, The Truth-in-Securities Act
* brokers had to offer realistic info about the securities they were selling
1934, The Securities Act
* set up a commission tasked to oversee stock market activities & prevent fraud (bull pool)
What alphabet agency targeted youth unemployment?
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
- unemployment among youth = huge issue
- R. understood they needed a special programme
What did the CCC do?
- aimed to give them experience & training in community service & other skills essential for good citizens
- put 17-24-year-olds at work in national forests, parks & public lands
- by 1935, 500,000 employed
- 4 mil man-hours spent fighting forest fires & planted 1.3 bil trees
What opposition did Roosevelt face from the right?
- many who supported him as the saviour of capitalism now turned against him as taxes were too high & he was doing too much (Republicans & conservative Democrats)
- The Liberty Leaguers: promoted private property & enterprise unregulated by law
How much of a threat was opposition from the right to Roosevelt?
INSIGNIFICANT - they had little impact
* The Liberty Leaguers disbanded after R’s victory in the 1936 election
However, a lack of support from big businesses and upsetting conservative congressmen could risk R’s popularity
What opposition did Roosevelt face from the left?
- End Poverty In California (Sinclair)
- ‘Share our Wealth’ (Huey Long)
- Old Age Revolving Pension (Townsend)
- Farther Charles Coughlin - radio programme
- Thunder on the left
Who was Huey Long and the ‘share our wealth’ campaign?
Senator from Louisiana
- all private fortunes over $3 mil should be confiscated
- that money should be redistributed so every family can buy a house, a car & a radio
- old-age state pensions & minimum wage
How prominent was Huey Long & his ideas?
- had a big following: ‘share our wealth’ clubs grew to approx. 27,000 & had 4 - 5 mil followers
- very popular - Roosevelt was concerned about his prominence in the 1936 election (he could’ve won)
- assassinated in 1935 - no longer a threat
Who was Francis Townsend?
- a retired doctor
- advocated for old-age pensions
- 60+ unemployed should be given $200 per month
- all of this should be spent not saved
- hoped this would boost consumption & free up jobs for the young
How prominent was Francis Townsend & his ideas?
- his clubs had 500,000 members
- Congress was being lobbied to put the plan into action
- so, his support was taken seriously however, soon it was realised these measures were IMPRACTICAL
(pensions would have amounted to 50% of national income)
What was the impact of the opposition?
- R. learnt the mood of the country
- He began preparing a second new deal that was influenced by demands from radical politicians & the opposition from big businesses
( he tried to appease the right & left)
What did the Indian Reorganisation Act do? (1934)
- got rid of assimilation
- tribes reorganised into self-governing bodies (vote, police, justice system)
- allowed them to control land sales on the reservations
- new tribal corps established to manage resources
What opposition did this act face?
- Collier accused it of encouraging Native Americans to ‘go back to the blanket’
- felt a return to tribal traditions was a backwards movement
- argued they needed assimilation to proper in society
