Topic 3.1 - The New Deal and the Economy ft. Women Flashcards
Who was Mary McLead Bethune?
- 1940 - Vice President NAACP Leader of FDRs ‘black cabinet’ 1936
- highest African American women in govt.
- Director of negro affairs of national youth administration
- Wanted to end lynchings and discrimination
Who was Ella Baker?
In NAACP
Wanted economic justice for all Worked with Martin Luthur King
Name three activist Black American women.
Eleanor Roosevelt (white)
Ella Baker
Mary McLead Bethune
Why wasn’t Eleanor Roosevelt popular during WW2?
Outspoken, controversial and very involved.
Drafted declaration of human rights- women’s rights weren’t a priority.
Allowed child refugees from Europe - after spending time visiting American troops.
Refused to fit into ‘first lady’ mould.
What was Eleanor Roosevelt’s relationship with the media during WW2?
Daily newspaper column in 62 newspapers
348 press conferences by herself.
Drafted declaration of human rights.
There was evidence that both Eleanor and Franklin had affairs.Who was each with?
Eleanor - Lesbian affair rumoured - Lorena Hickok
Franklin - Lucy Meicer his secretary
What did Eleanor Roosevelt want for the southern conference of welfare?
Didn’t want it to be segregated
What was the relationship like between the Roosevelts?
- The personal and emotional relationship was distance
- Close political relationship
- 5 children
What was the suffragette movement like in the 1920s?
Didn’t make much change
What did Eleanor do for women in politics?
- Made network of influential women who had the ear of the president.
- ‘A cordial interlocking of minds’
- social feminist - college educates in the 1880s.
- Campaigns for social and liberal reforms.
What were the 1930s reforms like with consumer affairs and social security?
- Non-partisan and issue-driven by women
- Women’s Trade Union Board
What did the Women’s Trade Union Board do?
8-hour workday minimum wage
Who were the three main women in politics?
- Francis Perkins
- Ruth Bryan Owen
- Molly Dewson
Who was Francis Perkin?
Secretary of labour.
Who was Ruth Bryan Owen?
Female ambassador to Denmark
Who was Molly Dewson?
Women’s division of the Democratic party
Who was the first Female in a cabinet?
Francis Perkins
In 1940 what proportion of jobs were filled by men?
90%
Give an example of a public works agency which was just for men
CCC
How many women were helped by the Summer 1933 relief spending?
15,000 women
300,000 in need of help
What was the NRA like for women?
- Covered half of women in the workforce
- sanctioned pay differentiation
- ($525 per year 1/2 of a mans)
What did the 1933 Economy Act do?
Barred same family working for the federal govt.
How did Eleanor Roosevelt improve women’s opportunities in the workforce?
- 80% of teachers women
- WPA school lunch program - 1.2 billion nutritious meals
- CWA - 300,000 put into work
- ‘she she she camps’
- Sewing projects and relief programs - 500 million items of bedding and clothing
What was Ed Johnson’s opinion on the new deal?
‘The worst fraud ever perpetrated on the American People’
A Democratic governor of Colorado
How did the national total of personal income change between 1929 and 1939?
1929 - $86 billion
1939 - $73 billion
How did the population of America change during the 1930s?
Increased by 9 million
What was the permanent unemployment figure during the 1930s?
5 million unemployed
How did wages change between the 1930s?
1929 - $25.03 per week
1939 - $23.86 per week
Why was 1940 a key year for American Economy?
Marked the beginning of rearmament and movement towards a war economy
What were the aims of the New Deal?
Relief Recovery Reform
How did the New Deal affect employment?
1933 - 18 million unemployed
1939 - 9 million unemployed
Which did Alphabet Agencies help provide work?
PWA and WPA
What effect did the Alphabet Agencies have on unemployment?
- Short-term employment
- ‘kickstart’ economy
- Stimulate private enterprises.
- It didn’t work.
Year - Roosevelt’s recession
1937
What proportion of the workforce was jobless in 1938?
What was the main reason for this?
19% due to the Roosevelt recession
What were the main results of the Roosevelt Recession?
The neal deal tended to create temporary jobs working for the government rather than permanent ones in the private sector.
Why didn’t Roosevelt wait until taking money out of the federal spending in 1937?
What impact did this have?
He was too concerned with a Balanced Budget and agreed to cutbacks of $66 million.
This resulted in 19% of the workforce unemployed.
How much did Roosevelt Cutback during the Recession?
1937 - $66 million
How many people lost their jobs in 1937?
During the Roosevelt Recession 1.8 million lost their jobs.
By 1938 - 10 million were unemployed. This is 19% of the workforce.
Year - neutrality act
1935
What did the Neutrality Act do?
Meant belligerents could buy from the USA.
Within a year there were orders for 10,800 aircraft and 13,000 aeroplane engines.
Due to the Neutrality act how many aircraft were sold?
10,800 aircraft.
Due to the neutrality act how many aeroplane engines were sold?
13,000 sold
What did the Neal Deal do in terms of relief work?
Changed the role of the federal government.
FERA and WPA were set up to offer hope to millions.
Social security act helped old-age pensions ad unemployment benefits for the first time.
How did welfare provisions change between 1930-1940?
1930 - $9 million
1940 - $479 million and a further $480 million on unemployment benefits.
In 1920 and 1924 what proportion of the electorate actually voted?
How did this change in the coming elections?
1920/24 - 49%
1928/32 - 57%
1936/40 - 62%
Why did the number of poeple voting in the elections increase over time?
The Depression had destroyed much of what people had previously believed in.
Also, the programmes of the New Deal that actually helped people.
These made people belong.
Why didn’t Roosevelt spend a lot of America’s recovery?
Believed strongly in the Balanced budget and so didn’t see the point in investing
He had criticised Hoover over the deficit and so wanted to make it better.
What was Hoover’s deficit in 1932?
$2.5 billion
What happened to the deficit during Roosevelts terms?
1932 - $2.5 billion (Hoovers)
1933 - $1.7 billion
1936 - $4.5 billion
1937 - 3.1 billion (Roosevelt recession)
1938 - $1.3 billion (due to recession)
1939/40 - $3.5/6 billion (Gave up on balanced budget)
How much did Roosevelt offer for public spending after the recession?
$3.8 billion this wasn’t enough to make much of a difference.
What was the aim of the New Deal?
Designed to save the capitalist system in the USA and not replace it with a huge public sector.
Eg. NRA codes gave to big businesses.
Give two countries that adopted an economic plan of permanent massive state spending.
What effect did this change have on them?
Sweden and Germany
They recovered first from the depression
What economic reforms were made in the New Deal?
- Banking system made more efficient through centralisation of banking in 1935.
- The evils of wall street and holding companies were exposed and reformed.
- Roosevelt allowed labour unions to take their place in labour relations and reluctantly recognised that the federal government had a role in settling industrial disputes.
What did the national labour relations board fight for?
Recognition through its case against Jone & Laughlin Steel.
What’s the story of national labour relations board V. Jones and Laughlin Steel?
NLRB accused the firm of discriminating against workers seeking to join a union and demanded they be reinstated.
In fact, they fired 10 workers in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania for seeking to do so.
J&L refused and took the NLRB to court arguing it was unconstitutional.
Reached the supreme court in April 1937 the justices found in favour of the NLRB and deemed it to have legal authority.
Why did Roosevelt set up the Executive Office of the president?
TO help many the expansion of government he had created and ensure that the federal bureaucracy could cope with the demands being made upon it both at the time and in the future.
give examples of women who were involved in politics
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- Ruth Bryan Owen
- Frances Perkins
What did Frances Perkins do for the New Deal?
Fought for factory investigations and shortened working hours for women.
Helped draw up the 1935 social security act
Why didn’t political leaders focus on trying to attract women?
Unlike black Americans, they didn’t tend to vote as a group.
So politicians did not set out particularly to win their support.
When was the Economy Act?
1933
Why did the Economy Act work against women?
Forbade members of the same family from working for the federal government.
A total of 75% of those who lost their jobs through this measure were married women.
What percentage of those that lost their jobs due to the economy act were women?
75%
What parts of the new deal legislation worked against women?
- 1933 economy act
- NRA codes allowed for unequal pay
- Some barred women entirely like the CCC
By 1940 what proportion of jobs were taken by men?
90%
During the 1930s what did women’s pay look like?
$525 per annum, women earned half the average wage of men.
When did rearmament start in USA?
1940
When did the USA join WW2?
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941
When was the neutrality act removed?
1935 - taken away in 1939.
Banned the sale of war material to belligerent powers.
How did German investment change between 1936 and 1940?
40% increase.
When was the Lend-Lease introduced?
May 1940
What was the Lend-Lease agreement?
May 1940
Britain and later the soviet union would be ‘loaned’ weapons until the war was over.
The world had become ‘the arsenal of democracy’ Roosevelt.
By July 1940 how much had been allocated by Congress towards the development of the US navy?
$4 billion
$17 billion towards defence in October.
By October 1940 how much had been allocated by Congress towards the defence?
$17 billion
Give examples of statistics to outline what the US’s economy was like in 1940
- GNP up to $113 billion from $68.3 billion in 1933
- Index of industrial production rose from 69 to 126
- exports rose from $1.67 billion to $4.02
- Unemployment halved from 25.2% to 13.9%
How did the GNP change between 1933-1940?
GNP up to $113 billion from $68.3 billion in 1933
How did industrial production change between 1933-1940?
Index of industrial production rose from 69 to 126
How did exports change between 1933 and 1940?
exports rose from $1.67 billion to $4.02
How did unemployment change between 1933 and 1940?
Unemployment halved from 25.2% to 13.9%
How did personal income change between 1945 and 1933?
4 times higher
How much was injected after the Roosevelt Recession?
$3.9 billion
