Unemployment / Industry & the New Deal Flashcards

1
Q

National unemployment 1932

A

around 25%

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2
Q

In some areas extremely dependent on industry concentration of unemployment peaked at what %? e.g some towns in Massachusetts

A

80%

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3
Q

Action : FERA

A

$500 million of federal grants made available for distribution by state agencies

to go into retirement benefits / unemployment insurance

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4
Q

Who distributed relief made available by FERA? What does this show a culture of?

A

individual states

great importance of federalism

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5
Q

What did FERA recognise about the government’s responsibility?

A

set precedent that it was government’s duty to come to rescue of the vulnerable

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6
Q

Who led FERA?

A

Hopkins

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7
Q

What did Hopkins admit about FERA in 1936?

A

“we have never given adequate relief”

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8
Q

Limitations of FERA, what did it not include?

A
  • no health insurance
  • excluded farmers / domestic workers
  • not enough to sustain - especially in winter
  • not regular payments
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9
Q

What types of programmes did FERA support, give examples

A

wide range

e.g food orders / rural rehabilitation / adult literacy

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10
Q

How long was FERA active for?

A

3years

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11
Q

DATE : National Industrial Recovery Act

A

November 1933

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12
Q

What were the X2 branches of the NIRA?

A

PWA & NRA

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13
Q

Action : NRA

A
  • negotiated codes of conduct for industries

- workers guaranteed right to collective bargaining

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14
Q

How many codes eventually adopted in NRA?

A

541

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15
Q

NRA codes were found in what % of all US industries?

A

90%

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16
Q

What did the scale of the number of codes result in?

A

corruption, collusion, inefficiencies

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17
Q

Purpose / Aim : NRA

A

coordination between government planners & business leaders to create standards for production / prices / working conditions

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18
Q

What was the logo paraded for NRA products and stores?

A

blue eagle

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19
Q

What was the relationship between patriotic customers and the NRA?

A

patriots would only patronise stores following NRA codes (products identified via blue eagle)

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20
Q

What % of annual increase in wages was the NRA directly responsible for during its existence?

A

26%

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21
Q

What X3 factors did the coal NRA codes introduce?

A
  • ban child labour
  • equalised wages
  • shorter working week
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22
Q

Which highly influential business man did not subscribe to the NRA codes? what did he instead do? What was notable about the way he paid workers?

A
  • Henry Ford and automobile industry
  • although observed a minimum wage
  • paid workers the same regardless of nationality
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23
Q

X2 criticisms of the NRA

A
  1. didn’t provide immediate relief to unemployed and hungry

2. increased production costs by 40% - so did not help problem of underconsumption

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24
Q

What did the PWA stand for?

A

public works administration

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25
How / what was the PWA funded?
$3.3billion of federal funding for public works
26
What did the PWA embody in FDR's vision?
epitomised FDR's notion of "priming the pump" to encourage growth
27
How many projects did the PWA eventually fund?
34,000
28
Name a PWA funded project
Triborough Bridge Construction, 1933 New York
29
What industry did the PWA propels? What did this do for the USA's landscape?
stimulation of construction industry | improved infrastructure of USA e.g airports / schools
30
Limitation of what the PWA failed to build
necessary affordable housing
31
How many houses did the PWA build in 4 and a half years?
only 25,000
32
Who ran the PWA? How much did he spent in the first 6 months? What did this show?
Ickes $110 million in first 6months deep fiscal conservative who did not take risk
33
What did Icke's conservatism show?
still reluctance to deviate from American traditions of self-help and limited gov. intervention
34
Evidence that the PWA did not immediately turn the economy around
FDR turned to other programmes (WPA / CWA)
35
Advantage of WPA / CWA over PWA
smaller projects, quicker to mobilise and set up
36
When was PWA abolished?
1941 during move towards war production
37
Purpose of the PWA"
keep construction industry alive provide employment give public necessary purchasing power to power engine of recovery
38
What did historian Kirkendall say about building programmes?
"didn't bring depression to an end" "enabled people to survive who would have had an impossible time surviving without them"
39
What did Kirkendall's perspective on building programmes confirm about the New Deal in general?
wasn't a means of steering USA out of depression, simply stopped the suffering of the depression getting worse
40
What credit was given to building programmes in terms of democracy preservation?
Fascist and socialist ideas circulating Europe and entering American Building programmes helpful in preventing move towards totalitarian direction e.g owning your own home
41
What did the CWA stand for?
Civil Works Administration
42
How many people did the CWa employ in temporary jobs?
4million
43
How much did CWA spending a month? Was this on budget?
over $200million monthly
44
What did the CWA's budget show about the PWA?
Had to compensate for PWA's limitations
45
When was the CWA formed? Why?
winter of 1933 | slow mobilisation of PWA
46
What was a criticism of many CWA projects?
deemed "boondoggles" (pointless)
47
Average weekly wage for CWA
$15.04
48
Was the weekly wage under CWA greater than FERA? By approximately how much?
Yes | by just under $9
49
When did the CWA end? What did this mean for employment?
April 1934 | ended employment for 4million workers (although intended to be temporary anyway)
50
What CCC was one of the first initiatives in providing federal relief and attended to conservation?
Civillian Conservation Corps
51
DATE : Civillian Conservation Corps
March 1933
52
What qualified men to be employed in the Civilian Conservation corps?
17-24 | unemployed
53
Where did workers of the civilian conservation corps stay?
in quasi-military discipline residential camp placements
54
What was the monthly wage of a CCC worker? How much of this went home to their families?
$50 dollar wage | $45 home to families
55
Within 2yrs how many men were resident in how many camps as part of the CCC?
0.5milllion men | 2,500 camps
56
Programme of works carried out by the CCC included;
- dam-building - marsh draining - land reclamation
57
Why did FDR prefer the creation of jobs rather than relief?
didn't want to create a dependency on handouts
58
When was the TVA set up?
May 1933
59
What was the TVA the first of in the USA?
first publicly owned electricity organisation in USA
60
What was the TVA?
government owned network of dams and hydroelectric plants
61
Purpose of the TVA
- give construction jobs to unemployed - aid consumers via lower electricity rates - increase electrification to increase electrical goods demand
62
X3 positive consequences across social / economic areas of the TVA;
+ tempted industrialists + standard of living rose 200% in 1930s/40s for those involved + pioneered areas of malaria control
63
Criticism of the TVA (X3)
- remained chiefly a corporation to sell power and fertiliser - did not work as successfully when smaller mock copies were set up in other states - government in direct competition with private companies
64
What was notable about some of the states the TVA ran through?
ran through 7 of the poorest states in USA | = temped industrialists to invest here