Unit 7: Topic 10 - The New Deal Flashcards
What was President Franklin D Roosevelt’s (1933-1945) New Deal and the Three “Rs”?
President Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal was a series of programs and projects aimed at restoring American prosperity during the Great Depression (1929-1939). The Three R’s aimed to provide relief to the poor, stimulate recovery, and reform the American economy. The bulk of these programs was passed in the First 100 Days of his presidential term.
What were the Relief New Deal programs?
The Relief New Deal programs primarily aimed towards creating jobs and providing stimulus.
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was created to give money to operating soup houses. The Public Works Administration (PWA), Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) were created to provide government jobs that didn’t require advanced skills.
For example, the TVA provided jobs to build dams in the Tennessee river valley which would then provide electricity and the CCC sent young men to build infrastructure, trails, and parks. Lastly, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) hired people to build infrastructure such as roads, airports, and parks.
What were the Recovery New Deal Programs?
The Recovery New Deal programs aimed to boost the economy’s growth and regain trust in the American financial system.
- Emergency Banking Relief Act: created a bank holiday to provide the government time to examine each bank and approve that it wouldn’t fail if reopened, restoring public confidence in banks.
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): guaranteed that the deposits of any savings under $5000 at the time would be insured if the bank failed.
- Farm Credit Administration: provided farmers low interest loans.
- Federal Housing Administration: (FHA) insured mortgages for homes.
- :Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA): eliminated surplus by paying farmers to reduce their crop production, aiming to raise prices by reducing supply.
- National Recovery Administration (NRA): pushed for labor standards such as minimum wage and proper working hours.
What were the Reform New Deal Programs?
The Reform New Deal programs were created to prevent another “Great Depression” and reform the economic system.
- Glass-Steagall Act: limited banks from taking risky investments
- Securities Exchange Commission (SEC): investigates fraud such as inflation of stock prices and insider trading in the stock market
- National Labor Relation Act (called the Wagner Act): makes labor unions legal in the United States
- Social Security Act provides a pension to people over the age of 65 through a tax on worker’s paychecks
- Indian Reorganization Act: attempts to reverse negative policies aimed towards American Indians by restoring stolen land.
- Fair Labor Relations Act: set a minimum wage, max working hours, and ended child labor.
What were FDR’s Fireside Chats?
President FDR’s fireside chats were speeches broadcasted on the radio which provided information on topics from the American economy to fighting fascism in Europe. FDR spoke directly to the American people explaining his actions on the New Deal and reassured people to put their money back in banks.
What did Father Coughlin advocate for during the Great Depression?
Father Coughlin was a catholic priest from Michigan and was an outspoken New Deal critic. He used the radio to call for nationalizing banks and inflating the currency, but he was later canceled for his antisemitic and fascist views.
What did Sentator Huey P. Long advocate for during the Great Depression?
Huey Long was a senator from Louisiana who demanded $5000 for all Americans during the Great Depression, and wanted to pay for it by taxing the wealthy (“Share our Wealth”). Most importantly, he criticized the president for not being radical enough when passing programs to fix the American economic system.
Long was planning to run for president in 1936 but was assassinated by a relative of a political rival in 1935.
How did conservative critics and the Supreme Court limit FDR’s power?
Republicans and conservative democrats created the American Liberty League to raise opposition against FDR and the New Deal. In addition, the Supreme Court declared that the NRA was unconstitutional in the Schechter Supreme Court Case (1935) and later declared the AAA unconstitutional (1936), all of which aimed to limit the scope of the New Deal.
What was the Judicial Procedure Reform Bill of 1937?
The Judicial Procedure Reform Bill of 1937, otherwise called Roosevelt’s “Court-Packing Plan”, was a plan by FDR to expand the Supreme Court by appointing supporting judges to gain favorable votes. This bill never passed and was very unpopular because it was an attempt to tip governmental power toward FDR.
Ultimately, FDR outlived most judges during his presidential term and ended up replacing them with judges who approved of his actions, eliminating the Supreme Court’s opposition to New Deal programs.
What was the New Deal Coalition and how did the Democratic Party grow from FDR’s programs?
The New Deal Coalition was an American political coalition that contained a group of voting blocs and interest groups that supported President FDR’s New Deal programs.
President FDR’s New Dea appealed to minorities and blue-collar workers, and as a result, the Democratic party expanded to include more African Americans, Catholics, immigrants, unions, Jews, urban progressives, white southerners, and working-class communities.
What happened to the legacy of New Deal programs today?
FDR’s New Deal left a massive impact on the American economy, and programs such as TVA, FDIC, SEC, and Social Security are still around today. Its legacy provides unemployment insurance, insured bank deposits, and reduced violence in labor relations.
As a result of the New Deal, most Americans expect the government to step in when there’s a severe economic issue.
What was the Dust Bowl and how did it affect American migration during the Great Depression?
Americans in the great plains fled, primarily to California, during the Dust Bowl (1930-1936) to seek better economic opportunities. The dust bowl refers to the severe drought that occurred in the southern plains region of the U.S. which devastated crops and the lives of farmers in the 1930s. The increased population of Americans in cities increased the labor force and showed how difficulties at the time encouraged migration to urban centers.
What sparked the recovery of the American economy and brought the Great Depression to an end?
Some argued that FDR’s New Deal programs didn’t bring the Great Depression to an end. Many believe that the real reason was the U.S. entering World War II. Following the attack at Pearl Harbor (1941), the US joined the war, and the increased demand for war production and labor stimulated the economy by creating jobs, resulting in the end of the Great Depression.
