1. Chapter 21

2. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)
 Born to wealth and privilege; moderate
successful politician before he was
crippled by polio in 1921
 Overcame the handicap and elected
governor of NY; took almost absolute
control of the Democratic party
 Infinite charm, charisma, a good
speaker, and a total hardcore politician

4. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)
 Easily defeats Hoover in 1932 by assembling
southern/western farmers, industrial workers,
immigrants, and Catholics against the
Republican Party
 Took the oath of office when the country was
virtually at “rock bottom” psychologically; his
primary goal was to regain their confidence in
the government
 FDR campaigned for fixing the country, but
was vague and probably didn’t have a full plan
for what he was going to do
 He surrounded himself with expert advisors for
virtually all aspects of government

6. The First New Deal
 The First Hundred Days
 Exceptional in the amount of legislation
he got passed
 CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)
 FERA (Federal Emergency Relief
Administration)
 CWA (Civil Works Administration)
 A total of 15 major laws

7. The First New Deal
 In the first 3 months, FDR saves the
banking system from collapse
 Declares a bank holiday (Hoover thought of
it, but FDR convinced him it wouldn’t work
so he could use it for his own benefit)
 Temporarily halts all banking operations and
calls Congress into session to pass the
Emergency Banking Act
 Passage of federal insurance of bank
accounts (FDIC)
 Slowly gets America off the gold standard

8. The First New Deal
 FDR’s goal was not to nationalize the
economy (think back to the fears of the
anti-Federalists)
 All he was after was reforming and restoring
the US to its former glory in the early 1920s
 FDR as the master politician used
“fireside chats” to attempt to personally
relate to Americans; making them feel
like someone in government cared
individually for him

9. The First New Deal
 FDR saw the New Deal as an alternative to
socialism and the conservative/totalitarian
responses to the global economic crisis in
Europe
 FDR’s first administration was noted for
conservation, regional planning, and
development of public power sources
(Tennessee Valley Authority)
 After the first Hundred Days, FDR set his
sights on long term economic recovery as his
flurry of legislation provided temporarily relief

10. The First New Deal
 FDR wanted to put “first things first”;
deal with domestic issues and worry
about foreign policy later; however, he
did extend recognition to the Soviet
Union, easing some tensions left over
from WWI
 Kept the Good Neighbor Policy in Latin
America, but Mexico tested him
numerous times

11. National Industrial Recovery Act
(NIRA)
 The centerpiece of FDR’s plan for beating
the Depression
 Allowed FDR to gain control of industry and
business within the US to permit cartels
and monopolies to operate more freely to
encourage and stimulate the economy
 This is just one aspect of how FDR
became the most powerful figure in the
Western world during the 1930s; he took
Article 2 of the Constitution to new
extremes

12. National Industrial Recovery Act
(NIRA)
 NRA set standards for production,
prices, and wages in the textile, steel,
mining, and auto industries
 This is almost a temporarily nullification
of all the Progressive era legislation that
battled corporate trusts

13. Agriculture’s New Deal
 The entire South and Great Plains
region had been devastated by the
“Dust Bowl”; tenants and sharecroppers
sought help from the federal government
and even made their own union

15. Agriculture’s New Deal
 Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA);
agricultural problems were addressed and
helped landowners, but did nothing for
tenants and sharecroppers
 FDR didn’t want to touch that subject as he was
fearful that he would lose support from those
more conservative because he it might look like
he was being supportive of black/minority
farmers
 AAA helped raise farm prices and incomes for
larger farms; set quotas for major crops and
paid farmers not to plant more than needed

16. The New Deal and Housing
 Home ownership was becoming a mark
of respectability, but the Depression had
caused many foreclosures and was
devastating the housing industry
 Hoover’s administration established a
federally backed bank to issue home
loans

18. The New Deal and Housing
 FDR quickly moved to protect
homeowners from foreclosures and
stimulate new construction
 Home Owners Loan Corporation
○ Purpose was to refinance homes to prevent
foreclosures; amortized shorter loans to ones
with longer time periods (20 to 30 years)
 Federal Housing Administration
○ Improve housing standards and conditions;
find funding for homeowners

19. Labor and Critics of the New
Deal
 Earliest critics were members of the
American Liberty League; attempted to
unseat Democrats in the 1934 election by
scare tactics of big government controlling
almost all facets of American life
 Huey Long was FDR’s biggest challenge and
critic; Governor of Louisiana
 Pushed a radical populist/socialistic proposal to
make “every man a king” through radical
redistribution of the nation’s wealth
 He became so popular among FDR’s constituents that he
seemed to be a real threat to run against FDR as an
independent candidate, but he was assassinated in 1935

21. Labor and Critics of the New
Deal
 Father Charles Coughlin; the ‘Radio Priest’
who pushed for free silver wanted to
nationalize banks; sort of a kickback to
William Jennings Bryan; had a tenuous
relationship with Huey Long, saw him as a
pseudo-political adversary
 Both Coughlin and Long had one thing in
common; they both thought that FDR was
doing a terrible job

23. Labor and Critics of the New
Deal
 Labor Movements
 Previous depressions in the 1870s and 1890s
had devastated the labor movements
 FDR’s election helped to boost morale for labor
unions; really pushing for recognition and
support with the leadership of fairly militant
individuals
 Explosion of strikes in 1934 shook FDR’s
connection with labor as radical ideas and
connections with communism/socialism
influenced labor movements
 Labor’s goal was simple: fairer, freer, more
equal America

24. Labor and Critics of the New
Deal
 Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO)
 Labor upheaval in 1934 posed a challenge
to the leadership of the American Federation
League (AFL)
 A walkout led by John Lewis led to the
formation of the CIO
 CIO contended that the Depression was
caused by the imbalance of wealth and
income in the nation
 By 1940, union membership was close to 9
million

26. The Second New Deal
 1935 and 1936 were trying times for
FDR as his inability to bring about full
recovery of the economy led more to
attack him and his policies
 His advisors argued that he should move
further to the left in order to quell the
radicals
 To make matters worse, Americans were
realizing “first things first” wasn’t the only
issue; fascism in Europe was
demanding a president that would
respond appropriately for the US

27. The Second New Deal
 The election of 1936 was a total
landslide; one of the most one-sided
elections in American history; greatly
boosted FDR’s esteem for himself,
self-affirmation
 African Americans came over in droves
to support the Democratic party due to
the inclusion of blacks in New Deal
policies; also social and political
recognition of black leaders

29. The Second New Deal
 The Second New Deal had one goal in mind:
economic security
 Social Security Act of 1935 – what we’re still
dealing with today; national pension fund,
unemployment insurance; the nation’s most
expensive domestic program today; led to the
idea of the “American Welfare State”
 Critics argued (and still argue today) that the
system will eventually kill itself by too few
people being able to collect (advanced
democracy socialist welfare; too many collecting
and not enough young people working; our baby
boom in the late 1940s is causing issues for the
program today)

31. The Second New Deal
 The Second New Deal had one goal
in mind: economic security
 FDR knew it wasn’t perfect, but it was the best
he could hope for at the time
 However, this is a totally dramatic and verging
on radical departure from the traditional role of
government in the US
 FDR felt the best way to make money for the
program was to tax workers and employers

32. The Second New Deal
 Works Progress Administration (WPA)
 Led by Harry Hopkins; changed the
physical face of the US
 Purpose was to create “jobs, jobs, jobs!!”
according to Hopkins
 Notably known for the (pre-oral history)
interviews with former slaves; some of
the earliest oral history work and some of
it is very good research material

34. FDR and Foreign Policy
 Adolf Hitler in Germany and Benito
Mussolini in Italy posed a serious threat
to the peace of Europe during the 1930s
 As they became more belligerent, Americans
became more worried, wanted some type of
response from FDR
 Most Americans preferred to declare
neutrality (there’s enough problems at home;
all we need now is to get back into another
war)

35. FDR and Foreign Policy
 Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936
 Civil War in Spain contributed to
divisions within the United States;
Americans were choosing sides, but the
government remained neutral
 America was forced again to remain
neutral in 1938 as Nazi Germany grew
to a greater menace, especially after
Hitler began systematically targeting
Jews in 1938

36. FDR and the Court Packing
Incident
 FDR was growing tired of the Supreme
Court attempting to strike down his New
Deal laws (executive branch trying to
dominate the judicial branch)
 He asked Congress to enlarge the SC
because he thought that the workload
was too much for the old justices, but he
was really trying to pack the court with
like-minded people to get his laws out of
the muddy waters of constitutionality

37. FDR and the Court Packing
Incident
 Public opposition quickly caused him to back
down and give up on the idea (he had been
given so much control, and he was trying
anything to make the executive branch
dominant over the other two)
 The public (and Republicans) were screaming
that he was going to be the third major world
dictator
 However, after the incident, the SC had a
new willingness to accommodate his New
Deal polices

38. Minorities in the New Deal Era
 Women
 Eleanor Roosevelt transformed the role of
the first lady; acted as a model for an activist
woman
 However, women at large saw their position
and rights decline; losing jobs at faster rates
than men; almost no New Deal legislation
helped them
 Indians
 Gained greater control over their own rights
by the Indian Recognition Act of 1934

39. Minorities in the New Deal Era
 Blacks
 Still subject to lynching, denial of rights by
poll taxes; racism still very prevalent in the
south
○ Sundown Towns; Vidor, Texas; Comanche County
 The “Southern Veto” helped affirm the right
to a welfare state entitled to middle class or
above, white Americans only
 The SSA Act denied coverage to agricultural
and domestic workers (blacks and poor
whites)

41. Minorities in the New Deal Era
 Blacks were easily the hardest hit by the
Depression; survival in general was their
rallying cry
 FDR did appoint a number of blacks to
federal appointments
 Federal employment practices
discriminated on the basis of race
 Blacks would finally win inclusion in New
Deal programs in the 1960s through
Johnson’s Great Society program

42. The End of the New Deal
Era
 After FDR’s court packing incident and
his lack of funding support for his own
New Deal programs in 1936,
Republicans gained enough support to
win seats in Congress
 FDR could no longer dominate
Congress; his attempts to unseat
conservative Democrats and
Republicans failed

43. The End of the New Deal
Era
 Roosevelt was blamed for the severe
economic slump in 1937; he had to
resort to huge government spending
again
 By the end of 1938, the Republican
party was revived and a challenge to
FDR
 The Depression doesn’t end here, it
takes another devastating world war to
do that.