2. HOUSING REFORM & SOCIAL SECURITY
The New Deal had meanwhile framed sturdy new policies for housing construction.
Describe the following federal programs:
* Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
* U.S. Housing Authority (USHA)
* Social Security Act (1935)

3. A NEW DEAL for UNSKILLED LABOR
When the Supreme Court axed the blue eagle
of the NRA, a Congress sympathetic to labor
unions undertook to fill the vacuum.
The fruit of its labor was the Wagner, or
National Labor Relations Act of 1935 – explain
the components of this legislation.

4. Under the encouragement of a highly sympathetic National Labor Relations board, a host
of unskilled workers began to organize themselves into effective unions. The leader of
this drive was John Lewis.
He succeeded in forming the Committee for
Industrial Organization (CIO) within the ranks
of the skilled-craft American Federation of
Labor.
What was the reaction of skilled workers?
How did the CIO respond?

5. The CIO, undaunted, moved on a concerted scale into the huge car industry. Late in 1936
the workers resorted to a revolutionary technique known as the sit-down strike. Describe
the circumstances. What was the outcome?

6. ROOSEVELT’S “CODDLING” of LABOR
Unskilled labor now pressed their advantage despite fierce resistance from business
owners, especially smaller ones. A better deal for labor continued when Congress passed
the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) – explain the major provisions. And in later New
Deal days, labor unionization flourished. Why did FDR encourage unionization? And did
the two major labor unions always get along?

7. LANDON CHALLENGES “the CHAMP” in 1936
As the presidential campaign of 1936 neared, the New Dealers were on top of the world. They had
achieved considerable progress. The exultant Democrats renominated FDR on a platform squarely
endorsing the New Deal.
The Republicans were hard pressed to find someone to feed to the “champ.” They finally settled on
Gov. Alfred Landon of Kansas. Describe his profile and his party’s platform.

8. FDR won in a landslide and Congress
remained in Democratic control.
Explain how the election results
bore out Republican charges of
class warfare.
And why did FDR win by such a
large margin?

9. NINE OLD MEN on the SUPREME COURT
Flushed with victory, FDR interpreted his reelection as a mandate to continue New Deal
reforms. But in his eyes the cloistered old men on the supreme bench stood stubbornly in
the pathway of progress.
What alarmed FDR about the Court? Had he
appointed any of the justices? And what was
FDR’s biggest fear?

10. Explain FDR’s Court scheme. What was the reaction (public; congressional) to his
scheme? How did FDR both “win” and “lose” with his scheme?

11. THE TWILIGHT of the NEW DEAL
FDR’s first term did not banish the depression. Unemployment stubbornly persisted in 1936 at 15%,
down from the grim 25% in 1933.

12. Despite the inventiveness of New Deal programs and the billions of dollars in “pump-
priming,” recovery had been dishearteningly modest, though the country seemed to be
inching its way back to economic health. Then in 1937 the economy took another sharp
downturn, a surprisingly severe depression-within-the-depression that the president’s
critics dubbed the “Roosevelt recession.”

13. Only at this late date did FDR deliberately embrace the recommendations of British
economist John Maynard Keynes. Explain “Keynesianism” Criticism of New Dealers was
increasing in 1937. What actions was Congress taking to regulate New Dealers?
Thus, clearly by 1938, the New Deal lost most of its early momentum. The international
crisis, beginning in 1938-39, shifted public attention away from domestic reform and no
doubt took the heat off FDR.

14. NEW DEAL or RAW DEAL?
Foes of the New Deal condemned its alleged
waste, incompetence, confusion, contradictions, and cross-purposes, as well as the
chiseling and graft in the alphabet agencies – “alphabet soup,” sneered Al Smith. Identify
& describe the primary areas of criticism.

15. New Dealers staunchly defended
their record.
Describe their arguments that
their efforts were worthy.

16. FDR’s BALANCE SHEET
Roosevelt, like Jefferson, provided bold reform without bloody revolution – a real feat,
given the desperate times. Choosing the middle road, he was Hamiltonian in his espousal
of big govt., but Jeffersonian in his concern for the “forgotten man.” And he helped
preserve democracy in America in a time when democracies abroad were disappearing
around the world.