APUSH Depression & New Deal

1. Wall Street Crash 2. Black Thursday and Black Tuesday 3. Uneven distribution of income 4. Stock market speculation 5. Excessive use of credit 6. Overproduction of consumer goods 7. Weak farm economy 8. Government policies (laissez faire & high tariffs) 9. Global economic problems Video: Causes of Great Depression https://www.gilderlehrman.org/multimedia#!3463

ever-rising stock prices had become both a symbol and a source of wealth during the prosperous 1920s. On September 3, 1929–the Dow Jones Industrial Average of major stocks had reached an all-time high of 381. Millions lost their money in October 1929, when it collapsed.

On this Black Thursday—October 24, 1929—there was an unprecedented volume of selling on Wall Street, and stock prices plunged. . On Black Tuesday, October 29, the bottom fell out, as millions of panicky investors ordered their brokers to sell, when there were practically no buyers to be found. Dow Jones index had fallen from its September high of 381 to 198. By 1932, three years later, stock prices would finally hit bottom at 41.

Wages had risen relatively little compared to the large increases in productivity and corporate profits. Economic success was not shared by all, as the top 5 percent of the richest Americans received over 33 percent of all income.

all economic classes believed that they could get rich by \”playing the market.\” Speculating the price of a stock would go up and that they could sell it for a quick profit. Buying on margin allowed people to borrow most of the cost of the stock, making down payments as low as 10 percent. When stock prices dropped, the market collapsed, and many lost everything they had borrowed and invested.

A belief of both consumers and business that the economic boom was permanent led to increased installment buying. Advertising stimulated consumers’ desire for the exciting new appliances and cars that were being produced.

Business growth, aided by increased productivity and use of credit, had produced a volume of goods that workers with stagnant wages could not continue to purchase.

The prosperity of the 1920s never reached farmers, who had suffered from overproduction, high debt, and low prices since the end of World War I. As the depression continued through the 1930s, severe weather and a long drought added to farmers’ difficulties.

During the 1920s, the government had complete faith in business and did little to control or regulate it. Congress enacted high tariffs which protected U.S. industries but hurt farmers and international trade. Years of neglect and bad practices would prove difficult for the government to correct.

Nations had become more interdependent because of international banking, manufacturing, and trade. Europe had never completely recovered from World War I, but the United States failed to recognize Europe’s problems. It insisted that all of its wartime loans to European nations be repaid in full, but at the same time its tariff policies greatly reduced the sale of European goods in America. . Europe’s difficulties contributed to the depression in the United States, which in turn became the worldwide Great Depression.

FDR: Radio address: Democratic president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, said in his 1933 inaugural address. LISTEN HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY4qRcI37h8

http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/2025 As the Great Depression dragged on for months, and then years, after the stock market crash of 1929, Americans grew increasingly hungry and desperate. Long lines outside soup kitchens and other private charities that distributed free or low cost food became a common sight in American cities.

PANICS! Banks and businesses had periodically plunged into a crisis, or \”panic,\” that was usually of brief duration. Only 1873 & 1893 had led to long-term depressions extending beyond a year. ups and downs were thought to be nothing more than the natural pulse of a free enterprise economy (Capitalism).

Picture: Men in line for food or for employment opportunities While in retrospect it can be seen that the economic decline reached bottom in 1932, complete recovery came only with the beginning of another world war, in 1939. The Great Depression’s influence on American thinking and policies has even extended beyond the lifetimes of those who experienced it. Some 20 percent of all banks closed, wiping out 10 million savings accounts. By 1933, the number of unemployed had reached 13 million people, or 25 percent of the workforce, not including farmers Politically, Republican domination of government was at an end. . The power of the federal government would increase greatly, as the people accepted dramatic, far-reaching changes in policies. Video: Effects of the Great Depression https://www.gilderlehrman.org/multimedia#!3325

nobody could foresee how long the downward slide would last. President Hoover was wrong—but hardly alone—in thinking that prosperity would soon return. nation could get through the difficult times if the people took his advice about exercising voluntary action and restraint. Hoover urged businesses not to cut wages, unions not to strike, and private charities to increase their efforts for the needy and the jobless. Document: President Hoover Encourages Private Charity http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1373 afraid that government assistance to individuals would destroy their self-reliance. Gradually, President Hoover came to recognize the need for more direct government action. However, he took the traditional view that public relief should come from state and local governments, not the federal government.

Hoover— schedule of tariff rates that was the highest in history. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff passed by the Republican Congress set tax increases ranging from 31 percent to 49 percent on foreign imports. U.S. business leaders who thought a higher tariff would protect their markets from foreign competition. European countries enacted higher tariffs of their own against U.S. goods. Effect –reduce trade for all nations, meaning that both the national and international economies sank further into depression.

Dawes Plan for collecting war debts could no longer continue. Hoover therefore proposed a moratorium (suspension) on the payment of international debts. Britain and Germany readily accepted, not France. The international economy suffered from massive loan defaults,and banks on both sides of the Atlantic scrambled to meet the demands of the many depositors withdrawing their money

Farm Board was actually created in 1929, before the stock market crash, but its powers were later enlarged to meet the economic crisis. The board was authorized to help farmers stabilize prices by temporarily holding surplus grain and cotton in storage. The program, however, was much too modest to handle the continued overproduction of farm goods.

federally funded, government-owned corporation created by Congress early in 1932 as a measure for propping up faltering railroads, banks, life insurance companies, and other financial institutions. Hoover reasoned that emergency loansfrom the RFC would help to stabilize these key businesses. The benefits would then \”trickle down\” to smaller businesses and ultimately bring recovery. Democrats scoffed at this measure, saying it would only help the rich.

In many communities, farmers banded together to stop banks from foreclosing on their farms and evicting them from their homes. Farmers in the Midwest formed the Farm Holiday Association, which attempted to reverse the drop in prices by stopping the entire crop of grain harvested in 1932 from reaching the market. The effort collapsed after some violence

a thousand unemployed World War I veterans marched to Washington, D.C., to demand immediate payment of the bonuses promised them at a later date (1945). Veterans who brought their wives and children and camped in improvised shacks near the Capitol. Congress failed to pass the bonus bill they sought. When two veterans were killed in a clash with police, Hoover ordered the army to break up the encampment. General Douglas MacArthur, the army’s chief of staff, used tanks and tear gas to destroy the shantytown and drive the veterans from Washington. The incident caused many Americans to regard President Hoover as heartless and uncaring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eih67rlGNhU In 1932, a young New York City lyricist named E.Y. \”Yip\” Harburg, together with composer Jay Gorney, penned what is considered the anthem of the Great Depression, \”Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?\”

Poor Americans created shanty towns and called them \”Hoovervilles\”

Slang for empty pockets

The depression’s worst year, 1932, happened to be a presidential election year. The disheartened Republicans renominated Hoover, who warned that a Democratic victory would only result in worse economic problems. Democrats. Nominated New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt pledged a \”new deal\” for the American people, the repeal of Prohibition, aid for the unemployed, and cuts in government spending. Results: voters’ minds, the only real issue was the depression, and which candidate—Hoover or Roosevelt—could do a better job of ending the hard times. Almost 60 percent of them concluded that it was time for a change Not only was the new president to be a Democrat but both houses of Congress were to have large Democratic majorities.

For the four months between Roosevelt’s election and his inauguration in March 1933, Hoover was still president. Hoover was a \”lame duck–He offered to work with the president-elect through the long period, but Roosevelt declined, not wanting to be tied to any of the Republican president’s ideas. The Twentieth Amendment (known as the lame-duck amendment), passed in February 1933 and ratified by October 1933, shortened the period between presidential election and inauguration. The amendment set a new date, January 20, for the start of a president’s term in office.

passed in February 1933 and ratified by October 1933, shortened the period between presidential election and inauguration. The amendment set a new date, January 20, for the start of a president’s term in office.

popularly known by his initials, F.D.R.—expanded the size of the federal government, altered its scope of operations, and greatly enlarged the powers of the presidency. He would dominate the nation and the U.S. government for an unprecedented stretch of time, 12 years and two months. He would prove to be one of the most influential world leaders of the 20th century.

only child of a wealthy New York family. Personally admired cousin Theodore Roosevelt, but was a Democrat. . In 1920 he was the Democratic nominee for vice president. He and James Cox, the presidential candidate, lost badly in Warren G. Harding’s landslide victory. Disability: Roosevelt was paralyzed by polio in 1921. even though he could never again walk unaided and required the assistance of crutches, braces, and a wheelchair. Roosevelt’s greatest strengths were his warm personality, his gifts as a speaker, and his ability to work with and inspire people.

Roosevelt’s wife, Eleanor, emerged as a leader in her own right. She became the most active first lady in history, writing a newspaper column, giving speeches, and traveling the country. She served as the president’s social conscience and influenced him to support minorities and the less fortunate.

In his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention in 1932, Roosevelt had said: \”I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.\” He had further promised in his campaign to help the \”forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.\” New Deal programs were to serve three R’s: 1. relief for people out of work 2. recovery for business and the economy as a whole 3. reform of American economic institutions.

Roosevelt relied on a group of advisers who had assisted him while he was governor of New York. –Louis Howe was to be his chief political adviser. — economic matters, Roosevelt turned to a group of university professors, known as the Brain Trust, which included Rexford Tugwell, Raymond Moley, and Adolph A. Berle, Jr. Roosevelt appointed to high administrative positions were the most diverse in U.S. history, with a record number of African Americans, Catholics, Jews, and women.

Immediately after being sworn into office on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt called Congress into a hundred-day-long special session. During this brief period, Congress passed into law every request of President Roosevelt. enacting more major legislation than any single Congress in history. So numerous were the new laws and agencies that they were commonly referred to by their initials: WPA, AAA, CCC, NRA.

Early 1933, banks were failing at a frightening rate, as depositors flocked to withdraw funds. As many banks failed in 1933 (over 5,000) as had failed in all the previous years of the depression. To restore confidence in those banks that were still solvent, the president ordered the banks closed for a bank holiday on March 6, 1933. He went on the radio to explain that the banks would be reopened after allowing enough time for the government to reorganize them on a sound basis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt9f-MZX-58 FDR explains the bank holiday and bank crisis. On the Banking Crisis (March 12,1933)

enact repeal of Prohibition and also raised needed tax money by having Congress pass the Beer-Wine Revenue Act, which legalized the sale of beer and wine. Later in 1933, the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, bringing Prohibition to an end.

Repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, bringing Prohibition to an end

Roosevelt went on the radio on March 12, 1933, to present the first of many fireside chats to the American people. The president assured his listeners that the banks which reopened after the bank holiday were now safe. The public responded as hoped, with the money deposited in the reopened banks exceeding the money withdrawn.

1. The Emergency Banking Relief Act 2. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) 3. Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) 4. Farm Credit Administration

RECOVERY authorized the government to examine the finances of banks closed during the bank holiday and reopen those judged to be sound.

RECOVERY/REFORM Created federally insured bank deposits ($2500 per investor at first) to prevent bank failures. Them, guaranteed individual bank deposits up to $5,000.

RECOVERY provided refinancing of small homes to prevent foreclosures.

RECOVERY provided low-interest farm loans and mortgages to prevent foreclosures on the property of indebted farmers.

1. Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) 2. Public Works Administration (PWA) 3. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) 4. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

RELIEF offered outright grants of federal money to states and local governments that were operating soup kitchens and other forms of relief for the jobless and homeless. The director of FERA was Harry Hopkins, one of the presi- dent’s closest friends and advisers.

RELIEF directed by Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes – allotted money to state and local governments for building roads, bridges, dams, and other public works. Such construction projects were a source of thousands of jobs.

RELIEF employed young men on projects on federal lands and paid their families small monthly sums. FDR’s \”Tree Army\” Video: http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1768 http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/archive/files/ccc-presentation_b9bbc2b7f7.pdf Poster: \”Great oaks from Little Acorns\” https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/content-images/06196.262.jpg

RELIEF was a huge experiment in regional development and public planning. As a government corporation, it hired thousands of people in one of the nation’s poorest regions, the Tennessee Valley, to build dams, operate electric power plants, control flooding and erosion, and manufacture fertilizer. The TVA sold electricity to residents of the region at rates that were well below those previously charged by a private power company.

RECOVERY Industrial recovery program The key measure in 1933 to combine immediate relief and long-term reform . Directed by Hugh Johnson, the NRA was an attempt to guarantee reasonable profits for business and fair wages and hours for labor. With the antitrust laws temporarily suspended, the NRA could help each industry (such as steel, oil, and paper) set codes for wages, hours of work, levels of production,and prices of finished goods. The law creating the NRA also gave workers the right to organize and bargain collectively. The complex program operated with limited success for two years before the Supreme Court declared the NRA unconstitutional (Schechter v. U.S.).

Supreme Court decision declared the National Recovery Administration (NRA) unconstitutional Sometimes called \”the sick chicken case.\” Unanimously declared the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) unconstitutional on three grounds: that the act delegated legislative power to the executive; that there was a lack of constitutional authority for such legislation; and that it sought to regulate businesses that were wholly intrastate in character

RECOVERY farmers offered a program similar in concept to what the NRA did for industry. Farm production control program encouraged farmers to reduce production (and thereby boost prices) by offering to pay government subsidies for every acre they plowed under. The AAA met the same fate as the NRA. It was declared unconstitutional in a 1935 Supreme Court decision.

1. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) 2. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 3. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) 4. new law took the United States off the gold standard in an effort to halt deflation (falling prices).

RELIEF was added to the PWA and other New Deal programs for creating jobs. This agency hired laborers for temporary construction projects sponsored by the federal government.

RECOVERY/ REFORM was created to regulate the stock market and to place strict limits on the kind of speculative practices that had led to the Wall Street crash in 1929.

RECOVERY gave both the construction industry and homeowners a boost by insuring bank loans for building new houses and repairing old ones.

New legislation concentrated on the other two R’s: relief and reform.

RELIEF: 1. Works Progress Administration (WPA) 2. Resettlement Administration (RA) REFORM 1. National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act (1935) 2. Rural Electrification Administration (REA) 3. revenue act of 1935 4. The Social Security Act (1935)

RELIEF much larger than the relief agencies of the first New Deal, the WPA spent billions of dollars between 1935 and 1940 to provide people with jobs. employed 3.4 million men and women who had formerly been on the relief rolls of state and local governments Most WPA workers were put to work constructing new bridges, roads, airports, and public buildings. Unemployed artists, writers, and actors were paid by the WPA to paint murals, write histories, and perform in plays. the National Youth Administration (NYA), provided part-time jobs to help young people stay in high school and college or until they could get a job with a private employer.

RELIEF under Brain Trust, Rexford Tugwell, provided loans to sharecroppers, tenants, and small farmers. It also established federal camps where migrant workers could find decent housing.

REFORM replaced the labor provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act, after that law was declared unconstitutional. The Wagner Act guaranteed a worker’s right to join a union and a union’s right to bargain collectively. It also outlawed business practices that were unfair to labor. A new agency, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), was empowered to enforce the law and make sure that workers’ rights were protected.

REFORM new agency provided loans for electrical cooperatives to supply power in rural areas. Document: An Ordinary Georgian \”Wants Lights!\” http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1513

REFORM Federal taxes. Significantly increased the tax on incomes of the wealthy few. It also increased the tax on large gifts from parent to child and on capital gains (profits from the sale of stocks or other properties).

REFORM reform that, for generations afterward, would affect the lives of nearly all Americans. created a federal insurance program based upon the automatic collection of taxes from employees and employers throughout people’s working careers. The Social Security trust fund would then be used to make monthly payments to retired persons over the age of 65. Also receiving benefits under this new law were workers who lost their jobs (unemployment compensation), persons who were blind or otherwise disabled, and dependent children and their mothers.

The Social Security Act of 1935 started a national old-age pension for workers who earned wages. This meant that at age 65 these workers could retire and receive monthly payments from the government. To pay for this program, workers and employers each paid money into the fund. The Social Security Board distributed this poster in 1936 and 1937 to publicize and explain this new program.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2p7AzOixNI

http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/2017 In this letter to first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, an American protests the Social Security program, created two years earlier. For Social Security, the federal government took money out of working people’s paychecks in order to create a fund that gave payments to the elderly when they retired.

http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/archive/files/7adc31642a93eadd0cc0652cc797abdf.pdf President Roosevelt sent his Social Security bill, named the \”Economic Security Act,\” to Congress in January 1935. Congress held committee hearings on the bill. Here, a representative of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a group dedicated to advancing the rights of African Americans, testifies before Congress about how the bill excludes certain groups of people.

economy was improved but still weak and unstable in 1936 when the Democrats nominated Roosevelt for a second term New Deal programs and active style of personal leadership, the president was now enormously popular among workers and small farmers. Business, however, generally disliked and even hated him because of his regulatory programs and prounion measures such as the Wagner Act. Alf Landon- Republican nominee for president. Landon criticized the Democrats for spending too much money but in general accepted most of the New Deal legislation. RESULT- Roosevelt swamped Landon, winning every state except Maine and Vermont and more than 60 percent of the popular vote. Behind their president’s New Deal, the Democratic party could now count on the votes of a new coalition of popular support

the 1930s and into the 1960s, the Democratic coalition would consist of the Solid South, white ethnic groups in the cities, midwestern farmers, and labor unions. In addition, new support for the Democrats came from African Americans, mainly in northern cities, who left the Republican party of Lincoln because of Roosevelt’s New Deal.

1. Liberal Critics 2. Conservative Critics 3. Demagogues

Socialists and extreme liberals in the Democratic party criticized the New Deal (especially the first New Deal of 1933-1934) for doing too much for business and too little for the unemployed and the working poor. They charged that the president failed to address the problems of ethnic minorities, women, and the elderly.

were those on the right critics charged that relief programs such as the WPA and labor laws such as the Wagner Act bordered on socialism or even communism. Business leaders were alarmed by (1) increased regulations (2) the second New Deal’s prounion stance (3) the financing of government programs by means of borrowed money—a practice known as deficit financing. Conservative Democrats, including former presidential candidates Alfred E. (Al) Smith and John W. Davis, joined with leading Republicans in 1934 to form an anti-New Deal organization called the American Liberty League.

http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1512 Conservative critics of the New Deal disliked the new regulations on businesses and feared the long-term consequences of deficit spending, which they likened to socialism and the end of freedom. Some also expressed nativist or racist feelings that government programs helped people who weren’t \”real Americans\” and raised expectations for social equality. This author cleverly uses President Roosevelt’s own language like \”mandate from the people\” and \”the forgotten man\” to attack programs like Social Security.

Several critics played upon the American people’s desperate need for immediate solutions to their problems. Using the radio to reach a mass audience, they proposed simplistic schemes for ending \”evil conspiracies\” 1. Father Coughlin, ending \”evil conspiracies\” 2. Dr. Townsend–guaranteeing economic security for the elderly 3. Huey Long redistributing the wealth

Conservative Democrats, including former presidential candidates Alfred E. (Al) Smith and John W. Davis, joined with leading Republicans in 1934 to form an anti-New Deal organization called the American Liberty League.

Catholic priest attracted a huge popular following in the early 1930s through his weekly radio broadcasts. Father Coughlin founded the National Union for Social Justice, which called for issuing an inflated currency and nationalizing all banks. His attacks on the New Deal became increasingly anti-Semitic and Fascist.

Before the passage of the Social Security Act, a retired physician from Long Beach, California, became an instant hero to millions of senior citizens by proposing a simple plan for guaranteeing a secure income. -proposed that a 2 percent federal sales tax be used to create a special fund, from which every retired person over 60 years old would receive $200 a month. By spending their money promptly, Townsend argued, recipients would stimulate the economy and soon bring the depression to an end. The popularity of the Townsend Plan persuaded Roosevelt to substitute a more moderate plan of his own, which became the Social Security system.

from Roosevelt’s point of view, the most dangerous of the depression demagogues \”Kingfish\” \” from Louisiana \”Share Our Wealth\” program that promised a minimum annual income of $5,000 for every American family, to be paid for by taxing the wealthy. challenged Roosevelt’s leadership of the Democratic party by announcing his candidacy for president. Both his candidacy and his populist appeal were abruptly ended when he was killed by an assassin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpT4go30r-8 1. Father Coughlin, ending \”evil conspiracies\” 2. Dr. Townsend–guaranteeing economic security for the elderly 3. Huey Long redistributing the wealth

challenges to Roosevelt’s leadership in his first term in office, the conservative decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court proved the most frustrating. In two cases in 1935, the Supreme Court effectively killed both the NRA for business recovery and the AAA for agricultural recovery by deciding that the laws creating them were unconstitutional. Roosevelt interpreted his landslide reelection in 1936 as a popular mandate to end the obstacles posed by the Court.

Roosevelt did not have an opportunity to appoint any Justices to the Supreme Court during his first term hoped to remove the Court as an obstacle to the New Deal by proposing a judicial-reorganization bill in 1937. Critics called it a \”Court-packing\” bill. It proposed that the president be authorized to appoint to the Supreme Court an additional justice for each current justice who was older than a certain age (70.5 years). In effect, the bill would have allowed Roosevelt to add up to six more justices to the Court—all of them presumably of liberal persuasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUBH1dygxyE

Republicans and many Democrats were outraged by what they saw as an attempt to tamper with the system of checks and balances. Accused the president of wanting to give himself the powers of a dictator the first time in Roosevelt’s presidency, a major bill that he proposed went down to decisive defeat by a defiant Congress. Even a majority of Democratic senators refused to support him on this controversial measure.

while Roosevelt was fighting to \”pack\” the Court, the justices were already backing off their former resistance to his program. In 1937, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of several major New Deal laws, including the Wagner (Labor) Act and Social Security acts. Also, as it happened, several justices retired during Roosevelt’s second term, enabling him to appoint a majority on the Court and thereby ensure judicial support for his reforms.

Two New Deal measures—the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and the Wagner Act of 1935—caused a lasting change in labor-management relations by legalizing labor unions. Union membership, which had slumped badly under the hostile policies of the 1920s, shot upward. It went from less than 3 million in the early 1930s to over 10 million (more than one out of four nonfarm workers) by 1941.

Leader: John L. Lewis In 1935, the industrial unions, as they were called, joined together as the Committee of Industrial Organizations (C.I.O.). Their leader was John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers union. In 1936, the A.F. of L. suspended the C.I.O. unions. Renamed the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the C.I.O. broke away from the A.F. of L. and became its chief rival. It concentrated on organizing unskilled workers in the automobile, steel, and southern textile industries.

collective bargaining was now protected by federal law, many companies still resisted union demands. Strikes were therefore a frequent occurrence in the depression decade. Automobiles–General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan, in 1937, the workers insisted on their right to join a union by participating in a sit-down strike (literally sitting down at the assembly line and refusing to work). Neither the president nor Michigan’s governor agreed to the company’s request to intervene with troops. Finally, the company yielded to striker demands by recognizing the United Auto Workers union (U.A.W.). Union organizers at the Ford plant in Michigan, however, were beaten and driven away. Steel.- giant U.S. Steel Corporation voluntarily recognized one of the C.I.O. unions, but smaller companies resisted. Memorial Day, 1937, a demonstration by union picketers at Republic Steel in Chicago ended in four deaths, as the police fired into the crowd. Despite initial resistance, however, almost all the smaller steel companies agreed to deal with the C.I.O.by 1941.

http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/archive/files/timeline-of-major-strikes_2577876fea.pdf In his first year in office, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was wary of running a budget deficit. Consequently many early New Deal programs attempted to create temporary (rather than permanent) direct aid programs and to bring government planners, business and labor leaders together to create regulations. However, unemployment remained high and workers grew more militant. A wave of large and often violent strikes in 1934 put pressure on the government to do more to help workers.

General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan, in 1937, the workers insisted on their right to join a union Formed the U.A.W. and was recognized by General Motors.

–political victory for organized labor provided a host of regulations on businesses in interstate commerce. It established: 1. minimum wage (initially fixed at 40 cents an hour) 2. maximum workweek of 40 hours and time and a half for overtime 3. child-labor restrictions on those under 16 Note: Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional an earlier law of 1916 prohibiting child labor. In 1941, however, in the case of U.S. v. Darby Lumber Co., the Supreme Court reversed its earlier ruling by upholding the child-labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act was not only the last but also the only major reform of Roosevelt’s second term. The New Deal lost momentum in the late 1930s for both economic and political reasons. 1. Recession, 1937-1938

1933 to 1937 (Roosevelt’s first term), the economy showed signs of gradually pulling out of its nosedive. Banks were stable, business earnings were moving up, and unemployment, though still bad at 15 percent, had declined from the 25 percent figure in 1933. In the winter of 1937, however, the economy once again had a backward slide and entered into a recessionary period.

Government policy was at least partly to blame. The new Social Security tax reduced consumer spending at the same time that Roosevelt was curtailing expenditures for relief and public works. In reducing spending for relief, the president hoped to balance the budget and reduce the national debt.

DEFICIT SPENDING & \”PUMP PRIMING\” The writings of the British economist John Maynard Keynes taught Roosevelt that he had made a mistake in attempting to balance the budget. According to Keynesian theory, deficit spending was accept able because in difficult times the government needed to spend well above its tax revenues in order to initiate economic growth. Deficit spending would be like \”priming the pump\” to increase investment and create jobs. Roosevelt’s economic advisers adopted this theory in 1938 with positive results. As federal spending on public works and relief went up, so too did employment and industrial production.

there was no boom and problems remained. After the Court-packing fight of 1937, the people and Congress no longer automatically followed F.D.R., and the 1938 elections brought a reduced Democratic majority in Congress. A coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats blocked further New Deal reform legislation. Also, beginning in 1938, fears about the aggressive acts of Nazi Germany diverted attention from domestic concerns toward foreign affairs.

Millions of people who lived through the Great Depression and hard times of the 1930s never got over it. They developed a \”depression mentality\”—an attitude of insecurity and economic concern that would always remain, even in times of prosperity.

hired to photograph ordinary Americans experiencing the depression

added pressures were placed on the family as unemployed fathers searched for work, and declining incomes presented severe challenges for mothers in the feeding and clothing of their children. To supplement the family income, more women sought work, and their percentage of the total labor force increased. Women were accused of taking jobs from men, even though they did not get the heavy factory jobs that were lost to all, and most men did not seek the types of jobs available to women. Even with Eleanor Roosevelt championing women’s equality, many New Deal programs allowed women to receive lower pay than men.

As if farmers did not already have enough problems, a severe drought in the early 1930s ruined crops in the Great Plains. This region became a dust bowl, as poor farming practices coupled with high winds blew away millions of tons of dried topsoil. With their farms turned to dust, thousands of \”Okies\” from Oklahoma and surrounding states migrated westward to California in search of farm or factory work that often could not be found. The novelist John Steinbeck wrote about their hardships in his classic study of economic heartbreak, The Grapes of Wrath (1939).

Dust Bowl farmers, With their farms turned to dust, thousands of \”Okies\” from Oklahoma and \”Arkies\” from Arkansas migrated westward to California in search of farm or factory work that often could not be found.

Novelist: John Steibeck Dust Bowl: \”Okies\” from Oklahoma and surrounding states migrated westward to California in search of farm or factory work that often could not be found. The novelist John Steinbeck wrote about their hardships in his classic study of economic heartbreak.

Racial discrimination continued in the 1930s with devastating effects on African Americans, who were the last hired, first fired. unemployment rate was higher than the national average. Often, despite their extreme poverty,jobless African Americans were excluded from state and local relief programs. Hard times increased racial tensions, particularly in the South where lynchings continued. Civil rights leaders could get little support from President Roosevelt, who feared the loss of white southern Democratic votes. Improvements:

The New Deal did provide some relief for African Ameri- cans, who found low-paying jobs with the WPA and the CCC (even though these jobs were often segregated). African Americans also received moral support from Eleanor Roosevelt and Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes in a famous incident in 1939. The distinguished African American singer Marian Anderson had been refused the use of Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., by the all-white Daughters of the American Revolution. Eleanor Roosevelt and Ickes promptly arranged for Anderson to give a special concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Over one hundred African Americans were appointed to middle-level positions in federal departments by President Roosevelt. One of them, Mary McLeod Bethune, had been a long-time leader of efforts for improving education and economic opportunities for women. Invited to Washington to direct a division of the National Youth Administration, she established the Federal Council on Negro Affairs for the purpose of increasing African American involvement in the New Deal.

An executive order in 1941 set up a committee to assist minorities in gaining jobs in defense industries. President Roosevelt took this action only after A. Philip Randolph, head of the Railroad Porters Union, threatened a march on Washington to demand equal job opportunities for African Americans.

John Collier, a long-time advocate of Native American rights, was appointed commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1933. He established conservation and CCC projects on reservations and gained Native American involvement in the WPA and other New Deal programs.

John Collier succeeded in winning Roosevelt’s support for a major change in policy. The Dawes Act of 1887, which had encouraged Native Americans to be independent farmers, was repealed in 1934 with the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act. This measure returned lands to the control of tribes and supported the preservation of Native American cultures. Despite this major reform, critics later accused the New Deal of being paternalistic and withholding control from Native Americans.

Mexican Americans also suffered from discriminatory practices in the 1930s. In California and the Southwest, they had been a principal source of agricultural labor in the 1920s. During the depression, however, high unemploy- ment and drought in the Midwest caused a dramatic growth in white migrant workers who pushed west in search of work. Discrimination in New Deal programs and competition for jobs forced many thousands of Mexican Americans to return to Mexico. Picture: Migratory Mexican field worker’s home on the edge of a frozen pea field. Imperial Valley, California.

historians have debated whether the New Deal represented a revolutionary break with the past or an evolutionary outgrowth of earlier movements. –New Deal in a positive light as a continuation of the Progressive reform movement.— In the late 1950s, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. –liberal historians such as Carl Degler went further and characterized the New Deal as a third American Revolution that went far beyond earlier reforms. They argued that such measures as the NRA, the WPA, and the Social Security Act represented nothing less than a redefinition of the role of government in American society

What conclusion can you make based upon the graph? The unemployment rate rose sharply during the Great Depression and reached its peak at the moment Franklin D. Roosevelt took office. As New Deal programs were enacted, the unemployment rate gradually lowered. Virtually full employment was achieved during World War II. This graph does not indicate the numbers of people were \”underemployed,\” meaning those who did not earn enough to adequately provide for themselves and their dependents.

Despite doomsday criticisms about the cost of New Deal programs, this graph demonstrates that federal spending in Roosevelt’s first two terms was relatively low compared to the spending associated with World War II.

http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/2013 This cartoon uses characters from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland story to criticize federal spending on New Deal programs. The cartoonist depicts President Franklin Roosevelt as the Mad Hatter; Postmaster General and Chairman of the Democratic Party James Farley as the March Hare; and Congress as the sleepy Dormouse.

http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/archive/files/comparison-of-black-and-white-tenant-farmers_8d00b4f305.pdf The hard times of the Great Depression were even harder for African Americans, who were often the \”last hired and first fired.\” Particularly hard hit were black domestic workers (mostly female) and black tenant farmers (mostly male), the two broadly defined occupations that employed about 60% of all African Americans. As the National Urban League noted, domestic workers were easily fired by white employers when money was tight; one survey showed that about 43% of African Americans on relief in 1934 had been in domestic service. In the same article, the Urban League showed that black farmers stayed unemployed longer than white farmers. However black organizations also recognized and pushed for the New Deal’s programs to be an opportunity to improve incomes, skills, education, and housing for the black community, if \”the temper of its administration\” could \”break away from the status quo\” in the communities were programs were implemented.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSfzFWU5LbY

http://newdeal.feri.org/

http://college.cengage.com/history/lecturepoints/part02_lecture08/part02_lecture08.html Online Lecture Review– Great Depression & New Deal A series of interactive lectures by Michael Nagle, Professor of History & Political Science at West Shore Community College.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/volpe/newdeal/cartoons.html Cartoons depicting the New Deal from U. of Virginia

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/museum/newdealart.html

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/museum/pdfs/visionbinder.pdf

Journalists and other writers employed by the Federal Writers Project, part of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (WPA), gathered the American Slave Narratives during 1936-1938. Over 2,000 interviews with ex-slaves were collected during these years of the Great Depression and eventually compiled by George P. Rawick in The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, 1979. http://newdeal.feri.org/asn/index.htm

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/great-depression-and-world-war-ii-1929-1945/new-deal/timeline-terms Great timeline of people and events of the Depression & The New Deal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ0eBSqy-Bg&feature=kp 1936 song about the Great Depression by the Carter Family

http://www.historyteacher.net/AHAP/Readings/doc-RuggedIndividualism.pdf

http://www.historyteacher.net/AHAP/Topics/AHAP_Topic23.htm Find quiz Questions toward bottom.

http://www.historyteacher.net/AHAP/Charts/chart-NewDealPrograms.pdf Courtesy of Mrs. Pojer.

1. Unpack the question. How many tasks are involved? 2. Write an introductory thesis paragraph. [Is it a yes thesis? Yes/but?] that directly addresses the question 3. Write an outline of the body paragraphs – 4. Be sure to include specific details/facts that make connections to the question and reflect knowledge of the time periods addressed – many of you struggled with this part on the most recent process essay 5. No conclusion is necessary Your outline should also demonstrate your understanding of the historical context involved. What trends are driving US politics, government policies, economics and shaping American society at the time? Remember, the goal of an AP response is to 1. answer the question fully in a sophisticated way that 2. demonstrates your understanding of US history.

Reform movements of the twentieth century have shown continuity in their goals and strategies. Assess the validity of this statement for ONE of the following pairs of reform movements. –Progressivism and the New Deal –Women’s suffrage and post-Second World War Feminism –The New Deal and the Great Society

Identify Three of the following New Deal measures and analyze the ways in which each of the three attempted to fashion a more stable economy and a more equitable society. Agricultural Adjustment Act Wagner National Labor relations Act Securities and Exchange Commission Social Security Act

How successful were the programs of the New Deal in solving the problems of the Great Depression? Assess with respect to two of the following. Relief Recovery Reform

Compare and contrast the programs and policies designed by reformers of the Progressive era to those designed by reformers of the New Deal period. Confine your answers to programs and policies that addressed the needs of those living in poverty.

Although American writers of the 1920’s and 1930’s criticized American society, the nature of their criticisms differed markedly in the two decades. Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to writers in both decades

Analyze the ways in which the Great Depression altered the American social fabric in the 1930s.

The New Deal secured the support of labor and agriculture after 1932 as the Republican party had secured the support of industry and commerce since 1920 – with special interest programs giving financial aid, legal privileges, and other types of assistance. Assess the validity of this statement, giving attention to both periods (1920 -1932 and 1932 -1940).

The New Deal did not radically alter American business, but conserved and protected it. Assess the validity of this statement

The depression of the 1890’s delayed reform; the depression of the 1930’s stimulated it. To what extent and in what ways do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Despite artificial similarities, the domestic programs of the New Deal constituted a fundamental departure from those of the Progressive Era. Assess the validity of this generalization.

How do you account for the onset of the Great Depression of the 1930s?

Compare and contrast the Presidencies of Hoover and FDR in solving the Great Depression.

New Deal arts projects were strongly infused with the distinctive nationalism of the 1930s: the Federal Art Project (FAP) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) programs self-consciously sought to identify and celebrate a specifically American art and culture. New Deal funding also expressed strong democratic commitments and worked to bring accessible art to new audiences

Was the New Deal a Success or Failure?

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Did Hoover really start the \”New Deal\” with his policies to fight the Great Depression?

In 1934 Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota held hearings to investigate the country’s involvement on WW1; this committee documented the huge profits that arms factories had made during the war. Picture: Senator Gerald Nye

Franklin D. Roosevelt policy in which the U.S. pledged that the U.S. would no longer intervene in the internal affairs of Latin American countries. This reversed Teddy Roosevelt’s Big Stick Policy.