The First Hundred Days and The First New Deal

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The First Hundred Days and The First New Deal
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The First Hundred Days and The First New Deal

• Aim To understand the 1st 100 days in detail.
• Key Words
• Banking and Finance
• Relief
• Agriculture
• Industry

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Starter Activity
1st to name as many of my Alphabet Agencies
wins their choice of cool stickers.
1 minute...go!
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Banking and Finance
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Emergency Banking Relief Act (May 1933)
Yeah... Well Done Me!

• 6 May FDR closed banks for 4 days.
• Aim to restore confidence the Banking system.
• Fireside chats FDR personable approach.

• Solvent Banks allowed to re-open.
• 1bn had been returned. Crisis over. American
  Capitalism restored in 8 days.

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This was FDRs intention To allow Capitalism to
be re-born and let big business lead US out of
depression!

• Glass Steagal Act (1933) Banks not allowed to
  borrow from each other.
• Federal Control increased.

• Problems
• Not radical enough?
• Hoovers Idea?
• Too much in favour of the big banks and big
  business?

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Finance Fools Gold?
Wasnt all good. Tried to do the same with Silver
(The Silver Purchase Act)

• No gold allowed to be exported unless permitted
  by the Federal Treasury.
• Anyone Holding Gold had to sell to bank at Fixed
  Price.

• Outcomes
• Value of the dollar fell. (Good / Bad?)
• Gold Reserve Act
• Increased Circulation of Money in USA/.
• Price of Gold increased. (Would therefore be good
  to sell

Failure!
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Agriculture
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Agricultural Adjustment Act (May 33)

• Overproduction (only down by 6 contrasting to
  42 industrial)
• Main principle of AAA was to get farmers to
  reduce production with govt. subsidies.

• The Agricultural Adjustment Administration was
  set up to ensure reduction.
• Paid for by Tax on high producers.

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Agricultural Adjustment Act (May 33)

• Cotton was the major problem.
• 10.5 Million acres destroyed (Paid for by Govt.)
• The pricee of cotton therefore increased.

• Food People found the slaughtering of pigs
  difficult to deal with. (6 million pigs bought
  and slaughtered)

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AAA Success, Lucky?
Drought
Popularity?
Overproduction
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TVA Tennessee Valley Authority (May 33)
Aims To construct 20 dams to control floods. To
stop soil erosion. To create jobs. To develop
welfare programmes and to harness
hydro-electricity.
Electricity was only to be a by-product otherwise
big business would be annoyed by the government
producing low cost electricity.
Success TVA became a central planning agency for
the whole region. Increased living standards of
all involved. Success for direct government
intervention.
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Industry
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Industrial Recovery Major Issues
Unemployment at 14
FDR aware of "moving too far left".
Importance of Re-Election
Laissez Faire Vs. Left Interventionism
FDR's Main Objectve Put People Back To Work!
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National Industrial Recovery Act i) NR
Administration.

• Collective Bargaining Rights for workers,
  conditions etc. (TUs)
• Codes of practice to regulate unfair practices.
• 557 codes drawn up

• Best day of my life
• We do our part
• Blue eagle club. Patriotic symbol of recovery
  (FDR re-election)

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Problems with the NRA

• Minimum wage (11 for 40 hr week) disadvantaged
  small businesses.
• 1934 National Recovery Review Board Severely
  Disadvantages small Business

• Big Bussiness worked together to draw up own
  codes.
• Price Fixing
• Codes were drawn up from big business
  representatives.

Striptease artists had a code stipulating no of
performers per show!
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Success? Failure?

• FDR didnt really want collective bargaining and
  TUs (Why not?).
• As could lead to strikes and lack of support
  therefore from Big Business.
• Henry Ford didnt even sign up andhad Unionists
  beaten up!
• Big Blow came in 1935 (May) when NRA was deemed
  Unconstitutional.

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PWA Public Works Administration (NIRA Part 2)
Main Objective Pump Priming (Reversing the
Cycle of Depression)
Building public Works such as Roads, Hospitals
and schools would revive economy.
Was allocated 3.3 billion
Criticisms as money was not spent quickly
Pumped billions into the economy!
PWA put 1000s back to work.
Johnson wanted Value for Money. Didnt want any
Boondoglling! Public works take a long time to
get going
13,000 schools
50,000 miles of roads built
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Federal Emergency Banking Relief Act (May 33)

• Set up the Federal Emergency Relief
  Administration (FERA) under Harry Hopkins.
• 500 million to be divided among states.
• Federal Govt would pay state 1 for every 3 the
  state spent on Relief.
• State Intervention Direct Relief.

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Successful? (Why might it incur problems?)
Limited Funds
States
Loopholes
Logistics
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Successful? (Why might it incur problems?)

• States Married to a balanced budget. Governors
  actually boasted that they didnt spend but cut
  back!
• Loopholes in the constitution.

• Logistics 100 claimants jammed in a room at 100
  degrees!
• Limited Funds (On average) only paying 25 to
  families pm when they required 100 for basic
  subsistence.

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Civilian Conservation Corps (May 33)
However was massively racist. Often
only available to white men of that age.
Aimed at Unemployed young men between 17 and 24
(later 28)
Organised along military lines. Individuals to
work on parks etc.
Therefore all were given relief, but had to work
for it. They received money but also contributed
to getting the USA out of the Depression.
Fought lots of forest fires, planted 1.3bn trees
and gave literacy to 100,000 trees.
The CCC was extended beyond the initial 2 year
period
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