The New Deal Forging a New Deal

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The New DealForging a New Deal

• Chapter 13 Section 1
• Angela Brown

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• The New Deal became FDRs program of relief,
  recovery, and reform aimed at combating problems
  caused by the Depression.
• FDR was not sure exactly how the New Deal would
  work

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Restoring the Nations Hope

• Both Eleanor and FDR smoothed public fears
• Second Bonus March provided campsites for
  veterans Eleanor paid them a visit
• Demonstrated new administrations approach to
  unrest
• FDRs Fireside Chats address nation on radio
  the first Sunday after taking office
• Easy manner and confidence made people feel better

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The First Hundred Days

• Had promised bold, persistent experimentation
  no one knew what that would include
• From March Inaugration June 1933
• Pushed many programs through Congress to provide
  relief, create jobs and stimulate economic
  recovery

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Roosevelt

• 2 forms of Public communications
• met with press twice a week put achievement and
  plans in headlines
• Fireside Chats talked about programs and
  purposes to the nation

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• Its common sense to take a method and try it.
  If it fails admit it frankly and try another.
  But above all try something.
• Should government programs to help the elderly
  and poor be temporary responses to crisis or
  should they be permanent?

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Closing the Banks

• March 5, 1933 FDR ordered all banks to close
  for next four days
• Pushed Congress to pass Emergency Banking Act
• Authorized the government to inspect the
  financial health of all banks
• Government found most banks healthy 2/3
  reopened by March 15
• Americans gained confidence in banking system

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• They began to put more money into their accounts
  than they took out
• Allowed banks to make loans that would help
  stimulate the economy
• June Congress established - Federal Deposit
  Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to insure bank
  deposits up to 5000.
• Confidence increased further

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Providing Relief and Creating Jobs

• May Congress passed Federal Emergency Relief
  Administration (Fera)
• Sent funds to overburdened local relief agencies
• Gave out 5 million in first two hours in office
  (Harry Hopkins)
• Fera put money into Public works programs
  government funded projects to build public
  facilities

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• Nov. 1933 Civil Works Administration (CWA) gave
  jobs building roads, parks, airports 4 million
  employed boosted moral
• March 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
  FDRs favorite program 2.5 unmarried young men
  restored/maintained forests, beaches, and parks
• CCC earned 1 a day lived in camp free,
  received food, med. Care and job training

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• Eleanor created similar program for young women
  8500 took part
• Native American workers built schools, hospitals,
  and irrigation systems (through Indian Affairs)
• Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 ended sale of
  tribal lands begun under Dawes Act (1887) and
  restored ownership of some lands to Indian groups.

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A Helping Hand to Business

• National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
  established the National Recovery Administration
  (NRA) an agency that set out to balance the
  unstable economy through sensible planning
• Industry wide codes to spell out fair practices
  regulated wages, working conditions, production,
  and even prices, set a minimum wage and gave
  organized labor collective bargaining rights
  (allowed workers to negotiate as a group)

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• Worked for a while but higher wages higher
  prices people stopped buying
• Businesses soon complained that the codes were
  too complicated and control by the NRA was too
  rigid.
• Best part of NIRA Public Works Administration
  (PWA) built Grand Caulee Dam on the Columbia
  River in Washington, Causeway connecting Key West
  to Florida Mainland, Triborough Bridge in NY City

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• Federal Securities Act required companies to
  provide information about their finances if they
  offered stock for sale
• Congress reformed Stock Market
• Congress set up Securities and Exchange
  Commission (SEC) to regulate the stock market
  tell companies what info must be included in
  their financial statements
• Congress gave Federal Reserve board power to
  regulate the purchase of stock on-margin

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Saving Homes and Farms

• Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) refinanced,
  or reshaped terms of mortgage payments more
  manageable 3 year period made about one million
  low-interest loans
• Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
  tried to raise farm prices through subsidies or
  government financial assistance
• new tax used to pay farmers not to raise certain
  crops and animals

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Saving Homes and Farms

• hoped lower production would raise prices
• Many people could not understand destroying food
  while so many were hungry (farmers plowed under
  crops to get subsidies)

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The TVA

• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) May 1933
  helped farmers and created jobs in one of the
  countrys least developed regions
• Reactivating a hydroelectric power facility
  started during WWI cheap electric power, flood
  control, and recreational opportunities to the
  entire Tennesse River Valley

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New Deal Personnel

• Frances Perkins Sec. Of Labor until 1945 first
  woman in a cabinet post pressed for laws to help
  employed and unemployed
• Est. Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor
  Statistics min wage, max work week, disabled
  workers compensation
• Two dozen women held key New Deal positions
• African Americans held more than one hundred
  policy-making posts

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• Mary McLeod African American woman highest
  position of any African American woman director
  of the division of Negro Affairs of the National
  Youth Administration
• Advised FDR on programs that aided African
  Americans
• Formed Federal Council on Negro Affairs known
  as black cabinet met weekly to prioritize

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Eleanor Roosevelt

• Most important advisor/colleagues traveled and
  reported on effect on programs
• Wealthy, educated FDRs distant cousin they
  had 6 children
• During WWI volunteered
• Reshaped position of First Lady toured country
  in place of her husband

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Eleanor Roosevelt

• Held own press conferences with women
  correspondences
• Newspaper column My Day drummed up support for
  the New Deal
• At Southern Conference for Human Welfare -
  interracial group refused Jim Crow laws sat
  in center aisle between divided races symbolism
  of act made huge publicity embarrassed FDR

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Eleanor Roosevelt

• Eleanors activities troubled some Americans
• First Lady should be a gracious hostess
• many came to admire her unconventional style
• (Compare to Hillary Clinton Is there room for
  personal differences in the role of First Lady?)