(2d) Roosevelt and the First New Deal 1933-1935 Flashcards
(31 cards)
1
Q
Who was Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
A
- Elected as the Democrat President in 1932
- He promised a New Deal to save the economy through Relief, Recovery, and Reform.
- There was no blueprint for the New Deal.
- He was committed to a balanced budget.
- Used his ‘fireside chats’ to appeal to the population.
2
Q
Roosevelt’s first 100 days
A
- Saw more legislation passed than any previous time in history.
- Transformed the role of the Federal Government and the people’s expectations of it.
- The first 100 days of his presidency transformed the USA.
- Roosevelt’s priority was to create economic improvement.
- Emergency legislation passed, and alphabet agencies set up.
3
Q
Emergency Relief:
May 1933: The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
A
- $500 million to divide between states to provide unemployment relief.
- Half of it was to be given for outright relief.
- Other half kept back - govt would pay each state $1 for every $3 it spent on relief.
- Some states refused to comply - found expenditure on relief distasteful.
- Was insufficient but set precedent for direct government relief.
4
Q
Alphabet agencies overview
A
- 16 created to deal with recovery and relief.
- Provided help for agriculture, industry, banking, and public works.
5
Q
Alphabet agencies:
Agriculture overview
A
- Given higher priority than industrial recovery.
- 30% of the workforce worked in agriculture.
- If agricultural workers could buy more, this would stimulate industry.
- Aim was to make farming more efficient.
- Land was taken out of production.
6
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Agriculture -
Agricultural Adjustment Agency, 1933
A
- Paid farmers to produce less - bought land off farmers (tackle overproduction).
- Removed 10.4 million acres in 1933.
- Impact: Prices increased - Cotton rose from 6.5 cents (1932) to 10 cents (1933) per pound.
- Issue: Slaughtered 6 million pigs.
- Total farm income rose - $4.5 billion (1932) to $6.9 billion (1934)
- AAA caused problems later on.
7
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Agriculture -
Tennessee Valley Authority, 1933
A
- Set up to deal with underdevelopment and poverty in the Tennessee Valley.
- It was to harness the power of the Tennessee river.
- Constructed 20 large dams which provide hydroelectric power and stopped flooding.
- Impact: Income rose by 200% between 1929 and 1949.
- Impact: Modernised and Improved living standards.
8
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Banking and Finance -
Emergency Banking Relief Act, March 1933
A
- 6th March: Banks closed for four days - Treasury Officials drafted emergency legislation.
- Aim: Restore faith in the banking system.
- RFC authorised to buy stock and take on debts of struggling banks.
- FDR encouraged people to put money in the banks during his fireside chats.
- By April, $1 billion had been returned to banks - crisis over.
9
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Banking and Finance -
Glass Steagall Act, 1933
A
- Help banks long-term - prevent another collapse.
- Banned saving banks from speculative investment.
- Federal Reserve Board more ability to supervise + regulate.
- Bank officials not allowed to loan from their own bank.
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: insured individual bank deposits of up to $2,500. State banks had to join the Federal Reserve system to qualify.
10
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Regulation of the stock exchange -
Truth-In-Securities Act, 1933
A
- Brokers had to be honest and offer clients realistic info about the securities they were selling.
11
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Regulation of the stock exchange -
Securities Act, 1934
A
- Set up new agency - Security Exchange Commission.
- Oversee stock market activities - prevent fraudulent activities.
- Eg, insider dealing in the Bull Pool.
12
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Economy Act, 1933
A
- FDR was a conservative on economic matters.
- Believed in balanced budget.
- Sought to make all recovery plans self-financing.
- Economy act slashed govt salaries and war veterans’ pensions.
13
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Industrial Recovery Overview
A
- Economy grew 10% per year - 1933-1936.
- Unemployment still as high as 14%.
- No consensus on how to save industry.
- FDR wanted to save Capitalism.
- FDR wanted to get people back to work to increase consumer demand.
- The National Industry Recovery Act (1933) had two parts.
- NRA + PWA
14
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Industrial Recovery -
National Recovery Administration, 1934
A
- Set up to oversee industrial recovery.
- Offered something to everyone:
- Powerful businessmen benefitted from the suspension of antitrust legislation.
- Firms to agree to codes of practice - regulate unfair competition.
- Agree on minimum wages and working conditions.
- Issues: - Many codes were unworkable
- It helped larger firms
15
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Industrial Recovery -
Public Works Administration
A
- Funded with $3.3 billion.
- Increase public spending to stimulate the economy.
- Put hundreds of thousands of people back to work.
- Built nearly 13,000 school and 50,000 miles of road.
- Pumped billions of dollars into the economy.
16
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Industrial Recovery/Relief -
Civil Works Administration, November 1933
A
- Aim was to create employment.
- $400 million grant from the PWA to provide relief to the unemployed during the winter of 1933/1934.
- Put 4 million back to work.
- Closed down in March 1934 - unemployment persisted.
17
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Relief -
Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933
A
- Created to halt youth unemployment.
- For young men - 17-24
- Tasks set out by Departments of the Interior and Agriculture.
- Hired 500,000 by 1935
- Planted 1.3 billion trees.
- Valuable experience of comradeship.
18
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Native Americans -
Indian Reorganisation Act, 1934
A
- Abolished assimilation and other aspects of the Dawes Severalty Act.
- Recognised and encouraged Native american culture,
- Tribes reorganised into self governing bodies - own legal system and police.
- Could control land sales.
- Collier tried to ensure they could take advantage of New Deal agencies.
- Still remained among the poorest in the USA.
19
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Housing -
The Home Owners’ Refinancing Corporation, June 1933
A
Helped homeowners in difficulties by offering new mortgages at low rates of interest over long periods of time.
20
Q
Alphabet Agencies:
Housing -
Federal Housing Administration, June 1934
A
- Federal Insurance to protect ability to repay low interest, long term mortgages.
- Attempt to stimulate building economy.
- Loans solely for newly purchased single-family homes.
- Didn’t help poverty-stricken cities.
- Benefitted the white middle class - inadvertently encouraged movement to suburbs.
- Less than 25% of urban families could take out a mortgage (65% of new houses cost more than $4,000).
21
Q
Opposition to the New Deal:
The Right
A
- Believed it was too radical.
- Too much state intervention, and believed taxes were too high.
- Liberty League formed in 1934 - Republicans and conservative Democrats who promoted unregulated private enterprise.
- Membership = 125,000 in June 1936 (less significant after election)
22
Q
Opposition to the New Deal:
The Left
A
- Didn’t think the New Deal had done enough.
- End Poverty in California (EPIC) - idea of Upton Sinclair.
- Also ‘Share Our Wealth’ programme - Huey Long’s radical scheme.
- Thunder on the Left - More radical political developments.
- Old Age Revolving Pensions Inc.
- Father Charles Coughlin
23
Q
Opposition to the New Deal: Huey Long (The Left)
A
- Governor of Louisiana - governed like a dictator with bully boy tactics.
- Ordered massive public work schemes:
- New public buildings and an airport in New Orleans.
- 3,000 miles of paved highways built (1928-1933).
- Tempted to join other radicals for 1936 election.
- Gunned down in 1935 - was FDR responsible?!?!?
24
Q
Opposition to the New Deal:
End Poverty in California (EPIC) - (The Left)
A
1 - Sinclair: Unemployed should work in state-run co-operatives.
2 - Paid in currency to be spent in other co-operatives.
25
Opposition to the New Deal:
| Share Our Wealth programme (The Left)
- February 1934, by Huey Long.
- All private fortunes over $3 million should be confiscated.
- Every family to be given enough to buy a house, a radio, and an car.
- Advocated old-age pensions and minimum wages (every family guaranteed $2k-$3k a year).
- Free college education.
- Very popular - 4.6 million members.
26
Opposition to the New Deal:
| Thunder on the Left
- Various political developments that made FDR's New Deal go further left (1935-1936).
- Governor Olson - State control of idle factories to put unemployed to work, and nationalisation of public utilities.
27
Opposition to the New Deal:
| Old Age Revolving Pensions, Inc. (The Left)
- Francis Townsend advocated pensions with a difference.
- Encourage retirement at 60 so more jobs for the young.
- Over 60s: $200 a month but no saving - spend to boost consumption.
- Lots of support - 500k members - but impractical (army of bureaucrats would have been needed and it would have cost too much)
28
Opposition to the New Deal:
| Father Charles Coughlin (The Left)
- A priest with influential radio show.
- Audience of 30-40 million - listeners contributed $5 million per year to his Detroit parish.
- 1934: Founded the National Union for Social Justice which advocated for the redistribution of wealth.
- Became very anti-semitic - lost him support.
29
Roosevelt introduced a '___ ____' to combat the problems facing the USA during the __________ - help recovery and restore _____ in the _______.
Roosevelt introduced a 'New Deal' to combat the problems facing the USA during the Depression - help recovery and restore faith in the economy.
30
Roosevelt attracted _________ from both the ___ and right of politics.
Roosevelt attracted hostility from both the left and right of politics.
31
The 19__ presidential victory for FDR showed the public ________ his measures.
The 1936 presidential victory for FDR showed the public endorsed his measures.
