1. An Effective Response to the Great Depression?
The New Deal
An Effective Response to the Great Depression?

2. But First…

3. What was the New Deal? Campaign Slogan in 1932
No Ideology at first: Experimentation
“This nation asks for action and action now.”
Becomes synonymous with American “liberalism”
Assistance to poor and unemployed
Protect rights of organized labor
Public housing
Subsidized agriculture
Regulation of the economy

4. Origin of the New Deal
FDR had no clear philosophy: experimentation – the “quarterback analogy”
“The New Deal will never be understood by anyone who looks for a single thread of policy, a far-reaching, far-seeing plan. It was a series of improvisations…” Richard Hofstadter
(p. 431 for those interested!)

5. Origins of the New Deal European Models Progressive Era Reforms
Poverty not a moral failure
Government regulation
Mobilization for WWI
Cooperation between public and private
War Boards

6. Two “New Deals”
The First New Deal
Stop the panic
The 100 Days

7. The First New Deal
Unemployed in line at a soup kitchen

8. The 100 Days
National Bank Holiday
A “run” on the bank

9. “100 DAYS” OF ACTION March 9—June 16, 1933
FINANCIAL REFORMS
March 9 Emergency Banking Act
March 20 Government Economy Act
April 19 Abandonment of the Gold Standard
May 27 Securities Act
June 5 Abrogation of Gold Payment Clause
June 13 Home Owners Loan Act
June 16 Glass-Steagall Banking Act (F.D.I.C.)
March 22 Beer-Wine Revenue Act
JOBS AND RELIEF
March 31 Creation of Civilian Conservation Corps
May 12 Federal Emergency Relief Act
June 16 National Industrial Recovery Act
June 16 Emergency Railroad Transportation Act
Agr. REFORMS
May 12 Agricultural Adjustment Act
May 12 Emergency Farm Mortgage Act
May 18 Tennessee Valley Authority Act
June 16 Farm Credit Act

10. The First New Deal Two Cornerstones First Agricultural Adjustment Act
National Industrial Recovery Act

11. First Agricultural Adjustment Act
Raise farm prices by reducing supply
Farmers paid “not to farm”
¼ of cotton crop plowed under
6 million pigs slaughtered
$100,000,000 paid out first year

12. National Industrial Recovery Act
Replace competition with cooperation
Industry-wide “codes of fair competition”
Reduce hours of work
Minimum wage (.40)
Collective bargaining guaranteed
No “yellow dog” contracts
Established PWA: $4 Billion on 34,000 construction projects

13. First New Deal
Stopped the panic, especially in financial community, “runs” on banks
Created support for FDR
Didn’t end or even put a dent in the depression
Unemployment
1933: 12,830, %
1934: 11,340, %

14. The Second New Deal
Cornerstones of first New Deal declared unconstitutional
Butler v. U.S. strikes down NIRA
Schecter v. U.S. strikes down AAA
Critics from right and left
Father Coughlin
Huey Long

15. The Second New Deal Second AAA Wagner Labor Relations Act
Social Security
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Keynesian Economics

16. Second AAA Replace first AAA
Introduced “parity” price subsidies for farm goods
Farm subsidies become permanent
Fulton County
Georgia

17. Wagner Labor Relations Act
Restored section 7a of the NIRA on labor
Known as the “Magna Carta” of organized labor.
Legalized collective bargaining
Prohibited “yellow dog” contracts, blacklists, “company unions”
Established the NLRB – National Labor Relations Board – to supervise and oversee

18. Social Security Monthly payroll deduction
Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance
Unemployment benefits
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
One generation pays for the next

19. Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Largest public works program in history
$11 billion to employ 7 million,
What cost $11,000,000,000 in 1936 would cost $168,473,306, in 2009.
Jobs for nearly all kinds of people
Highway (651,087 miles; 124,031 bridges)
Building construction (125,110 public buildings, 8,192 parks
853 airports including LaGuardia in NYC and National in D.C.
Slum clearance, reforestation, and rural rehabilitation
The Federal Arts Project
The Federal Theatre Project
The Federal Writers' Project
The Federal Music Project

20. New Deal Images

21. Was the New Deal Effective?
1937 7,700, %
,390, %
1939 9,480, %
1940 8,120, %
1941 5,560, %