1. The New Deal, 1932–1940 Norton Media Library Chapter 21 Eric Foner

2. I. The Columbia River Project

3. II. The First New Deal FDR and the Election of 1932
FDR came from a privileged background but served as a symbol for the ordinary man
FDR promised a “new deal” for the American people, but his campaign was vague in explaining how he was going to achieve it
The Coming of the New Deal
Conservative and totalitarian leaders led the peoples of Europe in the 1930s
On the other side of the Atlantic, Roosevelt saw his New Deal as an alternative to socialism on the left, Nazism on the right, and the inaction of upholders of unregulated capitalism

4. II. The First New Deal (con’t)
FDR relied heavily for advice on a group of intellectuals and social workers who took up key positions in his administration
Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins
Harry Hopkins
Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes
Justice Louis Brandeis
The presence of these individuals reflected how Roosevelt drew on the reform traditions of the Progressive Era

5. II. The First New Deal (con’t)
The Banking Crisis
FDR spent much of 1933 trying to reassure the public
Roosevelt declared a “bank holiday,” temporarily halting all bank operations, and called Congress into special session
Emergency Banking Act
Further measures also transformed the American financial system
Glass Steagall Act
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Went off the gold standard

6. II. The First New Deal (con’t)
The NRA
An unprecedented flurry of legislation during the first three months of Roosevelt’s administration was a period known as The Hundred Days
The centerpiece of Roosevelt’s plan for combating the Depression was the National Industrial Recovery Act
NRA
The NRA reflected how even in its early days, the New Deal reshaped understandings of freedom
Section 7a
Hugh S. Johnson set standards for production, prices, and wages in the textile, steel, mining, and auto industries
the Blue Eagle

7. II. The First New Deal (con’t)
Government Jobs
The Hundred Days also brought the government into providing relief to those in need
FERA
CCC
PWA
TVA

8. II. The First New Deal (con’t)
The New Deal and Agriculture
The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) authorized the federal government to try to raise farm prices by setting production quotas for major crops and paying farmers not to plant more
The AAA succeeded in significantly raising farm prices and incomes for large farmers
The policy generally hurt small farms and tenant farmers
The 1930s also witnessed severe drought, creating the Dust Bowl

9. II. The First New Deal (con’t)
The New Deal and Housing
Home ownership had become a mark of respectability, but the Depression devastated the American housing industry
Hoover’s administration established a federally sponsored bank to issue home loans
FDR moved energetically to protect homeowners from foreclosure and to stimulate new construction
Home Owners Loan Corporation
Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

10. II. The First New Deal (con’t)
There were other important measures of Roosevelt’s first two years in office
Twenty-first Amendment
FCC
SEC
The Court and the New Deal
In 1935, the Supreme Court began to invalidate key New Deal laws
NRA
AAA

11. III. The Grassroots Revolt
Labor’s Great Upheaval
Previous depressions, like those of the 1870s and 1890s, had devastated the labor movement
A cadre of militant labor leaders provided leadership to the labor upsurge
Workers’ demands during the 1930s went beyond better wages
All their goals required union recognition
Roosevelt’s election as president did much to rekindle hope among labor
1934 saw an explosion of strikes

12. III. The Grassroots Revolt (con’t)
The Rise of the CIO
The labor upheaval posed a challenge to the American Federation of Labor
John Lewis led a walkout of the AFL that produced a new labor organization, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
The UAW led a sit-down strike in 1936
Steel workers tried to follow suit
Union membership reached 9 million by 1940

13. III. The Grassroots Revolt (con’t)
Labor and Politics
The labor upsurge altered the balance of economic power and propelled to the forefront of politics labor’s goal of a fairer, freer, more equal America
CIO leaders explained the Depression as the result of an imbalance of wealth and income

14. III. The Grassroots Revolt (con’t)
Voices of Protest
Other popular movements of the mid-1930s also placed the question of economic justice on the political agenda
Upton Sinclair and EPIC
Huey Long and Share Our Wealth
Father Charles Coughlin
Dr. Francis Townsend

15. IV. The Second New Deal Launching the Second New Deal
Spurred by the failure of his initial policies to pull the country out of the Depression and the growing popular clamor for greater economic equality, Roosevelt launched the Second New Deal in 1935
The emphasis of the Second New Deal was economic security
A series of measures in 1935 attacked the problem of weak demand and economic inequality head-on

16. IV. The Second New Deal (con’t)
The WPA
Under Harry Hopkins’s direction, the WPA changed the physical face of the United States
Perhaps the most famous WPA projects were in the arts
The Wagner Act
The Wagner Act greatly empowered labor
The American Welfare State
The centerpiece of the Second New Deal was the Social Security Act of 1935
The Social Security Act launched the American version of the welfare state

17. IV. The Second New Deal (con’t)
The Social Security System
Roosevelt preferred to fund Social Security by taxes on employers and workers
Social Security emerged as a hybrid of national and local funding, control, and eligibility standards
Social Security represented a dramatic departure from the traditional functions of government

18. V. A Reckoning with Liberty
FDR and the Idea of Freedom
Roosevelt was a master of political communication and used his fireside chats to great effect
FDR gave the term “liberalism” its modern meaning
The Liberty League
FDR’s opponents organized the American Liberty League
As the 1930s progressed, proponents of the New Deal invoked the language of liberty with greater passion

19. V. A Reckoning with Liberty (con’t)
The Election of 1936
Fight for the possession of “the ideal of freedom” emerged as the central issue of the presidential campaign of 1936
Republicans chose Kansas governor Alfred Landon, a former Theodore Roosevelt Progressive
Roosevelt won a landslide reelection
“New Deal coalition”

20. V. A Reckoning with Liberty (con’t)
The Court Fight
FDR proposed to change the face of the Supreme Court for political reasons
The plan aroused cries that the president was an aspiring dictator
The Court’s new willingness to accept the New Deal marked a permanent change in judicial policy

21. V. A Reckoning with Liberty (con’t)
The End of the Second New Deal
The Fair Labor Standards Bill banned goods produced by child labor from interstate commerce, set forty cents as the minimum hourly wage, and required overtime pay for hours of work exceeding forty per week
The year 1937 witnessed a sharp downturn of the economy

22. VI. The Limits of Change The New Deal and American Women
Eleanor Roosevelt transformed the role of “first lady”
However, organized feminism, already in disarray during the 1920s, disappeared as a political force
Most New Deal programs did not exclude women from benefits but the ideal of the male-headed household powerfully shaped social policy

23. VI. The Limits of Change (con’t)
The Southern Veto
The power of the Solid South helped to mold the New Deal welfare state into an entitlement of white Americans
The Social Security law excluded agricultural and domestic workers, the largest categories of black employment
Political left and black organizations lobbied for changes in Social Security
The Stigma of “Welfare”
Blacks became more dependent upon welfare because they were excluded from eligibility for other programs

24. VI. The Limits of Change (con’t)
The Indian and Mexican New Deals
Under Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier, the administration launched an “Indian New Deal”
It marked the most radical shift in Indian policy in the nation’s history
For Mexican-Americans, the Depression was a wrenching experience
Last Hired, First Fired
African-Americans were hit hardest by the Depression
The Depression propelled economic survival to the top of the black agenda

25. VI. The Limits of Change (con’t)
A New Deal for Blacks
FDR appointed a number of blacks to important federal positions
Mary McLeod Bethune
The 1930s witnessed a historic shift in black voting patterns
Shift to Democratic Party
Federal housing policy revealed the limits of New Deal freedom

26. VI. The Limits of Change (con’t)
Federal employment practices also discriminated on the basis of race
Not until the Great Society of the 1960s would those left out of New Deal programs win inclusion in the American welfare state

27. VII. A New Conception of America
The Heyday of American Communism
In the mid-1930s, the left enjoyed a shaping influence on the nation’s politics and culture
The Communist Party’s commitment to socialism resonated with a widespread belief that the Depression had demonstrated the bankruptcy of capitalism
The Popular Front

28. VII. A New Conception of America (con’t)
Redefining the People
The Popular Front vision for American society was that the American Way of Life meant unionism and social citizenship, not the unbridled pursuit of wealth
The “common man,” Roosevelt proclaimed, embodied “the heart and soul of our country”
Artists and writers captured the “common man”
The Popular Front forthrightly sought to promote the idea that the country’s strength lay in diversity, tolerance, and the rejection of ethnic prejudice and class privilege

29. VII. A New Conception of America (con’t)
Popular Front culture presented a heroic but not uncritical picture of the country’s past
Martha Graham
Earl Robinson
Challenging the Color Line
Popular Front culture moved well beyond New Deal liberalism in condemning racism as incompatible with true Americanism
The Communist-dominated International Labor Defense mobilized popular support for black defendants victimized by racist criminal justice system
Scottsboro case

30. VII. A New Conception of America (con’t)
The CIO welcomed black members and advocated the passage of antilynching laws and the return of voting rights to southern blacks
Labor and Civil Liberties
Another central element of Popular Front public culture was its mobilization for civil liberties, especially the right of labor to organize
Labor militancy helped to produce an important shift in the understanding of civil liberties

31. VII. A New Conception of America (con’t)
In 1939, Attorney General Frank Murphy established a Civil Liberties Unit in the Department of Justice
Civil liberties replaced liberty of contract as the judicial foundation of freedom
To counter, the House of Representatives established an Un-American Activities Committee in 1938 to investigate disloyalty
Smith Act

32. VII. A New Conception of America (con’t)
The End of the New Deal
FDR was losing support from southern Democrats
Roosevelt concluded that the enactment of future New Deal measures required a liberalization of the southern Democratic Party
A period of political stalemate followed the congressional election of 1938

33. VII. A New Conception of America (con’t)
The New Deal in American History
Given the scope of the economic calamity it tried to counter, the New Deal seemed in many ways quite limited
Yet even as the New Deal receded, its substantial accomplishments remained
One thing the New Deal failed to do was generate prosperity

34. Columbia River Basin Project, 1949 • pg. 812

35. The Presidential Election of 1932 • pg. 813

36. Figure 21.1 • pg. 820

37. Figure 21.2 • pg. 833

38. fig21_02.jpg
Page 811: Hydroelectric generators at the Grand Coulee Dam.
Credit: Underwood & Underwood/Corbis.

39. fig21_03.jpg
Page 814: A “run” on a bank: crowds of people wait outside a New York City bank, hoping to withdraw their money.
Credit: Bettmann/Corbis.

40. fig21_04.jpg
Page 816: The Spirit of the New Deal, a cartoon in the Washington Star, 1933, depicts the federal government, through the National Recovery Administration, promoting peace between workers and employers.
Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division,LC-USZ

41. fig21_05.jpg
Page 817: A Civilian Conservation Corps workforce in Yosemite National Park, 1935.
Credit: National Archives and Records Administration-Pacific Region.

42. fig21_06.jpg
Page 818: Sharecroppers evicted from the farms on which they had been working in New Madrid County, Missouri, as a result of government subsidies to farm owners to reduce crop production.
Credit: Corbis.

43. fig21_07.jpg
Page 819 (top): A dust storm descending on Elkhart, Kansas in May 1937.
Credit: Corbis.

44. fig21_08.jpg
Page 819 (bottom): Russell Lee’s 1939 photograph of a migrant family saying grace before eating by the side of the road near Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, shows how, even in the most difficult circumstances, families struggled to maintain elements of their normal lives.
Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USF M5.

45. fig21_09.jpg
Page 821: The Illegal Act, a cartoon critical of the Supreme Court’s decision declaring the NRA unconstitutional. President Roosevelt tells a drowning Uncle Sam, “I’m sorry, but the Supreme Court says I must chuck you back in.”
Credit: Warder Collection.

46. fig21_11.jpg
Page 824: Sit-down strike at a General Motors factory in Flint, Michigan, 1937.
Credit: Bettmann/Corbis.

47. fig21_01a.jpg
Page 828: A poster by the artist Vera Bock for the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration depicts farmers and laborers joining hands to produce prosperity.
Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZC2-837.

48. fig21_13.jpg
Page 829: A 1935 poster promoting the new Social Security system.
Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZC

49. fig21_15.jpg
Page 831: Old Reliable!, a 1938 cartoon by Clifford Berryman criticizing President Roosevelt for his New Deal policies.
Credit: The Granger Collection, New York.

50. fig21_17.jpg
Page 834: First lady Eleanor Roosevelt after visiting an Ohio coal mine. She was the first wife of a president to become a major public figure in her own right.
Credit: Associated Press, AP.

51. fig21_19.jpg
Page 839: A map of Charlotte, North Carolina, prepared by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, illustrates how federal agencies engaged in “redlining” of neighborhoods containing blue-collar and black residents. Wealthy areas, coded green, were given the best credit ratings, white-collar districts, in blue, the second best. Residents of red districts found it almost impossible to obtain government housing loans.
Credit: National Archives and Records Administration, HOLC “Residential Security Map,” 1937.

52. fig21_21.jpg
Page 840: A card issued by the Communist Party during the 1936 campaign illustrates the party’s attempt at “Americanization” (note the images of the American Revolution and Abraham Lincoln), as well as its emphasis on interracialism. James Ford, an African-American, was the party’s vice-presidential candidate.
Credit: Private Collection.

53. fig21_23.jpg
Page 841: A brochure for the government-sponsored radio series Americans All, Immigrants All, a celebration of immigrants’ contribution to American society.
Credit: University of Minnesota, Immigration History Research Center.

54. fig21_24.jpg
Page 842: A scene from the Emancipation episode of Martha Graham’s American Document, photographed by Barbara Morgan. The dancers are Martha Graham and Eric Hawkins.
Credit: Martha Graham (duet with Erick Hawkins), American Document, "Emancipation Episode," 1938 © Barbara Morgan, Barbara Morgan Archive.

55. fig21_25.jpg
Page 843: The “Scottsboro boys,” flanked by two prison guards, with their lawyer, Samuel Liebowitz.
Credit: Brown Brothers.

56. Go to website

57. Give Me Liberty! An American History
End chap. 21
W. W. Norton & Company Independent and Employee-Owned
This concludes the Norton Media Library
Slide Set for Chapter 21
Give Me Liberty!
An American History by
Eric Foner