The New Deal Success or Failure?

Causes of the Great Depression Monetary and Banking policies of the Federal Reserve Farm surplus World War I debt United States tariff policy Expansion of credit to consumers Market speculation and stock crash Industrial over production Monopolistic pricing Automation European and world economies The policies and philosophies of the Republican presidents during the 1920’s

Hoover vs. FDR Voluntary association Individualism Encouraged trade associations Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) National Business Survey Conference Bonus Army March Do and Try anything approach Bank holiday Relief, recovery, reform ABC legislation Prime the pump Wooed the business community Increase taxes on wealthy “Brain Trust”

Obstacles to the New Deal Localism Absence of federal government machinery and a dependence on volunteerism Perception: production control at the time of hunger and drought Townsend, Long, and Coughlin

Long – term Reform of the New Deal Financial Labor reforms Welfare State Public Service Social Security

Improvement in Infrastructure Work of the WPA TVA Home ownership: establish a basis for home owning democracy Investment in schools and universities Banking and role of the Federal Reserve

Failure of the ‘Third New Deal’ FDR fails to unseat conservative Democrats in the South in the 1938 election Nothing was done for rural poverty especially in the South No health insurance No low cost housing No extended Social Security No ‘greening’ of urban America Lack of a continued Progressive Party movement

Minorities in the New Deal Native Americans: Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 50 % of the population left for defense jobs Appropriations to the Indian Bureau declined by $3.6M from 1932 to 1945 In 1928, 55% of the population’s per capita income was below $200 per year From the 1880’s until 1934 lost close to 2/3 of their land

Mexicans: ·       Communist attempt to organize into a labor union ·       Pushed out of work by “Okies” ·       Lived in urban areas called barrios ·       Expelled in large numbers by immigration officials ·       Migratory and illegal   Women: ·       More substantial role in government and politics than ever before ·       Placed economic assistance and welfare reform above civil rights ·       Provided the ABC legislation with their expertise in social work and welfare reform ·       Eleanor Roosevelt and Frances Perkins

Blacks: ·       Shift to Democratic Party began in 1934 mid-term elections ·       25% unemployment rate in the cities ·       Appointed to low level federal jobs ·       The most assistance received up to this time came from state governments ·       Anti-Lynching Bill received no support from FDR ·       3M were tenant farmers and were highly discriminated against in the South ·       Executive Order 8802 ·       Mary Bethune and A. Philip Randolph

New Deal Statistics 35% of the population received direct assistance from the government Less than 5% of the population paid income tax before 1941 Largest group of rural poor were the Southern sharecroppers and tenant farmers The majority of Native Americans were destitute and landless Largest growth in union membership in the 1930’s Cotton the only crop ploughed up by AAA demands Piglets the only livestock slaughtered by the AAA demands TVA and REA provided rural America with 90% electricity WPA only provided jobs to approximately one – third of those who needed work By 1937 all states had approved unemployment compensation By 1939 all states provided old age assistance programs

Unemployment during the New Deal