FDR & “New Deal” America ( )

FDR Nomination, 1932 “Let it be symbolic… that I have broken traditions. Republican leaders not only have failed in material things, they have failed in national vision, because in disaster they have held out no hope… I pledge you, [and] I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people.” - FDR, Dem. National Convention, 1932

FDR Quick Facts NY aristocrat Harvard ; Columbia Lawyer ; Politician 5th Cousin of Teddy Congress (NY) Asst. Sec. of Navy Governor (NY)

1928 Election

1932 Election

Great Depression : By the Numbers

Roosevelt & the New Deal Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Programs to address the Depression “Relief, Recovery, Reform” Deficit Spending Consume our way out of the depression Role of government

The New Deal “Brain Trust” Trial & error method “Fireside Chats” Three-Pronged Approach: Short-term relief for unemployed Industrial recovery via govt. spending and labor arbitration Raise commodity prices by paying farmers to reduce crops

Fireside Chats

Emergency Banking Relief Act (1933) Re-open “sound” banks 90% of banking resources re-open “better to keep your money in a reopened bank than under a mattress.” “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”

Financial Reform Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Insured individual bank deposits Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Regulated trading practices in stocks and bonds

“100 Days” March 9 - June 16, major laws passed CCC TVA Glass-Steagall Act (FDIC) Abandon gold standard 21st Amendment (end prohibition)

“The Galloping Snail”

New Deal Programs “Welfare capitalism” Work relief vs. “on the dole” Harry Hopkins FERA (1933-4) CCC (1933) PWA (1933) TVA (1933) WPA (1935)

TVA c Flood control, Electricity, Irrigation

Norris Dam, TN

Works Progress Administration Biggest agency (9 mil. cumulative workers) 1935; employed 3 mil. ; $2 bil. budget Bridges, reservoirs, irrigation, sewage, schools, playgrounds, education, teaching Minimum wages ; vocational trainings “We Work Again”

WPA Programs Federal Art Project Federal Music Project Federal Writers’ Project Federal Theatre Project National Youth Administration

WPA Programs

Travel Through the West

New Deal Work Mural

Agricultural Reform Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA 1933) Commodity Credit Corporation (1933) “Dust Bowl” migrations “Okies” Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA, 1933) Farm Security Administration (1937)

The Dust Bowl Economic & environmental disaster Overproduction ; monocrops Plowed up grasses for farms to meet the needs of a booming wheat market Soil exhaustion ; soil erosion Drought ; winds 1935: Blew winds from CO & NE, blackened sky across the plains

The Dust Bowl

“Okies” Poor whites & sharecroppers Evicted from OK, TX, MO, AR Going to CA L.A. Police Chief “bum blockade” Grapes of Wrath, 1939

Industrial Reforms Natl. Industrial Recovery Act (1933) NRA PWA TVA “Work Relief” Labor Laws 40 hr./ wk. Min. Wage: $12/ wk.

Western Water Projects Bureau of Reclamation Irrigation Electricity Water for cities Jobs!

Hoover Dam, NV / AZ

Grand Coulee Dam, WA

New Deal Critics Francis Townshend Retirement pensions Econ. stimulus Huey Long “Share Our Wealth” Communist undertones?

New Deal Critics Fr. Charles Coughlin Banking System Free Silver Anti-Semitic? Supreme Court Industrial Reform NRA (intrastate)

2 nd New Deal Passed in 1935 Wagner Act Union choice Prohibits employers from union interference Social Security Act Elderly, disabled Grants to states “Payroll Tax” & natl. trust fund Supplemental, not sole income

Election of 1936

Court Packing

Labor Unrest CIO v. AFL rivalry Auto, Steel “Sit Down Strike” FDR refuses to send natl. troops Union successes

Late Reforms Recession Keynesian Economics 1937: $33 bil. to WPA Housing Act (1937) Public Housing ; Subsidies Changes in Dem. party

What was the legacy of FDR and his New Deal programs?