Chapter 25:The New Deal (1933-1939)

Movies during the Great Depression

- Sound introduced - Most feature films transported viewers into the escapist realms of adventure, spectacle, and fantasy. Films included Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.

Powell v. Alabama

(1932) The Supreme Court ruled here that the right to counsel was required by law in death penalty trials.

Norris v. Alabama

(1935) This Supreme Court decision ruled that Alabama's exclusion of African Americans from juries violated their right to equal protection under the law.

Social Security Act

(FDR) 1935, guaranteed retirement payments for enrolled workers beginning at age 65; set up federal-state system of unemployment insurance and care for dependent mothers and children, the handicapped, and public health.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

- Cousin of Teddy - NY state senator - contracted polio in 1921, leaving him permanently disabled. - Inaugurated as president in March of 1933 - Served as president from 1933 until his death in 1945.

First New

1933-1935; programs included: *Civilian Conservation Corp (1933): Provided work for young men through projects such as road construction and flood control *National Industrial Recovery Act (1933): Created National Recovery Administration, which prepared codes for fair competition *Public Works Administration (1933): Constructed roads, schools, dams, bridges, and other projects to aid the economy through increasing jobs *Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933): Encouraged farmers to decrease their production, thereby increasing their profits

Second New Deal

1935-1938 a new set of programs in the spring of 1935 including additional banking reforms, new tax laws, new relief programs; also known as the Second Hundred Days.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

A federal corporation established in 1933 to construct dams and power plants in the Tennessee Valley region to generate electricity as well as to prevent floods.

Dust Bowl

A nickname for the Great Plains regions hit by drought and dust storms in the early 1930s. By 1938. topsoil had disappeared from more than 25 million acres of prairie land. Farmers were unable to pay their debts and lost their farms causing 800,000 people to migrate to the far west.

Townsend Plan

A plan proposed by Francis Townsend in 1933 that would give $200 a month (about $3,300 today) to citizens over the age of sixty. Townsend Clubs sprang up across the country in support of the plan, mobilizing mass support for old-age pensions.

New Deal

A series of reforms enacted by the Franklin Roosevelt administration between 1933 and 1939 with the goal of ending the Great Depression. Unprecedented growth by the federal government in which it assumed the responsibility for national economic planning, restoring prosperity, and ensuring social security.

Civil Works Administration (CWA)

After the state-sponsored programs of FERA were deemed inadequate, this was the first large-scale federal effort to put people on the federal payroll at competitive wages. It provided jobs to over 4 million people from 1933-1934 repairing roads, laying sewer lines, constructing or improving more than 1,000 airports and 40,000 public schools, and proving 50,000 teaching jobs that helped keep rural public schools open.

Opposition from the Court

By the end of 1936 the Supreme Court ruled against the New Deal in 7 of 9 major cases finding programs such as the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) unconstitutional.

Civilian Conservation Corps

Considered one of the most successful New Deal jobs programs. It hired unemployed young men, ages 17-27, to work on natural conservation projects. Workers were paid $30 per month but $25 of that money was sent home to their families.

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

Created in 1933 to raise prices for crops and herds by pang farmers to cut production.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Established by the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 to enforce the new laws and regulations governing the issuance of stocks and bonds.

African Americans and the New Deal

FDR was not considered progressive on social issues. In fear of angering Southern Conservative Democrats, many New Programs discriminated against African Americans.

Immigration and the Great Depression

Hard times provoked anti-immigration feelings. Nativists blamed "aliens" for taking "Americans" jobs. Some blamed immigrants for the Great Depression.

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)

Headed by Harry L. Hopkins, it sent money to the states to spend on the unemployed and homeless.

The Grapes of Wrath

John Steinbeck's novel about a struggling farm family during the Great Depression. Gave a face to the violence and exploitation that migrant farm workers faced in America.

Emergency Banking Act of 1933

March 6, 1933 - FDR ordered a bank holiday. Many banks were failing because they had too little capital, made too many planning errors, and had poor management. The Emergency Banking Relief Act provided for government inspection, which restored public confidence in the banks.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

New Deal agency that helped create jobs for the unemployed. It created around 8 million jobs working on bridges, roads, and buildings. It also hired writers, artists, actors, and musicians to work in new cultural programs.

National Recovery Administration (NRA)

New Deal agency that promoted economic recovery by regulating production, prices, and wages.

New Deal Criticism

New Deal programs were criticized by business leaders and political conservatives who believed the higher taxes it required are moving America towards socialism.

Native Son (1940)

Novel written by Richard Wright about urban ghettos during The Great Depression.

Huey Long

Political leader from Louisiana who criticized the New Deal.

Court Packing Plan

President FDR's failed 1937 attempt to increase the number of US Supreme Court Justices from 9 to 15 in order to save his 2nd New Deal programs from constitutional challenges.

Charles E. Coughlin

Roman Catholic "radio priest'' who founded the National Union for Social Justice in 1934, promoted schemes for the coinage of silver and made attacks on bankers that carried growing overtones of anti-Semitism.

Native American and the Depression

Roosevelt appointed John Collier as commissioner of Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Collier increased the number of Native Americans employed by the BIA and ensured that all Indians gained access to New Deal relief programs.

Securities and Exchange Act of 1933

The first major federal legislation to regulate the sale of stocks and bonds.

Wagner Act

The official name was the National Labor Relations Act passed in 1935; established National Labor Relations Board; protecting the rights of most workers in the private sector to organize labor unions, to engage in collective bargaining, and to take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands.

First 100 Days

The period from FDR's inauguration in March 1933 to June. During this time, Roosevelt pushed program after program through Congress in an effort to provide economic relief and recovery. Congress approved 15 major pieces of legislation proposed by the Roosevelt Administration.

Mary McLeod Bethune

United States educator who worked to improve race relations and educational opportunities for Black Americans (1875-1955). She founded Bethune-Cookman College, served as the head of the NAACP, and appointed the director of the Division of Negro Affairs within the National Youth Administration, an agency that provided jobs to unemployment young Americans.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

an agency created in 1933 to insure individuals' bank accounts, protecting people against losses due to bank failures

Eleanor Roosevelt

was a political figure, diplomat and activist. She served as the First Lady of the United States from March 4, 1933, to April 12, 1945. Earned reputation as a social reformer who combined her deep humanitarian impulses with great political skills.