Chapter 24-25: The Great Depression & New Deals
Major Cultural Changes
Literature: Novelists to emerge were Richard Wright, John Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath) Popular Culture: Radio programs, movies, drive ins, films of adventure, spectacle, and fantasy, gangster, musicals
SECOND NEW DEAL (1935-1936)
WAGNER ACT—NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT—AGGRESSIVELY SUPPORTED THE RIGHTS OF WORKING-CLASS AMERICANS GUARANTEEING WORKERS THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE UNIONS AND BARGAIN WITH MANAGEMENT • IN 1935, CONGRESS PASSED THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT, WHICH FOR THE FIRST TIME PROVIDED AMERICANS WITH UNEMPLOYMENT, DISABILITY AND PENSIONS FOR OLD AGE
AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ADMINISTRATION (AAA)
ATTEMPTED TO RAISE PRICES BY CONTROLLING THE PRODUCTION OF STAPLE CROPS THROUGH CASH SUBSIDIES TO FARMERS
Share The Wealth Society
As senator in 1932 of Washington preached his "Share Our Wealth" programs. It was a 100% tax on all annual incomes over $1 million and appropriation of all fortunes in excess of $5 million. With this money Long proposed to give every American family a comfortable income, etc., would have threatened FDR's second campaign as a 3rd party candidate, but he was assassinated before the campaigning began
Supreme court cases
By the 1930s, the reign of Jim Crow had reached its apex in the South. Segregation of the races remained the norm across the region-and, indeed, across the nation. Discrimination, exacerbated by the devastating effects of the Great Depression, was particularly harsh. A new Ku Klux Klan had arisen in the 1920s, marauding the nation with intimidation and terror. Social attitudes among white people in the South reflected a desire to keep the races "separate," to be sure, but far from "equal" according to the Plessy standard. Few African Americans voted, held public office, or even spoke publicly about abuses in the South. "Scottsboro Boys" 1931 Powell v. Alabama 1932 Norris v. Alabama 1935
Civilian Conservation Corps
CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS (CCC)—ESTABLISHED TO DISPENSE EMERGENCY AND SHORT-TERM GOVERNMENTAL AID AND TO PROVIDE TEMPORARY JOBS, EMPLOYMENT ON CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS AND YOUTH WORK IN THE NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS
NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION (NRA)
GRANTED AUTHORITY TO HELP SHAPE INDUSTRIAL CODES GOVERNING TRADE PRACTICES, WAGES, HOURS, CHILD LABOR, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
SOCIAL SECURITY ACT
IN 1935, CONGRESS PASSED, WHICH FOR THE FIRST TIME PROVIDED AMERICANS WITH UNEMPLOYMENT, DISABILITY AND PENSIONS FOR OLD AGE
ANNA ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
MARRIES THEODORE'S NIECE (AND HIS OWN DISTANT COUSIN), AND THEY MARRIED IN 1905 • THE COUPLE HAD A DAUGHTER, ANNA, FOLLOWED BY FIVE SONS, ONE OF WHOM DIED IN INFANCY. FDR's Wife and New Deal supporter. Was a great supporter of civil rights and opposed the Jim Crow laws. She also worked for birth control and better conditions for working women
New Deal
PROGRAMS AND REFORMS REDEFINED THE ROLE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN THE LIVES OF AMERICANS. President Franklin Roosevelt's precursor of the modern welfare state (1933-1939); programs to combat economic depression enacted a number of social insureance measures and used government spending to stimulate the economy; increased power of the state and the state's intervention in U.S. social and economic life.
THE WAGNER ACT
REDUCED VIOLENCE IN LABOR RELATIONS
FDR Reforms after re-elections in 1936
REFORM: Rural Electrification Administration (Reform), Securities And Exchange Commission (Reform), Social Security Administration (Reform), Indian Reorganization Act (Reform), Tennessee Valley Authority (Reform), Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (Reform) and the National Labor Relations Act (Reform)
Challenges FDR faced during his presidency
Reviving the industrial economy, relieving widespread human misery, rescuing the ravaged farm sector, reforming those aspects of the capitalist systemm that helped cause the great depression. Once the Supreme Court began deciding cases on major New Deal legislation, it found many laws unconstitutional. In 1935, the court struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act on the grounds that it violated interstate commerce. A year later, the court found the Agricultural Adjustment Act unconstitutional. Likewise, the court found the National Recovery Administration also in violation of the constitution Progressive leaders like Louisiana's Huey Long contended that Roosevelt's post-Depression reforms were not liberal enough. Initial supporters of the president, like Detroit-based Catholic priest Father Charles Coughlin, turned against the president when he refused to implement reforms like silver currency or a nationalized banking system. Challenges on the left were mounting in the mid-1930s, with many accusing Roosevelt of having neglected the poor and elderly. Roosevelt and his advisers thus decided to tackle the looming public debt, which had ballooned as a result of the New Deal. Government spending was cut 17 percent in two years. This type of fiscal austerity led to what historians call the ''Roosevelt Recession'': four million jobs were lost, stock prices fell 50 percent, industrial production fell 33 percent and national income fell by 12 percent. This led to labor unrest and hurt Roosevelt's approval ratings at a critical time in his presidency. a coalition of conservative Southern Democrats and Republicans dominated Congress. This political opposition hampered much of the so-called "Second New Deal." While many important pieces of legislation -- like the Social Security Act -- emerged from this phase of legislation, others were watered down by conservatives. These included the Public Utilities Holding Companies Act, which attempted to break up large public utility companies, but was ineffective due to conservative alterations. In 1938, the president campaigned against conservative members of his own party, but most of them were reelected. In March 1933, the economy, including the farm sector, was shattered, and millions of Americans were without jobs and the most basic necessities of life. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his "brain trust" of advisers set out to restore confidence in the economy by propping the banking industry and providing short-term emergency relief for the unemployed, promoting industrial recovery, and by raising commodity prices by encouraging farmers to cut back production.
Why was the New Deal criticized by conservatives and liberals?
Some conservatives criticized the New Deal for violating personal and property rights and for steering the nation toward socialism. Some liberals believed that the measures did not tax the wealthy enough to provide the aged and disadvantaged with adequate financial security.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
THE ONLY AMERICAN PRESIDENT IN HISTORY TO BE ELECTED FOUR TIMES, ROOSEVELT DIED IN OFFICE IN APRIL 1945 (THIS WAS DUE TO NO RESTRICTIONS ON TERM LIMITS, WHICH WERE IMPLEMENTED AFTER FDR'S DEATH) WORKED FOR SEVERAL YEARS AS A CLERK IN A WALL STREET LAW FIRM • IN 1910, HE ENTERED POLITICS, BECOMING A U.S. SENATOR • IN 1913, PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON NAMED ROOSEVELT ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE U.S. NAVY • HE WOULD HOLD THAT POST FOR THE NEXT SEVEN YEARS, TRAVELING TO EUROPE IN 1918 TO TOUR NAVAL BASES AND BATTLEFIELDS AFTER THE U.S. ENTRANCE INTO WORLD WAR II • GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK WHEN HE WAS ELECTED AS THE NATION'S 32ND PRESIDENT IN 1932
FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION (FDIC)
TO REFORM THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM, TO PROTECT DEPOSITORS' ACCOUNTS AND THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (SEC) TO REGULATE THE STOCK MARKET AND PREVENT ABUSES OF THE KIND THAT LED TO THE 1929 CRASH (PROTECTED THE STOCK MARKET INVESTMENTS OF MILLIONS OF SMALL INVESTORS)
Legacy of the New Deal
The Federal Government has a role to play managing big business & labor The New Deal stopped the bleeding, & eased the pain of millions of people, but it alone did not end the Great Depression, set precedent for greater federal regulation PROVIDE AMERICANS WITH "ECONOMIC SECURITY" VIA THINGS LIKE SOCIAL SECURITY • THE NEW DEAL LEGACIES INCLUDE UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE, OLD AGE INSURANCE, AND INSURED BANK DEPOSITS • THE WAGNER ACT REDUCED VIOLENCE IN LABOR RELATIONS • THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION PROTECTED STOCK MARKET INVESTMENTS OF MILLIONS OF SMALL INVESTORS • THE FEDERAL HOUSING ADMINISTRATION AND FANNIE MAE ENABLED A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS TO BECOME HOMEOWNERS • THE NEW DEAL'S GREATEST LEGACY WAS A SHIFT IN GOVERNMENT PHILOSOPHY AS A RESULT OF THE NEW DEAL, AMERICANS CAME TO BELIEVE THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS A RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE THE HEALTH OF THE NATION'S ECONOMY AND THE WELFARE OF ITS CITIZENS • THE NEW DEAL SOUGHT TO ENSURE THAT THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL BENEFITS OF AMERICAN CAPITALISM WERE DISTRIBUTED MORE EQUALLY AMONG AMERICA'S LARGE AND DIVERSE POPULACE •NEW DEAL FAILED TO CURE COMPLETELY THE DEPRESSION-INDUCED ILLS OF THE AMERICAN ECONOMY
21st Amendment
The Twenty-first Amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933[1]. It is unique among the 27 amendments of the U.S. Constitution for being the only one to repeal a prior amendment and to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions.
Election of 1936
The election took place as the Great Depression entered its eighth year. Incumbent President and Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt was still working to push the provisions of his New Deal economic policy through Congress and the courts. However, the New Deal policies he had already enacted, such as Social Security and unemployment benefits, had proven to be highly popular with most Americans. Roosevelt's Republican opponent was Governor Alf Landon of Kansas, a political moderate. FDR won
The Federal Writers' Project
a United States federal government project to fund written work and support writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program
Dust Bowl
also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion (the Aeolian processes) caused the phenomenon.