The Americans Chapter 22- 23

Herbert Hoover

After the stock market crash of October 1929, President Herbert Hoover tried to reassure Americans that the nation's economy was on a sound footing.

FDR

As governor, FDR had proved to be an effective, reform-minded leader, working to combat the problems of unemployment and poverty. Unlike Hoover, Roosevelt possessed a "can-do" attitude and projected an air of friendliness and confidence that attracted voters.

Bonus Army

In 1932, an incident further damaged Hoover's image and public morale. That spring, between 10,000 and 20,000 World War I veterans and their families arrived in Washington, D.C., from various parts of the country. They called themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force, or the Bonus Army.

Dr. Francis Townsend

Francis Everett Townsend was an American physician who was best known for his revolving old-age pension proposal during the Great Depression.

3 R's: Relief, Recovery, Reform

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Distribution of income

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How did the New Deal impact America socially and environmentally?

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How did the New Deal transform the size and scope of the Federal Government?

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Tariffs and war debts

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Direct Relief

Cash payments or food provided by the government to the poor. Some cities and charity services did offer relief to those who needed it, but the benefits were meager. In New York City, for example, the weekly payment was just $2.39 per family. This was the most generous relief offered by any city, but it was still well below the amount needed to feed a family.

Charles Coughlin

Charles Edward Coughlin, commonly known as Father Coughlin, was a controversial Roman Catholic priest at Royal Oak, Michigan's National Shrine of the Little Flower church.

Glass- Steagall Act 1933

Congress took another step to reorganize the banking system by passing the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The FDIC provided federal insurance for individual bank accounts of up to $5,000, reassuring millions of bank customers that their money was safe. It also required banks to act cautiously with their customers' money.

Calvin Coolidge

During the Harding-Coolidge era, America experienced the most vibrant eight year burst of industry and innovation in our nation's history. He lowered taxes from 73% to 25% on the highest earners and 4% to 1.5% on the lower incomes, and the country's debt fell from $24 billion to $18 billion. Unemployment dropped to an unheard of low of 2%.

New Deal

FDR was not idle during this waiting period, however. He worked with his team of carefully picked advisers—a select group of professors, lawyers, and journalists that came to be known as the "Brain Trust." Roosevelt began to formulate a set of policies for his new administration. This program, designed to alleviate the problems of the Great Depression, became known as the New Deal, a phrase taken from a campaign speech in which Roosevelt had promised "a new deal for the American people." New Deal policies focused on three general goals: relief for the needy, economic recovery, and financial reform.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Hoover's most ambitious economic measure, however, was the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), approved by Congress in January 1932. It authorized up to $2 billion for emergency financing for banks, life insurance companies, railroads, and other large businesses. Hoover believed that the money would trickle down to the average citizen through job growth and higher wages. Many critics questioned this approach; they argued that the program would benefit only corporations and that the poor still needed direct relief. Hungry people could not wait for the benefits to trickle down to their tables.

Black Tuesday

On October 29—now known as Black Tuesday—the bottom fell out of the market and the nation's confidence. Shareholders frantically tried to sell before prices plunged even lower. The number of shares dumped that day was a record 16.4 million. Additional millions of shares could not find buyers. People who had bought stocks on credit were stuck with huge debts as the prices plummeted, while others lost most of their savings.

Wagner Act

One of the areas in which New Deal policies have had a lasting effect is the protection of workers' rights. New Deal legislation, such as the Wagner Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, set standards for wages and hours, banned child labor, and ensured the right of workers to organize and to bargain collectively with employers. Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), created under the Wagner Act, continues to act as a mediator in labor disputes between unions and employers.

Buying on margin

Paying a small percentage of a stock's price as a down payment and borrowing the rest.

Huey Long

Perhaps the most serious challenge to the New Deal came from Senator Huey Long of Louisiana. Like Coughlin, Long was an early supporter of the New Deal, but he, too, turned against Roosevelt. Eager to win the presidency for himself, Long proposed a nationwide social program called Share-Our-Wealth. Under the banner "Every Man a King," he promised something for everyone.

FDIC and SEC

Regulate banking and investment activities. Although the New Deal did not end the Great Depression, it did help reduce the suffering of thousands of men, women, and children by providing them with jobs, food, and money. It also gave people hope and helped them to regain a sense of dignity.

Agricultural Adjustment Act

The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) sought to raise crop prices by lowering production, which the government achieved by paying farmers to leave a certain amount of every acre of land unseeded. The theory was that reduced supply would boost prices. In some cases, crops were too far advanced for the acreage reduction to take effect. As a result, the government paid cotton growers $200 million to plow under 10 million acres of their crop. It also paid hog farmers to slaughter 6 million pigs. This policy upset many Americans, who protested the destruction of food when many people were going hungry. It did, however, help raise farm prices and put more money in farmers' pockets.

The Hundred Days

The First Hundred Days of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency included signing into law dozens of bills that gave massive amounts of money to people for assistance during the Great Depression. This was all a part of his New Deal package. The Hundred Days started to curtail the Depression, and put into place systems we still have today (ie Social Security).

Court Packing Bill

The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 (frequently called the "court-packing plan") was a legislative initiative proposed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to add more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Social Security Act

The Social Security Act, passed in 1935, was created by a committee chaired by Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. The act had three major parts: • Old-age insurance for retirees 65 or older and their spouses. The insurance was a supplemental retirement plan. Half of the funds came from the worker and half from the employer. Although some groups were excluded from the system, it helped to make retirement comfortable for millions of people. • Unemployment compensation system. The unemployment system was funded by a federal tax on employers. It was administered at the state level. The initial payments ranged from $15 to $18 per week. • Aid to families with dependent children and the disabled. The aid was paid for by federal funds made available to the states.

Civillian Conservation Corps

The administration also established programs to provide relief through work projects and cash payments. One important program, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), put young men aged 18 to 25 to work building roads, developing parks, planting trees, and helping in soil-erosion and flood-control projects. By the time the program ended in 1942, almost 3 million young men had passed through the CCC. The CCC paid a small wage, $30 a month, of which $25 was automatically sent home to the worker's family. It also supplied free food and uniforms and lodging in work camps. Many of the camps were located on the Great Plains, where, within a period of eight years, the men of the CCC planted more than 200 million trees. This tremendous reforestation program was aimed at preventing another Dust Bowl.

Fireside chat

The fireside chats of FDR were simply to inform the people what was going on with the nation's economy and what plans he was proposing to implement to help bring us out of the Great Depression. He also wanted to give the people a sense of security and hope in such a dark hour by speaking to them as one friend to another. This was when he made his famous statement: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

Eleanor Roosevelt

The president was prodded in this direction by his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, a social reformer who combined her deep humanitarian impulses with great political skills. Eleanor Roosevelt traveled the country, observing social conditions and reminding the president about the suffering of the nation's people. She also urged him to appoint women to government positions.

Dust Bowl

The region that was the hardest hit, including parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, came to be known as the Dust Bowl. Plagued by dust storms and evictions, thousands of farmers and sharecroppers left their land behind. They packed up their families and few belongings and headed west, following Route 66 to California.

Speculation

They bought stocks and bonds on the chance of a quick profit, while ignoring the risks.

Credit

an arrangement in which consumers agreed to buy now and pay later for purchases. Often in the form of an installment plan (usually in monthly payments) that included interest charges.