The Great

Depression & The

New Deal
KATELYN MOHR, BEN NICHOLS, & ABBY JOHNSTON

The New Deal

First New Deal

1933-1935

Themes:
-relief and recovery through a
united national effort

Second New Deal

1935 and after

Emphasis on unity and more

on business regulation and
policies

The New Deal involved a lot of

programs, agencies, and
occasionally, arguing officials.
Roosevelt was seen as the
man to look to when it came to
the national agenda, and he
set the pace for a generation.
The New Deal had an
expansive view of the
governments role in
promoting social and economic
welfare.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

1932

Recommended by Hoover

Set up by Congress to make loans to banks and other lending

institutions

Added nearly $1.2 billion back into the economy in just a matter
of months

Granted $2 billion to local and state governments for job-creating

programs

Alloted $750 million for loans to businesses

Election of 1932

Democratic Party
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Erase party divisions of
the 1920s
-appealed to urban
voters (repeal to
prohibition)
-appealed to farmers
(support for aid programs)
-appealed to fiscal
conservatives (demand for
balanced budget
and spending cuts)

Roosevelt (D) was campaigning against

Hoover (R) in this election. He promised
things such as a new deal for the
American people and compassion for the
forgotten man at the bottom of the
economic pyramid. He called for bold
persistent experimentation and attacked
Hoovers reckless spending. In the
election of Franklin D. Roosevelt, both
houses of Congress went heavily
democratic, and the nation began to wait
and anticipate the change that would come
with the new presidency.

Frances Perkins

Served as Secretary of
Labor from 1933-1945

Democratic

First woman cabinet

member

Previously served as
industrial commissioner of
New York

Harold Ickes

Served as Secretary
of Interior from
1933-1946

Organized liberal
Republicans for
Roosevelt in 1932

Served for
Roosevelts entire
presidency, along
with Frances Perkins

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Early relief program that employed jobless youths in

environmentally friendly government projects

Included work with reforestation, park maintenance, and erosion

control

Half a million young men were earning $35 / month from CCC
camps by 1935

Helped desperate, low-income families tremendously

Federal Emergency Relief Act /

Harry Hopkins

Appropriated $500 million for

state and local relief
agencies that had exhausted
their funds

Principal relief measure of

the Hundred Days

Headed by Harry Hopkins

(chosen by FDR), who was
the relief administrator in
New York

Hopkins soon emerged as a

powerful New Deal figure

Public Works Administration (PWA)

Part of the New Deal

Headed by Interior Secretary

Harold Ickes

Large-scale construction
company

Created by the Industrial Act

in June of 1933

National Recovery Administration

Headed by Hugh Johnson

Reinstituted the theme of business-government cooperation as set in place by

Hoover

Brought together business leaders to draft codes of fair competition for their
industries
-Codes set production limits, prescribed wages an working
conditions, and forbid price cutting and unfair competitive
practices

Goal: promoted recovery y breaking cycle of wage cuts, falling prices, and layoffs

Rules unconstitutional in 1935

-Law gave president regulatory powers that belonged to Congress
-regulated commerce inside states, violating the provision limiting federal
regulation to interstate commerce

Federal Securities Act

1933

First major piece of federal legislation regarding the sale of

securities

Required corporations to inform the government fully on all stock

offerings

Made executives personally liable for any misrepresentation of

securities their companies issued

Led to Congress creating the Securities and Exchange

Commission (SEC) in 1934 to enforce the new regulations

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

The most innovative program of the Hundred Days

Directed by David Lilienthal

Had origins in a government-built hydroelectric plant on the Tennessee River in

Alabama

Senator George Norris urged the use of this facility to supply electricity to nearby
farmers

Advanced the economic and social development of the poverty-stricken Tennessee

River valley
-created construction jobs
-brought electricity to region through dams
-provided recreational facilities
-reduced flooding and soil erosion

Ultimately proved to be one of the New Deals most popular and enduring
achievements

Works Progress Administration

Set up by Roosevelt under Harry Hopkins

Goal: to funnel assistance directly to the jobless

Roosevelt insisted that the WPA provide work, not handouts

Employed more than 8 million Americans over its eight-year life

Constructed or improved vast numbers of internal structures

such as bridges, roads, post offices, and other public facilities

Assisted writers, performers, and artists

-Federal Music Project
-Federal Theatre Porject

National Labor Relations Act

July of 1935

Also known as the Wagner Act

Guaranteed collective bargaining rights, permitted closed shops ,

and outlawed management tactics like blacklisting union
organizers

Created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to enforce the

law and supervise shop elections

Sparked a wave of unionization

Social Security Act

1935

Drafted by a committee chaired by Frances Perkins

Drew upon Progressive Era ideas and European social-welfare

programs

Provided general welfare by establishing a federal system of

benefits
-workers pensions
-survivors benefits for industrial accident victims
-unemployment insurance
-aid for disabled persons and dependent mothers with children

Farm Security Administration

(FSA)

1937

Replaced under-funded Resettlement Administration

Made low-interest loans to help tenant farmers and

sharecroppers become farm owners

Often rejected the poorest farmers loan applications because

they were seen as too risky This weakened the programs
impact

Operated camps and provided shelter and medical services

Commissioned photographers to record the lives of migrant

workers, tenant farmers, and dust bowl refugees

Fair Labor Standards Act

1938

Banned child labor and set a national minimum wage ($.40/hr)

and set a maximum work week of forty hours

Reflected humanitarianism

Showed some northern legislators desire to undermine the

competitive edge of the low-wage South

Helped exploited workers and underscored governments role in

regulating abusive workplace conditions

Congress of Industrial
Organizations

1938

Committee for Industrial Organization broke with AFL to form this

2 million member association

AFL also began to adopt the changed nature of the labor force in
the United States

As a result, US union membership shot from under 3 million in

1933 to over 8 million in 1941

Indian Reorganization Act

1934

Compromise measure that halted tribal land sales and enabled

tribes to regain title to unallocated lands

181 out of 258 US tribes favored it

Indian policy remained a controversial topic

Law did not recognize Indian interests and the value of cultural
diversity