The New Deal Affects the United

States in Many Ways

Chapter 23
 FDR Helps Farmers
• New Deal Programs
created fixed prices;
stabilized prices
allowing farmers to
pay their bills.
• Farmers were paid for
keeping their land
unused.
 Supreme Court Challenges New Deal
• Supreme Court declared the NIRA
unconstitutional. (leg. Powers to the Exec)
• AAA was declared unconstitutional – gov’t
can’t regulate business within a state, only
interstate commerce.
• Roosevelt proposed what became known as
the “Court-Packing Bill” – the addition of 6
more justices.
 Differing Views on the New Deal
Liberals
•Thought the New Deal didn’t go far
enough to help the poor and to reform
the nations economic system.
Conservatives
•Roosevelt spent too much money on
direct relief and used New Deal policies to
control business and socialize the
economy.
•Conservatives didn’t like the AAA and
NIRA, which they thought gave the
Federal Gov’t too much power over
agriculture and industry.
•Too far in its attempt to regulate the
production and supply of goods and
prices.
•Interferes with the Free Market
principles of America!
 “Share the Wealth” Critics
• Huey Long – Senator,
greatest political
threat FDR ever faced.
• Father Charles
Coughlin – guaranteed
income,
nationalization of the
banking industry.
• Dr. Francis Townshend
– Monthly pensions for
senior citizens.
 FDR Re-Elected in 1936
• Second “Hundred Days”
– “Are you better off today than you were four years
ago?”
 Significance of FDR’s Re-Election
• Vote of confidence in his
New Deal policies
• Labor unions rallied
around a single candidate
• African-Americans vote in
large numbers for a
Democrat for the first
time.
 Improves Labor Conditions
• Wagner Act – established a legal provision for
collective bargaining.
– The Federal Gov’t supported the right of workers
to join unions.
 Regulating Utilities
• The Second New Deal
included laws to
promote rural
electrification and to
regulate public
utilities.
• REA (Rural
Electrification
Commission)
New Deal Affects Many Groups
• Women
• African Americans
• Mexican-Americans
• Native Americans
 Women
• Women were brought into
positions of influence within
the government.
• They did not achieve equality!
• Francis Perkins – 1st female
cabinet member, appointed
Secretary of Labor
– Social Security
– Labor Laws
 African-Americans
Mary McLeod Bethune – appointed
the head of the Office of
Minority Affairs within the NYA.

NYA/Office of Minority Affairs –

guaranteed jobs and training was
given to African-Americans

Bethune organized the “Black

Cabinet” – a group of influential
African Americans that advised
the President on racial issues.
 FDR Fails to support Civil Rights
• FDR was never committed to Civil Rights
– Political reasons
• Refused to support:
– Federal Anti-Lynching Law
– Poll Tax abolition
• Some New Deal programs were blatantly
racist and discriminatory.
• African-Americans viewed FDR as the best
hope for their future despite his failures.
 Mexican Americans
• Received less benefits
than African-Americans.
• Worked as day laborers
on farms
• 500,000 Deported
during the 1930s – even
though many were US
citizens
 Native Americans
• John Collier – Commissioner
of Indian Affairs
– Was a strong supporter of NA
– Helped create the Indian
Reorganization Act of 1934
• Strengthened land claims
• Prevented the US government
from taking over reservation
lands and selling to non-NA.
 New Deal Coalition
• New Deal Coalition –
diverse groups dedicated to
supporting the Democratic
Party.
• Roosevelt was a “Friend of
Labor”
• Union Membership
increased from 3 – 8 mil.
 Legacy of the New Deal
• Did it end the Great Depression?
– NO! World War II ended the Depression; the war
brought 100% employment.