Chapter 33

The New Deal and its Legacy

National Industrial Recovery Act

• Designed to boost production and increase wages it was supposed to get more goods into the hands of workers. It targeted businesses, labor unions and the unemployed.

Agricultural Adjustment Administration

• Designed to remove the inequity of low farm prices the agency was designed to lower crop production and created a stronger market for goods.

Civilian conservation Corps

• It put unemployed young men to work on projects like building trails or planting trees.

Works Progress Administration

• This Agency put over 3 million Americans to work in various projects such a building construction, parks, music, and other art projects. It put people to work.

Wagner Act

• It guaranteed workers the right to collectively bargain and for self organization. It created the National Labor Relations Board to protect this right.

Social Security Act

• Provided retirement and disability benefits for people. It is paid for by taxes paid by current workers paying into the system.

Congress Of Industrial Organization

• Was designed to organize workers according to industry and not craft. It accepted groups such as unskilled workers and blacks into its membership and created the modern industrial union.

New Deal Coalition

• Groups of people such as women, minorities, industrial workers, farmers, immigrants, southern whites and city dwellers who supported the president and his reforms.

1

• The government took on the power to supervise banking and investing(FDIC,SEC); engaged in regional economic development(TVA, REA); and provided work relief(WPA, CCC). In many ways the New Deal increased government regulation and economic planning.

2

• Conservatives thought the New Deal had gone too far in expanding the role of the federal government. The American Liberty league, founded by Al Smith, called New Deal legislation Socialist and unconstitutional. Liberal critics such as Frances Townsend and Huey Long said the New Deal did not go far enough and proposed plans to guarantee all Americans and income.

3

• NIRA was declared unconstitutional because it gave powers to the president that should have been delegated to the Congress. AAA was struck down because the federal government did not have the right to regulate agricluture.

4

• FDR’s Court packing plan would have given him the power to “pack” the court with liberal judges whom would support his New Deal legislation. Congress rejected the proposed bill, thereby maintaining the balance between the legislative, judicial and executive by limiting the president’s to control judiciary appointments.

5

• The New Deal strengthened the labor movement. First the National Industrial Recovery Act and then the Wagner Act guaranteed the right of workers to form unions and bargain collectively, a change in government policy that boosted the power of labor unions. Later the Labor Standards Act regulated working conditions and set minimum wage.

6

• Women made some advances during the New Deal. The government hired an unprecedented number of women, and women such as Francis Perkins and Mary McCleod Bethune held high positions in the government for the first time. At the same time women were pressured to leave the workforce to free up jobs but continued to face discrimination, segregation, threat of deportation, and violence. Students might mention the CCC, the WPA, and the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

7

• FDR was effective in working to calm people’s fears. Through his fireside chats, he spoke to the American people directly, explaining his plans and asking for support. These chats greatly appealed to people, and they supported his reforms. This support was most evident in the presidential elections of 1936, in which a New Deal Coalition that included women, minorities, workers, farmers, immigrants, reformers, southern whites, and city dwellers reelected FDR. More than 70 percent of African Americans voted for FDR, a big change from their history of voting Republican. New Deal programs did not end the Depression but did help millions cope with hard times.

8

• SEC: regulates trading in the stock market. FHA: Insures mortgage loans, FDIC: Guarantees individual Bank deposits. These New Deal agencies helped establish the federal government’s involvement in the economy. Before the New Deal private charities bore the burden of caring for the needy. As a result of the New Deal, American accepted the idea of public assistance. Social Security is an example of a New Deal assistance program that continues today.