Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)-1932

• Gave loans to banks, state and local govt’s, and business’ to create projects/jobs for people

• gave states loans for emergency relief needs

• Started under Hoover

• Not as successful as Hoover had hoped

• Dissolved in 1946 after WWII

Hayden Planetarium-RFC

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)• Passed in 1933 during the “One Hundred

Days”

• CCC members worked 40 hours a week and were paid $30 a month, with the requirement that $25 of that be sent home to family

• Members lived in camps, wore uniforms, and lived under military discipline

• The U.S. Army operated the camps

• The CCC was limited to young men age 18 to 25 whose fathers were on relief

• Planted trees, fought forest fires, stopped soil erosion

• Helped construct military bases during WWII

• Funding stopped in 1942

• The slogan of the CCC was “We can take it!”

Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)

• Enacted in 1933• Main function was to create the Federal

Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)• FERA distributed more than 20 million dollars in

direct aid to the unemployed• This in turn would help the unemployed to find

new jobs. • FERA had three primary objectives: • 1) direct relief measures• 2) provide work for employable people • 3) provide many different types of relief

programs

Public Works Administration (PWA)• Established in 1933• Created as many jobs as possible in many

different varieties• Great example of FDR’s “priming the pump”• Between July 1933 and March 1939 the PWA

funded the construction of more than 34,000 projects including airports, dams, aircraft carriers, bridges,

• Was responsible for 70% of the new schools and 33% of the hospitals built between 1933-1939.

• Look at PWA Overhead

Triborough Bridges

Grand Coulee DamWashington

Civil Works Administration (CWA)

• Established in 1933 to create jobs for millions of the unemployed

• The CWA created construction jobs, mainly improving or constructing buildings and bridges

• In just one year, the CWA cost the government over $800,000,000 and was cancelled

• So much was spent on this administration because it hired 4 million people and was mostly concerned with paying high wages

Works Progress Administration• Established in 1935

• Largest and most comprehensive New Deal Agency

• The WPA was a “make work" program that provided jobs and income to the unemployed during the Great Depression

• WPA projects primarily employed unskilled workers in construction projects across the nation

• The WPA built 650,000 miles of roads, 78,000 bridges, 125,000 buildings, and 7000 miles of airport runways

• It presented 225,000 concerts and produced almost 475,000 works of art

• Federal Project No. 1(Federal One) of the WPA was developed to give artistic and professional work to the unemployed who qualified

• It consisted of the Federal Art Project (FAP), Federal Music Project (FMP), Federal Theatre Project (FTP), the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP), and the Historical Records Survey (HRS)

• The WPA

Camp David

Golden Gate Bridge

Paul Cervantez

Saul Kovner

National Youth Administration (NYA)

• Established in 1935 and was a part of the WPA• Pushed heavily by Eleanor Roosevelt(ER)• Served 327,000 high school and college youth,

who were paid $6 to $40 a month for "work study" projects at their schools

• It allowed thousands of young people to stay in school

• Another 155,000 boys and girls from relief families were paid $10 to $25 a month for part-time work that included job training

• Unlike the CCC, it included young women• The youth normally lived at home, and worked

on construction or repair projects.

Emergency Banking Relief Act(EBRA)

• Passed five days after taking office-March, 1933• Passed in response to the thousands of banks

that closed down• Passed four days after FDR announced the

Bank Holiday, which closed banks down temporarily

• The EBRA would close down the bank, reorganize it and then reopen the bank when it was stable

• Provided insurance to people’s money in the banks

• When banks reopened on March 13, 1933, many people put their money back into the banks

• Within a couple of weeks, more than half of the money that people withdrew from banks was put back into banks

• Generally ended the bank runs that was commonplace from 1929-1933.

Federal Securities Act

• Passed in 1933• Made the stock market a safer place for

people to invest their money• Two goals:• 1. “required that investors receive

significant information regarding securities being offered for public sale”

• 2. “prohibited deceit, misrepresentations, and other fraud in the sale of securities to the public”

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

• Created by the Glass-Steagall Act in 1933• Insured people’s money in banks up to

$1000(today up to $100,000)• Passed in response to the bank failures after the

stock market crash• Insures money in savings and checking

accounts, money market accounts and CD’s• Does not insure stocks, bonds, mutual funds,

items in safety deposit boxes, loss due to theft or fraud and insurance accounts

National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and National Recovery Administration (NRA)

• established “codes of fair competition” aimed at supporting prices and wages and stimulating economic recovery from the Great Depression

• The law created a National Recovery Administration (NRA) to enforce codes

• The administration tried to make voluntary agreements dealing with hours of work, rates of pay, and the fixing of prices

• Firms which voluntarily complied could display the Blue Eagle

• The NIRA also helped create jobs for unemployed workers(building schools)

• Section 7A guaranteed workers the right to unionize• Declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court(1935)• Seen as a failure

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

• Established in 1934 and is still around today

• This organization regulates the stock market therefore making the market more secure and safer for people’s money

Banking Act of 1935

• Made the FDIC a permanent agency within the US government

• Strengthened the power of the Federal Reserve making banking safer overall.

Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act(FFDCA)

• Passed in 1938• Gave the Food and Drug Administration power

to regulate these industries• Mandated a review of the safety of all new drugs

before going to market• Banned false therapeutic claims in drug labeling• Authorized factory inspections and expanded

enforcement powers by the FDA• Set new regulatory standards for foods and

cosmetics

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)• Established in 1933• Restricted production during the New Deal

by paying farmers to reduce the amount of crops planted

• Its purpose was to reduce crop surplus so prices would go up

• The farmers were paid by the federal government for leaving some of their land untilled

• The Act created a new agency, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to carry out law

• The AAA oversaw a large-scale destruction of existing crops and livestock in an attempt to reduce surpluses

• For example, six million pigs and 220,000 sows were slaughtered in the AAA's effort to raise prices

• Cotton farmers plowed under a quarter of their crop

• Due to the nature of the Great Depression, many United States citizens saw the AAA as cruel

• While people in the cities were starving, the federal government was destroying crops and livestock in the country

• Farm prices more than doubled(1933-35)

• The AAA was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1936 because it taxed one group(food processors) to pay another

• The second AAA was passed in 1938

• The second AAA was funded from general taxation, and therefore acceptable to the Supreme Court

Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act

• Allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production so as to "conserve soil“ and prevent erosion

• It was a piece of legislation passed in response to the Supreme Court's declaration that the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was unconstitutional.

• Educated farmers on how to use their lands without damaging them

• Took immediate action to contain the dust bowl's effects by planting trees and native grass

• Three years after the Act was adopted, soil erosion had dropped 65%.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

• Created to generate electric power and control floods in a seven state region around the Tennessee River Valley

• FDR signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act creating the TVA on May 18, 1933

• The agency still exists and has grown to become America's largest public power company

• Some criticized the TVA for only helping a specific region not the whole country

Rural Electrification Administration(REA)

• The REA was created (1935)• The REA provided farms with inexpensive electric

lighting and power and eventually telephone services. • This brought all the electrical appliances that the cities

had since the 1920’s• The REA made long-term loans to state and local

governments, to farmers' cooperatives, and to nonprofit organizations to do the work.

• By 1939 rural households with electricity had risen to 25%(up from 10% 7 years earlier)

• The administration was abolished in 1994 and its functions assumed by the Rural Utilities Service

Farm Security Administration (FSA)• Granted small farmers and tenant farmers

money to purchase farms

• The Dust Bowl forced a lot of farmers off their farms

• Many farmers bought tractors with money from the AAA thus forcing tenant farmers off the land

• The FSA provided relief to these people

• http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_14.html

Home Owner’s Loan Corporation(HOLC)

• The typical home loan in 1930 required a 50% down payment and had to be paid off within 5 - 7 years at an interest rate of 6 to 8 percent 

• Buyers paid the entire interest charge at the end of the payback period in a single balloon payment

• Often they had to take out a second mortgage, at rates of up to 18%, just to cover this final payment

• The HOLC was established in 1933 to refinance homes to prevent foreclosure

• It was usually used to extend loans from shorter, expensive payments of the 15 years to the lower payments of the 30 year loans

• the government couldn't make these generous terms available for all properties 

• Banks handling federally guaranteed loans needed clear guidelines indicating where loans could safely be made, and where they could not. 

• A massive inventory began in 1936 to evaluate all residential areas in the nation 

• The HOLC set strict standards.  First, the appraisers looked for any signs of decay or neglect that might indicate a neighborhood was in decline

• Surveyors also looked for any sign of minorities  • Even a single home occupied by a minority

family in a distant corner of a neighborhood could cause the entire area to be downgraded for mortgage insurance

• A   The "A" or "First Grade" areas were colored green and had the federal government's full blessing.  These were usually new or recently built neighborhoods on the edge of town that were virtually free of African Americans or "foreign-born whites."  Lenders were encouraged to offer the maximum amount available in the "A" areas

• B   The "Second Grade" or "B" areas were colored blue.  These were still good neighborhoods but beginning to fray around the edges.  Here mortgage lenders were advised to make loans at 10 to 15 percent below the maximum available amount

• C   "Third Grade" areas were colored yellow.  These were older neighborhoods with housing styles that might now be "out of fashion."  Often neighborhood covenants had expired.  And, of course, these areas were subject to "infiltration of a lower grade population."

D   "D" neighborhoods were usually struggling for survival -- and the "Fourth Grade" designation guaranteed the struggle would be a losing one.  Characterized by "undesirable population or an infiltration of it," mortgage lenders would often refuse to make any loans on properties in these neighborhoods 

Federal Housing Administration(FHA)

• The Federal Housing Administration was created in 1934

• Insured loans made by banks and other private lenders for home building and home buying

• The goals of this organization are to improve housing standards and conditions and to provide an adequate home financing system

• In 1965, the Federal Housing Administration became part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and is still around today

Unites States Housing Authority(USHA)

• Created in 1937

• It was designed to lend money to the states or communities for low-cost home construction

• Homes were designed for low-income and homeless people

• The USHA was absorbed by the National Housing Agency in 1942

National Labor Relations Act/Board (NLRA(B)

• established in 1935 through passage of the National Labor Relations Act(Wagner Act)

• conducts elections for unions

• investigates and fixes unfair labor practices

• governed by a five-person board whose members are appointed by the President

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)• Established a national minimum wage-40

cents/hour

• Established the 40 hour work week

• Guaranteed time and a half for overtime in certain jobs

• Prohibited most child labor

• Still exists today

Social Security Administration (SSA)

• Established in 1935 • provides retirement,

disability, and survivors' benefits

• To qualify for these benefits, most American workers pay Social Security taxes on their earnings

• Future benefits are based on employees' contributions

• Each person is given a Social Security number

Indian Reorganization Act(IRA)

• Passed in 1934• Abolished the Dawes Act and allowed Native

American to govern themselves on a tribal basis • Allowed Native Americans to manage and keep

their own land • Included provisions to help create job

opportunities on Indian Reservations.This has led to many casinos on Indian Reservations

• The Act is still around today