The New Deal

FDR Elected

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• Elected president 1932• Began to reassure the people in radio

broadcasts• Roosevelt rallied a frightened nation in

which one in four workers was unemployed. (“We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.”)

New Deal

• Legislation initiated by FDR to end the Depression

• This program changed the role of the government to a more active participant in solving problems.

New Deal

WPA

• Works Progress Administration—(WPA). Relief measures provided direct payment to people for immediate help

• Supported work of artists, writers and performers

AAA

• Agricultural Adjustment Administration—AAA

• This act allowed the government to set limits on agricultural output and to make loans to farmers

• A recovery program designed to bring nation out of depression over time

Effects of the New Deal

• The New Deal did not end the Depression

• High unemployment continued until the start of World War II

• It did help people survive by creating jobs, loaning money, and helping the elderly

CCC

• Civilian Conservation Corps – CCC

• Created work for the unemployed

• Projects of reforestation and erosion control; surveying

Lebanon, Kansas

Long-Range Reforms

• Tennessee Valley Authority Act (TVA)

• An independent public corporation

• Dams, power plants, transmission lines

FDIC

• The Banking Act of 1933 created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation—FDIC

• Reform measure corrected unsound banking and investment practices

• Insured savings deposits

Criticism of the New Deal

• RDR administration was undermining the capitalistic system with bold experiments

• Government was destroying private enterprise

Second New Deal

• Comprehensive program to assist the underprivileged

Social Security Act, 1935

• Old-age benefits, based on workers’ earnings before age of 65

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

• Projects carried out on public property at federal expense

1939

“Court Packing”

• After reelection, Roosevelt planned to appoint several additional judges to various federal courts

• Add 6 to the conservative Supreme Court

• Failed, however, by 1941, FDR had named 7 of the 9