The New Deal

In your Notebook… Solving the Problems of the Great Depression You can work independently or in a small group.

You will receive 4 briefings stating a overwhelming problem faced during the Great Depression. Your job is to solved that problem by choosing the appropriate response.

After picking the appropriate solution, you will explain why you chose that specific response.

You will have 10 minutes to complete each briefing.

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Video: New Deal for the Dust BowlWhat did each of these factors have to do with the creation of the Dust Bowl? Climate, Rainfall ,and Farming Methods

How did the Dust Bowl conditions affect the lives of people in the Great Plains?

John Steinbeck “ Grapes of Wrath”

What New Deal actions were taken by the federal government to help farmers overcome problems of the Dustbowl?

When did prosperity return to the farmers of the Great Plains region?

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The “Old Deal”

What?•President Hoover’s reaction to the Great Depression

President Herbert Hoover

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The “Old Deal”

What did he want to do?

•Refused to create government programs until it was too late

•Let the business cycle take care of things

Children in one of the Bonus Army Camps

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The Bonus Army 1932

•25,000 WWI veteransWho?

•Marched to Washington D.C. to get a $ bonus they were supposed to get in 1945

What?

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The Bonus Army 1932

•Called out the troops and dispersed the army What did Hoover do?

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The Election of 1932

•Roosevelt offers a “New Deal” for America

•Roosevelt wins with 60% of the vote

What?

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Thinking slide:

Was Hoover a bad president or was he in the wrong place at the

wrong time?

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Roosevelt’s New Deal

What?•Programs meant to help the country by getting the government involved in the economy

1. Relief - help people out in the short term

2. Recovery - get the economy back on its feet

3. Reform - keep this from everyhappening again

Meant to do 3 things

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Bank Holiday - First Step

Why?

•Many banks had failed, wiping out families’ savings

•People lost confidence in the banks

Depositors Congregate Outside Closed Bank

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Bank Holiday - First Step

How?

•Closed banks for four days to reorganize

•President explains in a “fireside chat”

•Confidence restored

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Next Step - “Alphabet Soup”

•In the first 100 days of his administration Roosevelt passes tons of legislation

Hundred Days

•The agencies he creates (like AAA)

Alphabet Soup

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Next Step - “Alphabet Soup”

•18-25 year old guys get jobs and send money home to their families

CCC - Civilian Conservation Corps

CCC workers in Lassen National Forest, California

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Next Step - “Alphabet Soup”

•Government pays farmers not to farm

AAA - Agricultural Adjustment Administration

•Meant to cause prices to rise and halt overproduction

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Next Step - “Alphabet Soup”

•Government runs a hydroelectric power plant

TVA - Tennessee Valley Authority

•Provides cheap power & fertilizer to the poor region

Construction at Norris Dam, which was being built by the TVA on the Clinch River in Northeastern Tennessee

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Next Step - “Alphabet Soup”

•Insurance for the $ you put in banks

FDIC - Federal Department Insurance Corp.

•Protected people’s savings

Bank Employee Checks Depositor's Account

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Next Step - “Alphabet Soup”

•Watchdog agency for the stock market

SEC - Securities and Exchange Commission

New York Stock Exchange

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Next Step - “Alphabet Soup”

•Gave direct relief ($) to those who needed it

FERA - Federal Emergency Relief Admin.

•Beginnings of a welfare program

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Next Step - “Alphabet Soup”

•Taxed people working now to give payments to the elderly

Social Security

Social Security Information Poster

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Thinking Slide:

Which program was most controversial and why?

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His Greatest Mistake

Packing the Supreme Court

What?

Why?

•Increase the # of Supreme Court justices from 9 to 15

•Kept declaring his programs unconstitutional (including NRA, AAA, SEC, etc.)

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His Greatest Mistake

Packing the Supreme Court

February, 1937, Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch, "Fall In!"

What did this cartoonist think about the Supreme Court?

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His Greatest Mistake

Packing the Supreme Court

Results? •Public grew

angry (FDR taking too much power)

•FDR passed much less legislation after this

Supreme Court Exterior

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The New Deal - Pros and Cons

Pros•Restored optimism and hope to Americans

Cons•Did not really fix the depression

•Left the nation with much debt

•Provided necessary relief to many

•Left people too dependent on government (?)