A NEW DEAL FIGHTS THE

DEPRESSION
Ch.31 Sections 31.1-31.10 Notes
31.1 1932 Presidential
Election
The 1932 election was the first held during the Great
Depression, and it represented a dramatic shift in the
political alignment of the country.
The Republicans re-nominated Hoover as their candidate.
The Democrats selected two-term governor of New York
and distant cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin
Delano Roosevelt.
FDR received 472 of the electoral votes, to Hoover’s 59.
Fun Fact: Republicans had dominated the presidency for
almost the entire period from 1860, save two terms
each won by Grover Cleveland and by Woodrow Wilson
(who benefited from a split in the Republican Party in
1912). That’s nearly 60 years!!!
31.2 Waiting for Roosevelt
https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-rooseve
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Four months would elapse between FDR’s victory in the

November office and his inauguration as president in
March 1933.
The 20th Amendment which moved presidential inaugurations
to January, was not ratified until February 1933 and would
not apply to the 1932 election.
During his wait, FDR gathered a team of advisers—a group of
professors, lawyers, and journalists (aka “The Brain Trust”)
to begin formulating a set of policies for his new
administration. This program was designed to alleviate
the problems of the Great Depression. It would become
known as the New Deal.
The goal of these meetings was to focus legislation that
would focus on the Three Rs: Relief, Recovery & Reform.
31.3 Hoover’s Humiliation in 1932

One striking feature of the 1932 election was the beginning of a distinct
shift of blacks, traditionally grateful to the Republican party of Lincoln,
over to the Roosevelt camp.
As the “last hired and first fired,” black Americans had been among the
worst sufferers from the depression many saw the Democratic ticket as
their means to a better political ally.
Hoover, though defeated, continued to serve as president for four long
months until FDR’s inauguration on March 4th,1933.
Hoover was helpless to embark on any long-range policies without the
cooperation of Roosevelt.
Immediately after the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover
retreated to his home in Palo Alto, California. For much of the 1930s—
and, indeed, for decades to come—the public, and especially the
Democratic Party, blamed Hoover for the Great Depression.
Likewise, few Republicans in the 1930s wanted Hoover involved in party
politics because of his negative standing in the popular mind.
31.4 The Hundred Days
Upon taking office, the Roosevelt administration launched a period of
intense activity known as the Hundred Days (March 9-June 16,1933).
During this time, Congress passed 15 major pieces of New Deal
legislation. These laws significantly expanded the federal
government’s role in the nation’s economy.
Roosevelt’s first step as president was to carry out reforms in banking
and finance. On March 5th, one day after taking office, FDR declared a
bank holiday closing all banks to prevent any further withdrawals. He
persuaded Congress to pass the Emergency Banking Relief Act which
authorized the Treasury Department to inspect the country’s banks.
Those banks that were sound were allowed to reopen; those who were
unable to pay their debts were closed. Those who needed help could
receive loans.
The inspection helped to revive the public’s faith in the banking system.

** Be familiar with Table 31.1 on pg.747 in your textbook**

 An Important Fireside Chat
On March 12th, the day before the first banks
were to reopen, President Roosevelt gave
the first of his many fireside chats.
These “chats” discussed issues of public
concern, explaining in clear terms his New
Deal measures.
These informal talks made Americans feel as if
the president were talking directly to them.
In his first chat, President Roosevelt explained
why the nation’s welfare depended on
public support of the government and the
banking system.
The president explained the importance of
keeping your savings in the bank.
Over the next few weeks, many Americans
returned their savings to banks.
31.5 Regulating Banking and Finance

Congress took another step to reorganize the banking system by

passing the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which established
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
The FDIC provided federal insurance for individual bank accounts
of up to $5,000.
*Today that guarantee is up to $250,000.
Congress and the president also worked to regulate the stock
market. The Federal Securities Act (1933) required
corporations to provide complete information on all stock
offerings and made them liable for any misrepresentations.
In June 1934, Congress created the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) to regulate the stock market. The goal of
the commission was to prevent and/or punish “insider” trades.
Helping the American
People
The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) sought to raise crop
prices by lowering production, which the government
achieved by paying farmers to leave a certain amount of
every acre of land unseeded. The gov’t also ordered farmer
to slaughter over 6 million pigs. This policy angered many
Americans who were going hungry but it did succeed in
raising prices.
Also helping rural areas, was the Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA). The TVA renovated five existing dams and constructed
20 new ones. This created thousands of jobs and provided
flood control, hydroelectric power , and other benefits to an
impoverished area.
The TVA covered a seven state area, including parts of
Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North
Carolina and Virginia.
31.6 The CCC
The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC)
put young men between 18 to 25 to
work building roads, developing parks,
planting trees, and helping in soil erosion
and flood control projects.
By the time the program ended in 1942,
almost 3 million young men had passed
through the CCC.
The CCC paid a modest $30 per month of
which $25 was automatically sent home
to the worker’s family.
Many of the CCC camps were in the Great
Plains where they planted more than 200
million trees to prevent another Dust
Bowl.
The PWA and CWA
The Public Works (PWA) as part of the National Industrial
Recovery Act (NIRA) provided money to states to create
jobs chiefly in the construction of schools and other
community buildings.
When these programs failed to make a dent in
unemployment, Roosevelt reorganized them into the
Civil Works Administration (CWA).
It provided 4 million immediate jobs during the winter of
1933-34.
The CWA built 40,000 schools and paid the salaries of
more than 50,000 school teachers in America’s rural
areas.
It also built more than half a million miles of roads.
The NRA
The National Recovery Administration
(NRA) sought to promote industrial
growth by establishing codes of fair
practice for industries.
They set prices on many products and set
standards.
The aim of the NRA was to promote
recovery by interrupting the trend of
wage cuts, falling prices, and layoffs.
The New Deal Comes Under Attack

By the end of the Hundred Days, millions of Americans

had benefitted from the New Deal programs.
To fund his alphabet soup agencies, President
Roosevelt agreed to deficit spending—spending
more money than the government receives in
revenues—with reluctance.
He regarded the government spending on New Deal
programs as a necessary evil. Others did not agree.
Liberals felt that the New Deal did not spend enough
money. Conservatives felt that Roosevelt spent too
much on direct relief and used his new policies to
control business and socialize the economy.
The Supreme Court Reacts
By the mid-1930s, conservative opposition to the New Deal
received a boost by two Supreme Court decisions.
In 1935, the Supreme Court struck down the NIRA saying it was
unconstitutional for the federal government to enforce
industry codes within states (beyond the constitutional powers
of regulating interstate commerce).
The next year, the Court struck down the AAA on the grounds
that agriculture is a local matter and should be regulated by
the states rather than the federal government.
Fearing further Court decisions, Roosevelt proposed that
Congress reorganize the federal judiciary and allow him to
appoint six new Supreme Court justices. This did not happen
but Roosevelt did get his way as a few current justices retired.
Over the course of 4 years, Roosevelt was able to appoint
seven new justices.
Fiery Critics
Conservative opponents to the New Deal banded together to form the
American Liberty League.
This group opposed New Deal measures that it believed violated respect
for the rights of individuals and property.
Perhaps the most serious challenge to the New Deal came from Senator
Huey Long of Louisiana. He wanted to win the presidency for himself
and was very popular with poor Americans.
Long proposed a social program called Share-Our-Wealth where “Every
Man is a King”. The program was designed to provide a decent standard
of living to all Americans by spreading the nation’s wealth among the
people. Long proposed capping personal fortunes at $50 million each
(roughly $600 million in today's dollars) through a restructured,
progressive federal tax code and sharing the resulting revenue with the
public through government benefits and public works.

There were 27,000 Share-Our-Wealth clubs and 7.5 million members.

Classwork
Complete the Ch.31 Sections 31.1-31.10
Outline
Review notes