FDR and the New Deal FDR Wins the

FDR and the New Deal

FDR Wins the Presidency • We talked last time about the election of 1932 • FDR won in a landslide! • He promised a “New Deal for the American people” • After Hoover’s failure to act…… people wanted their leaders to do something!

New Deal – First 100 Days • Roosevelt said in his Inaugural Address, “let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. . This nation asks for action, and action now!” • Roosevelt immediately began to submit a flood of measures for Congressional approval. This became know as the “Hundred Days” • Virtually all of the important bills he submitted in these First Hundred Days were enacted by Congress.

New Deal – First 100 Days • Roosevelt explained these New Deal measures in terms of the three R's -- Relief, Recovery, and Reform • Sometimes called “alphabet agencies” because of their 3 and 4 letter acronyms

New Deal rograms – Relief • Public Works administration (PWA) • Created federal jobs by building projects like schools. Roads, and bridges. • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) • gave jobs to young men (lived in camps and received free food)

New Deal Programs - Recovery • National Recovery Administration (NRA) • Limits on production, set prices, and minimum wage • Agricultural Adjustment Acts (AAA) • Paid farmers to plan less crops

New Deal Programs – Reform • Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) • Built 21 dams in Tennessee for flood control and produce electricity • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) • Watched over stock market

Gold Standard • Gold and Silver was the two accepted forms of exchange. The gold standard = gold and silver to back up currency • In 1933 President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order outlawing the ownership of gold, except for jewelry (Ended the Gold Standard) • Roosevelt wanted people to rely on paper money (fiat money), in order to expand the money supply and stimulate economic activity. • Today, most countries in the world, including the United States, use fiat money. • It has no intrinsic value, except when it is accepted as a medium of exchange.

Opposition to New Deal • The first series of programs, sometimes called the first new deal, created some jobs, but did not have a big effect. • Only two years into his presidency Roosevelt remained popular but grew critics and was unhappy with progress. • People like Huey Long from Louisiana didn’t think it went far enough and wanted to give everyone $5, 000. 00 a year by taking the rich. He called it his “share the wealth” program • The American Liberty League was a group of conservatives who felt the New Deal was destroying America.

Opposition to New Deal • Dr. Townsend – a third party candidate - wanted to give people over 60 …. . $200. 00 a month. • Because he felt pressure from the left and right Roosevelt launched more programs …. . Called the second New Deal. • Works Progress Administration (WPA) • Created jobs by hiring artists, writers, and musicians to create art, produce plays, etc. • Social Security Act • Unemployment insurance, pensions (retirement), insurance

Supreme Court – Court Packing • In 1935/36 the Supreme Court declared some New Deal programs unconstitutional. • So in 1937 Roosevelt feared the court might declare more of his programs unconstitutional. • He felt most of the justices, who were all over 70, were out of touch. • He proposed a plan that would allow a president to appoint a new justice for each justice over 70 years old. • This would have let Roosevelt appoint 6 new justices. • It was seen as a danger to the separation of powers and rejected by congress.

The New Deal Legacy • The New Deal marked an end to the view that government and the economy should be completely separate. • People now looked to the federal government for assistance. • The New Deal also permanently increased the size and power of the federal government.