NameThe New Deal Handout #
Aim: The New Deal Era 1932-1941
Do Now: Interpret this Chart, what does it tell you about the Presidential Election of 1932?
PresidentialCandidate / VicePresidential
Candidate / Political
Party / Popular Vote / Electoral Vote
Franklin Roosevelt / John Garner / Democratic / 22,821,277 / 57.41% / 472 / 88.9% / Dem.
Herbert Hoover / Charles Curtis / Republican / 15,761,254 / 39.65% / 59 / 11.1% / Rep.
Activity #1 Read Mr. Roosevelt’s 1st speech to the American people as President.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
First Inaugural Address Saturday, March 4, 1933
…This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
What is the Pres. trying to state to the people in this paragraph? Why do you think he is saying this?
… This Nation asks for action, and action now.Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.
What does the President plan to do to help Americans, what role will the government play in this task?
It can be helped by insistence (demanding) that the Federal, State, and local governments act forthwith (soon)…It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.
Reading this paragraph, will the government under the leadership of President Roosevelt continue a ‘Lassiez-faire’ policy? Explain your answer.
Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation (guessing) with other people's money.
What cause of The Great Depression is Mr. Roosevelt addressing and vowing to end in this paragraph?
“I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." Franklin D. Roosevelt
Activity #2- After reading the speech and seeing the cartoon, what do you think Mr. Roosevelt means when he promises a ‘New Deal’ for the America people? What will be new about the relationship between Government and the American people?
Activity #3 – Define the term deficit spending, how is it supposed to revive an economy? How is the debt acquired through deficit spending supposed to be paid off? (Page R39 in red textbook)
Aim: New Deal Alphabet Soup—Government programs to restore the economy
Do Now: Pres. Roosevelt focused his New Deal programs on the 3’R’s; Relief, Recovery, Reform. Describe what you believe these 3 terms mean in relationship to fixing the economy and helping Americans?
View the following actions taken by Pres. Roosevelt and his New Deal Programs
ReliefImmediate action taken to halt the economies deterioration. / Recovery
"Pump - Priming" Temporary programs to restart the flow of consumer demand. / Reform
Permanent programs to avoid another depression and insure citizens against economic disasters.
Bank Holiday
Declared so that the panic would be stopped. / Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
Taxed food processors and gave the money directly to farmers as a payment for not growing food. This decreased supply so price would go up. / Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)
Permanent Agency set up to monitor stock market activity and ensure that no fraud or insider trading was taking place.
Emergency Banking Act
Closed the insolvent banks and only reopened the solvent ones. / National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
Created the NRA (National Recovery Administration) a consortium of businesses organized by the government and given the power to set rules and regulations for the economy. Members of the NRA displayed a blue eagle. / Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Permanent Agency designed to insure depositors money in savings banks. Originally insured up to $5,000 per depositor today it has increased to $100,000.
Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)
Gave immediate help to those that needed it in the form of cash payments. / Home Owners Loan Corp.
Gave loans to home owners so they could pay their mortgages. This prevented people from going homeless and prevented banks from going under. / Social Security Administration
Permanent agency designed to ensure that the older segment of society always would have enough money to survive. The key here is that they would then also be able to spend throughout their lives.
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Provided temporary jobs repairing roads and bridges. / Public Works Administration (PWA)
Provided long term government jobs building schools and other public works projects. / National Labor Relations Act and National Labor Relations Board (NLRA/NLRB)
Otherwise known as the Wagner Act it helped unions and thus helped workers. This acted created the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) which enforced labor law and made sure that fair business practices where upheld.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Temporary jobs to unmarried single adults filling sand bags and helping out at disaster type situations. Participants lived in barracks type housing. / Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Agency created to build dams in the Tennessee river valley. These dams provided more stable irrigation and cheap hydroelectric power. / Soil Conservation Act
Laws mandating proper soil maintenance to make sure that another dust bowl was avoided
Activity #1- Why do you think they called the New Deal an alphabet soup?
In your opinion; how did these programs help people deal with the depression? (Use 3 actions from the chart)
Read this account of a person who worked for a New Deal program.
"My name is Dominick Gadamowitz. I was born in Flushing, New York, in 1918. I was the eldest of my parents' eleven children. Like most of my friends, I had to drop out of school at a young age because of the Great Depression. I was thirteen at the time. Leaving school in 1931 was a damaging but necessary choice. My dad asked me if I would come and work with him on construction sites for three or four days a week. I felt as if I had an obligation to help Pop feed the rest of the family because we were really beginning to feel the effects of the depression.
What difficult choices did Dominick make because of The Great Depression?
In 1935, at the age of seventeen, I decided to sign up in the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.). This was a program set up by President Roosevelt to create jobs for young men all across the country. The government paid teenagers thirty dollars a month, twenty-two of which went home to their families to ease the pain of the depression. This was my chance to get away from all of the problems at home and still be able to help provide for my family. My best friend and I enrolled in the C.C.C. at our local post office. Within two weeks we were sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey for a medical, which we both passed. We learned that we would be working at Battle Mountain, Nevada. We were sent home to gather our clothes and inform our parents of where we were going, how long we would be there, and any other necessary information that they might have needed to know.
Why did Dominick join the CCC, what were the condition of joining the program?
Later that week, we rode across country by train to Nevada. When we arrived at Battle Mountain we were given a rough outline of what work we would be doing over the course of our six month stay. Six months was the length of time that one could be enrolled in the C.C.C.. However, after your time was up, you could enroll again. At Battle Mountain, we built roads and worked on a project called Cricket Control. Locusts had been destroying land that was used to raise cattle. It was our job to prevent this from happening. We put up tin fences around miles of the infected area. We dug holes in the ground about every 150 yards apart at the base of these fences. The locust would fly into the tin and follow the fence right into the holes we had dug. Once the holes were filled with a large amount of locust, we poured kerosene in the holes and burned them.
Why job did Dominick have? How do you think he felt about it?
I also did kitchen patrol in the mess hall after dinner a couple of days a week for some extra money. The only souvenir that I have from Battle Mountain is a tattoo on my left forearm. It is a picture of an eagle, the coat of arms which represented the C.C.C."
Summarizing the entire first-hand account, what did programs like the CCC do and how did they help families and young people deal with the effects of The Great Depression?
What do these photos tell you about the CCC and the experience of the young men who joined-up?
Aim: Highlighting the New Deal
Do Now: Watch this video and see chart from yesterday
What was the purpose of the following New Deal programs? How did they restore Americans confidence in the economy? Which cause of The Great Depression did it address?
FDIC
SEC
How did this try to help farmers?Which cause of The Great Depression did it address?
AAA
How did this law try to help workers? Which cause of The Great Depression did it address?
NLRA/Wagner Act
SSA—Social Security Administration P. 707—What is it and who gets money?
How is Social Security paid for?
What problem may the funding for Social Security face beginning in 2019?
What are some of the causes of this problem?
Aim: Critics and Controversy over the New Deal
Do Now: Analyze this cartoon: What concept about US government and the power of the President is it describing?
Activity #1 How are all 3 branches interacting over the New Deal and its policies?
The New Deal drastically changed the role of the National Government, expanding its powers greatly. New Deal programs gave the government the power to tell banks what they could invest in, and how much they could lend. It told farmers how much to grow and what to charge for the crops they sold. The government became a business and was making rules and regulations like they never did before.
The Supreme Court had many Conservatives (judges that believed in the way things were done in the past) who believed the government and particularly the President were taking on too much power. The Court ruled that laws like the AAA and NIRA were unconstitutional (this is an example of judicial review) because they gave the President powers that under the Constitution he was not supposed to have. Even if the New Deal was helping Americans, the Supreme Court ruled that it did so in a way that violated the Constitution and was therefore illegal.
President Roosevelt was furious and schemed to deal with the Supreme Court in a way that would allow him to continue passing New Deal programs. In 1937, Mr. Roosevelt asked Congress to pass a law that would expand Supreme Court judges to 13, adding six more. Being that the President chooses the Court members, Roosevelt felt he could pack the court with judges would agreed with his New Deal policy and ensure his ideas would be found Constitutional.
Activity #2
In late 1937, the Supreme Court upheld a New Deal program (Wagner Act), showing their changing opinion of the New Deal programs. This led Pres. Roosevelt to lay off his court-packing plan and the issue of changing the number of members on the Supreme Court went away.
This episode in US History shows us the significance and importance of checks and balances
Activity #3- What did we learn about checks and balanaces?
President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed that declaring a bank holiday and creating the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) would help the nation’s banking system by
(1) restoring public confidence in the banks(2) reducing government regulation of banks
(3) restricting foreign investments(4) granting tax relief to individuals
The Social Security Act (1935) is considered an important program because it
(1) brought about a quick end to the Great Depression
(2) provided employment for those in need of a job
(3) established a progressive income tax
(4) extended support to elderly citizens
During the Great Depression, one way New Deal programs tried to stimulate economic recovery
was by
(1) raising tariff rates(2) increasing interest rates
(3) creating public works jobs(4) lowering the minimum wage
Let’s Harmonize!
The cartoonist is commenting on President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s efforts to
(1) win congressional approval for his Supreme Court nominees
(2) gain Supreme Court support for his legislative program
(3) set up a retirement plan for Supreme Court Justices
(4) keep members of Congress off the Supreme Court
In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was criticized for his proposal to add justices to the
United States Supreme Court because these appointments would have
(1) broken earlier campaign promises (2) violated the constitutional limit on the number of justices
(3) threatened the system of checks and balances (4) established a more conservative Court
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act) affected workers by
(1) protecting their right to form unions and bargain collectively
(2) preventing public employee unions from going on strike
(3) providing federal pensions for retired workers
(4) forbidding racial discrimination in employment
Critics of the New Deal claimed that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the Social
Security System threatened the United States economy by
(1) applying socialist principles(2) imposing unfair working hours
(3) decreasing government spending(4) eroding antitrust laws
Which statement about Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program is most accurate?
(1) Protective tariff rates increased.(2) Social welfare programs were expanded.
(3) Government regulation of business was reduced. (4) Government supported monopolies.
One result of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal was that it
(1) raised the national debt(2) weakened labor unions
(3) deregulated the stock market(4) repealed federal antitrust laws
Based on this cartoon, economic recovery would require
(1) fewer regulations by the federal government
(2) increased taxes on the working class
(3) more money in the hands of lower-income families
(4) protective tariffs on foreign goods
During President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were created as a
way to
(1) provide jobs to those who were unemployed
(2) raise revenue for relief and recovery programs
(3) limit risks associated with savings and investments
(4) implement the new income tax amendment
The New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the United States economy by
(1) restoring the principle of a balanced budget
(2) expanding the trust-busting practices of Progressive Era presidents
(3) encouraging greater production of agricultural goods
(4) increasing government involvement with both business and labor
A lasting effect of the New Deal has been a belief that government should
(1) own the principal means of producing goods and services
(2) allow natural market forces to determine economic conditions
(3) maintain a balanced federal budget during hard economic times
(4) assume responsibility for the well-being of its citizens
Which statement best illustrates a basic idea of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal?
(1) Communism provides the only real solution to economic problems.
(2) Unemployed workers should rely on the states rather than on the federal government
for help.
(3) The United States reached its economic peak in the 1920s and is now a declining industrial
power.
(4) The economy sometimes needs public money to encourage business activity.
Which action by President Franklin D. Roosevelt challenged the principle of checks and balances?
(1) frequently vetoing New Deal legislation
(2) trying to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court
(3) taking over the Senate’s treaty ratification power
(4) desegregating defense industries