Notes - The New Deal

NOTES – THE NEW DEAL U.S HISTORY Who Was FDR? • Born in 1882 in Hyde Park, NY, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an expert politician who was elected governor of New York twice before he became president. • He married his distant cousin Eleanor Roosevelt in 1905. She worked often with the poor and exposed FDR to the problems of the common man. • He developed Polio in 1921. He was paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. • He won the presidential election as a democrat in 1932 by 7 million votes. He would be elected a record number 4 times. • He was famous for radio broadcasts or “Fireside Chats”. Through them, he made a connection to everyday people. The First 100 Days – Fixing the Banks The New Deal was FDR’s plan to end the Great Depression. He first tried to fix the banks. – FDR created a bank holiday on 2/3/1933 in order to give banks a break and give Congress a chance to fix them. – Congress would first pass the Emergency Banking Relief Act which allowed the U.S. Treasury to inspect banks. – Congress would then pass Glass-Steagall Act which established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, (FDIC) which provided insurance for individual bank accounts of up to $5000. – Congress would also pass the Federal Securities Act . It forced corporations to be more truthful. This led to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which monitors company activities and regulates the stock market. The First 100 Days – Alphabet Soup FDR and Congress also created organizations and programs to help other areas of society. – AAA: the Agricultural Adjustment Administration – it tried raise crop prices by lowering production. It paid farmers subsidies to not plant crops and decrease production – TVA: the Tennessee Valley Authority – helped the Tennessee River Valley by building dams in the region. This provided jobs and electricity to thousands. – CCC: the Civilian Conservation Corps. – put 100,000s of men to work on environmental projects such as planting trees and building parks. – PWA: the Public Works Administration – put 100,000s of men to work building roads, schools, and other facilities – CWA: Civil Works Administration - which provided 4 million immediate jobs in the winter of 1933-1934. It built schools, roads, and paid teachers. – FERA: The Federal Emergency Relief Administration was made to distribute $500 million to state and local relief agencies – NRA: National Recovery Administration (NRA) which was to help revive industry by stopping wage cuts, falling prices and layoffs. – During the first 100 days, FDR proposed 15 bills, all 15 were passed by Congress with few changes. The programs created became known as “alphabet soup”.