APUSH Chapter 33

FDR and the New Deal

The new laws and proposed by FDR and passed by Congress during Roosevelt’s administration. The term New Deal was coined during Franklin Roosevelt’s 1932 Democratic presidential nomination acceptance speech. The New Deal programs were born in Brain Trust meetings prior to Roosevelt’s inauguration, and also were a grateful nod to Theodore Roosevelt’s "square deal" of 30 years earlier. It gave money back to the tax payers, created desperately needed good paying jobs, encouraged wealthy people to do the same thing, made trade easier with Mexico, and allowed construction companies to make a large profit. The New Deal witnessed an increased role for intellectuals in government.

The Great Depression

America’s Great Depression is regarded as having begun in 1929 with the Stock Market crash, and ended in 1941 with America’s entry into World War II. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement. Buying goods on credit, overspeculation and buying "on margin" in the stock market contributed to the Depression as well.

CCC

Civilian Conservation Corps. State and federal parks projects, planting trees to combat erosion.

TVA

Tennessee Valley Authority. Built dams for flood control and hydroelectric power in the Tennessee valley, created projects to combat erosion and deforestation.

WPA

Works Progress Administration. Built roads, bridges, buildings, even provided money for art projects; by 1936 7% of the American work force was employed by the WPA.

AAA

Agriculture Adjustment Act. Government paid farmers not to plant crops, provided loans for farmers to help pay mortgages.

NRA

National Recovery Administration. more government regulation of companies; set standards for products, prices, and price increases; set min wages and max hours.

Brain Trust

refers to the group of academic advisers that FDR gathered to assist him during the 1932 presidential campaign. These men would quickly help FDR develop an economic plan whose programs became the backbone of the New Deal: regulation of bank and stock activity, large scale relief and public works programs for people living in both urban and rural areas. In their first one hundred days in office, the Brains Trust helped Roosevelt enact fifteen major laws.

American Federation of Labor

By the time the New Deal opened the door again to organized labor, the AF of L — now led by William Green (president, 1924-1952) — was facing increasing dissension within its ranks. Craft unions had proved ineffective as a way of organizing the huge industries, such as auto, rubber, and steel, that now dominated the economy. While mainly supporting the Democratic Party, the AF of L continued to concentrate its legislative efforts on obtaining political protection for the right of unions to organize and strike, rather than on obtaining social change through legislative action.

Court Packing

A move by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to increase the size of the Supreme Court and then bring in several new justices who would change the balance of opinion on the Court. Roosevelt proposed to pack the Court in the 1930s, when several conservative justices were inclined to declare parts of his program, the New Deal, unconstitutional. Congress would not allow the number of justices to be increased, and Roosevelt was criticized for trying to undermine the independence of the Court.

Deficit Spending

The spending of public funds obtained by borrowing rather than by taxation.

Eleanor Roosevelt

First Lady of FDR. She worked with the Red Cross, helped women gain rights, and worked for the UN. Her main accomplishment was involvement with the less fortunate; she visited prisons, orphan houses, hospitals, mines etc. and was an active proponent of the New Deal. Among her achievements as First Lady was the establishment of the National Youth Administration. She also revitalized Ellen Wilson’s slum clearance program with the Alley Dwelling Act of 1934.

Mary McLeod Bethune

an American educator and civil rights leader best known for starting a school for African-American students in Daytona Beach, Florida, that eventually became Bethune-Cookman University and for being an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She worked for the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, and became a member of Roosevelt’s Black Cabinet, sharing the concerns of black people with the Roosevelt administration while spreading Roosevelt’s message to blacks, who had been traditionally Republican voters.

Harold Ickes

a United States administrator and politician. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for 13 years, from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office, and the second longest serving Cabinet member in U.S. history next to James Wilson. Was responsible for implementing much of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s "New Deal".

Charles Coughlin

He was one of the first political leaders to use radio to reach a mass audience, as more than thirty million tuned to his weekly broadcasts during the 1930s. Early in his career Coughlin was a vocal supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his early New Deal proposals, before later becoming a harsh critic of Roosevelt as too friendly to bankers. In 1934 he announced a new political organization called the "Nation’s Union of Social Justice." He wrote a platform calling for monetary reforms, the nationalization of major industries and railroads, and protection of the rights of labor

Huey Long

"The Kingfish". A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election, Long split with Roosevelt in June 1933 and allegedly planned to mount his own presidential bid for 1936. Long created the Share Our Wealth program in 1934 with the motto "Every Man a King", proposing new wealth redistribution measures in the form of a net asset tax on corporations and individuals to curb the poverty and hopelessness endemic nationwide during the Great Depression.

Frances Perkins

Was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman ever appointed to the cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition. She was subjected to much undeserved criticism from male businessmen, laborites, and politicians.(pg. 780)

Harry Hopkins

A New York social worker who headed the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and Civil Works Administration. He helped grant over 3 billion dollars to the states wages for work projects, and granted thousands of jobs for jobless Americans. A New York social worker who headed the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Civil Works Administration. He helped grant over 3 billion dollars to the states wages for work projects, and granted thousands of jobs for jobless Americans. (pg. 778 – 779)

Francis Townshend

Retired physician whose savings had been recently wiped out. He attracted the trusting support of perhaps 5 million "senior citizens" with his fantastic plan that nonetheless spoke to earthly need. Each oldster sixty years of age or over was to receive $200 a month, provided that the money is spent within the month. One estimate had the scheme costing one-half of the national income. (pg. 779)

Alfred Landon

The governor of Kansas, chosen candidate for the Republicans in the campaign of 1936. A moderate who accepted some New Deal Reforms, but not the Social Security Act. His loss to FDR was mainly because he never appealed to the "forgotten man". (792)

"Hundred Days"

the special session of Congress that Roosevelt called to launch his New Deal programs. The special session lasted about three months: 100 days. , In 1933 Congress enacted more than a dozen measures which increased the level of federal involvement in the nation’s economic life, these included the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Glass Stegal Act (FDIC), Agricultural Adjustment Act, Federal Emergency Relief Act, and the National Industrial Recovery Act.

Glass-Stegall Act

made loans more available; released 750 million in gold; countered effect of foreign withdrawl and domestic hording of gold of gold; largened supply of credit

Dust Bowl

Parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas that were hit hard by dry topsoil and high winds that created blinding dust storms; this area of the Great Plains became called that because winds blew away crops and farms, and blew dust from Oklahoma to Albany, New York. Ruined farms and left many farmers with out crops and money.

George W. Norris

Senator of Nebraska had the idea of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) which brought cheap electric power. It was the most revolutionary of the New Deal schemes. (pg. 785)

Fireside Chats

President F. Roosevelt’s use of radio broadcasts to connect him and the people in an intimate way. Through these, he explained the nature of the bank moratorium, farm relief, and his New Deal’s alphabet agencies to solve problems of the Depression. (pg. 778)

20th Amendment

reduce the amount of time between the election of the President and Congress and the beginning of their terms., 1932; moves inaugural date to Jan. 20th; get rid of lame duck period

Securities Exchange Commission

Government agency having primary responsibility for enforcing the Federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry. It protected investors, listened to complaints, issued licenses and penalized fraud.

Social Security

An act passed in 1935 gave government-payed pensions to American citizens over the age 65 as well as provided help for the unemployed, the disabled, and the needy.

American Liberty League

a conservative anti-New Deal organization; members included Alfred Smith, John W. Davis, and the Du Pont family. It criticized the "dictatorial" policies of Roosevelt and what it perceived to be his attacks on the free enterprise system., organization founded in 1934 in opposition to the New Deal

Justice Roberts

A formerly conservative justice who switched to be liberal to fight against FDR’s invasion of the Supereme Court. "A switch in time saves nine."

Schechter Case

Stated that congress could not delegate legislative powers to the executive. Also known as the sick chicken decision because of the involvement of a fowl business in new york. (pg 782)

The Grapes of Wrath

The story follows the fortunes of a poor family as they travel from the Dust Bowl region to California. based on the great depression written by John Steinbeck