Revision New Deal

1. The New Deal
Revising the New Deal Part I and II

2. 1) How many agencies can you remember?
2) Who did the CCC help?
3) What did the TVA do?
4) How much did farm profits increase by as a result of the AAA?
5) Which two agencies made up the NIRA?
6) Who didn’t like the New Deal? Explain why.
7) Who did? (think votes!)
8) Who did Roosevelt consult before creating the Second New Deal?
9) Do you know all these agencies?
10)Who benefited from the SSA?
11)What was good about the RA?
12)Who benefited from the New Deal?
13)Who didn’t?
14)What was unemployment in 1941?
15)Give two key New Deal supporters from Roosevelt’s government; what did
they do that made them important?
16)Give an example of an important woman?
17)Who were the CIO and UAW?

3. What is there to cover?
How successful was
the New Deal?
- Why did the New Deal
encounter opposition?
- Did all Americans benefit
from the New Deal?
- Did the fact that the New
Deal did not solve
unemployment mean that it
was a failure?
Roosevelt’s Hundred Days; the New Deal
legislation; the ‘alphabet’ agencies and
their work and the economic and social
changes they caused; the Second New
Deal; the election of 1936; opposition to
the New Deal from the Republicans, the
rich, business interests, the Supreme Court
and radical critics like Huey Long; the
strengths and weaknesses of the New Deal
programme in dealing with unemployment
and the Depression; the extent of the
impact of the New Deal on the lives of
people and the American economy; the
impact of the Second World War on the

4. It’s profile time!
• Create a Facebook profile for
Roosevelt.
• Include:
- Response to the WSC.
- Comments from Hoover on what
he’s doing.
- Events of the first hundred days.
- Events of the Second New Deal.
- Response (eg. comments) from
different groups/people.

5. Winning the election
• Hoover was unpopular (see Wall
Street Crash!)
• Roosevelt offered something
different (but was careful to
keep his promises vague!)
• Roosevelt campaigned
effectively,. 20,800 km travelled,
16 major speeches etc

6. The Alphabet Agencies
• AAA – Agricultural Adjustment
Administration: set quotas on
farm production to increase
prices. Put farm labourers out of
work.
• CCC – Civilian Conservation
Corps: targeted short term (6
months) work on government
projects eg national parks.
Helped 2.5 million young men.
• FERA – The Federal Emergency
Relief Administration: Supported
the poor, $500 million spent on
soup kitchens, blankets,
employment needs etc.
• TVA – Tennessee Valley
Authority: Cut across 7 poor
states to build dams etc to
provide electricity and irrigation
to the poorest areas.

7. The Alphabet Agencies
• NIRA – The National Industrial
Recover Act: Made up of two parts:
• PWA – Public Works
Administration: used government
money to build schools and other
infrastructure
• NRA – National Recovery
Administration: Improved working
conditions, outlined child labour,
blue eagle, over 2 million
employers voluntary joined.

8. Opposition to the New Deal
• Not doing enough – Huey Long
‘Share our Wealth’ and Francis
Townsend
• Doing too much – Republicans
believed in ‘Rugged Individualism’.
• Schechter Poultry Corporation vs
NRA – 1935, Supreme Court ruled
in favour of the NRA being
unconstitutional, Roosevelt
threatened to appoint 6 more
Supreme Court judges, American
public worried by this, but
Supreme Court became much less
obstructive.

9. Second New Deal
• The Wagner Act – forced all employers to allow trade unions
to operate in their companies and to let them negotiate with
employers for better pay and conditions. The act made it
illegal to sack workers for being in a union.
• The Social Security Act – provided state pensions for the
elderly and for widows and allowed state and federal
governments to work together to help the sick and disabled.
It also set up unemployment insurance for workers.
• The Works Progress Administration – later renamed the
Works Project Administration united all of the projects put
together to create jobs. Also extended to unemployed actors
etc. For example 80,000 photos of farming were taken and
displayed locally as part of the Federal Arts Project.
• The Resettlement Administration – helped smallholders and
tenant farmers who had not been helped by the AAA. It
moved over 500,000 families to better quality housing. The
Farm Security Administration replaced the RA in 1937. It gave
special loans to small farmers to help them buy their land. It
also built camps to help migrant workers.

10. Evaluating the New Deal
A New Society?
• The New Deal restored the faith of the American people in their
government.
• It handled billions of dollars of public money with no corruption. For
example, Harold Hopkins distributed $10 billion but never drew more
than his salary of $15,000. The Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes,
actually tapped the phones of his employees to ensure there was no
corruption. There was none.
• However, others accused Ickes and Hopkins of being Communist and
anti-business (because they supported trade unions).
Industrial Workers
• The NRA and second new Deal strengthened the position of the labour
unions.
• Some labour unions joined forces in 1935 to form the Committee for
Industrial Organisation (CIO).
• The Union of Automobile Workers (UAW) was recognised by two very
anti-union organisations: General Motors in 1936 and Ford in 1941.
• However, many strikes continued to be broken up with violence and
companies such as Ford and Chrysler employed their own thugs or
controlled the local police.

11. Evaluating the New Deal
Unemployment and the Economy:
• The New Deal created millions of jobs.
• It stabilised the banking system and reduced the number of business
failures.
• Projects, eg. The TVA improved the standard of living for thousands of
people.
• Valuable resources including schools, roads and power stations were
built.
• The new Deal never solved the underlying economic problems.
• The US economy took longer to recover than most European
countries.
• There were 6 million unemployed in 1941
African Americans:
• Around 200,000 African Americans gained benefits from the CCC and
other New Deal agencies.
• They benefited from the slums clearances etc.
• However, many New Deal agencies still discriminated against African
Americans.

12. Evaluating the New Deal
Native Americans
• The Indian Reorganisation Act in 1934 provided money to
help Native Americans to buy and improve land.
• The Indian Reservation Act (1934) helped the Native
Americans to preserve and practise their traditions laws and
cultures.
• Native Americans remained a poor and excluded group of
society.
Women
• The New Deal saw many women achieve prominent positions
including Eleanor Roosevelt.
• The National Youth Administration was a woman, Mary
Macleod Bethune. She was also African American.
• Frances Perkins was the Secretary of Labour and a key New
Deal figure.
• Most of the New Deal programmes were aimed at men, only
8,000 women benefited from the CCC.
• Local governments sought to avoid paying women social
security by introducing special qualifications and conditions.

14. Source D highlights that the Republicans opposed the New Deal because it was ‘an attempt to
take money away from those who have been careful with it’. The Republicans objected to the
increased taxes that the rich had to pay in order to help to fund the New Deal. They believed in
Rugged Individualism which is the idea that the individual should work to get themselves out of
trouble/poverty rather than relying on government support which is exactly what the New Deal
was (eg. The Civilian Conservation Corps provided work for 6 months to unemployed people). As
such, this source explains why one group (the Republicans) hated the New Deal.
On the other hand, source D does not explain why many other Americans hated the New Deal.
There were some individuals who believed that the New Deal was ‘not doing enough’ to help.
Huey Long was a Democratic senator who believed that more should be done by the
government. He proposed a ‘Share our Wealth’ scheme where personal earnings would be
capped at $1 million per year and OAPs would be given radios and fridges to support them. As
such, it is clear that this source only explains why some Americans hated the New Deal, not all of
the different reasons for opposition.

16. Source B indicates that Roosevelt won because of his campaigning methods. It highlights that ‘he liked going
around the country’ and there can be no doubt that Roosevelt’s extensive campaign (he travelled 20,800 km)
helped to get his message across to the people of America. He gave 16 major campaign speeches, and far more
from the back of his train. This spread his message of hope and ‘doing something’ across America and caused
people (who had lost hope in the Republican administration) to vote for Roosevelt.
On the other hand, Roosevelt would not have won the election had it not been for the Wall Street Crash and
Hoover’s inability to handle the crisis which followed. The Wall Street Crash caused massive unemployment in
America with some 14 million Americans being unemployed by 1932. As a result the people of America wanted
a change and Hoover was unable to provide it. His efforts to solve the crisis, including reducing taxes and
introducing tariffs did not help. In fact, his message of ‘prosperity is just around the corner’ made people think
that he was not really doing anything to help. Hoovervilles were named after him because people were so
angry with his lack of action. Source B does not reference any of these factors.
As such, it is clear that Roosevelt won the Presidency because of his campaigning methods, but that these were
made more effective by the impacts of the Wall Street Crash and Hoover’s failure to handle the situation
effectively. Had Hoover been a more pro active President, then Roosevelt’s message and campaign may have
had less impact.

17. b) Explain why some industries faced problems before 1929 (6 marks)
- Farming eg. Profits fell by 50% in 1921, overproduction, increased competition from Canadian Wheat etc
- Old industries and materials eg. Silk stockings replaced by rayon (300 million sold in 1930), unable to compete.
c) ‘The main reason for the boom in the American economy in the 1920s was the impact of the First World War’.
How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer. (10 marks)
- War - exporting produce to Europe including food, weapons, ammunition etc. Weapons, supplies etc for
America troops in Europe.
- Republican policies – Laissez faire, low taxes etc
- Hire Purchase Credit – 8/10 cars brought on HPC
b) Explain why some people opposed the New Deal (6 marks)
- Doing too much – Republicans, Rugged Individualism etc
- Not doing enough – Democrats eg Huey Long, ‘Share our Wealth’ etc
- The New Deal failed to achieve any of it’s objectives. To what extent do you agree with this statement? (10
marks)
- Failed – eg. Unemployment in 1941, AAA and impact on farmers, lack of progress in improving number of
women in work, only 200,000 Black African Americans helped by the New Deal.
- Succeeded – eg. New Society – NRA and Wagner act = impact on unions, CCC helped 2.5 million young men,
unemployment = down from 14 million.