2. The New Deal: Big Picture
• FDR promised America a ‘New Deal’
– It was not clear what new measures might be
– It was clear that FDR intended to use the full
power of the gov’t to get US out of depression
• FDR’s priorities:
– Get Americans back to work
– Protect their savings and property
– Provide relief for sick, old & unemployed
– Get American industry & agriculture back on
their feet
3.
4. Tackling the Banks First
• FDR gets to work
– FDR & advisors (later known as the ‘Brains
Trust’) produced enormous range of
sweeping measures, starting w/ the ‘Bank
Holiday’
• March 5: FDR’s ‘Bank Holiday’
– Day after inauguration
– Ordered all banks closed for inspection of
books by federal officials
– Sound banks (about 5000) allowed to reopen
– They were supported by gov’t money
– Rules & regulations set up to prevent reckless
speculation like that leading to Wall Street
Crash
– These two measures were the Emergency
Banking Act and the Securities Exchange
Commission
5. The ‘Hundred Days’ Begins
• ‘Bank Holiday’ start of ‘Hundred Days’
– FDR sent 15 proposals to Congress
– Congress passed all 15
– ‘During the whole Hundred Days Congress,
people didn’t know what was going on, but
they knew something was happening,
something good for them.’
• FDR advisor
– Every Sunday FDR used radio to broadcast
his ‘fire-side chats’ explaining his programs
– March 12, 1933: first chat focused on
banking
– Over 60 million Americans tuned in
– First time an American president used mass
media in this way
6. Fact File: The ‘Hundred Days’
– 4 March: Roosevelt inaugurated
– 5 March: closed banks
– 9 March: Selected banks reopened
– 12 March: Roosevelt’s first radio ‘fire-side
chat’. Encouraged Americans to put their
money back into the banks. Many did so.
– 31 March: The Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC) set up
– 12 May: The Agricultural Adjustment Act
(AAA) passed
– 18 May: The Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) created
– 18 June The National Industrial Recovery
(NIR) Act passed
7. Some New Deals
• Federal Emergency Relief Administration
– Tried to meet immediate needs of the poor
– $500 million for soup kitchens, blankets,
nursery schools, employment schemes
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
– Sought to employ young men
– Men signed up for six month tours of duty
– Environmental projects in national parks
– Most $$$ went to men’s families
– Employed 2.5 million men
• Agricultural Adjustment Admin. (AAA)
– Set quotas for cereals to slowly increase prices
– Also helped farmers modernize, conserve soil
– Extreme cases received mortgage help
– Overall, very good for farmers, though
modernization had unforeseen consequence of
putting more farm laborers out of work!
8. Some New Deals
• National Industrial Recovery Act
(NIRA) set up two organizations:
– Public Works Administration (PWA)
• Used gov’t $$$ to build schools, roads,
dams, bridges, airports
• Vital to future growth
• Employed millions of jobs in the short
term
– National Recovery Administration (NRA)
• Improved industrial working conditions
• Outlawed child labor
• Defined fair wages & sensible production
levels
• Sought to get $$$ in hands of workers w/o
overproducing goods & causing a slump
• Voluntary, w/ incentive (display NRA
symbol)
• Over 2 million employers joined
9.
10. The Tennessee Valley
• Tennessee Valley touched seven states
• Great physical problems
– Wet season: Tennessee River flooded
– Dry season: river reduced to trickle
– Farmland in valley was dust bowl
– Soil erosion turning valley to desert
• Great social problems
– T V folks lived in poverty
– Most had no electricity
– No one state could fix problems &
coordinating seven states was difficult
11. FDR Signs TVA Into Law
• FDR set up Tennessee Valley Authority
– Independent of states
– First goal to build dams to harness river
– Dams irrigated lands & produced electricity
– Created thousands of new jobs
• TVA still operates, producing electricity
at rates below the national average
12.
13.
14. Fact File: Achievements of the Hundred Days
• Above all, it restored confidence
and stopped investors pulling
money out of the banks
• Banking measures saved 20% of
home owners and farmers from
repossession
• Farmers were 50% better off under
AAA by 1936
• TVA brought electrical power to
underdeveloped areas
• Public Works Administration
created 600,000 jobs and built
landmarks like San Francisco’s
Golden Gate Bridge
15. A New Spirit
• The Hundred Days had an immediate effect
– Restored confidence in gov’t
– Reporters traveled the country, reported new
spirit seen around the country
– Historians agree that FDR’s bold & decisive
action did have a marked effect on the American
people
Frances Perkins
Secretary of Labor
