The New Deal

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Three R’s•Relief: To help people cope with the depression

•Recovery: To help end the depression.

•Reform: To prevent future economic problems

The Stock Market Crash

•Buying “on Margin”

•Insider Trading

•Over-valuing of stock

SolutionFederal Securities Act

Reform

Problem

Securities and Exchange Commission set up to enforce new government regulations of stock market.

Solution“Bank Runs”

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Emergency Banking Relief Act & Bank Holiday

Reform

Relief

Problem

Lack of Consumer Confidence in Banking System

Problems Solution“Hoovervilles”

People Can’t Afford Housing

Federal Housing AdministrationRelief/Recovery

Low demand for goods & services

Problem SolutionDust Bowl Farm Security Administration

Camp for Dust Bowl Refugees

ReliefDroughts in Mid-West cause

storms and ruin crops.

Problem SolutionAgricultural Adjustment Act

Farmers received subsidies in exchange for limiting production.

Overproduction

Overproduction of farm goods led to low prices. Some

farmers protested by dumping crops or burning them for fuel.

Recovery

ProblemsMassive Unemployment Extreme Poverty

•1/3 of population unemployed

•Families can’t pay rent

•Thousands migrate in search of better conditions

•Hunger & even starvation

Solutions: UnemploymentWorks Progress Administration (WPA)

Federal Theater Project

WPA Artist Sketches WPA Workers

Puts people to work on government projects.

Both manual and intellectual projects.

Federal Writers Project (Including Historians!)

Artists Paint Post Office Murals

Recovery

SolutionsCivilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

CCC Workers Build Fence in Greene, NY

Young people were given jobs doing conservation & recreation related projects. Local examples include some of the pavilions at Chenango Valley State Park.

Recovery

Problems Solution•Underdevelopment of South

•High Unemployment

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

TVA builds damns to provide electricity to rural South.

Construction and operation also provides work for unemployed.

Recovery

Problem SolutionFactory Closings Cause

UnemploymentNational Industrial

Recovery Act

Required industries to create codes regulating wages, hours, working conditions, & prices. It was designed to promote recovery by ending wage & price deflation.

Recovery

Problem SolutionLabor Disputes

A Sit-down Strike

National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)

Guaranteed workers the right to bargain collectively and form

unions w/out fear of punishment from management.

Reform

Problems SolutionSocial Security Act

Men signing up for social security.

•Old Age Pensions

•Aid to Disabled

•Encouraged states to provide matching benefits.

Poverty among elderly & disabled.

Relief