Chapter 23 Section 2

The New Deal’s Critics

American Liberty League

• Founded in 1934• Led opposition to New

Deal• Said New Deal limited

individual freedom• Unconstitutional• Said it resembled

Communism

What effects did the New Deal have on women and minorities?

• It allowed lower wages for their work and favored white males in job programs

• Federal relief programs in the South enforced racial segregation

• Social security excluded farmers and domestic workers– Primary areas where

African Americans and women worked

Why did the American Liberty League view the New Deal as unconstitutional and un-American?

• It felt the New Deal limited individual freedom too radically and that its mandatory programs resembled communism

Examine the picture on page 778. What message do you think the photographer was trying to communicate with this picture?

• All of the people on the billboard are white

• All of the people in the relief line are African American

• The photo might have been commenting on discrimination in New Deal relief programs

Examine the political cartoon on page 780. Does the cartoon favor or criticize the New Deal? Support your answer with details from the cartoon?

• The cartoon suggests that New Deal programs, represented by restraints on Uncle Sam, interfere with American freedoms and the free market. It is critical of the New Deal.

Why did Upton Sinclair and Robert La Follette believe that the New Deal did not go far enough?

• Sinclair believed that the nation’s entire economic system needed to be reformed along Socialist lines

• La Follette believed that wealth needed to be evenly distributed…also socialism

Demagogue

• Leaders who manipulate people with half-truths, deceptive promises, and scare tactics.

Identify 2 demagogues of the New Deal era. Briefly explain what each individual believed.

• Father Coughlin- Radio sermons against FDR& New Deal-wanted guaranteed income and nationalization of banks

• Huey Long- Senator from Louisiana

• Wanted to be President• Proposed “Share the

Wealth”/”Every Man a King” program– Give everyone a $2,500

annual income

• Long eventually assassinated

Nationalization

• Government takeover and ownership

Deficit Spending

• A nation spending more than it brings in

The Supreme Court Reacts

• FDR upset by Supreme Court rulings against the New Deal

• Afraid courts would rip apart New Deal• Proposed court reform• Allow FDR to appoint 6 new supreme court

justices

The Supreme Court Reacts

• FDR said it would make judiciary more effective

• Clearly designed to create a court more in favor of New Deal

• Labeled Court Packing Bill

The Supreme Court Reacts

• Congress and Press protest• Violation of judicial independence&

separation of powers• Hurt FDR’s public image

Supreme Court Reacts

• Court packing never happened• Never had to• 7 of the 9 justices either die or retire• FDR able to appoint 7 new justices anyway