The Great Depression
FDR was elected with his program of the New Deal. The New Deal promised:
1) Government control/restraint of industry
2) Government promotion of business interests
3) Government promotion of interests of labor and lower classes.
The first thing he did was to introduce banking legislation. The banks were closed and the FDIC was established. This would regulate banks and federally insure banks. Businessmen run the FDIC.
The National Recovery Administration (NRA) http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USARnra.htm regulates industry though a government board with representatives of government/labor and business. Businessmen did not appreciate the government involvement and brought the program before the Supreme Court which declared it unconstitutional. The Supreme Court did not approve many of the programs of the New Deal, to the point where FDR tried to introduce legislation that would allow the president to add a new justice for any that had attained the age of 75. http://newdeal.feri.org/court/toons.htm. While it didn't pass, the Supreme Court did not declare the next act unconstitutional.
Agriculture Adjustment Act (AAA) - designed to raise prices of agriculture through the subsidized land. It favored large farmers who had more land and equipment. They could produce more on less land and subsidize the farmer for not growing on all the acreage. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USARagriculture.htm
Other programs include:
Civilian Conservation Corp. (CCC) http://www.cccalumni.org/history1.html
Civil Works Administration (CWA) http://content.lib.washington.edu/civilworksweb/index.html
Works Progress Administration (WPA) http://www.wwcd.org/policy/US/newdeal.html, http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/depwwii/newdeal/thewpa.html
Public Works Administration (PWA) http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/pwa.htm
Rural Electrification Act (REA) http://newdeal.feri.org/tva/tva10.htm
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) http://www.tva.gov/
Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) - low interest rates and a longer period to pay. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0824046.html
Federal Housing Administration (FHA)- Insured banks against losses of loans for repair and rebuilding. Most could still not take advantage of it. http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/fhahistory.cfm
Three out of the 10 million unemployed were helped by these agencies. They provided temporary relief and service.
The Social Security Act of 1935 included
- Old Age Pension
- Welfare to the Handicapped
- Unemployment Insurance
http://www.ssa.gov/history/
The SEC was developed to protect investors in the stock market. http://www.sec.gov/about/whatwedo.shtml
Corporate liberalism passing to government to be responsible for social welfare. They did not do much to stimulate economic recovery.
LABOR
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/bus/A0859880.html
- determined which union had the right to negotiate
- arbitration board
- settled more than 4/5 of the 3766 disputes and avoided 500 strikes.
1937 Fair Labor Standards Act - work week 44 hours.
1938 Work Week reduced to 40 hours, and a minimum wage scale
Fair Employment Practices Act
- counteract racial discrimination in industries with contracts with government.
- deficit spending - government spending more than it had.
Wagner Act - guaranteed right of labor to organize, bargain collectively and engage in concerted activities for mutual aid.
1937-1938 Recession measures adopted stopped further economic crisis.
Lewis establishes the CIO under the AFL (Committee for the Industrial Organization) for unskilled labor. CIO encouraged the inclusion of blacks. CIO expelled from AFL and became the Congress of Industrial Organizations. In 1940 it's membership was 3.6 million.
http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/history/history/links.cfm
Sit down strikes were tried but declared illegal in 1939.
FAILURE OF NEW DEAL
1936-1937 - Recession
Roosevelt changed in order to preserve. There was a desire to publicly regulate the system. It improved the corporate image. Corporate liberalism became an important part of the system. Strikes accomplished a lot, stimulated but did not control situation--more rhetoric than progress. Employers gave enough to pacify, but not enough to change.