Monday - Notes
Hoover Moratorium
- One year halt on German war payments to France
- One year halt on war payments from Great Britain and France to the US
Mexican Repatriation
- Mexican immigrants were encouraged/forced to go back to Mexico
Revenue Act of 1932
- Increased taxes so US gov't had $$
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
- Raised tariffs to record levels
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
- Gave loans to banks, state and local govt's, and businesses to create projects/jobs for people
- Gave states loans for emergency relief needs
- Started under Hoover
- Not as successful as Hoover had hoped
- Dissolved in 1946 after WWII
Three Goals of New Deal (Three R's)
- Relief, Reform, and Recovery
- Relief for the needy
- Economic Recovery
- Financial Reform
FDR's Brain Trust
- FDR's group of smartest people in country as his advisers
What were some of the reasons the New Deal was challenged?
- Getting too powerful
- Gov't getting too big
- Unconstitutional
- Getting deep into debt
Tuesday
How Did the New Deal Help...
- Unemployed People - CCC, FERA, PWA, CWA
- Young People - CCC, NYA
- Banks - EBRA, FDIC
- Stock Market - Federal Securities Act, SEC
- Factory Workers - NIRA, NLRA(B), FLSA
- Farmers - AAA, TVA, FSA
- Homeowners - HOLC, FHA, USHA
- Elderly - SSA
- Consumers - FFDCA
- Native Americans - IRA
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
- The CCC was limited to young men age 18 to 25 whose fathers were on relief
- CCC members worked 40 hours a week and were paid $30 a month, with the requirement that $25 of that be sent home to family
- Members lived in camps, wore uniforms, and lived under military discipline
- The US Army operated the camps
National Youth Administration (NYA)
- Served 327,000 high school and college youth, who were paid $6 to $40 a month for "work study" projects at their schools
- It allowed thousands of young people to stay in school
- Another 155,000 boys and girls from relief families were paid $10 to $25 for part-time work that included job training
Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)
- FERA distributed more than 20 million dollars in direct aid to the unemployed
- This in turn would help the unemployed to find new jobs
- FERA had three primary objectives :
1) Direct relief measures
2) Provide work for employable people
3) Didnt catch it
Public Works Administration (PWA)
- Created as many jobs as possible in many different varieties
- Between 1933 and 1939, the PWA funded construction of more than 34,000 projects including airports, dams, aircraft carriers, bridges, etc.
- Was responsible for 70% of the new schools and 33% of the hospitals built between 1933-1939
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
- CWA did construction jobs (Dams, bridges, schools)
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Largest and most comprehensive New Deal Agency
- The WPA was a "make work" program that provided jobs and income to the employed during the GD
- WPA projects primarily employed unskilled workers in construction projects across the nation
- Created bridges, buildings, schools, dams, etc.
Emergency Banking Relief Act (EBRA)
- Passed in response to the thousands of banks that closed down
- Passed four days after FDR announced the Bank Holiday in his Fireside Chats, which closed banks down temporarily
- The EBRA would close down the bank, reorganize it and the reopen the bank when it was stable
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
- Insured people's money in banks up to $1,000 (today up to $250,000)
- Passed in response to the bank failures after the stock market crash
- Insures money in savings and checking accounts, money market accounts and CD's
Wednesday
Federal Securities Act
- Made the stock market a safer place for people to invest their money
- Two goals :
1) "required that investors receive significant information regarding securities being offered for public sale"
2) "prohibited deceit, misrepresentations, and other fraud in the sale of securities to the public"
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- This organization regulates the stock market
- Made the market more secure and safer for people's money
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
- Established "codes of fair competition" aimed at supporting prices and wages and stimulating economic recovery from the GD
- The law created a National Recovery Administration (NRA) to enforce codes
- The NRA tried to make voluntary agreements with business's dealing with hours of work, rates of pay, and fixing of prices
- Businesses which voluntarily complies could display the Blue Eagle
- The NIRA also helped create jobs for unemployed workers
- Section 7A guaranteed worker the right to unionize
National Labor Relations Act/Board (NLRA(B)
- Conducts elections for unions
- Stresses collective bargaining
- Investigates and fixes unfair labor practices
- Governed by a five-person board whose members are appointed by the President
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- Established a national minimum wage - 40 cents/hour
- Established the 40 hour work week
- Guaranteed time and a half for overtime in certain jobs
- Prohibited Child Labor
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
- Restricted production by paying farmers to reduce the amount of crops planted
- Its purpose was to reduce crop surplus so prices would go up
- The farmers were paid by the federal government for leaving some of their land untilled
- The AAA oversaw a large-scale destruction of existing crops and livestock in an attempt to reduce surpluses
- Six million pigs and 220,000 sows were slaughtered in the AAA's effort to raise prices
- Controversial, but super effective
- Farm prices doubled in the first two years
- Supreme Court found it unconstitutional
Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act
- Allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production so as to "conserve soil" and prevent erosion
- It was a piece of legislation passed in response to the Supreme Court's declaration that the AAA was unconstitional
- Educated farmers on how to use their lands without damaging them
- Took immediate action to contain the dust bowl
- Three years after the act was adopted, soil erosion had dropped 65%
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
- Created to generate electric power and control floods in a seven state region around the Tennessee River Valley
Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
- Set up electricity to people across the US
Farm Security Administration (FSA)
- Granted small farmers money to purchase farms
- FSA documented the struggles of farmers
- Sometimes took people from the city and set them up in a cooperative farming community
Thursday
Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
- Set up electricity to people across the US
Farm Security Administration (FSA)
- Granted small farmers money to purchase farms
- FSA documented the struggles of farmers
- Sometimes took people from the city and set them up in a cooperative farming community
Home Owner's Loan Corporation (HOLC)
-It was used to extend loans from shorter, expensive payments to the lower payments of the 30 year loans
Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
- The goals of this organization was to improve housing standards and conditions and to provide an adequate home financing system
United States Housing Authority (USHA)
- It was designed to lend money to the states or communities for low-cost home construction
- Homes were designed for low-income and homeless people
Social Security Administration (SSA)
- Provides retirement, disability, and survivor's benefits
- To qualify for these benefits, most Americans workers pay Social Security taxes on earnings
- Future benefits are based on employee's contributions
- Each person is given a Social Security number
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA)
- Gave the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate these industries
- Mandates a review of the safety of all new drugs before going to market
- Banned false therapeutic claims in drug labeling
- Authorized factory inspections
Indian Reorganization Act (IRA)
- Abolished the Dawes Act and allowed Native Americans to govern themselves on a tribal bases
- Allowed Native Americans to manage and keep their own land
- Included provisions to help create job opportunities on Indian Reservations. This has led to many casinos on Indian Reservations
- The Act is still around today
Friday
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