The Presidential Election of 1932

Desperate America Elects FDR

✦ 1932 - FDR Wins !

✦ Electoral Votes - 472 - 59!

✦ Popular Votes - 23 Million - 16 Million

The Toll of the Depression on American Life

✦ 25% Unemployment up from 3.2% in 1929!✦ Significant wage losses!✦ The Stock market fell!✦ Banks Collapsing!✦ Businesses Failing!✦ Foreclosures were high!✦ Farmers were in dire straits!✦ Massive Strikes!✦ Schools Shut down (60 Days?)

Relief and Hope for Americans During the Depression

✦ Entertainment and Politics brought relief.!

✦ Movies from Hollywood!

✦ Radio Shows and Major League Baseball!

✦ Disillusioned with Hoover, the American people turned to FDR

The Rise of FDR

FDR’s Childhood and Early Political Career

✦ Raised by wealthy parents!✦ Hyde Park, New York!✦ Private tutors, toured Europe.!✦ Appeared snobby to classmates at Harvard!✦ Christian Values!✦ The wealthy are privileged and should help the poor.!✦ Practiced Private Law!✦ New York state senator !✦ Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy

From Polio to The Presidency

✦ August 1921 - Struck by polio!✦ Paralysis below the waist!✦ He never walked again!✦ Warm Springs, Georgia!✦ Two Terms as Governor of New York!

FDR’s Charisma

✦ Warmth and Confidence!

✦ Inspirational!

✦ “We Americans will rise from destruction; we Americans will conquer despair.”!

✦ Hope!

Inaguaral

The Beginning of the New Deal

Recovery During the First Hundred Days

✦ The New Deal!✦ Programs based on the needs of “the forgotten, the

unrecognized but the indispensable units of economic power...the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.” FDR!

✦ “Hundred Days”!✦ Emergency Banking Act!✦ Bank Holidays!✦ National Industrial Recovery Act

Direct Relief for People in Need

✦ FERA - Federal Emergency Relief Administration!

✦ AAA - Agricultural Adjustment Act!

The TVA

✦ Tennessee Valley Authority!

✦ Electrical Power in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and other states in the Tennessee Valley. !

✦ Flood Control, new factories and jobs, new professionals.

Reasons for the New Deal’s Early Success

✦ Both Parties were eager to do something to end the Depression. !

✦ The Brain Trust!

✦ “Fireside Chats”

Fireside Chat

✦ FDR’s First Fireside Chat

Work Programs

The CCC

✦ You saw an entire documentary on this...you should know what it was...

Modest Gains For Labor

✦ NIRA called for the government to monitor the practices of Big Business for violations of workers rights. !

✦ Collective Bargaining!

✦ Fair Labor Standards Act 1938

Praise for the New Deal

✦ Fan Mail!

✦ Industrial Workers!

✦ Farmers!

✦ Migrant Workers

Critics of the New Deal

Criticisms of the New Deal

✦ Little support for minorities!

✦ Tried to do too much for too many people for political gain.!

✦ Too much interference in people's lives.!

✦ Too little interference in people's lives.

The American Liberty League

✦ Opposed FDR!

✦ Mostly Big Business Leaders and conservative democrats!

✦ Formed on 1934!

✦ Feared FDR as a socialist!

✦ Claimed the new deal was excessive interference!

✦ "Citizens Army"

Farm Program Critics

✦ The AAA disposed of millions of pounds of pork that could have been used to feed the poor. !

✦ The AAA made things worse for small farmers

The Legacy of the New Deal

The Second Hundred Days✦ 1934-1935!✦ AKA SECOND NEW DEAL!✦ Public Works!✦ More protection for union organizers!✦ Huge Granaries!✦ Grants to artists and musicians!✦ Rural Electrification!✦ Old Age pensions (Social Security)

The Supreme Court Fight

✦ FDR had success in Congress, but the Supreme Court was another matter.!

✦ Laws preventing foreclosures, and laws that secured pensions for railway workers were judged to be unconstitutional. !

✦ Portions of NIRA (the centerpiece of the New Deal) struck down by the court.

The Supreme Court Fight✦ 1937 - FDR asks congress for the approval to add 6

more Judges to the Supreme Court. !✦ He claimed the judges were too old and slow to handle

the cases. !✦ This was too far. He offended Congress, The

Democratic Party, and the American People by attempting to “Pack the Court.”!

✦ From this point on, Congress opposed him more and more.

The Legacy✦ Came to a close in 1938.!✦ The role of the President was changed.!

✦ Centralization of power in the White House.!✦ The role of the Federal Government was changed. !

✦ It took on a more direct role in the lives of the people.!✦ It was the beginning of the “Welfare State”!✦ From here on, the Federal Government would not deny

that it had a responsibility to take care of the people.

The Legacy✦ Women took on a more influential role in the government. !

✦ Eleanor Roosevelt (Activist First Lady)!

✦ Frances Perkins (Secretary of Labor)!

✦ Mary McLeod Bethune (Head of the National Youth Administration.)!

✦ Social Security - Responsibility for old-age care falls on the government and individual employees.!

✦ Regulation of the Stock Market!

✦ Deficit Spending!

✦ Insured Banking Deposits.

Did the New Deal Work?✦ Partially…!

✦ Unemployment dropped every year from 1934 to 1937.!

✦ Business failures decreased during the 1930’s.!✦ Farmers benefited from government subsidies. !✦ Confidence in banks improved and stayed high. !✦ Millions of people were aided by New Deal

programs and policies

Did the New Deal Work?✦ However…!

✦ Unemployment was 19% in 1938.!✦ The GNP grew very slowly in the 1930’s!✦ Federal debt increased dramatically.!✦ Only WWII stimulated production enough to

create the required jobs.!✦ The unemployment rate dropped to 1.9% during

the war.

Last thoughts…✦ There are arguments to be made on both sides of the

New Deal. !✦ But you cannot deny that at the very least, Roosevelt

and the New Dealers should be applauded for taking bold actions and being creative in looking for solutions to the Great Depression. !

✦ Roosevelt himself should be respected for his genuine optimism in Americans, and a dedication to help his people “live…not as ostriches, nor dogs…[but as] members of the human community.