Second New Deal

1. The Second New Deal
The New Deal
1933-1940

2. Questions of the Day
What key programs were created in the Second Hundred Days?
Why did critics of the first New Deal favor the Second New Deal?
What was the National Labor Relations Board empowered to do?
What is the advantage of a sit-down strike vs. a traditional
strike?
What were the major differences between the AFL and the CIO?
How did the election of 1936 show support for the New Deal?
What events made 1937 a troubled year for President
Roosevelt?

3. The Second Hundred Days
Election of 1934, 3/4 of Congress =
Democrats
Courts kept finding parts of New Deal
unconstitutional
Economy wasn’t recovering
People wanted more

4. The Second New Deal
Spring 1935 - Roosevelt launched the Second
New Deal
During time called Second Hundred Days
Extended government oversight of banks
Raised taxes on the wealthy
Funded new relief programs

5. Works Progress Administration
Roosevelt believed people should work for pay
1935 - Created Work Progress Administration (WPA)
Largest peacetime jobs program in US history
Employed 3.4 million formerly jobless
Built roads, subways, airports, zoos
Funded artists, writers, actors, composers
Earning a paycheck vs. getting a handout lifted
people’s spirits

6. Social Security
August 1935 passed Social Security Act
Created a pension (guaranteed, regular
payments) for people 65+
•Retirees didn’t have to fear hunger, homelessness if
too old to work
Provided unemployment insurance
•Gave people who lost jobs financial support while they
looked for work

7. Social Security
Response to critics that wanted help for older
Americans
Passed new taxes to fund the program
Taxed workers and employers
Didn’t want to increase taxes too much, so many
people were left out

8. Reviving Organized Labor
NIRA moved organized labor forward
Allowed to form unions, bargain collectively
Businesses ignored new rights of laborers
Unions lost numerous strikes in 1934
Labor related violence increased
NIRA weakened in Schechter vs. U.S.

9. The Wagner Act
Roosevelt supported the Wagner Act
aka National Labor Relations Act
Outlawed anti-labor practices
Established National Labor Relations Board (NLBR)
•Conduct voting in workplaces to determine whether
employees wanted union representation
•Require businesses to accept voting results
Organized labor membership soared

10. AFL vs. CIO
American Federation of
Labor
Collection of smaller
unions of skilled
workers
Organized by their
specific craft
Looked down on
unskilled workers
Committee for Industrial
Organization
Started by John L. Lewis
Broke away from AFL
Fiery speaker, organizer
Mostly unskilled workers

11. GM Sit-Down Strike
1936 - United Auto
Workers (part of CIO)
launch sit-down strike
at GM plant in MI
Workers required to
stay day and night
inside the factory until
dispute is resolved
Why is this more difficult
to deal with?

12. GM Sit-Down Strike
State government refused to help
Shutdown cost GM millions per week in sales
Workers prevailed & after 6 weeks, GM gave in
Huge victory for labor and CIO
Recognized CIO as major force in organized labor
Unions continued to grow
By 1940, 1/4 of American workforce belonged to unions

13. Rural Electrification Act
Created the Rural Electrification Administration
Loaned money to farm cooperatives & other
groups to bring electricity to rural dwellers
Under REA the number of rural homes with
electricity grew from 10% to 90% in 10 years

14. Roosevelt Re-elected
Campaigned on solid
record of achievement
Unemployment
decreased by half
Income, earnings
increased
New Deal programs
gave help and hope to
millions
No real competition
Roosevelt spoke
against big business to
win Union Party favor
Republicans attacked
him for creating a
“planned economy”
Roosevelt won easily

15. Voter Changes
For the first time,
African Americans in
the North voted for a
Democrat
A shift in loyalty that
continues today

16. Determination Turns to Disaster
Proposed plan to
reorganize the court
system
Gave the president
power to:
Appoint new judges
Expand supreme court
by up to 6 justices
To make courts more
“efficient”
People saw it as an
attempt to “pack” the
Supreme Court with
support for Roosevelt
Threatened balance of
power
Even supporters turned
against him

19. Moving Forward
1937 Farm Tenancy Act: gave sharecroppers
and tenants a chance to buy land of their own
A group hurt by the cutbacks of the AAA
Supreme Court ruled in favor of many New
Deal programs
Law requiring minimum wage for workers
Wagner Act
Social Security plan

20. 1937 - Another Downturn
Stock market dropped, 2 million jobs lost
Wanted to cut spending b/c of growing deficit
Deficit: when government spends more money than it
receives through taxes or other income
Instead, sought money to help unemployed
Supported by John Maynard Keynes - economist who
argued that deficit spending could provide jobs and
stimulate the economy
Economy started to rebound by summer 1938

23. For Next Class…
Review