Chapter 22 Notes—FDR
I.
32nd President, ______________________—A distant cousin of former president Theodore Roosevelt. He
served as governor of New York before becoming the president in 1933. Roosevelt’s main goal was to end the
Great Depression. Despite the fact that he was usually wheelchair-bound (he was stricken with ___________ as
a child), his optimism & charm did much to convince Americans that they had ―nothing to _____but fear itself.‖
A. Roosevelt used ___________________________ that were informal radio speeches to the American People that
he thought was an important way to communicate w/the American People.
B. Roosevelt’s ___________________: The 3 R’s—Relief, Recovery, and Reform. Not until the presidency of
Roosevelt did the U. S. begin its long, slow recovery process. FDR’s New Deal policies and programs
drastically changed the federal government’s role in politics and society.
C. Roosevelt rallied the panicked Democratic majority in Congress and pushed for the passage of a bundle of
sweeping laws known collectively as the New Deal. Taking a calculated risk, Roosevelt structured the New
Deal policies around the untested theories of British economist _____________________, who believed that
planned deficit spending by the federal government could prime the economic _________ or Pump Priming &
jump-start the economy again. According to Keynes, putting people to work on public projects puts money in
the hands of consumers who will buy more goods, stimulating the economy.
D. During FDR’s terms in office in the 1930s, the federal government had unprecedented control over and direct
involvement in the daily lives of American people. Many critics denounced the New Deal, saying that the
policies were transforming the U.S. into a _______________ state. Indeed, the budget deficit skyrocketed every
year and the national debt more than doubled in just ten years.
E. The _________________—During Roosevelt’s First Hundred Days in office, he & Congress passed the bulk of
the legislation of the First New Deal. The first thing Roosevelt did was to declare a national ______________
so that banks could reopen the following week on more stable footing. The Emergency Banking Relief Act
gave the president control over exchange rates & all banking transactions & power to regulate the banking
system and foreign exchange. Congress passed the act, which was the first piece of New Deal legislation.
F.
The ________________________________ (FDIC) is to insure individual deposits with government money.
The FDIC helped restore the public’s confidence in banks, as many people had lost their savings when banks
failed after the stock market crash of 1929. The FDIC made sure that Americans would not lose their savings if
a bank ever collapsed again. The FDIC was one of the main New Deal programs designed to reform the
financial sector of the economy.
II. The ____________________The New Deal created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), Civil
Conservation Corps (CCC), the Public Works Administration (PWA), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA),
the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), & the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA).
A. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) was an administration created by Congress to help poor
________________. The AAA reset prices for agricultural commodities at their high, pre–World War I prices
and paid farmers subsidies to cut production.
B. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created to put millions of young men to work on conservation
projects throughout the U.S. CCC workers reforested timberlands, fought forest fires, built public roads, and
maintained public parks. The CCC was one of the most popular relief and recovery programs of the New Deal.
C. The Public Works Administration (PWA) was created to construct public roads, bridges, and buildings.
D. The __________________ Valley Authority (TVA) was a government agency specifically created to help the
Tennessee River valley, which was one of the poorest regions of the U.S. during and prior to the Great
Chapter 22 Notes—FDR
Depression. The TVA worked to modernize the region and reduce unemployment by hiring local workers to
construct dams and hydroelectric __________________________________.
E. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was an administration that Roosevelt and Congress
created to provide immediate economic relief. FERA distributed grants to state governments and individuals.
FERA distributed roughly $500 million to the states.
F.
The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was the federal government’s first attempt to revive the economy
as a whole. The bill was created to stimulate industrial production and improve competition by drafting
corporate codes of conduct. Also sought to limit production of consumer goods to drive up prices.
III. The ________________ New Deal addressed the problems with the elderly, the poor, and the unemployed. It
created new public-works projects, helped farmers, and made measures to protect workers’ rights.
A. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a government administration created to hire over 10 million
American men to construct public works projects such as _______________, bridges, and public buildings. The
WPA, one of the most significant programs created during the Second New Deal, helped provide immediate
relief for many Americans during the Great Depression.
1.
Examples of PWA & WPA Projects were the Ft. Worth Airport, Detroit __________________________,
Hoover Dam, City ______________________ in St. Louis, & the Golden Gate Bridge.
B. Roosevelt asked Congress to allow him to add as many as 6 new ____________________ justices (bringing the
total number to 15) and to give him the power to force justices over the age of seventy to retire. This move was
meant to effectively ―____________________‖ in the Supreme Court to prevent the Court from striking down
any more New Deal legislation. The American people, Republicans, and even some conservative members of
the president’s own party saw right through this ―court-packing scheme‖ and were rightly outraged by it. This
scheme backfired, as Roosevelt shocked supporters with his attempt at misusing his executive powers. The
president’s blatant disregard for the cherished separation of powers stunned even the American people.
C.
The _____________ was an act that legalized labor unions’ right to organize & bargain collectively. Collective
bargaining made employers negotiate w/unions about hours, wages, and other working conditions. The passage
of the act was a momentous day for American laborers & initiated a series of strikes throughout the country.
D. The Fair Labor Standards Act was a bill passed in 1938 to establish more rights for workers such as a national
minimum wage, child labor laws, and a ________________________ work week.
E.
Senator ________________ of Louisiana was another major thorn in Roosevelt’s side. Long was among those
who believed that the New Deal was not doing enough to help Americans. Believing that income inequality
had caused the depression, he promoted his own ―Share the Wealth‖ program which would levy enormous
taxes on the _______________ so that every American family could earn at least $5,000 a year. Long enjoyed
enormous popularity during the first few years of Roosevelt’s first term but was assassinated in 1935.
F.
__________________________________ created a federal retiree pension system for many workers,funded by
a double tax on every working American’s paycheck. The act also created an unemployment insurance plan to
provide temporary assistance to those who were out of work, while also making funds available to the blind &
physically disabled. This Act had an enormous impact on the era as it not only gave income to some of the most
deprived in society but also forever changed the way Americans thought about work and retirement.
IV. 1930’s Culture—The ___________Amendment was ratified to repeal the 18th Amendment, which had initiated
Prohibition. Movies such as the _______________, King Kong, Gone with the Wind and the _______________
comic book were all released in the 1930’s.