Study guide: THE GREAT DEPRESSION PART 2

📋 Course Outline

1. Roosevelt election and New Deal goals
2. Banking crisis and Hundred Days emergency powers
3. First New Deal: confidence, finance and economy
4. Alphabet agencies: CCC, FERA and WPA
5. Second New Deal: opposition and Supreme Court
6. Second New Deal: labor, farmers and welfare reforms
7. New Deal results: successes and failures

📖 1. Roosevelt election and New Deal goals

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• New Deal: A set of Roosevelt’s policies aimed at relief, recovery, and reform to address the Great Depression.
• Relief: A New Deal step focused on helping poor and unemployed people survive the crisis.
• Recovery: A New Deal step aimed at restarting the economy and restoring economic activity.
• Reform: A New Deal step meant to change systems so a depression like the one experienced would not happen again.
• Landslide victory: A type of election result where one candidate wins overwhelmingly across many states.

📝 Essential Points

• Roosevelt promised ‘a new deal for the American people’ in the November 1932 election.
• Roosevelt won 42 of the 48 states, described as the biggest election victory of all time.
• Roosevelt’s New Deal had three related steps: Relief, Recovery, and Reform.
• Relief targets survival for the poor and unemployed rather than long-term restructuring.
• After 1935, Roosevelt shifted toward a more radical agenda of social reform.

💡 Memory Hook

Relief = survive, Recovery = restart, Reform = prevent the repeat.

📖 2. Banking crisis and Hundred Days emergency powers

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Banking crisis: A collapse risk in the financial system marked by mass withdrawals and bank closures.
• Hundred Days: The emergency period when Roosevelt received special powers to pass major Depression legislation.
• Emergency powers: Special authority granted to Roosevelt to act quickly during the early crisis period.
• Bank holidays: Temporary closures used to restore confidence while the government checked banks.

📝 Essential Points

• Before Roosevelt took office (March 1933), the economy declined further and culminated in a banking crisis.
• At the beginning of March, millions marched into banks demanding their money in gold.
• Banks in 34 states closed during the crisis.
• The entire financial system was described as being on the verge of collapse.
• Roosevelt persuaded Congress to grant emergency powers from 9 March to 16 June 1933, called the ‘Hundred Days’.

💡 Memory Hook

Hundred Days = 9 Mar–16 Jun emergency action to stop the bank panic.

📖 3. First New Deal: confidence, finance and economy

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• First New Deal: The early phase of Roosevelt’s New Deal focused on relief and economic recovery before the later social-reform turn.
• Confidence measures: Policies designed to restore public trust in government and financial institutions.
• Stock Exchange rules: New regulations intended to stabilize markets and reassure the public.
• Budget control: A fiscal approach requiring spending to stay within tax revenues.
• Gold in banks: A policy idea involving gold being deposited in banks to support stability.

📝 Essential Points

• The First New Deal combined relief with efforts to get the economy recovering.
• Roosevelt used confidence-building steps such as abolishing prohibition.
• Bank holidays were used until the government checked all banks to restore people’s confidence to return money.
• Roosevelt introduced new rules for the Stock Exchange as part of restoring trust.
• Roosevelt believed the economy needed strength through budget control and gold deposited in banks.

💡 Memory Hook

Confidence first: repeal prohibition, bank holidays, then market rules.

📖 4. Alphabet agencies: CCC, FERA and WPA

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Alphabet agencies: Federal programs whose names became acronyms, created to provide relief and jobs during the Depression.
• CCC: The Civilian Conservation Corps, providing paid conservation work for unemployed young men.
• FERA: The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, providing matched funding to help states pay the unemployed and homeless.
• WPA: The Works Progress Administration, running projects that provided work for unemployed people.

📝 Essential Points

• CCC provided paid conservation work to give unemployed young men jobs.
• FERA provided matched funding so states could organize payments to the unemployed and homeless.
• WPA ran projects such as building airports, schools, hospitals, or bridges.
• WPA jobs paid a small wage and aimed to make workers feel valuable.
• Alphabet agencies are described as doing valuable work through large public projects.

💡 Memory Hook

CCC = conservation jobs, FERA = funds for relief, WPA = works projects.

📖 5. Second New Deal: opposition and Supreme Court

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Second New Deal: The later phase of Roosevelt’s New Deal, marked by stronger social reforms and growing opposition.
• NRA: The National Recovery Administration, a program challenged in court.
• AAA: The Agricultural Adjustment Act, another program challenged in court.
• Supreme Court opposition: Judicial resistance when the Supreme Court invalidated key New Deal measures.

📝 Essential Points

• In 1935, the New Deal remained popular but faced opposition.
• The Supreme Court ruled the NRA illegal.
• The Supreme Court ruled the AAA illegal.
• The Court’s reason was that these measures took away states’ right to manage their own affairs.
• Some businessmen attacked and ignored the NRA as expensive and wasteful.

💡 Memory Hook

Court vs. states: NRA and AAA struck down for removing state control.

📖 6. Second New Deal: labor, farmers and welfare reforms

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• National Labour Relations Act: A 1935 law protecting workers’ rights to join trade unions and creating a labor board.
• Soil Conservation Act: A 1935 law allowing continued government subsidies for farmers.
• Social Security Act: A 1935 law creating America’s first national system of social welfare.
• National Housing Act: A 1937 law providing loans for houses and reducing excessive rents.
• Fair Labour Standards Act: A 1938 law setting work hours and conditions and establishing a minimum wage.

📝 Essential Points

• The National Labour Relations Act (1935) protected workers’ right to join a trade union.
• The National Labour Relations Act (1935) set up the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB).
• The Soil Conservation Act (1935) allowed the government to continue subsidising farmers.
• The Social Security Act (1935) created national old-age pensions.
• The Social Security Act (1935) also covered help for people with physical disabilities, children in need, and unemployment insurance.
• The National Housing Act (1937) provided loans to buy houses and reduced excessive rents.

💡 Memory Hook

Labor = unions (NLRA), Farmers = soil subsidies, Welfare = Social Security, Housing = loans, Work = fair standards.

📖 7. New Deal results: successes and failures

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Roosevelt recession: A new downturn in 1937 described as a recession linked to the New Deal period.
• Alphabet agencies projects: Public works carried out by the CCC/FERA/WPA type programs, often building schools, roads, and hospitals.

📝 Essential Points

• Success: Roosevelt restored confidence in the American people.
• Success: Millions were given work in government projects.
• Success: Alphabet agencies carried out valuable work such as building schools, roads, and hospitals.
• Success: Roosevelt rescued the banking system from collapse and saved capitalism.
• Failure: A new recession occurred in 1937, called the ‘Roosevelt recession’.
• Failure: Unemployment was not conquered and many jobs were only temporary.

💡 Memory Hook

Wins: confidence + jobs + saved banking; Losses: 1937 recession + unemployment not solved.

📅 Key Dates

1. November 1932Roosevelt promised ‘a new deal for the American people’ in the election.
2. March 1933Roosevelt took office after the economy declined further and banking crisis culminated.
3. 9 March to 16 June 1933Emergency powers period called the ‘Hundred Days’.
4. 1935Second New Deal era began with major social reform measures and Supreme Court opposition.
5. 1936Run up to the election after which Roosevelt followed a more radical reform agenda.
6. 1937‘Roosevelt recession’ occurred and the National Housing Act was passed.
7. 1938Fair Labour Standards Act set hours, conditions, and a minimum wage.

📊 Synthesis Tables

New Deal phases

⚠️ Common Pitfalls & Confusions

1. Confusing Relief, Recovery, and Reform: Relief is survival help, Recovery restarts the economy, Reform changes rules to prevent repeat depressions.
2. Mixing up the alphabet agencies: CCC is conservation jobs, FERA is matched relief funding to states, and WPA runs large public works projects.
3. Assuming the Supreme Court rejected all New Deal laws: the source specifies the NRA and AAA were ruled illegal for taking away states’ control.
4. Thinking the Second New Deal only involved labor: it also included farmers’ subsidies, welfare reforms, housing loans, and work standards.
5. Believing the New Deal eliminated unemployment: the source says unemployment was not conquered and many jobs were temporary.

✅ Exam Checklist

1. State Roosevelt’s three-step New Deal framework and what each step aims to do.
2. Recall Roosevelt’s 1932 election result (42 of 48 states) and the promise tied to it.
3. Describe the March 1933 banking crisis mechanism (gold withdrawals) and the scale of bank closures (34 states).
4. Give the dates and purpose of the ‘Hundred Days’ emergency powers.
5. List at least three confidence measures used in the First New Deal (prohibition abolition, bank holidays with checks, Stock Exchange rules).
6. Explain Roosevelt’s approach to finance and economy in the First New Deal (budget control and gold deposited in banks).
7. Match CCC, FERA, and WPA to their functions and at least one example of what they did.
8. Identify the Supreme Court opposition in the Second New Deal (NRA and AAA ruled illegal) and the stated reason (loss of states’ right to manage affairs).
9. Summarize the labor, farmers, and welfare reforms: NLRA/NLRB, Soil Conservation Act, Social Security Act, and what each provided.
10. Recall the housing and work reforms: National Housing Act (loans and rent reduction) and Fair Labour Standards Act (hours/conditions and minimum wage).
11. Evaluate New Deal outcomes by listing at least two successes and two failures, including the 1937 ‘Roosevelt recession’ and the temporary nature of many jobs.