29. The New Deal
US.49 Identify and explain the following New Deal programs and assess their past or present impact: (E, H, P, TN) Works Progress Administration, Social Security, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Securities and Exchange Commission, Fair Labor Standards Act, Agricultural Adjustment Acts, Civilian Conservation Corps, National Recovery Administration and NIRA, Tennessee Valley Authority, Cumberland Homesteads, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
US.51 Citing evidence from maps, photographs and primary source documents, analyze the development of TVA on Tennessee’s rural geography economy, and culture, and debate the issues of the Norris Dam and Dale Hollow Lake controversies. (C, E, G, P, TN)
29. (US.49,50,51) New Deal Programs & Controversies
a. FDR & the New Deal
b. WPA
c. Social Security
d. FDIC
e. Securities and Exchange Commission
f. Fair Labor Standards Act
g. Agricultural Adjustment Acts
h. CCC
i. NRA and NIRA
j. Cumberland Homesteads
k. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
l. The TVA
m. Socialism Charges & Court Packing Accusations against FDR
29A. FDR & the New Deal
Hoover was challenged in the presidential election of 1932 by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York. Roosevelt's Democrats pointed the finger of blame for the Great Depression at Hoover and the policies of the Republicans. In the end, Roosevelt's victory was a landslide. He won by almost 20% of the popular vote, and held 472 electoral votes over Hoover's 59. Soon after taking office,
Roosevelt told the country, “This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Roosevelt vowed to "put people to work.”
In a nation that had seen one bank failure after another, Roosevelt promised "strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments...an end to speculation with other people's money and...provision for an adequate but sound currency."
Roosevelt took action on supervising banking by closing banks nationwide for four days shortly after his inauguration. Once reopened, he told Americans "that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress." Roosevelt assured the country, "The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action.”
That action would take shape as the New Deal.
29B. Works Projects Administration (WPA)
The Works Projects Administration (WPA) was the largest and most ambitious American New Deal agency, employing millions of people (mostly unskilled men) to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings, parks and roads. Almost every community in the United States had a new park, bridge or school constructed by the agency.
29C. Social Security
The Social Security Act was passed in 1935 and it created the Social Security Administration as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits. To qualify for most of these benefits, most workers pay Social Security taxes on their earnings; a person’s benefits are based on their contributions (the more you pay in the more you get back). Other benefits such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are given based on need.
29D. FDIC
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a United States government corporation providing deposit insurance to depositors in U.S. commercial banks and savings institutions. The FDIC was created by the 1933 Banking Act, enacted during the Great Depression to restore trust in the American banking system. More than one-third of banks failed in the years before the FDIC's creation, and bank runs were common. The insurance limit was initially US$2,500 per ownership category, and this was increased several times over the years. Since the passage of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2011, the FDIC insures deposits in member banks up to US$250,000 per ownership category.
The FDIC and its reserves are not funded by public funds; member banks' insurance dues are the FDIC's primary source of funding. The FDIC also has a US$100 billion line of credit with the United States Department of the Treasury. Only banks are insured by the FDIC; credit unions are insured up to the same insurance limit by the National Credit Union Administration, which is also a government agency.
As of the end of 2017, the FDIC provided deposit insurance at 5,670 institutions. The FDIC also examines and supervises certain financial institutions for safety and soundness, performs certain consumer-protection functions, and manages receiverships of failed banks.
29E. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government. The SEC holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws, proposing securities rules, and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other activities and organizations, including the electronic securities markets in the United States.
In addition to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which created it, the SEC enforces the Securities Act of 1933, the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002, and other statutes. The SEC was created by Section 4 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (now codified as 15 U.S.C. § 78d and commonly referred to as the Exchange Act or the 1934 Act).
29F. Fair Labor Standards Act
29G. Agricultural Adjustment Act
29H. CCC
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men. Originally for young men ages 18–25, it was eventually expanded to ages 17–28.[1] Robert Fechner was the first director of the agency, succeeded by James McEntee following Fechner's death. The CCC was a major part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal that provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state, and local governments. The CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men and to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States. Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000. Through the course of its nine years in operation, 3 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a wage of $30 (about $570 in 2017[2]) per month ($25 of which had to be sent home to their families).[3]
The American public made the CCC the most popular of all the New Deal programs.[4] Sources written at the time claimed[5] an individual's enrollment in the CCC led to improved physical condition, heightened morale, and increased employability. The CCC also led to a greater public awareness and appreciation of the outdoors and the nation's natural resources, and the continued need for a carefully planned, comprehensive national program for the protection and development of natural resources.[6]
Enrollees of the CCC planted nearly 3 billion trees to help reforest America; constructed trails, lodges, and related facilities in more than 800 parks nationwide; and upgraded most state parks, updated forest fire fighting methods, and built a network of service buildings and public roadways in remote areas.[7]
The CCC operated separate programs for veterans and Native Americans. Approximately 15,000 Native Americans participated in the program, helping them weather the Great Depression.[9]
Despite its popular support, the CCC was not a permanent agency. It depended on emergency and temporary Congressional legislation and funding to operate. By 1942, with World War II and the draft in operation, the need for work relief declined, and Congress voted to close the program.[10]
29I. NRA & NIRA
29J. Cumberland Homesteads
29K. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site that straddles the ridge line of the Great Smoky Mountains, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain. The border between Tennessee and North Carolina runs northeast to southwest through the center line of the park. Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited national park in the United States with over 11.3 million recreational visitors in 2016.
The Appalachian Trail passes through the center of the park on its route from Maine to Georgia. The park was chartered by the United States Congress in 1934 and officially dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940.
The park encompasses 522,419 acres (816.28 sq. mi.), making it one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States. The main park entrances are located along U.S. Highway 441 (Newfound Gap Road) at the towns of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Cherokee, North Carolina. Great Smoky Mountains was the first national park whose land and other costs were paid for in part with federal funds as part of the New Deal.