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{{short description|Economic programs of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt}}
{{Short description|1930s programs of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt}}
{{About|the United States economic program}}
{{About|the United States economic program and public services program}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Distinguish|Green New Deal}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2012}}
{{very long|date=November 2024}}{{Infobox event
| title = New Deal
{{Infobox event
| image = NewDeal.jpg
|title=New Deal
| image_size = 300px
|image=NewDeal.jpg
| caption = {{flat list|
|image_size=350px
*Top left: Signing of the [[Tennessee Valley Authority Act]], 1933
|caption=Top left: The TVA signed into law in 1933<br>Top right: President Roosevelt led the New Dealers;<br>Bottom: A public mural from arts program
*Top right: President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
|location=United States
*Bottom: [[Works Progress Administration]] public mural
|type=[[Economic Programs (United States)|Economic program]]
|cause=[[Great Depression]]
|organizers=President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
|outcome=Reform of Wall Street; relief for farmers and unemployed; Social Security; political power shifts to Democratic New Deal Coalition; [[New Deal#Legacy|Disputed]]/[[Great Depression in the United States#Facts and figures|slow economic recovery]]
}}
}}
| location = United States
{{Progressivism}}
| type = [[Economic Programs (United States)|Economic program]]
The '''New Deal''' was hi ytc students, [[Public works|public work projects]], financial reforms, and [[regulations]] enacted by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in the [[United States]] between 1933 and 1936. It responded to needs for relief, reform, and recovery from the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]]. Major federal programs included the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] (CCC), the [[Civil Works Administration]] (CWA), the [[Farm Security Administration]] (FSA), the [[National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933]] (NIRA) and the [[Social Security Administration]] (SSA). They provided support for farmers, the unemployed, youth and the elderly. The New Deal included new constraints and safeguards on the banking industry and efforts to re-inflate the economy after prices had fallen sharply. New Deal programs included both laws passed by [[Congress]] as well as presidential executive orders during the first term of the [[presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt]].
| cause = [[Great Depression]]
| organizers = [[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
| outcome =
*Job creation, social security, financial reforms, and agricultural support
*Expanded labor rights and unions
*Political power shifts to [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]'s [[New Deal coalition]]
}}
{{Franklin D. Roosevelt series}}
The '''New Deal''' was a series of domestic programs, [[Public works|public work projects]], and financial reforms and regulations enacted by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in the [[United States]] between 1933 and 1938, with the aim of addressing the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]], which began in 1929. Roosevelt introduced the phrase upon accepting the 1932 [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] presidential nomination, and won the election in a landslide over [[Herbert Hoover]], whose administration was viewed by many as doing too little to help those affected. It was widely believed that the depression was caused by inherent [[market instability]], and that massive government intervention was necessary to stabilize and rationalize the economy.


The programs focused on what historians refer to as the "3 Rs": relief for the [[unemployment benefit|unemployed]] and poor, recovery of the economy back to normal levels of tush and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat [[Great Depression|depression]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Carol Berkin|title=Making America, Volume 2: A History of the United States: Since 1865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p4B4QkdkTJsC&pg=PT273|year=2011|publisher=Cengage Learning|pages=629–632|isbn=978-0495915249|display-authors=etal}}</ref> The New Deal produced a political realignment, making the [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] the majority (as well as the party that held the White House for seven out of the nine presidential terms from 1933 to 1969) with its base in liberal ideas, the South, traditional Democrats, big city machines and the newly empowered labor unions and ethnic minorities. The [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] were split, with conservatives opposing the entire New Deal as hostile to business and economic growth and liberals in support. The realignment crystallized into the [[New Deal coalition]] that dominated presidential elections into the 1960s while the opposing [[conservative coalition]] largely controlled Congress in domestic affairs from 1937 to 1964.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hyman |first1=Louis |title=The New Deal Wasn’t What You Think |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/03/surprising-truth-about-roosevelts-new-deal/584209/?utm_source=feed |publisher=The Atlantic |accessdate=7 March 2019}}</ref>
During [[First 100 days of the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency|Roosevelt's first hundred days]] in office in 1933 until 1935, he introduced what historians refer to as the "First New Deal", which focused on the "3 R's": [[Unemployment benefit|relief for the unemployed]] and for the poor, recovery of the economy back to normal levels, and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.<ref>{{cite book |author=Carol Berkin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p4B4QkdkTJsC&pg=PT273 |title=Making America, Volume 2: A History of the United States: Since 1865 |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-495-91524-9 |pages=629–632 |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Roosevelt declared a four-day [[bank holiday]] and implemented the [[Emergency Banking Act of 1933|Emergency Banking Act]], which enabled the [[Federal Reserve]] to insure bank deposits; this was made permanent with [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] (FDIC). Other laws established the [[National Recovery Administration]] (NRA), which allowed industries to create "codes of fair competition"; the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission|Securities and Exchange Commission]] (SEC), which protected investors from abusive [[stock market]] practices; and the [[Agricultural Adjustment Administration]] (AAA), which raised rural incomes by controlling production. Public works were undertaken in order to find jobs for the unemployed (25 percent of the workforce when Roosevelt took office): the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] (CCC) enlisted young men for manual labor on government land, and the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] (TVA) promoted electricity generation and other forms of economic development in the drainage basin of the [[Tennessee River]].

Although the First New Deal helped many find work and restored confidence in the financial system, by 1935 stock prices were still below pre-Depression levels and unemployment still exceeded 20 percent. From 1935 to 1938, the "Second New Deal" introduced further legislation and additional agencies which focused on job creation and on improving the conditions of the elderly, workers, and the poor. The [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA) supervised the construction of bridges, libraries, parks, and other facilities, while also investing in the arts; the [[National Labor Relations Act of 1935|National Labor Relations Act]] guaranteed employees the right to organize [[Labor unions in the United States|trade unions]]; and the [[Social Security Act]] introduced pensions for senior citizens and benefits for the disabled, mothers with dependent children, and the unemployed. The [[Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938|Fair Labor Standards Act]] prohibited "oppressive" child labor, and enshrined a [[Eight-hour day movement|40-hour work week]] and national minimum wage.

In 1938, the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] gained seats in Congress and joined with conservative Democrats to block further New Deal legislation, and some of it was declared unconstitutional by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]]. The New Deal produced a political realignment, reorienting the Democratic Party's base to the [[New Deal coalition]] of [[Labor history of the United States|labor unions]], blue-collar workers, [[Political machine|big city machines]], racial minorities (most importantly African-Americans), white Southerners, and intellectuals. The realignment crystallized into a powerful [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]] coalition which dominated presidential elections into the 1960s, as an opposing [[conservative coalition]] largely controlled Congress in domestic affairs from 1937 to 1964. Historians still debate the effectiveness of the New Deal programs, although most accept that [[full employment]] was not achieved until [[World War II]] began in 1939.


==Summary of First and Second New Deal programs==
==Summary of First and Second New Deal programs==
The First New Deal (1933–1934) dealt with the pressing banking crisis through the [[Emergency Banking Act]] and the [[1933 Banking Act]]. The [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]] (FERA) provided {{US$|500 million}} (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|500000000|1933|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|USD}}) for relief operations by states and cities, and the short-lived CWA gave locals money to operate [[make-work job|make-work]] projects from 1933 to 1934.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Edwin "Eddie" Harrell|title=Unto A Good Land: A History Of The American People|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ssSHokISMd8C&pg=PA902|year=2005|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans|page=902|isbn=978-0-8028-3718-9|display-authors=etal}}</ref> The [[Securities Act of 1933]] was enacted to prevent a repeated stock market crash. The controversial work of the [[National Recovery Administration]] (NRA) was also part of the First New Deal.
By 1936, the term "[[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]]" typically was used for supporters of the New Deal and "[[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]]" for its opponents.<ref>Elliot A. Rosen, ''The Republican Party in the Age of Roosevelt: Sources of Anti-Government Conservatism in the United States'' (2014).</ref> From 1934 to 1938, Roosevelt was assisted in his endeavors by a "pro-spender" majority in Congress (drawn from two-party, competitive, non-machine, [[progressivism|progressive]] and left party districts). In the 1938 midterm election, Roosevelt and his liberal supporters lost control of Congress to the [[bipartisan]] conservative coalition.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=That Should Still Be Us: How Thomas Friedman's Flat World Myths Are Keeping Us Flat on Our Backs|author=Sieff, M.|date=2012|publisher=Wiley|isbn=9781118240632|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLQkk0d9XiIC&pg=PT148|accessdate=August 4, 2015}}</ref> Many historians distinguish between a [[First New Deal]] (1933–1934) and a [[Second New Deal]] (1935–1938), with the second one more liberal and more controversial.


The Second New Deal in 1935–1936 included the [[National Labor Relations Act]] to protect labor organizing, the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA) relief program (which made the federal government the largest employer in the nation),<ref>{{cite book|author=Alonzo L. Hamby|author-link=Alonzo Hamby|title=For the Survival of Democracy: Franklin Roosevelt and the World Crisis of the 1930s|year=2004|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-684-84340-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XlxWV5C8saEC&pg=PA418 |page=418}}</ref> the [[Social Security Act]] and new programs to aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. The final major items of New Deal legislation were the creation of the [[United States Housing Authority]] and the FSA, which both occurred in 1937; and the [[Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938]], which set maximum hours and minimum wages for most categories of workers.{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|loc=ch 12}} The FSA was also one of the oversight authorities of the [[Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration]], which administered relief efforts to [[Puerto Ricans|Puerto Rican]] citizens affected by the Great Depression.<ref>{{cite book |title=Economic History of Puerto Rico|last=Dietz|first=James|publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1986|location=Princeton|page=1986}}</ref>
The First New Deal (1933–1934) dealt with the pressing banking crises through the [[Emergency Banking Act]] and the [[1933 Banking Act]]. The [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]] (FERA) provided $500&nbsp;million (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|500000000|1933}}}} today) for relief operations by states and cities, while the short-lived CWA gave locals money to operate [[Make-work job|make-work]] projects in 1933–1934.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Edwin "Eddie" Harrell|title=Unto A Good Land: A History Of The American People|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ssSHokISMd8C&pg=PA902|year=2005|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans|pages=902|isbn=978-0802837189|display-authors=etal}}</ref> The [[Securities Act of 1933]] was enacted to prevent a repeated stock market crash. The controversial work of the [[National Recovery Administration]] (NRA) was also part of the First New Deal.


Roosevelt had built a [[New Deal coalition]], but the [[Recession of 1937–38|economic downturn of 1937–1938]] and the bitter split between the [[American Federation of Labor]] (AFL) and [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (CIO) labor unions led to major Republican gains in Congress in 1938.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brinkley |first=Alan |title=The end of reform: new deal liberalism in recession and war |date=1996 |publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=978-0-679-75314-8 |edition=1. Vintage Books |location=New York}}</ref> Conservative Republicans and Democrats in Congress joined the informal [[conservative coalition]]. By 1942–1943, they shut down relief programs such as the WPA and the CCC and blocked major progressive proposals. Noting the composition of the new Congress, one study argued
The Second New Deal in 1935–1938 included the [[National Labor Relations Act|Wagner Act]] to protect labor organizing, the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA) relief program (which made the federal government by far the largest single employer in the nation),<ref>{{cite book|author=Alonzo L. Hamby|authorlink=Alonzo Hamby|title=For the Survival of Democracy: Franklin Roosevelt and the World Crisis of the 1930s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XlxWV5C8saEC&pg=PA418|year=2004|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=418|isbn=9780684843407}}</ref> the [[Social Security Act]] and new programs to aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. The final major items of New Deal legislation were the creation of the [[United States Housing Authority]] and the FSA, which both occurred in 1937; and the [[Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938]], which set maximum hours and minimum wages for most categories of workers.<ref>Kennedy, David M. ''Freedom from Fear'' (1999). ch 12.</ref> The FSA was also one of the oversight authorities of the [[Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration]], which administered relief efforts to [[Puerto Ricans|Puerto Rican]] citizens affected by the Great Depression.<ref>{{cite book|title=Economic History of Puerto Rico|last=Dietz|first=James|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1986|location=Princeton|pages=1986}}</ref>
<blockquote>The Congress that assembled in January 1939 was quite unlike any with which Roosevelt had to contend before.


Since all Democratic losses took place in the North and the West, and particularly in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, southerners held a much stronger position. The House contained 169 non-southern Democrats, 93 southern Democrats, 169 Republicans, and 4 third-party representatives. For the first time, Roosevelt could not form a majority without the help of some southerners or Republicans. In addition, the president had to contend with several senators who, having successfully resisted the purge, no longer owed him anything. Most observers agreed, therefore, that the president could at best hope to consolidate, but certainly not to extend, the New Deal. James Farley thought that Roosevelt's wisest course would be "to clean up odds and ends, tighten up and improve things [he] already has but not try [to] start anything new."
The [[Recession of 1937–38|economic downturn of 1937–1938]] and the bitter split between the [[American Federation of Labor]] (AFL) and [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (CIO) labor unions led to major Republican gains in Congress in 1938. Conservative Republicans and Democrats in Congress joined in the informal conservative coalition. By 1942–1943, they shut down relief programs such as the WPA and the CCC and blocked major liberal proposals. Nonetheless, Roosevelt turned his attention to the war effort and won reelection in 1940–1944. Furthermore, the Supreme Court declared the NRA and the first version of the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] (AAA) unconstitutional, but the AAA was rewritten and then upheld. Republican president [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] (1953–1961) left the New Deal largely intact, even expanding it in some areas. In the 1960s, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s [[Great Society]] used the New Deal as inspiration for a dramatic expansion of liberal programs, which Republican [[Richard Nixon]] generally retained. However, after 1974 the call for deregulation of the economy gained bipartisan support.<ref>Martha Derthick, ''The Politics of Deregulation'' (1985), pp. 5–8.</ref> The New Deal regulation of banking ([[Glass–Steagall Act]]) lasted until it was suspended in the 1990s.


In any event, Farley predicted that Congress would discard much of Roosevelt's program.<ref>{{cite book |title=The New Deal |volume=One |editor1=John Braeman |editor2=Robert H. Bremner |editor3=David Brody |page=260}}</ref></blockquote>
Several New Deal programs remain active and those operating under the original names include the [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] (FDIC), the [[Federal Crop Insurance Corporation]] (FCIC), the [[Federal Housing Administration]] (FHA) and the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] (TVA). The largest programs still in existence today are the [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security System]] and the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] (SEC).
As noted by another study, "the 1938 elections proved a decisive point in the consolidation of the conservative coalition in Congress. The liberal bloc in the House had been halved, and conservative Democrats had escaped 'relatively untouched{{'}}". In the House elected in 1938 there were at least 30 anti-New Deal Democrats and another 50 who were "not at all enthusiastic". In addition, "The new Senate was split about evenly between pro- and anti-New Deal factions."<ref>Andrew E Busch. ''Horses In Midstream''. 1999. p. 124.</ref> The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was the last major New Deal legislation that Roosevelt succeeded in enacting into law before the conservative coalition won control of Congress. Though he could usually use the veto to restrain Congress, Congress could block any Roosevelt legislation it disliked.<ref name="lubell1955">{{cite book | title=The Future of American Politics | publisher=Anchor Press | author=Lubell, Samuel | year=1955 | page=13}}</ref>

Nonetheless, Roosevelt turned his attention to the war effort and won reelection in 1940–1944. Furthermore, the Supreme Court declared the NRA and the first version of the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] (AAA) unconstitutional, but the AAA was rewritten and then upheld. Republican President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] (1953–1961) left the New Deal largely intact, even expanding it in some areas. In the 1960s, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s [[Great Society]] used the New Deal as inspiration for a dramatic expansion of progressive programs, which Republican [[Richard Nixon]] generally retained. However, after 1974 the call for deregulation of the economy gained bipartisan support.<ref>Martha Derthick. ''The Politics of Deregulation''. 1985. pp. 5–8.</ref> The New Deal regulation of banking ([[Glass–Steagall Act]]) lasted until it was suspended in the 1990s.

Several organizations created by New Deal programs remain active and those operating under the original names include the [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] (FDIC), the [[Federal Crop Insurance Corporation]] (FCIC), the [[Federal Housing Administration]] (FHA), and the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] (TVA). The largest programs still in existence are the [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security System]] and the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] (SEC).


==Origins==
==Origins==
===Economic collapse (1929–1933)===
===Economic collapse (1929–1933)===
[[File:US GDP 10-60.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Economy of the United States|American annual real GDP]] from 1910 to 1960, with the years of the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] (1929–1939) highlighted]]
[[File:Real GDP of the United States from 1910-1960.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|US annual real GDP from 1910 to 1960, with the years of the Great Depression (1929–1939) highlighted]]
[[File:US Unemployment 1910-1960.gif|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Unemployment in the United States|Unemployment rate in the United States]] from 1910–1960, with the years of the [[Great Depression]] (1929–1939) highlighted (accurate data begins in 1939)]]
[[File:US Unemployment from 1910-1960.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Unemployment in the United States|Unemployment rate in the United States]] from 1910 to 1960, with the years of the [[Great Depression]] (1929–1939) highlighted (accurate data begins in 1939)]]
From 1929 to 1933 manufacturing output decreased by one third,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=3774KvIsJgYC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=1928+1933+manufacturing+in+u.s.+fell+by+one+third#v=onepage&q=1928%201933%20manufacturing%20in%20u.s.%20fell%20by%20one%20third&|title=The Canadian Economy|author=A.E. Safarian|year=1970|isbn=9780773584358}}</ref> which economists call the [[Great Contraction]]. Prices fell by 20%, causing deflation that made repaying debts much harder. [[Unemployment in the United States]] increased from 4% to 25%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20030124ar03p1.htm#37a |title=Compensation from before World War I through the Great Depression|first1=Robert|last1=VanGiezen|first2=Albert E.|last2=Schwenk|publisher=[[United States Bureau of Labor Statistics]]|date=January 30, 2003|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430142925/http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20030124ar03p1.htm|archivedate=April 30, 2013}}</ref> Additionally, one-third of all employed persons were downgraded to working part-time on much smaller paychecks. In the aggregate, almost 50% of the nation's human work-power was going unused.<ref name="Kennedy, 1999 p. 87">Kennedy, ''Freedom From Fear'' (1999) p. 87.</ref>
From 1929 to 1933 manufacturing output decreased by one third,<ref>{{cite book |title=The Canadian Economy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3774KvIsJgYC&q=1928+1933+manufacturing+in+u.s.+fell+by+one+third&pg=PA93 |author=A.E. Safarian |year=1970 | publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-8435-8 |access-date=November 18, 2020 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205134450/https://books.google.com/books?id=3774KvIsJgYC&q=1928+1933+manufacturing+in+u.s.+fell+by+one+third&pg=PA93 |url-status=live }}</ref> which economist [[Milton Friedman]] later called the [[Great Contraction]]. Prices fell by 20%, causing deflation that made repaying debts much harder. [[Unemployment in the United States]] increased from 4% to 25%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20030124ar03p1.htm#37a |title=Compensation from before World War I through the Great Depression|first1=Robert|last1=VanGiezen|first2=Albert E.|last2=Schwenk|publisher=[[United States Bureau of Labor Statistics]]|date=January 30, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430142925/http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20030124ar03p1.htm|archive-date=April 30, 2013}}</ref> Additionally, one-third of all employed persons were downgraded to working part-time on much smaller paychecks. In the aggregate, almost 50% of the nation's human work-power was going unused.{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|p=87}}


Before the New Deal, there was no [[Deposit insurance|insurance on deposits]] at banks.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/034.html#34.1|title=Records of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation|author=[[National Archives and Records Administration]]|publisher=archives.gov|year=1995}}</ref> When thousands of banks closed, depositors lost their savings as at that time there was no national safety net, no public unemployment insurance and no Social Security.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mary Beth Norton|title=A People and a Nation: A History of the United States. Since 1865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=129rne8WpyoC&pg=PA656|year=2009|publisher=Cengage|page=656|isbn=978-0547175607|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Relief for the poor was the responsibility of families, private charity and local governments, but as conditions worsened year by year demand skyrocketed and their combined resources increasingly fell far short of demand.<ref name="Kennedy, 1999 p. 87"/>
Before the New Deal, USA bank deposits were not "guaranteed" by government.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/034.html#34.1|title=Records of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation|author=National Archives and Records Administration|publisher=archives.gov|year=1995|author-link=National Archives and Records Administration|access-date=September 6, 2017|archive-date=February 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205134456/https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/034.html#34.1|url-status=live}}</ref> When thousands of banks closed, depositors temporarily lost access to their money; most of the funds were eventually restored but there was gloom and panic. The United States had no national safety net, no public unemployment insurance and no [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Mary Beth Norton|title=A People and a Nation: A History of the United States. Since 1865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=129rne8WpyoC&pg=PA656|year=2009|publisher=Cengage|page=656 |isbn=978-0-547-17560-7|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Relief for the poor was the responsibility of families, private charity and local governments, but as conditions worsened year by year demand skyrocketed and their combined resources increasingly fell far short of demand.{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|p=87}}


The depression had devastated the nation. As Roosevelt took the oath of office at noon on March 4, 1933, all state governors had authorized bank holidays or restricted withdrawals—many Americans had little or no access to their bank accounts.<ref>Robert L. Fuller, "Phantom of Fear" The Banking Panic of 1933 (2011) pp. 156–157</ref><ref>March 4 was a Saturday and banks were not open on weekends. On Monday Roosevelt officially closed all banks. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. ''The Coming of the New Deal'' (1959), p. 3; Brands, ''Traitor to his class'' (2008) p. 288.</ref> Farm income had fallen by over 50% since 1929. An estimated 844,000 non-farm mortgages had been foreclosed between 1930–1933, out of five million in all.<ref>Jonathan Alter, ''The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope'', esp. ch. 31. (2007); Bureau of the Census, ''Historical Statistics of the United States'' (1977) series K220, N301.</ref> Political and business leaders feared revolution and anarchy. [[Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.]], who remained wealthy during the Depression, stated years later that "in those days I felt and said I would be willing to part with half of what I had if I could be sure of keeping, under law and order, the other half".<ref name="leamer2001">{{cite book|title=The Kennedy Men: 1901–1963|publisher=HarperCollins|author=Laurence Leamer|year=2001|page=86}}</ref>
The depression had psychologically devastated the nation. As Roosevelt took the oath of office at noon on March 4, 1933, all state governors had authorized bank holidays or restricted withdrawals—many Americans had little or no access to their bank accounts.<ref>Robert L. Fuller. ''Phantom of Fear: The Banking Panic of 1933''. 2011. pp. 156–157.</ref><ref>March 4 was a Saturday and banks were not open on weekends. On Monday Roosevelt officially closed all banks. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. ''The Coming of the New Deal'' (1959), p. 3; Brands, ''Traitor to his class'' (2008) p. 288.</ref> Farm income had fallen by over 50% since 1929. Between 1930 and 1933, an estimated 844,000 non-farm mortgages were foreclosed on, out of a total of five million.<ref>Jonathan Alter, ''The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope'', esp. ch. 31. (2007); Bureau of the Census, ''Historical Statistics of the United States'' (1977) series K220, N301.</ref> Political and business leaders feared revolution and anarchy. [[Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.]], who remained wealthy during the Depression, recalled that "in those days I felt and said I would be willing to part with half of what I had if I could be sure of keeping, under law and order, the other half."<ref name="leamer2001">{{cite book|title=The Kennedy Men: 1901–1963|publisher=HarperCollins|author=Laurence Leamer|year=2001|page=86}}</ref>


===Campaign===
===Campaign===
{{Quote box
The phrase "New Deal" was coined by an adviser to Roosevelt, [[Stuart Chase]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/17/nyregion/stuart-chase-97-coined-phrase-a-new-dea.html|title=Stuart Chase, 97; Coined Phrase 'A New Deal'|work=The New York Times|date=1985|quote=He was one of the last surviving members of the small group of advisers who helped President Roosevelt shape the New Deal.}}</ref> although the term was originally used by [[Mark Twain]] in ''[[A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.twainquotes.com/NewDeal.html|title=President, Presented With Medal by Author's Cousin, Recalls Reading Term.|work=The New York Times|date=December 5, 1933|quote=Cyril Clemens, a distant cousin of Mark Twain claimed that Roosevelt took the phrase "New Deal" from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.}}</ref>
| quote = Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth... I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people. This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms.

| author = [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], 1932<ref name="The Roosevelt Week">[https://web.archive.org/web/20080422004537/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,743953,00.html "The Roosevelt Week"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. New York. July 11, 1932.</ref>
Upon accepting the 1932 [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] nomination for president, Roosevelt promised "a new deal for the American people", saying:<ref>The phrase was perhaps borrowed from the title of [[Stuart Chase]]'s book ''A New Deal'' published in February 1932 and serialized in the ''New Republic'' that summer. Gary Dean Best, ''Peddling panaceas: popular economists in the New Deal era'' (2005) p. 117.</ref><ref>The phrase was also used by Gifford Pinchot in 1910, when he said in a speech rallying young men to political action to remove special interests from politics the following: "The people of the United States demand a new deal and a square deal". Address by Gifford Pinchot before the Roosevelt Club of St. Paul, Minnesota, June 11, 1910.</ref> {{quote|Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth... I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people. This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,743953,00.html "The Roosevelt Week"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. New York. July 11, 1932.</ref>}}
| width = 40%
}}
The phrase "New Deal" was coined by an adviser to Roosevelt, [[Stuart Chase]], who used ''A New Deal'' as the title for an article published in the progressive magazine ''[[The New Republic]]'' a few days before Roosevelt's speech. Speechwriter Rosenman added it to his draft of FDR's presidential nomination acceptance speech at the last minute.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Hiltzik|2011|pp=1–2}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/17/nyregion/stuart-chase-97-coined-phrase-a-new-dea.html|title=Stuart Chase, 97; Coined Phrase 'A New Deal'|work=The New York Times|date=November 17, 1985|author=Ronald Sullivan|access-date=February 11, 2017|archive-date=February 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205134455/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/17/nyregion/stuart-chase-97-coined-phrase-a-new-dea.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Upon accepting the 1932 [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] nomination for president, Roosevelt promised "a new deal for the American people".<ref name="The Roosevelt Week">[https://web.archive.org/web/20080422004537/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,743953,00.html "The Roosevelt Week"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. New York. July 11, 1932.</ref> In campaign speeches, Roosevelt committed to carrying out, if elected, several elements of what would become the New Deal, such as unemployment relief and public works programs.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Rauchway|2019|p=205}}.</ref>


==First New Deal (1933–1934)==
==First New Deal (1933–1934)==
[[File:Editorial cartoon mocking FDR's "Alphabet agencies".jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|1935 cartoon by [[Vaughn Shoemaker]] in which he parodied the New Deal as a card game with alphabetical agencies]]
[[File:Editorial cartoon mocking FDR's "Alphabet agencies".jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|1935 cartoon by [[Vaughn Shoemaker]] in which he parodied the New Deal as a card game with alphabetical agencies]]
Roosevelt entered office without a specific set of plans for dealing with the Great Depression—so he improvised as Congress listened to a very wide variety of voices.<ref>Leuchtenburg pp. 33–35.</ref> Among Roosevelt's more famous advisers was an informal "[[Brain Trust]]", a group that tended to view pragmatic government intervention in the economy positively.<ref name="Leuchtenburg1">Leuchtenburg p. 58.</ref> His choice for [[United States Secretary of Labor|Secretary of Labor]], [[Frances Perkins]], greatly influenced his initiatives. Her list of what her priorities would be if she took the job illustrates: "a forty-hour workweek, a minimum wage, worker's compensation, unemployment compensation, a federal law banning child labor, direct federal aid for unemployment relief, Social Security, a revitalized public employment service and health insurance".<ref>{{cite book|last=Downey|first=Kirstin|title=The Woman Behind the New Deal; The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience|year=2009|publisher=Nan A. Talese, an imprint of The Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. |location=New York|isbn=978-0-385-51365-4|page=1}}</ref>
Roosevelt entered office with clear ideas for policies to address the [[Great Depression]], though he remained open to experimentation as [[Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, first and second terms|his presidency]] began implementing these.<ref>{{Harvtxt|Rauchway|2019|pp=201, 212–213}}.</ref> Among Roosevelt's more famous advisers was an informal "[[Brain Trust]]", a group that tended to view pragmatic government intervention in the economy positively.{{sfnp|Leuchtenburg|1963|p=58}} His choice for [[United States Secretary of Labor|Secretary of Labor]], [[Frances Perkins]], greatly influenced his initiatives. Her list of what her priorities would be if she took the job illustrates: "a forty-hour workweek, a minimum wage, [[Workers' compensation|worker's compensation]], [[unemployment compensation]], a federal law banning [[Child labour|child labor]], direct federal aid for unemployment relief, [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]], a revitalized public employment service and health insurance".<ref>{{cite book|last=Downey|first=Kirstin |title=The Woman Behind the New Deal; The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience|year=2009|publisher=Nan A. Talese, an imprint of The Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.|location=New York|isbn=978-0-385-51365-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/womanbehindnew00down/page/1 1] |url=https://archive.org/details/womanbehindnew00down}}</ref>


The New Deal policies drew from many different ideas proposed earlier in the 20th century. Assistant Attorney General [[Thurman Arnold]] led efforts that hearkened back to an anti-monopoly tradition rooted in American politics by figures such as Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson. Supreme Court Justice [[Louis Brandeis]], an influential adviser to many New Dealers, argued that "bigness" (referring, presumably, to corporations) was a negative economic force, producing waste and inefficiency. However, the anti-monopoly group never had a major impact on New Deal policy.<ref>Leuchtenburg p. 34.</ref> Other leaders such as [[Hugh S. Johnson]] of the NRA took ideas from the [[Woodrow Wilson]] Administration, advocating techniques used to mobilize the economy for [[World War I]]. They brought ideas and experience from the government controls and spending of 1917–1918. Other New Deal planners revived experiments suggested in the 1920s, such as the TVA. The "First New Deal" (1933–1934) encompassed the proposals offered by a wide spectrum of groups (not included was the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]], whose influence was all but destroyed).<ref>Leuchtenburg p. 188.</ref> This first phase of the New Deal was also characterized by fiscal conservatism (see [[Economy Act]], below) and experimentation with several different, sometimes contradictory, cures for economic ills.
The New Deal policies drew from many different ideas proposed earlier in the 20th century. Assistant Attorney General [[Thurman Arnold]] led efforts that hearkened back to an anti-monopoly tradition rooted in American politics by figures such as [[Andrew Jackson]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]]. Supreme Court Justice [[Louis Brandeis]], an influential adviser to many New Dealers, argued that "bigness" (referring, presumably, to corporations) was a negative economic force, producing waste and inefficiency. However, the anti-monopoly group never had a major impact on New Deal policy.{{sfnp|Leuchtenburg|1963|p=34}} Other leaders such as [[Hugh S. Johnson]] of the NRA took ideas from the [[Woodrow Wilson]] Administration, advocating techniques used to mobilize the economy for [[World War I]]. They brought ideas and experience from the government controls and spending of 1917–1918. Other New Deal planners revived experiments suggested in the 1920s, such as the TVA. The "First New Deal" (1933–1934) encompassed the proposals offered by a wide spectrum of groups (not included was the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]], whose influence was all but destroyed).{{sfnp|Leuchtenburg|1963|p=188}} This first phase of the New Deal was also characterized by [[fiscal conservatism]] (see [[Economy Act]], below) and experimentation with several different, sometimes contradictory, cures for economic ills.


There were dozens of new agencies created by Roosevelt through Executive Orders. They are typically known{{to whom|date=December 2016}} by their alphabetical initials.
Roosevelt created dozens of new agencies. They are traditionally and typically known to Americans by their alphabetical initials.


===The First 100 Days (1933)===
===The First 100 Days (1933)===
{{main|First 100 days of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency}}
{{main|First 100 days of the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency}}
The American people were generally extremely dissatisfied with the crumbling economy, mass unemployment, declining wages and profits and especially [[Herbert Hoover]]'s policies such as the [[Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act]] and the [[Revenue Act of 1932]]. Roosevelt entered office with enormous [[political capital]]. Americans of all political persuasions were demanding immediate action and Roosevelt responded with a remarkable series of new programs in the "first hundred days" of the administration, in which he met with Congress for 100 days. During those 100 days of lawmaking, Congress granted every request Roosevelt asked and passed a few programs (such as the FDIC to insure bank accounts) that he opposed. Ever since, presidents have been judged against Roosevelt for what they accomplished in their first 100 days. [[Walter Lippmann]] famously noted: {{quote|At the end of February we were a congeries of disorderly panic-stricken mobs and factions. In the hundred days from March to June we became again an organized nation confident of our power to provide for our own security and to control our own destiny.<ref>[[Arthur M. Schlesinger]], ''The coming of the New Deal, 1933–1935'', Houghton Mifflin, 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-618-34086-6}}, S. 22</ref>}}
The American people were generally extremely dissatisfied with the crumbling economy, mass unemployment, declining wages, and profits, and especially [[Herbert Hoover]]'s policies such as the [[Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act]] and the [[Revenue Act of 1932]]. Roosevelt entered office with enormous [[political capital]]. Americans of all political persuasions were demanding immediate action and Roosevelt responded with a remarkable series of new programs in the "first hundred days" of the administration, in which he met with Congress for 100 days. During those 100 days of lawmaking, Congress granted every request Roosevelt asked and passed a few programs (such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure bank accounts) that he opposed. Ever since, presidents have been judged against Roosevelt for what they accomplished in their first 100 days. [[Walter Lippmann]] famously noted: {{blockquote|At the end of February we were a congeries of disorderly panic-stricken mobs and factions. In the hundred days from March to June, we became again an organized nation confident of our power to provide for our own security and to control our own destiny.<ref>[[Arthur M. Schlesinger]], ''The coming of the New Deal, 1933–1935'', Houghton Mifflin, 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-618-34086-6}}, S. 22</ref>}}


The economy had hit bottom in March 1933 and then started to expand. Economic indicators show the economy reached its lowest point in the first days of March, then began a steady, sharp upward recovery. Thus the Federal Reserve Index of Industrial Production sank to its lowest point of 52.8 in July 1932 (with 1935–1939 = 100) and was practically unchanged at 54.3 in March 1933. However, by July 1933 it reached 85.5, a dramatic rebound of 57% in four months. Recovery was steady and strong until 1937. Except for employment, the economy by 1937 surpassed the levels of the late 1920s. The [[Recession of 1937–38|Recession of 1937]] was a temporary downturn. Private sector employment, especially in manufacturing, recovered to the level of the 1920s, but failed to advance further until the war. The U.S. population was 124,840,471 in 1932 and 128,824,829 in 1937, an increase of 3,984,468.<ref>{{cite web| title=NPG Historical U.S. Population Growth: 1900–1998| url=http://www.npg.org/facts/us_historical_pops.htm}}</ref> The ratio of these numbers, times the number of jobs in 1932, means there was a need for 938,000 more 1937 jobs to maintain the same employment level.
The economy had hit bottom in March 1933 and then started to expand. Economic indicators show the economy reached its lowest point in the first days of March, then began a steady, sharp upward recovery. Thus the Federal Reserve Index of Industrial Production sank to its lowest point of 52.8 in July 1932 and was practically unchanged at 54.3 in March 1933. However, by July 1933 it reached 85.5, a dramatic rebound of 57% in four months. Recovery was steady and strong until 1937. Except for employment, the economy by 1937 surpassed the levels of the late 1920s. The [[Recession of 1937–38|Recession of 1937]] was a temporary downturn. Private sector employment, especially in manufacturing, recovered to the level of the 1920s but failed to advance further until the war. The U.S. population was 124,840,471 in 1932 and 128,824,829 in 1937, an increase of 3,984,468.<ref>{{cite web| title=NPG Historical U.S. Population Growth: 1900–1998| url=http://www.npg.org/facts/us_historical_pops.htm| access-date=November 23, 2010| archive-date=September 19, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130919125424/http://www.npg.org/facts/us_historical_pops.htm}}</ref> The ratio of these numbers, times the number of jobs in 1932, means there was a need for 938,000 more jobs in 1937, to maintain the same employment level.


====Fiscal policy====
====Fiscal policy====
The [[Economy Act]], drafted by Budget Director [[Lewis Williams Douglas]], was passed on March 14, 1933. The act proposed to balance the "regular" (non-emergency) federal budget by cutting the salaries of government employees and cutting pensions to veterans by fifteen percent. It saved $500&nbsp;million per year and reassured deficit hawks, such as Douglas, that the new President was fiscally conservative. Roosevelt argued there were two budgets: the "regular" federal budget, which he balanced; and the emergency budget, which was needed to defeat the depression. It was imbalanced on a temporary basis.<ref>Leuchtenburg p. 45–46; Robert Paul Browder and Thomas G. Smith, ''Independent: A Biography of Lewis W. Douglass'' (1986)</ref>
The [[Economy Act]], drafted by Budget Director [[Lewis Williams Douglas]], was passed on March 15, 1933. The act proposed to balance the "regular" (non-emergency) federal budget by cutting the salaries of government employees and cutting pensions to veterans by fifteen percent. It saved $500&nbsp;million per year and reassured deficit hawks, such as Douglas, that the new president was fiscally conservative. Roosevelt argued there were two budgets: the "regular" federal budget, which he balanced; and the emergency budget, which was needed to defeat the depression. It was imbalanced on a temporary basis.{{sfnp|Leuchtenburg|1963|pp=45–46}}<ref>Robert Paul Browder and Thomas G. Smith, ''Independent: A Biography of Lewis W. Douglass'' (1986)</ref>


Roosevelt initially favored balancing the budget, but soon found himself running spending deficits to fund his numerous programs. However, Douglas—rejecting the distinction between a regular and emergency budget—resigned in 1934 and became an outspoken critic of the New Deal. Roosevelt strenuously opposed the [[Adjusted Compensation Payment Act|Bonus Bill]] that would give World War I veterans a cash bonus. Congress finally passed it over his veto in 1936 and the Treasury distributed $1.5&nbsp;billion in cash as bonus welfare benefits to 4&nbsp;million veterans just before the 1936 election.<ref>Leuchtenburg p. 171; Raymond Moley, ''The First New Deal'' (1966)</ref>
Roosevelt initially favored balancing the budget, but soon found himself running spending deficits to fund his numerous programs. However, Douglas—rejecting the distinction between a regular and emergency budget—resigned in 1934 and became an outspoken critic of the New Deal. Roosevelt strenuously opposed the [[Adjusted Compensation Payment Act|Bonus Bill]] that would give World War I veterans a cash bonus. Congress finally passed it over his veto in 1936 and the Treasury distributed $1.5&nbsp;billion in cash as bonus welfare benefits to 4&nbsp;million veterans just before the 1936 election.{{sfnp|Leuchtenburg|1963|p=171}}<ref>Raymond Moley, ''The First New Deal'' (1966)</ref>


New Dealers never accepted the [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian]] argument for government spending as a vehicle for recovery. Most economists of the era, along with [[Henry Morgenthau, Jr.|Henry Morgenthau]] of the Treasury Department, rejected Keynesian solutions and favored balanced budgets.<ref>Leuchtenburg pp. 171, 245–46; Herbert Stein, ''Presidential economics: The making of economic policy from Roosevelt to Reagan and beyond'' (1984)</ref>
New Dealers never accepted the [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian]] argument for government spending as a vehicle for recovery. Most economists of the era, along with [[Henry Morgenthau Jr.|Henry Morgenthau]] of the Treasury Department, rejected Keynesian solutions and favored balanced budgets.{{sfnp|Leuchtenburg|1963|pp=171, 245–246}}<ref>Herbert Stein, ''Presidential economics: The making of economic policy from Roosevelt to Reagan and beyond'' (1984)</ref>


====Banking reform====
====Banking reform====
[[File:American union bank.gif|thumb|upright=1.15|Crowd at New York's American Union Bank during a [[bank run]] early in the Great Depression]]
[[File:American union bank.gif|thumb|upright=1.0|Crowd at New York's American Union Bank during a [[bank run]] early in the Great Depression]]
{{listen|pos=right|filename=Fireside Chat 1 On the Banking Crisis (March 12, 1933) Franklin Delano Roosevelt.ogg|title=Fireside Chat 1 On the Banking Crisis|description=Roosevelt's first [[Fireside Chat]] on the Banking Crisis (March 12, 1933)|image=[[File:Franklin-roosevelt.JPG|thumb|[[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]]'s ebullient public personality, conveyed through his declaration that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" and his "fireside chats" on the radio did a great deal to help restore the nation's confidence]]|format=[[ogg]]}}
[[File:Franklin-roosevelt.JPG|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]]'s ebullient public personality, conveyed through his declaration that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" and his "fireside chats" on the radio did a great deal to help restore the nation's confidence]]
{{listen|pos=right|filename=Fireside Chat 1 On the Banking Crisis (March 12, 1933) Franklin Delano Roosevelt.ogg|title=Fireside Chat 1 On the Banking Crisis|description=Roosevelt's first [[Fireside Chat]] on the Banking Crisis (March 12, 1933)|image=|thumb|format=[[ogg]]}}
At the beginning of the Great Depression, the economy was destabilized by bank failures followed by [[credit crunch]]es. The initial reasons were substantial losses in investment banking, followed by [[bank run]]s. Bank runs occurred when a large number of customers withdrew their deposits because they believed the bank might become insolvent. As the bank run progressed, it generated a self-fulfilling prophecy: as more people withdrew their deposits, the likelihood of default increased and this encouraged further withdrawals.
At the beginning of the Great Depression, the economy was destabilized by bank failures followed by [[credit crunch]]es. The initial reasons were substantial losses in investment banking, followed by [[bank run]]s. Bank runs occur when a large number of customers withdraw their deposits because they believe the bank might become insolvent. As the bank run progressed, it generated a [[self-fulfilling prophecy]]: as more people withdrew their deposits, the likelihood of default increased and this encouraged further withdrawals.


Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz have argued that the drain of money out of the banking system caused the monetary supply to shrink, forcing the economy to likewise shrink. As credit and economic activity diminished, price deflation followed, causing further economic contraction with disastrous impact on banks.<ref>Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960 (1963) pp. 340–43</ref> Between 1929 and 1933, 40% of all banks (9,490 out of 23,697 banks) failed.<ref>R. W. Hafer, ''The Federal Reserve System'' (Greenwood, 2005) p 18</ref> Much of the [[Great Depression]]'s economic damage was caused directly by bank runs.<ref>[[Ben Bernanke]], "Nonmonetary effects of the financial crisis in the propagation of the Great Depression", (1983) ''American Economic Review''. Am 73#3 257–76.</ref>
[[Milton Friedman]] and [[Anna Schwartz]] have argued that the drain of money out of the banking system caused the monetary supply to shrink, forcing the economy to likewise shrink. As credit and economic activity diminished, price deflation followed, causing further economic contraction with disastrous impact on banks.<ref>Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, ''Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960'' (1963) pp. 340–343</ref> Between 1929 and 1933, 40% of all banks (9,490 out of 23,697 banks) failed.<ref>R. W. Hafer, ''The Federal Reserve System'' (Greenwood, 2005) p. 18</ref> Much of the [[Great Depression]]'s economic damage was caused directly by bank runs.<ref>[[Ben Bernanke]], "Nonmonetary effects of the financial crisis in the propagation of the Great Depression", (1983) ''American Economic Review''. Am 73#3 257–76.</ref>


Herbert Hoover had already considered a bank holiday to prevent further bank runs, but rejected the idea because he was afraid to trip a panic. However, Roosevelt gave a radio address, held in the atmosphere of a [[Fireside Chat]], in which he explained to the public in simple terms the causes of the banking crisis, what the government will do and how the population could help. He closed all the banks in the country and kept them all closed until he could pass new legislation.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,745289,00.html|title=THE PRESIDENCY: Bottom |work=Time|date=March 13, 1933|accessdate=October 11, 2008}}{{subscription}}</ref>
Herbert Hoover had already considered a bank holiday to prevent further bank runs but rejected the idea because he was afraid to incite a panic. However, Roosevelt gave a radio address, held in the atmosphere of a [[Fireside Chat]]. He explained to the public in simple terms the causes of the banking crisis, what the government would do, and how the population could help. He closed all the banks in the country and kept them all closed until new legislation could be passed.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,745289,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930214931/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,745289,00.html|archive-date=September 30, 2007|title=The Presidency: Bottom |magazine=Time|date=March 13, 1933|access-date=October 11, 2008}}{{subscription required}}</ref>


On March 9, 1933, Roosevelt sent to Congress the [[Emergency Banking Act]], drafted in large part by Hoover's top advisors. The act was passed and signed into law the same day. It provided for a system of reopening sound banks under [[United States Department of Treasury|Treasury]] supervision, with federal loans available if needed. Three-quarters of the banks in the [[Federal Reserve System]] reopened within the next three days. Billions of dollars in hoarded currency and gold flowed back into them within a month, thus stabilizing the banking system.<ref>Silber, William L. “Why Did FDR’s Bank Holiday Succeed? ''Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review,'' (July 2009), pp 19-30 [https://archive.nyu.edu/jspui/bitstream/2451/26290/2/07-04.pdf online]</ref> By the end of 1933, 4,004 small local banks were permanently closed and merged into larger banks. Their deposits totalled $3.6&nbsp;billion: depositors lost a total of $540&nbsp;million and eventually received on average 85 cents on the dollar of their deposits—it is a common myth that they received nothing back.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Anna Jacobson Schwartz|title=A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7J_EUM3RfoC&pg=PA427|year=1963|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-00354-2|pages=438–39}}</ref>
On March 9, 1933, Roosevelt sent to Congress the [[Emergency Banking Act]], drafted in large part by Hoover's top advisors. The act was passed and signed into law the same day. It provided for a system of reopening sound banks under [[United States Department of Treasury|Treasury]] supervision, with federal loans available if needed. Three-quarters of the banks in the [[Federal Reserve System]] reopened within the next three days. Billions of dollars in hoarded currency and gold flowed back into them within a month, thus stabilizing the banking system.<ref>Silber, William L. "Why Did FDR's Bank Holiday Succeed?" ''Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review,'' (July 2009), pp. 19-30 [https://archive.nyu.edu/jspui/bitstream/2451/26290/2/07-04.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205134456/https://archive.nyu.edu/jspui/bitstream/2451/26290/2/07-04.pdf |date=February 5, 2023 }}</ref> By the end of 1933, 4,004 small local banks were permanently closed and merged into larger banks. Their deposits totaled $3.6&nbsp;billion. Depositors lost $540&nbsp;million ({{Inflation|index=US|value=540000000|start_year=1933|fmt=eq}}) and eventually received on average 85 cents on the dollar of their deposits.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Anna Jacobson Schwartz|title=A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7J_EUM3RfoC&pg=PA427|year=1963|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-00354-2|pages=438–439}}</ref>


The [[Glass–Steagall Act]] limited commercial bank securities activities and affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms to regulate speculations. It also established the [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] (FDIC), which insured deposits for up to $2,500, ending the risk of runs on banks.<ref>Susan E. Kennedy, ''The Banking Crisis of 1933'' (1973)</ref> This banking reform offered unprecedented stability as while throughout the 1920s more than five hundred banks failed per year, it was less than ten banks per year after 1933.<ref>Kennedy, ''Freedom From Fear'' (1999) pp. 65, 366</ref>
The [[Glass–Steagall Act]] limited commercial bank securities activities and affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms to regulate speculations. It also established the [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] (FDIC), which insured deposits for up to $2,500, ending the risk of runs on banks.<ref>Susan E. Kennedy, ''The Banking Crisis of 1933'' (1973)</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2023}} This banking reform offered unprecedented stability because throughout the 1920s more than five hundred banks failed per year, and then it was less than ten banks per year after 1933.{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|pp=65, 366}}


====Monetary reform====
====Monetary reform====
Under the [[gold standard]], the United States kept the dollar convertible to gold. The [[Federal Reserve System|Federal Reserve]] would have had to execute an expansionary [[monetary policy]] to fight the deflation and to inject liquidity into the banking system to prevent it from crumbling—but lower interest rates would have led to a gold outflow.<ref name="Randall E. Parker 2003, p. 20">Randall E. Parker, ''Reflections on the Great Depression'', Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003, {{ISBN|9781843765509}}, p. 20</ref> Under the gold standards, [[price–specie flow mechanism]] countries that lost gold, but nevertheless wanted to maintain the gold standard, had to permit their money supply to decrease and the domestic price level to decline ([[deflation]]).<ref>Randall E. Parker, ''Reflections on the Great Depression'', Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003, {{ISBN|9781843765509}}, p. 16</ref> As long as the Federal Reserve had to defend the gold parity of the Dollar it had to sit idle while the banking system crumbled.<ref name="Randall E. Parker 2003, p. 20"/>
Under the [[gold standard]], the United States kept the dollar convertible to gold. The [[Federal Reserve System|Federal Reserve]] would have had to execute an expansionary [[monetary policy]] to fight the deflation and to inject liquidity into the banking system to prevent it from crumbling—but lower interest rates would have led to a gold outflow.<ref name=" Randall E. Parker 2003, p. 20">Randall E. Parker, ''Reflections on the Great Depression'', Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003, {{ISBN|978-1-84376-550-9}}, p. 20</ref> Under the gold standards, [[price–specie flow mechanism]] countries that lost gold, but nevertheless wanted to maintain the gold standard, had to permit their money supply to decrease and the domestic price level to decline ([[deflation]]).<ref>Randall E. Parker, ''Reflections on the Great Depression'', Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003, {{ISBN|978-1-84376-550-9}}, p. 16</ref> As long as the Federal Reserve had to defend the gold parity of the dollar it had to sit idle while the banking system crumbled.<ref name="Randall E. Parker 2003, p. 20"/>


In March and April in a series of laws and executive orders, the government [[Executive Order 6102|suspended]] the gold standard. Roosevelt stopped the outflow of gold by forbidding the export of gold except under license from the Treasury. Anyone holding significant amounts of gold coinage was mandated to exchange it for the existing fixed price of U.S. dollars. The Treasury no longer paid out gold in exchange for dollars and gold would no longer be considered valid [[legal tender]] for debts in private and public contracts.<ref name="meltzer442">{{Cite journal| title=A History of the Federal Reserve: 1913–1951|first=Allan H.|last=Meltzer|year=2004| pages=442–46|postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref>
In March and April in a series of laws and executive orders, the government [[Executive Order 6102|suspended]] the gold standard. Roosevelt stopped the outflow of gold by forbidding the export of gold except under license from the Treasury. Anyone holding significant amounts of gold coinage was mandated to exchange it for the existing fixed price of U.S. dollars. The Treasury no longer paid out gold for dollars and gold would no longer be considered valid [[legal tender]] for debts in private and public contracts.<ref name="meltzer442">{{Cite book| title=A History of the Federal Reserve: 1913–1951|first=Allan H.|last=Meltzer|year=2004| pages=442–446}}</ref>


The dollar was allowed to float freely on [[foreign exchange market]]s with no guaranteed price in gold. With the passage of the [[Gold Reserve Act]] in 1934, the nominal price of gold was changed from $20.67 per troy ounce to $35. These measures enabled the Federal Reserve to increase the amount of money in circulation to the level the economy needed. Markets immediately responded well to the suspension in the hope that the decline in prices would finally end.<ref name="meltzer442"/> In her essay "What ended the Great Depression?" (1992), [[Christina Romer]] argued that this policy raised industrial production by 25% until 1937 and by 50% until 1942.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Romer |first=Christina D. |date=December 1992 |title=What Ended the Great Depression? |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=757–84 |jstor=2123226 |doi=10.1017/s002205070001189x|citeseerx=10.1.1.207.844 }}</ref>
The dollar was allowed to float freely on [[foreign exchange market]]s with no guaranteed price in gold. With the passage of the [[Gold Reserve Act]] in 1934, the nominal price of gold was changed from $20.67 per troy ounce to $35. These measures enabled the Federal Reserve to increase the amount of money in circulation to the level the economy needed. Markets immediately responded well to the suspension in the hope that the decline in prices would finally end.<ref name="meltzer442"/> In her essay "What ended the Great Depression?" (1992), [[Christina Romer]] argued that this policy raised industrial production by 25% until 1937 and by 50% until 1942.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Romer |first=Christina D. |date=December 1992 |title=What Ended the Great Depression? |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=757–84 |jstor=2123226 |doi=10.1017/s002205070001189x|citeseerx=10.1.1.207.844 |issn=0022-0507}}</ref>


====Securities Act of 1933====
====Securities Act of 1933====
Before the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]], there was no regulation of securities at the federal level. Even firms whose securities were publicly traded published no regular reports or even worse rather misleading reports based on arbitrarily selected data. To avoid another Wall Street Crash, the [[Securities Act of 1933]] was enacted. It required the disclosure of the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and the names and compensations of corporate officers for firms whose securities were traded. Additionally, the reports had to be verified by independent auditors. In 1934, the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] was established to regulate the stock market and prevent [[corporate abuses]] relating to corporate reporting and the sale of securities.<ref>Kennedy, ''Freedom From Fear'' (1999) p. 367</ref>
Before the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]], securities were unregulated at the federal level. Even firms whose securities were publicly traded published no regular reports, or even worse, rather misleading reports based on arbitrarily selected data. To avoid another crash, the [[Securities Act of 1933]] was passed. It required the disclosure of the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and the names and compensations of corporate officers for firms whose securities were traded. Additionally, the reports had to be verified by independent auditors. In 1934, the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] was established to regulate the stock market and prevent [[corporate abuses]] relating to corporate reporting and the sale of securities.{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|p=367}}


====Repeal of Prohibition====
====Repeal of Prohibition====
In a measure that garnered substantial popular support for his New Deal, Roosevelt moved to put to rest one of the most divisive cultural issues of the 1920s. He signed the bill to legalize the manufacture and sale of alcohol, an interim measure pending the repeal of [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|prohibition]], for which a constitutional amendment of repeal (the [[Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution|21st]]) was already in process. The repeal amendment was ratified later in 1933. States and cities gained additional new revenue and Roosevelt secured his popularity especially in the cities and ethnic areas by helping the beer start flowing.<ref>Leuchtenburg, ''Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal'' pp. 46–47</ref>
In a measure that garnered substantial popular support for his New Deal, Roosevelt moved to put to rest one of the most divisive cultural issues of the 1920s. He signed the bill to legalize the manufacture and sale of alcohol, an interim measure pending the repeal of [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|prohibition]], for which a constitutional amendment of repeal (the [[Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution|21st]]) was already in process. The repeal amendment was ratified later in 1933. States and cities gained additional new revenue and Roosevelt secured his popularity especially in the cities and ethnic areas by legalizing alcohol.{{sfnp|Leuchtenburg|1963|pp=46–47}}


===Relief===
===Relief===
Relief was the immediate effort to help the one-third of the population that was hardest hit by the depression. Relief was also aimed at providing temporary help to suffering and unemployed Americans. Local and state budgets were sharply reduced because of falling tax revenue, but New Deal relief programs were used not just to hire the unemployed but also to build needed schools, municipal buildings, waterworks, sewers, streets, and parks according to local specifications. While the regular Army and Navy budgets were reduced, Roosevelt juggled relief funds to help them out. All of the CCC camps were directed by army officers, who salaries came from the relief budget. The PWA built numerous warships, including two aircraft carriers; the money came from the PWA agency. PWA also built warplanes, while the WPA built military bases and airfields.<ref>{{cite book|author=Conrad Black|title=Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eJA3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA348|year= 2012|page=348|isbn=9781610392136}}</ref>
Relief was the immediate effort to help the one-third of the population that was hardest hit by the depression. Relief was also aimed at providing temporary help to suffering and unemployed Americans. Local and state budgets were sharply reduced because of falling tax revenue, but New Deal relief programs were used not just to hire the unemployed but also to build needed schools, municipal buildings, waterworks, sewers, streets, and parks according to local specifications. While the regular Army and Navy budgets were reduced, Roosevelt juggled relief funds to provide for their claimed needs. All of the [[Civilian Conservation Corps|CCC]] camps were directed by army officers, whose salaries came from the relief budget. The PWA built numerous warships, including two aircraft carriers; the money came from the PWA agency. PWA also built warplanes, and the WPA built military bases and airfields.<ref>{{cite book|author=Conrad Black|title=Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eJA3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA348|year=2012|page=348|publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=978-1-61039-213-6|access-date=April 24, 2018|archive-date=February 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205134459/https://books.google.com/books?id=eJA3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA348|url-status=live}}</ref>


====Public works====
====Public works====
[[File:PWAPBD restored.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Public Works Administration|Public Works Administration Project]] [[Bonneville Dam]]]]
[[File:PWAPBD restored.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|[[Public Works Administration|Public Works Administration Project]] [[Bonneville Dam]]]]
To prime the pump and cut unemployment, the NIRA created the [[Public Works Administration]] (PWA), a major program of public works, which organized and provided funds for the building of useful works such as government buildings, airports, hospitals, schools, roads, bridges and dams.<ref name="Norman Lowe P.117">Mastering Modern World History by Norman Lowe, second edition, p. 117</ref> From 1933 to 1935 PWA spent $3.3&nbsp;billion with private companies to build 34,599 projects, many of them quite large.<ref>Leuchtenburg pp. 70, 133–34; Jason Scott Smith, ''Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933–1956'' (2005)</ref>
To prime the pump and cut unemployment, the NIRA created the [[Public Works Administration]] (PWA), a major program of public works, which organized and provided funds for the building of useful works such as government buildings, airports, hospitals, schools, roads, bridges, and dams.<ref name=" Norman Lowe P.117">Norman Lowe. ''Mastering Modern World History''. Second edition. p. 117.</ref> From 1933 to 1935, PWA spent $3.3&nbsp;billion with private companies to build 34,599 projects, many of them quite large.{{sfnp|Leuchtenburg|1963|pp=70, 133–134}}<ref>Jason Scott Smith, ''Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933–1956'' (2005).</ref> The NIRA also contained a provision for the "construction, reconstruction, alteration, or repair under public regulation or control of low-cost housing and slum-clearance projects".<ref>''Handbook of Labor Statistics'' 1941 Edition Volume I All Topics Except Wages, Bulletin No. 694 (in 2 volumes), p. 257.</ref>


Under Roosevelt, many unemployed persons were put to work on a wide range of government financed public works projects, building bridges, airports, dams, post offices, hospitals and hundreds of thousands of miles of road. Through reforestation and flood control, they reclaimed millions of hectares of soil from erosion and devastation. As noted by one authority, Roosevelt's New Deal "was literally stamped on the American landscape".<ref>Time-Life Books, Library of Nations: United States, Sixth European English language printing, 1989{{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref>
Many unemployed people were put to work under Roosevelt on a variety of government-financed public works projects, including the construction of bridges, airports, dams, post offices, hospitals, and hundreds of thousands of miles of road. Through reforestation and flood control, they reclaimed millions of hectares of soil from erosion and devastation. As noted by one authority, Roosevelt's New Deal "was literally stamped on the American landscape".<ref>Time-Life Books, Library of Nations: United States, Sixth European English language printing, 1989{{Page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref>


====Farm and rural programs====
====Farm and rural programs====
[[File:TVA water supply Wilder.gif|thumb|upright=1.15|Pumping water by hand from sole water supply in this section of [[Wilder, Tennessee]] ([[Tennessee Valley Authority]], 1942)]]
[[File:TVA water supply Wilder.gif|thumb|upright=1.0|Pumping water by hand from the sole water supply in this section of [[Wilder, Tennessee]] ([[Tennessee Valley Authority]], 1942)]]
The rural U.S. was a high priority for Roosevelt and his energetic Secretary of Agriculture, [[Henry A. Wallace]]. Roosevelt believed that full economic recovery depended upon the recovery of agriculture and raising farm prices was a major tool, even though it meant higher food prices for the poor living in cities.
The rural U.S. was a high priority for Roosevelt and his energetic Secretary of Agriculture, [[Henry A. Wallace]]. Roosevelt believed that full economic recovery depended upon the recovery of agriculture and raising farm prices was a major tool, even though it meant higher food prices for the poor living in cities.


Many rural people lived in severe poverty, especially in the South. Major programs addressed to their needs included the [[Resettlement Administration]] (RA), the [[Rural Electrification Administration]] (REA), rural welfare projects sponsored by the WPA, [[National Youth Administration]] (NYA), Forest Service and [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] (CCC), including school lunches, building new schools, opening roads in remote areas, reforestation and purchase of marginal lands to enlarge national forests.
Many rural people lived in severe poverty, especially in the South. Major programs addressed to their needs included the [[Resettlement Administration]] (RA), the [[Rural Electrification Administration]] (REA), rural welfare projects sponsored by the WPA, [[National Youth Administration]] (NYA), Forest Service and [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] (CCC), including school lunches, building new schools, opening roads in remote areas, reforestation and purchase of marginal lands to enlarge national forests.


In 1933, the Roosevelt administration launched the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]], a project involving dam construction planning on an unprecedented scale to curb flooding, generate electricity and modernize poor farms in the [[Tennessee Valley]] region of the Southern United States. Under the Farmers' Relief Act of 1933, the government paid compensation to farmers who reduced output, thereby raising prices. As a result of this legislation, the average income of farmers almost doubled by 1937.<ref name="Norman Lowe P.117"/>
In 1933, the Roosevelt administration launched the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]], a project involving dam construction planning on an unprecedented scale to curb flooding, generate electricity, and modernize poor farms in the [[Tennessee Valley]] region of the Southern United States. Under the Farmers' Relief Act of 1933, the government paid compensation to farmers who reduced output, thereby raising prices. Because of this legislation, the average income of farmers almost doubled by 1937.<ref name="Norman Lowe P.117"/>


In the 1920s, farm production had increased dramatically thanks to mechanization, more potent insecticides and increased use of fertilizer. Due to an [[overproduction]] of agricultural products, farmers faced a severe and chronic agricultural depression throughout the 1920s. The Great Depression even worsened the agricultural crises and at the beginning of 1933 agricultural markets nearly faced collapse.<ref>Paul S. Boyer, ''The Oxford Companion to United States History'', Oxford University Press, 2001, {{ISBN|0-19-508209-5}}, pp. 20, 21</ref> Farm prices were so low that in Montana wheat was rotting in the fields because it could not be profitably harvested. In Oregon, sheep were slaughtered and left to the buzzards because meat prices were not sufficient to warrant transportation to markets.<ref>Peter Clemens, ''Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal: The USA 1890–1954, '' Hodder Education, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-340-965887}}, p. 106</ref>
In the 1920s, farm production had increased dramatically thanks to mechanization, more potent insecticides, and increased use of fertilizer. Due to an [[overproduction]] of agricultural products, farmers faced severe and chronic agricultural depression throughout the 1920s. The Great Depression even worsened the agricultural crises and, at the beginning of 1933, agricultural markets nearly faced collapse.<ref>Paul S. Boyer, ''The Oxford Companion to United States History'', Oxford University Press, 2001, {{ISBN|0-19-508209-5}}, pp. 20, 21</ref> Farm prices were so low that in Montana wheat was rotting in the fields because it could not be profitably harvested. In [[Oregon]], sheep were slaughtered and left to rot because meat prices were not sufficient to warrant transportation to markets.<ref>Peter Clemens, ''Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal: The USA 1890–1954, '' Hodder Education, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-340-965887}}, p. 106</ref>


Roosevelt was keenly interested in farm issues and believed that true prosperity would not return until farming was prosperous. Many different programs were directed at farmers. The first 100 days produced the Farm Security Act to raise farm incomes by raising the prices farmers received, which was achieved by reducing total farm output. The [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] created the [[Agricultural Adjustment Administration]] (AAA) in May 1933. The act reflected the demands of leaders of major farm organizations (especially the [[Farm Bureau]]) and reflected debates among Roosevelt's farm advisers such as Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, [[M.L. Wilson]], [[Rexford Tugwell]] and [[George Peek]].<ref>Schlesinger, ''Coming of the New Deal'' pp. 27–84</ref>
Roosevelt was keenly interested in farm issues and believed that true prosperity would not return until farming was prosperous. Many different programs were directed at farmers. The first 100 days produced the Farm Security Act to raise farm incomes by raising the prices farmers received, which was achieved by reducing total farm output. The [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] created the [[Agricultural Adjustment Administration]] (AAA) in May 1933. The act reflected the demands of leaders of major farm organizations (especially the [[Farm Bureau]]) and reflected debates among Roosevelt's farm advisers such as Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, [[M.L. Wilson]], [[Rexford Tugwell]] and [[George Peek]].<ref>Schlesinger, ''Coming of the New Deal'' pp. 27–84</ref>


The AAA aimed to raise prices for commodities through [[artificial scarcity]]. The AAA used a system of domestic allotments, setting total output of corn, cotton, dairy products, hogs, rice, tobacco and wheat. The farmers themselves had a voice in the process of using government to benefit their incomes. The AAA paid land owners subsidies for leaving some of their land idle with funds provided by a new tax on food processing. To force up farm prices to the point of "parity," {{convert|10|e6acre|km2}} of growing cotton was plowed up, bountiful crops were left to rot and six million piglets were killed and discarded.<ref>Ronald L. Heinemann, ''Depression and New Deal in Virginia''. (1983) p. 107</ref>
The AAA aimed to raise prices for commodities through [[artificial scarcity]]. The AAA used a system of domestic allotments, setting total output of corn, cotton, dairy products, hogs, rice, tobacco, and wheat. The farmers themselves had a voice in the process of using the government to benefit their incomes. The AAA paid land owners subsidies for leaving some of their land idle with funds provided by a new tax on food processing. To force up farm prices to the point of "parity", {{convert|10|e6acre|km2}} of growing cotton was plowed up, bountiful crops were left to rot and six million piglets were killed and discarded.<ref>Ronald L. Heinemann, ''Depression and New Deal in Virginia''. (1983) p. 107</ref>


The idea was to give farmers a "fair exchange value" for their products in relation to the general economy ("parity level").<ref name="Paul S. Boyder 2001, p. 21">Paul S. Boyder, ''The Oxford Companion to United States History'', Oxford University Press, 2001, {{ISBN|0-19-508209-5}}, p. 21</ref> Farm incomes and the income for the general population recovered fast since the beginning of 1933.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://visualizingeconomics.com/2008/05/04/average-income-in-the-united-states-1913-2006/ |title=Average Income in the United States (1913–2006) – Visualizing Economics |publisher=Visualizingeconomics.com |date=May 3, 2008 |accessdate=December 7, 2012}}</ref><ref>Clemens, ''Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal: The USA 1890–1954'' p. 137</ref> Food prices remained still well below the 1929 peak.<ref>Badger, ''New Deal'' pp. 89. 153–57. for price data and farm income see ''Statistical Abstract 1940'' [https://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab1901-1950.htm online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101016044212/http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab1901-1950.htm |date=October 16, 2010 }}</ref> The AAA established an important and long-lasting federal role in the planning on the entire agricultural sector of the economy and was the first program on such a scale on behalf of the troubled agricultural economy. The original AAA did not provide for any [[sharecroppers]] or [[tenants]] or farm laborers who might become unemployed, but there were other New Deal programs especially for them.
The idea was to give farmers a "fair exchange value" for their products in relation to the general economy ("parity level").<ref>Paul S. Boyer, ''The Oxford Companion to United States History'', Oxford University Press, 2001, {{ISBN|0-19-508209-5}}, p. 21</ref> Farm incomes and the income for the general population recovered fast since the beginning of 1933.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://visualizingeconomics.com/2008/05/04/average-income-in-the-united-states-1913-2006/ |title=Average Income in the United States (1913–2006) |publisher=Visualizingeconomics.com |date=May 3, 2008 |access-date=December 7, 2012 |archive-date=October 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024111800/http://visualizingeconomics.com/2008/05/04/average-income-in-the-united-states-1913-2006 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Clemens, ''Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal: The USA 1890–1954'' p. 137</ref> Food prices remained still well below the 1929 peak.<ref>Badger, ''New Deal'' pp. 89. 153–157. for price data and farm income see ''Statistical Abstract 1940'' [https://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab1901-1950.htm online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101016044212/http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab1901-1950.htm |date=October 16, 2010 }}</ref> The AAA established an important and long-lasting federal role in the planning of the entire agricultural sector of the economy and was the first program on such a scale for the troubled agricultural economy. The original AAA targeted landowners, and therefore did not provide for any [[sharecroppers]] or [[tenants]] or farm laborers who might become unemployed.<ref>Raj Patel and Jim Goodman, "The Long New Deal", ''Journal of Peasant Studies'', Vol 47, Issue 3, pp. 431–463 [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2020.1741551] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422164117/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2020.1741551|date=April 22, 2020}}</ref>


A [[Gallup (company)|Gallup]] poll printed in the ''[[Washington Post]]'' revealed that a majority of the American public opposed the AAA.<ref name="Rethinking1">Barry Cushman, ''Rethinking the New Deal Court'' (1998) p. 34</ref> In 1936, the Supreme Court declared the AAA to be [[Constitutionality|unconstitutional]], stating that "a statutory plan to regulate and control agricultural production, [is] a matter beyond the powers delegated to the federal government". The AAA was replaced by a similar program that did win Court approval. Instead of paying farmers for letting fields lie barren, this program subsidized them for planting soil enriching crops such as [[alfalfa]] that would not be sold on the market. Federal regulation of agricultural production has been modified many times since then, but together with large subsidies is still in effect today.
A [[Gallup (company)|Gallup]] poll printed in ''[[The Washington Post]]'' revealed that a majority of the American public opposed the AAA.<ref name="Rethinking1">Barry Cushman, ''Rethinking the New Deal Court'' (1998) p. 34</ref> In 1936, the Supreme Court declared the AAA to be [[Constitutionality|unconstitutional]], stating, "a statutory plan to regulate and control agricultural production, [is] a matter beyond the powers delegated to the federal government". The AAA was replaced by a similar program that did win Court approval. Instead of paying farmers for letting fields lie barren, this program subsidized them for planting soil-enriching crops such as [[alfalfa]] that would not be sold on the market. Federal regulation of agricultural production has been modified many times since then, but together with large subsidies is still in effect.


A number of other measures affecting rural areas were introduced under Roosevelt. The Farm Credit Act of 1933 authorized farmers "to organize a nationwide system of local credit cooperatives -- production credit associations -- to make operating credit readily accessible to farmers throughout the country."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efp1p4K5ZZ8C&dq=farm+credit+act+1933+farmer+cooperatives&pg=PA20 |title=The Farm Credit System: Functions & Organization |year=1968 |access-date=January 22, 2023 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135001/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Farm_Credit_System/efp1p4K5ZZ8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=farm+credit+act+1933+farmer+cooperatives&pg=PA20&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> The Farm Mortgage Foreclosure Act of 1934 provided for debt reduction and the redemption of foreclosed farms, and the Homestead Settler's Act of 1934 liberalized homestead residence requirements. The Farm Research Act of 1935 included various provisions such as the development of cooperative agricultural extension, and the Commodity Exchange Act of 1936 enabled "the Commodity Credit Corporation to better serve the needs of farmers in orderly marketing, and provided credit and facilities for carrying surpluses from season to season". The Farmers Mortgage Amendatory Act of 1936 authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to make loans to drainage, levee, and irrigation districts,<ref name="ReferenceD">Congressional Record PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 77H CONGRESS SECOND SESSION Appendix Volume 88-PART 10, JULY 27, 1942, TO DECEMBER 16. 1942, (PAGES A2955 TO A4454), A3621</ref> while under the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936 payments to farmers to encourage conservation were authorized.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/41988/50849_aib485.pdf |title=History of Agricultural Price-Support and Adjustment Programs, Number 1933-84 |access-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223000306/https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/41988/50849_aib485.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1937, the Water Facilities Act was enacted "to provide loans for individuals and association farm water systems in 17 Western states where drought and water shortage were familiar hardships."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=w8rPAAAAMAAJ&dq=Also+enacted+1937+was+the+water+facilities+act+to+provide+loans&pg=PA777 Department of Agriculture By United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Agriculture and Related Appropriations, 1977, P.777]</ref>
The Farm Tenancy Act in 1937 was the last major New Deal legislation that concerned farming. In turn, it created the [[Farm Security Administration]] (FSA), which replaced the Resettlement Administration.


The [[Bankhead–Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937]] was the last major New Deal legislation that concerned farming. It created the [[Farm Security Administration]] (FSA), which replaced the Resettlement Administration.
The [[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program|Food Stamp Plan]]—a major new welfare program for urban poor—was established in 1939 to provide stamps to poor people who could use them to purchase food at retail outlets. The program ended during wartime prosperity in 1943, but was restored in 1961. It survived into the 21st century with little controversy because it was seen to benefit the urban poor, food producers, grocers and wholesalers as well as farmers, thus it gained support from both liberal and conservative Congressmen. In 2013, [[Tea Party movement|Tea Party]] activists in the House nonetheless tried to end the program, now known as the [[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program]], while the Senate fought to preserve it.<ref>Rachel Louise Moran, "Consuming Relief: Food Stamps and the New Welfare of the New Deal," ''Journal of American History'', March 2011, Vol. 97 Issue 4, pp. 1001–22 [http://jah.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/4/1001.short online]</ref><ref>Alan Bjerga & Derek Wallbank, "Food Stamps Loom Over Negotiations to Pass Farm Bill" [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-30/food-stamps-loom-over-negotiations-to-pass-farm-bill.html ''Bloomberg''Oct 30, 2013]</ref>

The [[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program|Food Stamp Plan]], a major new welfare program for urban poor, was established in 1939 to provide stamps to poor people who could use them to purchase food at retail outlets. The program ended during wartime prosperity in 1943 but was restored in 1961. It survived into the 21st century with little controversy because it was seen to benefit the urban poor, food producers, grocers, wholesalers, and farmers, so it gained support from both progressive and conservative Congressmen. In 2013, [[Tea Party movement|Tea Party]] activists in the House nonetheless tried to end the program, now known as the [[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program]], while the Senate fought to preserve it.<ref>Rachel Louise Moran, "Consuming Relief: Food Stamps and the New Welfare of the New Deal", ''Journal of American History'', March 2011, Vol. 97 Issue 4, pp. 1001–1022 [https://web.archive.org/web/20120324190603/http://jah.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/4/1001.short online]</ref><ref>{{cite news |author1=Alan Bjerga |author2=Derek Wallbank |title=Food Stamps Loom Over Negotiations to Pass Farm Bill |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-30/food-stamps-loom-over-negotiations-to-pass-farm-bill.html |website=Bloomberg |date=October 30, 2013 |access-date=March 10, 2017 |archive-date=January 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112021029/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-30/food-stamps-loom-over-negotiations-to-pass-farm-bill.html |url-status=live }}</ref>


===Recovery===
===Recovery===
Recovery was the effort in numerous programs to restore the economy to normal health. By most economic indicators, this was achieved by 1937—except for unemployment, which remained stubbornly high until World War II began. Recovery was designed to help the economy bounce back from depression. Economic historians led by Price Fishback have examined the impact of New Deal spending on improving health conditions in the 114 largest cities, 1929–1937. They estimated that every additional $153,000 in relief spending (in 1935 dollars, or $1.95 million in year 2000 dollars) was associated with a reduction of one infant death, one suicide and 2.4 deaths from infectious disease.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Whaples and Randall E. Parker, eds.|title=Routledge Handbook of Modern Economic History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yVb_O0v1OwoC&pg=PA8|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|page=8|isbn=9780415677042 }}</ref><ref>Price V. Fishback, Michael R. Haines, and Shawn Kantor, "Births, deaths, and New Deal relief during the Great Depression." The Review of Economics and Statistics 89.1 (2007): 1–14, citing page [http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/rest.89.1.1 online]</ref>
Recovery was the effort in numerous programs to restore the economy to normal levels. By most economic indicators, this was achieved by 1937—except for unemployment, which remained stubbornly high until World War II began. Recovery was designed to help the economy bounce back from depression. Economic historians led by Price Fishback have examined the impact of New Deal spending on improving health conditions in the 114 largest cities, 1929–1937. They estimated that every additional $153,000 in relief spending (in 1935 dollars, or $1.95&nbsp;million in the year 2000 dollars) was associated with a reduction of one infant death, one suicide, and 2.4 deaths from infectious diseases.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Robert Whaples and Randall E. Parker|title=Routledge Handbook of Modern Economic History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yVb_O0v1OwoC&pg=PA8|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|page=8|isbn=978-0-415-67704-2|access-date=August 7, 2017|archive-date=January 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120194537/https://books.google.com/books?id=yVb_O0v1OwoC&pg=PA8|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Price V. Fishback, Michael R. Haines, and Shawn Kantor, "Births, Deaths, and New Deal relief during the Great Depression". ''The Review of Economics and Statistics'' 89.1 (2007): 1–14, citing p. [http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/rest.89.1.1 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190305151458/https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/rest.89.1.1 |date=March 5, 2019 }}</ref>


====NRA "Blue Eagle" campaign====
====NRA "Blue Eagle" campaign====
{{main|National Recovery Administration}}
{{main|National Recovery Administration}}
[[File:NewDealNRA.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[National Recovery Administration]] Blue Eagle]]
[[File:NewDealNRA.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[National Recovery Administration]] Blue Eagle]]
[[File:US Manufacturing Employment Graph - 1920 to 1940.svg|thumb|upright=1.8|[[Manufacturing in the United States|Manufacturing employment in the U.S.]] from 1920 to 1940<ref>Data was obtained from the [https://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab.html U.S. Census Bureau, ''Statistical Abstract''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041229215830/http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab.html |date=December 29, 2004 }} and converted into SVG format by me. The numbers come from [http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p1-05.pdf this U.S. Census document], p. 17, column 127. Note that the graph only covers factory employment.</ref>]]
[[File:US Manufacturing Employment Graph - 1920 to 1940.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Manufacturing in the United States|Manufacturing employment in the U.S.]] from 1920 to 1940<ref>Data was obtained from the [https://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab.html U.S. Census Bureau, ''Statistical Abstract''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041229215830/http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab.html |date=December 29, 2004 }} and converted into SVG format by me. The numbers come from [http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p1-05.pdf this U.S. Census document] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318220041/http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p1-05.pdf |date=March 18, 2009 }}, p. 17, column 127. Note that the graph only covers factory employment.</ref>]]

From 1929 to 1933, the industrial economy suffered from a vicious cycle of [[deflation (economics)|deflation]]. Since 1931, the [[U.S. Chamber of Commerce]], the voice of the nation's organized business, promoted an anti-deflationary scheme that would permit trade associations to cooperate in government-instigated [[cartels]] to stabilize prices within their industries. Though existing antitrust laws clearly forbade such practices, the organized business were entertained by the Roosevelt Administration.<ref>Bernard Bellush, ''The Failure of the NRA'', (1976)</ref>

Roosevelt's advisors believed that excessive competition and technical progress had led to overproduction and lowered wages and prices, which they believed lowered demand and employment ([[deflation]]). He argued that government economic planning was necessary to remedy this.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cv-kRJoXag4C&q=A+mere+builder+of+more+industrial+plants%2C+a+creator+of+more+railroad+systems%2C+an+organizer+of+more+corporations%2C+is+as+likely+to+be+a+danger+as+a+help.+Our+task+is+not+...+necessarily+producing+more+goods.+It+is+the+soberer%2C+less+dramatic+business+of+administering+resources+and+plants+already+in+hand&pg=PA323|title=The FDR Years|last=Pederson|first=William D.|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-7460-0|language=en}}</ref> New Deal economists argued that cut-throat competition had hurt many businesses and that with prices having fallen 20% and more, "deflation" exacerbated the burden of debt and would delay recovery. They rejected a strong move in Congress to limit the workweek to 30 hours. Instead, their remedy, designed in cooperation with [[big business]], was the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). It included stimulus funds for the WPA to spend and sought to raise prices, give more [[bargaining power]] for unions (so the workers could purchase more), and reduce harmful competition.

At the center of the NIRA was the National Recovery Administration (NRA), headed by former General [[Hugh S. Johnson]], who had been a senior economic official in World War I. Johnson called on every business establishment in the nation to accept a stopgap "blanket code": a minimum wage of between 20 and 45 cents per hour, a maximum workweek of 35–45 hours and the abolition of [[child labor]]. Johnson and Roosevelt contended that the "blanket code" would raise consumer purchasing power and increase employment.<ref>Arthur Schlesinger Jr. ''The Coming of the New Deal'' (1959), 87–135</ref> To mobilize political support for the NRA, Johnson launched the "NRA [[National Recovery Administration|Blue Eagle]]" publicity campaign to boost what he called "industrial self-government". The NRA brought together leaders in each industry to design specific sets of codes for that industry—the most important provisions were anti-deflationary floors below which no company would lower prices or wages and agreements on maintaining employment and production. In a remarkably short time, the NRA announced agreements from almost every major industry in the nation. By March 1934, industrial production was 45% higher than in March 1933.<ref>Federal Reserve System, ''National Summary of Business Conditions'' (1936)</ref>

NRA Administrator Hugh Johnson was showing signs of a mental breakdown due to the extreme pressure and workload of running the National Recovery Administration.<ref>Black, Conrad. ''Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom.'' New York: PublicAffairs, 2003. {{ISBN|1-58648-184-3}}</ref> Johnson lost power in September 1934, but kept his title. Roosevelt replaced his position with a new National Industrial Recovery Board,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-6859-reorganizing-the-nra-and-establishing-the-national-industrial|title=Executive Order 6859 Reorganizing the N.R.A. and Establishing the National Industrial Recovery Board. &#124; The American Presidency Project|website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu|access-date=March 31, 2022|archive-date=March 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331171545/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-6859-reorganizing-the-nra-and-establishing-the-national-industrial|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Archives">{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/009.html|title=Records of the National Recovery Administration [NRA]|date=August 15, 2016|website=National Archives|access-date=November 5, 2017|archive-date=November 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107012032/https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/009.html|url-status=live}}</ref> of which [[Donald Richberg]] was named Executive Director.

On May 27, 1935, the NRA was found to be unconstitutional by a unanimous decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of ''[[A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States]]''. After the end of the NRA, quotas in the oil industry were fixed by the [[Railroad Commission of Texas]] with [[Tom Connally]]'s federal [[Connally Hot Oil Act of 1935|Hot Oil Act of 1935]], which guaranteed that illegal "hot oil" would not be sold.<ref>The Handbook of Texas Online: [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mlc03 Connally Hot Oil Act of 1935] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908073104/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mlc03 |date=September 8, 2015 }}</ref> By the time NRA ended in May 1935, well over 2 million employers accepted the new standards laid down by the NRA, which had introduced a minimum wage and an [[eight-hour day|eight-hour workday]], together with abolishing child labor.<ref name=" Norman Lowe P.117"/> These standards were reintroduced by the [[Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938]].

Historian [[William E. Leuchtenburg]] argued in 1963:<blockquote> The NRA could boast some considerable achievements: it gave jobs to some two million workers; it helped stop a renewal of the deflationary spiral that had almost wrecked the nation; it did something to improve business ethics and civilize competition; it established a national pattern of maximum hours and minimum wages; and it all but wiped out child labor and the sweatshop. But this was all it did. It prevented things from getting worse, but it did little to speed recovery, and probably actually hindered it by its support of restrictionism and price raising. The NRA could maintain a sense of national interest against private interests only so long as the spirit of national crisis prevailed. As it faded, restriction-minded businessmen moved into a decisive position of authority. By delegating power over price and production to trade associations, the NRA created a series of private economic governments.{{sfnp|Leuchtenburg|1963|p=69}}</blockquote>


Other labor measures were carried out under the First New Deal. The Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933 established a national system of public employment offices,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YuPhe5hCJm4C&dq=Wagner-Peyser+Act+1933&pg=PA416 |title=Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933 |year=1947 |access-date=August 12, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135001/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Hearings/YuPhe5hCJm4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Wagner-Peyser+Act+1933&pg=PA416&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> and the Anti-Kickback Act of 1934 "established penalties for employers on Government contracts who induce employees to return any part of pay to which they are entitled".<ref>Monthly Labor Review Volume 71, Issue 1, 1950, p. 84</ref> That same year, the Railway Labor Act of 1926 was amended "to outlaw company unions and yellow dog contracts, and to provide that the majority of any craft or class of employees shall determine who shall represent them in collective bargaining".<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1941111900|title=Labor Policies of the Roosevelt Administration|website=CQ Researcher by CQ Press|date=1941 |doi=10.4135/cqresrre1941111900 |access-date=October 30, 2022|archive-date=February 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135004/https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1941111900|url-status=live |last1=Noyes |first1=Charles E. |s2cid=267233533 }}</ref> In July 1933, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins held at the Department of Labor what was described as "a very successful conference of 16 state minimum wage boards (some of the states had minimum wage laws long before the Federal Government)". The following year she held a two-day conference on state labor legislation in which 39 states were represented. According to one study, "State officials in attendance were gratified that the U.S. Department of Labor was showing interest in their problems. They called on Perkins to make the labor legislation conferences an annual event. She did so and participated actively in them every year until she left office. The conferences continued under Labor Department auspices for another ten years, by which time they had largely accomplished their goal of improving and standardizing state labor laws and administration." As a means of institutionalizing the work she tried to achieve with these conferences, Perkins established the Division of Labor Standards (which was later redesignated a bureau) in 1934 as a service agency and informational clearinghouse for state governments and other federal agencies. Its goal was to promote (through voluntary means) improved conditions of work, and the Division "offered many services in addition to helping the states deal with administrative problems". It offered, for instance, training for factory inspectors, and drew national attention "to the area of workers' health with a series of conferences on silicosis. This wide-spread lung disease had been dramatized by the 'Gauley Bridge Disaster' in which hundreds of tunnel workers died from breathing silica-filled air. The Division also worked with unions, whose support was needed in passing labor legislation in the States."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/dolchp03|title=Chapter 3: The Department in the New Deal and World War II 1933-1945 &#124; U.S. Department of Labor|website=www.dol.gov|access-date=September 25, 2022|archive-date=September 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925105439/https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/dolchp03|url-status=live}}</ref>
From 1929 to 1933, the industrial economy suffered from a vicious cycle of [[deflation (economics)|deflation]]. Since 1931, the [[U.S. Chamber of Commerce]], the voice of the nation's organized business, promoted an anti-deflationary scheme that would permit trade associations to cooperate in government-instigated [[cartels]] to stabilize prices within their industries. While existing antitrust laws clearly forbade such practices, organized business found a receptive ear in the Roosevelt Administration.<ref>Bernard Bellush, ''The Failure of the NRA'', (1976)</ref>


The Muscle Shoals Act contained various provisions of interest to labor, including prevailing wage rate and workmen's compensation.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3XvXBxrx0ugC&dq=muscle+shoals+act+provisions+labor&pg=PA16 |title=Discussion of Labor Laws and Their Administration By International Association of Governmental Labor Officials, 1933, p. 16 |year=1933 |access-date=December 4, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135003/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Discussion_of_Labor_Laws_and_Their_Admin/3XvXBxrx0ugC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=muscle+shoals+act+provisions+labor&pg=PA16&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> A resolution approved by the Senate, June 13, authorized the President to accept membership for the Government of the United States in the International Labor Organization, without assuming any obligation under the covenant of the League of Nations. The resolution was approved by the House, June 16, by a vote of 232 to 109.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1934061900 |title=Record of the Seventy-Third Congress, Second Session |date=1934 |doi=10.4135/cqresrre1934061900 |access-date=December 21, 2022 |archive-date=December 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221174551/https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1934061900 |url-status=live |last1=Boeckel |first1=Richard M. |s2cid=264817233 }}</ref> Public Act 448 amended the Federal Employees' Civil Service Retirement Act of 1930 by, as noted by one study, "giving to the employee the right to name a beneficiary irrespective of the amount to his credit without the need of an appointment of an administrator". Public Act No. 245 "provided for the development of vocational education in the States by appropriating funds for the fiscal years 1935, 1936 and 1937, and Public Act 296 amended the United States Bankruptcy Act with safeguards for labor. Public Act No. 349 provided for hourly rates of pay for substitute laborers in the mail service and time credits when appointed as regular laborers, and Public Act No. 461 authorized the President to create a "federal prison industries", in which inmates hereafter "receiving injuries while in the course of their employment will receive the benefits of compensation, limited however to that amount prescribed in the Federal Employees' Compensation Act". Public Act No. 467 created a Federal Credit Union Law, one of the main purposes of which was to make a system of credit for provident purposes available to people of small means. For those in the District of Columbia, an Act concerning fire escapes on certain buildings was amended by Public Act No. 284."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Bs_dYLhM7AC&dq=Labor+legislation+enacted+by+Seventy-third+Congress+Probably+no+other&pg=PA348 |title=Monthly Labor Review Volume 39, Issue 2, 1934, p. 371 |date=August 1934 |access-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135004/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Monthly_Labor_Review/9Bs_dYLhM7AC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Labor+legislation+enacted+by+Seventy-third+Congress+Probably+no+other&pg=PA348&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref>
Roosevelt's advisers believed that excessive competition and technical progress had led to overproduction and lowered wages and prices, which they believed lowered demand and employment ([[deflation]]). He argued that government economic planning was necessary to remedy this.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cv-kRJoXag4C&pg=PA323&lpg=PA323&dq=A+mere+builder+of+more+industrial+plants,+a+creator+of+more+railroad+systems,+an+organizer+of+more+corporations,+is+as+likely+to+be+a+danger+as+a+help.+Our+task+is+not+...+necessarily+producing+more+goods.+It+is+the+soberer,+less+dramatic+business+of+administering+resources+and+plants+already+in+hand#v=onepage&q=A%20mere%20builder%20of%20more%20industrial%20plants,%20a%20creator%20of%20more%20railroad%20systems,%20an%20organizer%20of%20more%20corporations,%20is%20as%20likely%20to%20be%20a%20danger%20as%20a%20help.%20Our%20task%20is%20not%20...%20necessarily%20producing%20more%20goods.%20It%20is%20the%20soberer,%20less%20dramatic%20business%20of%20administering%20resources%20and%20plants%20already%20in%20hand|title=The FDR Years|last=Pederson|first=William D.|date=2009-01-01|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9780816074600|language=en}}</ref> New Deal economists argued that cut-throat competition had hurt many businesses and that with prices having fallen 20% and more, "deflation" exacerbated the burden of debt and would delay recovery. They rejected a strong move in Congress to limit the workweek to 30 hours. Instead their remedy, designed in cooperation with [[big business]], was the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). It included stimulus funds for the WPA to spend and sought to raise prices, give more [[bargaining power]] for unions (so the workers could purchase more) and reduce harmful competition.


==== Housing sector ====
At the center of the NIRA was the National Recovery Administration (NRA), headed by former General [[Hugh S. Johnson]], who had been a senior economic official in World War I. Johnson called on every business establishment in the nation to accept a stopgap "blanket code": a minimum wage of between 20 and 45 cents per hour, a maximum workweek of 35–45 hours and the abolition of [[child labor]]. Johnson and Roosevelt contended that the "blanket code" would raise consumer purchasing power and increase employment.<ref>Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. ''The Coming of the New Deal'' (1959), 87–135</ref> To mobilize political support for the NRA, Johnson launched the "NRA [[National Recovery Administration|Blue Eagle]]" publicity campaign to boost what he called "industrial self-government". The NRA brought together leaders in each industry to design specific sets of codes for that industry—the most important provisions were anti-deflationary floors below which no company would lower prices or wages and agreements on maintaining employment and production. In a remarkably short time, the NRA announced agreements from almost every major industry in the nation. By March 1934, industrial production was 45% higher than in March 1933.<ref>Federal Reserve System, ''National Summary of Business Conditions'' (1936)</ref>
{{Main|Federal Housing Administration}}
{{See also|National Housing Act of 1934|Racial segregation in the United States#New Deal era|label 2=Racial segregation in the US § New Deal era}}
The New Deal had an important impact on the housing field. The New Deal followed and increased President Hoover's lead-and-seek measures. The New Deal sought to stimulate the private home building industry and increase the number of individuals who owned homes.{{sfnp|Kennedy|2009}}
The [[Public Works Administration]] of the Interior Department planned to construct public housing across the country, providing low-rent apartments for low-income families. However resistance from the private housing sector was strong except in New York city, which welcomed the program. Furthermore, the White House reallocated most of the funding into relief projects, where each million federal dollars would create more jobs for the unemployed. As a result by 1937 there were only 49 projects nationwide, containing about 21,800 apartments.<ref>Michael W. Straus, and Talbot Wegg, ''Housing comes of age'' (1938) [https://archive.org/details/housingcomesofag00strarich/page/n7/mode/2up online] pp.128–130, 149.</ref> It was taken over in 1938 by the [[Federal Housing Administration]] (FHA). Starting in 1933 the New Deal operated the new [[Home Owners' Loan Corporation]] (HOLC) that helped finance mortgages on private houses.


=====Programs=====
NRA Administrator Hugh Johnson was showing signs of mental breakdown due to the extreme pressure and workload of running the National Recovery Administration.<ref>Black, Conrad. ''Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom.'' New York: PublicAffairs, 2003. {{ISBN|1-58648-184-3}}</ref> After two meetings with Roosevelt and an abortive resignation attempt, Johnson resigned on September 24, 1934 and Roosevelt replaced the position of Administrator with a new National Industrial Recovery Board,<ref>[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=14755 "Executive Order 6859 – Reorganizing the N.R.A. and Establishing the National Industrial Recovery Board." September 27, 1934. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. ''The American Presidency Project.'' (Online.) Santa Barbara, Calif.: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database).]</ref><ref name="Archives">[https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/009.html "9.2.1 Records of the National Industrial Recovery Board." ''Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States.'' 3 vols. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette, et al. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.]</ref> of which [[Donald Richberg]] was named Executive Director.
HOLC set uniform national appraisal methods and simplified the mortgage process. The [[Federal Housing Administration]] (FHA) created national standards for home construction.<ref>, David C. Wheelock, "The Federal response to home mortgage distress: Lessons from the Great Depression". ''Review'' 90 (2008). [https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/08/05/Wheelock.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161209201550/https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/08/05/Wheelock.pdf |date=December 9, 2016 }}</ref> In 1934 the Alley Dwelling Authority was established by Congress "to provide for the discontinuation of the use as dwellings of the buildings situated in alleys in the District of Columbia".<ref>Alley Life in Washington
Family, Community, Religion, and Folklife in the City, 1850-1970 By James Borchert, 1982, p. 52</ref> That year, a National Housing Act was approved which was aimed at improving employment while making private credit available for repairing and homebuilding.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Bs_dYLhM7AC&dq=Labor+legislation+enacted+by+Seventy-third+Congress+Probably+no+other&pg=PA348 |title=Monthly Labor Review Volume 39, Issue 2, 1934, p. 369 |date=August 1934 |access-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135004/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Monthly_Labor_Review/9Bs_dYLhM7AC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Labor+legislation+enacted+by+Seventy-third+Congress+Probably+no+other&pg=PA348&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1938 this act was amended and as noted by one study "provision was made renewing the insurance on repair loans, for insuring mortgages up to 90 percent of the value of small-owner –occupied homes, and for insuring mortgages on rental property".<ref>Handbook of Labor Statistics 1941 Edition Volume I All Topics Except Wages, Bulletin No. 694 (in 2 volumes), p. 274</ref>


=====Redlining=====
On May 27, 1935, the NRA was found to be unconstitutional by a unanimous decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of ''[[Schechter v. United States]]''. After the end of the NRA, quotas in the oil industry were fixed by the [[Railroad Commission of Texas]] with [[Tom Connally]]'s federal [[Connally Hot Oil Act of 1935|Hot Oil Act of 1935]], which guaranteed that illegal "hot oil" would not be sold.<ref>The Handbook of Texas Online: [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mlc03 Connally Hot Oil Act of 1935] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908073104/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mlc03 |date=September 8, 2015 }}</ref> By the time NRA ended in May 1935, well over 2&nbsp;million employers accepted the new standards laid down by the NRA, which had introduced a minimum wage and an [[eight-hour day|eight-hour workday]], together with abolishing child labor.<ref name="Norman Lowe P.117"/> These standards were reintroduced by the [[Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938]].
[[File:Roanoke,_Virginia_HOLC_Redlining_Map.jpg|thumb|271x271px|Roanoke, Virginia [[Home Owners' Loan Corporation|HOLC]] [[redlining]] map]]This also marked the beginning of discriminatory [[redlining]] within the United states under the HOLC. Their maps broadly determined what housing loans would be backed by the federal government. Though other criteria existed, the most major criterion was race. Any neighborhood with "inharmonious racial groups" would either be marked red or yellow, depending on the proportion of black residents.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Rothstein |first=Richard |title=The Color of Law: A forgotten history of how our government segregated America |date=2018 |publisher=Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-1-63149-453-6 |edition= |location=New York London}}</ref> This was explicitly stated within the FHA underwriting manual that the HOLC used as a guideline for its maps.<ref>{{cite book |title=Underwriting Manual: Underwriting and Valuation Procedure Under Title II of the National Housing Act With Revisions to February 1938 |title-link=National Housing Act of 1934 |publisher=[[Federal Housing Administration]] |location=Washington, D.C. |chapter=Part II, Section 9, Rating of Location |quote=Recommended restrictions should include provision for the following: Prohibition of the occupancy of properties except by the race for which they are intended [...] Schools should be appropriate to the needs of the new community and they should not be attended in large numbers by inharmonious racial groups |chapter-url=http://wbhsi.net/~wendyplotkin/DeedsWeb/fha38.html |access-date=June 7, 2023 |archive-date=December 20, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121220101009/http://wbhsi.net/~wendyplotkin/DeedsWeb/fha38.html }}</ref>


Alongside other discriminatory housing policy, this meant in practice is that Black Americans were denied federally backed mortgages locking most out of the housing market and all Americans were denied backing for any loans within black neighborhood. Lastly, for the other policies in place meant for neighborhood building projects, the federal government required they be explicitly segregated to be backed. The federal government's financial backing also required the use of [[Covenant (law)#United States|racially restrictive covenants]], that banned white homeowners from reselling their house to any black buyers.<ref name=":1" />
====Housing sector====
The New Deal had an important impact in the housing field. The New Deal followed and increased President Hoover's lead and seek measures. The New Deal sought to stimulate the private home building industry and increase the number of individuals who owned homes.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kennedy | first1 = David | year = 1969 | title = What the New Deal Did | url = | journal = Political Science Quarterly | volume = 124 | issue = 2| pages = 251–68 | doi = 10.1002/j.1538-165X.2009.tb00648.x }}</ref> The New Deal implemented two new housing agencies; [[Home Owners' Loan Corporation]] (HOLC) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). HOLC set uniform national appraisal methods and simplified the mortgage process. The [[Federal Housing Administration]] (FHA) created national standards for home construction.<ref>David C. Wheelock, "The Federal response to home mortgage distress: Lessons from the Great Depression." ''Review'' 90 (2008). [https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/08/05/Wheelock.pdf online]</ref>


===Reform===
===Reform===
Reform was based on the assumption that the depression was caused by the inherent instability of the market and that government intervention was necessary to rationalize and stabilize the economy and to balance the interests of farmers, business and labor. Reforms targeted the causes of the depression and sought to prevent a crisis like it from happening again. In other words, financially rebuilding the U.S. while ensuring not to repeat history.
Reform was based on the assumption that the depression was caused by the inherent instability of the market and that government intervention was necessary to rationalize and stabilize the economy and to balance the interests of farmers, business, and labor. Reforms targeted the causes of the depression and sought to prevent a crisis like it from happening again. In other words, this sought to financially rebuild the U.S. while ensuring not to repeat history.


====Trade liberalization====
====Trade liberalization====
There is consensus amongst economic historians that protectionist policies, culminating in the [[Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act|Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930]], worsened the Depression.<ref>Robert Whaples, "Where Is There Consensus Among American Economic Historians? The Results of a Survey on Forty Propositions", ''Journal of Economic History'', Vol. 55, No. 1 (Mar. 1995), S. 139–154 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2123771 in JSTOR]</ref> Roosevelt already spoke against the act while campaigning for president during 1932.<ref name="economist">{{Cite journal|url=http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12798595|title=The Battle of Smoot-Hawley|journal=[[The Economist]]|date =December 18, 2008|postscript=<!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->{{inconsistent citations}}}}</ref> In 1934, the [[Reciprocal Tariff Act]] was drafted by [[Cordell Hull]]. It gave the president power to negotiate bilateral, [[reciprocal trade agreement]]s with other countries. The act enabled Roosevelt to liberalize [[Trade policy of the United States|American trade policy]] around the globe and it is widely credited with ushering in the era of liberal [[trade policy]] that persists to this day.<ref name="Hiscox">{{cite journal|last=Hiscox|first=Michael J.|title=The Magic Bullet? The RTAA, Institutional Reform, and Trade Liberalization|journal=International Organization|date=Autumn 1999|volume=53|issue=4|pages=669–98|doi=10.1162/002081899551039|citeseerx=10.1.1.464.2534}}</ref>
Most economic historians assert that protectionist policies, culminating in the [[Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act|Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930]], worsened the Depression.<ref name="ReferenceC">{{Cite journal |jstor = 2123771|title = Where is There Consensus Among American Economic Historians? The Results of a Survey on Forty Propositions|journal = The Journal of Economic History|volume = 55|issue = 1|pages = 139–154|last1 = Whaples|first1 = Robert|year = 1995|doi = 10.1017/S0022050700040602| s2cid=145691938 }}</ref> Roosevelt already spoke against the act while campaigning for president during 1932.<ref name="economist">{{Cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12798595|title=The Battle of Smoot-Hawley|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=December 18, 2008|access-date=May 14, 2012|archive-date=February 3, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203055501/http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12798595|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1934, the [[Reciprocal Tariff Act]] was drafted by [[Cordell Hull]]. It gave the president power to negotiate bilateral, [[reciprocal trade agreement]]s with other countries. The act enabled Roosevelt to liberalize [[Trade policy of the United States|American trade policy]] around the globe and it is widely credited with ushering in the era of liberal [[trade policy]] that persists to this day.<ref name="Hiscox">{{cite journal|last=Hiscox|first=Michael J.|title=The Magic Bullet? The RTAA, Institutional Reform, and Trade Liberalization|journal=International Organization|date=Autumn 1999|volume=53|issue=4|pages=669–98|doi=10.1162/002081899551039|citeseerx=10.1.1.464.2534|s2cid=155043044 }}</ref>


====Puerto Rico====
====Puerto Rico====
A separate set of programs operated in [[Puerto Rico]], headed by the [[Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration]]. It promoted [[land reform]] and helped small farms, it set up farm cooperatives, promoted crop diversification and helped local industry. The Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration was directed by [[Juan Pablo Montoya Sr.]] from 1935 to 1937.
The [[Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration]] oversaw a separate set of programs in [[Puerto Rico]]. It promoted [[land reform]] and helped small farms, it set up farm cooperatives, promoted crop diversification, and helped the local industry.<ref>Geoff G. Burrows, "The New Deal in Puerto Rico: Public works, public health, and the Puerto Rico reconstruction administration, 1935-1955" (dissertation, City University of New York, 2014) [https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1314&context=gc_etds online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135002/https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1314&context=gc_etds |date=February 5, 2023 }}.</ref>


==Second New Deal (1935–1936)==
==Second New Deal (1935–1936)==
{{see also|Second New Deal}}
{{see also|Second New Deal}}
In the spring of 1935, responding to the setbacks in the Court, a new skepticism in Congress and the growing popular clamor for more dramatic action, New Dealers passed important new initiatives. Historians refer to them as the "Second New Deal" and note that it was more liberal and more controversial than the "First New Deal" of 1933–1934.
In the spring of 1935, responding to the setbacks in the Court, a new skepticism in Congress, and the growing popular clamor for more dramatic action, New Dealers passed important new initiatives. Historians refer to them as the "Second New Deal" and note that it was more progressive and more controversial than the "First New Deal" of 1933–1934.{{sfnp|Leuchtenburg|1963|pp=142–166}}


===Social Security Act===
===Social Security Act===
[[File:SocialSecurityposter1.gif|thumb|upright=1.15|A poster publicizing [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] benefits]]
[[File:SocialSecurityposter1.gif|thumb|upright=0.8|A poster publicizing [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] benefits]]
Until 1935 there were just a dozen states that had old age insurance laws, but these programs were woefully underfunded and therefore almost worthless. Just one state (Wisconsin) had an insurance program. The United States was the only modern industrial country where people faced the Depression without any national system of social security. The work programs of the "First New Deal" such as CWA and FERA were designed for immediate relief, for a year or two.<ref>David M. Kennedy, ''Freedom From Fear, The American People in Depression and War 1929–1945'', (1999) p. 258, 260</ref>
Until 1935, only a dozen states had implemented old-age insurance, and these programs were woefully underfunded. Just one state (Wisconsin) had an insurance program. The United States was the only modern industrial country where people faced the Depression without any national system of social security. The work programs of the "First New Deal" such as CWA and FERA were designed for immediate relief, for a year or two.{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|pp=258, 260}}


The most important program of 1935 and perhaps the New Deal as a whole was the [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security Act]]. It established a permanent system of universal retirement pensions ([[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]]), [[Unemployment insurance#United States|unemployment insurance]] and welfare benefits for the handicapped and needy children in families without a father present.<ref>Sitkoff, ed. ''Fifty Years Later: The New Deal Evaluated'' (1984)</ref> It established the framework for the U.S. welfare system. Roosevelt insisted that it should be funded by payroll taxes rather than from the general fund''—''he said: "We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program".<ref>[http://www.ssa.gov/history/Gulick.html Social Security History]. Ssa.gov. Retrieved on 2013-07-14.</ref>
The most important program of 1935, and perhaps of the New Deal itself, was the [[Social Security Act]]. It established a permanent system of universal retirement pensions ([[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]]), [[Unemployment insurance#United States|unemployment insurance]] and welfare benefits for the handicapped and needy children in families without a father present.<ref name="sitkoff1984">{{cite book |last1=Sitkoff |first1=Harvard |title=Fifty Years Later: The New Deal Evaluated |date=1984 |publisher=Knopf}}</ref> It established the framework for the U.S. welfare system. Roosevelt insisted that it should be funded by payroll taxes rather than from the general fund''—''he said: "We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program".<ref>[http://www.ssa.gov/history/Gulick.html Social Security History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826042816/https://www.ssa.gov/history/Gulick.html |date=August 26, 2017 }}. Ssa.gov. Retrieved on July 14, 2013.</ref>

Compared to the social security systems in western European countries, the Social Security Act of 1935 was rather conservative, but for the first time the federal government took responsibility for the economic security of the aged, the temporarily unemployed, dependent children and the handicapped.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mary Beth Norton|title=A People and a Nation: A History of the United States. Since 1865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=129rne8WpyoC&pg=PA670|year=2009|publisher=Cengage |page=670|isbn=978-0547175607|display-authors=etal}}</ref>


===Labor relations===
===Labor relations===
{{see also|Strikes in the United States in the 1930s}}
The [[National Labor Relations Act]] of 1935, also known as the [[Wagner Act]], finally guaranteed workers the rights to collective bargaining through unions of their own choice. The Act also established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to facilitate wage agreements and to suppress the repeated labor disturbances. The Wagner Act did not compel employers to reach agreement with their employees, but it opened possibilities for American labor.<ref>David M. Kennedy, Freedom From Fear, The American People in Depression and War 1929–1945, Oxford University Press, 1999, {{ISBN|0-19-503834-7}}, p. 291</ref> The result was a tremendous growth of membership in the labor unions, especially in the mass-production sector, led by the older and larger [[American Federation of Labor]] and the new, more radical [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]]. Labor thus became a major component of the New Deal political coalition. However, the intense battle for members between the AFL and the CIO coalitions weakened labor's power.<ref>Irving Bernstein, "The Growth of American Unions," ''American Economic Review'' 44#3 (1954), pp. 301–318 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1810803 online]</ref>
The [[National Labor Relations Act]] of 1935, also known as the [[Wagner Act]], finally guaranteed workers the rights to collective bargaining through unions of their own choice. The Act also established the [[National Labor Relations Board]] (NLRB) to facilitate wage agreements and to suppress the repeated labor disturbances. The Wagner Act did not compel employers to reach agreement with their employees, but it opened possibilities for American labor.{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|p=291}} The result was a tremendous growth of membership in the labor unions, especially in the mass-production sector, led by the older and larger [[American Federation of Labor]] and the new, more radical [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]]. Labor thus became a major component of the New Deal political coalition. However, the intense battle for members between the AFL and the CIO coalitions weakened labor's power.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor=1810803|last1=Bernstein |first1=Irving |title=The Growth of American Unions |journal=The American Economic Review |year=1954 |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=301–318 }}</ref>


To help agricultural labor, the 1934 Jones-Costigan Act included provisions such as the prohibition of child labor under the age of 14, limited the working hours of children aged 14–16, and the granting to the USDA "the authority to fix minimum wages, but only after holding public hearings 'at a place accessible to producers and workers{{'"}}. In addition, the Act called for farmers "to pay their workers 'promptly' and 'in full' before collecting their benefit payments as a way to deal with the historic inequalities embedded in staggered payments and hold-back clauses". This Act was replaced by the 1937 Sugar Act after the Supreme Court ruled the AAA unconstitutional. In passing the Act, Congress not only followed Roosevelt's advice by continuing the previous Act's labor provisions but strengthened them. As noted by one study, the Act "once again prohibited child labor and made the 'fair, reasonable and equitable' minimum wage determinations mandatory".<ref>Sweet Tyranny Migrant Labor, Industrial Agriculture, and Imperial Politics By Kathleen Mapes, 2009, p. 223</ref> The Public Contracts (Walsh-Healey) Act of 1936 established labor standards on government contracts, "including minimum wages, overtime compensation for hours in excess of 8 a day or 40 a week, child and convict labor provisions, and health and safety requirements". The Anti-Strikebreaker (Byrnes) Act from that same year declared it unlawful "to transport or aid in transporting strikebreakers in interstate or foreign commerce".<ref>IMPORTANT EVENTS IN AMERICAN LABOR HISTORY, 1778-1968, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, p. 11</ref>
The [[Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938]] set maximum hours (44 per week) and minimum wages (25 cents per hour) for most categories of workers. [[Child labour]] of children under the age of 16 was forbidden, children under 18 years were forbidden to work in hazardous employment. As a result, the wages of 300,000 workers, especially in the South, were increased and the hours of 1.3&nbsp;million were reduced.<ref name="Clemens, p. 109">Clemens, ''Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal: The USA 1890–1954'' p. 109</ref> It was the last major New Deal legislation and it passed with support of Northern industrialists who wanted to stop the drain of jobs to the low-wage South.<ref name="lubell1955">{{cite book | title=The Future of American Politics | publisher=Anchor Press | author=Lubell, Samuel | year=1955 | page=13}}</ref>

The Davis-Bacon Act Amendment (Public Act 403) was approved in August 1935, "Establishing prevailing wages for mechanics and laborers employed on public buildings and public works".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JahGAQAAIAAJ&q=Davis-Bacon+Act+Amendment+(Public+Act+403),+approved+August+30,+1935+-+Establishing+prevailing+wages+for+mechanics+and+laborers+employed+on+public+buildings+and+public |title=Davis-Bacon Act Amendment (Public Act 403) |year=1935 |access-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135004/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Report_of_Grand_President_to_the_Regular/JahGAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Davis-Bacon+Act+Amendment+%28Public+Act+403%29,+approved+August+30,+1935+-+Establishing+prevailing+wages+for+mechanics+and+laborers+employed+on+public+buildings+and+public&dq=Davis-Bacon+Act+Amendment+%28Public+Act+403%29,+approved+August+30,+1935+-+Establishing+prevailing+wages+for+mechanics+and+laborers+employed+on+public+buildings+and+public&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> Under the Miller Act of 1935, as noted by one study, "every construction worker or person who furnished material on a covered contract has the right to sue the contractor or surety if not fully paid within 90 days after performing labor or furnishing such material".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X4KfkKNOZtgC&dq=miller+act+1935+sue+for+wages&pg=PA327 |title=Oversight Hearing on the Davis-Bacon Act Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Labor Standards of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, First Session, Hearing Held in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 1979 By United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and Labor. Subcommittee on Labor Standards, 1980, p. 327 |year=1980 |access-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135004/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Oversight_Hearing_on_the_Davis_Bacon_Act/X4KfkKNOZtgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=miller+act+1935+sue+for+wages&pg=PA327&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> The Motor Carrier Act of 1935, as noted by one study, "authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to limit the hours of service and to prescribe other measures to safeguard motor carrier employees and passengers, as well as the users of highways generally".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJUO84sQvXMC&dq=motor+carrier+act+1935+working+hours+bus+employees&pg=RA2-PA143 |title=Motor Carrier Act of 1936 |year=1936 |access-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135005/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Hours_Wages_Ad_Working_Conditions_in_the/zJUO84sQvXMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=motor+carrier+act+1935+working+hours+bus+employees&pg=RA2-PA143&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> The Merchant Marine Act of 1936 directed the Maritime Commission "to investigate and specify suitable wage and manning scales and working conditions with respect to subsidized ships".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foytqQICpGQC&dq=merchant+marine+act+1936+working+conditions&pg=PA324 |title=Merchant Marine Act of 1936 |year=1948 |access-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135511/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Hearings_of_Merchant_Marine_and_Fisherie/foytqQICpGQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=merchant+marine+act+1936+working+conditions&pg=PA324&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> Public Act 783 of March 1936 sought to extend "the facilities of the Public Health Service to seamen on Government vessels not in the military or Naval establishments".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mg4mjXr_Q9EC&dq=Seamen%27s+Act+as+Amended+and+Other+Laws+Relating+to+Seamen+Public+No+483&pg=PA75 |title=Seamen's Act as Amended and Other Laws Relating to Seamen By United States · 1936, p. 76 |year=1936 |access-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135512/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Seamen_s_Act_as_Amended_and_Other_Laws_R/Mg4mjXr_Q9EC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Seamen%27s+Act+as+Amended+and+Other+Laws+Relating+to+Seamen+Public+No+483&pg=PA75&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> The Railway Labor Act Amendment (Public Act 487) was approved in April 1936, "Extending protection of Railway Labor Act to employees of air transportation companies engaged in interstate and foreign commerce".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JahGAQAAIAAJ&q=Railway+Labor+Act+Amendment+(+Public+Act+487+)+,+approved+April+10+,+1936+-+Extending+protection+of+Railway+Labor+Act+to+employes+of+air+transportation+companies+engaged+in+interstate+and+foreign+commerce |title=Railway Labor Act Amendment ( Public Act 487) |year=1935 |access-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135512/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Report_of_Grand_President_to_the_Regular/JahGAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Railway+Labor+Act+Amendment+%28+Public+Act+487+%29+,+approved+April+10+,+1936+-+Extending+protection+of+Railway+Labor+Act+to+employes+of+air+transportation+companies+engaged+in+interstate+and+foreign+commerce&dq=Railway+Labor+Act+Amendment+%28+Public+Act+487+%29+,+approved+April+10+,+1936+-+Extending+protection+of+Railway+Labor+Act+to+employes+of+air+transportation+companies+engaged+in+interstate+and+foreign+commerce&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Bituminous Coal Act of 1937 contained various labor provisions such as prohibiting "requiring an employee or applicant for employment to join a company union".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DRgCAAAAIAAJ&dq=Bituminous+Coal+Act+of+1937+right+to+organize&pg=RA7-PA31 |title=Bulletin Issues 34–40 1940 |year=1940 |access-date=October 30, 2022 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135512/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Bulletin/DRgCAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Bituminous+Coal+Act+of+1937+right+to+organize&pg=RA7-PA31&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> A national Railroad Retirement program was introduced that year, which in 1938 also introduced unemployment benefits.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v68n2/v68n2p41.html |title=An Overview of the Railroad Retirement Program by Kevin Whitman Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 68, No. 2, 2008 |access-date=January 22, 2023 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205135552/https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v68n2/v68n2p41.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Randolph-Sheppard Act provided for "licensing of blind persons to operate vending stands in Federal buildings".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2yc0AAAAIAAJ&dq=H.R.+4688:+Randolph-Sheppard+Act&pg=PA109 Federal Labor Laws Current Federal Labor Laws, Not Including Social Security Nor Unemployment Compensation By United States Congress, House. Committee on Education and Labor, 1967, p. 110]</ref> Public Law No. 814 of the 74th Congress, as noted by one study, conferred jurisdiction "upon each of the several states to extend the provisions of their State workmen's compensation laws to employments on Federal property and premises located within the respective States".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KnMqAQAAMAAJ&dq=public+law+814+longshoremen+compensation+1936&pg=RA4-PA2 Annual Report of the United States Employees' Compensation Commission Volumes 16–20 By United States. Employees' Compensation Commission, 1931]</ref> The National Apprenticeship Act of 1937 established standards for apprenticeship programs.<ref>Construction workers, U.S.A. By Herbert A. Applebaum, 1999, p. 160</ref> The Chandler Act of 1938 allowed wage earners "to extend debt payments over longer periods of time."<ref>Historical dictionary of the Great Depression, 1929-1940 By James Stuart Olson, 2001, P.52</ref> That same year the Interstate Commerce Commission "issued an order regulating the hours of drivers of motor vehicles engaged in interstate commerce".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PpffSJyfsw0C&dq=Regulation+of+Hours+of+Work+of+Motor-Vehicle+Operators&pg=PA165 Monthly Labor Review, Volume 53, Issue 1, 1941, p. 165]</ref> The Wagner-O'Day Act in 1938 set up a program "designed to increase employment opportunities for persons who are blind so they could manufacture and sell their goods to the federal government".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dR9rLuoR8f0C&dq=1936+Randolph-Sheppard+Act&pg=PA4 Defense Contracts: Contracting Military Food Services under the Randolph-Sheppard and Javits-Wagner-O'Day Programs, 2007. p. 4]</ref>

Public Act No. 702 provided an 8-hour day for officers and seamen on certain vessels that navigated the Great Lakes and adjacent waters, and the Second Deficiency Appropriation Act (Public, No. 723) contained an appropriation for investigating labor conditions in Hawaii. Public Act No. 706 provided for the preservation of the right of air carrier employees "to obtain higher compensation and better working conditions so as to conform to a decision of the National Labor Board of May 10, 1934 (No. 83). Under Public Act No. 486 the provisions of section 13 of the air-mail act of 1934 "relating to pay, working conditions, and relations of pilots and other employees shall apply to all contracts awarded under the act".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AXSqcvu_TooC&dq=seventy-fifth+congress+labor+legislation&pg=PA561 Monthly Labor Review 1939, pp. 561–563]</ref> A number of laws affecting federal employees were also enacted.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rrFIAQAAMAAJ&dq=seventy-fourth+congress+labor+legislation&pg=PA1529 Monthly Labor Review Volume 41 By United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1936, p. 1537]</ref> An act of 1936, for instance, provided vacations and accumulated leaves for Government employees, and another 1936 act provided for accumulated sick leave with pay for Government employees.<ref name="ReferenceD"/>

The [[Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938]] set maximum hours (44 per week) and minimum wages (25 cents per hour) for most categories of workers. [[Child labor]] of children under the age of 16 was forbidden and children under 18 years were forbidden to work in hazardous employment. As a result, the wages of 300,000 workers, especially in the South, were increased and the hours of 1.3&nbsp;million were reduced.<ref name=" Clemens, p. 109">Clemens, ''Prosperity, Depression, and the New Deal: The USA 1890–1954'' p. 109</ref>

===Consumer rights===

Various laws were also passed to advance consumer rights. In 1935 the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 was passed "to protect consumers and investors from abuses by holding companies with interests in gas and electric utilities".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=sCgCAAAAIAAJ&dq=Public+Utility+Holding+Company+Act+of+1935+consumers&pg=PA1 Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935]</ref> The Federal Power Act of 1935 sought "to protect customers and to assure reasonableness in the provision of a service essential to life in modern society".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=JY00AAAAIAAJ&dq=federal+power+act+1935+consumers&pg=PA30 Federal Power Act of 1935]</ref> The Natural Gas Act of 1938 sought protect consumers "against exploitation at the hands of natural gas companies".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0wGAH755uQ8C&dq=natural+gas+act+1938+consumers&pg=PA1445 Natural Gas Act of 1938]</ref> The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 granted to the [[Food and Drug Administration]] "the power to test and license drugs and to test the safety of cosmetics, and to the Department of Agriculture the authority to set food quality standards." In addition, the Wheeler-Lea Act "gave the Free Trade Commission, an old Progressive agency, the power to prohibit unfair and deceptive business acts or practices."<ref>''Government and Politics of the United States'' Second Edition by Nigel Bowles, 1998, p. 303</ref>


===Works Progress Administration===
===Works Progress Administration===
[[File:New York City municipal airports, WPA poster, ca. 1937.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA) poster promoting the [[LaGuardia Airport]] project (1937)]]
[[File:New York City municipal airports, WPA poster, ca. 1937.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA) poster promoting the [[LaGuardia Airport]] project (1937)]]
Roosevelt nationalized unemployment relief through the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA), headed by close friend [[Harry Hopkins]]. Roosevelt had insisted that the projects had to be costly in terms of labor, long-term beneficial and the WPA was forbidden to compete with private enterprises—therefore the workers had to be paid smaller wages.<ref>Kennedy, ''Freedom From Fear'' pp. 250–52</ref> The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was created to return the unemployed to the work force.<ref>Peter Fearon, ''War, Prosperity, and Depression'' (1987)</ref> The WPA financed a variety of projects such as hospitals, schools and roads,<ref name="Norman Lowe P.117"/> and employed more than 8.5&nbsp;million workers who built 650,000 miles of highways and roads, 125,000 public buildings as well as bridges, reservoirs, irrigation systems, parks, playgrounds and so on.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mary Beth Norton|title=A People and a Nation: A History of the United States. Since 1865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=129rne8WpyoC&pg=PA669|year=2009|publisher=Cengage |page=669|isbn=978-0547175607|display-authors=etal}}</ref>
Roosevelt nationalized unemployment relief through the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA), headed by close friend [[Harry Hopkins]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harry L. Hopkins {{!}} New Deal Architect, FDR Advisor {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harry-L-Hopkins |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Roosevelt had insisted that the projects had to be costly in terms of labor, beneficial in the long term and the WPA was forbidden to compete with private enterprises—therefore the workers had to be paid smaller wages.{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|pp=250–252}} The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was created to return the unemployed to the workforce.<ref>{{cite book|first = Peter |last =Fearon|title =War, Prosperity, and Depression|date =1987|isbn = 978-0-7006-0348-0|publisher = University Press of Kansas}}</ref> The WPA financed a variety of projects such as hospitals, schools, and roads,<ref name=" Norman Lowe P.117"/> and employed more than 8.5&nbsp;million workers who built 650,000 miles of highways and roads, 125,000 public buildings as well as bridges, reservoirs, irrigation systems, parks, playgrounds and so on.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mary Beth Norton|title=A People and a Nation: A History of the United States. Since 1865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=129rne8WpyoC&pg=PA669|year=2009 |publisher=Cengage|page=669|isbn=978-0-547-17560-7|display-authors= etal}}</ref>


Prominent projects were the [[Lincoln Tunnel]], the [[Triborough Bridge]], the [[LaGuardia Airport]], the [[Overseas Highway]] and the [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge]].<ref>Kennedy, ''Freedom From Fear'' p. 252</ref> The [[Rural Electrification Administration]] used co-ops to bring electricity to rural areas, many of which still operate.<ref>Deward Clayton Brown, ''Electricity for Rural America: The Fight for the REA'' (1980)</ref> The [[National Youth Administration]] was another the semi-autonomous WPA program for youth. Its Texas director, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], later used the NYA as a model for some of his [[Great Society]] programs in the 1960s.<ref name="Lorraine Brown 1979, pp 18">Lorraine Brown, "Federal Theatre: Melodrama, Social Protest, and Genius," ''U.S. Library of Congress Quarterly Journal'', 1979, Vol. 36 Issue 1, pp. 18–37</ref> The WPA was organized by states, but New York City had its own branch Federal One, which created jobs for writers, musicians, artists and theater personnel. It became a hunting ground for conservatives searching for communist employees.<ref>{{cite book|author=William D. Pederson|title=A Companion to Franklin D. Roosevelt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4-UnSYARiMC&pg=PT224|year=2011|publisher=Wiley|page=224|isbn=9781444395174}}</ref>
Prominent projects were the [[Lincoln Tunnel]], the [[Triborough Bridge]], the [[LaGuardia Airport]], the [[Overseas Highway]] and the [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge]].{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|p=252}} The [[Rural Electrification Administration]] used [[cooperative]]s to bring electricity to rural areas, many of which still operate.<ref>Deward Clayton Brown, ''Electricity for Rural America: The Fight for the REA'' (1980)</ref> Between 1935 and 1940, the percentage of rural homes lacking electricity fell from 90% to 40.%<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Hyman |first1=Louis |title=The New Deal Wasn't What You Think |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/03/surprising-truth-about-roosevelts-new-deal/584209/ |magazine=The Atlantic |access-date=March 7, 2019 |date=March 6, 2019 |archive-date=March 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306181745/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/03/surprising-truth-about-roosevelts-new-deal/584209/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[National Youth Administration]] was another semi-autonomous WPA program for youth. Its Texas director, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], later used the NYA as a model for some of his [[Great Society]] programs in the 1960s.<ref name="Lorraine Brown 1979, pp 18">Lorraine Brown, "Federal Theatre: Melodrama, Social Protest, and Genius", ''U.S. Library of Congress Quarterly Journal'', 1979, Vol. 36 Issue 1, pp. 18–37</ref> The WPA was organized by states, but New York City had its own branch Federal One, which created jobs for writers, musicians, artists and theater personnel. It became a hunting ground for conservatives searching for communist employees.<ref>{{cite book|author=William D. Pederson|title=A Companion to Franklin D. Roosevelt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4-UnSYARiMC&pg=PT224|year=2011|publisher=Wiley|page=224|isbn=978-1-4443-9517-4}}</ref>


The [[Federal Writers' Project]] operated in every state, where it created a famous guide book—it also catalogued local archives and hired many writers, including [[Margaret Walker]], [[Zora Neale Hurston]] and [[Anzia Yezierska]], to document folklore. Other writers interviewed elderly ex-slaves and recorded their stories. Under the Federal Theater Project, headed by charismatic [[Hallie Flanagan]], actresses and actors, technicians, writers and directors put on stage productions. The tickets were inexpensive or sometimes free, making theater available to audiences unaccustomed to attending plays.<ref name="Lorraine Brown 1979, pp 18"/>
The [[Federal Writers' Project]] operated in every state, where it created a famous guide book—it also catalogued local archives and hired many writers, including [[Margaret Walker]], [[Zora Neale Hurston]] and [[Anzia Yezierska]], to document folklore. Other writers interviewed elderly ex-slaves and recorded their stories.


One Federal Art Project paid 162 trained woman artists on relief to paint murals or create statues for newly built post offices and courthouses. Many of these works of art can still be seen in public buildings around the country, along with murals sponsored by the [[Treasury Relief Art Project]] of the Treasury Department.<ref>Hemming, Heidi and Julie Hemming Savage, ''Women Making America'', Clotho Press, 2009, pp. 243–44.</ref><ref>Sue Bridwell Beckham, ''Depression Post Office Murals and Southern Culture: A Gentle Reconstruction'' (1989)</ref> During its existence, the Federal Theatre Project provided jobs for circus people, musicians, actors, artists and playwrights, together with increasing public appreciation of the arts.<ref name="Norman Lowe P.117"/>
Under the [[Federal Theater Project]], headed by charismatic [[Hallie Flanagan]], actresses and actors, technicians, writers and directors put on stage productions. The tickets were inexpensive or sometimes free, making theater available to audiences unaccustomed to attending plays.<ref name="Lorraine Brown 1979, pp 18" />
One [[Federal Art Project]] paid 162 trained woman artists on relief to paint murals or create statues for newly built post offices and courthouses. Many of these works of art can still be seen in public buildings around the country, along with murals sponsored by the [[Treasury Relief Art Project]] of the Treasury Department.<ref>Hemming, Heidi, and Julie Hemming Savage, ''Women Making America'', Clotho Press, 2009, pp. 243–244.</ref><ref>Sue Bridwell Beckham, ''Depression Post Office Murals and Southern Culture: A Gentle Reconstruction'' (1989)</ref> During its existence, the Federal Theatre Project provided jobs for circus people, musicians, actors, artists, and playwrights, together with increasing public appreciation of the arts.<ref name="Norman Lowe P.117"/>


===Tax policy===
===Tax policy===
In 1935, Roosevelt called for a tax program called the ''Wealth Tax Act'' ([[Revenue Act of 1935]]) to redistribute wealth. The bill imposed an income tax of 79% on incomes over $5&nbsp;million. Since that was an extraordinary high income in the 1930s, the highest tax rate actually covered just one individual—[[John D. Rockefeller]]. The bill was expected to raise only about $250&nbsp;million in additional funds, so revenue was not the primary goal. Morgenthau called it "more or less a campaign document". In a private conversation with Raymond Moley, Roosevelt admitted that the purpose of the bill was "stealing [[Huey Long]]'s thunder" by making Long's supporters of his own. At the same time, it raised the bitterness of the rich who called Roosevelt "a traitor to his class" and the wealth tax act a "soak the rich tax".<ref>{{cite book|author=David M. Kennedy|title=Freedom From Fear, The American People in Depression and War 1929–1945|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-503834-7|pages=275, 276}}</ref>
In 1935, Roosevelt called for a tax program called the ''Wealth Tax Act'' ([[Revenue Act of 1935]]) to redistribute wealth. The bill imposed an income tax of 79% on incomes over $5&nbsp;million. Since that was an extraordinarily high income in the 1930s, the highest tax rate actually covered just one individual—[[John D. Rockefeller]]. The bill was expected to raise only about $250&nbsp;million in additional funds, so revenue was not the primary goal. Morgenthau called it "more or less a campaign document". In a private conversation with Raymond Moley, Roosevelt admitted that the purpose of the bill was "stealing [[Huey Long]]'s thunder" by making Long's supporters of his own. At the same time, it raised the bitterness of the rich who called Roosevelt "a traitor to his class" and the wealth tax act a "soak the rich tax".{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/freedomfromfeara00kenn/page/275 275–276]}}


A tax called the [[undistributed profits tax]] was enacted in 1936. This time the primary purpose was revenue, since Congress had enacted the [[Adjusted Compensation Payment Act]], calling for payments of $2&nbsp;billion to World War I veterans. The bill established the persisting principle that retained corporate earnings could be taxed. Paid dividends were tax deductible by corporations. Its proponents intended the bill to replace all other corporation taxes—believing this would stimulate corporations to distribute earnings and thus put more cash and spending power in the hands of individuals.<ref name=McNultyinKirchhof>John K. McNulty, "Unintegrated Corporate and Individual Income Taxes: USA", in: Paul Kirchhof et al., ''International and Comparative Taxation'', Kluwer Law International, 2002, {{ISBN|90-411-9841-5}}, p. 173</ref> In the end, Congress watered down the bill, setting the tax rates at 7 to 27% and largely exempting small enterprises.<ref>{{cite book|author=David M. Kennedy|title=Freedom From Fear, The American People in Depression and War 1929–1945|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-503834-7|page=280}}</ref> Facing widespread and fierce criticism,<ref>Benjamin Graham. ''Security Analysis: The Classic 1940 Edition''. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2002. pp. 386–287</ref> the tax deduction of paid dividends was repealed in 1938.<ref name=McNultyinKirchhof />
A tax called the [[undistributed profits tax]] was enacted in 1936. This time the primary purpose was revenue, since Congress had enacted the [[Adjusted Compensation Payment Act]], calling for payments of $2&nbsp;billion to World War I veterans. The bill established the persisting principle that retained corporate earnings could be taxed. Paid dividends were tax deductible by corporations. Its proponents intended the bill to replace all other corporation taxes—believing this would stimulate corporations to distribute earnings and thus put more cash and spending power in the hands of individuals.<ref name=McNultyinKirchhof>John K. McNulty, "Unintegrated Corporate and Individual Income Taxes: USA", in: Paul Kirchhof et al., ''International and Comparative Taxation'', Kluwer Law International, 2002, {{ISBN|90-411-9841-5}}, p. 173</ref> In the end, Congress watered down the bill, setting the tax rates at 7 to 27% and largely exempting small enterprises.{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/freedomfromfeara00kenn/page/280 280]}} Facing widespread and fierce criticism,<ref>Benjamin Graham. ''Security Analysis: The Classic 1940 Edition''. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2002. pp. 386–387</ref> the tax deduction of paid dividends was repealed in 1938.<ref name=McNultyinKirchhof />


===Housing Act of 1937===
===Housing Act of 1937===
{{main|Housing Act of 1937}}
{{main|Housing Act of 1937|}}

The United States Housing Act of 1937 created the [[United States Housing Authority]] within the [[U.S. Department of the Interior]]. It was one of the last New Deal agencies created. The bill passed in 1937 with some Republican support to abolish [[slum]]s.
The United States Housing Act of 1937 created the [[United States Housing Authority]] within the [[U.S. Department of the Interior]]. It was one of the last New Deal agencies created. The bill passed in 1937 with some Republican support to abolish [[slum]]s.<ref>D. Bradford Hunt, "Was the 1937 US Housing Act a pyrrhic victory?" ''Journal of Planning History'' 4.3 (2005): 195-221.</ref>

==Political alignment==
By 1936, the term "[[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]]" was typically used for supporters of the New Deal<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tugwell |first1=R. G. |title=The New Deal: The Progressive Tradition |journal=The Western Political Quarterly |date=September 1950 |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=390–427 |doi=10.2307/443352|jstor=443352 }}</ref> and "[[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]]" for its opponents.<ref>Elliot A. Rosen. ''The Republican Party in the Age of Roosevelt: Sources of Anti-Government Conservatism in the United States'' (2014).</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2023}} Roosevelt was assisted in his endeavors by the election of a liberal Congress in 1932. According to one source "We recognize that the best liberal legislation in American history was enacted following the election of President Roosevelt and a liberal Congress in 1932. After the midterm congressional election setbacks in 1938, labor was faced with a hostile congress until 1946. Only the presidential veto prevented the enactment of reactionary anti-labor laws."<ref>''Official Proceedings of the Annual Convention'' Volumes 64–67, Indiana State Federation of Labor, 1949, p. 216</ref> In noting the composition of the Seventy-Third Congress, one study has stated: "Though much of the Democratic congressional leadership remained old-guard, southern, agrarian, and conservative, the rank-and-file Democratic majorities in both houses were largely made up of fresh, northern, urban-industrial representatives of at least potentially liberal bent. At a minimum they were impatient with inaction, and not likely to be silenced by appeals to tradition. They were, as yet, an unformed and reckoned force, one that Roosevelt might mould to his purposes of remaking his party – or one whose very strength and impetuosity might force the president's hand."<ref>David M. Kennedy. ''Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945''. 1999.</ref> As stated by another study, in regards to the gains the Democrats made in the 1932 midterm elections, "The party gained ninety seats in the house and thirteen in the Senate. Even more significant, from the standpoint of potential support for urban programs, was that non-Southern Democrats represented a working majority in the House for the first of what would be only a few times in the twentieth century. Roosevelt's political instincts mood paralleled the mood of Congress, and he sought policies to tie the party's new urban supporters into a permanent majority coalition behind the Democratic Party."<ref>Modern Housing for America Policy Struggles in the New Deal Era By Gail Radford, 2008, P.90</ref> As noted by another study, "President Roosevelt's extraordinary legislative accomplishments between 1933 and 1938 owed much to his personal political qualities, but ideologically favourable large partisan majorities in the House and the Senate were a prerequisite of success."<ref>Nigel Bowles. ''Government and Politics of the United States''. Second Edition. 1998. p. 169.</ref>

As one journal reflected in 1950: "Look back to the 1930's and you can see how winning in mid-terms years affects the kind of laws that are passed. A tremendous liberal majority was swept in with Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. In the 1934 mid-term races that liberal majority was increased. After 1936 it went even higher."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hYLNAAAAMAAJ&dq=national+industrial+recovery+act+liberal+majority+congress&pg=PA211 THE SIGNALMAN'S JOURNAL, JULY 1950, P.211]</ref>

From 1934 to 1938, there existed a "pro-spender" majority in Congress (drawn from two-party, competitive, non-machine, progressive and left party districts). In the 1938 midterm election, Roosevelt and his progressive supporters lost control of Congress to the bipartisan conservative coalition.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=That Should Still Be Us: How Thomas Friedman's Flat World Myths Are Keeping Us Flat on Our Backs|author=Sieff, M.|date=2012|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-1-118-24063-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLQkk0d9XiIC&pg=PT148|access-date=August 4, 2015}}</ref> Many historians distinguish between the [[First New Deal]] (1933–1934) and a [[Second New Deal]] (1935–1936), with the second one more progressive and more controversial.


==Court-packing plan and jurisprudential shift==
==Court-packing plan and jurisprudential shift==
{{main|Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937}}
{{main|Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937}}
When the Supreme Court started abolishing New Deal programs as unconstitutional, Roosevelt launched a surprise counter-attack in early 1937. He proposed adding five new justices, but conservative Democrats revolted, led by the Vice President. The [[Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937]] failed—it never reached a vote. Momentum in Congress and public opinion shifted to the right and very little new legislation was passed expanding the New Deal. However, retirements allowed Roosevelt to put supporters on the Court and it stopped killing New Deal programs.<ref>Jeff Jeff Shesol, ''Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt Vs. The Supreme Court'' (2010) [https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/188042/28_03_451_Book%20Review_Gelman.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y online review]</ref>
When the Supreme Court started abolishing New Deal programs as unconstitutional, Roosevelt launched a surprise counter-attack in early 1937. He proposed adding five new justices, but conservative Democrats revolted, led by the Vice President. The [[Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937]] failed—it never reached a vote. Momentum in Congress and public opinion shifted to the right and very little new legislation was passed expanding the New Deal. However, retirements allowed Roosevelt to put supporters on the Court and it stopped killing New Deal programs.<ref>Jeff Jeff Shesol, ''Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt Vs. The Supreme Court'' (2010) [https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/188042/28_03_451_Book%20Review_Gelman.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y online review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107010237/https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/188042/28_03_451_Book%20Review_Gelman.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |date=November 7, 2017 }}</ref>


==Recession of 1937 and recovery==
==Recession of 1937 and recovery==
{{main|Recession of 1937}}
{{main|Recession of 1937}}
The Roosevelt administration was under assault during Roosevelt's second term, which presided over a new dip in the Great Depression in the fall of 1937 that continued through most of 1938. Production and profits declined sharply. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in May 1937 to 19.0% in June 1938. The downturn was perhaps due to nothing more than the familiar rhythms of the business cycle, but until 1937 Roosevelt had claimed responsibility for the excellent economic performance. That backfired in the recession and the heated political atmosphere of 1937.<ref>Kennedy, ''Freedom From Fear'' p. 352</ref>
The Roosevelt administration was under assault during Roosevelt's second term,{{Clarify|date=September 2022}} which presided over a new dip in the Great Depression in the fall of 1937 that continued through most of 1938. Production and profits declined sharply. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in May 1937 to 19.0% in June 1938. The downturn could have been explained by the familiar rhythms of the business cycle, but until 1937 Roosevelt had claimed responsibility for the excellent economic performance. That backfired in the recession and the heated political atmosphere of 1937.{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|p=352}}


Keynes did not think that The New Deal under Roosevelt ended the Great Depression: "It is, it seems, politically impossible for a capitalistic democracy to organize expenditure on the scale necessary to make the grand experiments which would prove my case — except in war conditions."<ref>Quoted by P. Renshaw. ''Journal of Contemporary History''. 1999 vol. 34 (3). p.377-364</ref>
[[John Maynard Keynes]] did not think that the New Deal under Roosevelt single-handedly ended the Great Depression: "It is, it seems, politically impossible for a capitalistic democracy to organize expenditure on the scale necessary to make the grand experiments which would prove my case—except in war conditions."<ref>Quoted by P. Renshaw. ''Journal of Contemporary History''. 1999 vol. 34 (3). pp. 377–364</ref>


==World War II and full employment==
==World War II and full employment==
[[File:Women working at Douglas Aircraft.jpg|thumb|Female factory workers in 1942, [[Long Beach, California]]]]
[[File:Women working at Douglas Aircraft.jpg|thumb|Female factory workers in 1942, [[Long Beach, California]]]]
The U.S. reached full employment after entering World War II in December 1941. Under the special circumstances of war mobilization, massive war spending doubled the [[gross national product]] (GNP).<ref>GNP was $99.7&nbsp;billion in 1940 and $210.1&nbsp;billion in 1944. ''Historical Statistics'' (1976) series F1.</ref> [[Military Keynesianism]] brought [[full employment]] and federal contracts were cost-plus. Instead of competitive bidding to get lower prices, the government gave out contracts that promised to pay all the expenses plus a modest profit. Factories hired everyone they could find regardless of their lack of skills—they simplified work tasks and trained the workers, with the federal government paying all the costs. Millions of farmers left marginal operations, students quit school and housewives joined the labor force.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Jensen | first1 = Richard J. | authorlink = Richard J. Jensen | year = 1989 | title = The Causes and Cures of Unemployment in the Great Depression | journal = Journal of Interdisciplinary History | volume = 19 | issue = 4| pages = 553–83 | jstor=203954| doi = 10.2307/203954 }}</ref>
The U.S. reached full employment after entering World War II in December 1941. Under the special circumstances of war mobilization, massive war spending doubled the [[gross national product]] (GNP).<ref>GNP was $99.7&nbsp;billion in 1940 and $210.1&nbsp;billion in 1944. ''Historical Statistics'' (1976) series F1.</ref> [[Military Keynesianism]] brought [[full employment]] and federal contracts were cost-plus. Instead of competitive bidding to get lower prices, the government gave out contracts that promised to pay all the expenses plus a modest profit. Factories hired everyone they could find regardless of their lack of skills—they simplified work tasks and trained the workers, with the federal government paying all the costs. Millions of farmers left marginal operations, students quit school and housewives joined the labor force.{{sfnp|Jensen|1989}}


The emphasis was for war supplies as soon as possible, regardless of cost and inefficiencies. Industry quickly absorbed the slack in the labor force and the tables turned such that employers needed to actively and aggressively recruit workers. As the military grew, new labor sources were needed to replace the 12&nbsp;million men serving in the military. Propaganda campaigns started pleading for people to work in the war factories. The barriers for married women, the old, the unskilled—and (in the North and West) the barriers for racial minorities—were lowered.<ref>{{cite book|author=D'Ann Campbell|title=Women at war with America: private lives in a patriotic era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eA0-AAAAMAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Harvard University Press|pages=110–15|isbn=9780674954755}}</ref>
The emphasis was for war supplies as soon as possible, regardless of cost and inefficiencies. Industry quickly absorbed the slack in the labor force and the tables turned such that employers needed to actively and aggressively recruit workers. As the military grew, new labor sources were needed to replace the 12&nbsp;million men serving in the military. Propaganda campaigns started pleading for people to work in the war factories. The barriers for married women, the old, the unskilled—and (in the North and West) the barriers for racial minorities—were lowered.<ref>{{cite book|author=D'Ann Campbell|title=Women at war with America: private lives in a patriotic era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eA0-AAAAMAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Harvard University Press|pages=110–115|isbn=978-0-674-95475-5}}</ref>


===Federal budget soars===
===Federal budget soars===
In 1929, federal expenditures accounted for only 3% of GNP. Between 1933 and 1939, federal expenditures tripled, but the national debt as a percent of GNP showed little change. Spending on the war effort quickly eclipsed spending on New Deal programs. In 1944, government spending on the war effort exceeded 40% of GNP. The U.S. economy experienced dramatic growth during the Second World War mostly due to the deemphasis of free enterprise in favor of the imposition of strict controls on prices and wages. These controls shared broad support among labor and business, resulting in cooperation between the two groups and the U.S. government. This cooperation resulted in the government subsidizing business and labor through both direct and indirect methods.<ref>Vatter, ''The U.S. Economy in World War II''</ref>
In 1929, federal expenditures accounted for only 3% of GNP. Between 1933 and 1939, federal expenditures tripled, but the national debt as a percent of GNP showed little change. Spending on the war effort quickly eclipsed spending on New Deal programs. In 1944, government spending on the war effort exceeded 40% of GNP. These controls shared broad support among labor and business, resulting in cooperation between the two groups and the U.S. government. This cooperation resulted in the government subsidizing business and labor through both direct and indirect methods.<ref>Vatter, ''The U.S. Economy in World War II''</ref>


===Wartime welfare projects===
===Wartime welfare projects===
Conservative domination of Congress during the war meant that all welfare projects and reforms had to have their approval, which was given when business supported the project. For example, the Coal Mines Inspection and Investigation Act of 1941 significantly reduced fatality rates in the coal-mining industry, saving workers' lives and company money.<ref>Curtis E. Harvey, ''Coal in Appalachia: an economic analysis''</ref> In terms of welfare, the New Dealers wanted benefits for everyone according to need. However, conservatives proposed benefits based on national service—especially tied to military service or working in war industries—and their approach won out.
Conservative domination of Congress during the war meant that all welfare projects and reforms had to have their approval, which was given when business supported the project. For example, the Coal Mines Inspection and Investigation Act of 1941 significantly reduced fatality rates in the coal-mining industry, saving workers' lives and company money.<ref>Curtis E. Harvey, ''Coal in Appalachia: an economic analysis''</ref> In terms of welfare, the New Dealers wanted benefits for everyone according to need. However, conservatives proposed benefits based on national service—especially tied to military service or working in war industries—and their approach won out.


The Community Facilities Act of 1940 (the Lanham Act) provided federal funds to defense-impacted communities where the population had soared and local facilities were overwhelmed. It provided money for the building of housing for war workers as well as recreational facilities, water and sanitation plants, hospitals, day care centers and schools.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sarah Jo Peterson|title=Planning the Home Front: Building Bombers and Communities at Willow Run|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wu55uzCZdpkC&pg=PA85|year=2013|pages=85–88|isbn=9780226025421}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Eve P. Smith|author2=Lisa A. Merkel-Holguín|title=A History of Child Welfare|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSxoD75gfi8C&pg=PA89|year=1996|pages=87–92|isbn=9781412816106}}</ref>
The Community Facilities Act of 1940 (the Lanham Act) provided federal funds to defense-impacted communities where the population had soared and local facilities were overwhelmed. It provided money for the building of segregated housing for war workers as well as recreational facilities, water, and sanitation plants, hospitals, day care centers, and schools.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sarah Jo Peterson|title=Planning the Home Front: Building Bombers and Communities at Willow Run|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wu55uzCZdpkC&pg=PA85|year=2013|pages=85–88|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-02542-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Eve P. Smith|author2=Lisa A. Merkel-Holguín|title=A History of Child Welfare|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSxoD75gfi8C&pg=PA89|year=1996|pages=87–92|publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1-4128-1610-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Rothstein|title=The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SdtDDQAAQBAJ|year=2017|publisher=Liveright|isbn=978-1-63149-286-0}}</ref>


The Servicemen's Dependents Allowance Act of 1942 provided family allowances for dependents of enlisted men. Emergency grants to states were authorized in 1942 for programs for day care for children of working mothers. In 1944, pensions were authorized for all physically or mentally helpless children of deceased veterans regardless of the age of the child at the date the claim was filed or at the time of the veteran's death, provided the child was disabled at the age of sixteen and that the disability continued to the date of the claim. The Public Health Service Act, which was passed that same year, expanded federal-state public health programs and increased the annual amount for grants for public health services.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ssa.gov/history/1940.html |title=Social Security Online |publisher=Ssa.gov |accessdate=April 5, 2012}}</ref>
The Servicemen's Dependents Allowance Act of 1942 provided family allowances for dependents of enlisted men. Emergency grants to states were authorized in 1942 for programs for day care for children of working mothers. In 1944, pensions were authorized for all physically or mentally helpless children of deceased veterans regardless of the age of the child at the date the claim was filed or at the time of the veteran's death, provided the child was disabled at the age of sixteen and that the disability continued to the date of the claim. The Public Health Service Act, which was passed that same year, expanded federal-state public health programs and increased the annual amount for grants for public health services.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ssa.gov/history/1940.html |title=Social Security Online |publisher=Ssa.gov |access-date=April 5, 2012 |archive-date=April 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427064647/http://www.ssa.gov/history/1940.html |url-status=live }}</ref>


The Emergency Maternity and Infant Care Program (EMIC), introduced in March 1943 by the [[United States Children's Bureau|Children's Bureau]], provided free maternity care and medical treatment during an infant's first year for the wives and children of military personnel in the four lowest enlisted pay grades. One out of seven births was covered during its operation. EMIC paid $127 million to state health departments to cover the care of 1.2 million new mothers and their babies. The average cost of EMIC maternity cases completed was $92.49 for medical and hospital care. A striking effect was the sudden rapid decline in home births as most mothers now had paid hospital maternity care.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Hamlett Bremner, ed.|title=Children and Youth in America: A Documentary History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vsSiXoVuKTIC&pg=PA1263|year=1974|publisher=Harvard UP|pages=1257–63|isbn=9780674116139}}</ref><ref>Nathan Sinai, and Odin Waldemar Anderson. "EMIC (Emergency Maternity and Infant Care). A Study of Administrative Experience." ''Bureau of Public Health Economics''. Research Series 3 (1948).</ref><ref>Martha M. Eliot, "The Children's Bureau, EMIC and postwar planning for child health: A statement." ''Journal of Pediatrics'' 25#4 (1944): 351–67.</ref><ref>Martha M. Eliot, and Lillian R. Freedman. "Four years of the EMIC Program." ''Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine'' 19#4 (1947): 621+ [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2602418/pdf/yjbm00482-0215.pdf online]</ref>
The Emergency Maternity and Infant Care Program (EMIC), introduced in March 1943 by the [[United States Children's Bureau|Children's Bureau]], provided free maternity care and medical treatment during an infant's first year for the wives and children of military personnel in the four lowest enlisted pay grades. One out of seven births was covered during its operation. EMIC paid $127&nbsp;million to state health departments to cover the care of 1.2&nbsp;million new mothers and their babies. The average cost of EMIC maternity cases completed was $92.49 for medical and hospital care. A striking effect was the sudden rapid decline in home births as most mothers now had paid hospital maternity care.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Robert Hamlett Bremner|title=Children and Youth in America: A Documentary History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vsSiXoVuKTIC&pg=PA1263|year=1974|publisher=Harvard UP|pages=1257–1263|isbn=978-0-674-11613-9}}</ref><ref>Nathan Sinai, and Odin Waldemar Anderson. "EMIC (Emergency Maternity and Infant Care). A Study of Administrative Experience." ''Bureau of Public Health Economics''. Research Series 3 (1948).</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1016/s0022-3476(44)80081-6|title=The Children's Bureau, EMIC and postwar planning for child health |year=1944 |last1=Eliot |first1=Martha M. |journal=The Journal of Pediatrics |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=351–367 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | pmc=2602418 | year=1947 | last1=Eliot | first1=M. M. | last2=Freedman | first2=L. R. | title=Four Years of the EMIC Program | journal=The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine | volume=19 | issue=4 | pages=621–635 | pmid=20245607 }}</ref>


Under the 1943 Disabled Veterans Rehabilitation Act, vocational rehabilitation services were offered to wounded World War II veterans and some 621,000 veterans would go on to receive assistance under this program.<ref name="google4">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Military Science|author=Piehler, G.K.|date=2013|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=9781452276328|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5yVzAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA220|page=220|accessdate=August 4, 2015}}</ref> The G.I. Bill ([[Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944]]) was a landmark piece of legislation, providing 16&nbsp;million returning veterans with benefits such as housing, educational and unemployment assistance and played a major role in the postwar expansion of the American middle class.<ref>Michael J. Bennett, ''When Dreams Came True: The GI Bill and the Making of Modern America'' (1999)</ref>
Under the 1943 Disabled Veterans Rehabilitation Act, vocational rehabilitation services were offered to wounded World War II veterans and some 621,000 veterans would go on to receive assistance under this program.<ref name="google4">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Military Science|author=Piehler, G.K.|date=2013|publisher=Sage Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-7632-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5yVzAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA220|page=220|access-date=August 4, 2015}}</ref> The G.I. Bill ([[Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944]]) was a landmark piece of legislation, providing 16&nbsp;million returning veterans with benefits such as housing, educational and unemployment assistance and played a major role in the postwar expansion of the American middle class.<ref>Michael J. Bennett, ''When Dreams Came True: The GI Bill and the Making of Modern America'' (1999)</ref>


===Fair Employment Practices===
===Fair Employment Practices===
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===Growing equality of income===
===Growing equality of income===
A major result of the full employment at high wages was a sharp, long lasting decrease in the level of income inequality ([[Great Compression]]). The gap between rich and poor narrowed dramatically in the area of nutrition because food rationing and price controls provided a reasonably priced diet to everyone. White collar workers did not typically receive overtime and therefore the gap between white collar and blue collar income narrowed. Large families that had been poor during the 1930s had four or more wage earners and these families shot to the top one-third income bracket. Overtime provided large paychecks in war industries<ref>Kennedy, ''Freedom from Fear'' ch 18</ref> and average living standards rose steadily, with real wages rising by 44% in the four years of war, while the percentage of families with an annual income of less than $2,000 fell from 75% to 25% of the population.<ref>America in our time: from World War II to Nixon—what happened and why by Godfrey Hodgson</ref>
A major result of the full employment at high wages was a sharp, long-lasting decrease in the level of income inequality ([[Great Compression]]). The gap between rich and poor narrowed dramatically in the area of nutrition because food rationing and price controls provided a reasonably priced diet to everyone. White collar workers did not typically receive overtime and therefore the gap between white collar and blue collar income narrowed. Large families that had been poor during the 1930s had four or more wage earners and these families shot to the top one-third income bracket. Overtime provided large paychecks in war industries{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|loc=ch 18}} and average living standards rose steadily, with real wages rising by 44% in the four years of war, while the percentage of families with an annual income of less than $2,000 fell from 75% to 25% of the population.<ref>America in our time: from World War II to Nixon—what happened and why by Godfrey Hodgson.{{full citation needed|date=April 2022}}</ref>


In 1941, 40% of all American families lived on less than the $1,500 per year defined as necessary by the Works Progress Administration for a modest standard of living. The median income stood at $2,000 a year, while 8&nbsp;million workers earned below the legal minimum. From 1939 to 1944, wages and salaries more than doubled, with overtime pay and the expansion of jobs leading to a 70% rise in average weekly earnings during the course of the war. Membership in organized labor increased by 50% between 1941 and 1945 and because the War Labor Board sought labor-management peace, new workers were encouraged to participate in the existing labor organizations, thereby receiving all the benefits of union membership such as improved working conditions, better fringe benefits and higher wages. As noted by William H. Chafe, "with full employment, higher wages and social welfare benefits provided under government regulations, American workers experienced a level of well-being that, for many, had never occurred before".
In 1941, 40% of all American families lived on less than the $1,500 per year defined as necessary by the Works Progress Administration for a modest standard of living. The median income stood at $2,000 per year, and 8&nbsp;million workers earned below the legal minimum. From 1939 to 1944, wages and salaries more than doubled, with overtime pay and the expansion of jobs leading to a 70% rise in average weekly earnings during the course of the war. Membership in organized labor increased by 50% between 1941 and 1945 and because the War Labor Board sought labor-management peace, new workers were encouraged to participate in the existing labor organizations, thereby receiving all the benefits of union membership such as improved working conditions, better fringe benefits, and higher wages. As noted by William H. Chafe, "with full employment, higher wages and social welfare benefits provided under government regulations, American workers experienced a level of well-being that, for many, had never occurred before".{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} According to one study over 60% of Americans lived in poverty in 1933, and under 40% did so by 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp99893.pdf |title=INEQUALITY AND POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES 1900 TO 1990 by Eugene Smolensky and Robert Plonick, p. 21 |access-date=January 8, 2023 |archive-date=January 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125162826/https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp99893.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>


As a result of the new prosperity, consumer expenditures rose by nearly 50%, from $61.7&nbsp;billion at the start of the war to $98.5&nbsp;billion by 1944. Individual savings accounts climbed almost sevenfold during the course of the war. The share of total income held by the top 5% of wage earners fell from 22% to 17% while the bottom 40% increased their share of the economic pie. In addition, during the course of the war the proportion of the American population earning less than $3,000 (in 1968 dollars) fell by half.<ref name="ReferenceA">The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II by William H. Chafe</ref>
As a result of the new prosperity, consumer expenditures rose by nearly 50%, from $61.7&nbsp;billion at the start of the war to $98.5&nbsp;billion by 1944. Individual savings accounts climbed almost sevenfold during the course of the war. The share of total income held by the top 5% of wage earners fell from 22% to 17% while the bottom 40% increased their share of the economic pie. In addition, during the course of the war, the proportion of the American population earning less than $3,000 (in 1968 dollars) fell by half.<ref name="ReferenceA">The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II by William H. Chafe.{{full citation needed|date=April 2022}}</ref>


==Legacy==
==Legacy==
{{Infobox historical era
[[File:FDR-LBJ.png|thumb|The New Deal was the inspiration for President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s [[Great Society]] in the 1960s: Johnson (on right) headed the Texas [[National Youth Administration|NYA]] and was elected to Congress in 1938]]
| name = [[New Deal Coalition|New Deal Era]]
Analysts agree the New Deal produced a new political coalition that sustained the Democratic Party as the majority party in national politics into the 1960s.<ref name="Morgan, 1994, p. 12">{{cite book|first=Iwan W.|last=Morgan|title=Beyond the Liberal Consensus: Political History of the United States Since 1965|publisher=C. Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd|year=1994|isbn=978-1850652045|page=12}}</ref> A 2013 study found that "an average increase in New Deal relief and public works spending resulted in a 5.4 percentage point increase in the 1936 Democratic voting share and a smaller amount in 1940. The estimated persistence of this shift suggests that New Deal spending increased long-term Democratic support by 2 to 2.5 percentage points. Thus, it appears that Roosevelt's early, decisive actions created long-lasting positive benefits for the Democratic party... The New Deal did play an important role in consolidating Democratic gains for at least two decades".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kantor|first=Shawn|last2=Fishback|first2=Price V.|last3=Wallis|first3=John Joseph|date=October 2013|title=Did the New Deal solidify the 1932 Democratic realignment?|journal=Explorations in Economic History|series=New Views of Roosevelt's New Deal|volume=50|issue=4|pages=620–633|doi=10.1016/j.eeh.2013.08.001}}</ref>
| location = [[United States]]
| start = 1930s
| end = 1970s
| image = FDR-LBJ.png
| alt = The New Deal was the inspiration for President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s [[Great Society]] in the 1960s: Johnson (on right) headed the Texas [[National Youth Administration|NYA]] and was elected to Congress in 1938
| caption = The New Deal was the inspiration for President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s [[Great Society]] in the 1960s: Johnson (on right) headed the Texas [[National Youth Administration|NYA]] and was elected to Congress in 1938
| before = [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]]<br />-<br />[[Fourth Party System|System of 1896]]
| including = [[Fifth Party System]]<br />[[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]]<br />[[United States home front during World War II|World War II]]<br />[[Cold War]]<br />[[History of the United States (1945–1964)|Post-war Era]]
| after = [[History of the United States (1964–1980)|1964–1980]]<br />-<br />[[Reagan Era]]
| monarch =
| leaders =
| presidents = [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]<br />[[Harry S. Truman]]<br />[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]<br />[[John F. Kennedy]]<br />[[Lyndon B. Johnson]]
| primeministers =
| key_events = [[New Deal#First New Deal (1933–1934)|First New Deal]]<br />[[Second New Deal]]<br />Proposed [[Second Bill of Rights]]<br />[[Fair Deal]]<br />[[New Frontier]]<br />[[War on Poverty]]<br />[[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]<br />[[Great Society]]<br />[[Voting Rights Act of 1965]]
}}

According to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', "perhaps the greatest achievement of the New Deal was to restore faith in American democracy at a time when many people believed that the only choice left was between communism and fascism".<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Deal |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal |access-date=2022-10-15 |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |language=en |archive-date=June 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619010510/https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal |url-status=live }}</ref>

Analysts agree the New Deal produced a new political coalition that sustained the Democratic Party as the majority party in national politics into the 1960s.<ref name="Morgan, 1994, p. 12">{{cite book|first=Iwan W.|last=Morgan|title=Beyond the Liberal Consensus: Political History of the United States Since 1965|publisher=C. Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd|year=1994|isbn=978-1-85065-204-5|page=12}}</ref> A 2013 study found, "an average increase in New Deal relief and public works spending resulted in a 5.4 percentage point increase in the 1936 Democratic voting share and a smaller amount in 1940. The estimated persistence of this shift suggests that New Deal spending increased long-term Democratic support by 2 to 2.5 percentage points. Thus, it appears that Roosevelt's early, decisive actions created long-lasting positive benefits for the Democratic party... The New Deal did play an important role in consolidating Democratic gains for at least two decades".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kantor|first1=Shawn|last2=Fishback|first2=Price V.|last3=Wallis|first3=John Joseph|date=October 2013|title=Did the New Deal solidify the 1932 Democratic realignment?|journal=Explorations in Economic History|series=New Views of Roosevelt's New Deal|volume=50|issue=4|pages=620–633|doi=10.1016/j.eeh.2013.08.001|s2cid=153747723}}</ref>

However, there is disagreement about whether it marked a permanent change in values. Cowie and Salvatore in 2008 argued that it was a response to Depression and did not mark a commitment to a [[welfare state]] because the U.S. has always been too individualistic.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Cowie | first1 = Jefferson | last2 = Salvatore | first2 = Nick | year = 2008 | title = The Long Exception: Rethinking the Place of the New Deal in American History | url = https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1603&context=articles | journal = International Labor and Working-Class History | volume = 74 | pages = 3–32 | doi = 10.1017/s0147547908000112 | hdl = 1813/75045 | s2cid = 146318038 | hdl-access = free | access-date = September 27, 2019 | archive-date = February 12, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200212094054/https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1603&context=articles | url-status = live }}</ref> MacLean rejected the idea of a definitive political culture. She says they overemphasized individualism and ignored the enormous power that big capital wields, the Constitutional restraints on radicalism and the role of racism, [[antifeminism]] and [[homophobia]]. She warns that accepting Cowie and Salvatore's argument that conservatism's ascendancy is inevitable would dismay and discourage activists on the left.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = MacLean | first1 = Nancy | year = 2008 | title = Getting New Deal History Wrong | journal = International Labor and Working-Class History | volume = 74 | pages = 49–55 | doi=10.1017/s014754790800015x| s2cid = 145480167 }}</ref> Klein responds that the New Deal did not die a natural death—it was killed off in the 1970s by a business coalition mobilized by such groups as the [[Business Roundtable]], the Chamber of Commerce, trade organizations, conservative think tanks and decades of sustained legal and political attacks.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Jennifer|last=Klein|title=A New Deal Restoration: Individuals, Communities, and the Long Struggle for the Collective Good|journal=International Labor and Working-Class History|date=August 2008|volume=74|issue=1|pages=42–48|issn=1471-6445|doi=10.1017/S0147547908000148|s2cid=146217525}}</ref>


Historians generally agree that during Roosevelt's 12 years in office there was a dramatic increase in the power of the federal government as a whole.<ref name="Herman, Arthur pp. 68">Herman, Arthur. ''Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in [[World War II]],'' pp. 68–75, 119, 254, 329–330, 340–341, Random House, New York, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-4000-6964-4}}.</ref><ref name="Parker, Dana T. p. 8">Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Production in the Los Angeles Area in [[World War II]],'' p. 8, Cypress, CA, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}.</ref> Roosevelt also established the presidency as the prominent center of authority within the federal government. Roosevelt created a large array of agencies protecting various groups of citizens—workers, farmers, and others—who suffered from the crisis and thus enabled them to challenge the powers of the corporations. In this way, the Roosevelt administration generated a set of political ideas—known as New Deal Progressivism<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moreno |first1=Paul D. |title=The American state from the Civil War to the New Deal: the twilight of constitutionalism and the triumph of progressivism |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge [England] |isbn=978-1-107-65501-0}}</ref>—that remained a source of inspiration and controversy for decades. New Deal liberalism lay the foundation of a new consensus. Between 1940 and 1980, there was the progressive consensus about the prospects for the widespread distribution of prosperity within an expanding capitalist economy.<ref name="Morgan, 1994, p. 12"/> Especially [[Harry S. Truman]]'s [[Fair Deal]] and in the 1960s [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s [[Great Society]] used the New Deal as inspiration for a dramatic expansion of progressive programs.
However, there is disagreement about whether it marked a permanent change in values. Cowie and Salvatore in 2008 argued that it was a response to Depression and did not mark a commitment to a [[welfare state]] because the U.S. has always been too individualistic.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Cowie | first1 = Jefferson | last2 = Salvatore | first2 = Nick | year = 2008 | title = The Long Exception: Rethinking the Place of the New Deal in American History | url = | journal = International Labor & Working-Class History | volume = 74 | issue = | pages = 3–32 | doi=10.1017/s0147547908000112}}</ref> MacLean rejected the idea of a definitive political culture. She says they overemphasized individualism and ignored the enormous power that big capital wields, the Constitutional restraints on radicalism and the role of racism, antifeminism and homophobia. She warns that accepting Cowie and Salvatore's argument that conservatism's ascendancy is inevitable would dismay and discourage activists on the left.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = MacLean | first1 = Nancy | year = 2008 | title = Getting New Deal History Wrong | url = | journal = International Labor & Working-Class History | volume = 74 | issue = | pages = 49–55 | doi=10.1017/s014754790800015x}}</ref> Klein responds that the New Deal did not die a natural death—it was killed off in the 1970s by a business coalition mobilized by such groups as the Business Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce, trade organizations, conservative think tanks and decades of sustained legal and political attacks.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Jennifer|last=Klein|title=A New Deal Restoration: Individuals, Communities, and the Long Struggle for the Collective Good|journal=International Labor & Working-Class History|date=August 2008|volume=74|issue=1|pages=42–48|issn=1471-6445|doi=10.1017/S0147547908000148|url=http://journals.cambridge.org/article_S0147547908000148|accessdate=February 15, 2013}}</ref>


The New Deal's enduring appeal on voters fostered its acceptance by moderate and progressive Republicans.<ref>{{cite book|first=Iwan W.|last=Morgan|title=Beyond the Liberal Consensus: Political History of the United States Since 1965|publisher=C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd|year=1994|isbn=978-1-85065-204-5|page=14}}</ref>
Historians generally agree that during Roosevelt's 12 years in office there was a dramatic increase in the power of the federal government as a whole.<ref name="Herman, Arthur pp. 68">Herman, Arthur. ''Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in [[World War II]],'' pp. 68–75, 119, 254, 329–30, 340–41, Random House, New York, NY, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-4000-6964-4}}.</ref><ref name="Parker, Dana T. p. 8">Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Production in the Los Angeles Area in [[World War II]],'' p. 8, Cypress, CA, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}.</ref> Roosevelt also established the presidency as the prominent center of authority within the federal government. Roosevelt created a large array of agencies protecting various groups of citizens—workers, farmers and others—who suffered from the crisis and thus enabled them to challenge the powers of the corporations. In this way, the Roosevelt administration generated a set of political ideas—known as New Deal liberalism—that remained a source of inspiration and controversy for decades. New Deal liberalism lay the foundation of a new consensus. Between 1940 and 1980, there was the liberal consensus about the prospects for the widespread distribution of prosperity within an expanding capitalist economy.<ref name="Morgan, 1994, p. 12"/> Especially [[Harry S. Truman]]'s [[Fair Deal]] and in the 1960s [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s [[Great Society]] used the New Deal as inspiration for a dramatic expansion of liberal programs.


As the first Republican president elected after Roosevelt, [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] (1953–1961) built on the New Deal in a manner that embodied his thoughts on efficiency and cost-effectiveness. He sanctioned a major expansion of Social Security by a self-financed program.<ref>{{cite book|first=Iwan W.|last=Morgan|title=Beyond the Liberal Consensus: Political History of the United States Since 1965|publisher=C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd|year=1994|isbn=978-1-85065-204-5|page=17}}</ref> He supported such New Deal programs as the minimum wage and public housing—he greatly expanded federal aid to education and built the Interstate Highway system primarily as defense programs (rather than jobs program).<ref name="Roderick P. Hart 2001 46">{{cite book|author=Roderick P. Hart|title=Politics, Discourse, and American Society: New Agendas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U44JMDQO8IoC&pg=PA46|year=2001|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=46|isbn=978-0-7425-0071-6}}</ref> In a private letter, Eisenhower wrote: {{blockquote|Should any party attempt to abolish social security and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course, that believes you can do these things [...] Their number is negligible and they are stupid.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mayer|first=Michael S.|title=The Eisenhower Years|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8160-5387-2|page=xii|publisher=Facts On File }}</ref>}}
The New Deal's enduring appeal on voters fostered its acceptance by moderate and liberal Republicans.<ref>{{cite book|first=Iwan W.|last=Morgan|title=Beyond the Liberal Consensus: Political History of the United States Since 1965|publisher=C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd|year=1994|isbn=978-1850652045|page=14}}</ref>


In 1964, [[Barry Goldwater]], an unreconstructed anti–New Dealer, was the Republican presidential candidate on a platform that attacked the New Deal. The Democrats under Lyndon B. Johnson won a massive landslide and Johnson's Great Society programs extended the New Deal. However, the supporters of Goldwater formed the [[New Right#Second New Right|New Right]] which helped to bring [[Ronald Reagan]] into the White House in the 1980 presidential election. Once an ardent supporter of the New Deal, Reagan turned against it, now viewing government as the problem rather than solution and, as president, moved the nation away from the New Deal model of government activism, shifting greater emphasis to the private sector.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Blaine T.|last1=Browne|first2=Robert C.|last2=Cottrell|title=Modern American Lives: Individuals and Issues in American History Since 1945|publisher=M.E. Sharpe, Inc.|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7656-2222-8|page=164}}</ref>
As the first Republican President elected after Roosevelt, [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] (1953–1961) built on the New Deal in a manner that embodied his thoughts on efficiency and cost-effectiveness. He sanctioned a major expansion of Social Security by a self-financed program.<ref>{{cite book|first=Iwan W.|last=Morgan|title=Beyond the Liberal Consensus: Political History of the United States Since 1965|publisher=C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd|year=1994|isbn=978-1850652045|page=17}}</ref> He supported such New Deal programs as the minimum wage and public housing—he greatly expanded federal aid to education and built the Interstate Highway system primarily as defense programs (rather than jobs program).<ref name="Roderick P. Hart 2001 46">{{cite book|author=Roderick P. Hart|title=Politics, Discourse, and American Society: New Agendas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U44JMDQO8IoC&pg=PA46|year=2001|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=46|isbn=978-0742500716}}</ref> In a private letter, Eisenhower wrote: {{quote|Should any party attempt to abolish social security and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course, that believes you can do these things [...] Their number is negligible and they are stupid.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mayer|first=Michael S.|title=The Eisenhower Years|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8160-5387-2|page=xii}}</ref>}}


A 2016 review study of the existing literature in the ''Journal of Economic Literature'' summarized the findings of the research as follows:<ref>{{cite journal|last=Fishback|first=Price|date=2016|title=How Successful Was the New Deal? The Microeconomic Impact of New Deal Spending and Lending Policies in the 1930s|url=https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/manage/publications/274-2016_fishback.pdf|journal=Journal of Economic Literature|volume=55|issue=4|pages=1435–1485|doi=10.1257/jel.20161054|s2cid=147049093|issn=0022-0515|access-date=December 9, 2017|archive-date=May 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502052639/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/manage/publications/274-2016_fishback.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1964, [[Barry Goldwater]], an unreconstructed anti-New Dealer, was the Republican presidential candidate on a platform that attacked the New Deal. The Democrats under Lyndon B. Johnson won a massive landslide and Johnson's Great Society programs extended the New Deal. However, the supporters of Goldwater formed the [[New Right#The second New Right|New Right]] which helped to bring [[Ronald Reagan]] into the White House in the 1980 presidential election. Once an ardent supporter of the New Deal, Reagan turned against it, now viewing government as the problem rather than solution and, as president, moved the nation away from the New Deal model of government activism, shifting greater emphasis to the private sector.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Blaine T.|last1=Browne|first2=Robert C.|last2=Cottrell|title=Modern American Lives: Individuals and Issues in American History Since 1945|publisher=M.E. Sharpe, Inc.|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7656-2222-8|page=164}}</ref>


A 2017 review study of the existing literature in the ''Journal of Economic Literature'' summarized the findings of the research as follows:<ref>{{cite journal|last=Fishback|first=Price|date=2017|title=How Successful Was the New Deal? The Microeconomic Impact of New Deal Spending and Lending Policies in the 1930s|url=https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/manage/publications/274-2016_fishback.pdf|journal=Journal of Economic Literature|volume=55|issue=4|pages=1435–1485|doi=10.1257/jel.20161054|issn=0022-0515|via=}}</ref> <blockquote>The studies find that public works and relief spending had state income multipliers of around one, increased consumption activity, attracted internal migration, reduced crime rates, and lowered several types of mortality. The farm programs typically aided large farm owners but eliminated opportunities for share croppers, tenants, and farm workers. The Home Owners' Loan Corporation's purchases and refinancing of troubled mortgages staved off drops in housing prices and home ownership rates at relatively low ex post cost to taxpayers. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation's loans to banks and railroads appear to have had little positive impact, although the banks were aided when the RFC took ownership stakes.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The studies find that public works and relief spending had state income multipliers of around one, increased consumption activity, attracted internal migration, reduced crime rates, and lowered several types of mortality. The farm programs typically aided large farm owners but eliminated opportunities for share croppers, tenants, and farm workers. The Home Owners' Loan Corporation's purchases and refinancing of troubled mortgages staved off drops in housing prices and home ownership rates at relatively low ex-post cost to taxpayers. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation's loans to banks and railroads appear to have had little positive impact, although the banks were aided when the RFC took ownership stakes.</blockquote>


==Historiography and evaluation of New Deal policies==
==Historiography and evaluation of New Deal policies==
Historians debating the New Deal have generally divided between liberals who support it, conservatives who oppose it and some [[New Left]] historians who complain it was too favorable to capitalism and did too little for minorities. There is consensus on only a few points, with most commentators favorable toward the CCC and hostile toward the NRA.
Historians debating the New Deal have generally been divided between progressives who support it, conservatives who oppose it, and some [[New Left]] historians who complain it was too favorable to capitalism and did too little for minorities. There is consensus on only a few points, with most commentators favorable toward the CCC and hostile toward the NRA.


[[Consensus history|Consensus historians of the 1950s]], such as [[Richard Hofstadter]], according to Lary May:
[[Consensus history|Consensus historians of the 1950s]], such as [[Richard Hofstadter]], according to Lary May:
:[B]elieved that the prosperity and apparent class harmony of the post-World War II era reflected a return to the true Americanism rooted in liberal capitalism and the pursuit of individual opportunity that had made fundamental conflicts over resources a thing of the past. They argued that the New Deal was a conservative movement that built a welfare state, guided by experts, that saved rather than transformed liberal capitalism.<ref>Lary May, "Review," ''Journal of American History'' (December 2010) 97#3 p. 765</ref>
:[B]elieved that the prosperity and apparent class harmony of the post-World War II era reflected a return to the true Americanism rooted in liberal capitalism and the pursuit of individual opportunity that had made fundamental conflicts over resources a thing of the past. They argued that the New Deal was a conservative movement that built a welfare state, guided by experts, that saved rather than transformed liberal capitalism.<ref>Lary May, "Review", ''Journal of American History'' (December 2010) 97#3 p. 765</ref>


Liberal historians argue that Roosevelt restored hope and self-respect to tens of millions of desperate people, built labor unions, upgraded the national infrastructure and saved capitalism in his first term when he could have destroyed it and easily nationalized the banks and the railroads.<ref>Sitkoff (1984)</ref> Historians generally agree that apart from building up labor unions, the New Deal did not substantially alter the distribution of power within American capitalism. "The New Deal brought about limited change in the nation's power structure".<ref>Quote from Mary Beth Norton, et al. ''A People and a Nation: A History of the United States'' (1994), 2:783. See also Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. ''The Coming of the New Deal, 1933–1935'' (1958) p. ix; Seymour Martin Lipset and Gary Marks, "How FDR Saved Capitalism", in ''It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States'' (2001); [[Eric Rauchway]], ''The Great Depression and the New Deal'' (2007), pp. 86, 93–97; Cass R. Sunstein, ''The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution'', (2006) pp. 129–30; C. Wright Mills, ''The Power Elite'' (1959) 272–74; David Edwin Harrell, Jr. et al. ''Unto a Good Land: A History of the American People'' (2005) p. 921; William Leuchtenburg, ''The White House Looks South'' (2005) p. 121; Robert S. McElvaine, ''The Great Depression: America, 1929–1941'' (1993) p. 168; Alan Brinkley, ''Liberalism and Its Discontents'' (1998) p. 66.</ref> The New Deal preserved democracy in the United States in a historic period of uncertainty and crises when in many other countries democracy failed.<ref>Mary Beth Norton, Carol Sheriff und David M. Katzman, A People and a Nation: A History of the United States, Volume II: Since 1865, Wadsworth Inc Fulfillment, 2011, {{ISBN|978-0495915904}}, p. 681</ref>
Progressive historians argue that Roosevelt restored hope and self-respect to tens of millions of desperate people, built labor unions, upgraded the national infrastructure, and saved capitalism in his first term when he could have destroyed it and easily nationalized the banks and the railroads.<ref name=sitkoff1984/> Historians generally agree that apart from building up labor unions, the New Deal did not substantially alter the distribution of power within American capitalism. "The New Deal brought about limited change in the nation's power structure".<ref>Quote from Mary Beth Norton, et al. ''A People and a Nation: A History of the United States'' (1994), 2:783. See also Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. ''The Coming of the New Deal, 1933–1935'' (1958) p. ix; Seymour Martin Lipset and Gary Marks, "How FDR Saved Capitalism", in ''It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States'' (2001); [[Eric Rauchway]], ''The Great Depression and the New Deal'' (2007), pp. 86, 93–97; Cass R. Sunstein, ''The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution'', (2006) pp. 129–130; C. Wright Mills, ''The Power Elite'' (1959) 272–274; David Edwin Harrell Jr. et al. ''Unto a Good Land: A History of the American People'' (2005) p. 921; William Leuchtenburg, ''The White House Looks South'' (2005) p. 121; Robert S. McElvaine, ''The Great Depression: America, 1929–1941'' (1993) p. 168; Alan Brinkley, ''Liberalism and Its Discontents'' (1998) p. 66.</ref> The New Deal preserved democracy in the United States in a historic period of uncertainty and crises when in many other countries democracy failed.<ref>Mary Beth Norton, Carol Sheriff und David M. Katzman, A People, and a Nation: A History of the United States, Volume II: Since 1865, Wadsworth Inc Fulfillment, 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-495-91590-4}}, p. 681</ref>


The most common arguments can be summarized as follows:
The most common arguments can be summarized as follows:
: '''Harmful'''
: '''Harmful'''
{{further|List of critics of the New Deal}}
{{further|List of critics of the New Deal}}
* The New Deal vastly increased the [[History of the United States public debt|federal debt]] (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865">{{cite book|author1=Ray Allen Billington|author2=Martin Ridge|title=American History After 1865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9FWZLCfi4gC&pg=PA193|year=1981|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=193|isbn=9780822600275}}</ref> while liberal Keynesians criticize that the federal deficit between 1933 and 1939 averaged only 3.7% which was not enough to offset the reduction in private sector spending during the Great Depression<ref>Clemens, ''Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal: The USA 1890–1954'' p. 205</ref>
* The New Deal vastly increased the [[History of the United States public debt|federal debt]] (Billington and Ridge).<ref name="American History After 1865">{{cite book|author1=Ray Allen Billington|author2=Martin Ridge|title=American History After 1865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9FWZLCfi4gC&pg=PA193|year=1981|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=193|isbn=978-0-8226-0027-5}}</ref> However, [[Keynesians]] argue that the federal deficit between 1933 and 1939 averaged only 3.7% which was not enough to offset the reduction in private sector spending during the Great Depression<ref>Clemens, ''Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal: The USA 1890–1954'' p. 205</ref>
* Fostered [[bureaucracy]] and administrative [[inefficiency]] (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/> and [[states' rights|enlarged the powers of the federal government]]<ref>Ira Katznelson and Mark Kesselman, ''The Politics of Power'', 1975</ref>
* Fostered [[bureaucracy]] and administrative [[inefficiency]] (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/> and [[states' rights|enlarged the powers of the federal government]]<ref>Ira Katznelson and Mark Kesselman, ''The Politics of Power'', 1975</ref>
* Slowed the growth of [[U.S. Civil Service Reform|civil service reform]] by multiplying offices outside the [[merit system]] (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Slowed the growth of [[U.S. Civil Service Reform|civil service reform]] by multiplying offices outside the [[merit system]] (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Infringed upon [[Market economy|free business enterprise]] (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Infringed upon [[Market economy|free business enterprise]] (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Prolonged the Great Depression (revisionist economists)<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hannsgen |first1=Greg |last2=Papadimitriou |first2=Dimitri |date=2010 |title=Did the New Deal Prolong or Worsen the Great Depression? |journal=Challenge |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=63–86 |doi=10.2753/0577-5132530103 |jstor=40722622 |s2cid=153490746 |issn=0577-5132}}</ref>
* Rescued capitalism when the opportunity was at hand to nationalize banking, railroads and other industries (New Left critique)<ref>Paul K. Conkin</ref>{{Better source|reason=No book, journal, newspaper, web site, or interview is being referenced here.|date=November 2018}}
* Rescued capitalism when the opportunity was at hand to nationalize banking, railroads, and other industries (New Left critique){{sfnp|Conkin|1967|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}}
: '''Neutral'''
: '''Neutral'''
* Stimulated the growth of [[class consciousness]] among farmers and workers (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Stimulated the growth of [[class consciousness]] among farmers and workers (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Raised the issue of how far [[Regulatory economics|economic regulation]] could be extended without sacrificing the [[Civil liberties|liberties of the people]] (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Raised the issue of how far [[Regulatory economics|economic regulation]] could be extended without sacrificing the [[Civil liberties|liberties of the people]] (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
: '''Beneficial'''
: '''Beneficial'''
* The nation came through its greatest depression without undermining the capitalist system (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Allowed the nation to come through its greatest depression without undermining the capitalist system (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Making the capitalist system more beneficial by enacting banking and stock market regulations to avoid abuses and providing greater financial security through, for example the introduction of Social Security or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ([[David M. Kennedy (historian)|David M. Kennedy]])<ref>as summarized by Clemens, ''Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal: The USA 1890–1954'' p. 219</ref>
* Made the capitalist system more beneficial by enacting banking and stock market regulations to avoid abuses and providing greater financial security, through, for example, the introduction of Social Security or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ([[David M. Kennedy (historian)|David M. Kennedy]])<ref>as summarized by Clemens, ''Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal: The USA 1890–1954'' p. 219</ref>
* Created a better balance among labor, agriculture and industry (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Created a better balance among labor, agriculture, and industry (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Produced a more equal distribution of wealth (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Produced a more equal distribution of wealth (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Help conserve natural resources (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
* Help conserve natural resources (Billington and Ridge)<ref name="American History After 1865"/>
Line 274: Line 357:


===Fiscal policy===
===Fiscal policy===
[[File:Debt1929-50.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|[[National debt of the United States|National debt]] as [[gross national product]] climbs from 20% to 40% under President [[Herbert Hoover]]; levels off under Roosevelt; and soars during [[World War II]] from ''Historical States US'' (1976)]]
[[File:Debt1929-50.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[National debt of the United States|National debt]] as [[gross national product]] climbs from 20% to 40% under President [[Herbert Hoover]]; levels off under Roosevelt; and soars during [[World War II]] from ''Historical States US'' (1976)]]
Julian Zelizer (2000) has argued that fiscal conservatism was a key component of the New Deal.<ref>Julian E. Zelizer, "The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal: Fiscal Conservatism and the Roosevelt Administration, 1933–1938," ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', (2000) 30#2. pp 331+ [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001752830 online]</ref> A fiscally conservative approach was supported by [[Wall Street]] and local investors and most of the business community—mainstream academic economists believed in it as apparently did the majority of the public. Conservative southern Democrats, who favored balanced budgets and opposed new taxes, controlled Congress and its major committees. Even liberal Democrats at the time regarded balanced budgets as essential to economic stability in the long run, although they were more willing to accept short-term deficits. As Zelizer notes, public opinion polls consistently showed public opposition to deficits and debt. Throughout his terms, Roosevelt recruited fiscal conservatives to serve in his administration, most notably [[Lewis Douglas]] the Director of Budget in 1933–1934; and [[Henry Morgenthau Jr.]], Secretary of the Treasury from 1934 to 1945. They defined policy in terms of budgetary cost and tax burdens rather than needs, rights, obligations, or political benefits. Personally, Roosevelt embraced their fiscal conservatism, but politically he realized that fiscal conservatism enjoyed a strong wide base of support among voters, leading Democrats and businessmen. On the other hand, there was enormous pressure to act and spending money on high visibility work programs with millions of paychecks a week.<ref>Zelizer, "The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal: Fiscal Conservatism and the Roosevelt Administration, 1933–1938"</ref>
Julian Zelizer (2000) has argued that fiscal conservatism was a key component of the New Deal.{{sfnp|Zelizer|2000}} A fiscally conservative approach was supported by [[Wall Street]] and local investors and most of the business community—mainstream academic economists believed in it as apparently did the majority of the public. Conservative southern Democrats, who favored balanced budgets and opposed new taxes, controlled Congress and its major committees. Even progressive Democrats at the time regarded balanced budgets as essential to economic stability in the long run, although they were more willing to accept short-term deficits. As Zelizer notes, public opinion polls consistently showed public opposition to deficits and debt. Throughout his terms, Roosevelt recruited fiscal conservatives to serve in his administration, most notably [[Lewis Douglas]] the Director of Budget in 1933–1934; and [[Henry Morgenthau Jr.]], Secretary of the Treasury from 1934 to 1945. They defined policy in terms of budgetary cost and tax burdens rather than needs, rights, obligations, or political benefits. Personally, Roosevelt embraced their fiscal conservatism, but politically he realized that fiscal conservatism enjoyed a strong wide base of support among voters, leading Democrats, and businessmen. On the other hand, there was enormous pressure to act and spending money on high visibility work programs with millions of paychecks a week.{{sfnp|Zelizer|2000}}


Douglas proved too inflexible and he quit in 1934. Morgenthau made it his highest priority to stay close to Roosevelt, no matter what. Douglas's position, like many of the [[Old Right (United States)|Old Right]], was grounded in a basic distrust of politicians and the deeply ingrained fear that government spending always involved a degree of patronage and corruption that offended his Progressive sense of efficiency. The Economy Act of 1933, passed early in the Hundred Days, was Douglas's great achievement. It reduced federal expenditures by $500&nbsp;million, to be achieved by reducing veterans' payments and federal salaries. Douglas cut government spending through executive orders that cut the military budget by $125&nbsp;million, $75&nbsp;million from the Post Office, $12&nbsp;million from Commerce, $75&nbsp;million from government salaries and $100&nbsp;million from staff layoffs. As Freidel concludes: "The economy program was not a minor aberration of the spring of 1933, or a hypocritical concession to delighted conservatives. Rather it was an integral part of Roosevelt's overall New Deal".<ref>Freidel 1990, p. 96</ref>
Douglas proved too inflexible and he quit in 1934. Morgenthau made it his highest priority to stay close to Roosevelt, no matter what. Douglas's position, like many of the [[Old Right (United States)|Old Right]], was grounded in a basic distrust of politicians and the deeply ingrained fear that government spending always involved a degree of patronage and corruption that offended his Progressive sense of efficiency. The Economy Act of 1933, passed early in the Hundred Days, was Douglas's great achievement. It reduced federal expenditures by $500&nbsp;million, to be achieved by reducing veterans' payments and federal salaries. Douglas cut government spending through executive orders that cut the military budget by $125&nbsp;million, $75&nbsp;million from the Post Office, $12&nbsp;million from Commerce, $75&nbsp;million from government salaries and $100&nbsp;million from staff layoffs. As Freidel concludes: "The economy program was not a minor aberration of the spring of 1933, or a hypocritical concession to delighted conservatives. Rather it was an integral part of Roosevelt's overall New Deal".{{sfnp|Freidel|1990|p=96}}


Revenues were so low that borrowing was necessary (only the richest 3% paid any income tax between 1926 and 1940).<ref>U.S. Bureau of the Census. ''Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1946''. p. 321.</ref> Douglas therefore hated the relief programs, which he said reduced business confidence, threatened the government's future credit and had the "destructive psychological effects of making mendicants of self-respecting American citizens".<ref>Zelizer, "The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal"</ref> Roosevelt was pulled toward greater spending by Hopkins and Ickes and as the 1936 election approached he decided to gain votes by attacking big business.
Revenues were so low that borrowing was necessary (only the richest 3% paid any income tax between 1926 and 1940).<ref>U.S. Bureau of the Census. ''Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1946''. p. 321.</ref> Douglas, therefore, hated the relief programs, which he said reduced business confidence, threatened the government's future credit and had the "destructive psychological effects of making mendicants of self-respecting American citizens".{{sfnp|Zelizer|2000}} Roosevelt was pulled toward greater spending by Hopkins and Ickes, and as the 1936 election approached he decided to gain votes by attacking big business.


Morgenthau shifted with Roosevelt, but at all times tried to inject fiscal responsibility—he deeply believed in balanced budgets, stable currency, reduction of the national debt and the need for more private investment. The Wagner Act met Morgenthau's requirement because it strengthened the party's political base and involved no new spending. In contrast to Douglas, Morgenthau accepted Roosevelt's double budget as legitimate—that is a balanced regular budget and an "emergency" budget for agencies, like the WPA, PWA and CCC, that would be temporary until full recovery was at hand. He fought against the veterans' bonus until Congress finally overrode Roosevelt's veto and gave out $2.2&nbsp;billion in 1936. His biggest success was the new Social Security program as he managed to reverse the proposals to fund it from general revenue and insisted it be funded by new taxes on employees. It was Morgenthau who insisted on excluding farm workers and domestic servants from Social Security because workers outside industry would not be paying their way.<ref>Zelizer, "The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal: Fiscal Conservatism; Savage 1998</ref>
Morgenthau shifted with Roosevelt, but at all times tried to inject fiscal responsibility—he deeply believed in balanced budgets, stable currency, reduction of the national debt, and the need for more private investment. The Wagner Act met Morgenthau's requirement because it strengthened the party's political base and involved no new spending. In contrast to Douglas, Morgenthau accepted Roosevelt's double budget as legitimate—that is a balanced regular budget and an "emergency" budget for agencies, like the WPA, PWA, and CCC, that would be temporary until full recovery was at hand. He fought against the veterans' bonus until Congress finally overrode Roosevelt's veto and gave out $2.2&nbsp;billion in 1936. His biggest success was the new Social Security program as he managed to reverse the proposals to fund it from general revenue and insisted it be funded by new taxes on employees. It was Morgenthau who insisted on excluding farm workers and domestic servants from Social Security because workers outside industry would not be paying their way.{{sfnp|Zelizer|2000}}


===Race and gender===
===Race and gender===
====African Americans====
====African Americans====
While many Americans suffered economically during the Great Depression, African Americans also had to deal with social ills, such as racism, discrimination and [[Racial segregation#United States 2|segregation]]. Black workers were especially vulnerable to the economic downturn since most of them worked the most marginal jobs such as unskilled or service-oriented work, therefore they were the first to be discharged and additionally many employers preferred white workers. When jobs were scarce some employers even dismissed blacks to create jobs for whites. In the end there were three times more African American workers on public assistance or relief than white workers.<ref>Hamilton Cravens, ''Great Depression: People and Perspectives'', ABC-CLIO, 2009, {{ISBN|9781598840933}}, p. 106</ref>
While many Americans suffered economically during the Great Depression, African Americans also had to deal with social ills, such as racism, discrimination, and [[Racial segregation#United States 2|segregation]]. Black workers were especially vulnerable to the economic downturn since most of them worked the most marginal jobs such as unskilled or service-oriented work, therefore they were the first to be discharged and additionally many employers preferred white workers. When jobs were scarce some employers even dismissed black workers to create jobs for white citizens. In the end, there were three times more African American workers on public assistance or relief than white workers.<ref>Hamilton Cravens, ''Great Depression: People and Perspectives'', ABC-CLIO, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-59884-093-3}}, p. 106</ref>


Roosevelt appointed an unprecedented number of blacks to second-level positions in his administration—these appointees were collectively called the [[Black Cabinet]]. The WPA, NYA and CCC relief programs allocated 10% of their budgets to blacks (who comprised about 10% of the total population, and 20% of the poor). They operated separate all-black units with the same pay and conditions as white units.<ref name="Sitkoff1"/> Some leading white New Dealers, especially [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], [[Harold L. Ickes|Harold Ickes]] and [[Aubrey Willis Williams|Aubrey Williams]], worked to ensure blacks received at least 10% of welfare assistance payments.<ref name="Sitkoff1">Sitkoff (2008)</ref> However, these benefits were small in comparison to the economic and political advantages that whites received. Most unions excluded blacks from joining and enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in the South was virtually impossible, especially since most blacks worked in hospitality and agricultural sectors.<ref>Ira Katznelson, ''When Affirmative Action was White'' (2005).</ref>
Roosevelt appointed an unprecedented number of African Americans to second-level positions in his administration—these appointees were collectively called the [[Black Cabinet]]. The WPA, NYA, and CCC relief programs allocated 10% of their budgets to blacks (who comprised about 10% of the total population, and 20% of the poor). They operated separate all-black units with the same pay and conditions as white units.<ref name="sitkoff2009">{{cite book |last1=Sitkoff |first1=Harvard |title=A new deal for blacks: The emergence of civil rights as a national issue: The depression decade |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=United States}}</ref> Some leading white New Dealers, especially [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], [[Harold L. Ickes|Harold Ickes]] and [[Aubrey Willis Williams|Aubrey Williams]], worked to ensure blacks received at least 10% of welfare assistance payments.<ref name=sitkoff2009/> However, these benefits were small in comparison to the economic and political advantages that whites received. Most unions excluded blacks from joining and enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in the South was virtually impossible, especially since most blacks worked in hospitality and agricultural sectors.<ref>Ira Katznelson, ''When Affirmative Action was White'' (2005).</ref>


The New Deal programs put millions of Americans immediately back to work or at least helped them to survive.<ref>Hamilton Cravens, ''Great Depression: People and Perspectives'', ABC-CLIO, 2009, {{ISBN|9781598840933}}, pp. 105, 108</ref> The programs were not specifically targeted to alleviate the much higher unemployment rate of blacks.<ref name="Hamilton Cravens 2009, p. 108">Hamilton Cravens, ''Great Depression: People and Perspectives'', ABC-CLIO, 2009, {{ISBN|9781598840933}}, p. 108.</ref> Some aspects of the programs were even unfavorable to blacks. The Agricultural Adjustment Acts for example helped farmers which were predominantly white, but reduced the need of farmers to hire tenant farmers or sharecroppers which were predominantly black. While the AAA stipulated that a farmer had to share the payments with those who worked the land this policy was never enforced.<ref>Hamilton Cravens, ''Great Depression: People and Perspectives'', ABC-CLIO, 2009, {{ISBN|9781598840933}}, p. 113.</ref> The Farm Service Agency (FSA), a government relief agency for tenant farmers, created in 1937, made efforts to empower African Americans by appointing them to agency committees in the South. Senator James F. Byrnes of South Carolina raised opposition to the appointments because he stood for white farmers who were threatened by an agency that could organize and empower tenant farmers. Initially, the FSA stood behind their appointments, but after feeling national pressure FSA was forced to release the African Americans of their positions. The goals of the FSA were notoriously liberal and not cohesive with the southern voting elite. Some New Deal measures inadvertently discriminated against harmed blacks. Thousands of blacks were thrown out of work and replaced by whites on jobs where they were paid less than the NRA's wage minimums because some white employers considered the NRA's minimum wage "too much money for Negroes". By August 1933, blacks called the NRA the "Negro Removal Act".<ref>Philip S. Foner. ''Organized Labor and the Black Worker, 1619–1981'' (New York: International Publishers, 1981), p. 200.</ref> An NRA study found that the NIRA put 500,000 African Americans out of work.<ref>Bruce Bartlett. ''Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past.'' (New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2008), Kindle location 2459.</ref>
The New Deal programs put millions of Americans immediately back to work or at least helped them to survive.<ref>Hamilton Cravens, ''Great Depression: People and Perspectives'', ABC-CLIO, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-59884-093-3}}, pp. 105, 108</ref> The programs were not specifically targeted to alleviate the much higher unemployment rate of blacks.<ref name="Hamilton Cravens 2009, p. 108">Hamilton Cravens, ''Great Depression: People and Perspectives'', ABC-CLIO, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-59884-093-3}}, p. 108.</ref> Some aspects of the programs were even unfavorable to blacks. The Agricultural Adjustment Acts, for example, helped farmers which were predominantly white but reduced the need of farmers to hire tenant farmers or sharecroppers which were predominantly black. Though the AAA stipulated that a farmer had to share the payments with those who worked the land, this policy was never enforced.<ref>Hamilton Cravens, ''Great Depression: People and Perspectives'', ABC-CLIO, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-59884-093-3}}, p. 113.</ref> The Farm Service Agency (FSA), a government relief agency for tenant farmers, created in 1937, made efforts to empower African Americans by appointing them to agency committees in the South. Senator James F. Byrnes of South Carolina raised opposition to the appointments because he stood for white farmers who were threatened by an agency that could organize and empower tenant farmers. Initially, the FSA stood behind their appointments, but after feeling national pressure FSA was forced to release the African Americans from their positions. The goals of the FSA were notoriously progressive and not cohesive with the southern voting elite. Some harmful New Deal measures inadvertently discriminated against blacks. Thousands of blacks were thrown out of work and replaced by whites on jobs where they were paid less than the NRA's wage minimums because some white employers considered the NRA's minimum wage "too much money for Negroes". By August 1933, blacks called the NRA the "Negro Removal Act".<ref>Philip S. Foner. ''Organized Labor and the Black Worker, 1619–1981'' (New York: International Publishers, 1981), p. 200.</ref> An NRA study found that the NIRA put 500,000 African Americans out of work.<ref>Bruce Bartlett. ''Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past.'' (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), Kindle location 2459.</ref>


However, since blacks felt the sting of the depression's wrath even more severely than whites they welcomed any help. Until 1936 almost all African Americans (and many whites) shifted from the "Party of Lincoln" to the Democratic Party.<ref name="Hamilton Cravens 2009, p. 108"/> This was a sharp realignment from 1932, when most African Americans voted the Republican ticket. New Deal policies helped establish a political alliance between blacks and the Democratic Party that survives into the 21st century.<ref>Sitkoff (2008); Nancy J. Weiss, ''Farewell to the Party of Lincoln: Black Politics in the Age of FDR'' (1983)</ref>
However, since blacks felt the sting of the depression's wrath even more severely than whites, they welcomed any help. In 1936, almost all African Americans (and many whites) shifted from the "Party of Lincoln" to the Democratic Party.<ref name="Hamilton Cravens 2009, p. 108"/> This was a sharp realignment from 1932 when most African Americans voted the Republican ticket. New Deal policies helped establish a political alliance between blacks and the Democratic Party that survives into the 21st century.<ref name=sitkoff2009/><ref>Nancy J. Weiss, ''Farewell to the Party of Lincoln: Black Politics in the Age of FDR'' (1983)</ref>


There was no attempt whatsoever to end segregation, or to increase black rights in the South, and a number of leaders that promoted the New Deal were racist and anti semites.<ref name="Rothstein2017">{{cite book|author=Richard Rothstein|title=The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SdtDDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT238|date=2 May 2017|publisher=Liveright|isbn=978-1-63149-286-0|pages=238–}}</ref>
There was no attempt whatsoever to end segregation or to increase black rights in the South, and a number of leaders that promoted the New Deal were racist and anti-semitic.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Rothstein|title=The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SdtDDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT238|year= 2017|publisher=Liveright|isbn=978-1-63149-286-0|pages=238–}}</ref>


The wartime [[Fair Employment Practice Committee|Fair Employment Practices Commission]] (FEPC) executive orders that forbade job discrimination against African Americans, women and ethnic groups was a major breakthrough that brought better jobs and pay to millions of minority Americans. Historians usually treat FEPC as part of the war effort and not part of the New Deal itself.
The wartime [[Fair Employment Practice Committee|Fair Employment Practices Commission]] (FEPC) executive orders that forbade job discrimination against African Americans, women, and ethnic groups was a major breakthrough that brought better jobs and pay to millions of minority Americans. Historians usually treat FEPC as part of the war effort and not part of the New Deal itself.


=====Segregation=====
====Segregation====
The New Deal was racially segregated as blacks and whites rarely worked alongside each other in New Deal programs. The largest relief program by far was the WPA—it operated segregated units, as did its youth affiliate the NYA.<ref name="Lumpkins2008">{{cite book|author=Charles L. Lumpkins|title=American Pogrom: The East St. Louis Race Riot and Black Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8_ZBcXXRAYC&pg=PA179|year=2008|publisher=Ohio UP|page=179|isbn=9780821418031}}</ref> Blacks were hired by the WPA as supervisors in the North, but of 10,000 WPA supervisors in the South only 11 were black.<ref>{{cite book|author=Cheryl Lynn Greenberg|title=To Ask for an Equal Chance: African Americans in the Great Depression|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rcdl9nafM2oC&pg=PA60|year=2009|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=60|isbn=9781442200517}}</ref> Historian Anthony Badger argues that "New Deal programs in the South routinely discriminated against blacks and perpetuated segregation".<ref>{{cite book|author=Anthony J. Badger|title=New Deal / New South: An Anthony J. Badger Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmXIZEtMYyQC&pg=PA38|year=2011|publisher=U. of Arkansas Press|page=38|isbn=9781610752770}}</ref> In its first few weeks of operation, CCC camps in the North were integrated. By July 1935, practically all the camps in the United States were segregated, and blacks were strictly limited in the supervisory roles they were assigned.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kay Rippelmeyer|title=The Civilian Conservation Corps in Southern Illinois, 1933–1942|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffupBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98|year=2015|publisher=Southern Illinois Press|pages=98–99|isbn=9780809333653}}</ref> Kinker and Smith argue that "even the most prominent racial liberals in the New Deal did not dare to criticize Jim Crow".
The New Deal was racially segregated as blacks and whites rarely worked alongside each other in New Deal programs. The largest relief program by far was the WPA—it operated segregated units, as did its youth affiliate the NYA.<ref name="Lumpkins2008">{{cite book|author=Charles L. Lumpkins|title=American Pogrom: The East St. Louis Race Riot and Black Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8_ZBcXXRAYC&pg=PA179|year=2008|publisher=Ohio UP|page=179|isbn=978-0-8214-1803-1}}</ref> Blacks were hired by the WPA as supervisors in the North, but of 10,000 WPA supervisors in the South only 11 were black.<ref>{{cite book|author=Cheryl Lynn Greenberg|title=To Ask for an Equal Chance: African Americans in the Great Depression|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rcdl9nafM2oC&pg=PA60|year=2009|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=60|isbn=978-1-4422-0051-7}}</ref> Historian Anthony Badger said, "New Deal programs in the South routinely discriminated against blacks and perpetuated segregation."<ref>{{cite book|author=Anthony J. Badger|title=New Deal / New South: An Anthony J. Badger Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmXIZEtMYyQC&pg=PA38|year=2011|publisher=U. of Arkansas Press|page=38|isbn=978-1-61075-277-0}}</ref> In its first few weeks of operation, CCC camps in the North were integrated. By July 1935, practically all the camps in the United States were segregated, and blacks were strictly limited in the supervisory roles they were assigned.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kay Rippelmeyer|title=The Civilian Conservation Corps in Southern Illinois, 1933–1942|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffupBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98|year=2015|publisher=Southern Illinois Press|pages=98–99|isbn=978-0-8093-3365-3}}</ref> Kinker and Smith argue, "even the most prominent racial liberals in the New Deal did not dare to criticize Jim Crow."


Secretary of the Interior [[Harold L. Ickes|Harold Ickes]] was one of the Roosevelt Administration's most prominent supporters of blacks and former president of the Chicago chapter of the NAACP. In 1937, when Senator [[Josiah Bailey]] Democrat of North Carolina accused him of trying to break down segregation laws Ickes wrote him to deny that:
Secretary of the Interior [[Harold L. Ickes|Harold Ickes]] was one of the Roosevelt Administration's most prominent supporters of blacks and former president of the Chicago chapter of the NAACP. In 1937, when Senator [[Josiah Bailey]] Democrat of North Carolina accused him of trying to break down segregation laws Ickes wrote him to deny that:
:I think it is up to the states to work out their social problems if possible, and while I have always been interested in seeing that the Negro has a square deal, I have never dissipated my strength against the particular stone wall of segregation. I believe that wall will crumble when the Negro has brought himself to a high educational and economic status…. Moreover, while there are no segregation laws in the North, there is segregation in fact and we might as well recognize this.<ref>Harold Ickes, ''The secret diary of Harold L. Ickes Vol. 2: The inside struggle, 1936–1939'' (1954) p. 115</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=David L. Chappell|title=A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8jomttdSV5YC&pg=PA9|year=2009|pages=9–11|isbn=9780807895573}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Philip A. Klinkner|author2=Rogers M. Smith|title=The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gP3DbiRcbPAC&pg=PA130|year=2002|publisher=U of Chicago Press|page=130|isbn=9780226443416}}</ref>
:I think it is up to the states to work out their social problems if possible, and while I have always been interested in seeing that the Negro has a square deal, I have never dissipated my strength against the particular stone wall of segregation. I believe that wall will crumble when the Negro has brought himself to a high educational and economic status…. Moreover, while there are no segregation laws in the North, there is segregation in fact and we might as well recognize this.<ref>Harold Ickes, ''The secret diary of Harold L. Ickes Vol. 2: The inside struggle, 1936–1939'' (1954) p. 115</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=David L. Chappell|title=A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8jomttdSV5YC&pg=PA9|year=2009|pages=9–11|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-9557-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Philip A. Klinkner|author2=Rogers M. Smith|title=The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780226443416|url-access=registration|year=2002|publisher=U of Chicago Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780226443416/page/130 130]|isbn=978-0-226-44341-6}}</ref>


The New Deal's record came under attack by [[New Left]] historians in the 1960s for its pusillanimity in not attacking capitalism more vigorously, nor helping blacks achieve equality. The critics emphasize the absence of a philosophy of reform to explain the failure of New Dealers to attack fundamental social problems. They demonstrate the New Deal's commitment to save capitalism and its refusal to strip away private property. They detect a remoteness from the people and indifference to participatory democracy and call instead for more emphasis on conflict and exploitation.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite journal | last1 = Auerbach | first1 = Jerold S. | year = 1969 | title = New Deal, Old Deal, or Raw Deal: Some Thoughts on New Left Historiography | journal = Journal of Southern History | volume = 35 | issue = 1| pages = 18–30 | jstor=2204748| doi = 10.2307/2204748 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Unger | first1 = Irwin | year = 1967 | title = The 'New Left' and American History: Some Recent Trends in United States Historiography | journal = American Historical Review | volume = 72 | issue = 4| pages = 1237–63 | jstor=1847792| doi = 10.2307/1847792 }}</ref>
The New Deal's record came under attack by [[New Left]] historians in the 1960s for its pusillanimity in not attacking capitalism more vigorously, nor helping blacks achieve equality. The critics emphasize the absence of a philosophy of reform to explain the failure of New Dealers to attack fundamental social problems. They demonstrate the New Deal's commitment to save capitalism and its refusal to strip away private property. They detect a remoteness from the people and indifference to participatory democracy and call instead for more emphasis on conflict and exploitation.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite journal | last1 = Auerbach | first1 = Jerold S. | year = 1969 | title = New Deal, Old Deal, or Raw Deal: Some Thoughts on New Left Historiography | journal = Journal of Southern History | volume = 35 | issue = 1| pages = 18–30 | jstor=2204748| doi = 10.2307/2204748 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Unger | first1 = Irwin | year = 1967 | title = The 'New Left' and American History: Some Recent Trends in United States Historiography | journal = American Historical Review | volume = 72 | issue = 4| pages = 1237–1263 | jstor=1847792| doi = 10.2307/1847792 }}</ref>


====Women and the New Deal====
====Women====
[[File:FERA, Camps for Unemployed Women, Maine - NARA - 196588.tif|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]] (FERA) camp for unemployed women in [[Maine]], 1934]]
[[File:FERA, Camps for Unemployed Women, Maine - NARA - 196588.tif|thumb|upright=1.0|[[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]] (FERA) camp for unemployed women in [[Maine]], 1934]]
At first, the New Deal created programs primarily for men as it was assumed that the husband was the "[[Breadwinner model|breadwinner]]" (the provider) and if they had jobs the whole family would benefit. It was the social norm for women to give up jobs when they married—in many states, there were laws that prevented both husband and wife holding regular jobs with the government. So too in the relief world, it was rare for both husband and wife to have a relief job on FERA or the WPA.<ref>Children in the family were allowed to hold CCC or NYA jobs—indeed, CCC jobs were normally given to young men whose fathers were on relief. Young women were eligible for NYA jobs which began in 1935.</ref> This prevailing social norm of the breadwinner failed to take into account the numerous households headed by women, but it soon became clear that the government needed to help women as well.<ref>Susan Ware, ''Beyond Suffrage: Women in the New Deal'' (1987)</ref>
At first, the New Deal created programs primarily for men as it was assumed that the husband was the "[[Breadwinner model|breadwinner]]" (the provider) and if they had jobs the whole family would benefit. It was the social norm for women to give up jobs when they married—in many states, there were laws that prevented both husband and wife holding regular jobs with the government. So too in the relief world, it was rare for both husband and wife to have a relief job on FERA or the WPA.<ref>Children in the family were allowed to hold CCC or NYA jobs—indeed, CCC jobs were normally given to young men whose fathers were on relief. Young women were eligible for NYA jobs which began in 1935.</ref> This prevailing social norm of the breadwinner failed to take into account the numerous households headed by women, but it soon became clear that the government needed to help women as well.<ref>Susan Ware, ''Beyond Suffrage: Women in the New Deal'' (1987)</ref>


Many women were employed on FERA projects run by the states with federal funds. The first New Deal program to directly assist women was the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA), begun in 1935. It hired single women, widows, or women with disabled or absent husbands. The WPA employed about 500,000 women and they were assigned mostly to unskilled jobs. 295,000 worked on sewing projects that made 300 million items of clothing and bedding to be given away to families on relief and to hospitals and orphanages. Women also were hired for the WPA's school lunch program.<ref>Martha Swain, '"The Forgotten Woman': Ellen S. Woodward and Women's Relief in the New Deal" ''Prologue,'' (1983) 15#4 pp 201–213.</ref><ref>Sara B. Marcketti, "The Sewing-Room Projects of the Works Progress Administration." ''Textile History'' 41.1 (2010): 28–49.</ref><ref>Louise Rosenfield Noun, ''Iowa Women in the WPA'' (1999)</ref> Both men and women were hired for the small but highly publicized arts programs (such as music, theater, and writing).
Many women were employed on FERA projects run by the states with federal funds. The first New Deal program to directly assist women was the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA), begun in 1935. It hired single women, widows, or women with disabled or absent husbands. The WPA employed about 500,000 women and they were assigned mostly to unskilled jobs. 295,000 worked on sewing projects that made 300&nbsp;million items of clothing and bedding to be given away to families on relief and to hospitals and orphanages. Women also were hired for the WPA's school lunch program.<ref>Martha Swain, {{'"}}The Forgotten Woman': Ellen S. Woodward and Women's Relief in the New Deal" ''Prologue,'' (1983) 15#4 pp. 201–213.</ref><ref>Sara B. Marcketti, "The Sewing-Room Projects of the Works Progress Administration". ''Textile History'' 41.1 (2010): 28–49.</ref><ref>Louise Rosenfield Noun, ''Iowa Women in the WPA'' (1999)</ref> Both men and women were hired for the small but highly publicized arts programs (such as music, theater, and writing).

The Social Security program was designed to help retired workers and widows but did not include domestic workers, farmers or farm laborers, the jobs most often held by blacks. However, Social Security was not a relief program and it was not designed for short-term needs, as very few people received benefits before 1942.


===Relief===
===Relief===
[[File:This farmer is not on government relief.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Anti-relief protest sign near [[Davenport, Iowa]] by [[Arthur Rothstein]], 1940]]
[[File:This farmer is not on government relief.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|Anti-relief protest sign near [[Davenport, Iowa]] by [[Arthur Rothstein]], 1940]]
The New Deal expanded the role of the federal government, particularly to help the poor, the unemployed, youth, the elderly and stranded rural communities. The Hoover administration started the system of funding state relief programs, whereby the states hired people on relief. With the CCC in 1933 and the WPA in 1935, the federal government now became involved in directly hiring people on relief in granting direct relief or benefits. Total federal, state and local spending on relief rose from 3.9% of GNP in 1929 to 6.4% in 1932 and 9.7% in 1934—the return of prosperity in 1944 lowered the rate to 4.1%. In 1935–1940, welfare spending accounted for 49% of the federal, state and local government budgets.<ref>Bureau of the Census, ''Historical Statistics of the United States'' (1975) p. 340 series H1 and H2</ref> In his memoirs, Milton Friedman said that the New Deal relief programs were an appropriate response. He and his wife were not on relief, but they were employed by the WPA as statisticians.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Rose D. Friedman|title=Two Lucky People: Memoirs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ennh28taSiEC&pg=PA59|year=1999|publisher=U. of Chicago Press|page=59|isbn=9780226264158}}</ref> Friedman said that programs like the CCC and WPA were justified as temporary responses to an emergency. Friedman said that Roosevelt deserved considerable credit for relieving immediate distress and restoring confidence.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Rose D. Friedman|title=Free to Choose|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5z1B5SwGUEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=free+to+choose#v=onepage&q=free%20to%20choose|year=1981|publisher=Avon Books|page=85|isbn=978-0-380-52548-5}}</ref>
The New Deal expanded the role of the federal government, particularly to help the poor, the unemployed, youth, the elderly and stranded rural communities. The Hoover administration started the system of funding state relief programs, whereby the states hired people on relief. With the CCC in 1933 and the WPA in 1935, the federal government now became involved in directly hiring people on relief in granting direct relief or benefits. Total federal, state and local spending on relief rose from 3.9% of GNP in 1929 to 6.4% in 1932 and 9.7% in 1934—the return of prosperity in 1944 lowered the rate to 4.1%. In 1935–1940, welfare spending accounted for 49% of the federal, state and local government budgets.<ref>Bureau of the Census, ''Historical Statistics of the United States'' (1975) p. 340 series H1 and H2</ref> In his memoirs, Milton Friedman said that the New Deal relief programs were an appropriate response. He and his wife were not on relief, but they were employed by the WPA as statisticians.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Rose D. Friedman|title=Two Lucky People: Memoirs|url=https://archive.org/details/twoluckypeopleme00frie|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=U. of Chicago Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/twoluckypeopleme00frie/page/59 59]|isbn=978-0-226-26415-8}}</ref> Friedman said that programs like the CCC and WPA were justified as temporary responses to an emergency. Friedman said that Roosevelt deserved considerable credit for relieving immediate distress and restoring confidence.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Rose D. Friedman|title=Free to Choose|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5z1B5SwGUEC&q=free+to+choose|year=1981|publisher=Avon Books|page=85|isbn=978-0-380-52548-5}}</ref>


===Recovery===
===Recovery===
In a survey of economic historians conducted by Robert Whaples, Professor of Economics at [[Wake Forest University]], anonymous questionnaires were sent to members of the ''Economic History Association''. Members were asked to disagree, agree, or agree with provisos with the statement that read: "Taken as a whole, government policies of the New Deal served to lengthen and deepen the Great Depression". While only 6% of economic historians who worked in the history department of their universities agreed with the statement, 27% of those that work in the economics department agreed. Almost an identical percent of the two groups (21% and 22%) agreed with the statement "with provisos" (a conditional stipulation) while 74% of those who worked in the history department and 51% in the economic department disagreed with the statement outright.<ref>Robert Whaples, "Where Is There Consensus Among American Economic Historians? The Results of a Survey on Forty Propositions", ''Journal of Economic History'', Vol. 55, No. 1 (March 1995), pp. 139–54 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2123771 in JSTOR]</ref>
Roosevelt's New Deal Recovery programs focused on stabilizing the economy by creating long-term employment opportunities, decreasing agricultural supply to drive prices up, and helping homeowners pay mortgages and stay in their homes, which also kept the banks solvent. In a survey of economic historians conducted by Robert Whaples, Professor of Economics at [[Wake Forest University]], anonymous questionnaires were sent to members of the ''Economic History Association''. Members were asked to disagree, agree, or agree with provisos with the statement that read: "Taken as a whole, government policies of the New Deal served to lengthen and deepen the Great Depression". While only 6% of economic historians who worked in the history department of their universities agreed with the statement, 27% of those that work in the economics department agreed. Almost an identical percent of the two groups (21% and 22%) agreed with the statement "with provisos" (a conditional stipulation) while 74% of those who worked in the history department and 51% in the economic department disagreed with the statement outright.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>


====Economic growth and unemployment (1933–1941)====
====Economic growth and unemployment (1933–1941)====
[[File:Wpa1.JPG|thumb|upright=1.15|WPA employed 2 to 3&nbsp;million unemployed at unskilled labor]]
[[File:Wpa1.JPG|thumb|upright=1.0|WPA employed 2 to 3&nbsp;million unemployed at unskilled labor]]
From 1933 to 1941, the economy expanded at an average rate of 7.7% per year.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bureau of the Census|title=Historical statistics of the United States, colonial times to 1970|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6IhUAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA217|year=1975|pages=217–18}}</ref> Despite high economic growth, unemployment rates fell slowly.
From 1933 to 1941, the economy expanded at an average rate of 7.7% per year.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bureau of the Census|title=Historical statistics of the United States, colonial times to 1970|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6IhUAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA217|year=1975|pages=217–218}}</ref> Despite high economic growth, unemployment rates fell slowly.


{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable"
|-class="hintergrundfarbe5"
|-class="hintergrundfarbe5"
!style="width:10.5em; text-align:left;"|Unemployment rate<ref>Gene Smiley, "Recent Unemployment Rate Estimates for the 1920s and 1930s", ''Journal of Economic History'' (1983) 43#2 pp. 487–93. [https://www.jstor.org/pss/2120839 In JSTOR]</ref>
!style="width:10.5em; text-align:left;"|Unemployment rate<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2120839|title = Recent Unemployment Rate Estimates for the 1920s and 1930s|journal = The Journal of Economic History|volume = 43|issue = 2|pages = 487–493|last1 = Smiley|first1 = Gene|year = 1983|doi = 10.1017/S002205070002979X| s2cid=155004188 }}</ref>
!style="width:4.5em;"|1933
!style="width:4.5em;"|1933
!style="width:4.5em;"|1934
!style="width:4.5em;"|1934
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|style="text-align: center;"|8.0%
|style="text-align: center;"|8.0%
|}
|}
[[John Maynard Keynes]] explained that situation as an [[underemployment equilibrium]] where skeptic business prospects prevent companies from hiring new employees. It was seen as a form of [[cyclical unemployment]].<ref>David M. Kennedy, ''Freedom From Fear, The American People in Depression and War 1929–1945'', Oxford University Press, 1999, {{ISBN|0-19-503834-7}}, p. 249</ref>
John Maynard Keynes explained that situation as an [[underemployment equilibrium]] where skeptic business prospects prevent companies from hiring new employees. It was seen as a form of [[cyclical unemployment]].{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|p=249}}


There are different assumptions as well. According to [[Richard L. Jensen]], cyclical unemployment was a grave matter primarily until 1935. Between 1935 and 1941, [[structural unemployment]] became the bigger problem. Especially the unions successes in demanding higher wages pushed management into introducing new efficiency-oriented hiring standards. It ended inefficient labor such as child labor, casual unskilled work for subminimum wages and sweatshop conditions. In the long term, the shift to efficiency wages led to high productivity, high wages and a high standard of living, but it necessitated a well-educated, well-trained, hard-working labor force. It was not before war time brought full employment that the supply of unskilled labor (that caused structural unemployment) downsized.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Jensen | first1 = Richard J | year = 1989 | title = The Causes and Cures of Unemployment in the Great Depression | journal = Journal of Interdisciplinary History | volume = 19 | issue = 4| pages = 553–83 | jstor=203954| doi = 10.2307/203954 }}</ref>
There are different assumptions as well. According to [[Richard L. Jensen]], cyclical unemployment was a grave matter primarily until 1935. Between 1935 and 1941, [[structural unemployment]] became the bigger problem. Especially the unions successes in demanding higher wages pushed management into introducing new efficiency-oriented hiring standards. It ended inefficient labor such as child labor, casual unskilled work for subminimum wages and sweatshop conditions. In the long term, the shift to efficiency wages led to high productivity, high wages and a high standard of living, but it necessitated a well-educated, well-trained, hard-working labor force. It was not before war time brought full employment that the supply of unskilled labor (that caused structural unemployment) downsized.{{sfnp|Jensen|1989}}


====Mainstream economics interpretation====
====Mainstream economics interpretation====
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=====Keynesians: halted the collapse but lacked Keynesian deficit spending=====
=====Keynesians: halted the collapse but lacked Keynesian deficit spending=====
At the beginning of the Great Depression, many economists traditionally argued against deficit spending. The fear was that government spending would "crowd out" private investment and would thus not have any effect on the economy, a proposition known as the [[Treasury view]], but Keynesian economics rejected that view. They argued that by spending vastly more money—using [[fiscal policy]]—the government could provide the needed stimulus through the [[multiplier effect]]. Without that stimulus, business simply would not hire more people, especially the low skilled and supposedly "untrainable" men who had been unemployed for years and lost any job skill they once had. Keynes visited the White House in 1934 to urge President Roosevelt to increase [[deficit spending]]. Roosevelt afterwards complained that "he left a whole rigmarole of figures – he must be a mathematician rather than a political economist".<ref>W. Elliot Brownlee, ''Federal Taxation in America: A Short History'' (2004) p. 103</ref>
At the beginning of the Great Depression, many economists traditionally argued against deficit spending. The fear was that government spending would "crowd out" private investment and would thus not have any effect on the economy, a proposition known as the [[Treasury view]], but Keynesian economics rejected that view. They argued that by spending vastly more money—using [[fiscal policy]]—the government could provide the needed stimulus through the [[multiplier effect]]. Without that stimulus, business simply would not hire more people, especially the low skilled and supposedly "untrainable" men who had been unemployed for years and lost any job skill they once had. Keynes visited the White House in 1934 to urge President Roosevelt to increase [[deficit spending]]. Roosevelt afterwards complained, "he left a whole rigmarole of figures—he must be a mathematician rather than a political economist."<ref>W. Elliot Brownlee, ''Federal Taxation in America: A Short History'' (2004) p. 103</ref>


The New Deal tried public works, farm subsidies and other devices to reduce unemployment, but Roosevelt never completely gave up trying to balance the budget. Between 1933 and 1941, the average federal budget deficit was 3% per year.<ref name="usgovernmentdebt.us">[http://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/spending_chart_1900_2016USp_G0f Government Spending Chart: United States 1900–2016 – Federal State Local Data]. Usgovernmentdebt.us. Retrieved on 2013-07-14.</ref> Roosevelt did not fully utilize{{Clarify|reason=vague|date=May 2017}} deficit spending. The effects of federal public works spending were largely offset by Herbert Hoover's large tax increase in 1932, whose full effects for the first time were felt in 1933 and it was undercut by spending cuts, especially the Economy Act. According to Keynesians like [[Paul Krugman]], the New Deal therefore was not as successful in the short run as it was in the long run.<ref name="Franklin Delano Obama">New York Times, Paul Krugman, [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/opinion/10krugman.html Franklin Delano Obama?], November 10, 2008</ref>
The New Deal tried public works, farm subsidies and other devices to reduce unemployment, but Roosevelt never completely gave up trying to balance the budget. Between 1933 and 1941, the average federal budget deficit was 3% per year.<ref name="usgovernmentdebt.us">[http://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/spending_chart_1900_2016USp_G0f Government Spending Chart: United States 1900–2016 – Federal State Local Data] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525022740/http://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/spending_chart_1900_2016USp_G0f |date=May 25, 2012 }}. Usgovernmentdebt.us. Retrieved on July 14, 2013.</ref> Roosevelt did not fully utilize{{Clarify|reason=vague|date=May 2017}} deficit spending. The effects of federal public works spending were largely offset by Herbert Hoover's large tax increase in 1932, whose full effects for the first time were felt in 1933 and it was undercut by spending cuts, especially the Economy Act. According to Keynesians like [[Paul Krugman]], the New Deal therefore was not as successful in the short run as it was in the long run.<ref name="Franklin Delano Obama">New York Times, Paul Krugman, [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/opinion/10krugman.html Franklin Delano Obama?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171103190002/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/opinion/10krugman.html |date=November 3, 2017 }}, November 10, 2008</ref>


Following the Keynesian consensus (that lasted until the 1970s), the traditional view was that federal deficit spending associated with the war brought full-employment output while monetary policy was just aiding the process. In this view, the New Deal did not end the Great Depression, but halted the economic collapse and ameliorated the worst of the crises.<ref>Jason Scott Smith, ''A Concise History of the New Deal'', Cambridge University Press, 2014, {{ISBN|9781139991698}}, p. 2</ref>
Following the Keynesian consensus (that lasted until the 1970s), the traditional view was that federal deficit spending associated with the war brought full-employment output while monetary policy was just aiding the process. In this view, the New Deal did not end the Great Depression, but halted the economic collapse and ameliorated the worst of the crises.<ref>Jason Scott Smith, ''A Concise History of the New Deal'', Cambridge University Press, 2014, {{ISBN|978-1-139-99169-8}}, p. 2</ref>


=====Monetarist interpretation=====
=====Monetarist interpretation=====
======Milton Friedman======
======Milton Friedman======
More influential among economists has been the monetarist interpretation by [[Milton Friedman]] as put forth in ''[[A Monetary History of the United States]],''{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}} which includes a full-scale monetary history of what he calls the "[[Great Contraction]]."<ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Anna Schwartz|title=The Great Contraction, 1929–1933 (New Edition)|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-lCArZfazBkC&q=%22Regarding%20the%20Great%20Depression%20You're%20right%20We%20did%20it%22|year=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691137940}}</ref> Friedman concentrated on the failures before 1933 and points out that between 1929 and 1932 the [[Federal Reserve]] allowed the money supply to fall by a third which is seen as the major cause that turned a normal recession into a Great Depression. Friedman especially criticized the decisions of Hoover and the Federal Reserve not to save banks going bankrupt. Friedman's arguments got an endorsement from a surprising source when [[Federal Reserve Board of Governors|Fed Governor]] [[Ben Bernanke]] made this statement:
More influential among economists has been the monetarist interpretation by [[Milton Friedman]] as put forth in ''[[A Monetary History of the United States]],''{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}} which includes a full-scale monetary history of what he calls the "[[Great Contraction]]".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Anna Schwartz|title=The Great Contraction, 1929–1933|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-lCArZfazBkC&q=%22Regarding%20the%20Great%20Depression%20You're%20right%20We%20did%20it%22|year=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-13794-0|edition=New}}</ref> Friedman concentrated on the failures before 1933 and points out that between 1929 and 1932 the [[Federal Reserve]] allowed the money supply to fall by a third which is seen as the major cause that turned a normal recession into a Great Depression. Friedman especially criticized the decisions of Hoover and the Federal Reserve not to save banks going bankrupt. Friedman's arguments got an endorsement from a surprising source when [[Federal Reserve Board of Governors|Fed Governor]] [[Ben Bernanke]] made this statement:


<blockquote>Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression, you're right. We did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.<ref>Ben S. Bernanke (Nov. 8, 2002), [http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2002/20021108/default.htm FederalReserve.gov: Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke] Conference to Honor Milton Friedman, University of Chicago</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Anna Schwartz|title=The Great Contraction, 1929–1933 (New Edition)|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-lCArZfazBkC&q=%22Regarding%20the%20Great%20Depression%20You're%20right%20We%20did%20it%22|year=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=247|isbn=978-0691137940}}</ref> <br>
<blockquote>Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression, you're right. We did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.<ref>Ben S. Bernanke (November 8, 2002), [http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2002/20021108/default.htm FederalReserve.gov: Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324160935/https://www.federalreserve.gov/BOARDDOCS/SPEECHES/2002/20021108/default.htm |date=March 24, 2020 }} Conference to Honor Milton Friedman, University of Chicago</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Anna Schwartz|title=The Great Contraction, 1929–1933|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-lCArZfazBkC&q=%22Regarding%20the%20Great%20Depression%20You're%20right%20We%20did%20it%22|year=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=247|isbn=978-0-691-13794-0|edition=New}}</ref> </blockquote>
— Ben S. Bernanke </blockquote>


Monetarists state that the banking and monetary reforms were a necessary and sufficient response to the crises. They reject the approach of Keynesian deficit spending.
Monetarists state that the banking and monetary reforms were a necessary and sufficient response to the crises. They reject the approach of Keynesian deficit spending. In an interview in 2000, Friedman said:
{{quote|You have to distinguish between two classes of New Deal policies. One class of New Deal policies was reform: wage and price control, the Blue Eagle, the national industrial recovery movement. I did not support those. The other part of the new deal policy was relief and recovery ... providing relief for the unemployed, providing jobs for the unemployed, and motivating the economy to expand ... an expansive monetary policy. Those parts of the New Deal I did support.<ref>[[PBS]], [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_miltonfriedman.html#7 Interview with Milton Friedman], 10.01.2000</ref>}}
{{blockquote|You have to distinguish between two classes of New Deal policies. One class of New Deal policies was reform: wage and price control, the Blue Eagle, the national industrial recovery movement. I did not support those. The other part of the new deal policy was relief and recovery ... providing relief for the unemployed, providing jobs for the unemployed, and motivating the economy to expand ... an expansive monetary policy. Those parts of the New Deal I did support.<ref>{{cite interview |publisher=[[PBS]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_miltonfriedman.html#7 |title=Interview with Milton Friedman |last=Friedman |first=Milton |date=2000-10-01 |access-date=November 3, 2017 |archive-date=September 8, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110908104355/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/int_miltonfriedman.html#7 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}


======Bernanke and Parkinson: cleared the way for a natural recovery======
======Bernanke and Parkinson: cleared the way for a natural recovery======
[[Ben Bernanke]] and [[Martin Parkinson]] declared in "Unemployment, Inflation, and Wages in the American Depression" (1989) that "the New Deal is better characterized as having cleared the way for a natural recovery (for example, by ending deflation and rehabilitating the financial system) rather than as being the engine of recovery itself".<ref name="Romer 757–784"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bernanke |first=Ben |title=Unemployment, Inflation, and Wages in the American Depression: Are There Lessons for Europe? |journal=[[The American Economic Review]] |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=210–14 |jstor=1827758 |date=May 1989 |subscription=yes }}</ref>
[[Ben Bernanke]] and [[Martin Parkinson]] declared in "Unemployment, Inflation, and Wages in the American Depression" (1989), "the New Deal is better characterized as having cleared the way for a natural recovery (for example, by ending deflation and rehabilitating the financial system) rather than as being the engine of recovery itself."<ref name="Romer 757–784"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bernanke |first=Ben |title=Unemployment, Inflation, and Wages in the American Depression: Are There Lessons for Europe? |journal=[[The American Economic Review]] |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=210–14 |jstor=1827758 |date=May 1989 }}</ref>


=====New Keynesian economics: crucial source of recovery=====
=====New Keynesian economics: crucial source of recovery=====
Challenging the traditional view, monetarists and [[New Keynesian economics|New Keynesians]] like [[J. Bradford DeLong]], [[Lawrence Summers]] and [[Christina Romer]] argued that recovery was essentially complete prior to 1942 and that monetary policy was the crucial source of pre-1942 recovery.<ref>DeLong, J. Bradford, Lawrence H. Summers, N. Gregory Mankiw, and Christina D. Romer. "How does macroeconomic policy affect output?." Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (1988): 467.</ref> The extraordinary growth in money supply beginning in 1933 lowered real interest rates and stimulated investment spending. According to Bernanke, there was also a debt-deflation effect of the depression which was clearly offset by a [[reflation]] through the growth in money supply.<ref name="Romer 757–784">{{cite journal |last=Romer |first=Christina |title=What Ended the Great Depression? |journal=[[The Journal of Economic History]] |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=757–84 |jstor=2123226 |date=December 1992 |subscription=yes |doi=10.1017/s002205070001189x|citeseerx=10.1.1.207.844 }}</ref> However, before 1992 scholars did not realize that the New Deal provided for a huge aggregate demand stimulus through a ''de facto'' easing of monetary policy. While [[Milton Friedman]] and [[Anna Schwartz]] argued in ''[[A Monetary History of the United States]]'' (1963) that the Federal Reserve System had made no attempt to increase the quantity in high-powered money and thus failed to foster recovery, they somehow did not investigate the impact of the monetary policy of the New Deal. In 1992, [[Christina Romer]] explained in "What Ended the Great Depression?" that the rapid growth in money supply beginning in 1933 can be traced back to a large unsterilized gold inflow to the U.S. which was partly due to political instability in Europe, but to a larger degree to the revaluation of gold through the Gold Reserve Act. The Roosevelt administration had chosen not to sterilize the gold inflow precisely because they hoped that the growth of money supply would stimulate the economy.<ref name="Romer 757–784"/>
Challenging the traditional view, monetarists and [[New Keynesian economics|New Keynesians]] like [[J. Bradford DeLong]], [[Lawrence Summers]] and [[Christina Romer]] argued that recovery was essentially complete prior to 1942 and that monetary policy was the crucial source of pre-1942 recovery.<ref>DeLong, J. Bradford, Lawrence H. Summers, N. Gregory Mankiw, and Christina D. Romer. "How does macroeconomic policy affect output?" Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (1988): 467.</ref> The extraordinary growth in money supply beginning in 1933 lowered real interest rates and stimulated investment spending. According to Bernanke, there was also a debt-deflation effect of the depression which was clearly offset by a [[reflation]] through the growth in money supply.<ref name="Romer 757–784">{{cite journal |last=Romer |first=Christina |title=What Ended the Great Depression? |journal=[[The Journal of Economic History]] |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=757–84 |jstor=2123226 |date=December 1992 |doi=10.1017/s002205070001189x|citeseerx=10.1.1.207.844 }}</ref> However, before 1992 scholars did not realize that the New Deal provided for a huge aggregate demand stimulus through a ''de facto'' easing of monetary policy. While [[Milton Friedman]] and [[Anna Schwartz]] argued in ''[[A Monetary History of the United States]]'' (1963) that the Federal Reserve System had made no attempt to increase the quantity in high-powered money and thus failed to foster recovery, they somehow did not investigate the impact of the monetary policy of the New Deal. In 1992, [[Christina Romer]] explained in "What Ended the Great Depression?" that the rapid growth in money supply beginning in 1933 can be traced back to a large unsterilized gold inflow to the U.S. which was partly due to political instability in Europe, but to a larger degree to the revaluation of gold through the Gold Reserve Act. The Roosevelt administration had chosen not to sterilize the gold inflow precisely because they hoped that the growth of money supply would stimulate the economy.<ref name="Romer 757–784"/>


Replying to DeLong et al. in the ''Journal of Economic History'', J. R. Vernon argues that deficit spending leading up to and during World War II still played a large part in the overall recovery, according to his study "half or more of the recovery occurred during 1941 and 1942".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Vernon |first=J. R. |title=World War II fiscal policies and the end of the Great Depression |journal=[[Journal of Economic History]] |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=850–68 |jstor=2123613 |date=December 1994 |subscription=yes |doi=10.1017/s0022050700015515}}</ref>
Replying to DeLong et al. in the ''Journal of Economic History'', J. R. Vernon argues that deficit spending leading up to and during World War II still played a large part in the overall recovery, according to his study "half or more of the recovery occurred during 1941 and 1942".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Vernon |first=J. R. |title=World War II fiscal policies and the end of the Great Depression |journal=[[Journal of Economic History]] |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=850–68 |jstor=2123613 |date=December 1994 |doi=10.1017/s0022050700015515|s2cid=153801147 }}</ref>


According to [[Peter Temin]], Barry Wigmore, Gauti B. Eggertsson and Christina Romer, the biggest primary impact of the New Deal on the economy and the key to recovery and to end the Great Depression was brought about by a successful management of public expectations. The thesis is based on the observation that after years of deflation and a very severe recession important economic indicators turned positive just in March 1933 when Roosevelt took office. Consumer prices turned from deflation to a mild inflation, industrial production bottomed out in March 1933, investment doubled in 1933 with a turnaround in March 1933. There were no monetary forces to explain that turnaround. Money supply was still falling and short-term interest rates remained close to zero. Before March 1933, people expected a further deflation and recession so that even interest rates at zero did not stimulate investment. However, when Roosevelt announced major regime changes people{{Who|date=May 2017}} began to expect inflation and an economic expansion. With those expectations, interest rates at zero began to stimulate investment just as they were expected to do. Roosevelt's fiscal and monetary policy regime change helped to make his policy objectives credible. The expectation of higher future income and higher future inflation stimulated demand and investments. The analysis suggests that the elimination of the policy dogmas of the gold standard, a balanced budget in times of crises and small government led endogenously to a large shift in expectation that accounts for about 70–80 percent of the recovery of output and prices from 1933 to 1937. If the regime change had not happened and the Hoover policy had continued, the economy would have continued its free-fall in 1933 and output would have been 30 percent lower in 1937 than in 1933.<ref>[http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.98.4.1476 Gauti B. Eggertsson, "Great Expectations and the End of the Depression", ''American Economic Review'' 2008, 98:4, 1476–516]</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/business/how-the-fiscal-stimulus-helped-and-could-have-done-more.html Christina Romer, "The Fiscal Stimulus, Flawed but Valuable", ''The New York Times'', October 20, 2012]</ref><ref>Peter Temin, ''Lessons from the Great Depression'', MIT Press, 1992, {{ISBN|9780262261197}}, pp. 87–101</ref>
According to [[Peter Temin]], Barry Wigmore, Gauti B. Eggertsson and Christina Romer, the biggest primary impact of the New Deal on the economy and the key to recovery and to end the Great Depression was brought about by a successful management of public expectations. The thesis is based on the observation that after years of deflation and a very severe recession important economic indicators turned positive just in March 1933 when Roosevelt took office. Consumer prices turned from deflation to mild inflation, industrial production bottomed out in March 1933, investment doubled in 1933 with a turnaround in March 1933. There were no monetary forces to explain that turnaround. Money supply was still falling and short-term interest rates remained close to zero. Before March 1933, people expected a further deflation and recession so that even interest rates at zero did not stimulate investment. However, when Roosevelt announced major regime changes people{{Who|date=May 2017}} began to expect inflation and an economic expansion. With those expectations, interest rates at zero began to stimulate investment just as they were expected to do. Roosevelt's fiscal and monetary policy regime change helped to make his policy objectives credible. The expectation of higher future income and higher future inflation stimulated demand and investments. The analysis suggests that the elimination of the policy dogmas of the gold standard, a balanced budget in times of crises and small government led endogenously to a large shift in expectation that accounts for about 70–80 percent of the recovery of output and prices from 1933 to 1937. If the regime change had not happened and the Hoover policy had continued, the economy would have continued its free-fall in 1933 and output would have been 30 percent lower in 1937 than in 1933.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257%2Faer.98.4.1476|title=Great Expectations and the End of the Depression|first=Gauti B.|last=Eggertsson|date=September 30, 2008|journal=American Economic Review|volume=98|issue=4|pages=1476–1516|via=www.aeaweb.org|doi=10.1257/aer.98.4.1476|hdl=10419/60661|hdl-access=free|access-date=March 31, 2022|archive-date=April 1, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401143742/https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257%2Faer.98.4.1476|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/business/how-the-fiscal-stimulus-helped-and-could-have-done-more.html|title=The Fiscal Stimulus, Flawed but Valuable|first=Christina D.|last=Romer|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 20, 2012|access-date=November 3, 2017|archive-date=November 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129132620/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/business/how-the-fiscal-stimulus-helped-and-could-have-done-more.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Peter Temin, ''Lessons from the Great Depression'', MIT Press, 1992, {{ISBN|978-0-262-26119-7}}, pp. 87–101</ref>


====Real business-cycle theory: rather harmful====
====Real business-cycle theory: rather harmful====
Followers of the [[real business-cycle theory]] believe that the New Deal caused the depression to persist longer than it would otherwise have. Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian say Roosevelt's policies prolonged the depression by seven years.<ref>[http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx?RelNum=5409 FDR's Policies Prolonged Depression by 7 Years, UCLA Economists Calculate], ucla.edu, 8/10/2004{{Clarify|reason=ambiguous date format|date=May 2017}}</ref> According to their study, the "New Deal labor and industrial policies did not lift the economy out of the Depression", but that the "New Deal policies are an important contributing factor to the persistence of the Great Depression". They claim that the New Deal "cartelization policies are a key factor behind the weak recovery". They say that the "abandonment of these policies coincided with the strong economic recovery of the 1940s".<ref name="Cole">Cole, Harold L. and Ohanian, Lee E. [http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/seminars/02-03/02-21.pdf ''New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression: A General Equilibrium Analysis''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060517195012/http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/seminars/02-03/02-21.pdf |date=May 17, 2006 }}, 2004.</ref> The study by Cole and Ohanian is based on a real business-cycle theory model. The underlying assumptions of this theory are subject to numerous criticisms and the theory is unable to posit any convincing explanations for the initial causes of the Great Depression.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Snowden |first=Brian |title=The New Classical Counter-Revolution: False Path or Illuminating Complement? |journal=Eastern Economic Journal |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=541–62 |jstor=20642377 |date=Fall 2007|subscription=yes |doi=10.1057/eej.2007.40 }}</ref> Laurence Seidman noted that according to the assumptions of Cole and Ohanian, the labor market clears instantaneously, which leads to the incredible conclusion that the surge in unemployment between 1929 and 1932 (before the New Deal) was in their opinion both optimal and solely based on voluntary unemployment.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Seidman |first=Laurence |title=Reply to: "The New Classical Counter-Revolution: False Path or Illuminating Complement?" |journal=Eastern Economic Journal |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=563–65 |jstor=20642378 |date=Fall 2007|subscription=yes |doi=10.1057/eej.2007.41}}</ref> Additionally, Cole and Ohanian's argument does not count workers employed through New Deal programs. Such programs built or renovated 2,500 hospitals, 45,000 schools, 13,000 parks and playgrounds, 7,800 bridges, {{convert|700000|mi|km}} of roads, 1,000 airfields and employed 50,000 teachers through programs that rebuilt the country's entire rural school system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2009/02/02/the_new_deal_worked |title=The right-wing New Deal conniption fit SalonRevisionist historians and economists keep trying to stomp on FDR's legacy. But declaring that WPA workers were unemployed is just silly |publisher=Salon.com |date=February 2, 2009 |accessdate=September 11, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Darby |first=Michael R. |title=Three-And-A-Half Million U.S. Employees Have Been Mislaid: Or, An Explanation of Unemployment, 1934–1941 |journal=[[Journal of Political Economy]] |year=1976 |volume=84 |issue=1 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1086/260407 }}</ref>
Followers of the [[real business-cycle theory]] believe that the New Deal caused the depression to persist longer than it would otherwise have. Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian say Roosevelt's policies prolonged the depression by seven years.<ref>[http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx?RelNum=5409 FDR's Policies Prolonged Depression by 7 Years, UCLA Economists Calculate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314075010/http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx?RelNum=5409 |date=March 14, 2009 }}, ucla.edu, October 8, 2004{{Clarify|reason=ambiguous date format|date=May 2017}}</ref> According to their study, the "New Deal labor and industrial policies did not lift the economy out of the Depression", but that the "New Deal policies are an important contributing factor to the persistence of the Great Depression". They claim that the New Deal "cartelization policies are a key factor behind the weak recovery". They say that the "abandonment of these policies coincided with the strong economic recovery of the 1940s".<ref name="Cole">Cole, Harold L. and Ohanian, Lee E. [http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/seminars/02-03/02-21.pdf ''New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression: A General Equilibrium Analysis''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060517195012/http://www.economics.hawaii.edu/research/seminars/02-03/02-21.pdf |date=May 17, 2006 }}, 2004.</ref> The study by Cole and Ohanian is based on a real business-cycle theory model. Laurence Seidman noted that according to the assumptions of Cole and Ohanian, the labor market clears instantaneously, which leads to the incredible conclusion that the surge in unemployment between 1929 and 1932 (before the New Deal) was in their opinion both optimal and solely based on voluntary unemployment.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Seidman |first=Laurence |title=Reply to: "The New Classical Counter-Revolution: False Path or Illuminating Complement?" |journal=Eastern Economic Journal |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=563–565 |jstor=20642378 |date=Fall 2007 |doi=10.1057/eej.2007.41 |s2cid=153260374 |url=http://web.holycross.edu/RePEc/eej/Archive/Volume33/V33N4P563_565.pdf |access-date=October 4, 2019 |archive-date=December 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212140137/http://web.holycross.edu/RePEc/eej/Archive/Volume33/V33N4P563_565.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Additionally, Cole and Ohanian's argument does not count workers employed through New Deal programs. Such programs built or renovated 2,500 hospitals, 45,000 schools, 13,000 parks and playgrounds, 7,800 bridges, {{convert|700000|mi|km}} of roads, 1,000 airfields and employed 50,000 teachers through programs that rebuilt the country's entire rural school system.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2009/02/02/the_new_deal_worked |title=The right-wing New Deal conniption fit SalonRevisionist historians and economists keep trying to stomp on FDR's legacy. But declaring that WPA workers were unemployed is just silly |work=Salon.com |date=February 2, 2009 |access-date=September 11, 2010 |archive-date=September 19, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919152513/http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2009/02/02/the_new_deal_worked |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Darby |first=Michael R. |title=Three-And-A-Half Million U.S. Employees Have Been Mislaid: Or, An Explanation of Unemployment, 1934–1941 |journal=[[Journal of Political Economy]] |year=1976 |volume=84 |issue=1 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1086/260407 |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w0088.pdf |access-date=April 4, 2010 |archive-date=January 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118221425/http://www.nber.org/papers/w0088.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>


===Reform===
===Reform===
[[File:National Labor Relations Act2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Francis Perkins]] looks on as Roosevelt signs the [[National Labor Relations Act]]]]
[[File:Wagner-Peyser-Act-1933.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Francis Perkins]] looks on as Roosevelt signs the [[National Labor Relations Act]]]]
The economic reforms were mainly intended to rescue the capitalist system by providing a more rational framework in which it could operate. The banking system was made less vulnerable. The regulation of the stock market and the prevention of some corporate abuses relating to the sale of securities and corporate reporting addressed the worst excesses. Roosevelt allowed trade unions to take their place in labor relations and created the triangular partnership between employers, employees and government.<ref name="Clemens, p. 109"/>
The economic reforms were mainly intended to rescue the capitalist system by providing a more rational framework in which it could operate. The banking system was made less vulnerable. The regulation of the stock market and the prevention of some corporate abuses relating to the sale of securities and corporate reporting addressed the worst excesses. Roosevelt allowed trade unions to take their place in labor relations and created the triangular partnership between employers, employees and government.<ref name="Clemens, p. 109"/>


[[David M. Kennedy (historian)|David M. Kennedy]] wrote that "the achievements of the New Deal years surely played a role in determining the degree and the duration of the [[Post–World War II economic expansion|postwar prosperity]]".<ref>David M. Kennedy, ''Freedom From Fear, The American People in Depression and War 1929–1945'' (Oxford University Press, 1999) p. 363</ref>
[[David M. Kennedy (historian)|David M. Kennedy]] wrote, "the achievements of the New Deal years surely played a role in determining the degree and the duration of the [[Post–World War II economic expansion|postwar prosperity]]."{{sfnp|Kennedy|1999|p=363}}


[[Paul Krugman]] stated that the institutions built by the New Deal remain the bedrock of the United States economic stability. Against the background of the [[2007–2012 global financial crisis]], he explained that the financial crises would have been much worse if the New Deals [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] had not insured most bank deposits and older Americans would have felt much more insecure without [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]].<ref name="Franklin Delano Obama"/> economist [[Milton Friedman]] after 1960 attacked Social Security from a free market view stating that it had created [[welfare dependency]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Rose D. Friedman|title=Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zHSv4OyuY1EC&pg=PA182|year=1962|publisher=U. of Chicago Press|pages=182–87|isbn=9780226264189}}</ref>
[[Paul Krugman]] stated that the institutions built by the New Deal remain the bedrock of the United States economic stability. Against the background of the [[2007–2008 financial crisis]], he explained that conditions would have been much worse if the New Deals [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] had not insured most bank deposits and older Americans would have felt much more insecure without [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]].<ref name="Franklin Delano Obama"/> Economist [[Milton Friedman]] after 1960 attacked Social Security from a free market view stating that it had created [[welfare dependency]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Milton Friedman|author2=Rose D. Friedman|title=Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zHSv4OyuY1EC&pg=PA182|year=1962|publisher=U. of Chicago Press|pages=182–187|isbn=978-0-226-26418-9}}</ref>


The New Deal banking reform was weakened since the 1980s. The [[decline of the Glass–Steagall Act|repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act]] in 1999 allowed the [[shadow banking system]] to grow rapidly. Since it was neither regulated nor covered by a financial safety net, the shadow banking system was central to the [[financial crisis of 2007–2008]] and the subsequent [[Great Recession]].<ref>Nicholas Crafts, Peter Fearon, ''The Great Depression of the 1930s: Lessons for Today'', Oxford University Press, 2013, {{ISBN|9780199663187}}, p. 202</ref>
The New Deal banking reform has weakened since the 1980s. The [[decline of the Glass–Steagall Act|repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act]] in 1999 allowed the [[shadow banking system]] to grow rapidly. Since it was neither regulated nor covered by a financial safety net, the shadow banking system was central to the [[2007–2008 financial crisis]] and the subsequent [[Great Recession]].<ref>Nicholas Crafts, Peter Fearon, ''The Great Depression of the 1930s: Lessons for Today'', Oxford University Press, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-19-966318-7}}, p. 202</ref>


===Impact on federal government and states===
===Impact on federal government and states===
While it is essentially consensus among historians and academics that the New Deal brought about a large increase in the power of the federal government, there has been some scholarly debate concerning the results of this federal expansion. Historians like Arthur M. Schlesinger and James T. Patterson have argued that the augmentation of the federal government exacerbated tensions between the federal and state governments. However, contemporaries such as [[Ira Katznelson]] have suggested that due to certain conditions on the allocation of federal funds, namely that the individual states get to control them, the federal government managed to avoid any tension with states over their rights. This is a prominent debate concerning the historiography of [[federalism in the United States]] and—as Schlesinger and Patterson have observed—the New Deal marked an era when the federal-state power balance shifted further in favor of the federal government, which heightened tensions between the two levels of government in the United States.


Though it is essentially consensus among historians and academics that the New Deal brought about a large increase in the power of the federal government, there has been some scholarly debate concerning the results of this federal expansion. Historians like Arthur M. Schlesinger and James T. Patterson have argued that the augmentation of the federal government exacerbated tensions between the federal and state governments. However, contemporaries such as [[Ira Katznelson]] have suggested that due to certain conditions on the allocation of federal funds, namely that the individual states get to control them, the federal government managed to avoid any tension with states over their rights. This is a prominent debate concerning the historiography of [[federalism in the United States]] and—as Schlesinger and Patterson have observed—the New Deal marked an era when the federal-state power balance shifted further in favor of the federal government, which heightened tensions between the two levels of government in the United States.
[[Ira Katznelson]] has argued that although the federal government expanded its power and began providing welfare benefits on a scale previously unknown in the United States, it often allowed individual states to control the allocation of the funds provided for such welfare. This meant that the states controlled who had access to these funds, which in turn meant many Southern states were able to racially segregate—or in some cases, like a number of counties in Georgia, completely exclude African-Americans—the allocation of federal funds.<ref>{{cite book|last=Katznelson|first=Ira|title=When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America|year=2005|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|location=New York|page=37}}</ref> This enabled these states to continue to relatively exercise their rights and also to preserve the institutionalization of the racist order of their societies. While Katznelson has conceded that the expansion of the federal government had the potential to lead to federal-state tension, he has argued it was avoided as these states managed to retain some control. As Katznelson has observed, "furthermore, they [state governments in the South] had to manage the strain that potentially might be placed on local practices by investing authority in federal bureaucracies… To guard against this outcome, they key mechanism deployed was a separation of the source of funding from decisions about how to spend the new monies".<ref>{{cite book|last=Katznelson|first=Ira|title=When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America|year=2005|publisher=W. W. Norton|location=New York|page=40}}</ref>


[[Ira Katznelson]] has argued that although the federal government expanded its power and began providing welfare benefits on a scale previously unknown in the United States, it often allowed individual states to control the allocation of the funds provided for such welfare. This meant that the states controlled who had access to these funds, which in turn meant many Southern states were able to racially segregate—or in some cases, like a number of counties in Georgia, completely exclude African-Americans—the allocation of federal funds.<ref>{{cite book|last=Katznelson|first=Ira|title=When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America|year=2005|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|location=New York|page=37}}</ref> This enabled these states to continue to relatively exercise their rights and also to preserve the institutionalization of the racist order of their societies. Though Katznelson has conceded that the expansion of the federal government had the potential to lead to federal-state tension, he has argued it was avoided as these states managed to retain some control. As Katznelson has observed, "they [state governments in the South] had to manage the strain that potentially might be placed on local practices by investing authority in federal bureaucracies [...]. To guard against this outcome, the key mechanism deployed was a separation of the source of funding from decisions about how to spend the new monies".<ref>{{cite book|last=Katznelson|first=Ira|title=When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America|year=2005|publisher=W. W. Norton|location=New York|page=40}}</ref>
However, Schlesinger has disputed Katznelson's claim and has argued that the increase in the power of the federal government was perceived to come at the cost of states' rights, thereby aggravating state governments, which exacerbated federal-state tensions. Schlesinger has utilized quotes from the time to highlight this point, Schlesinger has observed that "the actions of the New Deal, [Ogden L.] Mills said, "abolish the sovereignty of the States. They make of a government of limited powers one of unlimited authority over the lives of us all".<ref>{{cite book|last=Schlesinger|first=Arthur M.|title=The Age of Roosevelt: The Coming of the New Deal|year=1958|publisher=The Riverside Press|location=Cambridge, MA|page=473}}</ref>


Moreover, Schlesinger has argued that this federal-state tension was not a one-way street and that the federal government became just as aggravated with the state governments as they did with it. State governments were often guilty of inhibiting or delaying federal policies. Whether through intentional methods, like sabotage, or unintentional ones, like simple administrative overload—either way these problems aggravated the federal government and thus heightened federal-state tensions. As Schlesinger has also noted that "students of public administration have never taken sufficient account of the capacity of lower levels of government to sabotage or defy even a masterful President".<ref>{{cite book|last=Schlesinger|first=Arthur M.|title=The Age of Roosevelt: The Coming of the New Deal|year=1958|publisher=The Riverside Press|location=Cambridge, MA|page=536}}</ref>
However, Schlesinger has disputed Katznelson's claim and has argued that the increase in the power of the federal government was perceived to come at the cost of states' rights, thereby aggravating state governments, which exacerbated federal-state tensions. Schlesinger has utilized quotes from the time to highlight this point and has observed, "the actions of the New Deal, [Ogden L.] Mills said, 'abolish the sovereignty of the States. They make of a government of limited powers one of unlimited authority over the lives of us all.{{'"}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Schlesinger|first=Arthur M.|title=The Age of Roosevelt: The Coming of the New Deal|year=1958|publisher=The Riverside Press|location=Cambridge, MA|page=473}}</ref>


Moreover, Schlesinger has argued that this federal-state tension was not a one-way street and that the federal government became just as aggravated with the state governments as they did with it. State governments were often guilty of inhibiting or delaying federal policies. Whether through intentional methods, like sabotage, or unintentional ones, like simple administrative overload—either way, these problems aggravated the federal government and thus heightened federal-state tensions. Schlesinger has also noted, "students of public administration have never taken sufficient account of the capacity of lower levels of government to sabotage or defy even a masterful President."<ref>{{cite book|last=Schlesinger|first=Arthur M.|title=The Age of Roosevelt: The Coming of the New Deal|year=1958|publisher=The Riverside Press|location=Cambridge, MA|page=536}}</ref>
James T. Patterson has reiterated this argument, though he observes that this increased tension can be accounted for not just from a political perspective, but from an economic one too. Patterson has argued that the tension between the federal and state governments at least partly also resulted from the economic strain under which the states had been put by the federal government's various policies and agencies. Some states were either simply unable to cope with the federal government's demand and thus refused to work with them, or admonished the economic restraints and actively decided to sabotage federal policies. This was demonstrated, Patterson has noted, with the handling of federal relief money by Ohio governor, Martin L. Davey. The case in Ohio became so detrimental to the federal government that Harry Hopkins, supervisor of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, had to federalize Ohio relief.<ref>{{cite book|last=Patterson|first=James T.|title=The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition|year=1969|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|page=62}}</ref> Although this argument differs somewhat from Schlesinger's, the source of federal-state tension remained the growth of the federal government. As Patterson has asserted, "though the record of the FERA was remarkably good—almost revolutionary—in these respects it was inevitable, given the financial requirements imposed on deficit-ridden states, that friction would develop between governors and federal officials".<ref>{{cite book|last=Patterson|first=James T.|title=The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition|year=1969|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|page=52}}</ref>


James T. Patterson has reiterated this argument, though he observes that this increased tension can be accounted for not just from a political perspective, but from an economic one too. Patterson has argued that the tension between the federal and state governments at least partly also resulted from the economic strain under which the states had been put by the federal government's various policies and agencies. Some states were either simply unable to cope with the federal government's demand and thus refused to work with them, or admonished the economic restraints and actively decided to sabotage federal policies. This was demonstrated, Patterson has noted, with the handling of federal relief money by Ohio governor, Martin L. Davey. The case in Ohio became so detrimental to the federal government that Harry Hopkins, supervisor of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, had to federalize Ohio relief.<ref>{{cite book|last=Patterson|first=James T.|title=The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition|url=https://archive.org/details/newdealstatesfed0000patt|url-access=registration|year=1969|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|page=[https://archive.org/details/newdealstatesfed0000patt/page/62 62]}}</ref> Although this argument differs somewhat from Schlesinger's, the source of federal-state tension remained the growth of the federal government. As Patterson has asserted, "though the record of the FERA was remarkably good—almost revolutionary—in these respects it was inevitable, given the financial requirements imposed on deficit-ridden states, that friction would develop between governors and federal officials".<ref>{{cite book|last=Patterson|first=James T.|title=The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition|url=https://archive.org/details/newdealstatesfed0000patt|url-access=registration|year=1969|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|page=[https://archive.org/details/newdealstatesfed0000patt/page/52 52]}}</ref>
In this dispute it can be inferred that Katznelson and Schlesinger and Patterson have only disagreed on their inference of the historical evidence. While both parties have agreed that the federal government expanded and even that states had a degree of control over the allocation of federal funds, they have disputed the consequences of these claims. Katznelson has asserted that it created mutual acquiescence between the levels of government, while Schlesinger and Patterson have suggested that it provoked contempt for the state governments on the part of the federal government and vice versa, thus exacerbating their relations. In short, irrespective of the interpretation this era marked an important time in the historiography of federalism and also nevertheless provided some narrative on the legacy of federal-state relations.


In this dispute, it can be inferred that Katznelson and Schlesinger and Patterson have only disagreed on their inference of the historical evidence. While both parties have agreed that the federal government expanded and even that states had a degree of control over the allocation of federal funds, they have disputed the consequences of these claims. Katznelson has asserted that it created mutual acquiescence between the levels of government, while Schlesinger and Patterson have suggested that it provoked contempt for the state governments on the part of the federal government and vice versa, thus exacerbating their relations. In short, irrespective of the interpretation this era marked an important time in the historiography of federalism and also nevertheless provided some narrative on the legacy of federal-state relations.
==Charges==

==Criticism==
{{see also|Criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt}}
{{see also|Criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt}}


===Charges of fascism===
===Claims of fascism===
{{further|The New Deal and corporatism}}
{{further|The New Deal and corporatism}}
Worldwide, the Great Depression had the most profound impact in the [[German Reich]] and the United States. In both countries the pressure to reform and the perception of the economic crisis were strikingly similar. When Hitler came to power he was faced with exactly the same task that faced Roosevelt, overcoming mass unemployment and the global Depression. The political responses to the crises were essentially different: while American democracy remained strong, Germany replaced democracy with fascism, a Nazi dictatorship.<ref>Kiran Klaus Patel, ''Soldiers of Labor: Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945'' Cambridge University Press 2005, pp. 3–5</ref>
Worldwide, the Great Depression had the most profound impact in [[Weimar Republic#Renewed crisis and decline (1930–1933)|Germany]] and the United States. In both countries the pressure to reform and the perception of the economic crisis were strikingly similar. When Hitler came to power he was faced with exactly the same task that faced Roosevelt, overcoming mass unemployment and the global Depression. The political responses to the crises were essentially different: while American democracy remained strong, Germany replaced democracy with fascism, a Nazi dictatorship.<ref>Kiran Klaus Patel, ''Soldiers of Labor: Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945'' Cambridge University Press 2005, pp. 3–5</ref>


The initial perception of the New Deal was mixed. On the one hand, the eyes of the world were upon the United States because many democrats in Europe and the United States saw in Roosevelt's reform program a positive counterweight to the seductive powers of the two great alternative systems, communism and fascism.<ref>Kiran Klaus Patel, Soldiers of Labor: Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945, {{ISBN|978-0-521-83416-2}}, Cambridge University Press 2005, p. 6</ref> As the historian [[Isaiah Berlin]] wrote in 1955: "The only light in the darkness was the administration of Mr. Roosevelt and the New Deal in the United States".<ref>{{cite book|author=Isaiah Berlin, "The Natural"|title=Atlantic Monthly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0CJUBKCggcC&pg=PA230|year=1955|pages=230–|isbn=9780307481405}}</ref>
The initial perception of the New Deal was mixed. On the one hand, the eyes of the world were upon the United States because many American and European democrats saw in Roosevelt's reform program a positive counterweight to the seductive powers of the two great alternative systems, [[communism]] and [[fascism]].<ref>Kiran Klaus Patel, Soldiers of Labor: Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945, {{ISBN|978-0-521-83416-2}}, Cambridge University Press 2005, p. 6</ref> As the historian [[Isaiah Berlin]] wrote in 1955: "The only light in the darkness was the administration of Mr. Roosevelt and the New Deal in the United States".<ref>{{cite book|author=Isaiah Berlin, "The Natural"|title=Atlantic Monthly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0CJUBKCggcC&pg=PA230|year=1955|pages=230–|publisher=Crown |isbn=978-0-307-48140-5}}</ref>


By contrast, enemies of the New Deal sometimes called it "fascist", but they meant very different things. Communists denounced the New Deal in 1933 and 1934 as fascist in the sense that it was under the control of big business. They dropped that line of thought when Stalin switched to the "Popular Front" plan of cooperation with liberals.<ref>{{cite book|author=Fraser M. Ottanelli|title=The Communist Party of the United States: From the Depression to World War II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9oMMEchZKHMC&pg=PA70|year=1991|publisher=Rutgers University Press|page=70|isbn=9780813516134}}</ref>
By contrast, enemies of the New Deal sometimes called it "fascist", but they meant very different things. Communists denounced the New Deal in 1933 and 1934 as fascist in the sense that it was under the control of big business. They dropped that line of thought when Stalin switched to the "Popular Front" plan of cooperation with progressives.<ref>{{cite book|author=Fraser M. Ottanelli|title=The Communist Party of the United States: From the Depression to World War II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9oMMEchZKHMC&pg=PA70|year=1991|publisher=Rutgers University Press|page=70|isbn=978-0-8135-1613-4}}</ref>


In 1934, Roosevelt defended himself against those critics in a "fireside chat": <blockquote>[Some] will try to give you new and strange names for what we are doing. Sometimes they will call it 'Fascism', sometimes 'Communism', sometimes 'Regimentation', sometimes 'Socialism'. But, in so doing, they are trying to make very complex and theoretical something that is really very simple and very practical.... Plausible self-seekers and theoretical die-hards will tell you of the loss of individual liberty. Answer this question out of the facts of your own life. Have you lost any of your rights or liberty or constitutional freedom of action and choice?<ref>{{cite book|author1=Franklin Delano Roosevelt|author2=edited by Russell D. Buhite and David W. Levy|title=Fdr's Fireside Chats|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HPYWKPEZIaUC&pg=PA51|year=1992|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|page=51|isbn=978-0806123707}}</ref></blockquote>
In 1934, Roosevelt defended himself against those critics in a "fireside chat": <blockquote>[Some] will try to give you new and strange names for what we are doing. Sometimes they will call it 'Fascism', sometimes 'Communism', sometimes 'Regimentation', sometimes 'Socialism'. But, in so doing, they are trying to make very complex and theoretical something that is really very simple and very practical.... Plausible self-seekers and theoretical die-hards will tell you of the loss of individual liberty. Answer this question out of the facts of your own life. Have you lost any of your rights or liberty or constitutional freedom of action and choice?<ref>{{cite book|author1=Franklin Delano Roosevelt|editor=Russell D. Buhite |editor2=David W. Levy|title=Fdr's Fireside Chats|url=https://archive.org/details/fdrsfiresidechat0000roos|url-access=registration|year=1992|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/fdrsfiresidechat0000roos/page/51 51]|isbn=978-0-8061-2370-7}}</ref></blockquote>


After 1945, only few observers continued to see similarities and later on some scholars such as [[Kiran Klaus Patel]], [[Heinrich August Winkler]] and [[John Garraty]] came to the conclusion that comparisons of the alternative systems do not have to end in an apology for Nazism since comparisons rely on the examination of both similarities and differences. Their preliminary studies on the origins of the fascist dictatorships and the American (reformed) democracy came to the conclusion that besides essential differences "the crises led to a limited degree of convergence" on the level of economic and social policy.{{Disputed inline|Talk:New Deal#Disputed|date=August 2013}} The most important cause was the growth of state interventionism since in the face of the catastrophic economic situation both societies no longer counted on the power of the market to heal itself.<ref>Kiran Klaus Patel, Soldiers of Labor: Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945, {{ISBN|978-0-521-83416-2}}, Cambridge University Press 2005, pp. 5, 6</ref>
After 1945, only few observers continued to see similarities and later on some scholars such as [[Kiran Klaus Patel]], [[Heinrich August Winkler]] and [[John Garraty]] came to the conclusion that comparisons of the alternative systems do not have to end in an apology for Nazism since comparisons rely on the examination of both similarities and differences. Their preliminary studies on the origins of the fascist dictatorships and the American (reformed) democracy came to the conclusion that besides essential differences "the crises led to a limited degree of convergence" on the level of economic and social policy. The most important cause was the growth of state interventionism since in the face of the catastrophic economic situation both societies no longer counted on the power of the market to heal itself.<ref>Kiran Klaus Patel, Soldiers of Labor: Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945, {{ISBN|978-0-521-83416-2}}, Cambridge University Press 2005, pp. 5, 6</ref>


John Garraty wrote that the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was based on economic experiments in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, without establishing a totalitarian dictatorship.<ref>Garraty, John A. ''The American Nation: A History of the United States Since 1865''. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers (1979), p. 656 {{ISBN|0-06-042268-8}}.</ref> Contrary to that, historians such as Hawley have examined the origins of the NRA in detail, showing the main inspiration came from Senators Hugo Black and Robert F. Wagner and from American business leaders such as the Chamber of Commerce. The model for the NRA was Woodrow Wilson's [[War Industries Board]], in which Johnson had been involved too.<ref>Ellis Hawley, The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly, Princeton University Press, 1966, {{ISBN|0-8232-1609-8}}, p. 23</ref> Historians argue that direct comparisons between Fascism and New Deal are invalid since there is no distinctive form of fascist economic organization.<ref name="Daniel Woodley 2010, p.160, 161">Daniel Woodley, ''Fascism and Political Theory: Critical Perspectives on Fascist Ideology'', Routledge Chapman & Hall, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-203-87157-7}}, pp. 160, 161</ref> [[Gerald Feldman]] wrote that fascism has not contributed anything to economic thought and had no original vision of a new economic order replacing capitalism. His argument correlates with Mason's that economic factors alone are an insufficient approach to understand fascism and that decisions taken by fascists in power cannot be explained within a logical economic framework. In economic terms, both ideas were within the general tendency of the 1930s to intervene in the free market capitalist economy, at the price of its ''laissez-faire'' character, "to protect the capitalist structure endangered by endogenous crises tendencies and processes of impaired self-regulation".<ref name="Daniel Woodley 2010, p.160, 161"/>
John Garraty wrote that the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was based on economic experiments in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, without establishing a totalitarian dictatorship.<ref>Garraty, John A. ''The American Nation: A History of the United States Since 1865''. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers (1979), p. 656 {{ISBN|0-06-042268-8}}.</ref> Contrary to that, historians such as Hawley have examined the origins of the NRA in detail, showing the main inspiration came from Senators Hugo Black and Robert F. Wagner and from American business leaders such as the Chamber of Commerce. The model for the NRA was Woodrow Wilson's [[War Industries Board]], in which Johnson had been involved too.<ref>Ellis Hawley, The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly, Princeton University Press, 1966, {{ISBN|0-8232-1609-8}}, p. 23</ref> Historians argue that direct comparisons between Fascism and New Deal are invalid since there is no distinctive form of fascist economic organization.<ref name="Daniel Woodley 2010, p.160, 161">Daniel Woodley, ''Fascism and Political Theory: Critical Perspectives on Fascist Ideology'', Routledge Chapman & Hall, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-203-87157-7}}, pp. 160, 161</ref> [[Gerald Feldman]] wrote that fascism has not contributed anything to economic thought and had no original vision of a new economic order replacing capitalism. His argument correlates with Mason's that economic factors alone are an insufficient approach to understand fascism and that decisions taken by fascists in power cannot be explained within a logical economic framework. In economic terms, both ideas were within the general tendency of the 1930s to intervene in the free market capitalist economy, at the price of its ''laissez-faire'' character, "to protect the capitalist structure endangered by endogenous crises tendencies and processes of impaired self-regulation".<ref name="Daniel Woodley 2010, p.160, 161"/>


[[Stanley Payne]], a historian of fascism, examined possible fascist influences in the United States by looking at the KKK and its offshoots and movements led by Father Coughlin and [[Huey Long]]. He concluded that "the various populist, nativist, and rightist movements in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s fell distinctly short of fascism".<ref>{{cite book|author=Stanley G. Payne|title=A History of Fascism, 1914–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_MeR06xqXAC&pg=PA350|year=1996|publisher=University of Wisconsin Pres|page=350|isbn=978-0299148737}}</ref> According to [[Kevin Passmore]], lecturer in History at [[Cardiff University]], the failure of fascism in the United States was due to the social policies of the New Deal that channelled anti-establishment populism into the left rather than the extreme right.<ref name="Passmore">Kevin Passmore, ''Fascism: A Very Short Introduction'', Chapter 6, Oxford University Press, 2002</ref>
[[Stanley Payne]], a historian of fascism, examined possible fascist influences in the United States by looking at the KKK and its offshoots and movements led by Father Coughlin and [[Huey Long]]. He concluded, "the various populist, nativist, and rightist movements in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s fell distinctly short of fascism."<ref>{{cite book|author=Stanley G. Payne|title=A History of Fascism, 1914–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_MeR06xqXAC&pg=PA350|year=1996|publisher=University of Wisconsin Pres|page=350|isbn=978-0-299-14873-7}}</ref> According to [[Kevin Passmore]], lecturer in history at [[Cardiff University]], the failure of fascism in the United States was due to the social policies of the New Deal that channelled anti-establishment populism into the left rather than the extreme right.<ref name="Passmore">Kevin Passmore, ''Fascism: A Very Short Introduction'', Chapter 6, Oxford University Press, 2002</ref>


===Charges of conservatism===
===Claims of conservatism===
The New Deal was generally held in very high regard in scholarship and textbooks. That changed in the 1960s when [[New Left]] historians began a revisionist critique calling the New Deal a bandaid for a patient that needed radical surgery to reform capitalism, put private property in its place and lift up workers, women and minorities.<ref>For a list of relevant works, see the list of suggested readings appearing toward the bottom of the article.</ref> The New Left believed in participatory democracy and therefore rejected the autocratic machine politics typical of the big city Democratic organizations.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>
The New Deal was generally held in very high regard in scholarship and textbooks. That changed in the 1960s when [[New Left]] historians began a revisionist critique calling the New Deal a band-aid for a patient that needed radical surgery to reform capitalism, put private property in its place and lift up workers, women and minorities.<ref>For a list of relevant works, see the list of suggested readings appearing toward the bottom of the article.</ref> The New Left believed in participatory democracy and therefore rejected the autocratic machine politics typical of the big city Democratic organizations.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>


In a 1968 essay, Barton J. Bernstein compiled a chronicle of missed opportunities and inadequate responses to problems. The New Deal may have saved capitalism from itself, Bernstein charged, but it had failed to help—and in many cases actually harmed—those groups most in need of assistance. In ''The New Deal'' (1967), Paul K. Conkin similarly chastised the government of the 1930s for its weak policies toward marginal farmers, for its failure to institute sufficiently progressive tax reform, and its excessive generosity toward select business interests. In 1966, [[Howard Zinn]] criticized the New Deal for working actively to actually preserve the worst evils of capitalism.
In a 1968 essay, Barton J. Bernstein compiled a chronicle of missed opportunities and inadequate responses to problems. The New Deal may have saved capitalism from itself, Bernstein charged, but it had failed to help—and in many cases actually harmed—those groups most in need of assistance. In ''The New Deal'' (1967), Paul K. Conkin similarly chastised the government of the 1930s for its weak policies toward marginal farmers, for its failure to institute sufficiently progressive tax reform, and its excessive generosity toward select business interests. In 1966, [[Howard Zinn]] criticized the New Deal for working actively to actually preserve the worst evils of capitalism.


By the 1970s, liberal historians were responding with a defense of the New Deal based on numerous local and microscopic studies. Praise increasingly focused on Eleanor Roosevelt, seen as a more appropriate crusading reformer than her husband.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Krueger | first1 = Thomas A. | year = 1975 | title = New Deal Historiography at Forty | journal = Reviews in American History | volume = 3 | issue = 4| pages = 483–88 | jstor=2701507| doi = 10.2307/2701507 }}</ref> Since then, research on the New Deal has been less interested in the question of whether the New Deal was a "conservative", "liberal", or "revolutionary" phenomenon than in the question of constraints within which it was operating.
By the 1970s, progressive historians were responding with a defense of the New Deal based on numerous local and microscopic studies. Praise increasingly focused on Eleanor Roosevelt, seen as a more appropriate crusading reformer than her husband.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Krueger | first1 = Thomas A. | year = 1975 | title = New Deal Historiography at Forty | journal = Reviews in American History | volume = 3 | issue = 4| pages = 483–488 | jstor=2701507| doi = 10.2307/2701507 }}</ref>


In a series of articles, political sociologist [[Theda Skocpol]] has emphasized the issue of "state capacity" as an often-crippling constraint. Ambitious reform ideas often failed, she argued, because of the absence of a government bureaucracy with significant strength and expertise to administer them. Other more recent works have stressed the political constraints that the New Deal encountered. Conservative skepticism about the efficacy of government was strong both in Congress and among many citizens. Thus some scholars have stressed that the New Deal was not just a product of its liberal backers, but also a product of the pressures of its conservative opponents.
In a series of articles, political sociologist [[Theda Skocpol]] has emphasized the issue of "[[state capacity]]" as an often-crippling constraint. Ambitious reform ideas often failed, she argued, because of the absence of a government bureaucracy with significant strength and expertise to administer them.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} Other more recent works have stressed the political constraints that the New Deal encountered. Conservative skepticism about the efficacy of government was strong both in Congress and among many citizens. Thus some scholars have stressed that the New Deal was not just a product of its progressive backers, but also a product of the pressures of its conservative opponents.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}


===Communists in government===
===Claims of communism===
Some hard-right critics in the 1930s claimed that Roosevelt was state socialist or communist, including [[Charles Coughlin]], [[Elizabeth Dilling]], and [[Gerald L. K. Smith]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Powers|first=Richard Gid|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N_LbUSH0N1sC|title=Not without honor: the history of American anticommunism|date=1998|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-07470-0|location=New Haven |pages=130, 136, 170–173, 195|oclc=39245533}}</ref> The accusations generally targeted the New Deal. These conspiracy theories were grouped as the "red web" or "Roosevelt Red Record", based significantly on propaganda books by Dilling. There was significant overlap between these red-baiting accusations against Roosevelt and the isolationist [[America First Committee]].<ref name=":0" /> Roosevelt was concerned enough about the accusations that in a September 29, 1936 speech in Syracuse, Roosevelt officially condemned communism.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Address at the Democratic State Convention, Syracuse, N.Y. {{!}} The American Presidency Project|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-democratic-state-convention-syracuse-ny|access-date=2021-12-15|website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu|archive-date=December 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215084101/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-democratic-state-convention-syracuse-ny|url-status=live}}</ref> Other accusations of socialism or claimed communism came from Republican representative [[Robert F. Rich]], and senators [[Simeon D. Fess]], and [[Thomas D. Schall]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=PolitiFact - Obama right that Roosevelt was called a socialist and a communist|website=Politifact|url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2009/sep/22/barack-obama/obama-roosevelt-socialist-communist/|access-date=2021-12-15|archive-date=March 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200309155725/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2009/sep/22/barack-obama/obama-roosevelt-socialist-communist/|url-status=live}}</ref>
During the New Deal the communists established a network of a dozen or so members working for the government. They were low level and had a minor influence on policies. [[Harold Ware]] led the largest group which worked in the Agriculture Adjustment Administration (AAA). Secretary of Agriculture Wallace got rid of them all in a famous purge in 1935.<ref>{{cite book|author=Arthur M. Schlesinger. Jr.|title=The Age of Roosevelt: The coming of New Deal, 1933–1935|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mj3VmJ38tHIC&pg=PA79|year=1959|publisher=Houghton Mifflin |pages=78–80|isbn=978-0618340866}}</ref> Ware died in 1935 and some individuals such as [[Alger Hiss]] moved to other government jobs.<ref>{{cite book|author=Aaron D. Purcell|title=White Collar Radicals: TVA's Knoxville Fifteen, the New Deal, and the McCarthy Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GxZod6m5vt8C&pg=PA61|year=2011|publisher=U. of Tennessee|isbn=9781572336834}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Arthur M. Schlesinger. Jr.|title=The Age of Roosevelt: The coming of New Deal, 1933–1935|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mj3VmJ38tHIC&pg=PA79|page=54|isbn=978-0618340866|year=2003}}</ref> Other communists worked for the National Labor Relations Board, the National Youth Administration, the Works Progress Administration, the Federal Theater Project, the Treasury and the Department of State.<ref>{{cite book|author=Arthur Herman|title=Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator|year=2000|publisher=The Free Press|page=104}}</ref>


The accusations of communism were widespread enough to misdirect from the real [[Soviet espionage in the United States|Soviet espionage]] that was occurring, leading the Roosevelt administration to miss the infiltration of various spy rings. Most of the Soviet spy rings actually sought to undermine the Roosevelt administration.<ref name=":0" />
==Political metaphor==

Since 1933, politicians and pundits have often called for a "new deal" regarding an object—that is, they demand a completely new, large-scale approach to a project. As Arthur A. Ekirch Jr. (1971) has shown, the New Deal stimulated [[utopianism]] in American political and social thought on a wide range of issues. In Canada, Conservative Prime Minister Richard B. Bennett in 1935 proposed a "new deal" of regulation, taxation and social insurance that was a copy of the American program, but Bennett's proposals were not enacted and he was defeated for reelection in October 1935. In accordance with the rise of the use of U.S. political phraseology in Britain, the Labour government of [[Tony Blair]] termed some of its employment programs "new deal", in contrast to the Conservative Party's promise of the "British Dream".
The [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party of the United States of America]] (CPUSA) had been quite hostile to the New Deal until 1935, but acknowledging the danger of fascism worldwide, reversed positions and tried to form a "[[Popular front]]" with the New Dealers. The Popular Front saw a small amount of popularity and a relatively restricted level of influence, and declined with the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]. From 1935, the head of CPUSA [[Earl Browder]] sought to avoid directly attacking the New Deal or Roosevelt. With the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]] in mid September 1939, Browder was ordered by the [[Communist International|Comintern]] to adjust his position to oppose FDR, which led to disputes within the CPUSA.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Haynes|first1=John Earl|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fBSbKS1FlegC|title=In denial: historians, communism & espionage|last2=Klehr|first2=Harvey|date=2005|publisher=Encounter Books|isbn=1-59403-088-X|edition=1st|location=San Francisco, CA|pages=13–14, 36–37, 56–57|oclc=62271849}}</ref>

==== Communists in government ====
During the New Deal, the communists established a network of a dozen or so members working for the government. They were low level and had a minor influence on policies. [[Harold Ware]] led the largest group which worked in the Agriculture Adjustment Administration (AAA) until Secretary of Agriculture Wallace got rid of them all in a famous purge in 1935.<ref>{{cite book|author=Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.|title=The Age of Roosevelt: The coming of New Deal, 1933–1935|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mj3VmJ38tHIC&pg=PA79|year=1959|publisher=Houghton Mifflin |pages=78–80|isbn=978-0-618-34086-6}}</ref> Ware died in 1935 and some individuals such as [[Alger Hiss]] moved to other government jobs.<ref>{{cite book|author=Aaron D. Purcell|title=White Collar Radicals: TVA's Knoxville Fifteen, the New Deal, and the McCarthy Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GxZod6m5vt8C&pg=PA61|year=2011|publisher=U. of Tennessee|isbn=978-1-57233-683-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.|title=The Age of Roosevelt: The coming of New Deal, 1933–1935|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mj3VmJ38tHIC&pg=PA79|page=54|isbn=978-0-618-34086-6|year=2003|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt }}</ref> Other communists worked for the [[National Labor Relations Board]] (NLRB), the National Youth Administration, the Works Progress Administration, the Federal Theater Project, the Treasury and the Department of State.<ref>{{cite book|author=Arthur Herman|title=Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator|url=https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=The Free Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm/page/104 104]|isbn=978-0-684-83625-6}}</ref>


==Works of art and music==
==Works of art and music==
{{main|New Deal artwork}}
[[File:William Gropper - Construction of a Dam 1939.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|The federal government commissioned a series of public murals from the artists it employed: [[William Gropper]]'s "Construction of a Dam" (1939) is characteristic of much of the art of the 1930s, with workers seen in heroic poses, laboring in unison to complete a great public project]]
[[File:William Gropper - Construction of a Dam 1939.jpg|thumb|The federal government commissioned a series of public murals from the artists it employed: [[William Gropper]]'s ''Construction of a Dam'' (1939) is characteristic of much of the art of the 1930s, with workers seen in heroic poses, laboring in unison to complete a great public project]]
The [[Works Progress Administration]] subsidized artists, musicians, painters and writers on relief with a group of projects called [[Federal One]]. While the WPA program was by far the most widespread, it was preceded by three programs administered by the [[United States Department of the Treasury|US Treasury]] which hired commercial artists at usual commissions to add murals and sculptures to federal buildings. The first of these efforts was the short-lived [[Public Works of Art Project]], organized by [[Edward Bruce (New Deal)|Edward Bruce]], an American businessman and artist. Bruce also led the Treasury Department's [[Section of Painting and Sculpture]] (later renamed the Section of Fine Arts) and the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP). The [[Resettlement Administration]] (RA) and [[Farm Security Administration]] (FSA) had major photography programs. The New Deal arts programs emphasized [[regionalism (art)|regionalism]], [[social realism]], [[class conflict]], [[proletarian]] interpretations and audience participation. The unstoppable collective powers of common man, contrasted to the failure of [[individualism]], was a favorite theme.<ref>Mathews 1975</ref><ref>William E. Leuchtenbrg. ''The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and his Legacy'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), 243.</ref>
The [[Works Progress Administration]] subsidized artists, musicians, painters and writers on relief with a group of projects called [[Federal One]]. While the WPA program was by far the most widespread, it was preceded by three programs administered by the [[United States Department of the Treasury|US Treasury]] which hired commercial artists at usual commissions to add murals and sculptures to federal buildings. The first of these efforts was the short-lived [[Public Works of Art Project]], organized by [[Edward Bruce (New Deal)|Edward Bruce]], an American businessman and artist. Bruce also led the Treasury Department's [[Section of Painting and Sculpture]] (later renamed the Section of Fine Arts) and the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP). The [[Resettlement Administration]] (RA) and [[Farm Security Administration]] (FSA) had major photography programs. The New Deal arts programs emphasized [[regionalism (art)|regionalism]], [[social realism]], [[class conflict]], [[proletarian]] interpretations and audience participation. The unstoppable collective powers of common man, contrasted to the failure of [[individualism]], was a favorite theme.{{sfnp|Mathews|1975}}<ref>William E. Leuchtenburg. ''The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and his Legacy'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), p. 243.</ref>


[[File:Federal Theater Project Created Equal.gif|thumb|upright=1.15|"Created Equal": Act I, Scene 3 of "Spirit of 1776", Boston ([[Federal Theatre Project]], 1935)]]
[[File:WPA Federal Theater Project Created Equal Boston MA 1935.gif|thumb|upright=1.0|"Created Equal": Act I, Scene 3 of ''Spirit of 1776'', Boston ([[Federal Theatre Project]], 1935)]]
[[Post Office Murals|Post Office murals]] and other public art, painted by artists in this time, can still be found at many locations around the U.S.<ref name="M.J.Heale. 1999">M.J.Heale. ''Franklin. D. Roosevelt: The New Deal and War'' (London, 1999)36</ref> The New Deal particularly helped American novelists. For journalists and the novelists who wrote non-fiction, the agencies and programs that the New Deal provided, allowed these writers to describe about what they really saw around the country.<ref>John Braeman, Robert H. Bremner, David Brody. ''The New Deal: The National Level'' (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975) 310.</ref>
[[Post Office Murals|Post Office murals]] and other public art, painted by artists in this time, can still be found at many locations around the U.S.<ref name="M.J.Heale. 1999">M.J.Heale. ''Franklin. D. Roosevelt: The New Deal and War'' (London, 1999)36</ref> The New Deal particularly helped American novelists. For journalists and the novelists who wrote non-fiction, the agencies and programs that the New Deal provided, allowed these writers to describe what they really saw around the country.<ref>John Braeman, Robert H. Bremner, David Brody. ''The New Deal: The National Level'' (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975) 310.</ref>


Many writers chose to write about the New Deal and whether they were for or against it and if it was helping the country out. Some of these writers were Ruth McKenney, Edmund Wilson and Scott Fitzgerald.<ref>John Braeman, Robert H. Bremner, David Brody. ''The New Deal: The National Level'' (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975) 312.</ref> Another subject that was very popular for novelists was the condition of labor. They ranged from subjects on social protest to strikes.<ref>John Braeman, Robert H. Bremner, David Brody. ''The New Deal: The National Level'' (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975) 314.</ref>
Many writers chose to write about the New Deal and whether they were for or against it and if it was helping the country out. Some of these writers were Ruth McKenney, Edmund Wilson and Scott Fitzgerald.<ref>John Braeman, Robert H. Bremner, David Brody. ''The New Deal: The National Level'' (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975) 312.</ref> Another subject that was very popular for novelists was the condition of labor. They ranged from subjects on social protest to strikes.<ref>John Braeman, Robert H. Bremner, David Brody. ''The New Deal: The National Level'' (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975) 314.</ref>
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The FSA photography project is most responsible for creating the image of the Depression in the U.S. Many of the images appeared in popular magazines. The photographers were under instruction from Washington as to what overall impression the New Deal wanted to give out. Director [[Roy Stryker]]'s agenda focused on his faith in [[social engineering (political science)|social engineering]], the poor conditions among cotton tenant farmers and the very poor conditions among migrant farm workers—above all he was committed to social reform through New Deal intervention in people's lives. Stryker demanded photographs that "related people to the land and vice versa" because these photographs reinforced the RA's position that poverty could be controlled by "changing land practices". Though Stryker did not dictate to his photographers how they should compose the shots, he did send them lists of desirable themes, such as "church", "court day", "barns".<ref>Cara A. Finnegan. ''Picturing Poverty: Print Culture and FSA Photographs'' (Smithsonian Books, 2003) pp. 43–44</ref>
The FSA photography project is most responsible for creating the image of the Depression in the U.S. Many of the images appeared in popular magazines. The photographers were under instruction from Washington as to what overall impression the New Deal wanted to give out. Director [[Roy Stryker]]'s agenda focused on his faith in [[social engineering (political science)|social engineering]], the poor conditions among cotton tenant farmers and the very poor conditions among migrant farm workers—above all he was committed to social reform through New Deal intervention in people's lives. Stryker demanded photographs that "related people to the land and vice versa" because these photographs reinforced the RA's position that poverty could be controlled by "changing land practices". Though Stryker did not dictate to his photographers how they should compose the shots, he did send them lists of desirable themes, such as "church", "court day", "barns".<ref>Cara A. Finnegan. ''Picturing Poverty: Print Culture and FSA Photographs'' (Smithsonian Books, 2003) pp. 43–44</ref>


Films of the late New Deal era such as ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' (1941) ridiculed so-called "great men" while the heroism of the common man appeared in numerous movies, such as ''[[The Grapes of Wrath (film)|The Grapes of Wrath]]'' (1940). Thus in [[Frank Capra]]'s famous films, including ''[[Mr. Smith Goes to Washington]]'' (1939), ''[[Meet John Doe]]'' (1941) and ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'' (1946), the common people come together to battle and overcome villains who are corrupt politicians controlled by very rich, greedy capitalists.<ref>Harry M. Benshoff, Sean Griffin, ''America on film: representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies'' (2003) pp. 172–74</ref>
Films of the late New Deal era such as ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' (1941) ridiculed so-called "great men" while the heroism of the common man appeared in numerous movies, such as ''[[The Grapes of Wrath (film)|The Grapes of Wrath]]'' (1940). Thus in [[Frank Capra]]'s famous films, including ''[[Mr. Smith Goes to Washington]]'' (1939), ''[[Meet John Doe]]'' (1941) and ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'' (1946), the common people come together to battle and overcome villains who are corrupt politicians controlled by very rich, greedy capitalists.<ref>[[Harry M. Benshoff]], [[Sean Griffin]], ''America on film: representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies'' (2003) pp. 172–174</ref>


By contrast, there was also a smaller but influential stream of anti-New Deal art. [[Gutzon Borglum]]'s sculptures on [[Mount Rushmore]] emphasized great men in history (his designs had the approval of [[Calvin Coolidge]]). [[Gertrude Stein]] and [[Ernest Hemingway]] disliked the New Deal and celebrated the autonomy of perfected written work as opposed to the New Deal idea of writing as performative labor. The [[Southern Agrarians]] celebrated a premodern regionalism and opposed the TVA as a modernizing, disruptive force. [[Cass Gilbert]], a conservative who believed architecture should reflect historic traditions and the established social order, designed the new Supreme Court building (1935). Its classical lines and small size contrasted sharply with the gargantuan [[Modernism|modernistic]] federal buildings going up in the Washington Mall that he detested.<ref>Geoffrey Blodgett, "Cass Gilbert, Architect: Conservative at Bay," ''Journal of American History'', December 1985, Vol. 72 Issue 3, pp. 615–36 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1904306 in JSTOR]</ref> Hollywood managed to synthesize liberal and conservative streams as in [[Busby Berkeley]]'s ''Gold Digger'' musicals, where the storylines exalt individual autonomy while the spectacular musical numbers show abstract populations of interchangeable dancers securely contained within patterns beyond their control.<ref>Szalay 2000</ref>
By contrast, there was also a smaller but influential stream of anti–New Deal art. [[Gutzon Borglum]]'s sculptures on [[Mount Rushmore]] emphasized great men in history (his designs had the approval of [[Calvin Coolidge]]). [[Gertrude Stein]] and [[Ernest Hemingway]] disliked the New Deal and celebrated the autonomy of perfected written work as opposed to the New Deal idea of writing as performative labor. The [[Southern Agrarians]] celebrated premodern regionalism and opposed the TVA as a modernizing, disruptive force. [[Cass Gilbert]], a conservative who believed architecture should reflect historic traditions and the established social order, designed the new Supreme Court building (1935). Its classical lines and small size contrasted sharply with the gargantuan [[Modernism|modernistic]] federal buildings going up in the Washington Mall that he detested.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1904306|title = Cass Gilbert, Architect: Conservative at Bay|journal = The Journal of American History|volume = 72|issue = 3|pages = 615–636|last1 = Blodgett|first1 = Geoffrey|year = 1985|doi = 10.2307/1904306}}</ref> Hollywood managed to synthesize liberal and conservative streams as in [[Busby Berkeley]]'s ''Gold Digger'' musicals, where the storylines exalt individual autonomy while the spectacular musical numbers show abstract populations of interchangeable dancers securely contained within patterns beyond their control.{{sfnp|Szalay|2000|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}}


==New Deal programs==
==New Deal programs==
{{See also|Alphabet agencies}}
The New Deal had many programs and new agencies, most of which were universally known by their [[Alphabet Agencies|initials]]. Most were abolished during [[World War II]] while others remain in operation today. They included the following:
The New Deal had many programs and new agencies, most of which were universally known by their [[Alphabet Agencies|initials]]. Most were abolished during [[World War II]] while others remain in operation or formed into different programs. They included the following:
* [[National Youth Administration]] (NYA), 1935: program that focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 25. Ended in 1943.
* [[National Youth Administration]] (NYA), 1935: program that focused on providing work for students ages of 16 to 25. Ended in 1943.
* [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]] (RFC): a Hoover agency expanded under [[Jesse Holman Jones]] to make large loans to big business. Ended in 1954.
* [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]] (RFC): a Hoover agency expanded under [[Jesse Holman Jones]] to make large loans to big business. Ended in 1954.
[[File:WPAAdultEducation.gif|thumb|upright=1.15|The WPA hired unemployed teachers to provide free [[adult education]] programs]]
[[File:WPAAdultEducation.gif|thumb|upright=0.8|The WPA hired unemployed teachers to provide free [[adult education]] programs]]
* [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]] (FERA): a Hoover program to create unskilled jobs for relief; expanded by Roosevelt and [[Harry Hopkins]]; replaced by WPA in 1935.
* [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]] (FERA): a Hoover program to create unskilled jobs for relief; expanded by Roosevelt and [[Harry Hopkins]]; replaced by WPA in 1935.
* [[United States bank holiday]], 1933: closed all banks until they became certified by federal reviewers.
* [[United States bank holiday]], 1933: closed all banks until they became certified by federal reviewers.
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* [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] (FDIC): insures bank deposits and supervises state banks; still exists.
* [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] (FDIC): insures bank deposits and supervises state banks; still exists.
* [[Glass–Steagall Act]]: regulates investment banking; repealed 1999 (not repealed, only two provisions changed).
* [[Glass–Steagall Act]]: regulates investment banking; repealed 1999 (not repealed, only two provisions changed).
* [[Securities Act of 1933]], created the SEC, 1933: codified standards for sale and purchase of stock, required awareness of investments to be accurately disclosed; still exists.[[File:Federal Emergency Relief Administration, FERA camps for unemployed women. Negro camp in Atlanta, GA - NARA - 196584.tif|thumb|upright=1.15|FERA camp for unemployed black women, Atlanta, 1934]]
* [[Securities Act of 1933]], created the SEC, 1933: codified standards for sale and purchase of stock, required awareness of investments to be accurately disclosed; still exists.[[File:Federal Emergency Relief Administration, FERA camps for unemployed women. Negro camp in Atlanta, GA - NARA - 196584.tif|thumb|upright=1.0|FERA camp for unemployed black women, Atlanta, 1934]]
* [[Civil Works Administration]] (CWA), 1933–1934: provided temporary jobs to millions of unemployed.
* [[Civil Works Administration]] (CWA), 1933–1934: provided temporary jobs to millions of unemployed.
* [[Indian Reorganization Act]], 1934: moved away from assimilation; policy dropped.
* [[Indian Reorganization Act]], 1934: moved away from assimilation; policy dropped.
* [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security Act]] (SSA), 1935: provided financial assistance to: elderly, handicapped, paid for by employee and employer payroll contributions; required 7 years contributions, so first payouts were in 1942; still exists.
* [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security Act]] (SSA), 1935: provided financial assistance to: elderly, handicapped, paid for by employee and employer payroll contributions; required 7 years contributions, so first payouts were in 1942; still exists.
* [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA), 1935: a national labor program for more than 2&nbsp;million unemployed; created useful construction work for unskilled men; also sewing projects for women and arts projects for unemployed artists, musicians and writers; ended 1943.
* [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA), 1935: a national labor program for more than 2&nbsp;million unemployed; created useful construction work for unskilled men; also sewing projects for women and arts projects for unemployed artists, musicians and writers; ended 1943.
* [[National Labor Relations Act]] (NLRA); Wagner Act, 1935: set up National Labor Relations Board to supervise labor-management relations; In the 1930s, it strongly favored [[trade union|labor unions]]. Modified by the [[Taft-Hartley Act]] (1947); still exists.
* [[National Labor Relations Act]] (NLRA); Wagner Act, 1935: set up the [[National Labor Relations Board]] (NLRB) to supervise labor-management relations. In the 1930s, it strongly favored [[trade union|labor unions]]. Modified by the [[Taft–Hartley Act]] (1947); still exists.
* [[Judicial Reorganization Bill]], 1937: gave the President power to appoint a new Supreme Court judge for every judge 70 years or older; failed to pass Congress.
* [[Judicial Reorganization Bill]], 1937: gave the President power to appoint a new Supreme Court judge for every judge 70 years or older; failed to pass Congress.
* [[Federal Crop Insurance Corporation]] (FCIC), 1938: insures crops and livestock against loss of production or revenue. Was restructured during the creation of the [[Risk Management Agency]] in 1996 but continues to exist.
* [[Federal Crop Insurance Corporation]] (FCIC), 1938: insures crops and livestock against loss of production or revenue. Was restructured during the creation of the [[Risk Management Agency]] in 1996 but continues to exist.
* Surplus Commodities Program (1936): gives away food to poor; still exists as the [[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program]].
* Surplus Commodities Program (1936): gives away food to the poor; still exists as the [[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program]].
* [[Fair Labor Standards Act]] 1938: established a maximum normal work week of 44 hours and a [[minimum wage]] of 40 cents/hour and outlawed most forms of child labor; still exists, hours have been lowered to 40 hours over the years.
* [[Fair Labor Standards Act]] 1938: established a maximum normal work week of 44 hours and a [[minimum wage]] of 40 cents/hour and outlawed most forms of child labor, though it still exists. The working hours have been lowered to 40 over the years, and the minimum wage has climbed to $7.25.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/minimum-wage-increase-20-states-2020/story?id=67935502|title=Minimum wage to increase in more than 20 states in 2020|publisher=ABC News|language=en|access-date=March 6, 2020|archive-date=March 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308184716/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/minimum-wage-increase-20-states-2020/story?id=67935502|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Surplus Foods Are Quality Foods.gif|thumb|upright=1.15|Surplus Commodities Program, 1936]]
[[File:Surplus Commodities Program grocery display USA 1936.gif|thumb|upright=1.0|Surplus Commodities Program, 1936]]
* [[Rural Electrification Administration]] (REA): one of the federal executive departments of the United States government charged with providing public utilities (electricity, telephone, water, sewer) to rural areas in the U.S. via public-private partnerships. still exists.
* [[Rural Electrification Administration]] (REA): one of the federal executive departments of the United States government charged with providing public utilities (electricity, telephone, water, sewer) to rural areas in the U.S. via public-private partnerships. Still exists.
* [[Resettlement Administration]] (RA): resettled poor tenant farmers; replaced by Farm Security Administration in 1935.
* [[Resettlement Administration]] (RA): resettled poor tenant farmers; replaced by Farm Security Administration in 1935.
* [[Farm Security Administration]] (FSA): helped poor farmers by a variety of economic and educational programs; some programs still exists as part of the [[Farmers Home Administration]].
* [[Farm Security Administration]] (FSA): helped poor farmers by a variety of economic and educational programs; some programs still exist as part of the [[Farmers Home Administration]].


==Statistics==
==Statistics==
===Depression statistics===
===Depression statistics===
"Most indexes worsened until the summer of 1932, which may be called the low point of the depression economically and psychologically".<ref>Mitchell, p. 404.</ref> Economic indicators show the American economy reached nadir in summer 1932 to February 1933, then began recovering until the recession of 1937–1938. Thus the Federal Reserve [[Industrial Production Index]] hit its low of 52.8 on July 1, 1932 and was practically unchanged at 54.3 on March 1, 1933, but by July 1, 1933 it reached 85.5 (with 1935–39 = 100 and for comparison 2005 = 1,342).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/INDPRO.txt |title=Industrial Production Index |accessdate=September 11, 2010}}</ref> In Roosevelt's 12 years in office, the economy had an 8.5% compound annual growth of GDP,<ref>''Historical Statistics of the United States'' (1976) series F31</ref> the highest growth rate in the history of any industrial country,<ref>Angus Maddison, ''The World Economy: Historical Statistics'' (OECD 2003); Japan is close, see p 174</ref> but recovery was slow and by 1939 the gross domestic product (GDP) per adult was still 27% below trend.<ref name="Cole"/>
"Most indexes worsened until the summer of 1932, which may be called the low point of the depression economically and psychologically".{{sfnp|Mitchell|1947|p=404}} Economic indicators show the American economy reached nadir in summer 1932 to February 1933, then began recovering until the recession of 1937–1938. Thus the Federal Reserve [[Industrial Production Index]] hit its low of 52.8 on July 1, 1932, and was practically unchanged at 54.3 on March 1, 1933, but by July 1, 1933, it reached 85.5 (with 1935–39 = 100 and for comparison 2005 = 1,342).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/INDPRO.txt |title=Industrial Production Index |access-date=September 11, 2010 |archive-date=August 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100815053422/http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/INDPRO.txt |url-status=live }}</ref> In Roosevelt's 12 years in office, the economy had an 8.5% compound annual growth of GDP,<ref>''Historical Statistics of the United States'' (1976) series F31</ref> the highest growth rate in the history of any industrial country,<ref>Angus Maddison, ''The World Economy: Historical Statistics'' (OECD 2003); Japan is close, see p. 174</ref> but recovery was slow and by 1939 the gross domestic product (GDP) per adult was still 27% below trend.<ref name="Cole"/>

{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable"
|+ Table 1: statistics<ref>U.S. Dept of Commerce, National Income and Product Accounts [http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/GDPreal.htm Real GDP and GNP]; Mitchell 446, 449, 451;[http://www.econdataus.com/cpi_m2.html Consumer Price Index AND M2 Money Supply: 1800–2003]</ref>
|+ Table 1: Statistics{{sfnp|Mitchell|1947|pp=446, 449, 451}}<ref>U.S. Dept of Commerce, National Income and Product Accounts [http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/GDPreal.htm Real GDP and GNP] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428161327/http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/GDPreal.htm |date=April 28, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.econdataus.com/cpi_m2.html|title=Consumer Price Index and M2 Money Supply: 1800-2008|website=www.econdataus.com|access-date=April 20, 2010|archive-date=June 14, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100614061527/http://www.econdataus.com/cpi_m2.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
!
!
!1929
!1929
Line 566: Line 654:


{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable"
|+ Table 2: unemployment<br>(% labor force)
|+ Table 2: Unemployment<br />(% labor force)
!Year
!Year
!Lebergott
!Lebergott
Line 624: Line 712:
|}
|}
* Darby counts WPA workers as employed; Lebergott as unemployed
* Darby counts WPA workers as employed; Lebergott as unemployed
* Source: ''Historical Statistics US'' (1976) series D-86; Smiley 1983<ref>Smiley, Gene, "Recent Unemployment Rate Estimates for the 1920s and 1930s", ''Journal of Economic History'', June 1983, 43, 487–93.</ref>
* Source: ''Historical Statistics US'' (1976) series D-86; Smiley 1983<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smiley |first=Gene |date=June 1983 |title=Recent Unemployment Rate Estimates for the 1920s and 1930s |journal=Journal of Economic History |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=487–493 |doi=10.1017/S002205070002979X |jstor=2120839|s2cid=155004188 }}</ref>


===Relief statistics===
===Relief statistics===
{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable"
|+ '''Families on relief 1936–1941'''<br>Relief cases 1936–1941 (monthly average in 1,000)
|+ '''Families on relief 1936–1941'''<br />Relief cases 1936–1941 (monthly average in 1,000)
|
|
!1936
!1936
Line 676: Line 764:
|align="right"|2,946
|align="right"|2,946
|align="right"|1,484
|align="right"|1,484
|align="right"|1,611
|align="right"|1,614
|align="right"|1,647
|align="right"|1,647
|align="right"|1,570
|align="right"|1,570
Line 692: Line 780:
|align="right"|9,030
|align="right"|9,030
|align="right"|7,700
|align="right"|7,700
|align="right"|10,390
|align="right"|10,000
|align="right"|9,480
|align="right"|9,480
|align="right"|8,120
|align="right"|8,120
Line 703: Line 791:
|align="right"|71%
|align="right"|71%
|align="right"|72%
|align="right"|72%
|align="right"|93%
|align="right"|13%
|}
|}


==See also==
==See also==
{{div col}}
* {{Portal-inline|size=tiny|New Deal}}
{{Wikipedia books|Great Depression}}
* [[Arthurdale, West Virginia]], New Deal planned community
* [[Arthurdale, West Virginia]], New Deal planned community
* [[Causes of the Great Depression]]
* [[Progressivism in the United States]]
* [[Conservative coalition]], the opponents of the New Deal
* [[Fair Deal]] of U.S. President Harry S. Truman
* [[Great Contraction]]
* [[Great Depression in the United States]]
* [[Liberalism in the United States]]
* [[Liberalism in the United States]]
* [[Living New Deal]], a research project about the impact of the New Deal
* [[Living New Deal]], a research project about the impact of the New Deal
* [[Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, first and second terms]]
* [[Modern liberalism in the United States]]
* [[Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, third and fourth terms]]
* [[New Deal coalition]]
* [[Square Deal]] of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
* [[Social programs in the United States]]
* [[Social programs in the United States]]
* [[Social democracy]]
* [[Timeline of the Great Depression]]
* [[Timeline of the Great Depression]]
* [[Timeline of the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency]]
* [[Green New Deal]]
* [[Fordism]]
* [[High modernism]]
* [[New Frontier]]
* [[Technocentrism]]
* [[Technological utopianism]]
* [[Techno-progressivism]]
* [[Progress]]
{{div col end}}


==References==
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
{{reflist}}


==Further reading==
==Sources & further reading==
{{see also|Bibliography of Franklin D. Roosevelt}}
{{see also|Bibliography of Franklin D. Roosevelt}}


===Surveys===
===Surveys===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Badger, Anthony J. ''The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933–1940''. (2002) general survey from British perspective
* Badger, Anthony J. ''The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933–1940''. (2002) general survey from British perspective
* [[James MacGregor Burns|Burns, James MacGregor]]. ''Roosevelt the Lion and the Fox'' (1956) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.87676 online]
* [[James MacGregor Burns|Burns, James MacGregor]]. ''Roosevelt the Lion and the Fox'' (1956) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.87676 online]
* [[William H. Chafe|Chafe, William H.]] ed. ''The Achievement of American Liberalism: The New Deal and its Legacies'' (2003)
* [[William H. Chafe|Chafe, William H.]] ed. ''The Achievement of American Liberalism: The New Deal and its Legacies'' (2003)
* Collins, Sheila and Gertrude Goldberg, ''When Government Helped: Learning from the Successes and Failures of the New Deal'', (Oxford UP, 2014), {{ISBN|9780199990696}}
* Collins, Sheila and Gertrude Goldberg, ''When Government Helped: Learning from the Successes and Failures of the New Deal'', (Oxford University Press, 2014), {{ISBN|978-0-19-999069-6}}
* Conkin, Paul K. ''The New Deal''. (1967), a brief New Left critique.
* {{cite book |last=Conkin |first=Paul K. |title=The New Deal |year=1967}} a brief New Left critique.
* [[Melvyn Dubofsky|Dubofsky, Melvyn]], ed. ''The New Deal: Conflicting Interpretations and Shifting Perspectives''. (1992), older historiography
* [[Melvyn Dubofsky|Dubofsky, Melvyn]], ed. ''The New Deal: Conflicting Interpretations and Shifting Perspectives''. (1992), older historiography
* Eden, Robert, ed. ''New Deal and Its Legacy: Critique and Reappraisal'' (1989), essays by scholars
* Eden, Robert, ed. ''New Deal and Its Legacy: Critique and Reappraisal'' (1989), essays by scholars
* ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'', "New Deal. (2020) [https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619010510/https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Deal |date=June 19, 2015 }}
* [[Michael Hiltzik|Hiltzik, Michael]]. ''The New Deal: A Modern History'' (2011), popular history by journalist; 512pp
* {{Cite book |last=Hiltzik |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GSsB9ttHnXwC |title=The New Deal: A Modern History |publisher=[[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4391-5448-9}}
* [[William Leuchtenburg|Leuchtenburg, William E.]] ''Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932–1940''. (1963). A standard interpretive history. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.213904 online]
* Huret, Romain, Nelson Lichtenstein, Jean-Christian Vine, eds. ''Capitalism Contested: The New Deal and Its Legacies'' (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2020). [https://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Contested-New-Deal-Legacies-dp-0812252624/dp/0812252624/ excerpt]
* [[David M. Kennedy (historian)|Kennedy, David M.]] "What the New Deal Did," ''Political Science Quarterly'', 124 (Summer 2009), 251–68. [http://www.nohsteachers.info/TMurphy/What%20the%20New%20Deal%20Did.pdf online]
* {{cite book |author-link=William Leuchtenburg |last=Leuchtenburg |first=William E. |title=Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932–1940 |year=1963}} A standard interpretive history. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.213904 online]
* Kennedy, David M. ''Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945''. (1999), survey; Pulitzer Prize [https://archive.org/details/freedomfromfeara00kenn borrow for 14 days]
* {{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=David M. |author-link=David M. Kennedy (historian) |title=Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-503834-7 |year=1999}} survey; Pulitzer Prize [https://archive.org/details/freedomfromfeara00kenn online]
* Kirkendall, Richard S. "The New Deal As Watershed: The Recent Literature", ''The Journal of American History'', (1968) 54#4 pp.&nbsp;839–52. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1918073 in JSTOR], older historiography
* {{cite journal |last=Kennedy |first=David M. |title=What the New Deal Did |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=124 |issue=2 |date=Summer 2009 |pages=251–268 |doi=10.1002/j.1538-165X.2009.tb00648.x |url=http://www.nohsteachers.info/TMurphy/What%20the%20New%20Deal%20Did.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304044252/http://www.nohsteachers.info/TMurphy/What%20the%20New%20Deal%20Did.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016}}
* [[Robert S. McElvaine|McElvaine Robert S.]] ''The Great Depression'' 2nd ed (1993), social history
* Kirkendall, Richard S. "The New Deal As Watershed: The Recent Literature", ''The Journal of American History'', (1968) 54#4 pp.&nbsp;839–852. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1918073 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928145835/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1918073 |date=September 28, 2018 }}, older historiography
* [[Robert S. McElvaine|McElvaine Robert S.]] ''The Great Depression'' 2nd ed (1993), social history; [https://archive.org/details/greatdepression00robe online]
* [[Robert S. McElvaine|McElvaine Robert S.]] ''The Depression and New Deal : a history in documents'' (2000) [https://archive.org/details/depressionnewdea0000mcel online]
* McJimsey George T. ''The Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt'' (2000) [https://archive.org/details/presidencyoffran00mcji online]
* [[Richard Polenberg|Polenberg, Richard]]. "The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933–1945 A Brief History with Documents" {{ISBN|0-312-13310-3}}
* [[Richard Polenberg|Polenberg, Richard]]. "The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933–1945 A Brief History with Documents" {{ISBN|0-312-13310-3}}
* {{Citation | author-link = Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.| last = Schlesinger | first = Arthur M. Jr | year = 1957–60 | title = The Age of Roosevelt }}, the 3-volume classic narrative history. Strongly supports FDR.
* {{Citation |ref=none |author-link=Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. |last=Schlesinger |first=Arthur M. Jr |year=1957–1960 |title=The Age of Roosevelt}}, the 3-volume classic narrative history. Strongly supports FDR.
** Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. ''The Age of Roosevelt vol 1: The Crisis Of The Old Order (1919–1933)'' (1956) [https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.dli.2015.462866/2015.462866.The-Age.pdf online] to March 1933
** Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. ''The Age of Roosevelt vol 1: The Crisis Of The Old Order (1919–1933)'' (1956) [https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.dli.2015.462866/2015.462866.The-Age.pdf online] to March 1933
** Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. ''The Age Of Roosevelt vol 2: The Coming of the New Deal'' (1958) [https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.dli.2015.178732/2015.178732.The-Coming-Of-The-New-Deal-The-Age-Of-Roosevelt.pdf online] covers 1933–34
** Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. ''The Age Of Roosevelt vol 2: The Coming of the New Deal'' (1958) [https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.dli.2015.178732/2015.178732.The-Coming-Of-The-New-Deal-The-Age-Of-Roosevelt.pdf online] covers 1933–34
** Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. ''The Age of Roosevelt vol 3: The Age of Upheaval'' (1960); [https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.dli.2015.462866/2015.462866.The-Age.pdf online]
** Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. ''The Age of Roosevelt vol 3: The Age of Upheaval'' (1960); [https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.dli.2015.462866/2015.462866.The-Age.pdf online]
* [[Harvard Sitkoff|Sitkoff, Harvard]]. ed. ''Fifty Years Later: The New Deal Evaluated''. (1984). A friendly liberal evaluation.
* [[Harvard Sitkoff|Sitkoff, Harvard]]. ed. ''Fifty Years Later: The New Deal Evaluated''. (1984). A friendly liberal evaluation.
* Smith, Jason Scott. ''A Concise History of the New Deal'' (2014)
* Smith, Jason Scott. ''A Concise History of the New Deal'' (2014) [https://www.amazon.com/Concise-History-Cambridge-Essential-Histories/dp/0521700787/ excerpt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806101414/http://www.amazon.com/Concise-History-Cambridge-Essential-Histories/dp/0521700787 |date=August 6, 2015 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Whaples |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Whaples |editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |chapter=New Deal |chapter-url=https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/libertarianism/n216.xml |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |year=2008 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing|Sage]]; [[Cato Institute]] |location=Thousand Oaks, CA |isbn=978-1-4129-6580-4 |oclc=750831024 |pages=353–355 |title=Archived copy |access-date=March 31, 2022 |archive-date=January 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230109234738/https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |url-status=live}}
{{refend}}


===State and local studies===
===State and local studies===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* [[Leonard J. Arrington|Arrington, Leonard J.]] "Western Agriculture and the New Deal." ''Agricultural History'' 44#4 (1970): 337–53.
* [[Leonard J. Arrington|Arrington, Leonard J.]] "Western Agriculture and the New Deal". ''Agricultural History'' 44#4 (1970): 337–353.
* Biles, Roger. ''The South and the New Deal'' (2006).
* Biles, Roger. ''The South and the New Deal'' (2006).
* Biles, Roger. ''Big City Boss in Depression and War: Mayor Edward J. Kelly'' of Chicago. (1984); mayor 1933–1947
* Biles, Roger. ''Big City Boss in Depression and War: Mayor Edward J. Kelly'' of Chicago. (1984); mayor 1933–1947
Line 759: Line 858:
* Blakey, George T. ''Hard Times and New Deal in Kentucky: 1929–1939'' (1986).
* Blakey, George T. ''Hard Times and New Deal in Kentucky: 1929–1939'' (1986).
* Braeman, John, Robert H. Bremner and [[David Brody (historian)|David Brody]], eds. ''The New Deal: Volume Two – the State and Local Levels'' (1975); 434 pp; chapters on Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City.
* Braeman, John, Robert H. Bremner and [[David Brody (historian)|David Brody]], eds. ''The New Deal: Volume Two – the State and Local Levels'' (1975); 434 pp; chapters on Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City.
* Christin, Pierre, and Olivier Balez, eds. ''Robert Moses: The Master Builder of New York City'' (2014).
* Christin, Pierre, and Olivier Balez, eds. ''Robert Moses: The Master Builder of New York City'' (2014).
* Ferguson, Karen Jane. ''Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta'' (2002).
* Ferguson, Karen Jane. ''Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta'' (2002).
* Grant, Michael Johnston. ''Down and Out on the Family Farm: Rural Rehabilitation in the Great Plains, 1929–1945'' (2002).
* Grant, Michael Johnston. ''Down and Out on the Family Farm: Rural Rehabilitation in the Great Plains, 1929–1945'' (2002).
* Heineman, Kenneth J. ''A Catholic New Deal: Religion and Reform in Depression Pittsburgh'' (2005).
* Heineman, Kenneth J. ''A Catholic New Deal: Religion and Reform in Depression Pittsburgh'' (2005).
* Ingalls, Robert P. ''Herbert H. Lehman and New York's Little New Deal'' (1975).
* Ingalls, Robert P. ''Herbert H. Lehman and New York's Little New Deal'' (1975).
* Leader, Leonard. ''Los Angeles and the Great Depression.'' (1991). 344 pp.
* Leader, Leonard. ''Los Angeles and the Great Depression.'' (1991). 344 pp.
* [[Richard Lowitt|Lowitt, Richard]]. ''The New Deal and the West'' (1984).
* [[Richard Lowitt|Lowitt, Richard]]. ''The New Deal and the West'' (1984).
* {{cite journal | last1 = Malone | first1 = Michael P. | authorlink = Michael P. Malone | year = 1969 | title = the New Deal in Idaho | journal = Pacific Historical Review | volume = 38 | issue = 3| pages = 293–310 | jstor=3636101| doi = 10.2307/3636101 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Malone |first1=Michael P. |author-link=Michael P. Malone |year=1969 |title=the New Deal in Idaho |journal=Pacific Historical Review |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=293–310 |jstor=3636101 |doi=10.2307/3636101}}
* Mullins, William H. ''The Depression and the Urban West Coast, 1929–1933: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland.'' (1991). 176 pp.
* Mullins, William H. ''The Depression and the Urban West Coast, 1929–1933: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland.'' (1991). 176 pp.
* Nicolaides, Becky M. ''My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920–1965.'' (2002). 412 pp.
* Nicolaides, Becky M. ''My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920–1965.'' (2002). 412 pp.
* [[James T. Patterson (historian)|Patterson, James T.]] ''The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition'' (Princeton UP, 1969).
* [[James T. Patterson (historian)|Patterson, James T.]] ''The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition'' (Princeton University Press, 1969).
* [[Kevin Starr|Starr, Kevin]]. ''Endangered Dreams: The Great Depression in California '' (1997); [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195118022 excerpt and text search];
* [[Kevin Starr|Starr, Kevin]]. ''Endangered Dreams: The Great Depression in California '' (1997); [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195118022 excerpt and text search] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312221132/https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195118022 |date=March 12, 2021 }};
* Stave, Bruce M. ''The New Deal and the Last Hurrah: Pittsburgh Machine Politics'' (1970).
* Stave, Bruce M. ''The New Deal and the Last Hurrah: Pittsburgh Machine Politics'' (1970).
* Sternsher, Bernard ed., ''Hitting Home: The Great Depression in Town and Country'' (1970), essays by scholars on local history.
* Sternsher, Bernard ed., ''Hitting Home: The Great Depression in Town and Country'' (1970), essays by scholars on local history.
* Stock, Catherine McNicol. ''Main Street in Crisis: The Great Depression and the Old Middle Class on the Northern Plains'' (1992).
* Stock, Catherine McNicol. ''Main Street in Crisis: The Great Depression and the Old Middle Class on the Northern Plains'' (1992).
* Strickland, Arvarh E. "The New Deal Comes to Illinois." ''Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society'' 63#1 (1970): 55–68. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40190603 in JSTOR]
* Strickland, Arvarh E. "The New Deal Comes to Illinois". ''Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society'' 63#1 (1970): 55–68. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40190603 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928152918/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40190603 |date=September 28, 2018 }}
* Thomas, Jerry Bruce. ''An Appalachian New Deal: West Virginia in the Great Depression'' (1998).
* Thomas, Jerry Bruce. ''An Appalachian New Deal: West Virginia in the Great Depression'' (1998).
* [[Charles H. Trout|Trout, Charles H.]] ''Boston, the Great Depression, and the New Deal'' (1977).
* [[Charles H. Trout|Trout, Charles H.]] ''Boston, the Great Depression, and the New Deal'' (1977).
* Tweton, D. Jerome, and Roberta Klugman. ''The New Deal at the Grass Roots: Programs for the People in Otter Tail County, Minnesota'' (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988).
* Tweton, D. Jerome, and Roberta Klugman. ''The New Deal at the Grass Roots: Programs for the People in Otter Tail County, Minnesota'' (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988).
* Volanto, Keith J. ''Texas, Cotton, and the New Deal'' (2005).
* Volanto, Keith J. ''Texas, Cotton, and the New Deal'' (2005).
* Volanto, Keith. "Where are the New Deal Historians of Texas?: A Literature Review of the New Deal Experience in Texas." ''East Texas Historical Journal'' 48+2 (2010): 7+ [http://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2609&context=ethj online]
* Volanto, Keith. "Where are the New Deal Historians of Texas?: A Literature Review of the New Deal Experience in Texas". ''East Texas Historical Journal'' 48+2 (2010): 7+ [http://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2609&context=ethj online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304223810/http://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2609&context=ethj |date=March 4, 2016 }}
* Wickens, James F. "The New Deal in Colorado." ''Pacific Historical Review'' 38#3 (1969): 275–91. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3636100 in JSTOR]
* Wickens, James F. "The New Deal in Colorado". ''Pacific Historical Review'' 38#3 (1969): 275–291. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3636100 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214065127/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3636100 |date=December 14, 2018 }}
* Williams, Mason B. ''City of Ambition: FDR, LaGuardia, and the Making of Modern New York'' (2013).
* Williams, Mason B. ''City of Ambition: FDR, LaGuardia, and the Making of Modern New York'' (2013).
{{refend}}


===Biographies===
===Biographies===
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?283417-1/nothing-fear Presentation by Cohen on ''Nothing to Fear'', January 15, 2009], [[C-SPAN]]| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?287523-7/nothing-fear Presentation by Adam Cohen on ''Nothing to Fear'', June 7, 2009], [[C-SPAN]]}}
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?283417-1/nothing-fear Presentation by Cohen on ''Nothing to Fear'', January 15, 2009], [[C-SPAN]]| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?287523-7/nothing-fear Presentation by Adam Cohen on ''Nothing to Fear'', June 7, 2009], [[C-SPAN]]}}
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Beasley, Maurine H., Holly C. Shulman, Henry R. Beasley. ''The Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia'' (2001)
* Beasley, Maurine H., Holly C. Shulman, Henry R. Beasley. ''The Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia'' (2001)
* [[H.W. Brands|Brands, H.W.]] ''Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt'' (2008)
* [[H.W. Brands|Brands, H.W.]] ''Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt'' (2008)
* Charles, Searle F. ''Minister of Relief: Harry Hopkins and the Depression'' (1963)
* Charles, Searle F. ''Minister of Relief: Harry Hopkins and the Depression'' (1963)
* [[Adam Cohen (journalist)|Cohen, Adam]], ''Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days that Created Modern America'' (2009)
* [[Adam Cohen (journalist)|Cohen, Adam]], ''Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days that Created Modern America'' (2009)
* {{ Cite book | last= Freidel | first = Frank | author-link= Frank Freidel | date= 1990 | title= Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny | url= https://archive.org/details/franklindroosevefre00frei | url-access=registration| oclc= 1035148803| publisher= Little, Brown| isbn=0316292605}}
* Graham, Otis L. and Meghan Robinson Wander, eds. ''Franklin D. Roosevelt: His Life and Times''. (1985). An encyclopedic reference.
* Graham, Otis L. and Meghan Robinson Wander, eds. ''Franklin D. Roosevelt: His Life and Times''. (1985). An encyclopedic reference. [https://archive.org/details/franklindrooseve0000unse_r4k9 online]
* Ingalls, Robert P. ''Herbert H. Lehman and New York's Little New Deal'' (1975)
* Ingalls, Robert P. ''Herbert H. Lehman and New York's Little New Deal'' (1975) [https://archive.org/details/herberthlehmanne00inga online]
* McJimsey, George T. ''Harry Hopkins : ally of the poor and defender of Democracy'' (1987) [https://archive.org/details/harryhopkinsally0000mcji online]
* Pederson, William D. ed. ''A Companion to Franklin D. Roosevelt'' (Blackwell Companions to American History) (2011); 35 essays by scholars; many deal with politics
* Pederson, William D. ed. ''A Companion to Franklin D. Roosevelt'' (Blackwell Companions to American History) (2011); 35 essays by scholars; many deal with politics
* Schwarz, Jordan A. ''Liberal: Adolf A. Berle and the vision of an American era'' (1987).
* Sternsher, Bernard. ''Rexford Tugwell and the New Deal'' (1964) [https://archive.org/details/rexfordtugwellne0000unse online]
{{refend}}


===Economics, farms, labor and relief===
===Economics, farms, labor and relief===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* [[Irving Bernstein|Bernstein, Irving]]. ''Turbulent Years: A History of the American Worker, 1933–1941'' (1970), cover labor unions
* [[Irving Bernstein|Bernstein, Irving]]. ''Turbulent Years: A History of the American Worker, 1933–1941'' (1970), cover labor unions
* Best, Gary Dean. ''Pride, Prejudice, and Politics: Roosevelt Versus Recovery, 1933–1938''. (1990) {{ISBN|0-275-93524-8}}; conservative perspective
* Best, Gary Dean. ''Pride, Prejudice, and Politics: Roosevelt Versus Recovery, 1933–1938''. (1990) {{ISBN|0-275-93524-8}}; conservative perspective
* Blumberg, Barbara. ''The New Deal and the Unemployed: The View from New York City'' (1977).
* Blumberg, Barbara. ''The New Deal and the Unemployed: The View from New York City'' (1977).
* Bremer, William W. "Along the American Way: The New Deal's Work Relief Programs for the Unemployed". ''Journal of American History'' 62 (December 1975): 636,52. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2936218 in JSTOR]
* Bremer, William W. "Along the American Way: The New Deal's Work Relief Programs for the Unemployed". ''Journal of American History'' 62 (December 1975): 636,52. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2936218 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108070242/http://www.jstor.org/stable/2936218 |date=November 8, 2017 }}
* Brock, William R. ''Welfare, Democracy and the New Deal'' (1988), a British view
* Brock, William R. ''Welfare, Democracy and the New Deal'' (1988), a British view
* Burns, Helen M. ''The American Banking Community and New Deal Banking Reforms, 1933–1935'' (1974)
* Burns, Helen M. ''The American Banking Community and New Deal Banking Reforms, 1933–1935'' (1974)
* [[Burton W. Folsom, Jr.|Folsom, Burton]]. ''New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR's Economic Legacy has Damaged America'' (2008) {{ISBN|1-4165-9222-9}}, conservative interpretation
* [[Burton W. Folsom Jr.|Folsom, Burton]]. ''New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR's Economic Legacy has Damaged America'' (2008) {{ISBN|1-4165-9222-9}}, conservative interpretation
* [[Price V. Fishback|Fishback, Price]]. "The Newest on the New Deal" ''Essays in Economic & Business History'' 36#1 (2018) covers distribution and impact of spending and lending programs; [http://www.ebhsoc.org/journal/index.php/journal/article/view/425 online]
* [[Price V. Fishback|Fishback, Price]]. "The Newest on the New Deal" ''Essays in Economic & Business History'' 36#1 (2018) covers distribution and impact of spending and lending programs; [http://www.ebhsoc.org/journal/index.php/journal/article/view/425 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717070807/http://www.ebhsoc.org/journal/index.php/journal/article/view/425 |date=July 17, 2018 }}
* Fox, Cybelle. ''Three Worlds of Relief: Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State from the Progressive Era to the New Deal'' (2012) [https://www.amazon.com/Three-Worlds-Relief-International-Perspectives-ebook/dp/B007BP3C0W/ excerpt and text search]
* Fox, Cybelle. ''Three Worlds of Relief: Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State from the Progressive Era to the New Deal'' (2012) [https://www.amazon.com/Three-Worlds-Relief-International-Perspectives-ebook/dp/B007BP3C0W/ excerpt and text search] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504185131/http://www.amazon.com/Three-Worlds-Relief-International-Perspectives-ebook/dp/B007BP3C0W |date=May 4, 2016 }}
* [[Milton Friedman|Friedman, Milton]], and Anna Jacobson Schwartz. ''From New Deal Banking Reform to World War II Inflation'' (Princeton University Press, 2014) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zv95r online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803234551/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zv95r |date=August 3, 2020 }}.
* Gordon, Colin. ''New Deals: Business, Labor, and Politics, 1920–1935'' (1994)
* Gordon, Colin. ''New Deals: Business, Labor, and Politics, 1920–1935'' (1994)
* Grant, Michael Johnston. ''Down and Out on the Family Farm: Rural Rehabilitation in the Great Plains, 1929–1945'' (2002)
* Grant, Michael Johnston. ''Down and Out on the Family Farm: Rural Rehabilitation in the Great Plains, 1929–1945'' (2002)
* Hawley, Ellis W. ''The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly'' (1966)
* Hawley, Ellis W. ''The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly'' (1966)
* Howard, Donald S. ''The WPA and Federal Relief Policy'' (1943)
* Howard, Donald S. ''The WPA and Federal Relief Policy'' (1943)
* Huibregtse, Jon R. ''American Railroad Labor and the Genesis of the New Deal, 1919–1935; (University Press of Florida; 2010; 172 pp.)
* Huibregtse, Jon R. ''American Railroad Labor and the Genesis of the New Deal, 1919–1935''; (University Press of Florida; 2010; 172 pp.)
* {{cite journal | last1 = Jensen | first1 = Richard J. | authorlink = Richard J. Jensen | year = 1989 | title = The Causes and Cures of Unemployment in the Great Depression | journal = Journal of Interdisciplinary History | volume = 19 | issue = 4| pages = 553–83 | jstor=203954| doi = 10.2307/203954 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Jensen | first1 = Richard J. | author-link = Richard J. Jensen | year = 1989 | title = The Causes and Cures of Unemployment in the Great Depression | journal = Journal of Interdisciplinary History | volume = 19 | issue = 4 | pages = 553–583 | jstor = 203954 | doi = 10.2307/203954 | url = https://rjensen.people.uic.edu/causes-cures.pdf | access-date = May 27, 2020 | archive-date = November 2, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211102124644/https://rjensen.people.uic.edu/causes-cures.pdf | url-status = live }}
* Leff, Mark H. ''The Limits of Symbolic Reform: The New Deal and Taxation'' (1984)
* Leff, Mark H. ''The Limits of Symbolic Reform: The New Deal and Taxation'' (1984)
* Lindley, Betty Grimes and Ernest K. Lindley. ''A New Deal for Youth: The Story of the National Youth Administration'' (1938)
* Lindley, Betty Grimes and Ernest K. Lindley. ''A New Deal for Youth: The Story of the National Youth Administration'' (1938)
* Malamud; Deborah C. "'Who They Are – or Were': Middle-Class Welfare in the Early New Deal" ''University of Pennsylvania Law Review'' v 151 No. 6 2003. pp. 2019+.
* Malamud; Deborah C. "'Who They Are – or Were': Middle-Class Welfare in the Early New Deal" ''University of Pennsylvania Law Review'' v 151 No. 6 2003. pp.&nbsp;2019+.
* Meriam; Lewis. ''Relief and Social Security'' (1946). Highly detailed analysis and statistical summary of all New Deal relief programs; 912 pages [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.275609 online]
* Meriam; Lewis. ''Relief and Social Security'' (1946). Highly detailed analysis and statistical summary of all New Deal relief programs; 912 pages [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.275609 online]
* [[Broadus Mitchell|Mitchell, Broadus]]. ''Depression Decade: From New Era through New Deal, 1929–1941'' (1947), survey by economic historian
* {{cite book |author-link=Broadus Mitchell|last=Mitchell |first=Broadus |title=Depression Decade: From New Era through New Deal, 1929–1941 |year=1947}} survey by economic historian
* Moore, James R. "Sources of New Deal Economic Policy: The International Dimension". ''Journal of American History'' 61.3 (1974): 728–744. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1899929 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802102354/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1899929 |date=August 2, 2020 }}
* [[Charles R. Morris|Morris, Charles R.]] ''A Rabble of Dead Money: The Great Crash and the Global Depression: 1929–1939'' (PublicAffairs, 2017), 389 pp. [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/books/review/rabble-of-dead-money-charles-r-morris-great-depression-wall-street.html online review]
* [[Charles R. Morris|Morris, Charles R.]] ''A Rabble of Dead Money: The Great Crash and the Global Depression: 1929–1939'' (PublicAffairs, 2017), 389 pp. [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/books/review/rabble-of-dead-money-charles-r-morris-great-depression-wall-street.html online review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424184720/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/books/review/rabble-of-dead-money-charles-r-morris-great-depression-wall-street.html |date=April 24, 2017 }}
* Myers, Margaret G. ''Financial History of the United States'' (1970). pp.&nbsp;317–342. [https://archive.org/details/financialhistory00myerrich online]
* Parker, Randall E. ''Reflections on the Great Depression'' (2002) interviews with 11 leading economists
* Parker, Randall E. ''Reflections on the Great Depression'' (2002) interviews with 11 leading economists
* [[Jim Powell (historian)|Powell, Jim]] ''FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression'' (2003) {{ISBN|0-7615-0165-7}}
* [[Jim Powell (historian)|Powell, Jim]] ''FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression'' (2003) {{ISBN|0-7615-0165-7}}
* Rosenof, Theodore. ''Economics in the Long Run: New Deal Theorists and Their Legacies, 1933–1993'' (1997)
* Rosenof, Theodore. ''Economics in the Long Run: New Deal Theorists and Their Legacies, 1933–1993'' (1997)
* Rosen, Elliot A. ''Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and the Economics of Recovery'' (2005) {{ISBN|0-8139-2368-9}}
* Rosen, Elliot A. ''Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and the Economics of Recovery'' (2005) {{ISBN|0-8139-2368-9}}
* [[Rothbard, Murray]]. ''[[America's Great Depression]]'' (1963).
* [[Rothbard, Murray]]. ''[[America's Great Depression]]'' (1963), a libertarian approach
* [[Theodore Saloutos|Saloutos, Theodore]]. ''The American Farmer and the New Deal'' (1982).
* [[Theodore Saloutos|Saloutos, Theodore]]. ''The American Farmer and the New Deal'' (1982).
* Schwartz, Bonnie Fox. ''The Civil works administration, 1933–1934: the business of emergency employment in the New Deal'' (Princeton University Press, 2014)
* Schwartz, Bonnie Fox. ''The Civil works administration, 1933–1934: the business of emergency employment in the New Deal'' (Princeton University Press, 2014)
* Singleton, Jeff. ''The American Dole: Unemployment Relief and the Welfare State in the Great Depression'' (2000)
* Singleton, Jeff. ''The American Dole: Unemployment Relief and the Welfare State in the Great Depression'' (2000)
* {{cite journal | last1 = Skocpol | first1 = Theda | authorlink1 = Theda Skocpol | last2 = Finegold | first2 = Kenneth | year = 1982 | title = State Capacity and Economic Intervention in the Early New Deal | journal = Political Science Quarterly | volume = 97 | issue = 2| pages = 255–78 | jstor=2149478| doi = 10.2307/2149478 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Skocpol | first1 = Theda | author-link1 = Theda Skocpol | last2 = Finegold | first2 = Kenneth | year = 1982 | title = State Capacity and Economic Intervention in the Early New Deal | journal = Political Science Quarterly | volume = 97 | issue = 2 | pages = 255–278 | jstor = 2149478 | doi = 10.2307/2149478 | s2cid = 155685115 | url = http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c90f/8d981401a2e4aa6a1bd9caed8c0e2c923abf.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200615091753/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c90f/8d981401a2e4aa6a1bd9caed8c0e2c923abf.pdf | archive-date = 2020-06-15 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Skocpol | first1 = Theda | last2 = Finegold | first2 = Kenneth | year = 1977 | title = Explaining New Deal Labor Policy | journal = American Political Science Review | volume = 84 | issue = 4| pages = 1297–304 | jstor=1963265| doi = 10.2307/1963265 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Skocpol | first1 = Theda | last2 = Finegold | first2 = Kenneth | year = 1977 | title = Explaining New Deal Labor Policy | journal = American Political Science Review | volume = 84 | issue = 4| pages = 1297–1304 | jstor=1963265| doi = 10.2307/1963265 | s2cid = 154762341 }}
* Smith, Jason Scott. ''Building new deal liberalism: The political economy of public works, 1933–1956'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
* {{cite journal | last1 = Zelizer | first1 = Julian E. | year = 2000 | title = The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal: Fiscal Conservatism and the Roosevelt Administration, 1933–1938 | url = | journal = Presidential Studies Quarterly | volume = 30 | issue = 2| page = 331 | doi = 10.1111/j.0360-4918.2000.00115.x }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Zelizer | first1 = Julian E. | year = 2000 | title = The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal: Fiscal Conservatism and the Roosevelt Administration, 1933–1938 | journal = Presidential Studies Quarterly | volume = 30 | issue = 2 | pages = 331– | doi = 10.1111/j.0360-4918.2000.00115.x | url = https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001752830 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071018165457/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001752830 | url-status = dead | archive-date = October 18, 2007 }}
{{refend}}


===Social and cultural history===
===Social and cultural history===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Best, Gary Dean. ''The Nickel and Dime Decade: American Popular Culture during the 1930s'' (1993) [https://www.questia.com/read/59442019/the-nickel-and-dime-decade-american-popular-culture online]
* Best, Gary Dean. ''The Nickel and Dime Decade: American Popular Culture during the 1930s'' (1993) [https://www.questia.com/read/59442019/the-nickel-and-dime-decade-american-popular-culture online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024205705/https://www.questia.com/read/59442019/the-nickel-and-dime-decade-american-popular-culture |date=October 24, 2017 }}
* Cooney, Terry A. ''Balancing Acts: American Thought and Culture in the 1930s'' (Twayne, 1995)
* Cooney, Terry A. ''Balancing Acts: American Thought and Culture in the 1930s'' (Twayne, 1995)
* Dass, Permeil. "Deciphering Franklin D. Roosevelt's educational policies during the Great Depression (1933-1940)" (PhD dissertation, Georgia State University, 2013) [https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=eps_diss onlinw].
* [[Morris Dickstein|Dickstein, Morris]]. ''Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression'' (2009)
* [[Morris Dickstein|Dickstein, Morris]]. ''Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression'' (2009)
* Eldridge, David Nicholas. ''American Culture in the 1930s'' (Edinburgh University Press, 2008) [https://www.questia.com/read/118252181/american-culture-in-the-1930s online]
* Eldridge, David Nicholas. ''American Culture in the 1930s'' (Edinburgh University Press, 2008) [https://www.questia.com/read/118252181/american-culture-in-the-1930s online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024205842/https://www.questia.com/read/118252181/american-culture-in-the-1930s |date=October 24, 2017 }}
* Kelly, Andrew. ''Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts, American Culture, and the Federal Art Project's Index of American Design'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2015)
* Kelly, Andrew. ''Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts, American Culture, and the Federal Art Project's Index of American Design'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2015)
* McKinzie, Richard. ''The New Deal for Artists'' (1984), well illustrated scholarly study
* McKinzie, Richard. ''The New Deal for Artists'' (1984), well illustrated scholarly study
* {{cite journal | last1 = Mathews | first1 = Jane De Hart | year = 1975 | title = Arts and the People: The New Deal Quest for a Cultural Democracy | journal = Journal of American History | volume = 62 | issue = 2| pages = 316–39 | jstor=1903257| doi = 10.2307/1903257 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Mathews | first1 = Jane De Hart | year = 1975 | title = Arts and the People: The New Deal Quest for a Cultural Democracy | journal = Journal of American History | volume = 62 | issue = 2| pages = 316–339 | doi = 10.2307/1903257 | jstor=1903257}}
* [[Evan Osnos|Osnos, Evan]], "Ruling-Class Rules: How to thrive in the power elite – while declaring it your enemy", ''[[The New Yorker]]'', 29 January 2024, pp.&nbsp;18–23. "In the nineteen-twenties... American elites, some of whom feared a [[Bolshevik revolution]], consented to reform... Under [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]... the U.S. raised taxes, took steps to protect [[labor union|union]]s, and established a [[minimum wage]]. The costs, [[Peter Turchin|[Peter] Turchin]] writes, 'were borne by the American [[ruling class]].'... Between the nineteen-thirties and the nineteen-seventies, a period that scholars call the [[Great Compression]], economic equality narrowed, except among Black Americans... But by the nineteen-eighties the Great Compression was over. As the rich grew richer than ever, they sought to turn their money into [[political power]]; spending on politics soared." (p.&nbsp;22.) "[N]o democracy can function well if people are unwilling to lose power – if a generation of leaders... becomes so entrenched that it ages into [[gerontocracy]]; if one of two major parties denies the arithmetic of elections; if a cohort of the ruling class loses status that it once enjoyed and sets out to salvage it." (p.&nbsp;23.)
* Pells, Richard. ''Radical Visions and American Dreams: Culture and Social Thought in the Depression Years'' (1973).
* Pells, Richard. ''Radical Visions and American Dreams: Culture and Social Thought in the Depression Years'' (1973).
* Roddick, Nick. ''A New Deal in Entertainment: Warner Brothers in the 1930s'' (London, BFI, 1983).
* Roddick, Nick. ''A New Deal in Entertainment: Warner Brothers in the 1930s'' (London, BFI, 1983).
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* Stott, William. ''Documentary Expression and Thirties America'' (University of Chicago Press, 1973).
* Stott, William. ''Documentary Expression and Thirties America'' (University of Chicago Press, 1973).
* [[Dixon Wecter|Wecter, Dixon]]. ''The Age of the Great Depression, 1929–1941'' (1948), social history
* [[Dixon Wecter|Wecter, Dixon]]. ''The Age of the Great Depression, 1929–1941'' (1948), social history
{{refend}}


===Politics===
===Politics===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Alswang, John. ''The New Deal and American Politics'' (1978), voting analysis
* Alswang, John. ''The New Deal and American Politics'' (1978), voting analysis
* [[Jonathan Alter|Alter, Jonathan]]. ''The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope'' (2006), popular account
* [[Jonathan Alter|Alter, Jonathan]]. ''The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope'' (2006), popular account
* Badger, Anthony J. ''FDR: The First Hundred Days'' (2008)
* Badger, Anthony J. ''FDR: The First Hundred Days'' (2008)
* Badger, Anthony J. ''New Deal / New South: An Anthony J. Badger Reader'' (2007)
* Badger, Anthony J. ''New Deal / New South: An Anthony J. Badger Reader'' (2007)
* [[Barton Bernstein|Bernstein, Barton J.]] "The New Deal: The Conservative Achievements of Liberal Reform". In Barton J. Bernstein, ed., ''Towards a New Past: Dissenting Essays in American History'', pp.&nbsp;263–88. (1968), an influential New Left attack on the New Deal.
* [[Barton Bernstein|Bernstein, Barton J.]] "The New Deal: The Conservative Achievements of Liberal Reform". In Barton J. Bernstein, ed., ''Towards a New Past: Dissenting Essays in American History'', pp.&nbsp;263–288. (1968), an influential New Left attack on the New Deal.
* Best, Gary Dean. ''The Critical Press and the New Deal: The Press Versus Presidential Power, 1933–1938'' (1993) {{ISBN|0-275-94350-X}}
* Best, Gary Dean. ''The Critical Press and the New Deal: The Press Versus Presidential Power, 1933–1938'' (1993) {{ISBN|0-275-94350-X}}
* Best, Gary Dean. ''Retreat from Liberalism: Collectivists versus Progressives in the New Deal Years'' (2002) {{ISBN|0-275-94656-8}}
* Best, Gary Dean. ''Retreat from Liberalism: Collectivists versus Progressives in the New Deal Years'' (2002) {{ISBN|0-275-94656-8}}
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* Ekirch Jr., Arthur A. ''Ideologies and Utopias: The Impact of the New Deal on American Thought'' (1971)
* Ekirch Jr., Arthur A. ''Ideologies and Utopias: The Impact of the New Deal on American Thought'' (1971)
* Fraser, Steve and [[Gary Gerstle]], eds., ''The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order'', (1989), essays focused on the long-term results.
* Fraser, Steve and [[Gary Gerstle]], eds., ''The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order'', (1989), essays focused on the long-term results.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Garraty | first1 = John A. | authorlink = John A. Garraty | year = 1973 | title = The New Deal, National Socialism, and the Great Depression | journal = American Historical Review | volume = 78 | issue = 4| pages = 907–44 | jstor=1858346| doi = 10.2307/1858346 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Garraty |first1=John A. |author-link=John A. Garraty |year=1973 |title=The New Deal, National Socialism, and the Great Depression |journal=American Historical Review |volume=78 |issue=4 |pages=907–944 |jstor=1858346 |doi=10.2307/1858346}}
* [[Robert Higgs|Higgs, Robert]]. ''Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government'' (1987), Austrian school critique
* [[Robert Higgs|Higgs, Robert]]. ''Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government'' (1987), Austrian school critique
* [[Ira Katznelson|Katznelson, Ira]]. (2013). ''Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time''. Liveright.
* [[Everett Carll Ladd|Ladd, Everett Carll]] and Charles D. Hadley. ''Transformations of the American Party System: Political Coalitions from the New Deal to the 1970s'' (1975), voting behavior
* [[Everett Carll Ladd|Ladd, Everett Carll]] and Charles D. Hadley. ''Transformations of the American Party System: Political Coalitions from the New Deal to the 1970s'' (1975), voting behavior
* [[Richard Lowitt|Lowitt, Richard]]. ''The New Deal and the West'' (1984).
* [[Richard Lowitt|Lowitt, Richard]]. ''The New Deal and the West'' (1984).
* Maney, Patrick J. "The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Congress, 1933-1945." ''OAH Magazine of History'' 12.4 (1998): 13–19. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25163230 online]
* {{cite journal | last1 = Manza | first1 = Jeff | authorlink1 = Jeff Manza | year = 2000 | title = Political Sociological Models of the U.S. New Deal | url = | journal = Annual Review of Sociology | volume = 26 | issue = | pages = 297–322 | doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.297}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Manza |first1=Jeff |author-link1=Jeff Manza |year=2000 |title=Political Sociological Models of the U.S. New Deal |journal=[[Annual Review of Sociology]] |volume=26 |pages=297–322 |doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.297}}
* Milkis, Sidney M. and Jerome M. Mileur, eds. ''The New Deal and the Triumph of Liberalism'' (2002)
* Milkis, Sidney M. and Jerome M. Mileur, eds. ''The New Deal and the Triumph of Liberalism'' (2002)
* Phillips-Fein, Kim. ''Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal'' (2009) [https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Hands-Businessmens-Crusade-Against/dp/0393337669/ excerpt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506035905/https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Hands-Businessmens-Crusade-Against/dp/0393337669 |date=May 6, 2022 }}; same book also published as ''Invisible hands: the making of the conservative movement from the New Deal to Reagan''
* Rosen, Eliot A. ''The Republican Party in the Age of Roosevelt: Sources of Anti-Government Conservatism in the United States'' (2014)
* {{Cite journal |last=Rauchway |first=Eric |date=July 2019 |title=The New Deal Was on the Ballot in 1932 |journal=Modern American History |volume=2 |issue=02 |pages=201–213 |doi=10.1017/mah.2018.42}}* Rosen, Eliot A. ''The Republican Party in the Age of Roosevelt: Sources of Anti-Government Conservatism in the United States'' (2014)
* [[Harvard Sitkoff|Sitkoff, Harvard]]. ''A New Deal for Blacks: The Emergence of Civil Rights as a National Issue: The Depression Decade'' (2008)
* [[Harvard Sitkoff|Sitkoff, Harvard]]. ''A New Deal for Blacks: The Emergence of Civil Rights as a National Issue: The Depression Decade'' (2008)
* Smith, Jason Scott. ''Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933–1956'' (2005).
* Smith, Jason Scott. ''Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933–1956'' (2005).
* Szalay, Michael. ''New Deal Modernism: American Literature and the Invention of the Welfare State'' (2000)
* {{cite book |last=Szalay |first=Michael |title=New Deal Modernism: American Literature and the Invention of the Welfare State |year=2000}}
* [[George Tindall|Tindall, George B.]] ''The Emergence of the New South, 1915–1945'' (1967). survey of entire South
* [[George Tindall|Tindall, George B.]] ''The Emergence of the New South, 1915–1945'' (1967). survey of entire South
* [[Charles Trout|Trout, Charles H.]] ''Boston, the Great Depression, and the New Deal'' (1977)
* [[Charles Trout|Trout, Charles H.]] ''Boston, the Great Depression, and the New Deal'' (1977)
* {{cite book|last=Venn|first=Fiona|year=1998|title=The New Deal|location=Edinburgh|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-1-57958-145-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Venn |first=Fiona |year=1998 |title=The New Deal |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-57958-145-9}}
* [[Susan Ware|Ware, Susan]]. ''Beyond Suffrage: Women and the New Deal'' (1981)
* [[Susan Ware|Ware, Susan]]. ''Beyond Suffrage: Women and the New Deal'' (1981)
* Williams, Gloria-Yvonne. (2014). "African-Americans and the Politics of Race During the New Deal." In ''The New Deal and the Great Depression'' (pp. 131–44). Kent, OH:Kent State University Press. [https://www.academia.edu/5118591/_AFRICAN-AMERICANS_AND_THE_POLITICS_OF_RACE_DURING_THE_NEW_DEAL_in_Intepreting_American_History_a_series_THE_NEW_DEAL_AND_THE_GREAT_DEPRESSION on academia.edu author's page]
* Williams, Gloria-Yvonne. (2014). "African-Americans and the Politics of Race During the New Deal". In ''The New Deal and the Great Depression'' (pp.&nbsp;131–344). Kent, OH:Kent State University Press. [https://www.academia.edu/5118591/_AFRICAN-AMERICANS_AND_THE_POLITICS_OF_RACE_DURING_THE_NEW_DEAL_in_Intepreting_American_History_a_series_THE_NEW_DEAL_AND_THE_GREAT_DEPRESSION on academia.edu author's page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816200211/https://www.academia.edu/5118591/_AFRICAN-AMERICANS_AND_THE_POLITICS_OF_RACE_DURING_THE_NEW_DEAL_in_Intepreting_American_History_a_series_THE_NEW_DEAL_AND_THE_GREAT_DEPRESSION |date=August 16, 2021 }}
* Williams, Mason B. ''City of Ambition: FDR, La Guardia, and the Making of Modern New York'' (2013)
* Williams, Mason B. ''City of Ambition: FDR, La Guardia, and the Making of Modern New York'' (2013)
{{refend}}


===Primary sources===
===Primary sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Bureau of the Census, ''Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1951'' (1951) full of useful data; [http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/1951-01.pdf online]
* Bureau of the Census, ''Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970'' (1976) [http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p1.zip part 1 online]; [http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2.zip part 2 online]
* Bureau of the Census, ''Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1951'' (1951) full of useful data; [http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/1951-01.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160123023545/http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/1951-01.pdf |date=January 23, 2016 }}
* Bureau of the Census, ''Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970'' (1976) [http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p1.zip part 1 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120034219/http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p1.zip |date=January 20, 2013 }}; [http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2.zip part 2 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120034454/http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2.zip |date=January 20, 2013 }}
* [[Hadley Cantril|Cantril, Hadley]] and Mildred Strunk, eds. ''Public Opinion, 1935–1946'' (1951), massive compilation of many public opinion polls
* [[Hadley Cantril|Cantril, Hadley]] and Mildred Strunk, eds. ''Public Opinion, 1935–1946'' (1951), massive compilation of many public opinion polls [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.128827 online]
* Carter, Susan B. et al. eds. ''The Historical Statistics of the United States'' (6 vol: Cambridge UP, 2006); huge compilation of statistical data; online at some universities
* Carter, Susan B. et al. eds. ''The Historical Statistics of the United States'' (6 vol: Cambridge University Press, 2006); huge compilation of statistical data; online at some universities
* [[George Gallup|Gallup, George Horace]], ed. ''The Gallup Poll; Public Opinion, 1935–1971'' 3 vol (1972) summarizes results of each poll.
* [[George Gallup|Gallup, George Horace]], ed. ''The Gallup Poll; Public Opinion, 1935–1971'' 3 vol (1972) summarizes results of each poll.
* [[Richard Lowitt|Lowitt, Richard]] and Maurice Beardsley, eds. ''One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickock Reports on the Great Depression'' (1981)
* [[Richard Lowitt|Lowitt, Richard]] and Maurice Beardsley, eds. ''One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickock Reports on the Great Depression'' (1981)
* [[Raymond Moley|Moley, Raymond]]. ''After Seven Years'' (1939), conservative memoir by ex-Brain Truster
* [[Raymond Moley|Moley, Raymond]]. ''After Seven Years'' (1939), conservative memoir by ex-Brain Truster
* Nixon, Edgar B. ed. ''Franklin D. Roosevelt and Foreign Affairs'' (3 vol 1969), covers 1933–37. 2nd series 1937–39 available on microfiche and in a 14 vol print edition at some academic libraries.
* Nixon, Edgar B. ed. ''Franklin D. Roosevelt and Foreign Affairs'' (3 vol 1969), covers 1933–37. 2nd series 1937–39 available on microfiche and in a 14 vol print edition at some academic libraries.
* Rasmussen, Wayne D. ed ''Agriculture in the United States: a documentary history: vol 3: 1914–1940''(Random House, 1975).
* Roosevelt, Franklin D.; [[Samuel Rosenman|Rosenman, Samuel Irving]], ed. ''The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt'' (13 vol, 1938, 1945); public material only (no letters); covers 1928–1945.
* Roosevelt, Franklin D.; [[Samuel Rosenman|Rosenman, Samuel Irving]], ed. ''The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt'' (13 vol, 1938, 1945); public material only (no letters); covers 1928–1945.
* [[Howard Zinn|Zinn, Howard]], ed. ''New Deal Thought'' (1966), a compilation of primary sources.
* [[Howard Zinn|Zinn, Howard]], ed. ''New Deal Thought'' (1966), a compilation of primary sources.
{{refend}}


==External links==
==External links==
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* [http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/view?docId=BurkeRobertE2874_4128.xml Robert E. Burke Collection]. 1892–1994. 60.42 cubic feet (68 boxes plus 2 oversize folders and one oversize vertical file). At the [http://lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections]. Contains material collected by Robert E. Burke on the New Deal from 1932 to 1959.
* [http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/view?docId=BurkeRobertE2874_4128.xml Robert E. Burke Collection]. 1892–1994. 60.42 cubic feet (68 boxes plus 2 oversize folders and one oversize vertical file). At the [http://lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/laws Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections]. Contains material collected by Robert E. Burke on the New Deal from 1932 to 1959.


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[[Category:Political terminology of the United States]]
[[Category:Political terminology of the United States]]
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[[Category:Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
[[Category:Liberalism in the United States]]
[[Category:Social liberalism]]

Latest revision as of 21:35, 7 December 2024

New Deal
LocationUnited States
TypeEconomic program
CauseGreat Depression
Organized byPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt
Outcome
  • Job creation, social security, financial reforms, and agricultural support
  • Expanded labor rights and unions
  • Political power shifts to Democratic Party's New Deal coalition

The New Deal was a series of domestic programs, public work projects, and financial reforms and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, with the aim of addressing the Great Depression, which began in 1929. Roosevelt introduced the phrase upon accepting the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination, and won the election in a landslide over Herbert Hoover, whose administration was viewed by many as doing too little to help those affected. It was widely believed that the depression was caused by inherent market instability, and that massive government intervention was necessary to stabilize and rationalize the economy.

During Roosevelt's first hundred days in office in 1933 until 1935, he introduced what historians refer to as the "First New Deal", which focused on the "3 R's": relief for the unemployed and for the poor, recovery of the economy back to normal levels, and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.[1] Roosevelt declared a four-day bank holiday and implemented the Emergency Banking Act, which enabled the Federal Reserve to insure bank deposits; this was made permanent with Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Other laws established the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which allowed industries to create "codes of fair competition"; the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which protected investors from abusive stock market practices; and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which raised rural incomes by controlling production. Public works were undertaken in order to find jobs for the unemployed (25 percent of the workforce when Roosevelt took office): the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enlisted young men for manual labor on government land, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) promoted electricity generation and other forms of economic development in the drainage basin of the Tennessee River.

Although the First New Deal helped many find work and restored confidence in the financial system, by 1935 stock prices were still below pre-Depression levels and unemployment still exceeded 20 percent. From 1935 to 1938, the "Second New Deal" introduced further legislation and additional agencies which focused on job creation and on improving the conditions of the elderly, workers, and the poor. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) supervised the construction of bridges, libraries, parks, and other facilities, while also investing in the arts; the National Labor Relations Act guaranteed employees the right to organize trade unions; and the Social Security Act introduced pensions for senior citizens and benefits for the disabled, mothers with dependent children, and the unemployed. The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibited "oppressive" child labor, and enshrined a 40-hour work week and national minimum wage.

In 1938, the Republican Party gained seats in Congress and joined with conservative Democrats to block further New Deal legislation, and some of it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The New Deal produced a political realignment, reorienting the Democratic Party's base to the New Deal coalition of labor unions, blue-collar workers, big city machines, racial minorities (most importantly African-Americans), white Southerners, and intellectuals. The realignment crystallized into a powerful liberal coalition which dominated presidential elections into the 1960s, as an opposing conservative coalition largely controlled Congress in domestic affairs from 1937 to 1964. Historians still debate the effectiveness of the New Deal programs, although most accept that full employment was not achieved until World War II began in 1939.

Summary of First and Second New Deal programs

[edit]

The First New Deal (1933–1934) dealt with the pressing banking crisis through the Emergency Banking Act and the 1933 Banking Act. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided US$500 million (equivalent to $11.8 billion in 2023) for relief operations by states and cities, and the short-lived CWA gave locals money to operate make-work projects from 1933 to 1934.[2] The Securities Act of 1933 was enacted to prevent a repeated stock market crash. The controversial work of the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was also part of the First New Deal.

The Second New Deal in 1935–1936 included the National Labor Relations Act to protect labor organizing, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief program (which made the federal government the largest employer in the nation),[3] the Social Security Act and new programs to aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. The final major items of New Deal legislation were the creation of the United States Housing Authority and the FSA, which both occurred in 1937; and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which set maximum hours and minimum wages for most categories of workers.[4] The FSA was also one of the oversight authorities of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, which administered relief efforts to Puerto Rican citizens affected by the Great Depression.[5]

Roosevelt had built a New Deal coalition, but the economic downturn of 1937–1938 and the bitter split between the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) labor unions led to major Republican gains in Congress in 1938.[6] Conservative Republicans and Democrats in Congress joined the informal conservative coalition. By 1942–1943, they shut down relief programs such as the WPA and the CCC and blocked major progressive proposals. Noting the composition of the new Congress, one study argued

The Congress that assembled in January 1939 was quite unlike any with which Roosevelt had to contend before.

Since all Democratic losses took place in the North and the West, and particularly in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, southerners held a much stronger position. The House contained 169 non-southern Democrats, 93 southern Democrats, 169 Republicans, and 4 third-party representatives. For the first time, Roosevelt could not form a majority without the help of some southerners or Republicans. In addition, the president had to contend with several senators who, having successfully resisted the purge, no longer owed him anything. Most observers agreed, therefore, that the president could at best hope to consolidate, but certainly not to extend, the New Deal. James Farley thought that Roosevelt's wisest course would be "to clean up odds and ends, tighten up and improve things [he] already has but not try [to] start anything new."

In any event, Farley predicted that Congress would discard much of Roosevelt's program.[7]

As noted by another study, "the 1938 elections proved a decisive point in the consolidation of the conservative coalition in Congress. The liberal bloc in the House had been halved, and conservative Democrats had escaped 'relatively untouched'". In the House elected in 1938 there were at least 30 anti-New Deal Democrats and another 50 who were "not at all enthusiastic". In addition, "The new Senate was split about evenly between pro- and anti-New Deal factions."[8] The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was the last major New Deal legislation that Roosevelt succeeded in enacting into law before the conservative coalition won control of Congress. Though he could usually use the veto to restrain Congress, Congress could block any Roosevelt legislation it disliked.[9]

Nonetheless, Roosevelt turned his attention to the war effort and won reelection in 1940–1944. Furthermore, the Supreme Court declared the NRA and the first version of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) unconstitutional, but the AAA was rewritten and then upheld. Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961) left the New Deal largely intact, even expanding it in some areas. In the 1960s, Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society used the New Deal as inspiration for a dramatic expansion of progressive programs, which Republican Richard Nixon generally retained. However, after 1974 the call for deregulation of the economy gained bipartisan support.[10] The New Deal regulation of banking (Glass–Steagall Act) lasted until it was suspended in the 1990s.

Several organizations created by New Deal programs remain active and those operating under the original names include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The largest programs still in existence are the Social Security System and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Origins

[edit]

Economic collapse (1929–1933)

[edit]
US annual real GDP from 1910 to 1960, with the years of the Great Depression (1929–1939) highlighted
Unemployment rate in the United States from 1910 to 1960, with the years of the Great Depression (1929–1939) highlighted (accurate data begins in 1939)

From 1929 to 1933 manufacturing output decreased by one third,[11] which economist Milton Friedman later called the Great Contraction. Prices fell by 20%, causing deflation that made repaying debts much harder. Unemployment in the United States increased from 4% to 25%.[12] Additionally, one-third of all employed persons were downgraded to working part-time on much smaller paychecks. In the aggregate, almost 50% of the nation's human work-power was going unused.[13]

Before the New Deal, USA bank deposits were not "guaranteed" by government.[14] When thousands of banks closed, depositors temporarily lost access to their money; most of the funds were eventually restored but there was gloom and panic. The United States had no national safety net, no public unemployment insurance and no Social Security.[15] Relief for the poor was the responsibility of families, private charity and local governments, but as conditions worsened year by year demand skyrocketed and their combined resources increasingly fell far short of demand.[13]

The depression had psychologically devastated the nation. As Roosevelt took the oath of office at noon on March 4, 1933, all state governors had authorized bank holidays or restricted withdrawals—many Americans had little or no access to their bank accounts.[16][17] Farm income had fallen by over 50% since 1929. Between 1930 and 1933, an estimated 844,000 non-farm mortgages were foreclosed on, out of a total of five million.[18] Political and business leaders feared revolution and anarchy. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., who remained wealthy during the Depression, recalled that "in those days I felt and said I would be willing to part with half of what I had if I could be sure of keeping, under law and order, the other half."[19]

Campaign

[edit]

Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth... I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people. This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms.

The phrase "New Deal" was coined by an adviser to Roosevelt, Stuart Chase, who used A New Deal as the title for an article published in the progressive magazine The New Republic a few days before Roosevelt's speech. Speechwriter Rosenman added it to his draft of FDR's presidential nomination acceptance speech at the last minute.[21][22] Upon accepting the 1932 Democratic nomination for president, Roosevelt promised "a new deal for the American people".[20] In campaign speeches, Roosevelt committed to carrying out, if elected, several elements of what would become the New Deal, such as unemployment relief and public works programs.[23]

First New Deal (1933–1934)

[edit]
1935 cartoon by Vaughn Shoemaker in which he parodied the New Deal as a card game with alphabetical agencies

Roosevelt entered office with clear ideas for policies to address the Great Depression, though he remained open to experimentation as his presidency began implementing these.[24] Among Roosevelt's more famous advisers was an informal "Brain Trust", a group that tended to view pragmatic government intervention in the economy positively.[25] His choice for Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, greatly influenced his initiatives. Her list of what her priorities would be if she took the job illustrates: "a forty-hour workweek, a minimum wage, worker's compensation, unemployment compensation, a federal law banning child labor, direct federal aid for unemployment relief, Social Security, a revitalized public employment service and health insurance".[26]

The New Deal policies drew from many different ideas proposed earlier in the 20th century. Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold led efforts that hearkened back to an anti-monopoly tradition rooted in American politics by figures such as Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, an influential adviser to many New Dealers, argued that "bigness" (referring, presumably, to corporations) was a negative economic force, producing waste and inefficiency. However, the anti-monopoly group never had a major impact on New Deal policy.[27] Other leaders such as Hugh S. Johnson of the NRA took ideas from the Woodrow Wilson Administration, advocating techniques used to mobilize the economy for World War I. They brought ideas and experience from the government controls and spending of 1917–1918. Other New Deal planners revived experiments suggested in the 1920s, such as the TVA. The "First New Deal" (1933–1934) encompassed the proposals offered by a wide spectrum of groups (not included was the Socialist Party, whose influence was all but destroyed).[28] This first phase of the New Deal was also characterized by fiscal conservatism (see Economy Act, below) and experimentation with several different, sometimes contradictory, cures for economic ills.

Roosevelt created dozens of new agencies. They are traditionally and typically known to Americans by their alphabetical initials.

The First 100 Days (1933)

[edit]

The American people were generally extremely dissatisfied with the crumbling economy, mass unemployment, declining wages, and profits, and especially Herbert Hoover's policies such as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act and the Revenue Act of 1932. Roosevelt entered office with enormous political capital. Americans of all political persuasions were demanding immediate action and Roosevelt responded with a remarkable series of new programs in the "first hundred days" of the administration, in which he met with Congress for 100 days. During those 100 days of lawmaking, Congress granted every request Roosevelt asked and passed a few programs (such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure bank accounts) that he opposed. Ever since, presidents have been judged against Roosevelt for what they accomplished in their first 100 days. Walter Lippmann famously noted:

At the end of February we were a congeries of disorderly panic-stricken mobs and factions. In the hundred days from March to June, we became again an organized nation confident of our power to provide for our own security and to control our own destiny.[29]

The economy had hit bottom in March 1933 and then started to expand. Economic indicators show the economy reached its lowest point in the first days of March, then began a steady, sharp upward recovery. Thus the Federal Reserve Index of Industrial Production sank to its lowest point of 52.8 in July 1932 and was practically unchanged at 54.3 in March 1933. However, by July 1933 it reached 85.5, a dramatic rebound of 57% in four months. Recovery was steady and strong until 1937. Except for employment, the economy by 1937 surpassed the levels of the late 1920s. The Recession of 1937 was a temporary downturn. Private sector employment, especially in manufacturing, recovered to the level of the 1920s but failed to advance further until the war. The U.S. population was 124,840,471 in 1932 and 128,824,829 in 1937, an increase of 3,984,468.[30] The ratio of these numbers, times the number of jobs in 1932, means there was a need for 938,000 more jobs in 1937, to maintain the same employment level.

Fiscal policy

[edit]

The Economy Act, drafted by Budget Director Lewis Williams Douglas, was passed on March 15, 1933. The act proposed to balance the "regular" (non-emergency) federal budget by cutting the salaries of government employees and cutting pensions to veterans by fifteen percent. It saved $500 million per year and reassured deficit hawks, such as Douglas, that the new president was fiscally conservative. Roosevelt argued there were two budgets: the "regular" federal budget, which he balanced; and the emergency budget, which was needed to defeat the depression. It was imbalanced on a temporary basis.[31][32]

Roosevelt initially favored balancing the budget, but soon found himself running spending deficits to fund his numerous programs. However, Douglas—rejecting the distinction between a regular and emergency budget—resigned in 1934 and became an outspoken critic of the New Deal. Roosevelt strenuously opposed the Bonus Bill that would give World War I veterans a cash bonus. Congress finally passed it over his veto in 1936 and the Treasury distributed $1.5 billion in cash as bonus welfare benefits to 4 million veterans just before the 1936 election.[33][34]

New Dealers never accepted the Keynesian argument for government spending as a vehicle for recovery. Most economists of the era, along with Henry Morgenthau of the Treasury Department, rejected Keynesian solutions and favored balanced budgets.[35][36]

Banking reform

[edit]
Crowd at New York's American Union Bank during a bank run early in the Great Depression
Roosevelt's ebullient public personality, conveyed through his declaration that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" and his "fireside chats" on the radio did a great deal to help restore the nation's confidence

At the beginning of the Great Depression, the economy was destabilized by bank failures followed by credit crunches. The initial reasons were substantial losses in investment banking, followed by bank runs. Bank runs occur when a large number of customers withdraw their deposits because they believe the bank might become insolvent. As the bank run progressed, it generated a self-fulfilling prophecy: as more people withdrew their deposits, the likelihood of default increased and this encouraged further withdrawals.

Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz have argued that the drain of money out of the banking system caused the monetary supply to shrink, forcing the economy to likewise shrink. As credit and economic activity diminished, price deflation followed, causing further economic contraction with disastrous impact on banks.[37] Between 1929 and 1933, 40% of all banks (9,490 out of 23,697 banks) failed.[38] Much of the Great Depression's economic damage was caused directly by bank runs.[39]

Herbert Hoover had already considered a bank holiday to prevent further bank runs but rejected the idea because he was afraid to incite a panic. However, Roosevelt gave a radio address, held in the atmosphere of a Fireside Chat. He explained to the public in simple terms the causes of the banking crisis, what the government would do, and how the population could help. He closed all the banks in the country and kept them all closed until new legislation could be passed.[40]

On March 9, 1933, Roosevelt sent to Congress the Emergency Banking Act, drafted in large part by Hoover's top advisors. The act was passed and signed into law the same day. It provided for a system of reopening sound banks under Treasury supervision, with federal loans available if needed. Three-quarters of the banks in the Federal Reserve System reopened within the next three days. Billions of dollars in hoarded currency and gold flowed back into them within a month, thus stabilizing the banking system.[41] By the end of 1933, 4,004 small local banks were permanently closed and merged into larger banks. Their deposits totaled $3.6 billion. Depositors lost $540 million (equivalent to $12,710,128,535 in 2023) and eventually received on average 85 cents on the dollar of their deposits.[42]

The Glass–Steagall Act limited commercial bank securities activities and affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms to regulate speculations. It also established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insured deposits for up to $2,500, ending the risk of runs on banks.[43][page needed] This banking reform offered unprecedented stability because throughout the 1920s more than five hundred banks failed per year, and then it was less than ten banks per year after 1933.[44]

Monetary reform

[edit]

Under the gold standard, the United States kept the dollar convertible to gold. The Federal Reserve would have had to execute an expansionary monetary policy to fight the deflation and to inject liquidity into the banking system to prevent it from crumbling—but lower interest rates would have led to a gold outflow.[45] Under the gold standards, price–specie flow mechanism countries that lost gold, but nevertheless wanted to maintain the gold standard, had to permit their money supply to decrease and the domestic price level to decline (deflation).[46] As long as the Federal Reserve had to defend the gold parity of the dollar it had to sit idle while the banking system crumbled.[45]

In March and April in a series of laws and executive orders, the government suspended the gold standard. Roosevelt stopped the outflow of gold by forbidding the export of gold except under license from the Treasury. Anyone holding significant amounts of gold coinage was mandated to exchange it for the existing fixed price of U.S. dollars. The Treasury no longer paid out gold for dollars and gold would no longer be considered valid legal tender for debts in private and public contracts.[47]

The dollar was allowed to float freely on foreign exchange markets with no guaranteed price in gold. With the passage of the Gold Reserve Act in 1934, the nominal price of gold was changed from $20.67 per troy ounce to $35. These measures enabled the Federal Reserve to increase the amount of money in circulation to the level the economy needed. Markets immediately responded well to the suspension in the hope that the decline in prices would finally end.[47] In her essay "What ended the Great Depression?" (1992), Christina Romer argued that this policy raised industrial production by 25% until 1937 and by 50% until 1942.[48]

Securities Act of 1933

[edit]

Before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, securities were unregulated at the federal level. Even firms whose securities were publicly traded published no regular reports, or even worse, rather misleading reports based on arbitrarily selected data. To avoid another crash, the Securities Act of 1933 was passed. It required the disclosure of the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and the names and compensations of corporate officers for firms whose securities were traded. Additionally, the reports had to be verified by independent auditors. In 1934, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was established to regulate the stock market and prevent corporate abuses relating to corporate reporting and the sale of securities.[49]

Repeal of Prohibition

[edit]

In a measure that garnered substantial popular support for his New Deal, Roosevelt moved to put to rest one of the most divisive cultural issues of the 1920s. He signed the bill to legalize the manufacture and sale of alcohol, an interim measure pending the repeal of prohibition, for which a constitutional amendment of repeal (the 21st) was already in process. The repeal amendment was ratified later in 1933. States and cities gained additional new revenue and Roosevelt secured his popularity especially in the cities and ethnic areas by legalizing alcohol.[50]

Relief

[edit]

Relief was the immediate effort to help the one-third of the population that was hardest hit by the depression. Relief was also aimed at providing temporary help to suffering and unemployed Americans. Local and state budgets were sharply reduced because of falling tax revenue, but New Deal relief programs were used not just to hire the unemployed but also to build needed schools, municipal buildings, waterworks, sewers, streets, and parks according to local specifications. While the regular Army and Navy budgets were reduced, Roosevelt juggled relief funds to provide for their claimed needs. All of the CCC camps were directed by army officers, whose salaries came from the relief budget. The PWA built numerous warships, including two aircraft carriers; the money came from the PWA agency. PWA also built warplanes, and the WPA built military bases and airfields.[51]

Public works

[edit]
Public Works Administration Project Bonneville Dam

To prime the pump and cut unemployment, the NIRA created the Public Works Administration (PWA), a major program of public works, which organized and provided funds for the building of useful works such as government buildings, airports, hospitals, schools, roads, bridges, and dams.[52] From 1933 to 1935, PWA spent $3.3 billion with private companies to build 34,599 projects, many of them quite large.[53][54] The NIRA also contained a provision for the "construction, reconstruction, alteration, or repair under public regulation or control of low-cost housing and slum-clearance projects".[55]

Many unemployed people were put to work under Roosevelt on a variety of government-financed public works projects, including the construction of bridges, airports, dams, post offices, hospitals, and hundreds of thousands of miles of road. Through reforestation and flood control, they reclaimed millions of hectares of soil from erosion and devastation. As noted by one authority, Roosevelt's New Deal "was literally stamped on the American landscape".[56]

Farm and rural programs

[edit]
Pumping water by hand from the sole water supply in this section of Wilder, Tennessee (Tennessee Valley Authority, 1942)

The rural U.S. was a high priority for Roosevelt and his energetic Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A. Wallace. Roosevelt believed that full economic recovery depended upon the recovery of agriculture and raising farm prices was a major tool, even though it meant higher food prices for the poor living in cities.

Many rural people lived in severe poverty, especially in the South. Major programs addressed to their needs included the Resettlement Administration (RA), the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), rural welfare projects sponsored by the WPA, National Youth Administration (NYA), Forest Service and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), including school lunches, building new schools, opening roads in remote areas, reforestation and purchase of marginal lands to enlarge national forests.

In 1933, the Roosevelt administration launched the Tennessee Valley Authority, a project involving dam construction planning on an unprecedented scale to curb flooding, generate electricity, and modernize poor farms in the Tennessee Valley region of the Southern United States. Under the Farmers' Relief Act of 1933, the government paid compensation to farmers who reduced output, thereby raising prices. Because of this legislation, the average income of farmers almost doubled by 1937.[52]

In the 1920s, farm production had increased dramatically thanks to mechanization, more potent insecticides, and increased use of fertilizer. Due to an overproduction of agricultural products, farmers faced severe and chronic agricultural depression throughout the 1920s. The Great Depression even worsened the agricultural crises and, at the beginning of 1933, agricultural markets nearly faced collapse.[57] Farm prices were so low that in Montana wheat was rotting in the fields because it could not be profitably harvested. In Oregon, sheep were slaughtered and left to rot because meat prices were not sufficient to warrant transportation to markets.[58]

Roosevelt was keenly interested in farm issues and believed that true prosperity would not return until farming was prosperous. Many different programs were directed at farmers. The first 100 days produced the Farm Security Act to raise farm incomes by raising the prices farmers received, which was achieved by reducing total farm output. The Agricultural Adjustment Act created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) in May 1933. The act reflected the demands of leaders of major farm organizations (especially the Farm Bureau) and reflected debates among Roosevelt's farm advisers such as Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, M.L. Wilson, Rexford Tugwell and George Peek.[59]

The AAA aimed to raise prices for commodities through artificial scarcity. The AAA used a system of domestic allotments, setting total output of corn, cotton, dairy products, hogs, rice, tobacco, and wheat. The farmers themselves had a voice in the process of using the government to benefit their incomes. The AAA paid land owners subsidies for leaving some of their land idle with funds provided by a new tax on food processing. To force up farm prices to the point of "parity", 10 million acres (40,000 km2) of growing cotton was plowed up, bountiful crops were left to rot and six million piglets were killed and discarded.[60]

The idea was to give farmers a "fair exchange value" for their products in relation to the general economy ("parity level").[61] Farm incomes and the income for the general population recovered fast since the beginning of 1933.[62][63] Food prices remained still well below the 1929 peak.[64] The AAA established an important and long-lasting federal role in the planning of the entire agricultural sector of the economy and was the first program on such a scale for the troubled agricultural economy. The original AAA targeted landowners, and therefore did not provide for any sharecroppers or tenants or farm laborers who might become unemployed.[65]

A Gallup poll printed in The Washington Post revealed that a majority of the American public opposed the AAA.[66] In 1936, the Supreme Court declared the AAA to be unconstitutional, stating, "a statutory plan to regulate and control agricultural production, [is] a matter beyond the powers delegated to the federal government". The AAA was replaced by a similar program that did win Court approval. Instead of paying farmers for letting fields lie barren, this program subsidized them for planting soil-enriching crops such as alfalfa that would not be sold on the market. Federal regulation of agricultural production has been modified many times since then, but together with large subsidies is still in effect.

A number of other measures affecting rural areas were introduced under Roosevelt. The Farm Credit Act of 1933 authorized farmers "to organize a nationwide system of local credit cooperatives -- production credit associations -- to make operating credit readily accessible to farmers throughout the country."[67] The Farm Mortgage Foreclosure Act of 1934 provided for debt reduction and the redemption of foreclosed farms, and the Homestead Settler's Act of 1934 liberalized homestead residence requirements. The Farm Research Act of 1935 included various provisions such as the development of cooperative agricultural extension, and the Commodity Exchange Act of 1936 enabled "the Commodity Credit Corporation to better serve the needs of farmers in orderly marketing, and provided credit and facilities for carrying surpluses from season to season". The Farmers Mortgage Amendatory Act of 1936 authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to make loans to drainage, levee, and irrigation districts,[68] while under the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936 payments to farmers to encourage conservation were authorized.[69] In 1937, the Water Facilities Act was enacted "to provide loans for individuals and association farm water systems in 17 Western states where drought and water shortage were familiar hardships."[70]

The Bankhead–Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 was the last major New Deal legislation that concerned farming. It created the Farm Security Administration (FSA), which replaced the Resettlement Administration.

The Food Stamp Plan, a major new welfare program for urban poor, was established in 1939 to provide stamps to poor people who could use them to purchase food at retail outlets. The program ended during wartime prosperity in 1943 but was restored in 1961. It survived into the 21st century with little controversy because it was seen to benefit the urban poor, food producers, grocers, wholesalers, and farmers, so it gained support from both progressive and conservative Congressmen. In 2013, Tea Party activists in the House nonetheless tried to end the program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, while the Senate fought to preserve it.[71][72]

Recovery

[edit]

Recovery was the effort in numerous programs to restore the economy to normal levels. By most economic indicators, this was achieved by 1937—except for unemployment, which remained stubbornly high until World War II began. Recovery was designed to help the economy bounce back from depression. Economic historians led by Price Fishback have examined the impact of New Deal spending on improving health conditions in the 114 largest cities, 1929–1937. They estimated that every additional $153,000 in relief spending (in 1935 dollars, or $1.95 million in the year 2000 dollars) was associated with a reduction of one infant death, one suicide, and 2.4 deaths from infectious diseases.[73][74]

NRA "Blue Eagle" campaign

[edit]
National Recovery Administration Blue Eagle
Manufacturing employment in the U.S. from 1920 to 1940[75]

From 1929 to 1933, the industrial economy suffered from a vicious cycle of deflation. Since 1931, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the voice of the nation's organized business, promoted an anti-deflationary scheme that would permit trade associations to cooperate in government-instigated cartels to stabilize prices within their industries. Though existing antitrust laws clearly forbade such practices, the organized business were entertained by the Roosevelt Administration.[76]

Roosevelt's advisors believed that excessive competition and technical progress had led to overproduction and lowered wages and prices, which they believed lowered demand and employment (deflation). He argued that government economic planning was necessary to remedy this.[77] New Deal economists argued that cut-throat competition had hurt many businesses and that with prices having fallen 20% and more, "deflation" exacerbated the burden of debt and would delay recovery. They rejected a strong move in Congress to limit the workweek to 30 hours. Instead, their remedy, designed in cooperation with big business, was the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). It included stimulus funds for the WPA to spend and sought to raise prices, give more bargaining power for unions (so the workers could purchase more), and reduce harmful competition.

At the center of the NIRA was the National Recovery Administration (NRA), headed by former General Hugh S. Johnson, who had been a senior economic official in World War I. Johnson called on every business establishment in the nation to accept a stopgap "blanket code": a minimum wage of between 20 and 45 cents per hour, a maximum workweek of 35–45 hours and the abolition of child labor. Johnson and Roosevelt contended that the "blanket code" would raise consumer purchasing power and increase employment.[78] To mobilize political support for the NRA, Johnson launched the "NRA Blue Eagle" publicity campaign to boost what he called "industrial self-government". The NRA brought together leaders in each industry to design specific sets of codes for that industry—the most important provisions were anti-deflationary floors below which no company would lower prices or wages and agreements on maintaining employment and production. In a remarkably short time, the NRA announced agreements from almost every major industry in the nation. By March 1934, industrial production was 45% higher than in March 1933.[79]

NRA Administrator Hugh Johnson was showing signs of a mental breakdown due to the extreme pressure and workload of running the National Recovery Administration.[80] Johnson lost power in September 1934, but kept his title. Roosevelt replaced his position with a new National Industrial Recovery Board,[81][82] of which Donald Richberg was named Executive Director.

On May 27, 1935, the NRA was found to be unconstitutional by a unanimous decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States. After the end of the NRA, quotas in the oil industry were fixed by the Railroad Commission of Texas with Tom Connally's federal Hot Oil Act of 1935, which guaranteed that illegal "hot oil" would not be sold.[83] By the time NRA ended in May 1935, well over 2 million employers accepted the new standards laid down by the NRA, which had introduced a minimum wage and an eight-hour workday, together with abolishing child labor.[52] These standards were reintroduced by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

Historian William E. Leuchtenburg argued in 1963:

The NRA could boast some considerable achievements: it gave jobs to some two million workers; it helped stop a renewal of the deflationary spiral that had almost wrecked the nation; it did something to improve business ethics and civilize competition; it established a national pattern of maximum hours and minimum wages; and it all but wiped out child labor and the sweatshop. But this was all it did. It prevented things from getting worse, but it did little to speed recovery, and probably actually hindered it by its support of restrictionism and price raising. The NRA could maintain a sense of national interest against private interests only so long as the spirit of national crisis prevailed. As it faded, restriction-minded businessmen moved into a decisive position of authority. By delegating power over price and production to trade associations, the NRA created a series of private economic governments.[84]

Other labor measures were carried out under the First New Deal. The Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933 established a national system of public employment offices,[85] and the Anti-Kickback Act of 1934 "established penalties for employers on Government contracts who induce employees to return any part of pay to which they are entitled".[86] That same year, the Railway Labor Act of 1926 was amended "to outlaw company unions and yellow dog contracts, and to provide that the majority of any craft or class of employees shall determine who shall represent them in collective bargaining".[87] In July 1933, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins held at the Department of Labor what was described as "a very successful conference of 16 state minimum wage boards (some of the states had minimum wage laws long before the Federal Government)". The following year she held a two-day conference on state labor legislation in which 39 states were represented. According to one study, "State officials in attendance were gratified that the U.S. Department of Labor was showing interest in their problems. They called on Perkins to make the labor legislation conferences an annual event. She did so and participated actively in them every year until she left office. The conferences continued under Labor Department auspices for another ten years, by which time they had largely accomplished their goal of improving and standardizing state labor laws and administration." As a means of institutionalizing the work she tried to achieve with these conferences, Perkins established the Division of Labor Standards (which was later redesignated a bureau) in 1934 as a service agency and informational clearinghouse for state governments and other federal agencies. Its goal was to promote (through voluntary means) improved conditions of work, and the Division "offered many services in addition to helping the states deal with administrative problems". It offered, for instance, training for factory inspectors, and drew national attention "to the area of workers' health with a series of conferences on silicosis. This wide-spread lung disease had been dramatized by the 'Gauley Bridge Disaster' in which hundreds of tunnel workers died from breathing silica-filled air. The Division also worked with unions, whose support was needed in passing labor legislation in the States."[88]

The Muscle Shoals Act contained various provisions of interest to labor, including prevailing wage rate and workmen's compensation.[89] A resolution approved by the Senate, June 13, authorized the President to accept membership for the Government of the United States in the International Labor Organization, without assuming any obligation under the covenant of the League of Nations. The resolution was approved by the House, June 16, by a vote of 232 to 109.[90] Public Act 448 amended the Federal Employees' Civil Service Retirement Act of 1930 by, as noted by one study, "giving to the employee the right to name a beneficiary irrespective of the amount to his credit without the need of an appointment of an administrator". Public Act No. 245 "provided for the development of vocational education in the States by appropriating funds for the fiscal years 1935, 1936 and 1937, and Public Act 296 amended the United States Bankruptcy Act with safeguards for labor. Public Act No. 349 provided for hourly rates of pay for substitute laborers in the mail service and time credits when appointed as regular laborers, and Public Act No. 461 authorized the President to create a "federal prison industries", in which inmates hereafter "receiving injuries while in the course of their employment will receive the benefits of compensation, limited however to that amount prescribed in the Federal Employees' Compensation Act". Public Act No. 467 created a Federal Credit Union Law, one of the main purposes of which was to make a system of credit for provident purposes available to people of small means. For those in the District of Columbia, an Act concerning fire escapes on certain buildings was amended by Public Act No. 284."[91]

Housing sector

[edit]

The New Deal had an important impact on the housing field. The New Deal followed and increased President Hoover's lead-and-seek measures. The New Deal sought to stimulate the private home building industry and increase the number of individuals who owned homes.[92] The Public Works Administration of the Interior Department planned to construct public housing across the country, providing low-rent apartments for low-income families. However resistance from the private housing sector was strong except in New York city, which welcomed the program. Furthermore, the White House reallocated most of the funding into relief projects, where each million federal dollars would create more jobs for the unemployed. As a result by 1937 there were only 49 projects nationwide, containing about 21,800 apartments.[93] It was taken over in 1938 by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Starting in 1933 the New Deal operated the new Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) that helped finance mortgages on private houses.

Programs
[edit]

HOLC set uniform national appraisal methods and simplified the mortgage process. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) created national standards for home construction.[94] In 1934 the Alley Dwelling Authority was established by Congress "to provide for the discontinuation of the use as dwellings of the buildings situated in alleys in the District of Columbia".[95] That year, a National Housing Act was approved which was aimed at improving employment while making private credit available for repairing and homebuilding.[96] In 1938 this act was amended and as noted by one study "provision was made renewing the insurance on repair loans, for insuring mortgages up to 90 percent of the value of small-owner –occupied homes, and for insuring mortgages on rental property".[97]

Redlining
[edit]
Roanoke, Virginia HOLC redlining map

This also marked the beginning of discriminatory redlining within the United states under the HOLC. Their maps broadly determined what housing loans would be backed by the federal government. Though other criteria existed, the most major criterion was race. Any neighborhood with "inharmonious racial groups" would either be marked red or yellow, depending on the proportion of black residents.[98] This was explicitly stated within the FHA underwriting manual that the HOLC used as a guideline for its maps.[99]

Alongside other discriminatory housing policy, this meant in practice is that Black Americans were denied federally backed mortgages locking most out of the housing market and all Americans were denied backing for any loans within black neighborhood. Lastly, for the other policies in place meant for neighborhood building projects, the federal government required they be explicitly segregated to be backed. The federal government's financial backing also required the use of racially restrictive covenants, that banned white homeowners from reselling their house to any black buyers.[98]

Reform

[edit]

Reform was based on the assumption that the depression was caused by the inherent instability of the market and that government intervention was necessary to rationalize and stabilize the economy and to balance the interests of farmers, business, and labor. Reforms targeted the causes of the depression and sought to prevent a crisis like it from happening again. In other words, this sought to financially rebuild the U.S. while ensuring not to repeat history.

Trade liberalization

[edit]

Most economic historians assert that protectionist policies, culminating in the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930, worsened the Depression.[100] Roosevelt already spoke against the act while campaigning for president during 1932.[101] In 1934, the Reciprocal Tariff Act was drafted by Cordell Hull. It gave the president power to negotiate bilateral, reciprocal trade agreements with other countries. The act enabled Roosevelt to liberalize American trade policy around the globe and it is widely credited with ushering in the era of liberal trade policy that persists to this day.[102]

Puerto Rico

[edit]

The Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration oversaw a separate set of programs in Puerto Rico. It promoted land reform and helped small farms, it set up farm cooperatives, promoted crop diversification, and helped the local industry.[103]

Second New Deal (1935–1936)

[edit]

In the spring of 1935, responding to the setbacks in the Court, a new skepticism in Congress, and the growing popular clamor for more dramatic action, New Dealers passed important new initiatives. Historians refer to them as the "Second New Deal" and note that it was more progressive and more controversial than the "First New Deal" of 1933–1934.[104]

Social Security Act

[edit]
A poster publicizing Social Security benefits

Until 1935, only a dozen states had implemented old-age insurance, and these programs were woefully underfunded. Just one state (Wisconsin) had an insurance program. The United States was the only modern industrial country where people faced the Depression without any national system of social security. The work programs of the "First New Deal" such as CWA and FERA were designed for immediate relief, for a year or two.[105]

The most important program of 1935, and perhaps of the New Deal itself, was the Social Security Act. It established a permanent system of universal retirement pensions (Social Security), unemployment insurance and welfare benefits for the handicapped and needy children in families without a father present.[106] It established the framework for the U.S. welfare system. Roosevelt insisted that it should be funded by payroll taxes rather than from the general fundhe said: "We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program".[107]

Labor relations

[edit]

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, finally guaranteed workers the rights to collective bargaining through unions of their own choice. The Act also established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to facilitate wage agreements and to suppress the repeated labor disturbances. The Wagner Act did not compel employers to reach agreement with their employees, but it opened possibilities for American labor.[108] The result was a tremendous growth of membership in the labor unions, especially in the mass-production sector, led by the older and larger American Federation of Labor and the new, more radical Congress of Industrial Organizations. Labor thus became a major component of the New Deal political coalition. However, the intense battle for members between the AFL and the CIO coalitions weakened labor's power.[109]

To help agricultural labor, the 1934 Jones-Costigan Act included provisions such as the prohibition of child labor under the age of 14, limited the working hours of children aged 14–16, and the granting to the USDA "the authority to fix minimum wages, but only after holding public hearings 'at a place accessible to producers and workers'". In addition, the Act called for farmers "to pay their workers 'promptly' and 'in full' before collecting their benefit payments as a way to deal with the historic inequalities embedded in staggered payments and hold-back clauses". This Act was replaced by the 1937 Sugar Act after the Supreme Court ruled the AAA unconstitutional. In passing the Act, Congress not only followed Roosevelt's advice by continuing the previous Act's labor provisions but strengthened them. As noted by one study, the Act "once again prohibited child labor and made the 'fair, reasonable and equitable' minimum wage determinations mandatory".[110] The Public Contracts (Walsh-Healey) Act of 1936 established labor standards on government contracts, "including minimum wages, overtime compensation for hours in excess of 8 a day or 40 a week, child and convict labor provisions, and health and safety requirements". The Anti-Strikebreaker (Byrnes) Act from that same year declared it unlawful "to transport or aid in transporting strikebreakers in interstate or foreign commerce".[111]

The Davis-Bacon Act Amendment (Public Act 403) was approved in August 1935, "Establishing prevailing wages for mechanics and laborers employed on public buildings and public works".[112] Under the Miller Act of 1935, as noted by one study, "every construction worker or person who furnished material on a covered contract has the right to sue the contractor or surety if not fully paid within 90 days after performing labor or furnishing such material".[113] The Motor Carrier Act of 1935, as noted by one study, "authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to limit the hours of service and to prescribe other measures to safeguard motor carrier employees and passengers, as well as the users of highways generally".[114] The Merchant Marine Act of 1936 directed the Maritime Commission "to investigate and specify suitable wage and manning scales and working conditions with respect to subsidized ships".[115] Public Act 783 of March 1936 sought to extend "the facilities of the Public Health Service to seamen on Government vessels not in the military or Naval establishments".[116] The Railway Labor Act Amendment (Public Act 487) was approved in April 1936, "Extending protection of Railway Labor Act to employees of air transportation companies engaged in interstate and foreign commerce".[117]

The Bituminous Coal Act of 1937 contained various labor provisions such as prohibiting "requiring an employee or applicant for employment to join a company union".[118] A national Railroad Retirement program was introduced that year, which in 1938 also introduced unemployment benefits.[119] The Randolph-Sheppard Act provided for "licensing of blind persons to operate vending stands in Federal buildings".[120] Public Law No. 814 of the 74th Congress, as noted by one study, conferred jurisdiction "upon each of the several states to extend the provisions of their State workmen's compensation laws to employments on Federal property and premises located within the respective States".[121] The National Apprenticeship Act of 1937 established standards for apprenticeship programs.[122] The Chandler Act of 1938 allowed wage earners "to extend debt payments over longer periods of time."[123] That same year the Interstate Commerce Commission "issued an order regulating the hours of drivers of motor vehicles engaged in interstate commerce".[124] The Wagner-O'Day Act in 1938 set up a program "designed to increase employment opportunities for persons who are blind so they could manufacture and sell their goods to the federal government".[125]

Public Act No. 702 provided an 8-hour day for officers and seamen on certain vessels that navigated the Great Lakes and adjacent waters, and the Second Deficiency Appropriation Act (Public, No. 723) contained an appropriation for investigating labor conditions in Hawaii. Public Act No. 706 provided for the preservation of the right of air carrier employees "to obtain higher compensation and better working conditions so as to conform to a decision of the National Labor Board of May 10, 1934 (No. 83). Under Public Act No. 486 the provisions of section 13 of the air-mail act of 1934 "relating to pay, working conditions, and relations of pilots and other employees shall apply to all contracts awarded under the act".[126] A number of laws affecting federal employees were also enacted.[127] An act of 1936, for instance, provided vacations and accumulated leaves for Government employees, and another 1936 act provided for accumulated sick leave with pay for Government employees.[68]

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set maximum hours (44 per week) and minimum wages (25 cents per hour) for most categories of workers. Child labor of children under the age of 16 was forbidden and children under 18 years were forbidden to work in hazardous employment. As a result, the wages of 300,000 workers, especially in the South, were increased and the hours of 1.3 million were reduced.[128]

Consumer rights

[edit]

Various laws were also passed to advance consumer rights. In 1935 the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 was passed "to protect consumers and investors from abuses by holding companies with interests in gas and electric utilities".[129] The Federal Power Act of 1935 sought "to protect customers and to assure reasonableness in the provision of a service essential to life in modern society".[130] The Natural Gas Act of 1938 sought protect consumers "against exploitation at the hands of natural gas companies".[131] The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 granted to the Food and Drug Administration "the power to test and license drugs and to test the safety of cosmetics, and to the Department of Agriculture the authority to set food quality standards." In addition, the Wheeler-Lea Act "gave the Free Trade Commission, an old Progressive agency, the power to prohibit unfair and deceptive business acts or practices."[132]

Works Progress Administration

[edit]
Works Progress Administration (WPA) poster promoting the LaGuardia Airport project (1937)

Roosevelt nationalized unemployment relief through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), headed by close friend Harry Hopkins.[133] Roosevelt had insisted that the projects had to be costly in terms of labor, beneficial in the long term and the WPA was forbidden to compete with private enterprises—therefore the workers had to be paid smaller wages.[134] The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was created to return the unemployed to the workforce.[135] The WPA financed a variety of projects such as hospitals, schools, and roads,[52] and employed more than 8.5 million workers who built 650,000 miles of highways and roads, 125,000 public buildings as well as bridges, reservoirs, irrigation systems, parks, playgrounds and so on.[136]

Prominent projects were the Lincoln Tunnel, the Triborough Bridge, the LaGuardia Airport, the Overseas Highway and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge.[137] The Rural Electrification Administration used cooperatives to bring electricity to rural areas, many of which still operate.[138] Between 1935 and 1940, the percentage of rural homes lacking electricity fell from 90% to 40.%[139] The National Youth Administration was another semi-autonomous WPA program for youth. Its Texas director, Lyndon B. Johnson, later used the NYA as a model for some of his Great Society programs in the 1960s.[140] The WPA was organized by states, but New York City had its own branch Federal One, which created jobs for writers, musicians, artists and theater personnel. It became a hunting ground for conservatives searching for communist employees.[141]

The Federal Writers' Project operated in every state, where it created a famous guide book—it also catalogued local archives and hired many writers, including Margaret Walker, Zora Neale Hurston and Anzia Yezierska, to document folklore. Other writers interviewed elderly ex-slaves and recorded their stories.

Under the Federal Theater Project, headed by charismatic Hallie Flanagan, actresses and actors, technicians, writers and directors put on stage productions. The tickets were inexpensive or sometimes free, making theater available to audiences unaccustomed to attending plays.[140]

One Federal Art Project paid 162 trained woman artists on relief to paint murals or create statues for newly built post offices and courthouses. Many of these works of art can still be seen in public buildings around the country, along with murals sponsored by the Treasury Relief Art Project of the Treasury Department.[142][143] During its existence, the Federal Theatre Project provided jobs for circus people, musicians, actors, artists, and playwrights, together with increasing public appreciation of the arts.[52]

Tax policy

[edit]

In 1935, Roosevelt called for a tax program called the Wealth Tax Act (Revenue Act of 1935) to redistribute wealth. The bill imposed an income tax of 79% on incomes over $5 million. Since that was an extraordinarily high income in the 1930s, the highest tax rate actually covered just one individual—John D. Rockefeller. The bill was expected to raise only about $250 million in additional funds, so revenue was not the primary goal. Morgenthau called it "more or less a campaign document". In a private conversation with Raymond Moley, Roosevelt admitted that the purpose of the bill was "stealing Huey Long's thunder" by making Long's supporters of his own. At the same time, it raised the bitterness of the rich who called Roosevelt "a traitor to his class" and the wealth tax act a "soak the rich tax".[144]

A tax called the undistributed profits tax was enacted in 1936. This time the primary purpose was revenue, since Congress had enacted the Adjusted Compensation Payment Act, calling for payments of $2 billion to World War I veterans. The bill established the persisting principle that retained corporate earnings could be taxed. Paid dividends were tax deductible by corporations. Its proponents intended the bill to replace all other corporation taxes—believing this would stimulate corporations to distribute earnings and thus put more cash and spending power in the hands of individuals.[145] In the end, Congress watered down the bill, setting the tax rates at 7 to 27% and largely exempting small enterprises.[146] Facing widespread and fierce criticism,[147] the tax deduction of paid dividends was repealed in 1938.[145]

Housing Act of 1937

[edit]

The United States Housing Act of 1937 created the United States Housing Authority within the U.S. Department of the Interior. It was one of the last New Deal agencies created. The bill passed in 1937 with some Republican support to abolish slums.[148]

Political alignment

[edit]

By 1936, the term "progressive" was typically used for supporters of the New Deal[149] and "conservative" for its opponents.[150][page needed] Roosevelt was assisted in his endeavors by the election of a liberal Congress in 1932. According to one source "We recognize that the best liberal legislation in American history was enacted following the election of President Roosevelt and a liberal Congress in 1932. After the midterm congressional election setbacks in 1938, labor was faced with a hostile congress until 1946. Only the presidential veto prevented the enactment of reactionary anti-labor laws."[151] In noting the composition of the Seventy-Third Congress, one study has stated: "Though much of the Democratic congressional leadership remained old-guard, southern, agrarian, and conservative, the rank-and-file Democratic majorities in both houses were largely made up of fresh, northern, urban-industrial representatives of at least potentially liberal bent. At a minimum they were impatient with inaction, and not likely to be silenced by appeals to tradition. They were, as yet, an unformed and reckoned force, one that Roosevelt might mould to his purposes of remaking his party – or one whose very strength and impetuosity might force the president's hand."[152] As stated by another study, in regards to the gains the Democrats made in the 1932 midterm elections, "The party gained ninety seats in the house and thirteen in the Senate. Even more significant, from the standpoint of potential support for urban programs, was that non-Southern Democrats represented a working majority in the House for the first of what would be only a few times in the twentieth century. Roosevelt's political instincts mood paralleled the mood of Congress, and he sought policies to tie the party's new urban supporters into a permanent majority coalition behind the Democratic Party."[153] As noted by another study, "President Roosevelt's extraordinary legislative accomplishments between 1933 and 1938 owed much to his personal political qualities, but ideologically favourable large partisan majorities in the House and the Senate were a prerequisite of success."[154]

As one journal reflected in 1950: "Look back to the 1930's and you can see how winning in mid-terms years affects the kind of laws that are passed. A tremendous liberal majority was swept in with Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. In the 1934 mid-term races that liberal majority was increased. After 1936 it went even higher."[155]

From 1934 to 1938, there existed a "pro-spender" majority in Congress (drawn from two-party, competitive, non-machine, progressive and left party districts). In the 1938 midterm election, Roosevelt and his progressive supporters lost control of Congress to the bipartisan conservative coalition.[156] Many historians distinguish between the First New Deal (1933–1934) and a Second New Deal (1935–1936), with the second one more progressive and more controversial.

Court-packing plan and jurisprudential shift

[edit]

When the Supreme Court started abolishing New Deal programs as unconstitutional, Roosevelt launched a surprise counter-attack in early 1937. He proposed adding five new justices, but conservative Democrats revolted, led by the Vice President. The Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 failed—it never reached a vote. Momentum in Congress and public opinion shifted to the right and very little new legislation was passed expanding the New Deal. However, retirements allowed Roosevelt to put supporters on the Court and it stopped killing New Deal programs.[157]

Recession of 1937 and recovery

[edit]

The Roosevelt administration was under assault during Roosevelt's second term,[clarification needed] which presided over a new dip in the Great Depression in the fall of 1937 that continued through most of 1938. Production and profits declined sharply. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in May 1937 to 19.0% in June 1938. The downturn could have been explained by the familiar rhythms of the business cycle, but until 1937 Roosevelt had claimed responsibility for the excellent economic performance. That backfired in the recession and the heated political atmosphere of 1937.[158]

John Maynard Keynes did not think that the New Deal under Roosevelt single-handedly ended the Great Depression: "It is, it seems, politically impossible for a capitalistic democracy to organize expenditure on the scale necessary to make the grand experiments which would prove my case—except in war conditions."[159]

World War II and full employment

[edit]
Female factory workers in 1942, Long Beach, California

The U.S. reached full employment after entering World War II in December 1941. Under the special circumstances of war mobilization, massive war spending doubled the gross national product (GNP).[160] Military Keynesianism brought full employment and federal contracts were cost-plus. Instead of competitive bidding to get lower prices, the government gave out contracts that promised to pay all the expenses plus a modest profit. Factories hired everyone they could find regardless of their lack of skills—they simplified work tasks and trained the workers, with the federal government paying all the costs. Millions of farmers left marginal operations, students quit school and housewives joined the labor force.[161]

The emphasis was for war supplies as soon as possible, regardless of cost and inefficiencies. Industry quickly absorbed the slack in the labor force and the tables turned such that employers needed to actively and aggressively recruit workers. As the military grew, new labor sources were needed to replace the 12 million men serving in the military. Propaganda campaigns started pleading for people to work in the war factories. The barriers for married women, the old, the unskilled—and (in the North and West) the barriers for racial minorities—were lowered.[162]

Federal budget soars

[edit]

In 1929, federal expenditures accounted for only 3% of GNP. Between 1933 and 1939, federal expenditures tripled, but the national debt as a percent of GNP showed little change. Spending on the war effort quickly eclipsed spending on New Deal programs. In 1944, government spending on the war effort exceeded 40% of GNP. These controls shared broad support among labor and business, resulting in cooperation between the two groups and the U.S. government. This cooperation resulted in the government subsidizing business and labor through both direct and indirect methods.[163]

Wartime welfare projects

[edit]

Conservative domination of Congress during the war meant that all welfare projects and reforms had to have their approval, which was given when business supported the project. For example, the Coal Mines Inspection and Investigation Act of 1941 significantly reduced fatality rates in the coal-mining industry, saving workers' lives and company money.[164] In terms of welfare, the New Dealers wanted benefits for everyone according to need. However, conservatives proposed benefits based on national service—especially tied to military service or working in war industries—and their approach won out.

The Community Facilities Act of 1940 (the Lanham Act) provided federal funds to defense-impacted communities where the population had soared and local facilities were overwhelmed. It provided money for the building of segregated housing for war workers as well as recreational facilities, water, and sanitation plants, hospitals, day care centers, and schools.[165][166][167]

The Servicemen's Dependents Allowance Act of 1942 provided family allowances for dependents of enlisted men. Emergency grants to states were authorized in 1942 for programs for day care for children of working mothers. In 1944, pensions were authorized for all physically or mentally helpless children of deceased veterans regardless of the age of the child at the date the claim was filed or at the time of the veteran's death, provided the child was disabled at the age of sixteen and that the disability continued to the date of the claim. The Public Health Service Act, which was passed that same year, expanded federal-state public health programs and increased the annual amount for grants for public health services.[168]

The Emergency Maternity and Infant Care Program (EMIC), introduced in March 1943 by the Children's Bureau, provided free maternity care and medical treatment during an infant's first year for the wives and children of military personnel in the four lowest enlisted pay grades. One out of seven births was covered during its operation. EMIC paid $127 million to state health departments to cover the care of 1.2 million new mothers and their babies. The average cost of EMIC maternity cases completed was $92.49 for medical and hospital care. A striking effect was the sudden rapid decline in home births as most mothers now had paid hospital maternity care.[169][170][171][172]

Under the 1943 Disabled Veterans Rehabilitation Act, vocational rehabilitation services were offered to wounded World War II veterans and some 621,000 veterans would go on to receive assistance under this program.[173] The G.I. Bill (Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944) was a landmark piece of legislation, providing 16 million returning veterans with benefits such as housing, educational and unemployment assistance and played a major role in the postwar expansion of the American middle class.[174]

Fair Employment Practices

[edit]

In response to the March on Washington Movement led by A. Philip Randolph, Roosevelt promulgated Executive Order 8802 in June 1941, which established the President's Committee on Fair Employment Practices (FEPC) "to receive and investigate complaints of discrimination" so that "there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin".[175]

Growing equality of income

[edit]

A major result of the full employment at high wages was a sharp, long-lasting decrease in the level of income inequality (Great Compression). The gap between rich and poor narrowed dramatically in the area of nutrition because food rationing and price controls provided a reasonably priced diet to everyone. White collar workers did not typically receive overtime and therefore the gap between white collar and blue collar income narrowed. Large families that had been poor during the 1930s had four or more wage earners and these families shot to the top one-third income bracket. Overtime provided large paychecks in war industries[176] and average living standards rose steadily, with real wages rising by 44% in the four years of war, while the percentage of families with an annual income of less than $2,000 fell from 75% to 25% of the population.[177]

In 1941, 40% of all American families lived on less than the $1,500 per year defined as necessary by the Works Progress Administration for a modest standard of living. The median income stood at $2,000 per year, and 8 million workers earned below the legal minimum. From 1939 to 1944, wages and salaries more than doubled, with overtime pay and the expansion of jobs leading to a 70% rise in average weekly earnings during the course of the war. Membership in organized labor increased by 50% between 1941 and 1945 and because the War Labor Board sought labor-management peace, new workers were encouraged to participate in the existing labor organizations, thereby receiving all the benefits of union membership such as improved working conditions, better fringe benefits, and higher wages. As noted by William H. Chafe, "with full employment, higher wages and social welfare benefits provided under government regulations, American workers experienced a level of well-being that, for many, had never occurred before".[citation needed] According to one study over 60% of Americans lived in poverty in 1933, and under 40% did so by 1945.[178]

As a result of the new prosperity, consumer expenditures rose by nearly 50%, from $61.7 billion at the start of the war to $98.5 billion by 1944. Individual savings accounts climbed almost sevenfold during the course of the war. The share of total income held by the top 5% of wage earners fell from 22% to 17% while the bottom 40% increased their share of the economic pie. In addition, during the course of the war, the proportion of the American population earning less than $3,000 (in 1968 dollars) fell by half.[179]

Legacy

[edit]
New Deal Era
1930s–1970s
The New Deal was the inspiration for President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society in the 1960s: Johnson (on right) headed the Texas NYA and was elected to Congress in 1938
The New Deal was the inspiration for President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society in the 1960s: Johnson (on right) headed the Texas NYA and was elected to Congress in 1938
LocationUnited States
IncludingFifth Party System
Great Depression
World War II
Cold War
Post-war Era
President(s)Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Key eventsFirst New Deal
Second New Deal
Proposed Second Bill of Rights
Fair Deal
New Frontier
War on Poverty
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Great Society
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Chronology
Great Depression
-
System of 1896
1964–1980
-
Reagan Era class-skin-invert-image

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "perhaps the greatest achievement of the New Deal was to restore faith in American democracy at a time when many people believed that the only choice left was between communism and fascism".[180]

Analysts agree the New Deal produced a new political coalition that sustained the Democratic Party as the majority party in national politics into the 1960s.[181] A 2013 study found, "an average increase in New Deal relief and public works spending resulted in a 5.4 percentage point increase in the 1936 Democratic voting share and a smaller amount in 1940. The estimated persistence of this shift suggests that New Deal spending increased long-term Democratic support by 2 to 2.5 percentage points. Thus, it appears that Roosevelt's early, decisive actions created long-lasting positive benefits for the Democratic party... The New Deal did play an important role in consolidating Democratic gains for at least two decades".[182]

However, there is disagreement about whether it marked a permanent change in values. Cowie and Salvatore in 2008 argued that it was a response to Depression and did not mark a commitment to a welfare state because the U.S. has always been too individualistic.[183] MacLean rejected the idea of a definitive political culture. She says they overemphasized individualism and ignored the enormous power that big capital wields, the Constitutional restraints on radicalism and the role of racism, antifeminism and homophobia. She warns that accepting Cowie and Salvatore's argument that conservatism's ascendancy is inevitable would dismay and discourage activists on the left.[184] Klein responds that the New Deal did not die a natural death—it was killed off in the 1970s by a business coalition mobilized by such groups as the Business Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce, trade organizations, conservative think tanks and decades of sustained legal and political attacks.[185]

Historians generally agree that during Roosevelt's 12 years in office there was a dramatic increase in the power of the federal government as a whole.[186][187] Roosevelt also established the presidency as the prominent center of authority within the federal government. Roosevelt created a large array of agencies protecting various groups of citizens—workers, farmers, and others—who suffered from the crisis and thus enabled them to challenge the powers of the corporations. In this way, the Roosevelt administration generated a set of political ideas—known as New Deal Progressivism[188]—that remained a source of inspiration and controversy for decades. New Deal liberalism lay the foundation of a new consensus. Between 1940 and 1980, there was the progressive consensus about the prospects for the widespread distribution of prosperity within an expanding capitalist economy.[181] Especially Harry S. Truman's Fair Deal and in the 1960s Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society used the New Deal as inspiration for a dramatic expansion of progressive programs.

The New Deal's enduring appeal on voters fostered its acceptance by moderate and progressive Republicans.[189]

As the first Republican president elected after Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961) built on the New Deal in a manner that embodied his thoughts on efficiency and cost-effectiveness. He sanctioned a major expansion of Social Security by a self-financed program.[190] He supported such New Deal programs as the minimum wage and public housing—he greatly expanded federal aid to education and built the Interstate Highway system primarily as defense programs (rather than jobs program).[191] In a private letter, Eisenhower wrote:

Should any party attempt to abolish social security and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course, that believes you can do these things [...] Their number is negligible and they are stupid.[192]

In 1964, Barry Goldwater, an unreconstructed anti–New Dealer, was the Republican presidential candidate on a platform that attacked the New Deal. The Democrats under Lyndon B. Johnson won a massive landslide and Johnson's Great Society programs extended the New Deal. However, the supporters of Goldwater formed the New Right which helped to bring Ronald Reagan into the White House in the 1980 presidential election. Once an ardent supporter of the New Deal, Reagan turned against it, now viewing government as the problem rather than solution and, as president, moved the nation away from the New Deal model of government activism, shifting greater emphasis to the private sector.[193]

A 2016 review study of the existing literature in the Journal of Economic Literature summarized the findings of the research as follows:[194]

The studies find that public works and relief spending had state income multipliers of around one, increased consumption activity, attracted internal migration, reduced crime rates, and lowered several types of mortality. The farm programs typically aided large farm owners but eliminated opportunities for share croppers, tenants, and farm workers. The Home Owners' Loan Corporation's purchases and refinancing of troubled mortgages staved off drops in housing prices and home ownership rates at relatively low ex-post cost to taxpayers. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation's loans to banks and railroads appear to have had little positive impact, although the banks were aided when the RFC took ownership stakes.

Historiography and evaluation of New Deal policies

[edit]

Historians debating the New Deal have generally been divided between progressives who support it, conservatives who oppose it, and some New Left historians who complain it was too favorable to capitalism and did too little for minorities. There is consensus on only a few points, with most commentators favorable toward the CCC and hostile toward the NRA.

Consensus historians of the 1950s, such as Richard Hofstadter, according to Lary May:

[B]elieved that the prosperity and apparent class harmony of the post-World War II era reflected a return to the true Americanism rooted in liberal capitalism and the pursuit of individual opportunity that had made fundamental conflicts over resources a thing of the past. They argued that the New Deal was a conservative movement that built a welfare state, guided by experts, that saved rather than transformed liberal capitalism.[195]

Progressive historians argue that Roosevelt restored hope and self-respect to tens of millions of desperate people, built labor unions, upgraded the national infrastructure, and saved capitalism in his first term when he could have destroyed it and easily nationalized the banks and the railroads.[106] Historians generally agree that apart from building up labor unions, the New Deal did not substantially alter the distribution of power within American capitalism. "The New Deal brought about limited change in the nation's power structure".[196] The New Deal preserved democracy in the United States in a historic period of uncertainty and crises when in many other countries democracy failed.[197]

The most common arguments can be summarized as follows:

Harmful
Neutral
Beneficial
  • Allowed the nation to come through its greatest depression without undermining the capitalist system (Billington and Ridge)[198]
  • Made the capitalist system more beneficial by enacting banking and stock market regulations to avoid abuses and providing greater financial security, through, for example, the introduction of Social Security or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (David M. Kennedy)[203]
  • Created a better balance among labor, agriculture, and industry (Billington and Ridge)[198]
  • Produced a more equal distribution of wealth (Billington and Ridge)[198]
  • Help conserve natural resources (Billington and Ridge)[198]
  • Permanently established the principle that the national government should take action to rehabilitate and preserve America's human resources (Billington and Ridge)[198]

Fiscal policy

[edit]
National debt as gross national product climbs from 20% to 40% under President Herbert Hoover; levels off under Roosevelt; and soars during World War II from Historical States US (1976)

Julian Zelizer (2000) has argued that fiscal conservatism was a key component of the New Deal.[204] A fiscally conservative approach was supported by Wall Street and local investors and most of the business community—mainstream academic economists believed in it as apparently did the majority of the public. Conservative southern Democrats, who favored balanced budgets and opposed new taxes, controlled Congress and its major committees. Even progressive Democrats at the time regarded balanced budgets as essential to economic stability in the long run, although they were more willing to accept short-term deficits. As Zelizer notes, public opinion polls consistently showed public opposition to deficits and debt. Throughout his terms, Roosevelt recruited fiscal conservatives to serve in his administration, most notably Lewis Douglas the Director of Budget in 1933–1934; and Henry Morgenthau Jr., Secretary of the Treasury from 1934 to 1945. They defined policy in terms of budgetary cost and tax burdens rather than needs, rights, obligations, or political benefits. Personally, Roosevelt embraced their fiscal conservatism, but politically he realized that fiscal conservatism enjoyed a strong wide base of support among voters, leading Democrats, and businessmen. On the other hand, there was enormous pressure to act and spending money on high visibility work programs with millions of paychecks a week.[204]

Douglas proved too inflexible and he quit in 1934. Morgenthau made it his highest priority to stay close to Roosevelt, no matter what. Douglas's position, like many of the Old Right, was grounded in a basic distrust of politicians and the deeply ingrained fear that government spending always involved a degree of patronage and corruption that offended his Progressive sense of efficiency. The Economy Act of 1933, passed early in the Hundred Days, was Douglas's great achievement. It reduced federal expenditures by $500 million, to be achieved by reducing veterans' payments and federal salaries. Douglas cut government spending through executive orders that cut the military budget by $125 million, $75 million from the Post Office, $12 million from Commerce, $75 million from government salaries and $100 million from staff layoffs. As Freidel concludes: "The economy program was not a minor aberration of the spring of 1933, or a hypocritical concession to delighted conservatives. Rather it was an integral part of Roosevelt's overall New Deal".[205]

Revenues were so low that borrowing was necessary (only the richest 3% paid any income tax between 1926 and 1940).[206] Douglas, therefore, hated the relief programs, which he said reduced business confidence, threatened the government's future credit and had the "destructive psychological effects of making mendicants of self-respecting American citizens".[204] Roosevelt was pulled toward greater spending by Hopkins and Ickes, and as the 1936 election approached he decided to gain votes by attacking big business.

Morgenthau shifted with Roosevelt, but at all times tried to inject fiscal responsibility—he deeply believed in balanced budgets, stable currency, reduction of the national debt, and the need for more private investment. The Wagner Act met Morgenthau's requirement because it strengthened the party's political base and involved no new spending. In contrast to Douglas, Morgenthau accepted Roosevelt's double budget as legitimate—that is a balanced regular budget and an "emergency" budget for agencies, like the WPA, PWA, and CCC, that would be temporary until full recovery was at hand. He fought against the veterans' bonus until Congress finally overrode Roosevelt's veto and gave out $2.2 billion in 1936. His biggest success was the new Social Security program as he managed to reverse the proposals to fund it from general revenue and insisted it be funded by new taxes on employees. It was Morgenthau who insisted on excluding farm workers and domestic servants from Social Security because workers outside industry would not be paying their way.[204]

Race and gender

[edit]

African Americans

[edit]

While many Americans suffered economically during the Great Depression, African Americans also had to deal with social ills, such as racism, discrimination, and segregation. Black workers were especially vulnerable to the economic downturn since most of them worked the most marginal jobs such as unskilled or service-oriented work, therefore they were the first to be discharged and additionally many employers preferred white workers. When jobs were scarce some employers even dismissed black workers to create jobs for white citizens. In the end, there were three times more African American workers on public assistance or relief than white workers.[207]

Roosevelt appointed an unprecedented number of African Americans to second-level positions in his administration—these appointees were collectively called the Black Cabinet. The WPA, NYA, and CCC relief programs allocated 10% of their budgets to blacks (who comprised about 10% of the total population, and 20% of the poor). They operated separate all-black units with the same pay and conditions as white units.[208] Some leading white New Dealers, especially Eleanor Roosevelt, Harold Ickes and Aubrey Williams, worked to ensure blacks received at least 10% of welfare assistance payments.[208] However, these benefits were small in comparison to the economic and political advantages that whites received. Most unions excluded blacks from joining and enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in the South was virtually impossible, especially since most blacks worked in hospitality and agricultural sectors.[209]

The New Deal programs put millions of Americans immediately back to work or at least helped them to survive.[210] The programs were not specifically targeted to alleviate the much higher unemployment rate of blacks.[211] Some aspects of the programs were even unfavorable to blacks. The Agricultural Adjustment Acts, for example, helped farmers which were predominantly white but reduced the need of farmers to hire tenant farmers or sharecroppers which were predominantly black. Though the AAA stipulated that a farmer had to share the payments with those who worked the land, this policy was never enforced.[212] The Farm Service Agency (FSA), a government relief agency for tenant farmers, created in 1937, made efforts to empower African Americans by appointing them to agency committees in the South. Senator James F. Byrnes of South Carolina raised opposition to the appointments because he stood for white farmers who were threatened by an agency that could organize and empower tenant farmers. Initially, the FSA stood behind their appointments, but after feeling national pressure FSA was forced to release the African Americans from their positions. The goals of the FSA were notoriously progressive and not cohesive with the southern voting elite. Some harmful New Deal measures inadvertently discriminated against blacks. Thousands of blacks were thrown out of work and replaced by whites on jobs where they were paid less than the NRA's wage minimums because some white employers considered the NRA's minimum wage "too much money for Negroes". By August 1933, blacks called the NRA the "Negro Removal Act".[213] An NRA study found that the NIRA put 500,000 African Americans out of work.[214]

However, since blacks felt the sting of the depression's wrath even more severely than whites, they welcomed any help. In 1936, almost all African Americans (and many whites) shifted from the "Party of Lincoln" to the Democratic Party.[211] This was a sharp realignment from 1932 when most African Americans voted the Republican ticket. New Deal policies helped establish a political alliance between blacks and the Democratic Party that survives into the 21st century.[208][215]

There was no attempt whatsoever to end segregation or to increase black rights in the South, and a number of leaders that promoted the New Deal were racist and anti-semitic.[216]

The wartime Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) executive orders that forbade job discrimination against African Americans, women, and ethnic groups was a major breakthrough that brought better jobs and pay to millions of minority Americans. Historians usually treat FEPC as part of the war effort and not part of the New Deal itself.

Segregation

[edit]

The New Deal was racially segregated as blacks and whites rarely worked alongside each other in New Deal programs. The largest relief program by far was the WPA—it operated segregated units, as did its youth affiliate the NYA.[217] Blacks were hired by the WPA as supervisors in the North, but of 10,000 WPA supervisors in the South only 11 were black.[218] Historian Anthony Badger said, "New Deal programs in the South routinely discriminated against blacks and perpetuated segregation."[219] In its first few weeks of operation, CCC camps in the North were integrated. By July 1935, practically all the camps in the United States were segregated, and blacks were strictly limited in the supervisory roles they were assigned.[220] Kinker and Smith argue, "even the most prominent racial liberals in the New Deal did not dare to criticize Jim Crow."

Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes was one of the Roosevelt Administration's most prominent supporters of blacks and former president of the Chicago chapter of the NAACP. In 1937, when Senator Josiah Bailey Democrat of North Carolina accused him of trying to break down segregation laws Ickes wrote him to deny that:

I think it is up to the states to work out their social problems if possible, and while I have always been interested in seeing that the Negro has a square deal, I have never dissipated my strength against the particular stone wall of segregation. I believe that wall will crumble when the Negro has brought himself to a high educational and economic status…. Moreover, while there are no segregation laws in the North, there is segregation in fact and we might as well recognize this.[221][222][223]

The New Deal's record came under attack by New Left historians in the 1960s for its pusillanimity in not attacking capitalism more vigorously, nor helping blacks achieve equality. The critics emphasize the absence of a philosophy of reform to explain the failure of New Dealers to attack fundamental social problems. They demonstrate the New Deal's commitment to save capitalism and its refusal to strip away private property. They detect a remoteness from the people and indifference to participatory democracy and call instead for more emphasis on conflict and exploitation.[224][225]

Women

[edit]
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) camp for unemployed women in Maine, 1934

At first, the New Deal created programs primarily for men as it was assumed that the husband was the "breadwinner" (the provider) and if they had jobs the whole family would benefit. It was the social norm for women to give up jobs when they married—in many states, there were laws that prevented both husband and wife holding regular jobs with the government. So too in the relief world, it was rare for both husband and wife to have a relief job on FERA or the WPA.[226] This prevailing social norm of the breadwinner failed to take into account the numerous households headed by women, but it soon became clear that the government needed to help women as well.[227]

Many women were employed on FERA projects run by the states with federal funds. The first New Deal program to directly assist women was the Works Progress Administration (WPA), begun in 1935. It hired single women, widows, or women with disabled or absent husbands. The WPA employed about 500,000 women and they were assigned mostly to unskilled jobs. 295,000 worked on sewing projects that made 300 million items of clothing and bedding to be given away to families on relief and to hospitals and orphanages. Women also were hired for the WPA's school lunch program.[228][229][230] Both men and women were hired for the small but highly publicized arts programs (such as music, theater, and writing).

Relief

[edit]
Anti-relief protest sign near Davenport, Iowa by Arthur Rothstein, 1940

The New Deal expanded the role of the federal government, particularly to help the poor, the unemployed, youth, the elderly and stranded rural communities. The Hoover administration started the system of funding state relief programs, whereby the states hired people on relief. With the CCC in 1933 and the WPA in 1935, the federal government now became involved in directly hiring people on relief in granting direct relief or benefits. Total federal, state and local spending on relief rose from 3.9% of GNP in 1929 to 6.4% in 1932 and 9.7% in 1934—the return of prosperity in 1944 lowered the rate to 4.1%. In 1935–1940, welfare spending accounted for 49% of the federal, state and local government budgets.[231] In his memoirs, Milton Friedman said that the New Deal relief programs were an appropriate response. He and his wife were not on relief, but they were employed by the WPA as statisticians.[232] Friedman said that programs like the CCC and WPA were justified as temporary responses to an emergency. Friedman said that Roosevelt deserved considerable credit for relieving immediate distress and restoring confidence.[233]

Recovery

[edit]

Roosevelt's New Deal Recovery programs focused on stabilizing the economy by creating long-term employment opportunities, decreasing agricultural supply to drive prices up, and helping homeowners pay mortgages and stay in their homes, which also kept the banks solvent. In a survey of economic historians conducted by Robert Whaples, Professor of Economics at Wake Forest University, anonymous questionnaires were sent to members of the Economic History Association. Members were asked to disagree, agree, or agree with provisos with the statement that read: "Taken as a whole, government policies of the New Deal served to lengthen and deepen the Great Depression". While only 6% of economic historians who worked in the history department of their universities agreed with the statement, 27% of those that work in the economics department agreed. Almost an identical percent of the two groups (21% and 22%) agreed with the statement "with provisos" (a conditional stipulation) while 74% of those who worked in the history department and 51% in the economic department disagreed with the statement outright.[100]

Economic growth and unemployment (1933–1941)

[edit]
WPA employed 2 to 3 million unemployed at unskilled labor

From 1933 to 1941, the economy expanded at an average rate of 7.7% per year.[234] Despite high economic growth, unemployment rates fell slowly.

Unemployment rate[235] 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941
Workers in job creation programs counted as unemployed 24.9% 21.7% 20.1% 16.9% 14.3% 19.0% 17.2% 14.6% 9.9%
Workers in job creation programs counted as employed 20.6% 16.0% 14.2% 9.9% 9.1% 12.5% 11.3% 9.5% 8.0%

John Maynard Keynes explained that situation as an underemployment equilibrium where skeptic business prospects prevent companies from hiring new employees. It was seen as a form of cyclical unemployment.[236]

There are different assumptions as well. According to Richard L. Jensen, cyclical unemployment was a grave matter primarily until 1935. Between 1935 and 1941, structural unemployment became the bigger problem. Especially the unions successes in demanding higher wages pushed management into introducing new efficiency-oriented hiring standards. It ended inefficient labor such as child labor, casual unskilled work for subminimum wages and sweatshop conditions. In the long term, the shift to efficiency wages led to high productivity, high wages and a high standard of living, but it necessitated a well-educated, well-trained, hard-working labor force. It was not before war time brought full employment that the supply of unskilled labor (that caused structural unemployment) downsized.[161]

Mainstream economics interpretation

[edit]
U.S. GDP annual pattern and long-term trend (1920–1940) in billions of constant dollars
Keynesians: halted the collapse but lacked Keynesian deficit spending
[edit]

At the beginning of the Great Depression, many economists traditionally argued against deficit spending. The fear was that government spending would "crowd out" private investment and would thus not have any effect on the economy, a proposition known as the Treasury view, but Keynesian economics rejected that view. They argued that by spending vastly more money—using fiscal policy—the government could provide the needed stimulus through the multiplier effect. Without that stimulus, business simply would not hire more people, especially the low skilled and supposedly "untrainable" men who had been unemployed for years and lost any job skill they once had. Keynes visited the White House in 1934 to urge President Roosevelt to increase deficit spending. Roosevelt afterwards complained, "he left a whole rigmarole of figures—he must be a mathematician rather than a political economist."[237]

The New Deal tried public works, farm subsidies and other devices to reduce unemployment, but Roosevelt never completely gave up trying to balance the budget. Between 1933 and 1941, the average federal budget deficit was 3% per year.[238] Roosevelt did not fully utilize[clarification needed] deficit spending. The effects of federal public works spending were largely offset by Herbert Hoover's large tax increase in 1932, whose full effects for the first time were felt in 1933 and it was undercut by spending cuts, especially the Economy Act. According to Keynesians like Paul Krugman, the New Deal therefore was not as successful in the short run as it was in the long run.[239]

Following the Keynesian consensus (that lasted until the 1970s), the traditional view was that federal deficit spending associated with the war brought full-employment output while monetary policy was just aiding the process. In this view, the New Deal did not end the Great Depression, but halted the economic collapse and ameliorated the worst of the crises.[240]

Monetarist interpretation
[edit]
Milton Friedman
[edit]

More influential among economists has been the monetarist interpretation by Milton Friedman as put forth in A Monetary History of the United States,[citation needed] which includes a full-scale monetary history of what he calls the "Great Contraction".[241] Friedman concentrated on the failures before 1933 and points out that between 1929 and 1932 the Federal Reserve allowed the money supply to fall by a third which is seen as the major cause that turned a normal recession into a Great Depression. Friedman especially criticized the decisions of Hoover and the Federal Reserve not to save banks going bankrupt. Friedman's arguments got an endorsement from a surprising source when Fed Governor Ben Bernanke made this statement:

Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression, you're right. We did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.[242][243]

Monetarists state that the banking and monetary reforms were a necessary and sufficient response to the crises. They reject the approach of Keynesian deficit spending. In an interview in 2000, Friedman said:

You have to distinguish between two classes of New Deal policies. One class of New Deal policies was reform: wage and price control, the Blue Eagle, the national industrial recovery movement. I did not support those. The other part of the new deal policy was relief and recovery ... providing relief for the unemployed, providing jobs for the unemployed, and motivating the economy to expand ... an expansive monetary policy. Those parts of the New Deal I did support.[244]

Bernanke and Parkinson: cleared the way for a natural recovery
[edit]

Ben Bernanke and Martin Parkinson declared in "Unemployment, Inflation, and Wages in the American Depression" (1989), "the New Deal is better characterized as having cleared the way for a natural recovery (for example, by ending deflation and rehabilitating the financial system) rather than as being the engine of recovery itself."[245][246]

New Keynesian economics: crucial source of recovery
[edit]

Challenging the traditional view, monetarists and New Keynesians like J. Bradford DeLong, Lawrence Summers and Christina Romer argued that recovery was essentially complete prior to 1942 and that monetary policy was the crucial source of pre-1942 recovery.[247] The extraordinary growth in money supply beginning in 1933 lowered real interest rates and stimulated investment spending. According to Bernanke, there was also a debt-deflation effect of the depression which was clearly offset by a reflation through the growth in money supply.[245] However, before 1992 scholars did not realize that the New Deal provided for a huge aggregate demand stimulus through a de facto easing of monetary policy. While Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz argued in A Monetary History of the United States (1963) that the Federal Reserve System had made no attempt to increase the quantity in high-powered money and thus failed to foster recovery, they somehow did not investigate the impact of the monetary policy of the New Deal. In 1992, Christina Romer explained in "What Ended the Great Depression?" that the rapid growth in money supply beginning in 1933 can be traced back to a large unsterilized gold inflow to the U.S. which was partly due to political instability in Europe, but to a larger degree to the revaluation of gold through the Gold Reserve Act. The Roosevelt administration had chosen not to sterilize the gold inflow precisely because they hoped that the growth of money supply would stimulate the economy.[245]

Replying to DeLong et al. in the Journal of Economic History, J. R. Vernon argues that deficit spending leading up to and during World War II still played a large part in the overall recovery, according to his study "half or more of the recovery occurred during 1941 and 1942".[248]

According to Peter Temin, Barry Wigmore, Gauti B. Eggertsson and Christina Romer, the biggest primary impact of the New Deal on the economy and the key to recovery and to end the Great Depression was brought about by a successful management of public expectations. The thesis is based on the observation that after years of deflation and a very severe recession important economic indicators turned positive just in March 1933 when Roosevelt took office. Consumer prices turned from deflation to mild inflation, industrial production bottomed out in March 1933, investment doubled in 1933 with a turnaround in March 1933. There were no monetary forces to explain that turnaround. Money supply was still falling and short-term interest rates remained close to zero. Before March 1933, people expected a further deflation and recession so that even interest rates at zero did not stimulate investment. However, when Roosevelt announced major regime changes people[who?] began to expect inflation and an economic expansion. With those expectations, interest rates at zero began to stimulate investment just as they were expected to do. Roosevelt's fiscal and monetary policy regime change helped to make his policy objectives credible. The expectation of higher future income and higher future inflation stimulated demand and investments. The analysis suggests that the elimination of the policy dogmas of the gold standard, a balanced budget in times of crises and small government led endogenously to a large shift in expectation that accounts for about 70–80 percent of the recovery of output and prices from 1933 to 1937. If the regime change had not happened and the Hoover policy had continued, the economy would have continued its free-fall in 1933 and output would have been 30 percent lower in 1937 than in 1933.[249][250][251]

Real business-cycle theory: rather harmful

[edit]

Followers of the real business-cycle theory believe that the New Deal caused the depression to persist longer than it would otherwise have. Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian say Roosevelt's policies prolonged the depression by seven years.[252] According to their study, the "New Deal labor and industrial policies did not lift the economy out of the Depression", but that the "New Deal policies are an important contributing factor to the persistence of the Great Depression". They claim that the New Deal "cartelization policies are a key factor behind the weak recovery". They say that the "abandonment of these policies coincided with the strong economic recovery of the 1940s".[253] The study by Cole and Ohanian is based on a real business-cycle theory model. Laurence Seidman noted that according to the assumptions of Cole and Ohanian, the labor market clears instantaneously, which leads to the incredible conclusion that the surge in unemployment between 1929 and 1932 (before the New Deal) was in their opinion both optimal and solely based on voluntary unemployment.[254] Additionally, Cole and Ohanian's argument does not count workers employed through New Deal programs. Such programs built or renovated 2,500 hospitals, 45,000 schools, 13,000 parks and playgrounds, 7,800 bridges, 700,000 miles (1,100,000 km) of roads, 1,000 airfields and employed 50,000 teachers through programs that rebuilt the country's entire rural school system.[255][256]

Reform

[edit]
Francis Perkins looks on as Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act

The economic reforms were mainly intended to rescue the capitalist system by providing a more rational framework in which it could operate. The banking system was made less vulnerable. The regulation of the stock market and the prevention of some corporate abuses relating to the sale of securities and corporate reporting addressed the worst excesses. Roosevelt allowed trade unions to take their place in labor relations and created the triangular partnership between employers, employees and government.[128]

David M. Kennedy wrote, "the achievements of the New Deal years surely played a role in determining the degree and the duration of the postwar prosperity."[257]

Paul Krugman stated that the institutions built by the New Deal remain the bedrock of the United States economic stability. Against the background of the 2007–2008 financial crisis, he explained that conditions would have been much worse if the New Deals Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation had not insured most bank deposits and older Americans would have felt much more insecure without Social Security.[239] Economist Milton Friedman after 1960 attacked Social Security from a free market view stating that it had created welfare dependency.[258]

The New Deal banking reform has weakened since the 1980s. The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 allowed the shadow banking system to grow rapidly. Since it was neither regulated nor covered by a financial safety net, the shadow banking system was central to the 2007–2008 financial crisis and the subsequent Great Recession.[259]

Impact on federal government and states

[edit]

Though it is essentially consensus among historians and academics that the New Deal brought about a large increase in the power of the federal government, there has been some scholarly debate concerning the results of this federal expansion. Historians like Arthur M. Schlesinger and James T. Patterson have argued that the augmentation of the federal government exacerbated tensions between the federal and state governments. However, contemporaries such as Ira Katznelson have suggested that due to certain conditions on the allocation of federal funds, namely that the individual states get to control them, the federal government managed to avoid any tension with states over their rights. This is a prominent debate concerning the historiography of federalism in the United States and—as Schlesinger and Patterson have observed—the New Deal marked an era when the federal-state power balance shifted further in favor of the federal government, which heightened tensions between the two levels of government in the United States.

Ira Katznelson has argued that although the federal government expanded its power and began providing welfare benefits on a scale previously unknown in the United States, it often allowed individual states to control the allocation of the funds provided for such welfare. This meant that the states controlled who had access to these funds, which in turn meant many Southern states were able to racially segregate—or in some cases, like a number of counties in Georgia, completely exclude African-Americans—the allocation of federal funds.[260] This enabled these states to continue to relatively exercise their rights and also to preserve the institutionalization of the racist order of their societies. Though Katznelson has conceded that the expansion of the federal government had the potential to lead to federal-state tension, he has argued it was avoided as these states managed to retain some control. As Katznelson has observed, "they [state governments in the South] had to manage the strain that potentially might be placed on local practices by investing authority in federal bureaucracies [...]. To guard against this outcome, the key mechanism deployed was a separation of the source of funding from decisions about how to spend the new monies".[261]

However, Schlesinger has disputed Katznelson's claim and has argued that the increase in the power of the federal government was perceived to come at the cost of states' rights, thereby aggravating state governments, which exacerbated federal-state tensions. Schlesinger has utilized quotes from the time to highlight this point and has observed, "the actions of the New Deal, [Ogden L.] Mills said, 'abolish the sovereignty of the States. They make of a government of limited powers one of unlimited authority over the lives of us all.'"[262]

Moreover, Schlesinger has argued that this federal-state tension was not a one-way street and that the federal government became just as aggravated with the state governments as they did with it. State governments were often guilty of inhibiting or delaying federal policies. Whether through intentional methods, like sabotage, or unintentional ones, like simple administrative overload—either way, these problems aggravated the federal government and thus heightened federal-state tensions. Schlesinger has also noted, "students of public administration have never taken sufficient account of the capacity of lower levels of government to sabotage or defy even a masterful President."[263]

James T. Patterson has reiterated this argument, though he observes that this increased tension can be accounted for not just from a political perspective, but from an economic one too. Patterson has argued that the tension between the federal and state governments at least partly also resulted from the economic strain under which the states had been put by the federal government's various policies and agencies. Some states were either simply unable to cope with the federal government's demand and thus refused to work with them, or admonished the economic restraints and actively decided to sabotage federal policies. This was demonstrated, Patterson has noted, with the handling of federal relief money by Ohio governor, Martin L. Davey. The case in Ohio became so detrimental to the federal government that Harry Hopkins, supervisor of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, had to federalize Ohio relief.[264] Although this argument differs somewhat from Schlesinger's, the source of federal-state tension remained the growth of the federal government. As Patterson has asserted, "though the record of the FERA was remarkably good—almost revolutionary—in these respects it was inevitable, given the financial requirements imposed on deficit-ridden states, that friction would develop between governors and federal officials".[265]

In this dispute, it can be inferred that Katznelson and Schlesinger and Patterson have only disagreed on their inference of the historical evidence. While both parties have agreed that the federal government expanded and even that states had a degree of control over the allocation of federal funds, they have disputed the consequences of these claims. Katznelson has asserted that it created mutual acquiescence between the levels of government, while Schlesinger and Patterson have suggested that it provoked contempt for the state governments on the part of the federal government and vice versa, thus exacerbating their relations. In short, irrespective of the interpretation this era marked an important time in the historiography of federalism and also nevertheless provided some narrative on the legacy of federal-state relations.

Criticism

[edit]

Claims of fascism

[edit]

Worldwide, the Great Depression had the most profound impact in Germany and the United States. In both countries the pressure to reform and the perception of the economic crisis were strikingly similar. When Hitler came to power he was faced with exactly the same task that faced Roosevelt, overcoming mass unemployment and the global Depression. The political responses to the crises were essentially different: while American democracy remained strong, Germany replaced democracy with fascism, a Nazi dictatorship.[266]

The initial perception of the New Deal was mixed. On the one hand, the eyes of the world were upon the United States because many American and European democrats saw in Roosevelt's reform program a positive counterweight to the seductive powers of the two great alternative systems, communism and fascism.[267] As the historian Isaiah Berlin wrote in 1955: "The only light in the darkness was the administration of Mr. Roosevelt and the New Deal in the United States".[268]

By contrast, enemies of the New Deal sometimes called it "fascist", but they meant very different things. Communists denounced the New Deal in 1933 and 1934 as fascist in the sense that it was under the control of big business. They dropped that line of thought when Stalin switched to the "Popular Front" plan of cooperation with progressives.[269]

In 1934, Roosevelt defended himself against those critics in a "fireside chat":

[Some] will try to give you new and strange names for what we are doing. Sometimes they will call it 'Fascism', sometimes 'Communism', sometimes 'Regimentation', sometimes 'Socialism'. But, in so doing, they are trying to make very complex and theoretical something that is really very simple and very practical.... Plausible self-seekers and theoretical die-hards will tell you of the loss of individual liberty. Answer this question out of the facts of your own life. Have you lost any of your rights or liberty or constitutional freedom of action and choice?[270]

After 1945, only few observers continued to see similarities and later on some scholars such as Kiran Klaus Patel, Heinrich August Winkler and John Garraty came to the conclusion that comparisons of the alternative systems do not have to end in an apology for Nazism since comparisons rely on the examination of both similarities and differences. Their preliminary studies on the origins of the fascist dictatorships and the American (reformed) democracy came to the conclusion that besides essential differences "the crises led to a limited degree of convergence" on the level of economic and social policy. The most important cause was the growth of state interventionism since in the face of the catastrophic economic situation both societies no longer counted on the power of the market to heal itself.[271]

John Garraty wrote that the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was based on economic experiments in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, without establishing a totalitarian dictatorship.[272] Contrary to that, historians such as Hawley have examined the origins of the NRA in detail, showing the main inspiration came from Senators Hugo Black and Robert F. Wagner and from American business leaders such as the Chamber of Commerce. The model for the NRA was Woodrow Wilson's War Industries Board, in which Johnson had been involved too.[273] Historians argue that direct comparisons between Fascism and New Deal are invalid since there is no distinctive form of fascist economic organization.[274] Gerald Feldman wrote that fascism has not contributed anything to economic thought and had no original vision of a new economic order replacing capitalism. His argument correlates with Mason's that economic factors alone are an insufficient approach to understand fascism and that decisions taken by fascists in power cannot be explained within a logical economic framework. In economic terms, both ideas were within the general tendency of the 1930s to intervene in the free market capitalist economy, at the price of its laissez-faire character, "to protect the capitalist structure endangered by endogenous crises tendencies and processes of impaired self-regulation".[274]

Stanley Payne, a historian of fascism, examined possible fascist influences in the United States by looking at the KKK and its offshoots and movements led by Father Coughlin and Huey Long. He concluded, "the various populist, nativist, and rightist movements in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s fell distinctly short of fascism."[275] According to Kevin Passmore, lecturer in history at Cardiff University, the failure of fascism in the United States was due to the social policies of the New Deal that channelled anti-establishment populism into the left rather than the extreme right.[276]

Claims of conservatism

[edit]

The New Deal was generally held in very high regard in scholarship and textbooks. That changed in the 1960s when New Left historians began a revisionist critique calling the New Deal a band-aid for a patient that needed radical surgery to reform capitalism, put private property in its place and lift up workers, women and minorities.[277] The New Left believed in participatory democracy and therefore rejected the autocratic machine politics typical of the big city Democratic organizations.[224]

In a 1968 essay, Barton J. Bernstein compiled a chronicle of missed opportunities and inadequate responses to problems. The New Deal may have saved capitalism from itself, Bernstein charged, but it had failed to help—and in many cases actually harmed—those groups most in need of assistance. In The New Deal (1967), Paul K. Conkin similarly chastised the government of the 1930s for its weak policies toward marginal farmers, for its failure to institute sufficiently progressive tax reform, and its excessive generosity toward select business interests. In 1966, Howard Zinn criticized the New Deal for working actively to actually preserve the worst evils of capitalism.

By the 1970s, progressive historians were responding with a defense of the New Deal based on numerous local and microscopic studies. Praise increasingly focused on Eleanor Roosevelt, seen as a more appropriate crusading reformer than her husband.[278]

In a series of articles, political sociologist Theda Skocpol has emphasized the issue of "state capacity" as an often-crippling constraint. Ambitious reform ideas often failed, she argued, because of the absence of a government bureaucracy with significant strength and expertise to administer them.[citation needed] Other more recent works have stressed the political constraints that the New Deal encountered. Conservative skepticism about the efficacy of government was strong both in Congress and among many citizens. Thus some scholars have stressed that the New Deal was not just a product of its progressive backers, but also a product of the pressures of its conservative opponents.[citation needed]

Claims of communism

[edit]

Some hard-right critics in the 1930s claimed that Roosevelt was state socialist or communist, including Charles Coughlin, Elizabeth Dilling, and Gerald L. K. Smith,[279] The accusations generally targeted the New Deal. These conspiracy theories were grouped as the "red web" or "Roosevelt Red Record", based significantly on propaganda books by Dilling. There was significant overlap between these red-baiting accusations against Roosevelt and the isolationist America First Committee.[279] Roosevelt was concerned enough about the accusations that in a September 29, 1936 speech in Syracuse, Roosevelt officially condemned communism.[279][280] Other accusations of socialism or claimed communism came from Republican representative Robert F. Rich, and senators Simeon D. Fess, and Thomas D. Schall.[281]

The accusations of communism were widespread enough to misdirect from the real Soviet espionage that was occurring, leading the Roosevelt administration to miss the infiltration of various spy rings. Most of the Soviet spy rings actually sought to undermine the Roosevelt administration.[279]

The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) had been quite hostile to the New Deal until 1935, but acknowledging the danger of fascism worldwide, reversed positions and tried to form a "Popular front" with the New Dealers. The Popular Front saw a small amount of popularity and a relatively restricted level of influence, and declined with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. From 1935, the head of CPUSA Earl Browder sought to avoid directly attacking the New Deal or Roosevelt. With the Soviet invasion of Poland in mid September 1939, Browder was ordered by the Comintern to adjust his position to oppose FDR, which led to disputes within the CPUSA.[282]

Communists in government

[edit]

During the New Deal, the communists established a network of a dozen or so members working for the government. They were low level and had a minor influence on policies. Harold Ware led the largest group which worked in the Agriculture Adjustment Administration (AAA) until Secretary of Agriculture Wallace got rid of them all in a famous purge in 1935.[283] Ware died in 1935 and some individuals such as Alger Hiss moved to other government jobs.[284][285] Other communists worked for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the National Youth Administration, the Works Progress Administration, the Federal Theater Project, the Treasury and the Department of State.[286]

Works of art and music

[edit]
The federal government commissioned a series of public murals from the artists it employed: William Gropper's Construction of a Dam (1939) is characteristic of much of the art of the 1930s, with workers seen in heroic poses, laboring in unison to complete a great public project

The Works Progress Administration subsidized artists, musicians, painters and writers on relief with a group of projects called Federal One. While the WPA program was by far the most widespread, it was preceded by three programs administered by the US Treasury which hired commercial artists at usual commissions to add murals and sculptures to federal buildings. The first of these efforts was the short-lived Public Works of Art Project, organized by Edward Bruce, an American businessman and artist. Bruce also led the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture (later renamed the Section of Fine Arts) and the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP). The Resettlement Administration (RA) and Farm Security Administration (FSA) had major photography programs. The New Deal arts programs emphasized regionalism, social realism, class conflict, proletarian interpretations and audience participation. The unstoppable collective powers of common man, contrasted to the failure of individualism, was a favorite theme.[287][288]

"Created Equal": Act I, Scene 3 of Spirit of 1776, Boston (Federal Theatre Project, 1935)

Post Office murals and other public art, painted by artists in this time, can still be found at many locations around the U.S.[289] The New Deal particularly helped American novelists. For journalists and the novelists who wrote non-fiction, the agencies and programs that the New Deal provided, allowed these writers to describe what they really saw around the country.[290]

Many writers chose to write about the New Deal and whether they were for or against it and if it was helping the country out. Some of these writers were Ruth McKenney, Edmund Wilson and Scott Fitzgerald.[291] Another subject that was very popular for novelists was the condition of labor. They ranged from subjects on social protest to strikes.[292]

Under the WPA, the Federal Theatre project flourished. Countless theatre productions around the country were staged. This allowed thousands of actors and directors to be employed, among them were Orson Welles, and John Huston.[289]

The FSA photography project is most responsible for creating the image of the Depression in the U.S. Many of the images appeared in popular magazines. The photographers were under instruction from Washington as to what overall impression the New Deal wanted to give out. Director Roy Stryker's agenda focused on his faith in social engineering, the poor conditions among cotton tenant farmers and the very poor conditions among migrant farm workers—above all he was committed to social reform through New Deal intervention in people's lives. Stryker demanded photographs that "related people to the land and vice versa" because these photographs reinforced the RA's position that poverty could be controlled by "changing land practices". Though Stryker did not dictate to his photographers how they should compose the shots, he did send them lists of desirable themes, such as "church", "court day", "barns".[293]

Films of the late New Deal era such as Citizen Kane (1941) ridiculed so-called "great men" while the heroism of the common man appeared in numerous movies, such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940). Thus in Frank Capra's famous films, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Meet John Doe (1941) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946), the common people come together to battle and overcome villains who are corrupt politicians controlled by very rich, greedy capitalists.[294]

By contrast, there was also a smaller but influential stream of anti–New Deal art. Gutzon Borglum's sculptures on Mount Rushmore emphasized great men in history (his designs had the approval of Calvin Coolidge). Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway disliked the New Deal and celebrated the autonomy of perfected written work as opposed to the New Deal idea of writing as performative labor. The Southern Agrarians celebrated premodern regionalism and opposed the TVA as a modernizing, disruptive force. Cass Gilbert, a conservative who believed architecture should reflect historic traditions and the established social order, designed the new Supreme Court building (1935). Its classical lines and small size contrasted sharply with the gargantuan modernistic federal buildings going up in the Washington Mall that he detested.[295] Hollywood managed to synthesize liberal and conservative streams as in Busby Berkeley's Gold Digger musicals, where the storylines exalt individual autonomy while the spectacular musical numbers show abstract populations of interchangeable dancers securely contained within patterns beyond their control.[296]

New Deal programs

[edit]

The New Deal had many programs and new agencies, most of which were universally known by their initials. Most were abolished during World War II while others remain in operation or formed into different programs. They included the following:

The WPA hired unemployed teachers to provide free adult education programs
  • Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA): a Hoover program to create unskilled jobs for relief; expanded by Roosevelt and Harry Hopkins; replaced by WPA in 1935.
  • United States bank holiday, 1933: closed all banks until they became certified by federal reviewers.
  • Abandonment of gold standard, 1933: gold reserves no longer backed currency; still exists.
  • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), 1933–1942: employed young men to perform unskilled work in rural areas; under United States Army supervision; separate program for Native Americans.
  • Homeowners Loan Corporation (HOLC): helped people keep their homes, the government bought properties from the bank allowing people to pay the government instead of the banks in installments they could afford, keeping people in their homes and banks afloat.
  • Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), 1933: effort to modernize very poor region (most of Tennessee), centered on dams that generated electricity on the Tennessee River; still exists.
  • Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), 1933: raised farm prices by cutting total farm output of major crops and livestock; replaced by a new AAA because the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.
  • National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), 1933: industries set up codes to reduce unfair competition, raise wages and prices; ended 1935. The Supreme Court ruled the NIRA unconstitutional.
  • Public Works Administration (PWA), 1933: built large public works projects; used private contractors (did not directly hire unemployed). Ended 1938.
  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): insures bank deposits and supervises state banks; still exists.
  • Glass–Steagall Act: regulates investment banking; repealed 1999 (not repealed, only two provisions changed).
  • Securities Act of 1933, created the SEC, 1933: codified standards for sale and purchase of stock, required awareness of investments to be accurately disclosed; still exists.
    FERA camp for unemployed black women, Atlanta, 1934
  • Civil Works Administration (CWA), 1933–1934: provided temporary jobs to millions of unemployed.
  • Indian Reorganization Act, 1934: moved away from assimilation; policy dropped.
  • Social Security Act (SSA), 1935: provided financial assistance to: elderly, handicapped, paid for by employee and employer payroll contributions; required 7 years contributions, so first payouts were in 1942; still exists.
  • Works Progress Administration (WPA), 1935: a national labor program for more than 2 million unemployed; created useful construction work for unskilled men; also sewing projects for women and arts projects for unemployed artists, musicians and writers; ended 1943.
  • National Labor Relations Act (NLRA); Wagner Act, 1935: set up the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to supervise labor-management relations. In the 1930s, it strongly favored labor unions. Modified by the Taft–Hartley Act (1947); still exists.
  • Judicial Reorganization Bill, 1937: gave the President power to appoint a new Supreme Court judge for every judge 70 years or older; failed to pass Congress.
  • Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), 1938: insures crops and livestock against loss of production or revenue. Was restructured during the creation of the Risk Management Agency in 1996 but continues to exist.
  • Surplus Commodities Program (1936): gives away food to the poor; still exists as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
  • Fair Labor Standards Act 1938: established a maximum normal work week of 44 hours and a minimum wage of 40 cents/hour and outlawed most forms of child labor, though it still exists. The working hours have been lowered to 40 over the years, and the minimum wage has climbed to $7.25.[297]
Surplus Commodities Program, 1936

Statistics

[edit]

Depression statistics

[edit]

"Most indexes worsened until the summer of 1932, which may be called the low point of the depression economically and psychologically".[298] Economic indicators show the American economy reached nadir in summer 1932 to February 1933, then began recovering until the recession of 1937–1938. Thus the Federal Reserve Industrial Production Index hit its low of 52.8 on July 1, 1932, and was practically unchanged at 54.3 on March 1, 1933, but by July 1, 1933, it reached 85.5 (with 1935–39 = 100 and for comparison 2005 = 1,342).[299] In Roosevelt's 12 years in office, the economy had an 8.5% compound annual growth of GDP,[300] the highest growth rate in the history of any industrial country,[301] but recovery was slow and by 1939 the gross domestic product (GDP) per adult was still 27% below trend.[253]

Table 1: Statistics[302][303][304]
1929 1931 1933 1937 1938 1940
Real Gross National Product (GNP) (1) 101.4 84.3 68.3 103.9 96.7 113.0
Consumer Price Index (2) 122.5 108.7 92.4 102.7 99.4 100.2
Index of Industrial Production (2) 109 75 69 112 89 126
Money Supply M2 ($ billions) 46.6 42.7 32.2 45.7 49.3 55.2
Exports ($ billions) 5.24 2.42 1.67 3.35 3.18 4.02
Unemployment (% of civilian work force) 3.1 16.1 25.2 13.8 16.5 13.9
  • (1) in 1929 dollars
  • (2) 1935–1939 = 100
Table 2: Unemployment
(% labor force)
Year Lebergott Darby
1933 24.9 20.6
1934 21.7 16.0
1935 20.1 14.2
1936 16.9 9.9
1937 14.3 9.1
1938 19.0 12.5
1939 17.2 11.3
1940 14.6 9.5
1941 9.9 8.0
1942 4.7 4.7
1943 1.9 1.9
1944 1.2 1.2
1945 1.9 1.9
  • Darby counts WPA workers as employed; Lebergott as unemployed
  • Source: Historical Statistics US (1976) series D-86; Smiley 1983[305]

Relief statistics

[edit]
Families on relief 1936–1941
Relief cases 1936–1941 (monthly average in 1,000)
1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941
Workers employed:
WPA 1,995 2,227 1,932 2,911 1,971 1,638
CCC and NYA 712 801 643 793 877 919
Other federal work projects 554 663 452 488 468 681
Public assistance cases:
Social security programs 602 1,306 1,852 2,132 2,308 2,517
General relief 2,946 1,484 1,614 1,647 1,570 1,206
Total families helped 5,886 5,660 5,474 6,751 5,860 5,167
Unemployed workers (Bur Lab Stat) 9,030 7,700 10,000 9,480 8,120 5,560
Coverage (cases/unemployed) 65% 74% 53% 71% 72% 13%

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Carol Berkin; et al. (2011). Making America, Volume 2: A History of the United States: Since 1865. Cengage Learning. pp. 629–632. ISBN 978-0-495-91524-9.
  2. ^ David Edwin "Eddie" Harrell; et al. (2005). Unto A Good Land: A History Of The American People. Wm. B. Eerdmans. p. 902. ISBN 978-0-8028-3718-9.
  3. ^ Alonzo L. Hamby (2004). For the Survival of Democracy: Franklin Roosevelt and the World Crisis of the 1930s. Simon and Schuster. p. 418. ISBN 978-0-684-84340-7.
  4. ^ Kennedy (1999), ch 12.
  5. ^ Dietz, James (1986). Economic History of Puerto Rico. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 1986.
  6. ^ Brinkley, Alan (1996). The end of reform: new deal liberalism in recession and war (1. Vintage Books ed.). New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-679-75314-8.
  7. ^ John Braeman; Robert H. Bremner; David Brody (eds.). The New Deal. Vol. One. p. 260.
  8. ^ Andrew E Busch. Horses In Midstream. 1999. p. 124.
  9. ^ Lubell, Samuel (1955). The Future of American Politics. Anchor Press. p. 13.
  10. ^ Martha Derthick. The Politics of Deregulation. 1985. pp. 5–8.
  11. ^ A.E. Safarian (1970). The Canadian Economy. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN 978-0-7735-8435-8. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  12. ^ VanGiezen, Robert; Schwenk, Albert E. (January 30, 2003). "Compensation from before World War I through the Great Depression". United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Archived from the original on April 30, 2013.
  13. ^ a b Kennedy (1999), p. 87.
  14. ^ National Archives and Records Administration (1995). "Records of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation". archives.gov. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
  15. ^ Mary Beth Norton; et al. (2009). A People and a Nation: A History of the United States. Since 1865. Cengage. p. 656. ISBN 978-0-547-17560-7.
  16. ^ Robert L. Fuller. Phantom of Fear: The Banking Panic of 1933. 2011. pp. 156–157.
  17. ^ March 4 was a Saturday and banks were not open on weekends. On Monday Roosevelt officially closed all banks. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. The Coming of the New Deal (1959), p. 3; Brands, Traitor to his class (2008) p. 288.
  18. ^ Jonathan Alter, The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, esp. ch. 31. (2007); Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States (1977) series K220, N301.
  19. ^ Laurence Leamer (2001). The Kennedy Men: 1901–1963. HarperCollins. p. 86.
  20. ^ a b "The Roosevelt Week". Time. New York. July 11, 1932.
  21. ^ Hiltzik (2011, pp. 1–2).
  22. ^ Ronald Sullivan (November 17, 1985). "Stuart Chase, 97; Coined Phrase 'A New Deal'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  23. ^ Rauchway (2019, p. 205).
  24. ^ Rauchway (2019, pp. 201, 212–213).
  25. ^ Leuchtenburg (1963), p. 58.
  26. ^ Downey, Kirstin (2009). The Woman Behind the New Deal; The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience. New York: Nan A. Talese, an imprint of The Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-385-51365-4.
  27. ^ Leuchtenburg (1963), p. 34.
  28. ^ Leuchtenburg (1963), p. 188.
  29. ^ Arthur M. Schlesinger, The coming of the New Deal, 1933–1935, Houghton Mifflin, 2003, ISBN 978-0-618-34086-6, S. 22
  30. ^ "NPG Historical U.S. Population Growth: 1900–1998". Archived from the original on September 19, 2013. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
  31. ^ Leuchtenburg (1963), pp. 45–46.
  32. ^ Robert Paul Browder and Thomas G. Smith, Independent: A Biography of Lewis W. Douglass (1986)
  33. ^ Leuchtenburg (1963), p. 171.
  34. ^ Raymond Moley, The First New Deal (1966)
  35. ^ Leuchtenburg (1963), pp. 171, 245–246.
  36. ^ Herbert Stein, Presidential economics: The making of economic policy from Roosevelt to Reagan and beyond (1984)
  37. ^ Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960 (1963) pp. 340–343
  38. ^ R. W. Hafer, The Federal Reserve System (Greenwood, 2005) p. 18
  39. ^ Ben Bernanke, "Nonmonetary effects of the financial crisis in the propagation of the Great Depression", (1983) American Economic Review. Am 73#3 257–76.
  40. ^ "The Presidency: Bottom". Time. March 13, 1933. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved October 11, 2008.(subscription required)
  41. ^ Silber, William L. "Why Did FDR's Bank Holiday Succeed?" Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review, (July 2009), pp. 19-30 online Archived February 5, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  42. ^ Milton Friedman; Anna Jacobson Schwartz (1963). A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960. Princeton University Press. pp. 438–439. ISBN 978-0-691-00354-2.
  43. ^ Susan E. Kennedy, The Banking Crisis of 1933 (1973)
  44. ^ Kennedy (1999), pp. 65, 366.
  45. ^ a b Randall E. Parker, Reflections on the Great Depression, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003, ISBN 978-1-84376-550-9, p. 20
  46. ^ Randall E. Parker, Reflections on the Great Depression, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003, ISBN 978-1-84376-550-9, p. 16
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  233. ^ Milton Friedman; Rose D. Friedman (1981). Free to Choose. Avon Books. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-380-52548-5.
  234. ^ Bureau of the Census (1975). Historical statistics of the United States, colonial times to 1970. pp. 217–218.
  235. ^ Smiley, Gene (1983). "Recent Unemployment Rate Estimates for the 1920s and 1930s". The Journal of Economic History. 43 (2): 487–493. doi:10.1017/S002205070002979X. JSTOR 2120839. S2CID 155004188.
  236. ^ Kennedy (1999), p. 249.
  237. ^ W. Elliot Brownlee, Federal Taxation in America: A Short History (2004) p. 103
  238. ^ Government Spending Chart: United States 1900–2016 – Federal State Local Data Archived May 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Usgovernmentdebt.us. Retrieved on July 14, 2013.
  239. ^ a b New York Times, Paul Krugman, Franklin Delano Obama? Archived November 3, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, November 10, 2008
  240. ^ Jason Scott Smith, A Concise History of the New Deal, Cambridge University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-139-99169-8, p. 2
  241. ^ Milton Friedman; Anna Schwartz (2008). The Great Contraction, 1929–1933 (New ed.). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13794-0.
  242. ^ Ben S. Bernanke (November 8, 2002), FederalReserve.gov: Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke Archived March 24, 2020, at the Wayback Machine Conference to Honor Milton Friedman, University of Chicago
  243. ^ Milton Friedman; Anna Schwartz (2008). The Great Contraction, 1929–1933 (New ed.). Princeton University Press. p. 247. ISBN 978-0-691-13794-0.
  244. ^ Friedman, Milton (October 1, 2000). "Interview with Milton Friedman" (Interview). PBS. Archived from the original on September 8, 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  245. ^ a b c Romer, Christina (December 1992). "What Ended the Great Depression?". The Journal of Economic History. 52 (4): 757–84. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.207.844. doi:10.1017/s002205070001189x. JSTOR 2123226.
  246. ^ Bernanke, Ben (May 1989). "Unemployment, Inflation, and Wages in the American Depression: Are There Lessons for Europe?". The American Economic Review. 79 (2): 210–14. JSTOR 1827758.
  247. ^ DeLong, J. Bradford, Lawrence H. Summers, N. Gregory Mankiw, and Christina D. Romer. "How does macroeconomic policy affect output?" Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (1988): 467.
  248. ^ Vernon, J. R. (December 1994). "World War II fiscal policies and the end of the Great Depression". Journal of Economic History. 54 (4): 850–68. doi:10.1017/s0022050700015515. JSTOR 2123613. S2CID 153801147.
  249. ^ Eggertsson, Gauti B. (September 30, 2008). "Great Expectations and the End of the Depression". American Economic Review. 98 (4): 1476–1516. doi:10.1257/aer.98.4.1476. hdl:10419/60661. Archived from the original on April 1, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022 – via www.aeaweb.org.
  250. ^ Romer, Christina D. (October 20, 2012). "The Fiscal Stimulus, Flawed but Valuable". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  251. ^ Peter Temin, Lessons from the Great Depression, MIT Press, 1992, ISBN 978-0-262-26119-7, pp. 87–101
  252. ^ FDR's Policies Prolonged Depression by 7 Years, UCLA Economists Calculate Archived March 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, ucla.edu, October 8, 2004[clarification needed]
  253. ^ a b Cole, Harold L. and Ohanian, Lee E. New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression: A General Equilibrium Analysis Archived May 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, 2004.
  254. ^ Seidman, Laurence (Fall 2007). "Reply to: "The New Classical Counter-Revolution: False Path or Illuminating Complement?"" (PDF). Eastern Economic Journal. 33 (4): 563–565. doi:10.1057/eej.2007.41. JSTOR 20642378. S2CID 153260374. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 12, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  255. ^ "The right-wing New Deal conniption fit SalonRevisionist historians and economists keep trying to stomp on FDR's legacy. But declaring that WPA workers were unemployed is just silly". Salon.com. February 2, 2009. Archived from the original on September 19, 2010. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
  256. ^ Darby, Michael R. (1976). "Three-And-A-Half Million U.S. Employees Have Been Mislaid: Or, An Explanation of Unemployment, 1934–1941" (PDF). Journal of Political Economy. 84 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1086/260407. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 18, 2012. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
  257. ^ Kennedy (1999), p. 363.
  258. ^ Milton Friedman; Rose D. Friedman (1962). Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition. U. of Chicago Press. pp. 182–187. ISBN 978-0-226-26418-9.
  259. ^ Nicholas Crafts, Peter Fearon, The Great Depression of the 1930s: Lessons for Today, Oxford University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-966318-7, p. 202
  260. ^ Katznelson, Ira (2005). When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 37.
  261. ^ Katznelson, Ira (2005). When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America. New York: W. W. Norton. p. 40.
  262. ^ Schlesinger, Arthur M. (1958). The Age of Roosevelt: The Coming of the New Deal. Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press. p. 473.
  263. ^ Schlesinger, Arthur M. (1958). The Age of Roosevelt: The Coming of the New Deal. Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press. p. 536.
  264. ^ Patterson, James T. (1969). The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 62.
  265. ^ Patterson, James T. (1969). The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 52.
  266. ^ Kiran Klaus Patel, Soldiers of Labor: Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945 Cambridge University Press 2005, pp. 3–5
  267. ^ Kiran Klaus Patel, Soldiers of Labor: Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945, ISBN 978-0-521-83416-2, Cambridge University Press 2005, p. 6
  268. ^ Isaiah Berlin, "The Natural" (1955). Atlantic Monthly. Crown. pp. 230–. ISBN 978-0-307-48140-5.
  269. ^ Fraser M. Ottanelli (1991). The Communist Party of the United States: From the Depression to World War II. Rutgers University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-8135-1613-4.
  270. ^ Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1992). Russell D. Buhite; David W. Levy (eds.). Fdr's Fireside Chats. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-8061-2370-7.
  271. ^ Kiran Klaus Patel, Soldiers of Labor: Labor Service in Nazi Germany and New Deal America, 1933–1945, ISBN 978-0-521-83416-2, Cambridge University Press 2005, pp. 5, 6
  272. ^ Garraty, John A. The American Nation: A History of the United States Since 1865. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers (1979), p. 656 ISBN 0-06-042268-8.
  273. ^ Ellis Hawley, The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly, Princeton University Press, 1966, ISBN 0-8232-1609-8, p. 23
  274. ^ a b Daniel Woodley, Fascism and Political Theory: Critical Perspectives on Fascist Ideology, Routledge Chapman & Hall, 2010, ISBN 978-0-203-87157-7, pp. 160, 161
  275. ^ Stanley G. Payne (1996). A History of Fascism, 1914–1945. University of Wisconsin Pres. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-299-14873-7.
  276. ^ Kevin Passmore, Fascism: A Very Short Introduction, Chapter 6, Oxford University Press, 2002
  277. ^ For a list of relevant works, see the list of suggested readings appearing toward the bottom of the article.
  278. ^ Krueger, Thomas A. (1975). "New Deal Historiography at Forty". Reviews in American History. 3 (4): 483–488. doi:10.2307/2701507. JSTOR 2701507.
  279. ^ a b c d Powers, Richard Gid (1998). Not without honor: the history of American anticommunism. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 130, 136, 170–173, 195. ISBN 0-300-07470-0. OCLC 39245533.
  280. ^ "Address at the Democratic State Convention, Syracuse, N.Y. | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Archived from the original on December 15, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  281. ^ "PolitiFact - Obama right that Roosevelt was called a socialist and a communist". Politifact. Archived from the original on March 9, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  282. ^ Haynes, John Earl; Klehr, Harvey (2005). In denial: historians, communism & espionage (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books. pp. 13–14, 36–37, 56–57. ISBN 1-59403-088-X. OCLC 62271849.
  283. ^ Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (1959). The Age of Roosevelt: The coming of New Deal, 1933–1935. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 78–80. ISBN 978-0-618-34086-6.
  284. ^ Aaron D. Purcell (2011). White Collar Radicals: TVA's Knoxville Fifteen, the New Deal, and the McCarthy Era. U. of Tennessee. ISBN 978-1-57233-683-4.
  285. ^ Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (2003). The Age of Roosevelt: The coming of New Deal, 1933–1935. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-618-34086-6.
  286. ^ Arthur Herman (2000). Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator. The Free Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-684-83625-6.
  287. ^ Mathews (1975).
  288. ^ William E. Leuchtenburg. The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and his Legacy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), p. 243.
  289. ^ a b M.J.Heale. Franklin. D. Roosevelt: The New Deal and War (London, 1999)36
  290. ^ John Braeman, Robert H. Bremner, David Brody. The New Deal: The National Level (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975) 310.
  291. ^ John Braeman, Robert H. Bremner, David Brody. The New Deal: The National Level (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975) 312.
  292. ^ John Braeman, Robert H. Bremner, David Brody. The New Deal: The National Level (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1975) 314.
  293. ^ Cara A. Finnegan. Picturing Poverty: Print Culture and FSA Photographs (Smithsonian Books, 2003) pp. 43–44
  294. ^ Harry M. Benshoff, Sean Griffin, America on film: representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies (2003) pp. 172–174
  295. ^ Blodgett, Geoffrey (1985). "Cass Gilbert, Architect: Conservative at Bay". The Journal of American History. 72 (3): 615–636. doi:10.2307/1904306. JSTOR 1904306.
  296. ^ Szalay (2000), p. [page needed].
  297. ^ "Minimum wage to increase in more than 20 states in 2020". ABC News. Archived from the original on March 8, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  298. ^ Mitchell (1947), p. 404.
  299. ^ "Industrial Production Index". Archived from the original on August 15, 2010. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
  300. ^ Historical Statistics of the United States (1976) series F31
  301. ^ Angus Maddison, The World Economy: Historical Statistics (OECD 2003); Japan is close, see p. 174
  302. ^ Mitchell (1947), pp. 446, 449, 451.
  303. ^ U.S. Dept of Commerce, National Income and Product Accounts Real GDP and GNP Archived April 28, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
  304. ^ "Consumer Price Index and M2 Money Supply: 1800-2008". www.econdataus.com. Archived from the original on June 14, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  305. ^ Smiley, Gene (June 1983). "Recent Unemployment Rate Estimates for the 1920s and 1930s". Journal of Economic History. 43 (2): 487–493. doi:10.1017/S002205070002979X. JSTOR 2120839. S2CID 155004188.

Sources & further reading

[edit]

Surveys

[edit]

State and local studies

[edit]
  • Arrington, Leonard J. "Western Agriculture and the New Deal". Agricultural History 44#4 (1970): 337–353.
  • Biles, Roger. The South and the New Deal (2006).
  • Biles, Roger. Big City Boss in Depression and War: Mayor Edward J. Kelly of Chicago. (1984); mayor 1933–1947
  • Biles, Roger. Memphis: In the Great Depression (U of Tennessee Press, 1986).
  • Blakey, George T. Hard Times and New Deal in Kentucky: 1929–1939 (1986).
  • Braeman, John, Robert H. Bremner and David Brody, eds. The New Deal: Volume Two – the State and Local Levels (1975); 434 pp; chapters on Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City.
  • Christin, Pierre, and Olivier Balez, eds. Robert Moses: The Master Builder of New York City (2014).
  • Ferguson, Karen Jane. Black Politics in New Deal Atlanta (2002).
  • Grant, Michael Johnston. Down and Out on the Family Farm: Rural Rehabilitation in the Great Plains, 1929–1945 (2002).
  • Heineman, Kenneth J. A Catholic New Deal: Religion and Reform in Depression Pittsburgh (2005).
  • Ingalls, Robert P. Herbert H. Lehman and New York's Little New Deal (1975).
  • Leader, Leonard. Los Angeles and the Great Depression. (1991). 344 pp.
  • Lowitt, Richard. The New Deal and the West (1984).
  • Malone, Michael P. (1969). "the New Deal in Idaho". Pacific Historical Review. 38 (3): 293–310. doi:10.2307/3636101. JSTOR 3636101.
  • Mullins, William H. The Depression and the Urban West Coast, 1929–1933: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland. (1991). 176 pp.
  • Nicolaides, Becky M. My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920–1965. (2002). 412 pp.
  • Patterson, James T. The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition (Princeton University Press, 1969).
  • Starr, Kevin. Endangered Dreams: The Great Depression in California (1997); excerpt and text search Archived March 12, 2021, at the Wayback Machine;
  • Stave, Bruce M. The New Deal and the Last Hurrah: Pittsburgh Machine Politics (1970).
  • Sternsher, Bernard ed., Hitting Home: The Great Depression in Town and Country (1970), essays by scholars on local history.
  • Stock, Catherine McNicol. Main Street in Crisis: The Great Depression and the Old Middle Class on the Northern Plains (1992).
  • Strickland, Arvarh E. "The New Deal Comes to Illinois". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 63#1 (1970): 55–68. in JSTOR Archived September 28, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  • Thomas, Jerry Bruce. An Appalachian New Deal: West Virginia in the Great Depression (1998).
  • Trout, Charles H. Boston, the Great Depression, and the New Deal (1977).
  • Tweton, D. Jerome, and Roberta Klugman. The New Deal at the Grass Roots: Programs for the People in Otter Tail County, Minnesota (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988).
  • Volanto, Keith J. Texas, Cotton, and the New Deal (2005).
  • Volanto, Keith. "Where are the New Deal Historians of Texas?: A Literature Review of the New Deal Experience in Texas". East Texas Historical Journal 48+2 (2010): 7+ online Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  • Wickens, James F. "The New Deal in Colorado". Pacific Historical Review 38#3 (1969): 275–291. in JSTOR Archived December 14, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  • Williams, Mason B. City of Ambition: FDR, LaGuardia, and the Making of Modern New York (2013).

Biographies

[edit]
External videos
video icon Presentation by Cohen on Nothing to Fear, January 15, 2009, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Adam Cohen on Nothing to Fear, June 7, 2009, C-SPAN
  • Beasley, Maurine H., Holly C. Shulman, Henry R. Beasley. The Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia (2001)
  • Brands, H.W. Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (2008)
  • Charles, Searle F. Minister of Relief: Harry Hopkins and the Depression (1963)
  • Cohen, Adam, Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days that Created Modern America (2009)
  • Freidel, Frank (1990). Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny. Little, Brown. ISBN 0316292605. OCLC 1035148803.
  • Graham, Otis L. and Meghan Robinson Wander, eds. Franklin D. Roosevelt: His Life and Times. (1985). An encyclopedic reference. online
  • Ingalls, Robert P. Herbert H. Lehman and New York's Little New Deal (1975) online
  • McJimsey, George T. Harry Hopkins : ally of the poor and defender of Democracy (1987) online
  • Pederson, William D. ed. A Companion to Franklin D. Roosevelt (Blackwell Companions to American History) (2011); 35 essays by scholars; many deal with politics
  • Schwarz, Jordan A. Liberal: Adolf A. Berle and the vision of an American era (1987).
  • Sternsher, Bernard. Rexford Tugwell and the New Deal (1964) online

Economics, farms, labor and relief

[edit]
  • Bernstein, Irving. Turbulent Years: A History of the American Worker, 1933–1941 (1970), cover labor unions
  • Best, Gary Dean. Pride, Prejudice, and Politics: Roosevelt Versus Recovery, 1933–1938. (1990) ISBN 0-275-93524-8; conservative perspective
  • Blumberg, Barbara. The New Deal and the Unemployed: The View from New York City (1977).
  • Bremer, William W. "Along the American Way: The New Deal's Work Relief Programs for the Unemployed". Journal of American History 62 (December 1975): 636,52. in JSTOR Archived November 8, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
  • Brock, William R. Welfare, Democracy and the New Deal (1988), a British view
  • Burns, Helen M. The American Banking Community and New Deal Banking Reforms, 1933–1935 (1974)
  • Folsom, Burton. New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR's Economic Legacy has Damaged America (2008) ISBN 1-4165-9222-9, conservative interpretation
  • Fishback, Price. "The Newest on the New Deal" Essays in Economic & Business History 36#1 (2018) covers distribution and impact of spending and lending programs; online Archived July 17, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  • Fox, Cybelle. Three Worlds of Relief: Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State from the Progressive Era to the New Deal (2012) excerpt and text search Archived May 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  • Friedman, Milton, and Anna Jacobson Schwartz. From New Deal Banking Reform to World War II Inflation (Princeton University Press, 2014) online Archived August 3, 2020, at the Wayback Machine.
  • Gordon, Colin. New Deals: Business, Labor, and Politics, 1920–1935 (1994)
  • Grant, Michael Johnston. Down and Out on the Family Farm: Rural Rehabilitation in the Great Plains, 1929–1945 (2002)
  • Hawley, Ellis W. The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly (1966)
  • Howard, Donald S. The WPA and Federal Relief Policy (1943)
  • Huibregtse, Jon R. American Railroad Labor and the Genesis of the New Deal, 1919–1935; (University Press of Florida; 2010; 172 pp.)
  • Jensen, Richard J. (1989). "The Causes and Cures of Unemployment in the Great Depression" (PDF). Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 19 (4): 553–583. doi:10.2307/203954. JSTOR 203954. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  • Leff, Mark H. The Limits of Symbolic Reform: The New Deal and Taxation (1984)
  • Lindley, Betty Grimes and Ernest K. Lindley. A New Deal for Youth: The Story of the National Youth Administration (1938)
  • Malamud; Deborah C. "'Who They Are – or Were': Middle-Class Welfare in the Early New Deal" University of Pennsylvania Law Review v 151 No. 6 2003. pp. 2019+.
  • Meriam; Lewis. Relief and Social Security (1946). Highly detailed analysis and statistical summary of all New Deal relief programs; 912 pages online
  • Mitchell, Broadus (1947). Depression Decade: From New Era through New Deal, 1929–1941. survey by economic historian
  • Moore, James R. "Sources of New Deal Economic Policy: The International Dimension". Journal of American History 61.3 (1974): 728–744. online Archived August 2, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  • Morris, Charles R. A Rabble of Dead Money: The Great Crash and the Global Depression: 1929–1939 (PublicAffairs, 2017), 389 pp. online review Archived April 24, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
  • Myers, Margaret G. Financial History of the United States (1970). pp. 317–342. online
  • Parker, Randall E. Reflections on the Great Depression (2002) interviews with 11 leading economists
  • Powell, Jim FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression (2003) ISBN 0-7615-0165-7
  • Rosenof, Theodore. Economics in the Long Run: New Deal Theorists and Their Legacies, 1933–1993 (1997)
  • Rosen, Elliot A. Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and the Economics of Recovery (2005) ISBN 0-8139-2368-9
  • Rothbard, Murray. America's Great Depression (1963), a libertarian approach
  • Saloutos, Theodore. The American Farmer and the New Deal (1982).
  • Schwartz, Bonnie Fox. The Civil works administration, 1933–1934: the business of emergency employment in the New Deal (Princeton University Press, 2014)
  • Singleton, Jeff. The American Dole: Unemployment Relief and the Welfare State in the Great Depression (2000)
  • Skocpol, Theda; Finegold, Kenneth (1982). "State Capacity and Economic Intervention in the Early New Deal" (PDF). Political Science Quarterly. 97 (2): 255–278. doi:10.2307/2149478. JSTOR 2149478. S2CID 155685115. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2020.
  • Skocpol, Theda; Finegold, Kenneth (1977). "Explaining New Deal Labor Policy". American Political Science Review. 84 (4): 1297–1304. doi:10.2307/1963265. JSTOR 1963265. S2CID 154762341.
  • Smith, Jason Scott. Building new deal liberalism: The political economy of public works, 1933–1956 (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
  • Zelizer, Julian E. (2000). "The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal: Fiscal Conservatism and the Roosevelt Administration, 1933–1938". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 30 (2): 331–. doi:10.1111/j.0360-4918.2000.00115.x. Archived from the original on October 18, 2007.

Social and cultural history

[edit]
  • Best, Gary Dean. The Nickel and Dime Decade: American Popular Culture during the 1930s (1993) online Archived October 24, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
  • Cooney, Terry A. Balancing Acts: American Thought and Culture in the 1930s (Twayne, 1995)
  • Dass, Permeil. "Deciphering Franklin D. Roosevelt's educational policies during the Great Depression (1933-1940)" (PhD dissertation, Georgia State University, 2013) onlinw.
  • Dickstein, Morris. Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression (2009)
  • Eldridge, David Nicholas. American Culture in the 1930s (Edinburgh University Press, 2008) online Archived October 24, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
  • Kelly, Andrew. Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts, American Culture, and the Federal Art Project's Index of American Design (University Press of Kentucky, 2015)
  • McKinzie, Richard. The New Deal for Artists (1984), well illustrated scholarly study
  • Mathews, Jane De Hart (1975). "Arts and the People: The New Deal Quest for a Cultural Democracy". Journal of American History. 62 (2): 316–339. doi:10.2307/1903257. JSTOR 1903257.
  • Osnos, Evan, "Ruling-Class Rules: How to thrive in the power elite – while declaring it your enemy", The New Yorker, 29 January 2024, pp. 18–23. "In the nineteen-twenties... American elites, some of whom feared a Bolshevik revolution, consented to reform... Under Franklin D. Roosevelt... the U.S. raised taxes, took steps to protect unions, and established a minimum wage. The costs, [Peter] Turchin writes, 'were borne by the American ruling class.'... Between the nineteen-thirties and the nineteen-seventies, a period that scholars call the Great Compression, economic equality narrowed, except among Black Americans... But by the nineteen-eighties the Great Compression was over. As the rich grew richer than ever, they sought to turn their money into political power; spending on politics soared." (p. 22.) "[N]o democracy can function well if people are unwilling to lose power – if a generation of leaders... becomes so entrenched that it ages into gerontocracy; if one of two major parties denies the arithmetic of elections; if a cohort of the ruling class loses status that it once enjoyed and sets out to salvage it." (p. 23.)
  • Pells, Richard. Radical Visions and American Dreams: Culture and Social Thought in the Depression Years (1973).
  • Roddick, Nick. A New Deal in Entertainment: Warner Brothers in the 1930s (London, BFI, 1983).
  • Shlaes, Amity. The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression (2007), a conservative approach
  • Shindler, Colin. Hollywood in Crisis: Cinema and American Society, 1929–1939 (Routledge, 1996).
  • Stott, William. Documentary Expression and Thirties America (University of Chicago Press, 1973).
  • Wecter, Dixon. The Age of the Great Depression, 1929–1941 (1948), social history

Politics

[edit]
  • Alswang, John. The New Deal and American Politics (1978), voting analysis
  • Alter, Jonathan. The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope (2006), popular account
  • Badger, Anthony J. FDR: The First Hundred Days (2008)
  • Badger, Anthony J. New Deal / New South: An Anthony J. Badger Reader (2007)
  • Bernstein, Barton J. "The New Deal: The Conservative Achievements of Liberal Reform". In Barton J. Bernstein, ed., Towards a New Past: Dissenting Essays in American History, pp. 263–288. (1968), an influential New Left attack on the New Deal.
  • Best, Gary Dean. The Critical Press and the New Deal: The Press Versus Presidential Power, 1933–1938 (1993) ISBN 0-275-94350-X
  • Best, Gary Dean. Retreat from Liberalism: Collectivists versus Progressives in the New Deal Years (2002) ISBN 0-275-94656-8
  • Brinkley, Alan. The End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War. (1995) what happened after 1937
  • Cobb, James and Michael Namaroto, eds. The New Deal and the South (1984).
  • Conklin, Paul K. "The Myth of New Deal Radicalism" in Myth America: A Historical Anthology, Volume II. 1997. Gerster, Patrick, and Cords, Nicholas. (editors.) Brandywine Press, ISBN 1-881089-97-5
  • Domhoff, G. William, and Michael J. Webber. Class and Power in the New Deal: Corporate Moderates, Southern Democrats, and the Liberal-Labor Coalition (Stanford University Press; 2011) 304 pp. uses class dominance theory to examine the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and the Social Security Act.
  • Ekirch Jr., Arthur A. Ideologies and Utopias: The Impact of the New Deal on American Thought (1971)
  • Fraser, Steve and Gary Gerstle, eds., The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, (1989), essays focused on the long-term results.
  • Garraty, John A. (1973). "The New Deal, National Socialism, and the Great Depression". American Historical Review. 78 (4): 907–944. doi:10.2307/1858346. JSTOR 1858346.
  • Higgs, Robert. Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government (1987), Austrian school critique
  • Katznelson, Ira. (2013). Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time. Liveright.
  • Ladd, Everett Carll and Charles D. Hadley. Transformations of the American Party System: Political Coalitions from the New Deal to the 1970s (1975), voting behavior
  • Lowitt, Richard. The New Deal and the West (1984).
  • Maney, Patrick J. "The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Congress, 1933-1945." OAH Magazine of History 12.4 (1998): 13–19. online
  • Manza, Jeff (2000). "Political Sociological Models of the U.S. New Deal". Annual Review of Sociology. 26: 297–322. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.297.
  • Milkis, Sidney M. and Jerome M. Mileur, eds. The New Deal and the Triumph of Liberalism (2002)
  • Phillips-Fein, Kim. Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal (2009) excerpt Archived May 6, 2022, at the Wayback Machine; same book also published as Invisible hands: the making of the conservative movement from the New Deal to Reagan
  • Rauchway, Eric (July 2019). "The New Deal Was on the Ballot in 1932". Modern American History. 2 (02): 201–213. doi:10.1017/mah.2018.42.* Rosen, Eliot A. The Republican Party in the Age of Roosevelt: Sources of Anti-Government Conservatism in the United States (2014)
  • Sitkoff, Harvard. A New Deal for Blacks: The Emergence of Civil Rights as a National Issue: The Depression Decade (2008)
  • Smith, Jason Scott. Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933–1956 (2005).
  • Szalay, Michael (2000). New Deal Modernism: American Literature and the Invention of the Welfare State.
  • Tindall, George B. The Emergence of the New South, 1915–1945 (1967). survey of entire South
  • Trout, Charles H. Boston, the Great Depression, and the New Deal (1977)
  • Venn, Fiona (1998). The New Deal. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-57958-145-9.
  • Ware, Susan. Beyond Suffrage: Women and the New Deal (1981)
  • Williams, Gloria-Yvonne. (2014). "African-Americans and the Politics of Race During the New Deal". In The New Deal and the Great Depression (pp. 131–344). Kent, OH:Kent State University Press. on academia.edu author's page Archived August 16, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
  • Williams, Mason B. City of Ambition: FDR, La Guardia, and the Making of Modern New York (2013)

Primary sources

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  • Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1951 (1951) full of useful data; online Archived January 23, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  • Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970 (1976) part 1 online Archived January 20, 2013, at the Wayback Machine; part 2 online Archived January 20, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  • Cantril, Hadley and Mildred Strunk, eds. Public Opinion, 1935–1946 (1951), massive compilation of many public opinion polls online
  • Carter, Susan B. et al. eds. The Historical Statistics of the United States (6 vol: Cambridge University Press, 2006); huge compilation of statistical data; online at some universities
  • Gallup, George Horace, ed. The Gallup Poll; Public Opinion, 1935–1971 3 vol (1972) summarizes results of each poll.
  • Lowitt, Richard and Maurice Beardsley, eds. One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickock Reports on the Great Depression (1981)
  • Moley, Raymond. After Seven Years (1939), conservative memoir by ex-Brain Truster
  • Nixon, Edgar B. ed. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Foreign Affairs (3 vol 1969), covers 1933–37. 2nd series 1937–39 available on microfiche and in a 14 vol print edition at some academic libraries.
  • Rasmussen, Wayne D. ed Agriculture in the United States: a documentary history: vol 3: 1914–1940(Random House, 1975).
  • Roosevelt, Franklin D.; Rosenman, Samuel Irving, ed. The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt (13 vol, 1938, 1945); public material only (no letters); covers 1928–1945.
  • Zinn, Howard, ed. New Deal Thought (1966), a compilation of primary sources.
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