US History Midterm Module 9: The New Deal

He attempted reform programs on a smaller scale as Governor of New York.

The previous president was voted out, and lacked political power to address the Great Depression.

They believed that Roosevelt could bring change and that Hoover could not.
Hoover’s ideological commitment to free market ideas contributed to the sense that he was unwilling to make the changes necessary to stem the tide of the Great Depression.

Roosevelt signed into law a number of relief and reform programs that would go on to serve as models for the national scope of the New Deal. Roosevelt’s program of supplying public works jobs as governor of New York foreshadowed his approach to handling the Depression as president.

He was a depression-era Governor of New York.

The Civil Works Administration

This program put millions of Americans to work repairing and improving the nation’s infrastructure.

It contributed to the eviction of tenant farmers.
Many of the agricultural subsidies went to land owners, rather than the farmers who worked the land. With many farmers being paid to not produce crops, landless tenant farmers were often let go from their jobs.

Businesses could establish codes otherwise outlawed by antitrust rules.
The NIRA was framed as a give-and-take between benefits to business owners and ordinary workers.

He held a series of casual speeches over the radio.
History would remember these addresses as the “fireside chats,” where Roosevelt adopted a more personal style that resonated with members of the public who were frightened by the Great Depression, but unsure of the proposals for recovery.

It required the destruction of livestock and crops at a time when many were starving.
In order to keep crop and livestock prices high, the problem of excess supply required a solution. Killing a portion of the livestock and destroying a portion of the crop yield was seen by New Deal administrators as the best solution.

Trust banks and put their savings in them.
Roosevelt used his first 100 days to audit the stability of many of the nation’s banks. Even after his “bank holiday,” Americans were still skittish about using banks, given the volatility of the Depression and the frequency of bank failures during its first four years.

Reform the banking system and put people to work. The First New Deal’s twin goals were to reform banking (and thus increase consumer confidence) while also working to help Americans find jobs. The unemployment rate was hovering around 25% at the time of Roosevelt’s inauguration.

To raise crop prices by creating scarcity and demand. Farmers were in dire straits because of farm surpluses. Because the supply was so great and the demand remained fairly steady, prices plummeted, endangering the livelihood of many farmers. By limiting the supply, it was hoped that farm prices would rise to a sustainable level.

educational programs that emphasized better farming techniques and job skills.
While the TVA provided irrigation and electricity, President Roosevelt also hoped to educate farmers on newer farming techniques that would make the land more productive and prevent the soil exhaustion caused by earlier generations of farming.

How his programs would combat the Great Depression.

Roosevelt’s agenda was dependent on White Southerners in Congress
Southerners in Congress were almost entirely Democrats at the time and controlled many of the committees that would need to write and vet the laws that made up Roosevelt’s agenda. Pushing for racial equality would have alienated these allies, and endangered the New Deal.

a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States of America between 1933 and 1939.

The First New Deal provided immediate relief, and the Second New Deal provided a social safety net.

The First New Deal was focused on providing jobs and other forms of immediate assistance to Americans (such as agricultural subsidies).

The New Deal did not go far enough to provide aid for needy Americans.
While the New Deal is usually considered a hallmark of liberal reform, many of its critics attacked it from the Left, arguing that it did not do enough to alleviate the dire poverty triggered by the Great Depression.

Roosevelt appointed a woman to serve as a cabinet secretary.

The Second New Deal provided for future insecurities, via such programs as Social Security.

It reversed policies that expected assimilation into American culture. Native American policy under Roosevelt promoted more self-government and encouraged preservation of their heritage, a sharp contrast from earlier programs that demanded assimilation into mainstream society.

“Franklin Roosevelt’s female advisors used their experiences as women to shape New Deal policy.”
This is a good thesis statement because it stakes out a clear argument that one can debate, and which can be backed up with historical evidence.

It ties a paragraph to the overall argument.
A key sentence will not only signal a specific point to the reader, but will often tie that point to the overall argument being made.

a thesis statement.
One element that is almost always included in a standard historical essay is a clear, discernible thesis statement that makes it plain to the reader what is being argued.

A number of banks failed during the final months of Hoover’s presidency.
With the country having shown their lack of confidence in Hoover, the defeated incumbent did not have the mandate (or the ideological inclination) to take bold action to spur recovery in the four months between his defeat and Roosevelt’s inauguration.

Given his poor health, he sympathized with Americans suffering during the Depression.
Roosevelt’s lived experiences with disability allowed him greater insight into the hopelessness many Americans felt in the throes of the Great Depression.

It provided artists and writers with jobs during the Great Depression. People who studied the humanities were especially hard hit by the Depression, and this project gave commissions to artists, writers, and musicians. Because the intelligentsia and the artist community played such an oversized role in the Russian Revolution, the Roosevelt administration wanted to avoid similar unrest by providing jobs to this section of the public.

The New Deal was eroding traditional American values such as self-reliance.
Many critiques of the New Deal from the Right emphasized that these programs were a radical shift from the traditional expectations of government. By using the power of the federal government to meet Americans’ basic needs, some conservatives worried that customary American values were endangered.

Jobs programs like the WPA and CCC encouraged men to apply, and for women to make room for men seeking employment.

The Supreme Court struck down many provisions of the “First New Deal”.

Civil rights for Black Americans.
Eleanor Roosevelt worked closely with civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and lobbied for an anti-lynching law.

It was funded by payroll taxes, rather than being a direct handout.

It reversed policies that expected assimilation into American culture.

“Franklin Roosevelt’s female advisors used their experiences as women to shape New Deal policy.”

Placing your evidence in its proper historical context.

It ties a paragraph to the overall argument.

The author writes as if they are an expert on the subject.

It clearly presents the main idea of the essay.