Name: 

REFORMING BANKING AND FINANCE

Roosevelt's first step as president was to carry out reforms in banking and finance . By 1933, widespread bank failures had caused most Americans to lose faith in the banking system. On March 5, one day after taking office, Roosevelt declared a bank holiday and closed all banks to prevent further withdrawals . Then he persuaded Congress to pass the Emergency Banking Relief Act, which authorized the Treasury Department to inspect the country's banks. Those that were sound could reopen at once; those that were insolvent-unable to pay their debts-would remain closed . Those that needed help could receive loans. This measure revived public confidence in banks, since customers now had greater faith that the open banks were in good financial shape.

AN IMPORTANT FIRESIDE CHAT

On March 12, the day before the first banks were to reopen, President Roosevelt boosted confidence further through the first ofhis many fireside chats. These were radio talks that Roosevelt gave occasionally about issues of public concern, explaining in clear, simple language his New Deal measures . Informal and relaxed, these talks made Americans feel as if the president were talking directly to them . In his first chat, President Roosevelt explained why the nation's welfare depended on public support of the government and the banking system . "We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system," he said. "It is up to you to support and make it work." This is how he explained the banking system .

The president then explained that when too many people demanded their savings in cash, banks would fail. This did not mean that the banks were weak, because even strong banks could not meet such heavy demands.

Over the next few weeks, many Americans returned their savings to banks . Congress took another step to reorganize the banking system by passing the Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1933. Among other provisions, this law established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which provided federal insurance for individual bank accounts of less than $5,000 . The Glass-Steagall Banking Act reassured millions of bank customers that their money was safe.  Congress and the president also took steps to regulate the stock market, which had suffered a tremendous loss of credibility in the crash of 1929. The Federal Securities Act, passed in May 1933, required corporations to provide complete information on all stock offerings and made them liable for any misrepresentations. The following year, in June 1934, Congress created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate the stock market. One of the goals of this commission was to prevent people with inside information about companies from "rigging" the stock market, causing prices to go up or down for their own profit, regardless of the real value of the stocks

In addition, Roosevelt persuaded Congress to approve a bill allowing the manufacture and sale of some alcoholic beverages . This bill included an alcohol tax designed to raise government revenues . By the end of 1933, the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment had repealed prohibition altogether.

Roosevelt went on the radio to boost the confidence of the American people. What were these radio broadcasts called?

What was the Glass Steagall Banking Act of 1933

What was the purpose of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)?

In June, 1934 Congress established the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). What was the purpose of this organization? (pick 2)

PROVIDING WORK PROJECTS

The administration also established programs to provide relief through work projects and cash payments . One important program, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), put young men, aged 18 to 25, to work building roads, developing parks, planting trees, and helping in soil erosion and flood-control projects . The CCC paid a small wage, $30 a month, of which $25 was automatically sent home to the worker's family. It also supplied free food and uniforms . By the tune the program ended in 1942, almost 3 million young men had passed through the CCC. Man- of the camps were located on the Great Plains, where, within a period of eight years, the men of the CCC planted more than 200 million trees . This tremendous reforestation program was aimed at preventing another Dust Bowl .

Another program, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), seas funded with $500 million to provide direct relief for the neadv. Half of the rnoney was given to the states as direct grants-in-aid to help fin-furnish food and clothing to the unemployed, the aged, and the ill . An additional 5250 million was distributed on the basis of one federal dollar for every three state dollars contributed. Harry Hopkins, who headed this program believed that money helped people buy food, bit work enabled them to gain confidence and self-respect 

The Public Works Administration (PWA), created in June 1933, provided money to states to create jobs. These were chiefly in the construction of schools and other community buildings . \When these programs failed to make a sufficient dent in unemployment, President Roosevelt established the Civil Works Administration (CWA) in November 1933. It provided 4 million immediate jobs during the winter of 1933-1934. Some critics of the CWA claimed that the programs were "make-work" projects and a waste of money. However, the (ANA built 40,000 schools and paid the salaries of more than 50,000 school teachers) in America's rural areas . It also built more than half a million miles of roads.  Another major initiative of the Roosevelt administration was the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), passed in June 1933. This act sought to promote industrial growth by establishing codes of fair practice for individual industries . It created the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which set prices of many products to ensure fair competition, and established standards for working hours and a ban on child labor. The aim of the NRA was to promote recovery by interrupting the trend of wage cuts,
falling prices, and layoffs .

Competing businesses met with representatives of workers and consumers to draft the codes of fair competition. These codes both limited production and established prices . Because businesses were given new concessions, workers made demands . Congress met their demands by passing a section of the NIRA guaranteeing workers' right to unionize and to bargain collectively.

Many businesses and politicians were critical of the NRA. Charges arose that the codes served large business interests. There were also charges of increasing code violations . The economist Gardiner C. Means, however, stated the goal of industrial planning.

Finally, the Roosevelt administration undertook an especially ambitious program of regional development. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), established on May 18, 1933, focused on the badly depressed Tennessee River valley. The TVA renovated five existing dams and constructed 20 new ones in the Tennessee Valley. It created thousands of jobs and provided flood control, hydroelectric power, and other benefits to an impoverished region .

What program put young men, aged 18 to 25, to work building roads, developing parks, planting trees, and helping in soil erosion and flood-control projects .

Which program set prices on products so competition would be fair?

Which program built dams to control flooding and provide electric power?

WAITING FOR ROOSEVELT

Four months would elapse between Roosevelt's victory in November and his inauguration as president in March 1933. The Twentieth Amendment, which moved presidential inaugurations to January, was not ratified until February 1933 and did not apply to the 1932 election. Americans waited anxiously to find out what plans their new president had for solving the nation's problems. Meanwhile, the economy continued to worsen . Industrial production fell; more businesses and banks shut down; and more people lost their jobs, their homes, and their farms.

FDR was not idle during this waiting period, however. He worked with his team of carefully picked advisers-a select group of professors, lawyers, and journalists known as the brain trust. Roosevelt began to formulate a set of policies for his new administration . This program, designed to alleviate the problems of the Great Depression, became known as the New Deal, from a phrase in a campaign speech in which Roosevelt had promised " a new deal for the American people ." New Deal policies focused on three general goals : relief for the needy, economic recovery, and financial reform .

On taking office, the Roosevelt administration launched into a period of intense activity, known as the Hundred Days, lasting from March 9 to June 16, 1933. During this period, Congress passed more than 15 major pieces of New Deal legislation. These laws, and others that followed, significantly expanded the federal government's role in the nation's economy.

Roosevelt got busy right away devising programs and policies to ease the effects of the Depression. What was this time period called?

Roosevelt devised a program to alleviate the problems of the Great Depression. What was his program called.

Helping the American People

While working on banking and financial matters, the Roosevelt administration implemented programs to provide relief to farmers . It also aided other workers and attempted to stimulate economic recovery.

ASSISTING FARMERS

The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) sought to raise crop prices by lowering production, which the government achieved by paying frriners to leave a certain amount of every acre of land unseeded. The theory says that reduced supply would boost prices .  In some cases crops were too far advanced for the acreage reduction to take effect . As a result, the govermnent paid cotton growers 5200 million to plow under 10 million acres of their crop. It also paid hog farmers to slaughter 6 inillion pigs. This policy upset many Americans, who protested the destnrction of food when many people were going hungry. It did, however, help raise firm prices and put more money in farmers' pockets .

HELPING PEOPLE WITH HOUSING

A number of' New Deal programs concerned housing and home mortgage problems. The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) provided government loans to homeowners who faced foreclosure because they couldn't meet their loan payments. In addition, the National Housing Act created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) . This agency continues to furnish loans for home mortgages and repairs today.

What was the FHA designed to do?

How did the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) attempt to help farmers?

Which of the following was most directly responsible for creating new jobs and putting people to work?

National Youth Administration

Wife of FDR

Which of the following reached a new high during Roosevelt’s first term
as president?

In general, the public perceived all of the following characteristics in
Roosevelt except

Spending more money than comes in

Head of the Office of Minority Affairs in the NYA

All of the following were passed during Roosevelt’s first term as president except for the

Which of the following claimed that the New Deal policies failed to adequately help the common person and proposed a social program called “Share Our Wealth”?

Which of the following pieces of New Deal legislation was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court?

Who was the first woman to serve on the cabinet?

Which of the following New Deal programs was designed not simply to promote recovery from the Depression but to actually reform the economy?

Actor, director and film maker

Federal Securities Act

Which of the following was directly responsible for creating new jobs
and putting people to work?

What role did Eleanor Roosevelt play in the Roosevelt administration?

Agricultural Adjustment Act

Agency to regulate stock markets

Author of  "The Grapes of Wrath"

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

An equal or fair amount

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the _____ President of the United States.

Voters from different groups that supported the Democratic Party because of the New Deal

Congress of Industrial Organization CIO

The New Deal attempted to increase all of the following except

National Industrial Recovery Act

Frances Perkins

Which of the following was a main objective of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)?

Civilian Conservation Corps

Glass-Stengall Banking Act of 1933

Program to provided aid to people with disabilities and pensions for retired workers.

1930's Author

Political leader fro Louisiana who criticized FDR and his programs. Was later murdered.

Who wrote the novel The Grapes of Wrath about the grim lives of Oklahomans fleeing the Dust Bowl during the Depression?

What was the first major action Roosevelt took as president?

Which of the following was a goal of the New Deal?

Which of the following pieces of New Deal legislation was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court?

Franklin Roosevelt's program to end the depression was called the _____

Works Progress Administration WPA

Wagner Act

Organization the built dams and brought electricity to poor rural areas.

Which of the following of Roosevelt’s ideas failed to become law?

All of the following were part of the New Deal Coalition except

Artist of the 30's

Famous 1939 movie about the civil war.