I. Hard Times in Hooverville
  A. Crash!
    1. The stock market crash marked the beginning of the Depression but the weakness of the New Era economy was the cause.
    2. The unequal distribution of wealth was the most damaging economic aspect as half the nation’s people lived at or below subsistence level.    
    3. The domination of the economy by oligopolies kept prices artificially high and rigid.
    4. Weaknesses in agriculture, coal, and textile industries contributed as did poor management and regulation of banks.
    5. International economic difficulties and government policies also contributed.
  B. The Depression spreads
    1. By 1930, industrial production plummeted and by 1932 was at about 50 percent of its 1929 level.
    2. By 1932,  one-fourth of the labor force was unemployed and personal income dropped by over half between 1929 and 1932.
    3. Farmers were particularly hard hit by the depression as commodity prices fell 55 percent between 1929 and 1932.  Foreclosure and eviction proliferated.
    4. Urban families were also evicted and some moved into Hoovervilles. Soup kitchens became common.
  C. “Women’s jobs” and “Men’s jobs”
    1. Working women were affected in complex ways. They were concentrated in low-paid jobs and so were less likely to be fired. But traditional attitudes to attempt to restrict employing married women prevailed.
    2. Women were not generally hired for traditional male jobs but men did displace women as teachers, social workers, and librarians.
  D. Families in the Depression
    1. Families experienced great strains. Divorce declined because of the expense but birthrates also fell.
    2. Husbands and fathers were often humiliated and despondent when fired from their jobs.
    3. Women’s responsibilities grew. The number of female-headed households increased. Some women became wage earners and others expanded household duties to lower expenses and raise money.
    4. Children not only felt the tension and fear of their parents, they also went hungry. Some stayed home for school and gave up future plans. Some left home
    5. Family conflicts increased as hopes faded.
  E. “Last hired, first fired”
    1. Racial minorities were often the last hired and first fired and so were less able to weather the economic pain.
    2. Black unemployment rates doubled those of whites.
    3. Racism limited the assistance blacks received and by 1932 most blacks were suffering acute privation.
    4. Hispanic Americans faced increasing competition for a smaller number of poor paying jobs.
    5. Almost half a million Mexican immigrants and their American-born children left the United States in the thirties.
  F. Protest
    1. Most Americans did not protest the hard times and blamed themselves for their plight.
    2. Communists, socialists, and other radical groups organized formal protests, including staging marches,  demonstrating for relief, and blocking evictions.
    3. Rural protests also erupted. Communists organized some protests but others were more informal.

II. Herbert Hoover and the Depression
   A. The failure of voluntarism
    1. Hoover fought the depression more vigorously than any past president but preferred voluntary private relief over government action.
    2. Hoover tried to use voluntary business organizations to fight the depression but was unable to secure corporate cooperation.
    3. Voluntary relief efforts fell far short and Hoover vetoed a congressional plan to aid the unemployed.
    4. As the depression worsened, Hoover pushed through a tax cut and established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to fund recovery through government loans.
  B. Repudiating Hoover: The 1932 election
    1. Hoover’s treatment of the Bonus Army symbolized his unpopularity, setting the stage for the 1932 election. Hoover refused to meet with veterans and eventually the army brutally evicted them from their shantytown camp. The public was outraged at the treatment of the Bonus Army.
    2. The Republicans nominated Hoover while the Democrats chose New York governor Franklin D. Roosevelt who promised a new deal for Americans.
    3. Though Roosevelt spoke in vague terms, he won a landslide election.
Map: The Election of 1932

III. Launching the New Deal
  A. “Action now”
    1. In his first hundred days in office, Roosevelt passed a large body of legislation.
    2. The banking crisis was addressed first by a bank holiday and passage of the Emergency Banking Act. Prompt action and a fireside chat over the radio restored confidence in the banks.
    3. The Glass-Steagall Act reformed the financial industry and created the Securities Exchange Commission.
    4. Other measures included the Home Owners Loan Corporation and the Farm Credit Administration.
  B. Creating jobs
    1. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration furnished funds to state and local agencies for relief.
    2. The Civil Works Administration create jobs for 4 million workers on construction and other jobs.
    3. The Public Works Administration also provided work relief.
    4. The Civilian Conservation Corps employed 2.5 million young men to work on reforestation, flood control, and other environmental projects.
  C. Helping some farmers
    1. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration subsidized farmers not to plant crops and so reduce surpluses.
    2. Agricultural conditions improved and gross farm income rose by half by 1935.
    3. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration helped large commercial farmers but harmed small farmers.
    4. In 1936, the Supreme Court declared the Agricultural Adjustment Administration unconstitutional but other laws retained the farm subsidy program.
  D. The flight of the blue eagle
    1. The National Industrial Recovery Act created the National Recovery Administration to revive industry.
    2. The NRA suspended antitrust laws and attempted to have industrial and trade association draft production, pricing, wage, and working conditions codes.
    3. Labor was provided the right to organize unions and bargain collectively.
    4. Large businesses in particular misused the provisions of the NRA causing support to wane.
  E. Critics right and left
    1. Conservatives claimed that the New Deal had expanded government activity and increased regulation weakened the autonomy of American business. Industrialists and bankers organized the American Liberty League to attack the New Deal.
    2. Critics on the Left claimed the New Deal had not reached the poor, including racial minorities. Strikes increased dramatically and at times erupted into violence as employers used brutal methods to against the strikers.
    3. Francis Townsend promoted plan for a government pension for the elderly while Father Coughlin mixed anti-Semitism with demands for social justice.
    4. Huey Long’s Share-Our-Wealth Society posed the biggest threat to FDR.

IV. Consolidating the New Deal
  A. Weeding out and lifting up
    1. The Wagner Act guaranteed workers the right to organize union and banned employers from using unfair labor practices. The National Labor Relations Board enforced the Wagner Act.
    2. The Social Security Act provided unemployment compensation,  old-age pensions, and aid for dependent mothers and children and     the blind.
    3. The Banking Act of 1935 increased the authority of the Federal Reserve Board over currency and the nation’s credit system. The Revenue Act of 1935 provided for a graduated income tax and increased estate and corporate taxes.
    4. The Resettlement Administration focused on land reform and help for poor farmers, many suffering from the Dust Bowl.
Map: The Dust Bowl
  B. Expanding relief
    1. In 1935, the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act authorized $5 billion for emergency public employment.
    2. The Works Progress Administration gave jobs to 9 million people in such diverse pursuits as building hospitals, parks, and sewer systems, and the arts.
    3. The National Youth Administration gave part-time jobs to students.
  C. The Roosevelt coalition and the election of 1936
    1. The 1936 election supplied Americans with an opportunity to vote on FDR and the New Deal.
    2. The Republicans nominated Alf Landon.
    3. The New Deal had created a strong coalition of white Southerners, western farmers, labor, urban ethnic groups, and women.
    4. Eleanor Roosevelt attracted as much support from women as her husband did.
    5. Roosevelt won in a landslide.

V. The New Deal and American Life
  A. Labor on the march
    1. Government support and worker determination fueled the labor revival.
    2. The Wagner Act stimulated the organization of workers into unions that overwhelmed the craft-based American Federal of Labor.
    3. To organize industry-wide unions., the AFL formed the Committee for Industrial Organization to unionize workers in the steel, auto, and rubber industries.
    4. In 1937, the Congress of Industrial Organizations was formed as a separate group and won major victories in the auto and steel industries. The struggles were bitter and at times violent, including the Memorial Day Massacre in 1937 when  police fired on strikers and their families killing ten people.
  B. Women and the New Deal
    1. Relief programs produced mixed results for women. Men’s programs were stressed and women received less relief and lower pay. WPA programs emphasized traditional ideas on women’s work.
    2. The NRA and Social Security Act also discriminate against women.
    3. Women did gain political influence as they helped develop and implement New Deal social legislation.
    4. Women also served at high levels in the Roosevelt administration. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins was the first woman cabinet member.
  C. Minorities and the New Deal
    1. The New Deal’s record on racial issues was limited because FDR needed the support of Southern Democrats.
    2. Agencies like the CCC and NRA discriminated against blackss. They did benefit from New Deal         programs as they provided relief to many and helped sharpen their sense of citizenship.
    3. Key New Deal figures also campaigned against racial discrimination.  Blacks campaigned for reforms leading FDR to prohibit discrimination in some agencies.
    4. Native Americans also benefited as federal policy was refocused to support traditional culture.
    5. Hispanic Americans received less aid from the New Deal.
 D. The New Deal: North, South, East, and West
   1. The New Deal’s agricultural programs helped southern agriculture advance and the FERA and WPA improved southern city sewer systems, airports, bridges, roads, and harbors.
    2. The Tennessee Valley Authority coordinated activities across seven states to control floods and generate hydroelectricity, among other things. The Rural Electrification Administration extended power to rural areas.
    3. The West received the most per capita aid in welfare, relief projects and loans. The Bureau of Reclamation built huge dams to control western river systems and promote large-scale development.
Map: The Tennessee Valley Authority
  E. The New Deal and public activism
    1. The New Deal programs often helped groups to shape public policy and social and economic behavior by fostering grass roots democracy.
    2. The AAA set up committees comprised of more than 100,000 people to implement agricultural policy and perform other services.
    3. In urban areas, public housing projects were initiated locally. Unions, religious and civic groups, neighborhood associations, and civil rights groups formed associations to overcome the hostility of bankers and realty agents to public housing.

VI. Ebbing of the New Deal
  A. Challenging the court
    1. the Supreme Court declared several important measures unconstitutional
    2. FDR sought to restructure the federal judiciary. His court-packing attempt failed and helped split the New Deal coalition.
  B. More Hard Times
    1. After federal expenditures were cut to help balance the budget, a sharp recession occurred in 1937 that led to increased spending.
  C. Political stalemate
    1. The recession strengthened the New Deal opponents and the conservative congressional leadership blocked most new reforms.

VII. Good Neighbors and Hostile Forces
    A. Roosevelt extended the Good Neighbor policy in Latin America    
     1. relations were strained due to the economic depression and U.S. support of dictators.
  B. Neutrality and fascism
    1. As the threats of fascism and Nazism grew, Roosevelt tried to educate the American public on the potential danger.
    2. Most Americans desired peace at all costs and resisted involvement in European affairs.
    3. U.S. relations with Japan were strained by Japanese aggression in East Asia.
  C. Edging toward involvement
    1. After the Munich agreement, FDR shifted focus toward preparing for war, fearing conflict was inevitable in Europe.
    2. FDR moved to revise the neutrality.

VIII. Conclusion
•  The Great Depression and the New Deal mark a major divide in American history.
•  The depression cast doubt on traditional economic, social, and political attitudes, policies, and practices.
•  The New Deal brought partial economic recovery but also expanded the roles of the federal government and the presidency.
•  The New Deal also revitalized the Democratic Party.