The New Deal PDF - History Textbook

Module 10 The New Deal Essential Question What should be the role of the government of the United States during economic crises? About the Photograph: This photograph In...

Module 10 The New Deal Essential Question What should be the role of the government of the United States during economic crises? About the Photograph: This photograph In this module you will learn about the programs of the New Deal and shows men at work on a project funded the impact that these programs had on the nation. by the Civil Works Administration (CWA). President Franklin D. Roosevelt initated What You Will Learn... the CWA and similar programs to combat Lesson 1: A New Deal Fights the Depression.............. 440 The Big Idea After becoming president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt unemployment during the Great Depression. used government programs to combat the Depression. Lesson 2: The Second New Deal...................... 449 Explore ONLINE! The Big Idea The Second New Deal included new programs to extend federal aid and stimulate the nation’s economy. VIDEOS, including... Lesson 3: New Deal, New Opportunities................ 459 FDR’s New Deal The Big Idea New Deal policies and actions affected various social FDR’s First Inaugural Address and ethnic groups. FDR Delivers First Fireside Chat Lesson 4: Culture in the 1930s....................... 466 The Tennessee Valley The Big Idea Motion pictures, radio, art, and literature blossomed Authority Act during the New Deal. The National Recovery Lesson 5: The Impact of the New Deal.................. 472 The Big Idea The New Deal affected American society not only in the Administration 1930s but also in the decades that followed. Eleanor Roosevelt War of the Worlds Document-Based Investigations Graphic Organizers Interactive Games Video Carousel: Opponents of the New Deal Carousel: Art of the New Deal Era 438 Module 10 Timeline of Events 1932–1941 Explore ONLINE! United States Events World Events 1932 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt is inaugurated. 1933 Hitler and the Nazi Party come to power in Germany. 1934 Congress creates the SEC to regulate the stock market. 1934 Indian Reorganization Act is passed. 1935 Mussolini leads Italian invasion of Ethiopia. 1935 Congress passes the Social Security Act. 1935 British Parliament passes the Government of India Act. 1936 President 1936 Civil war begins in Spain. Roosevelt is reelected. 1937 Japan invades northern China. 1937 Labor unions begin using sit-down strikes. 1937 The Hindenburg explodes. 1938 Route 66 is completed, linking Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California. 1939 The Wizard of Oz is 1939 Germany invades Poland. released in movie theaters. 1939 Mahatma Gandhi begins protesting British rule in India. 1940 President Roosevelt 1940 The 1940 Summer Olympics in Tokyo are cancelled. is elected a third time. 1941 The New Deal 439  Lesson 1 A New Deal Fights the Depression One American’s Story The Big Idea As the Depression dragged on, Keith Hufford had lost most hope After becoming president, of ever finding work. Then President Roosevelt began creating Franklin Delano Roosevelt used programs to employ young, able men like Hufford. Through one government programs to com- bat the Depression. of these programs, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Hufford found work protecting Utah forests. Finally, he was able to help his Why It Matters Now family financially. He recalled how his CCC job gave him a new sense Americans still benefit from New of purpose after unsuccessfully looking for work for so long. Deal programs, such as bank and stock market regulations and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Key Terms and People Franklin Delano Roosevelt New Deal Glass-Steagall Act Federal Securities Act Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) CCC workers clear brush and plant seedlings in an Idaho forest. deficit spending Huey Long “You must go through the actual experience before you can really understand the hopeless state of mind most of the pro- spective members of the CCC were in when we... tramped half-heartedly into the forests and fields to plant and cut trees, build dams, lime kilns, fire breaks and trails, control insect pests, tree diseases, and risk our lives... A great deal of credit must be given to the boys for... the enthusiasm and zest with which they attacked a new project, anxious to get it completed... and in the meantime, secure in their knowledge the folks “back home” had a small, but helpful income.” —Keith Hufford, quoted in “CCC in Utah” President Roosevelt’s programs raised the hopes of the American peo- ple. To many, it appeared as if the country had turned a corner. It was beginning to emerge from the nightmare of the Great Depression. 440 Module 10 Americans Get a New Deal The 1932 presidential election showed that Americans were clearly ready for a change. The Depression had robbed people of work, food, and hope. ELECTING FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT The Republicans renomi- nated President Hoover. But they recognized he had little chance of win- ning. Too many Americans blamed Hoover for doing too little about the Depression. They wanted a new president. The Democrats pinned their hopes on Franklin Delano Roosevelt, known popularly as FDR. He was the two-term governor of New York and a distant cousin of former president Theodore Roosevelt. As governor, FDR had proved an effective, reform-minded leader, work- ing to combat unemployment and poverty. Unlike Hoover, Roosevelt possessed a “can-do” attitude and projected an air of friendliness and con- fidence. This attitude attracted voters. Indeed, Roosevelt won an overwhelming victory. He captured nearly 23 million votes to Hoover’s nearly 16 million. In the Senate, Democrats claimed a nearly two-thirds majority. In the House, they won almost three- fourths of the seats. It was their greatest victory since before the Civil War. WAITING FOR ROOSEVELT TO TAKE OVER Four months would elapse between Roosevelt’s victory in the November election and his inaugura- tion as president in March 1933. The Twentieth Amendment, which moved presidential inaugurations to January, was not ratified until February 1933. It therefore did not apply to the 1932 election. FDR was not idle during this waiting period, however. He worked with his team of carefully picked advisers—a select group of professors, law- yers, and journalists that came to be known as the “Brain Trust.” Roosevelt began to formulate a set of policies for his new administration. This pro- gram, designed to alleviate the problems of the Great Depression, became known as the New Deal. The term originated in a campaign speech when 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. THE HUNDRED DAYS Roosevelt knew that for the New Deal to be able to improve the U.S. economy, he first needed to reestablish Americans’ con- fidence. His inauguration speech in 1933 was one of his first steps to do so. He reminded Americans that their fears for their economic future were unfounded and concerned “only material things.” “This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjus- tified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt, from his first Inaugural Address, 1933 The New Deal 441  BIOGRAPHY Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) Born into an old, wealthy New A niece of Theodore Roosevelt York family, Franklin Delano and a distant cousin of her Roosevelt entered politics husband, Franklin, Eleanor as a state senator in 1910 Roosevelt lost her parents at and later became assistant an early age. She was raised by secretary of the navy. In 1921 a strict grandmother. he was stricken with polio and became partially paralyzed As First Lady, she often urged from the waist down. He struggled to regain the the president to take stands on controversial issues use of his legs, and he eventually learned to stand and was even influential in his policymaking. A with the help of leg braces. popular public speaker, Eleanor was particularly interested in child welfare, housing reform, Roosevelt became governor of New York in 1928, and equal rights for women and minorities. In and because he “would not allow bodily disability presenting a booklet on human rights to the to defeat his will,” he went on to the White House United Nations in 1958, she said, “Where, after in 1933. Always interested in people, Roosevelt all, do human rights begin?... [In] the world of gained greater compassion for others as a result of the individual person: the neighborhood... the his own physical disability. school... the factory, farm or office where he works.” Immediately upon taking office, the Roosevelt administration launched 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, signifi- cantly expanded the federal government’s role in the nation’s economy and in citizens’ lives. They also changed the relationship between the federal and state governments. Roosevelt’s first step as president was to reform 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 withdraw- als. 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 gave the first of his many fireside chats—radio talks about issues of public concern, explaining in clear, simple language his New Deal measures. These informal talks made Americans feel as if the president were talking directly to them. In his first chat, Roosevelt took time to calm Americans’ fears about the bank crisis. He acknowledged that closing the banks had caused stress and hardship. But he reassured his 442 Module 10  listeners that the banks would reopen and the American financial system would return as strong as ever. As Roosevelt explained, the banking crisis was caused in large part by panic. When too many people demanded their savings in cash, banks would fail. This was not because banks were weak but because even strong banks could not meet such heavy demands. Over the next few weeks, many Americans returned their savings to banks. REGULATING BANKING AND FINANCE Congress took another step to reorganize the banking system by passing the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. This act established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The FDIC provided federal insurance for individual bank accounts of up to $5,000, reassuring millions of bank customers that their money was safe. It also required banks to act cautiously with their customers’ money. Congress and the president also worked to regulate the stock market, in which people had lost faith because of 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. In June 1934 Congress created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate the stock market. One goal of this commission was to prevent people with inside information about compa- Reading Check Summarize What nies from “rigging” the stock market for their own profit. were the three main In addition, Roosevelt persuaded Congress to approve a bill allowing the categories of the manufacture and sale of some alcoholic beverages. The bill’s main purpose programs and actions of Roosevelt’s New was to raise government revenues by taxing alcohol. By the end of 1933, Deal? the Twenty-First Amendment had repealed prohibition altogether. Document-Based Investigation Historical Source First Fireside Chat In the first of his popular radio “When you deposit money in a bank the bank broadcasts known as fireside chats, does not put the money into a safe deposit vault. President Roosevelt encouraged It invests your money... to keep the wheels Americans not to lose faith in the of industry and agriculture turning around. A banking system. Understanding that comparatively small part of the money that you put the complexities of modern banking into the bank is kept in currency—an amount which were a mystery to most people, he in normal times is wholly sufficient to cover the sought to explain the system in simple cash needs of the average citizen.... Some of our terms. At the same time, he stressed to bankers had shown themselves either incompetent his listeners the vital role of banks in or dishonest in the handling of the people’s maintaining the American way of life. funds.... And so it became the Government’s job to straighten out this situation and do it as quickly as possible.” Analyze Historical Sources —Franklin D. Roosevelt, from a Fireside Chat, March 12, 1933 According to Roosevelt, why is the money invested in banks important to the U.S. economy? The New Deal 443  Helping the American People While working on banking and financial matters, the Roosevelt adminis- tration also focused on other ways to stimulate economic recovery and to aid Americans. RURAL ASSISTANCE Having suffered the double blow of the drought in the Dust Bowl and the national economic crisis, farmers were perhaps the hardest hit by the Depression. The government soon implemented several rural assistance programs to aid them. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) sought to raise crop prices by lowering production. The government achieved this goal by paying farmers to leave a certain amount of every acre of land unseeded. The theory was that reduced supply would boost prices. In some cases, crops were too far advanced for the acreage reduc- tion to take effect. As a result, the government paid cotton growers $200 million to plow under 10 million acres of their crop. It also paid hog farm- Vocabulary ers to slaughter 6 million pigs. These subsidies upset many Americans, subsidy financial who protested the destruction of food when many people were going hun- assistance, such as that granted by a gry. It did, however, help raise farm prices and put more money in farmers’ government to a pockets. private enterprise Several New Deal programs focused specifically on the impoverished Tennessee River Valley. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), established on May 18, 1933, was particularly ambitious. The TVA renovated five existing dams and constructed 20 new ones, created thousands of jobs, and provided flood control, hydroelectric power, and other benefits to the region. The government also established the Cumberland Homesteads in eastern Tennessee. There, hundreds of poor families were resettled on small farms and worked in community-owned businesses. The community never attracted enough good-paying jobs, however, and the ven- ture ultimately failed. PROVIDING WORK PROJECTS The administra- tion 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. CCC members built roads, developed parks, planted trees, and helped in soil-erosion and flood-control projects. By the time the program ended in 1942, almost 3 million young men had passed through the CCC. The CCC paid a small wage, $30 a month, of which $25 was automatically sent home to the worker’s fam- ily. It also supplied free food and uniforms and lodging in work camps. Many of the camps were located on the Great Plains, where, within a This 1933 cartoon depicts Roosevelt spurring on a slow-moving Congress with his many reform policies. period of eight years, the men of the CCC planted more than 200 million trees. This tremendous 444 Module 10 Civilian Conservation Corps The CCC provided almost 3 million men aged 18–25 with work and wages between 1933 and 1942. The men lived in work camps under a strict regime. The majority of the camps were racially segregated. By 1938 the CCC had an 11 percent African American enrollment. Accomplishments of the CCC include planting over 3 billion trees, developing over 800 state parks, and building more than 46,000 bridges. reforestation program was aimed at preventing another Dust Bowl. Another major CCC project took place in Florida, where CCC workers built the 100-mile Overseas Highway to link Miami and Key West. The new highway was needed to replace the railroad—destroyed in a 1935 hurri- cane—that once linked these tourist destinations. The Public Works Administration (PWA) was created in June 1933 as part of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). The PWA provided money to states to create jobs chiefly in the construction of schools and other community buildings. When these programs failed to make a suf- ficient 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 CWA built 40,000 schools and paid the salaries of more than 50,000 schoolteachers in America’s rural areas. It also built more than half a million miles of roads. PROMOTING FAIR PRACTICES The NIRA also sought to promote indus- trial growth by establishing codes of fair practice for individual industries. It created the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which set prices of many products and established standards. The aim of the NRA was to promote recovery by interrupting the trend of wage cuts, falling prices, and layoffs. Economist Gardiner C. Means attempted to justify the NRA by stating the goal of industrial planning. “The National Recovery Administration [was] created in response to an overwhelming demand from many quarters that certain elements in the making of industrial policy... should no longer be left to the market place and the price mechanism but should be placed in the hands of administrative bodies.” —Gardiner C. Means, from “Industrial Prices and Their Relative Inflexibility” The New Deal 445  The codes of fair practice had been drafted in joint meetings of businesses and representatives of workers and consumers. These codes limited produc- tion 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 criticized the NRA. Some charged that the codes served large business interests. There were also charges of increas- ing code violations. FOOD, CLOTHING, AND SHELTER A number of New Deal programs con- cerned housing and home mortgage problems. The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) provided government loans to homeowners who faced foreclosure because they couldn’t make their loan payments. In addition, the 1934 National Housing Act created the Federal Housing Administra- tion (FHA). This agency continues to furnish loans for home mortgages and repairs today. Another program, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), was funded with $500 million to provide direct relief for the needy. Half of the money was given to the states as direct grants-in-aid to help furnish food and clothing to the unemployed, the aged, and the ill. The rest was dis- Reading Check tributed to states to support work relief programs. For every $3 within the Contrast How did state program, FERA donated $1. Harry Hopkins, who headed this program, the goals of the AAA, CCC, NIRA, and believed that, whereas money helped people buy food, it was meaningful FERA differ? work that enabled them to gain confidence and self-respect. The New Deal Comes Under Attack By the end of the Hundred Days, millions of Americans had benefited from the New Deal programs. The public’s confidence in the nation’s future had rebounded as well. The government’s policy of deficit spending—spending more money than it receives in revenue—was stimulating economic recov- ery, despite putting the government deeply into debt. With more of their own money in their hands, consumers could buy goods and services and thus fuel economic growth. Although President Roosevelt agreed to deficit spending, he did so reluc- tantly. He regarded it as a necessary evil to be used only at a time of great economic crisis. Nevertheless, the New Deal did not end the Depression, and opposition grew among some parts of the population. Liberal critics worried that the New Deal would not go far enough to help the poor and to reform the nation’s economic system. Conservative critics argued that Roosevelt’s direct relief plan would cost the government too much. They also believed that he would use New Deal policies to control business and socialize the economy. Conservatives were particularly angered by laws such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act, which they believed gave the federal government too much control over agriculture and industry. Many critics believed the New Deal would interfere with the workings of a free-market economy. 446 Module 10  THE SUPREME COURT REACTS By the mid-1930s conservative opposition to the New Deal had received a boost from two Supreme Court decisions. In 1935 the Court ruled the NIRA unconstitutional. It declared that the law upset the established system of checks and balances by giving legislative powers to the execu- tive branch. Additionally, the Court said that the enforcement of industry codes within states went beyond the federal government’s constitutional pow- ers to regulate interstate commerce. The next year, the Supreme Court struck down the AAA on the grounds that agriculture is a local matter and should be regulated by the states rather than by the federal government. President Roosevelt feared that further Court deci- sions might dismantle the New Deal. To prevent such a Court action, in February 1937 he asked Congress to enact a court reform bill. If passed, the bill would reor- ganize the federal judiciary and allow FDR to appoint six new Supreme Court justices. Most observers saw Roosevelt proposed a court reform bill that would essentially have allowed him to “pack” the Court with this bill as a clumsy effort to “pack” the Supreme judges supportive of the New Deal. This political cartoon Court with friendly justices. They also viewed it as a shows Roosevelt as a sea captain ordering a shocked dangerous attempt to upset the constitutional balance Congress to change course. of power. Some of the Supreme Court’s rulings had been based on the belief that the executive branch had usurped too much legislative power. The court reform bill would further shift the relation- ship between the branches by allowing the executive to use legislation to interfere with judicial independence. As it turned out, the president got his way without reorganizing the judiciary. In 1937 an elderly justice retired, and Roosevelt appointed the liberal Hugo S. Black, shifting the balance of the Court. Rulings of the Court began to favor the New Deal. Over the next four years, because of further resignations, Roosevelt was able to appoint seven new justices. THREE FIERY CRITICS In 1934 some of the strongest conservative oppo- nents of the New Deal banded together to form an organization called the American Liberty League. The American Liberty League opposed New Deal measures that it believed violated respect for the rights of individuals and property. Three of the toughest critics the president faced, however, were three men who expressed views that appealed to poor Americans: Charles Coughlin, Dr. Francis Townsend, and Huey Long. Every Sunday, Father Charles Coughlin, a Roman Catholic priest from a suburb of Detroit, broadcast radio sermons that combined economic, politi- cal, and religious ideas. Initially a supporter of the New Deal, Coughlin soon Vocabulary nationalization turned against Roosevelt. He favored a guaranteed annual income and the conversion nationalization of banks. At the height of his popularity, Father Cough- from private to lin claimed a radio audience of as many as 40–45 million people, but his governmental ownership increasingly anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish) views eventually cost him support. The New Deal 447  Another critic was Dr. Francis Townsend, a physician and health officer in Long Beach, California. He believed that Roosevelt wasn’t doing enough to help the poor and elderly, so he devised a pension plan that would pro- vide monthly benefits to the aged. The plan found strong backing among the elderly, thus undermining their support for Roosevelt. Perhaps the most serious challenge to the New Deal came from Sena- tor Huey Long of Louisiana. Like Coughlin, Long was an early supporter of the New Deal. But he, too, turned against Roosevelt. Eager to win the presidency for himself, Long proposed a nationwide social program called Share-Our-Wealth. Under the banner slogan “Every Man a King,” he prom- ised something for everyone. “We owe debts in America today, public and private, amounting to $252 billion. That means that every child is born with a $2,000 debt tied around his neck.... We propose that children shall be born in a land of opportunity, guaranteed a home, food, clothes, and the other things that make for living, including the right to education.” —Huey Long, quoted in Record, 74 Congress, Session 1 Long’s Share-Our-Wealth program was very popular. By 1935 he boasted of having perhaps as many as 27,000 Share-Our-Wealth clubs and Reading Check Contrast How 7.5 million members. That same year, however, at the height of his popu- did liberal and larity, Long was assassinated by a lone gunman. conservative critics As the initial impetus of the New Deal began to wane, President Roos- differ in their opposition to the New evelt started to look ahead. He knew that much more needed to be done to Deal? help the people and to solve the nation’s economic problems. Lesson 1 Assessment 1. Organize Information In a two-column chart, list 4. Draw Conclusions Why do you think Roosevelt’s first problems that President Roosevelt confronted and act as president was to try to restore confidence in the how he tried to solve them. nation’s banking system? 5. Predict How do you think the NIRA would affect Problems Solutions interactions between labor unions and business? 6. Analyze Issues Why did some critics see Roosevelt’s court reform bill as an attempt to upset the constitutional balance of power? 7. Form Opinions Do you think Roosevelt was wrong to try to “pack” the Supreme Court with those in favor of Write a paragraph telling which solution had the the New Deal? Explain your answer. greatest impact and why. 2. Key Terms and People For each key term or person in the lesson, write a sentence explaining its significance. 3. Evaluate Of the New Deal programs discussed in this lesson, which do you consider the most important? Explain your choice. Think About: the type of assistance offered by each program the scope of each program the short-term and long-term impact of each program 448 Module 10  Lesson 2 The Second New Deal One American’s Story The Big Idea Dorothea Lange was a photographer who documented American The Second New Deal included life during the Great Depression and the New Deal. Lange spent new programs to extend federal considerable time getting to know her subjects—destitute migrant aid and stimulate the nation’s economy. workers—before she and her assistant set up their cameras. Why It Matters Now Second New Deal programs “So often it’s just sticking around continue to assist homebuyers, and remaining there, not swoop- farmers, workers, and the elderly ing in and swooping out in a in the 2000s. cloud of dust.... We found our Key Terms and People way in... not too far away Eleanor Roosevelt from the people we were work- Works Progress Administration ing with.... The people who (WPA) are garrulous and wear National Youth Administration their heart on their (NYA) sleeve and tell you Wagner Act everything, that’s Social Security Act one kind of person. But the fellow who’s hiding behind a tree and hoping you don’t Dorothea Lange taking photographs on the see him, is the fel- Texas plains in 1934 low that you’d better find out why.” —Dorothea Lange, quoted in Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange Lange also believed that her distinct limp, the result of a childhood case of polio, worked to her advantage. Seeing that Lange, too, had suffered, people were kind to her and more at ease. Federal agencies, such as the Farm Security Administration, which was established to alleviate rural poverty, funded much of Lange’s work. Her photographs of migrant workers helped draw atten- tion to the desperate conditions in rural America. They also helped underscore the need for direct relief. The New Deal 449  The Second Hundred Days By 1935 the Roosevelt administration was trying to build on the pro- grams established during the Hundred Days. Although the economy had improved, the gains were not as great as the president had expected. Unemployment remained high despite government work programs. And production still lagged behind the levels of the 1920s. Nevertheless, the New Deal was popular. And President Roosevelt launched a second burst of activity, often called the Second New Deal or the Second Hundred Days. During this phase, the president called on Con- gress to provide more extensive relief for both farmers and workers. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a social reformer who com- bined her deep humanitarian impulses with great political skills, prodded her husband in this direction. Throughout FDR’s first Hundred Days, Eleanor Roosevelt had used her influence in the Democratic National Committee to urge the administration to appoint women to government positions. In addition, she made sure that the New Deal included relief programs for women, as well as for men. She continued to focus on social issues during FDR’s second term. She traveled the country, observing social conditions. She also reminded the president about the continuing suffering throughout the country. She lobbied for civil rights and workers’ rights as well. Rexford Tugwell, one of the president’s top advisers, later said of the First Lady’s influence, “It would be impossible to say how often and to what extent American gov- ernmental processes have been turned in new directions because of her determination.” Eleanor Roosevelt visits a children’s hospital REELECTING FDR The Second New Deal was underway by the in 1937. 1936 presidential election. The Republicans nominated Alfred Landon, the governor of Kansas, while the Democrats, of course, nomi- nated President Roosevelt. The election resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Democrats, who won the presidency and large majorities in Reading Check both houses. The election marked the first time that most African Ameri- Summarize Why cans had voted Democratic rather than Republican. It also marked the first did Roosevelt launch the Second Hundred time that labor unions gave united support to a presidential candidate. Days? The 1936 election was a vote of confidence in FDR and the New Deal. Helping Farmers Farmers were still in crisis as Roosevelt won reelection. Many were still suffering from the environmental disaster in the Dust Bowl. In addition, two of every five farms in the United States were mortgaged, and many farmers had defaulted on their loans. Thousands of these farm owners became tenant farmers when they lost their land to the banks. Making the farmers’ situation even harder was the fact that some owners of large farms were replacing workers with tractors and other automated farm machines. An official from a farmers’ association in Oklahoma described the effect of automation on poor tenant farmers in his state: 450 Module 10  “In Creek County... we have the record of one land-owner purchasing 3 tractors and forcing 31 of his 34 tenants and croppers from the land. Most of these families left the State when neither jobs nor relief could be secured. This is over 10 families per machine, 10 families who must quit their profession and seek employment in an unfriendly, industrialized farming section of Arizona or California.... Tractors produce crops cheaper. A small farmer who is unable to equip his farm with a tractor loses out and is driven from the land. The small independent farmer begins slipping down on the ladder of agriculture, slipping down toward becoming a migrant.” —Otis Nation, Director of the Oklahoma Tenant Farmers’ Union, from testimony before Congress Seeing their needs, the government once again turned its attention to struggling farmers and worked to find ways to protect the land from the devastating effects of soil erosion. Document-Based Investigation Historical Source “Migrant Mother” (1936), Dorothea Lange In 1935 Roy Stryker hired photographer Dorothea Lange to work for the New Deal’s Resettlement Administration, documenting the harsh living conditions of farmers. In February 1936 Lange visited a camp in Nipomo, California, where some 2,500 destitute pea pickers lived in tents or, like this mother of seven children, in lean- tos. Lange described her encounter with the woman. “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet.... She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food.” One of Lange’s photographs of the woman, titled “Migrant Mother,” was published in the San Francisco News on March 10, 1936. The photograph became one of the most recognizable symbols of the Depression and perhaps the strongest argument in support of New Deal relief programs. Analyze Historical Sources Why do you think “Migrant Mother” was effective in persuading people to support FDR’s relief programs? The New Deal 451  Carl Mydans, a photographer hired by the FSA, captured a farmer working his land in Granger Homesteads, Iowa, in 1936. FOCUSING ON FARMS When the Supreme Court struck down the AAA early in 1936, Congress passed another law to replace it: the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act. This act paid farmers for cutting production of soil- depleting crops. It also rewarded farmers for practicing good soil conservation methods. Two years later, in 1938, Congress approved a second Agricultural Adjustment Act that brought back many of the Dust Bowl recovery features of the first AAA. The second AAA did not include a processing tax to pay for farm subsidies, a provision of the first AAA that the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional. The Second New Deal also attempted to help tenant farmers, sharecrop- pers, migrant workers, and many other poor farmers. The Resettlement Administration, created by executive order in 1935, provided monetary loans to small farmers to buy land. In 1937 the agency was replaced by the Farm Security Administration (FSA). The FSA loaned more than $1 billion to help tenant farmers become landholders. It also established camps for migrant Reading Check farm workers, who had traditionally lived in squalid housing. Summarize What The FSA hired photographers such as Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, Walker challenges did people Evans, Arthur Rothstein, and Carl Mydans to take many pictures of rural in rural areas still face as Roosevelt started a towns and farms and their inhabitants. The agency used their photographs to second term? create a pictorial record of the difficult situation in rural America. Roosevelt Extends Relief In addition to farmers, the Second New Deal assisted students, women, ­African Americans, and Native Americans. One of the largest programs was the Works Progress Administration (WPA), headed by Harry Hopkins, the former chief of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The WPA set out to create as many jobs as possible as quickly as possible. Between 1935 and 1943 it spent $11 billion to give jobs to more than 8 million workers, most of them unskilled. These workers built 850 airports throughout the country, 452 Module 10  constructed or repaired 651,000 miles of roads and streets, and put up more than 125,000 public buildings. In addition, the WPA employed many professionals who wrote guides to cities, collected his- torical slave narratives, painted murals on the walls of schools and other public buildings, and performed in theater troupes around the country. At the urging of Eleanor Roosevelt, the WPA made special efforts to help women, minorities, and young people. Women work- ers in sewing groups made 300 million garments for the needy. This photograph by Margaret Bourke-White Although criticized by some as a make-work project, the WPA produced shows people waiting public works of lasting value to the nation. It also gave working people a for food in a Kentucky sense of hope and purpose. As one man recalled, “It was really great. You bread line in 1937. worked, you got a paycheck and you had some dignity. Even when a man raked leaves, he got paid, he had some dignity.” Another program, the National Youth Administration (NYA), was cre- ated specifically to provide education, jobs, counseling, and recreation for young people. The NYA provided student aid to high school, college, and graduate students. In exchange, students worked in part-time positions at their schools. One participant later described her experience. “I lugged... drafts and reams of paper home, night after night.... Sometimes I typed almost all night and had to deliver it to school the next morning.... This was a good program. It got necessary work done. It gave teenagers a chance to work for pay. Mine bought me clothes and shoes, school supplies, some movies and mad money. Candy bars, and big pickles out of a barrel. It gave my mother relief Reading Check from my necessary demands for money.” Evaluate Do you —Helen Farmer, quoted in The Great Depression think work programs like the WPA were a For graduates unable to find jobs, or youth who had dropped out of valid use of federal money? Why or school, the NYA provided part-time jobs, such as working on highways, why not? parks, and the grounds of public buildings. Improving Labor and Other Reforms In a speech to Congress in January 1935, the president declared, “When a man is convalescing from an illness, wisdom dictates not only cure of the symptoms but also removal of their cause.” During the Second New Deal, Roosevelt, with the help of Congress, brought about important reforms in the areas of labor relations and economic security for retired workers. The New Deal 453  IMPROVING LABOR CONDITIONS In 1935 the Supreme Court declared the NIRA unconstitutional, citing that the federal government had vio- lated legislative authority reserved for individual states. One of the first reforms of the Second New Deal was passage of the National Labor Rela- tions Act. More commonly called the Wagner Act, after its sponsor, Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York, the act reestablished the NIRA provision of collective bargaining. The federal government again protected the right of workers to join unions and engage in collective bargaining with employers. The Wagner Act also prohibited unfair labor practices such as threaten- ing workers, firing union members, and interfering with union organizing. The act set up the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hear testi- mony about unfair practices and to hold elections to find out if workers wanted union representation. In 1938 Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set maxi- mum hours at 44 hours per week, decreasing to 40 hours after two years. It also set minimum wages at 25 cents an hour, increasing to 40 cents an hour by 1945. The exploitation of child workers, famously documented by photojournalist Lewis Hine at the turn of the century, was still a problem in many factories. Consequently, the act also set rules for the employment of workers under 16 and banned hazardous work for those under 18. THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT One of the most important achievements of the New Deal was creating the Social Security system. Roosevelt had a vision for a comprehensive system of social provisions. He said, “I see no reason why every child, from the day he is born, shouldn’t be a member of the social security system. When he begins to grow up, he should know he will have old-age benefits... If he is out of work, he gets a benefit. If he is sick or crippled, he gets a benefit... Everybody ought to be in on it—the farmer and his wife, and his family... cradle to the grave they ought to be in a social insurance system.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt, quoted in The Roosevelt I Knew With these goals in mind, the Social Security Act, passed in 1935, was created by a committee chaired by Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. The act had three major parts: Old-age insurance for retirees 65 or older and their spouses. The insur- ance was a supplemental retirement plan. Half of the funds came from the worker and half from the employer. Although some groups were excluded from the system, it helped to make retirement comfortable for millions of people. Unemployment compensation system. The unemployment system was funded by a federal tax on employers. It was administered at the state level. The initial payments ranged from $15 to $18 per week. Aid to families with dependent children and people with disabilities. The aid was paid for by federal funds made available to the states. 454 Module 10 New Deal Programs EMPLOYMENT PROJECTS PURPOSE 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Provided jobs for single males on conservation projects. 1933 Federal Emergency Relief Administration Helped states to provide aid for the unemployed. (FERA) 1933 Public Works Administration (PWA) Created jobs on government projects. 1933 Civil Works Administration (CWA) Provided work in federal jobs. 1935 Works Progress Administration (WPA) Quickly created as many jobs as possible—from construction jobs to positions in symphony orchestras. 1935 National Youth Administration (NYA) Provided job training for unemployed young people and part-time jobs for needy students. BUSINESS ASSISTANCE AND REFORM PURPOSE 1933 Emergency Banking Relief Act (EBRA) Banks were inspected by Treasury Department and those that were stable could reopen. 1933 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Protected bank deposits up to $5,000. (Today, (FDIC) accounts are protected up to $250,000.) 1933 National Recovery Administration (NRA) Established codes of fair competition. 1934 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Supervised the stock market and eliminated dishonest practices. 1935 Banking Act of 1935 Created a seven-member board to regulate the nation's money supply and interest rates on loans. 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act Required manufacturers to list ingredients in foods, (FFDCA) drugs, and cosmetic products. FARM RELIEF AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT PURPOSE 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Administration Aided farmers and regulated crop production. (AAA) 1933 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Developed the resources of the Tennessee Valley. 1935 Rural Electrification Administration (REA) Provided affordable electricity for isolated rural areas. HOUSING PURPOSE 1933 Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) Loaned money at low interest rates to homeowners who could not meet mortgage payments. 1934 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Insured loans for building and repairing homes. 1937 United States Housing Authority (USHA) Provided federal loans for low-cost public housing. LABOR RELATIONS PURPOSE 1935 National Labor Relations Board (Wagner Act) Defined unfair labor practices and established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to settle disputes between employers and employees. 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act Established a minimum hourly wage and a maximum number of hours in the workweek for the entire country. Set rules for the employment of workers under 16 and banned hazardous factory work for those under 18. RETIREMENT PURPOSE 1935 Social Security Administration Provided a pension for retired workers and their spouses and aided people with disabilities. The New Deal 455  In the end, because of political opposition and funding problems, the Social Security Act was not the total pension system or complete welfare system that Roosevelt envisioned. To avoid a huge tax hike, Roosevelt agreed to exclude certain workers, including farm workers and household workers, from the new program. Even so, it provided substantial ben- In addition efits to millions of Americans. to electricity, many rural EXPANDING AND REGULATING UTILITIES The Second New homes Deal also included laws to promote rural electrification and received running water to regulate public utilities. In 1935 only 12.6 percent of through the American farms had electricity. Roosevelt established under REA. executive order the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). The REA financed and worked with electrical cooperatives to bring electricity to isolated areas. By 1945, 48 percent of America’s farms and rural homes had electricity. That figure rose to 90 percent by 1949. The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 took aim at financial corruption in the public utility industry. It outlawed the ownership of utili- Reading Check ties by multiple holding companies—a practice known as the pyramiding Draw Conclusions Whom did Social of holding companies. Lobbyists for the holding companies fought the law Security help? fiercely, and it proved extremely difficult to enforce. Lesson 2 Assessment 1. Organize Information Create a chart to show how 4. Draw Conclusions Why might critics of the first New groups such as farmers, the unemployed, youth, and Deal have favored the Second New Deal? retirees were helped by the programs of the Second 5. Form Generalizations Why was the NIRA considered New Deal. pro-labor? Second New Deal 6. Analyze Primary Sources Many WPA Group How Helped posters were created to promote New Deal programs—in this case, the Rural Electrification Which group do you think benefited the most from the Administration. How Second New Deal? Explain. does this poster’s 2. Key Terms and People For each key term or person in simplistic design the lesson, write a sentence explaining its significance. convey the program’s 3. Evaluate Why might the Social Security Act be goal? considered the most important achievement of the New Deal? Think About: the types of relief needed in the 1930s alternatives to government assistance to the elderly, the unemployed, and people with disabilities the scope of the act and its impact on citizens today 456 Module 10  HISTORIC DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT NLRB v. Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp. (1937) ORIGINS OF THE CASE In 1936 the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation was charged with intimidating union organiz- ers and firing several union members. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found the company guilty of “unfair labor practices” and ordered it to rehire the workers with back pay. THE RULING The Supreme Court ruled that Congress had the power to regulate labor relations and confirmed the authority of the NLRB. LEGAL REASONING LEGAL SOURCES In the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, or Wagner Act, Congress claimed that its authority to regulate LEGISLATION labor relations came from the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 Constitution. Jones and Laughlin Steel argued that (Commerce Clause) its manufacturing business did not involve interstate commerce—it operated a plant and hired people “The Congress shall have Power... locally. To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations and among the several States.” The Court disagreed. Although production itself may occur within one state, it said, production is a part of National Labor Relations Act (1935) the interstate “flow of commerce.” If labor unrest at a “The term ‘affecting commerce’ means steel mill would create “burdens and obstructions” to... tending to lead to a labor dispute interstate commerce, then Congress has the power to burdening or obstructing commerce or prevent labor unrest at the steel mill. the free flow of commerce.” The Court also explained that the act went “no further “It shall be an unfair labor practice than to safeguard the right of employees to for an employer... to interfere with, self-organization and to select representatives... restrain, or coerce employees in the for collective bargaining.” Departing from earlier exercise of the rights [to organize decisions, the Court affirmed that these are unions].” “fundamental” rights. RELATED CASES “Long ago we... said... that a single employee was helpless in dealing with an employer; that he was Schechter Poultry Corp. v. dependent... on his daily wage for the maintenance of United States (1935) himself and family; that, if the employer refused to pay The Court struck down the him the wages that he thought fair, he was... unable National Industrial Recovery to leave the employ and resist arbitrary and unfair Act, a key piece of New treatment; that union was essential to give laborers Deal legislation. opportunity to deal on an equality with their employer.” As a result, the Wagner Act was allowed to stand. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes The New Deal 457 HISTORIC DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT Choosing to work despite the strike, a storekeeper at the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation tries to pass through picket lines. WHY IT MATTERED­ HISTORICAL IMPACT­ The 1935 Wagner Act was one of the most The protection that labor unions gained by the important pieces of New Deal legislation. Wagner Act helped them to grow quickly. Union Conservative justices on the Supreme Court, membership among non-farm workers grew from however, thought New Deal legislation increased around 12 percent in 1930 to around 31 percent by the power of the federal government beyond what 1950. This increase helped improve the economic the Constitution allowed. By the time the Jones standing of many working-class Americans in the and Laughlin case reached the Court in 1937, the years following World War II. Court had already struck down numerous New Most significantly, Jones and Laughlin greatly Deal laws. It appeared to many as if the Wagner Act broadened Congress’s power. Previously, neither was doomed. the federal nor the state governments were In February 1937 Roosevelt announced a plan to thought to have sufficient power to control the appoint enough justices to build a Court majority large corporations and holding companies doing in favor of the New Deal. Critics immediately business in many states. Now, far beyond the accused Roosevelt of trying to pack the Supreme power to regulate interstate commerce, Congress Court, thus crippling the Constitution’s system of had the power to regulate anything “essential checks and balances. or appropriate” to that function. For example, federal laws barring discrimination in hotels and Two months later, the Court delivered its opinion restaurants rest on the Court’s allowing Congress in Jones and Laughlin and at about the same to decide what is an “essential or appropriate” time upheld other New Deal legislation as well. subject of regulation. Most historians agree that the Court’s switch was not a response to Roosevelt’s “Court-packing” More recently, the Court has placed tighter plan, which already seemed destined for failure. limits on Congress’s power to regulate interstate Nevertheless, the decision resolved a potential commerce. In United States v. Lopez (1995), the crisis. Court struck down a law that banned people from having handguns near a school. The Court said Congress was not justified in basing this law on its power to regulate interstate commerce. Critical Thinking 1. Connect to History Lawyers for Jones and Laughlin 2. Connect to Today Do Internet research to read the said that the Wagner Act violated the Tenth opening sections of United States v. Lopez. There, Chief Amendment. Chief Justice Hughes said that since Justice Rehnquist offers a summary of the Court’s the act fell within the scope of the commerce clause, interpretation of the commerce clause over the years. the Tenth Amendment did not apply. Read the Tenth Summarize in your own words Rehnquist’s description Amendment and then write a paragraph defending of the current meaning of the commerce clause. Hughes’s position. 458 Module 10  Lesson 3 New Deal, New Opportunities One American’s Story The Big Idea In 1939 African American singer Marian Anderson was invited to New Deal policies and actions perform in Washington, DC. Despite being one of the most admired affected various social and singers in the world and one of the top box office draws in the coun- ­ethnic groups. try, she was not allowed to perform at Constitution Hall because of Why It Matters Now her race. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and the NAACP arranged for The New Deal made a lasting Anderson to perform at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday. A impact on increasing the gov- crowd of nearly 75,000 people came to hear her sing. At the concert, ernment’s role in the struggle for Walter White, an official of the NAACP, noticed one girl in the crowd. equal rights. Key Terms and People “Her hands were par- Frances Perkins ticularly noticeable as Mary McLeod Bethune she thrust them forward John Collier and upward, trying des- New Deal coalition perately... to touch the Congress of Industrial singer. They were hands Organizations (CIO) which despite their youth had known only the drea- ry work of manual labor. Tears streamed down the girl’s dark face. Her hat was askew, but in her eyes Marian Anderson sang from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on April 9, 1939. flamed hope bordering on ecstasy.... If Marian Anderson could do it, the girl’s eyes seemed to say, then I can, too.” —Walter White, quoted in A Man Called White The event became one of the most dramatic cultural events of the period. And it made Marian Anderson a symbol of progress for minorities in the United States. Her life reflected some of the difficulties African Americans and other minorities faced dur- ing the New Deal era. But Anderson’s triumph gave many African Americans and other minorities, including the girl that Walter White witnessed, hope that they too would get a “new deal,” instead of a “raw deal.” The New Deal 459  Women Make Their Mark In some ways, the New Deal represented an important opportunity for minorities and women; but what these groups gained was limited. Long- standing patterns of prejudice and discrimination continued to plague them and to prevent their full and equal participation in national life. One of the most notable changes during the New Deal was the naming of several women to important government positions. Frances Perkins became America’s first female cabinet member. As secretary of labor, she played a major role in creating the Social Security system and supervised labor legislation. President Roosevelt, encouraged by his wife Eleanor and seeking the support of women voters, also appointed two female diplomats and a female federal judge. However, women continued to face discrimination in the workplace. Male workers believed that working women took jobs away from men. A Gallup poll taken in 1936 reported that 82 percent of Americans said that a wife should not work if her husband had a job. One journalist suggested a simple plan for solving unemployment: fire all the women currently work- ing and replace them with men instead. Additionally, New Deal laws yielded mixed results. The National Recov- ery Administration, for example, set wage codes, some of which set lower minimum wages for women. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration hired far fewer women than men, and the Civilian Conservation Corps hired only men. In spite of these barriers, women continued their movement into the workplace. Although the overall percentage of women working for wages increased only slightly during the 1930s, the percentage of married women Reading Check in the workplace grew from 11.7 percent in 1930 to 15.6 percent in 1940. Summarize How did women fare in the In short, widespread criticism of working women did not halt the long- New Deal work force? term trend of women working outside the home. BIOGRAPHY Frances Perkins (1882–1965) As a student at Mount Holyoke College, Frances Perkins attended lectures that introduced her to social reform efforts. Her initial work in the settlement house movement sparked her interest in pursuing a career in the social service. After witnessing the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, Perkins pledged to fight for labor reforms, especially those for women. A pioneer for labor and women’s issues, she changed her name from Fannie to Frances, believing she would be taken more seriously in her work. 460 Module 10  African American Activism In the 1920s African Americans had gained more political influence during the Harlem Renaissance. They built upon their success in the 1930s, as well. One notable activist was A. Philip Randolph, who organized the country’s first all-black trade union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. His work and that of others laid the groundwork for what would become the civil rights movement. AFRICAN AMERICANS TAKE LEADERSHIP ROLES During the New Deal, Roosevelt appointed more than 100 African Americans to key positions in the government. Mary McLeod Bethune—an educator who dedicated herself to promoting opportunities for young African Americans—was one such appointee. Hired by the president to head the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration, Bethune worked to ensure that the NYA hired African American administrators and provided job training and other benefits to minor- ity students. Bethune also helped organize a “Black Cabinet” of influential Afri- can Americans to advise the Roosevelt administration on racial issues. Among these figures were William H. Hastie and Robert C. Weaver, both appointees to Roosevelt’s Department of the Interior. Never Mary McLeod Bethune, a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, was a strong before had so many African Americans had a voice in the White House. supporter of the New Deal. Eleanor Roosevelt played a key role in opening doors for African Americans in government. She invited African American leaders, including Walter White of the NAACP, for an unprecedented meeting at the White House to help end discrimination against African Americans in some New Deal programs. She also coordinated meetings between the president and the NAACP to discuss antilynching legislation. THE PRESIDENT FAILS TO SUPPORT CIVIL RIGHTS Despite efforts to pro- mote racial equality, Roosevelt was never committed to full civil rights for African Americans. He was afraid of upsetting white Democratic voters in the South, an important segment of his supporters. He refused to approve a federal antilynching law and an end to the poll tax, two key goals of the civil rights movement. Further, a number of New Deal agencies clearly discrimi- nated against African Americans, including the NRA, the CCC, and the TVA. These programs gave lower wages to African Americans and favored whites. African Americans recognized the need to fight for their rights and to improve conditions in areas that the New Deal ignored. In 1934 they helped organize the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, which sought to protect the rights of tenant farmers and sharecroppers, both white and black. In the North, the union created tenants’ groups and launched campaigns to increase job opportunities. Reading Check Evaluate In general, however, African Americans supported the Roosevelt admin- Evaluate the actions istration and the New Deal, generally seeing them as their best hope for the and policies of the Roosevelt future. As one man recalled, “Roosevelt touched the temper of the black administration on community. You did not look upon him as being white, black, blue or green. civil rights. He was President Roosevelt.” The New Deal 461  Mexican American Fortunes Mexican Americans also tended to support the New Deal, even though they received even fewer benefits than African Americans did. Large numbers of Mexican Americans had come to the United States during the 1920s, settling mainly in the Southwest. Most found work laboring on farms, an occupation that was essentially unprotected by state and federal laws. During the Depression, the need for farm labor decreased and farm wages fell to as little as nine cents an hour. Farm workers who tried to unionize often met with violence from employers and government authorities. The unemployment rate for Mexican Americans significantly increased during this time. Although the CCC and WPA helped some Mexican Americans, these agencies also discriminated against them by disqualifying from their Reading Check programs migrant workers who had no permanent address. Many of these Identify Problems workers decided to return to Mexico. But the United States government Why was life deported others. During the 1930s as many as 400,000 persons of Mexi- difficult for farm laborers during the can descent, many of them U.S. citizens, were deported to Mexico. Those Depression? who remained in the United States lived in extreme poverty. Native Americans Gain Support Native Americans were another group that benefited from New Deal programs. In 1924 a law had granted Native Americans full citizenship. In 1933 President Roosevelt appointed John Collier as commissioner of Indian Affairs. Collier helped create the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which marked a complete change in government policy. After nearly 50 years of forcing Native Americans to assimilate, the government aban- doned this approach and moved to grant Native Americans autonomy. It also helped to restore some reservation lands to tribal ownership. The act mandated changes in three areas. economic—Native American lands would belong to an entire tribe. This provision strengthened Native American land claims by prohibit- ing the government from taking over unclaimed reservation lands and selling them to people other than Native Americans. cultural—The number of boarding schools for Native American chil- dren was reduced, and children could now attend public school on the reservations. political—Tribes were given permission to elect tribal councils to gov- ern their reservations. Some Native Americans who valued their tribal traditions hailed the act Reading Check as an important step forward. Other Native Americans who had become Summarize What more “Americanized” as individual landowners under the previous Dawes changes occurred for Native Americans as a Act objected, because they were tired of white people telling them what result of the New Deal? was good for them. 462 Module 10  Reviving Organized Labor Although New Deal policies had mixed results for minorities, these groups generally backed President Roosevelt. In fact, one of FDR’s great achieve- ments was to create the New Deal coalition—an alignment of diverse groups dedicated to supporting the Democratic Party. The coalition included south- ern whites, various urban groups, African Americans, and unionized indus- trial workers. As a result, Democrats dominated national politics throughout the 1930s and 1940s. The period also saw the growth of organized labor. LABOR UNIONS FLOURISH As a result of the Wagner Act and other pro- labor legislation passed during the New Deal, union members enjoyed better working conditions and increased bargaining power. In their eyes, President Roosevelt was a “friend of labor.” Labor unions donated money to Roosevelt’s reelection campaigns. Union workers pledged him their votes. Between 1933 and 1941, union membership grew from less than 3 million to more than 10 million. Unionization especially affected coal miners and workers in mass-production industries, such as the automobile, rubber, and The Growing Labor Movement, 1933–1940 The Growth of Union Membership, 1930–1940 9 Union Members (in millions) 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 Source: Historical Statistics of the United States SIT-DOWN STRIKES Union workers—such as these CIO strikers at the Fisher automobile plant in Flint, Michigan, in 1937—found the sit-down strike an extremely effective method for getting their demands met. ROBERT F. WAGNER A Democratic senator from New York (1927–1949), Robert F. Wagner was especially interested in workers’ welfare. Wagner introduced the National Labor Relations Act in UNION MEMBERSHIP SOARS Congress in 1935. A Ben Shahn poster from the late 1930s boasted of the rise in union membership. The New Deal 463  electrical industries. It was in these industries, too, that a struggle for dominance within the labor movement began to develop. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) had traditionally been restricted to the craft unions, such as carpenters and electricians. Most of the AFL leaders opposed industry-wide unions that represented all the workers in a given industry, such as automobile manufacturing. Frustrated by this position, several key labor leaders, including John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers of America and David Dubinsky of the International Ladies Garment Workers, formed the Committee for Indus- trial Organization to organize industrial unions. The committee rapidly