The New Deal Begins

This week, focus on the "First New Deal" and its aftermath. Next week, "Second New Deal" and WWII.

1932: FDR breaks precedent and accepts the nomination in person, promising a "New Deal."    In his Commonwealth Club address, he hints at the reach of the New Deal:

I feel that we are coming to a view through the drift of our legislation and our public thinking in the past quarter century that private economic power is, to enlarge an old phrase, a public trust as well. I hold that continued enjoyment of that power by any individual or group must depend upon the fulfillment of that trust. The men who have reached the summit of American business life know this best; happily, many of these urge the binding quality of this greater social contract.

Realignment: 

Why did the GOP crack the Solid South in 1928?

Party divisions in Congress

              House                Senate

        1928    1932         1928    1932

R    267        117           56        25

D    163        313           39       69

February 15, 1933: Giuseppe Zangara tries to murder FDR in Miami, Florida. He misses Roosevelt, instead killing Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak.  Florida tries, convicts, and executes Zangara within five weeks.

FDR takes office:

Which region suffered the most, and why? (Johnson 101)

The Hundred Days: history, myth, and reality (Johnson 113) -- efforts to address the effects and causes of the Depression.

Some laws became obsolete, but others started paths that reach into the 21st century.

• Emergency Banking Act (March 9, 1933)
• Cullen–Harrison Act (March 16), modifying the Volstead Act (Congress had already approved the 21st Amendment)
• Beer shortages would persist (start 30 seconds in)
• Economy Act (March 20).
• Civilian Conservation Corps (March 31) See Johnson 113.
• Federal Emergency Relief Act (May 12): $500m to states for the needy
• Agricultural Adjustment Act (May 12)-- strict regulation of farm production
• Emergency Farm Mortgage Act (May 12)
• Tennessee Valley Authority (May 18) -- still exists
• Securities Act (May 27) -- SEC followed in 1934
• abrogation of gold clauses in public and private contracts (June 5)
• Homeowners Refinancing Act (June 13)
• Glass-Steagall Act (June 15)
• Farm Credit Act (June 15)
• Emergency Railroad Transportation Act (June 15)
• National Industrial Recovery Act (June 16)
• Provisions (corporatism)
• NRA official short

Dogs That Didn't Bark:

Crime: Why did homicides spike in the early 1930s?  WHY WAS CRIME CONTROL NOT PART OF THE 100DAYS? Contemporary relevance?

Health: The Great Influenza was in the recent past.  Why no health care initiative?

Civil rights:  Why no anti-lynching bill? (The answer is on page 130 of the Johnson book)