After this, The Federal Emergency Relief Administration attended the critical needs of the poor, by spending 500 million dollars of soup kitchens, blankets, employment schemes and nursery schools.
Another organisation; The Civilian Conservation Corps, was aimed at unemployed young men. These men could sign on for six month working periods which could then be renewed if they were still unemployed. Most of the work done by the CCC was conducted in national parks, on environmental projects. This was a double benefit – not only were 2.5 million men helped by this scheme, but the upkeep of the environment was good too.
The AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration) tried to tackle the long term problems facing farmers. It set up quotas to reduce farm production, thus forcing prices gradually up. This helped to tackle mass production. At the same time, AAA helped farmers modernise and find more environmentally friendly methods that could stop the dust bowl effect, and protect the soil instead. This act did help farmers, but the continued modernisation still put many farm labourers out of work, not tackling the problem of poor migrant workers.
One of the biggest successes of the Hundred Days was the National Industrial Recovery Act, which set up two important organisations. 1) The Public Works Administration, which used government money to build schools, roads, dams, bridges and airports. Not only would these be vital once America had recovered but in the short term they created millions of jobs. 2) The National Recovery Administration, which outlawed child labour and improved working conditions in industry. Although it was voluntary, firms which joined used the blue eagle logo as a symbol of presidential approval. Encouragingly, over two million employers joined the scheme.
One of Roosevelt’s even more drastic schemes was the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority), which built a series of dams on the Tennessee River (which would flood badly in wet seasons, and dry to a trickle in dry). These dams made it possible to irrigate the dried out lands and provided electricity for under-developed areas. They also created thousands of jobs.
In the Hundred Days Roosevelt’s measures did have immediate effect and restored confidence in the government. The morale of the USA was boosted. However, problems soon occurred. Because of the initial urgency of the situation, Roosevelt got all his early measures through Congress speedily, but before long the New Deal was faced with opposition and criticism. Conservative forces claimed that the NIRA was unconstitutional and had not been met with the proper authority. Meanwhile, radicals like Huey Long complained that despite these measures the poor were still suffering greatly. Long, a Democratic senator and Governor of Louisiana, called for greater taxation of the rich and the confiscation of all fortunes worth over $5 million. He came up with the “Share Our Wealth” scheme which provides every family in the USA $6000 to spend. He thought this would pull the USA out of the Depression. Although a reported 7.5 million people joined the scheme, Long still had many opponents, and, in 1935, one of them cruelly assassinated him.
Roosevelt reacted to his critics by introducing more ideas which were classed as “The Second New Deal”. The key measures were passed in 1935.
The Wagner Act was passed after the Supreme Court rejected the NIRA, despite its success. This act forced employers to recognise trade unions. Although the NIRA was outlawed, workers were still allowed to keep the protection it had given them. The new Act covered employers such as Henry Ford who had actually refused to join the NIRA in the first place.
The second act was the Social Security Act, which provided state pensions for the elderly and for widows. It set up a scheme for unemployment insurance – if workers became unemployed they would receive a small amount of benefit to help them until they could find work.
The Works Progress Administration was set up to unite all the organisations whose purpose was to create jobs. It extended this work beyond building projects to create jobs for office workers, actors, artists and photographers. The government paid photographers and artists to create pictures which could be displayed in the city or town they showed, to encourage people to take action on poverty and to support the New Deal. This project took 80,000 photos of farming areas during the New Deal.
By early 1937 prosperity seemed to be returning and Roosevelt did what all conservatives wanted – he cut the New Deal budget. This was a big mistake – people were not ready for this. He laid off many workers employed by the New Deal and triggered other cuts throughout the economy. Unemployment rose rapidly once more.
In 1937 recession hit the president badly. Many middle-class voters lost some confidence in him, and it became harder for him to push his reforms through Congress. However, he was still very popular with ordinary Americans, and rightly so. He was elected again with a big majority in 1940, although tbe USA was not as united behind his New Deal as it had been seven years earlier.
Although Roosevelt was inconsistent and changed his mind a lot on policies, the New Deal stopped the Depression from worsening. It also helped farmers and home owners to stay in their homes. Unfortunately, big businesses still remained too powerful, despite Roosevelt challenging them. The New Deal did introduce social security for American citizens, and provided many roads, schools dams etc as a basis for future prosperity.
It did fail to help the poorest in America much – the measures were just not large enough to do so. Blacks, migrant and unskilled workers and farm labourers were not helped, but actually hindered by the New Deal. Despite effort, unemployment remained high throughout the 1930’s.
However, the New Deal gave hope and confidence to the American people at the worst time in their history and ‘saved’ American democracy. Many of Roosevelt’s experiments were failures, but it would be foolish to think they could all work, and many of them did. He deserves to be admired for his persistency and openness to new and untried methods, and his dedication to saving his country, which never wavered.
