While these negotiations took place, Congress passed legislation that set a 40 hour week for clerical workers, a 36 hour week for industrial workers, a minimum wage of 40 cents an hour, abolished child labour and guaranteed the right that trade unions could organize and exercise the right of collective bargaining.
The NRA program was voluntary. However, those businessmen who accepted the rules developed by the various trade associations, could put a NRA blue eagle symbol in their windows and on the labels of their goods. This virtually made the scheme compulsory as those companies that did not display the NRA symbol were seen as unpatriotic and selfish.
Approximately 23,000,000 people worked under the NRA fair code. However, violations of this code became common and attempts were made to use the courts to make companies follow the NRA. In 1935 the American Supreme Court declared the NRA as unconstitutional. The reasons given were that many codes were an illegal delegation of legislative authority and the federal government had invaded fields reserved to the individual states.
Public Works Administration (PWA)
The Public Works Administration (PWA) was headed by Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior. Congress gave permission for the PWA to spend $3,300,000,000 for various public works projects. This included building of schools, hospitals, post offices, roads and dams. By June 1934 the agency had distributed its entire fund to 13,266 federal projects and 2,407 non-federal projects.
The Federal Theatre Project (FTP)
This helped to try to offer work to theatrical professionals. Harry Hopkins hoped it would also provide "free, adult, uncensored theatre". Hallie Flanagan was named national director.
Over a thousand theatre productions took place in twenty-two different states. Many of them were shown free in schools and community centres. Performers were only paid $22.73 a week, the FWP employed some of America's most talented artists. In 1934 Orson Welles directed Macbeth for the Negro People's Theatre. He also directed The Cradle will Rock, a musical by Marc Blitzstein.
Elmer Rice was placed in charge of the Federal Theatre Project in New York. In 1936 alone, the FTP employed 5,385 people in New York. Over a three year period over 12 million people attended performances in the city. One of Rice's ideas was the Living Newspaper (plays which were theatrical documentaries). The first of these plays, Ethiopia, which dealt with Mussolini's invasion of the country, was banned by Harry Hopkins. The most successful of the Living Newspapers was Arthur Arent's account of poverty in the United States, One Third of a Nation (1938).
One play, it Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis, in 1936, was produced simultaneously in 22 cities.
During its four years existence the FTP launched or established the careers of such artists as Orson Welles, John Houseman, Will Geer, Arthur Miller, Paul Green, Marc Blitzstein, Canada Lee and Elmer Rice.
The Federal Art Project (FAP)
This included the Federal Art Project (FAP) that provided finance for the employment of artists. It was headed by Holger Cahill and employed artists on relief and kept a small number of non-relief artists for supervisory positions. Artists received $23.50 per week and were expected to produce one major piece within a specified number of weeks or to work a certain number of days on a mural or architectural sculpture project.
In 1936 the Federal Art Project was employing more than 5,000 artists. In eight years (1935-43) the FAP produced 2,566 murals, more than 100,000 easel paintings, 17,700 sculptures and 350,000 fine prints. The cost of the FAP was over $35,000,000.
The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
This was set up to help farmers. Farmers were asked to join in with Co-operative marketing schemes. Loans were given to farmers in danger of losing their property in order to stop them from being evicted. Farmers were given advice and visited by experts to help with soil improvement and methods of farming. The AAA asked the farmers to cut production in order to strengthen the economy. The farmers who agreed to do this received a subsidy from the government who got this money from new taxes.
(b) Roosevelt introduced the New Deal for the following reasons:
It was intended to help solve the problems caused by the Depression. When he was nominated as the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party he said to the American people "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people".
During the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 15% of peoples' life savings were lost. Many banks went out of business which had a knock-on effect of causing companies to close and working people to be unemployed. These were problems that had to be dealt with by The President and Roosevelt used the New Deal to look at all aspects of the problems caused by the Crash and the subsequent Depression.
Roosevelt simplified the problems by splitting them in two. These show the main reasons for introducing the New Deal. He outlined them in a speech in Boston in 1932:
"We have two problems: first, to meet the immediate distress; second, to build up on a basis of permanent employment.
As to immediate relief, the first principle is that this nation, this national government, if you like, owes a positive duty that no citizen shall be permitted to starve.
In addition to providing emergency relief, the Federal Government should and must provide temporary work wherever that is possible. You and I know that in the national forests, on flood prevention, and on the development of waterway projects that have already been authorized and planned but not yet executed, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of our unemployed citizens can be given at least temporary employment. "
Roosevelt also felt it would recover the trust of the people. He introduced Radio Broadcasts called "Fireside Chats". They were made to sound cosy and make him appear approachable in order that American people would feel he was 'one of them' and understood the problems they were facing. The following is an excerpt from a transcript of a Fireside chat broadcast on 7th May 1933 in which Roosevelt tells his main reason for introducing the New Deal and how he thought it would solve America's problems:
"It will add to the comfort and happiness of hundreds of thousands of people and the incident benefits will reach the entire nation".
The New Deal tried to deal with difficulties encountered by all types of people. Roosevelt wanted to be re-elected in 1936. He had to be seen to be keeping the promise he made in the speech outlined earlier. The New Deal was very popular with the voters and Roosevelt easily won the next election.
(c) 'The New Deal was not a complete success'. Partly I agree with this
statement although I feel it was a good idea and dealt with the immediate
problems in America at that time. I do not feel it was a good long term
solution and therefore I feel that to some extent it was not a complete
success.
Immediate problems were solved by the New Deal. It helped improve the lives of many people who suffered as a result of the Depression.
By 1939 the New Deal had finished being it's most useful. Although the help given to people was good it had also given the Government the right to almost control all the financial affairs of America. This was not necessarily a good thing as many people considered it was almost communism.
Roosevelt's opponent in the 1932 election, Herbert Hoover, said in a speech in New York in 1932:
"At first I could not believe that anyone would be so cruel as to hold out hope so absolutely impossible of realization to these 10,000,000 who are unemployed. And I protest against such frivolous promises being held out to a suffering people." He went on to say "It would mean the growth of a fearful bureaucracy which, once established, could never be dislodged. "
This was not necessarily a good thing as many people considered it was almost communism. It also predicted the idea of the New Deal to be a complete disaster. I believe the New Deal was far more successful than predicted by Roosevelt's opponent.
The agencies founded by the New Deal had provided employment for millions of people which was a measure of its success.
Another reason why it was successful is that it improved labour relations in the working environment and gave workers a voice by encouraging membership of Trade Unions. Trade Union membership grew from 7% membership to 21% membership. This gave workers more say in their working conditions and amount of pay. It also increased their bargaining power.
The New Deal was not so successful in securing long term employment for people. Unemployment had falled by 1937 but rose again after that.
It almost completely failed the black population. This group of people were among the most deprived and were hardly helped at all.
Although it may not have been a complete success it was a great idea and, I think, was good in the respect that it held out hope for lots of people. This feeling was upheld in an autobiography by Emanual Celler written in 1953 called 'You Never Leave Brooklyn':
"The first days of the Roosevelt Administration charged the air with the snap and the zigzag of electricity. I felt it. We all felt it. It seemed as it you could hold out your hand and close it over the piece of excitement you had ripped away. It was the return of hope. The mind was elastic and capable of crowding idea into idea. New faces came to Washington - young faces of bright lads who could talk. It was contagious. We started to talk in the cloak rooms; we started to talk in
committees. The shining new faces called on us and talked."
I also feel it was successful in the way it showed the American people that something was being done. Roosevelt, as can be seen above, worked very hard to introduce lots of new changes which made the Americans want to work with him. It helped unite the country to deal with a problem. Charlie Chaplin described this feeling in his autobiography written in 1964:
"No sooner had Roosevelt taken office than he began to fit actions to his words, ordering a ten-day bank holiday to stop the banks from collapsing. That was a moment when America was at its best. Shops and stores of all kinds continued to do business on credit, even the cinemas sold tickets on credit, and for ten days, with Roosevelt and his so-called brains trust formulated the New Deal, the people acted magnificently."
In my opinion the New Deal was not so succcessful when dealing with the problems faced by the farmers. C.B. Baldwin assistant to Henry Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture in Roosevelt's administration described this situation:
"The New Deal was an uneasy coalition. Fights developed very early between two factions: one, representing the big farmers, and the other, the little farmers."
I think the fact that the farmers were used to controlling their own farms made them resent being controlled. They were also asked to reduce production and work as a group. This was, in my opinion, not as successful as other aspects of the New Deal. The farmers were isolated as they were blamed by the general population for an increase in prices due to the reduced amount of produce on the market.
The CCC was not, I feel, as successful as it was meant to be. Frances Perkins, Secretary for Labour in Roosevelt's administration wrote a book called 'The Roosevelt I knew' in 1946. She talked about the CCC and conversations she had with Roosevelt in 1933
"His enthusiasm for this project, which was really all his own, led him to some exaggeration of what could be accomplished. He saw it big. He thought any man or boy would rejoice to leave the city and work in the woods."
This was idealistic and was bound to fail. She went on to describe other parts of the New Deal which show it was not a complete success:
"And there were some difficult details. The attitude of the trade unions had to be considered. They were disturbed about this program ..."
I think this is a more accurate idea of the New Deal's success in this area.
All the above support my view that 'The New Deal was not a complete success'. I agree that it did not solve everything that was wrong in America at the time. However I believe that the New Deal went a long way towards trying to do this.
