The First New Deal

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  • Created by: emilyidek
  • Created on: 06-05-18 17:08

Tennessee Valley Authority

  • Formed in May 1933
  • Area comprised of 7 states, 40,000 square miles and 2 million people 
  • Established a network of dams to provide hydro-electric power; 2% of farms had electricity in 1933, reached 75% by 1945
  • Encouraged agriculture e.g. through contour ploughing
  • Controlled flooding, allowing for long term infrastructure development
  • Wages increased by 200% from 1929 to 1949
  • Was a model for state-federal cooperation
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National Recovery Administration

  • Formed in June 1933
  • NRA issued 557 codes of practices for each industry, in order to ensure fair competition, wages, hours of work and prohibition of child labour
  • Section 7(a) declared trade unions had the right to collectively bargain for wages
  • If businesses adhered, they received the 'Blue Eagle' of approval
  • Many codes were unworkable; big businesses (e.g. Ford) refused to co-operate, meanwhile smaller firms could not guarantee the minimum wages
  • Often favoured bigger businesses, and the codes didn't aid in economic recovery, leader Hugh Johnson claimed it put 2 million back in work, although if it did, it was not genuine recovery
  • Declared unconstituional in 1945 by Supreme Court
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Civilian Conservation Corps

  • Formed in March 1933
  • Interdepartmental agency involving Labor Department and Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture
  • Allowed men between 17-24 to work in national forests and parks 
  • In its first year, 250,000 men worked for the CCC, an three million by 1942
  • Pay was $1 a day, and food and lodging was given
  • Installed 65,000 miles of telephone line, planted 1.3 billion trees, built 125,000 miles of road - legacy is still seen in American National Pakrs today
  • Primarily only available to white men, and was not a stable job, given they could work for a maximum of two years
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Federal Emergency Relief Administration

  • Formed in May 1933
  • Gave $500 million between states for immediate relief
  • Harry Hopkins oversaw the project 
  • For every three dollars the state paid on relief, the government would pay them a dollar
  • Saw the building of 5000 public buildings
  • Wages were low, and those who took up the relief were harshly discriminated against e.g. queues of hundreds in Arizona 
  • By 1935, average wages were $25 a month, subsistence wage was $100
  • In order to coerce states into joining, Hopkins thretened the withdrawal of funds
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Civil Works Administration

  • November 1933
  • Temporary agency created in response to harsh winter of 1933-34
  • Had a budget of $400 million; hired 4.2 million workers in 4 months
  • Built 400 airports and 255,00 miles of road
  • Closed in March 1934 after the end of the winter, so was not wholly significant, although it did give the US infrastructure
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Public Works Administration

  • Founded in June 1933
  • Had a $3.3 billion budget with the aim of creating longer term economic growth by facilitating future growth (e.g. transport industry through new roads) and create a Multiplier Effect (expansion of roads would require more concrete, leading to increased demand)
  • Run by Harold Ickes, who was far more cuatious, spending only $110 million in the first six months
  • Led to the creation fo 13,000 schools and 50,000 miles of work
  • The PWA, FERA and CWA offered work to 20% of Americans by 1934
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Agricultural Adjustment Administration

  • Passed in June 1933
  • Required action following the failure of the McNary-Haugen bill; during the Depression years, agricultural production fell an additional 6%
  • Agricultural Administration Act agreed to subsidise farmers to reduce acreage or production
  • 10.5 million acres were removed from production in 1933, increasing to 35.7 million in 1934, leading to the price of cotton increasing from 6.5 cent per pound to 10 cents
  • Farm incomes increased from $4.5 billion to $6.9 billion by 1935
  • 95% of farmers joined t he AAA 
  • Due to a reduction in production, sharecroppers (who were mostly black Americans) continued to live in abject poverty, meanwhile Colly Cobb, head of cotton division, was publicly racist
  • The Dustbowl was a serious of droughts that blew away the topsoil, meaning significant agricultural problems
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Emergency Banking Act

  • Passed in March 1933
  • Ordered a national bank holiday 6-9th March 1933
  • Gave the US treasury the right to investigate all banks threatened with collapse
  • Only those approved by the US Treasury were able to open by the 10th March 
  • Money from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (totalling $1 billion) had been returned to bank deposits
  • Restored confidence in the US banks
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Glass-Steagall Banking Act

  • Passed in June 1933
  • Separated commerican and investment banking - commerical banks that relied on small depositers were banned from speculation 
  • Federal Deposit Inurance Corporation was established, which guarnteed ll bank deposits up to $5000
  • Greater centralised authroity by the Federal Reserve Board
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Federal Securities Act

  • Passed in May 1933
  • Shares had to be registered with the Federal Trade Commission 
  • Created the the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulated all share and stock transactions 
  • Required sharebrokers to honestly disclose information about the stocks they were selling 
  • Brought the end to frenzied share speculation
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