Brief overview of the New Deal

1. The New Deal
EQ: What was the New Deal, and
how did it help Americans suffering
from the Great Depression?

2. Championing the New Deal
• Immediately after
taking office, promises
to take drastic action to
combat the situation
• First president to make
regular use of the radio
• Builds public
confidence in the
administration
deliberately

3. “Bank Holiday”
• Two days after taking office, FDR issues a
proclamation closing American banks for 4 days.
– Urges Calm among Americans
– Congress creates the Emergency Banking Act
– ¾ of the banks in the Federal Reserve system reopen
within 3 days and $1 Billion in hoarded currency
returns to banks

4. Overview of New Deal Programs
• Agriculture
– Pay farmers not to farm
– Brief legal troubles, but loopholes written
• Industrial Recovery
– Attempts to ensure fair employment and wages
– Run by poorly-written codes
• Regional Planning
– Deliberate attempts to develop areas where
infrastructure was poor

5. Critics of the New Deal
• Many felt that Roosevelt’s
actions were stretching the
authority of the government too
far (creating Big Government)
• Dr. Francis E. Townsend develops
plan for federal pensions for the
elderly as an alternative.
• Huey P. Long, Louisiana senator

6. Legacies of the New Deal
• Government authority is
expanded, sets a new
precedent for what the
government can and can not
do.
• Social Security is established
• Creation of the “Broker
State”
– Federal government as the
middle man between interest
groups and broad
action/consumers
• Raises questions about who
should get relief

7. Timberline Lodge
• 1932-1938, local timbers and stone
• National Historic Landmark
• Was a set for the film The Shining
• WPA & CCC project

8. LaGuardia Airport
• Major New Jersey Airport
• Was one of the most modern airports when it
opened
• 23 million passengers a year
• Funding from WPA

9. Lincoln Tunnel
• Tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan
• First tunnel of this size completed without a
fatality.
• 42 million cars through the tunnel every year
• 1.5 miles, $85 million in PWA funding

10. Overseas Highway
• Connects Miami to Key West
• 127.5 miles long
• Opened in 1938
• Follows an old railroad track built in 1912

11. Great Smokey Mountains National
Park
• Most visited national
part in America
• 10 million visitors per
year (Grand Canyon
gets 5 million)
• 814 square miles of
wilderness in North
Carolina and Tennessee
• WPA & CCC

12. Grand Coulee/Hoover Dam
• Grand Coulee Dam
– Pet project of FDR
– Eastern Washington – turn land to farmland
– $63 million in PWA funding
– One of the largest concrete structures in the world (550
feet high, almost a mile in length)
• Hoover Dam
– Originally the Boulder Dam
– $165 million, 5 years to build
– 20,000 workers employed during construction
– 726 feet tall and 660 feet wide at the base
– Electricity and irrigation Arizona, Nevada, and SoCal

14. Pacific Northwest Projects
• Silver Falls State Park
• Salem State Capitol
• Bonneville Dam