SSUSH18:
The student will describe Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal as a response to the depression and compare the ways
governmental programs aided those in need.
In the first presidential election during the Great Depression, American voters rejected Herbert Hoover and voted in Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt used the name “New Deal” for his series of programs to end the Depression. He promised these programs would help different segments of the economy recover by addressing specific needs and weaknesses. This standard will measure your understanding of how Roosevelt’s New Deal affected the lives of the American people
A. Describe the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority as a works program and as an effort to control the environment.
Putting People to Work
One of Roosevelt’s major New Deal programs was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). This was established in 1933 to build dams and power plants along the Tennessee River and its tributaries. The Tennessee Valley itself runs through seven states, so the project was very large. The TVA built dozens of dams to control the environment by preventing disastrous floods. Each dam had its own power plants, parks, and navigation aids, and this construction created hundreds of jobs for unemployed workers.
E. Identify the political challenges to Roosevelt’s domestic and international leadership; include the role of Huey Long, the "court packing bill," and the Neutrality Act.
Roosevelt’s Political Challenges
During his 12-year presidency, Roosevelt faced many challenges to his leadership and had many critics. Opponents of the New Deal came from all parts of the political spectrum. Some conservatives thought he had made the federal government too large and too powerful and that it did not respect the rights of individuals and property, while some liberals thought he had not gone far enough to socialize the economy and eliminate inequality in America. Perhaps Roosevelt’s biggest critic was Senator Huey Long of Louisiana. Long originally supported the New Deal, but he changed his mind and set hissights on replacing Roosevelt as president. Long proposed for every American a home, food, clothes, and an education, among other things.
In Europe, World War II started long before America entered it. To prevent Roosevelt from involving America in what some saw as a European war, Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts to make it illegal to sell arms or make loans to nations at war. The fourth of these acts, passed in 1939 in recognition of the Nazi threat to Western Europe’s democracies, permitted the sale of arms to nations at war on a “cash and carry” basis. This meant that buyers would have to pay cash and send their own ships to American ports to pick up the supplies, thereby keeping American ships from being sunk by
the Germans.
The Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937, usually called the court-packing bill, was a law Roosevelt proposed to give presidents the power to appoint an extra Supreme Court justice for every sitting justice over the age of 70 ½. Roosevelt planned to use this bill’s powers to add more of his supporters to the Supreme Court to uphold his New Deal programs, but the version of the law passed by Congress weakened the power he desired.
In Europe, World War II started long before America entered it. To prevent Roosevelt from involving America in what some saw as a European war, Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts to make it illegal to sell arms or make loans to nations at war. The fourth of these acts, passed in 1939 in recognition of the Nazi threat to Western Europe’s democracies, permitted the sale of arms to nations at war on a “cash and carry” basis. This meant that buyers would have to pay cash and send their own ships to American ports to pick up the supplies, thereby keeping American ships from being sunk by
the Germans.
The Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937, usually called the court-packing bill, was a law Roosevelt proposed to give presidents the power to appoint an extra Supreme Court justice for every sitting justice over the age of 70 ½. Roosevelt planned to use this bill’s powers to add more of his supporters to the Supreme Court to uphold his New Deal programs, but the version of the law passed by Congress weakened the power he desired.