FDR & the New Deal

1. Describe how people struggled to survive during the depression.
During the Depression, in the city people lost their jobs, were evicted from their homes, and were forced to sleep in the streets. People made houses out of whatever they could. After awhile shantytowns, towns made of shacks, began popping up. Soup kitchens offered free to low cost meals. Bread lines organized by charities and public agencies offered food to people who waited in lines. Both means of recieving food cheaply became a common site. African Americans and Latinos were targeted by whites who competed for the same jobs. 24 African Americans were lynched and thousands of Latinos deported. Both were faced with a higher unemployment rate and lower pay.
During the Depression, in rural areas, many farmers could grow crops to feed their families. Although they had one advantage over city living, their lives were still difficult because numerous farmers lost their land and were forced to foreclose their farms to falling prices and increasing debt. This eventually led to many of them living a life of tenant farming.

2. How was what happened to men during the Great Depression different from what happened to women? Children?
During the Great Depression many men had great difficulty dealing with unemployment because they were so used to working. They wandered the streets looking for jobs. After years of unemployment many left their families. Hoboes, mostly men, began wandering the country. Some even found relief in homeless shelters located in big cities.
Women were faced with similar hardships. Finding jobs was not easy and when they did, they were often paid less than most men. During the Depression working women became targeted because many people believed women, especially married ones, should not work when there was a large number of unemployed men. Women also worked within their households to carefully manage budgets. They canned food and sewed clothes to save money. Many Americans assumed women had it easier than men during the Depression because they were not seen on the streets begging or in the bread lines; this was not the case because most were actually starving. Many were ashamed to admit to their hardships.
Children faced equal hardships. Poor diets and a lack of money for healthcare led to serious health problems such as malnutrition and disease. Child-welfare was underfunded due to the Depression. School years were cut and some schools even closed also due to a lack of fundment. This left thousands of teenagers out of school and instead working in horrible conditions. Many teenagers avoided the suffering by hopping freight trains and touring the country. Life was still not easy because riding was still dangerous. Many were beaten or jailed by freight yard patrolmen, forced to sleep standing up to the hum of the deafening rumble, and the others were sometimes killed by murderous criminals.

3. Describe the causes and effects (on people) because of the Dust Bowl.
The Dust Bowl was caused due to farming techniques in the previous decade. Farmers across the country had used tractors to break up the grasslands and plant millions of acres of farmland. the plowing removed the protective layer of prairie grass. Farmers continued to exhausten the land by overproducing goods. Then the grasslands became unsuitable for farming. When the drought and winds began in the early 1930s it was too late and there was not enough grass and trees left to hold down the soil.
The effects of the Dust Bowl forced farmers to leave their land and houses when topsoil was blown around exposing sand and grit. These families left and went west. By the end of the 1930s thousands of farm families had migrated to California and the West Coast states.

Objective: Summarize the initial steps Franklin D. Roosevelt took to reform banking and finance.
4. What was the New Deal and its three general goals? (The 3 Rs)
The New Deal was a program designed to alleviate the problems of the Great Depression. The program consisted of meeting with a team of hand picked advisers and Roosevelt formulating a set of policies for his new administration. The three general goals of the New Deal was to provide relief to the needy, economy recovery, and financial reform.

5. What did Roosevelt do during the Hundred Days?
During the Hundred Days, Congress passed more than 15 major pieces of the New Deal legislation. Roosevelt declared a bank holiday and closed all banks to prevent more withdrawals. He then persuaded Congress to pass the Emergency Banking Relief Act, which would allow the Treasury Department to inspect all banks; they would reopen the sound ones and keep the ones who were unable to repay their debts closed and then assist them to receive loans. Roosevelt addressed the nation through fireside chats, which informed them about the New Deal and explained the banking system and how it's welfare depended on the support of the people. Next Congress continues toward reorganization of the banking system by passing the Glass-Steagall Act. The Glass-Steagall Act established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which provided federal insurance for personal bank accounts of up to $5000. This assured bank customers that their money was safe. It also required banks to act carefully with their customers' money. Then Roosevelt worked on regulating the stock market and passed the Federal Securities Act, which required corporations to provide complete information on all stock offerings and made them reliable for all misrepresntations. To raise government revenue by taxing alcohol, Roosevelt persuaded Congress to allow a bill which would allow the manufacturing and sale of some alcohol.

6. Why were Roosevelt's fireside chats significant?
Roosevelt's fireside chats were significant because they explained in clear simple language the measures of Roosevelt's New Deal to all American listeners. He continued by explaining the bankinf sytem and why the nation;s welfare depended on the public's support of the government. Finally he finished by explaining that banks would fail when too many people demanded their saving in cash. This caused people to again believe in and trust the banking system; this is hown when people returned their savings to banks.

7. Describe four significant agencies and/or bills that tightened regulation of banking and finance. A. The Glass-Steagall Act established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which provided federal insurance for personal bank accounts of up to $5000. This assured bank customers that their money was safe. It also required banks to act carefully with their customers' money.
B. Roosevelt passed the Federal Securities Act, which required corporations to provide complete information on all stock offerings and made them reliable for all misrepresntations.
C. Congress passed the Emergency Banking Relief Act, which would allow the Treasury Department to inspect all banks; they would reopen the sound ones and keep the ones who were unable to repay their debts closed and then assist them to receive loans.
D. Congress created the Securities and Exchange Comission was created to regulate the stock market. One of it's goals was to prevent people with inside knowledge about companies from rigging the stock market for their own profit.