New Deal Essay Outline

The United States tried to solve the problems caused by the Great Depression through relief, reform, and recovery; the United States was successful in easing the Great Depression but not solving all the problems it caused.


I. Introduction
a. State thesis
i. Hoover tried but was too late
1. Economy was too bad
2. Incident with Bonus Army
ii. FDR used the New Deal
1. Successful
2. Limited
II. Hoover
a. Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
i. Government gives credit to banks, industries, railroads, and insurance companies (ex. trickle down money)
b. Boulder Dam
i. Financed millions of jobs
ii. Provide electricity and flood control
iii. Provide regular water supply enabling growth of California’s massive agricultural economy
c. Rugged Individualism
i. Americans are tough
ii. Government shouldn’t interfere with American economy at peacetime because it took away from the American foundation of freedom and individualism
d. Incident with the Bonus Army
i. WWI vets want money early so they camp out and rally- Hoover disperses them by sending in police- done brutally
III. FDR and the New Deal
a. Problems that needed to be solved
i. Lack of confidence in banks
ii. Law of prices
iii. Massive unemployment
b. Pump priming
i. Lower taxes
ii. Spend money
iii. Run up deficit
c. New agencies created to…
i. Provide relief to needy
ii. Reform finance
iii. Recovery economy
IV. Relief
a. Emergency Banking Act
i. Allowed the Treasury Department to inspect all banks
1. Reopen the sound ones
2. Keep the ones who were unable to repay their debts closed
3. The ones in ok condition will receive loans
ii. People began trusting the banks again
iii. People returning their savings to the banks
b. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
i. Required banks to act carefully with their customers' money
ii. Provided federal insurance for personal bank accounts of up to $5000
iii. Assure bank customers that their money was safe- regained people’s trust
c. Federal Emergency Relief Administration
i. Created jobs for millions of unemployed people
ii. Created bridges, roads, schools, and even outhouses
iii. Put people to work
V. Reform
a. Agricultural Adjustment Administration
i. Raise farm product prices
ii. Slow crop production
iii. Provide stability
iv. Farm prices did rise
b. National Labor Relations Act/ Wagner Act
i. Prevent further unfair labor practices
ii. Prohibited unfair labor practices such as…
1. Threatening workers
2. Firing union members
3. Interfering with union organizing
VI. Recovery
a. National Recovery Administration
i. Promote recovery by interrupting the trends of wage cuts, falling prices, and layoffs
ii. Establish standards for working hours and placed a ban on child labor
iii. Established codes of fair practice: limited production and established prices
iv. Set the prices of many products to ensure fair competition
b. Civilian Conservation Corps
i. Provided relief through work projects and cash payments
ii. Put young men (aged 18 to 25) to work building roads, developing parks, planting trees, and helping in soil erosion and flood-control projects
iii. 3 million young men had passed through and at least made a small living ($30 a month)
iv. The tremendous reforestation program would help to prevent another Dust Bowl
c. Social Security Act
i. Old-age Insurance
1. Supplemented retirement
2. Half from worker and half from employer
3. Helped to make retirement comfortable for millions of people
ii. Unemployment compensation system
1. Federal tax on employers
iii. Aid to families with dependent children and the disabled
1. Paid for by federal funds through states
VII. New Deal Success vs. Limitations
a. Success
i. Created millions of jobs
ii. Restored confidence and stopped investors pulling money out of the banks
iii. Expanded the federal governments role in the new economy
b. Limitations
i. Attempt to pack Supreme Court
ii. 1937 Recession
iii. Sit-down strikes
iv. Too complicated- too many rules and regulations
VIII. Conclusion
a. Reinstate thesis
b. Summarize ideas