Henry Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture, drafted the Agricultural Adjustment Act signed by FDR May 12, 1933 (until 1936) to help farmers
FDR already created the Farm Credit Administration under Henry Morgenthau, loaned $100 million to farmers in first seven months, confirmed in June by the Farm Credit Act
cotton plowup to raise cotton prices for farmers; the AAA paid $100 million to plow up 10 of the 40 million acres planted for the 1933 season; first check given to William Morris of Nueces County TX July 28; Commodity Credit Corp. set up to loan money to farmers with cotton as security based on price of 10 cents/lb., and thus took this secured cotton off the market until the market price rose above 10 cents; became a price support technique
wheat and corn farmers paid not to plant; bad weather had already reduced planted acreage
hog kill to raise pork prices for farmers, the AAA paid farmers to kill 5 million baby pigs and 200,000 sows by September 1933; Federal Surplus Commodity Corp. gave 100 million lbs baby pork to relief
by 1936, farm income up 50%, surplus reduced, prices rising
AAA administered at county level by farmers themselves, local production control committees, voluntary participation, "planning by incentive rather than command."
landowners used government checks to buy tractors, displaced sharecroppers
STFU revolt is subject of 1936 March of Time newsreel "King Cotton's Slaves"
NRA
Hugh Johnson, directed the National Recovery Administration created by Title I of the NIRA passed June 16, 1933 (until 1935)
antitrust laws suspended, businesses asked to voluntarily follow 546 codes and 185 supplementary codes written to regulate wages, hours, prices
the blanket code offered to all businesses, 40-hour week, 40-cent minimum wage
Blue Eagle symbol of voluntary compliance, the "broker state" mediating among interest groups
Section 7a of the NIRA protected the right of workers to organize and collective bargaining
but evaded by company unions, all-white AFL locals, southern textile mills
PWA
Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, led Public Works Administration created by Title II of the NIRA
spent $3.3 billion on public works as "pump-priming"
Ickes took over the Reconstruction Finance Corporation housing program, but only 21,000 units built by 1937, opposed by powerful real estate and construction lobbies
CCC
Civilian Conservation Corps created March 31, paid $30 per month to youth 18-25 from relief families, would total 2 million young people by 1941
Eleanor Roosevelt idea for a girls camp near Bear Mountain NY
FERA
Harry Hopkins became "Minister of Relief" as head of the Federal Emergency Relief Adminstration created May 12, to provide emergency checks directly to unemployed to survive the winter, made matching grants to states to bolster local relief efforts, $1 federal for every $3 local
but criticized for creating dependency on the "dole" rather than ending unemployment
TVA
Arthur Morgan led the Tennessee Valley Authority created May 1933 to complete construction of Muscle Shoals Dam and build 15 dams to provide cheap electricity to the region, stop flooding, reforest and redevelop the region, and example of New Deal "planning"
TVA subject of 1936 March of Time newsreel - Arthur Morgan's "national yardstick" vs. Wendell Willkie's Commonwealth and Southern
Civil Works Administration created Nov. 8, 1933, to build public works, hire unemployed
but criticized for "boondoogles"
HOLC
Home Owners Loan Corporation was emergency measure to stop foreclosures, allowed temporary moratorium on payments, refinanced mortgages, allowed the 15-year mortgage
FHA
James Moffett led the Federal Housing Administration created by the 1934 National Housing Act to insure home mortages
yardstick idea - lenders agreed to federal standards of 20% down payment for a 20-year mortgage, construction standards, paid by buyers fees
SEC
Securities and Exchange Commission created June 1934 to regulate the stock market
FBI
Homer Cummings, Attorney-General, took over Alcatraz and drafted the Crime Control laws giving new power to J. Edgar Hoover's FBI
Harry Hopkins led the Works Progress Administration created May 1935 by the $5 billion works bill passed by Congress in April to expand the New Deal programs that put the unemployed to work on public projects
RA
Rexford Tugwell led the Resettlement Administration created April 30, 1935, funded by the works bill, and absorbed into the Farm Security Administration in 1937
REA
Morris Cooke led the Rural Electrification Administration funded by the works bill to build electrical systems in rural areas, and make loans to farmers to adopt labor-saving electrical appliances
yardstick idea, like the TVA, with private power companies starting similar loan programs to promote more use of cheap electricity
The percentage of electrified farms in the nation increased from 10% in 1935 to 40% in 1941 and 90% in 1950
REA loans were still being granted in 1993 to build ski resorts in Vail CO
NYA
Aubrey Williams led the National Youth Administration funded by the works bill to help youth with urban programs just as the CCC helped youth with rural programs
NLRB
Sen. Robert Wagner of NY led passage of the Wagner Act that improved Section 7a with a new National Labor Relations Board to guarantee collective bargaining
Social Security
The Social Security Act was passed by Congress in 1935 to provide unemployment insurance, a joint federal-state program financed by an "offset" tax that allowed states to collect 90% of the tax themselves and run theri own programs; the retirement insurance financed by a new federal payroll tax of 1%
conservative opposition to FDR grew due to the court-packing plan, the growing power of the presidency evident in the reorganization plan, the 1937 sit-down strikes, Fair Labor Standards Act, the anti-lynching bill
Martin Dies of Texas established a committee in the House to investigate "un-American" activities in 1938, especially the WPA Federal Theater
1938 midterm election was a Republican victory despite FDR's purge attempt
