Chapter 15 – Section 2

The Second New Deal

A. After FDR’s first term, economic gains were not as great as expected.

B. Unemployment remained high despite government work programs, and wages and production levels lagged behind 1920’s levels.

C. The Second New Deal was designed to extend government assistance to even more Americans.

1. further assistance to farmers . . .

a. Farm Security Administration (FSA) loaned one billion to help tenant farmers to become landowners and it established sanitary and safe camps for migrant farm workers.

b. The Rural Electrification Act (REA) lent money to farmers who organized in groups to build power plants.

1. By 1945, 40% of farms had electricity. By 1949, it was 90%.

c. Resettlement Administration assisted farmers to settle on better land that wasn’t ruined by the dust storms.

d. The Soil Conservation Act subsidized farmers to reduce their growing of soil-depleting crops.

2. further job programs . . .

a. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) employed people for construction, maintenance, education, and creative projects.

1. It gave jobs to people in a wide variety of occupations: teachers, playwrights, actors, artists, construction workers, and musicians.

2. It spent $11 billion to give jobs to 8 million people.

3. It built 850 airports, 651,000 miles of streets, 125,000 public buildings, and 300 million garments for the needy.

4. It also employed people to create art in public buildings for all to enjoy.

5. The WPA funded free plays and concerts for people to view, yet paid the entertainers, giving them much-needed work.

3. further worker protections . . .

a. The National Labor Relations Board was created to hear testimony on unfair practices or any unfair union limitations.

b. The Fair Labor Standards Act set maximum working hours. It also set a minimum wage of 25 cents, which would later increase to 45 cents by 1945. It made labor laws for workers under 16, and banned minors under 18 from working in hazardous jobs.

4. The most wide reaching of the Second New Deal plans was the Social Security Act.

a. It was designed to give help to the most needy.

b. It provides old-age pensions for workers.

c. It gives welfare payments to workers injured on the job.

d. It is a system of assistance to the handicapped.

e. Social Security provides money for orphans to be raised and cared for until age 18.

f. The most controversial parts of the plan were the parts that are called welfare today.

1. These welfare programs are paid for by federally funded tax dollars.

2. The money is given to states who create the state monitored programs.

3. This means that each state has a different type of welfare program.

4. It gives unemployment compensation to those who lose their jobs.

5. It also gives aid to families with dependent children.