American History: A Survey (Brinkley), 13th Edition

Chapter 24: THE NEW DEAL

Main themes of Chapter Twenty-four:

• The flurry of New Deal programs offered by FDR to combat the Depression, and how they played out in the realms of economic confidence, agriculture, industrial recovery, and regional planning



• The critics on the right and left of New Deal policies, and how they inspired Roosevelt to launch what's referred to as the "Second New Deal"



• The challenges facing the New Deal after Roosevelt's landslide in 1936, particularly increasing conservative opposition, his own political blunders, and continuing hard times



• The economic, political, and party legacies of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal

• The series of emergency measures enacted by Roosevelt immediately after his inauguration and designed to restore economic confidence



• The New Deal programs for raising farm prices and promoting industrial recovery



• The first federal efforts at regional planning



• The political pressures from both the left and the right that spurred FDR to embrace both federal relief programs and Social Security after 1935



• The changes in the strategies of organized labor during the New Deal period



• The effects of both the Court-packing scheme and the recession of 1937 on the New Deal



• The impact of the New Deal on minorities and women



• The lasting significance of the New Deal to the American economy and political system



• The varying historical assessments of the New Deal