How did the Second New Deal differ from the First New Deal? What led to these differences?
The first New Deal had attempted to combat the worst problems of the Depression and to restore some order and prosperity to the American economy. Still, the Depression remained, and President Roosevelt was attacked by critics on both the left and the right for failing to restore prosperity. In 1935, Roosevelt launched the Second New Deal, which directly sought to aid working-class and poor Americans. The Second New Deal created what is sometimes called the welfare state. This term means that government has an obligation to guarantee minimal standards of well-being for its citizens. The welfare state was a significant change from the philosophy of Herbert Hoover and other conservatives, who insisted that citizens must be entirely responsible for their own economic security.
Because the Supreme Court struck down the NIRA, Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act), which again guaranteed the right of workers to join unions, and created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), to investigate unfair treatment of workers and to force corporations to negotiate with unions. Union membership and influence rose rapidly, and automobile workers, steel workers, miners, and others forced their employers to agree to higher wages and better working conditions.
Roosevelt also signed the Social Security Act (1935). This popular law created a fund, paid by deducting a small amount from every worker's paycheck, to pay retirement benefits to Americans after they were too old to continue working. The act also provided "unemployment insurance," to pay benefits to workers who lost their jobs.
Farmers continued to endure terrible problems in the 1930s. In addition to the Depression, a drought destroyed crops across much of the nation in the mid-1930s. The drought, coupled with unwise farming practices, caused massive soil erosion, especially in portions of Oklahoma and Kansas, an area that became known as the Dust Bowl. In 1935 the federal government passed the Soil Conservation Act to address this serious environmental and economic catastrophe. The Second New Deal also created the Resettlement Administration (1935), which sought to move tenant farmers and sharecroppers off of poor lands, and the Farm Security Administration (1937), which sought to assist tenants to become farm owners.
The Second New Deal also created the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which created jobs for more than twomillion unemployed American building dams, schools, post offices, libraries, and other facilities. In the West WPA employees built a number of dams to provide hydroelectric power, including the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington. The WPA also included programs to support the arts by employing writers, painters, and actors, as well as construction workers.
In 1936, Roosevelt won re-election by a landslide, defeating Kansas Governor Alf Landon. Roosevelt's re-election was important because it demonstrated the power of the New Deal coalition. This broad alliance of voters included workers, farmers, African-Americans, Jews, and liberals. This coalition would remain the base of the Democratic Party's support for decades.