In this radio address, President Franklin Roosevelt announced a second set of measures to combat the Great Depression, which become known as the Second New Deal. These included a series of new relief programs such as the Works Progress Administration.
In this campaign speech delivered at Madison Square Garden on October 31, 1936,
Roosevelt responded to considerable criticism that the New Deal had not done
enough by emphasizing his administration’s continuing plans for relief,
reform, and recovery. Historians have often referred to this initiative as the
Second New Deal. The major legislation that came out of the so-called Second
New Deal was the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the National Labor Relations
(Wagner) Act, the Social Security Act, and the Wealth Tax Act,
which brought about a sudden increase in taxes on the wealthy and created new
and larger taxes on excess business profits, inheritances, large gifts, and
profits from the sale of property.
The Works Progress (later "Work Projects") Administration promoted
both relief and reform. The WPA built streets, highways, bridges, airfields,
and post offices and other pubic buildings and facilities; restored forests;
developed parks and recreation areas; built reservoirs; and extended electrical
power to rural areas. Over its 7-year history, the WPA employed about 8.5 million
Americans.
In addition to developing America's infrastructure, the WPA worked to promote
American culture. The Federal Theater, Arts, Music, Dance, and Writers' Projects
brought music and drama to even the smallest communities, sponsored public sculptures
and murals, and commissioned noted American writers such as John Steinbeck,
Richard Wright, John Cheever, and Claude McKay to write regional guidebooks
and histories of the American people. This was the first time that the Federal
Government had taken the responsibility to support and promote American art
and culture.
Within a week of the delivery of this speech, FDR was reelected to a second
term as President of the United States. In the Presidential campaign of 1936,
Roosevelt led the Democratic Party in building what came to be called the "Roosevelt
Coalition." While Republicans were still relying on their traditional support
base (big business, big farmers, and conservatives), the Democrats, armed with
FDR’s Second New Deal, broadened their base of support by appealing to
small farmers of the Midwest, urban political bosses, ethnic blue-collar workers,
Jews, intellectuals, African Americans, and Southern Democrats. The most dramatic
shift to the Democratic Party was seen in the voting patterns of African Americans.
The Republican Party nominated Alfred M. Landon, the relatively liberal Governor
of Kansas, to oppose Roosevelt. Despite all the complaints leveled at the New
Deal, Roosevelt won an even more decisive victory than in 1932. He took 60 percent
of the popular vote, with a winning margin of 10 million votes, and carried
every state except Maine and Vermont. The campaign speech shown here reflects
FDR’s continued commitment to economic reform for an America still suffering
from the pains of the Depression.
