Ch. 33 the Great Depression & the new deal 1933-1939

1937 Economic Downturn

-A depression within a depression, dubbed by critics as the "Roosevelt Recession", partly caused by Social Security taxes & administration cutting back on spending to balance the budget. -FDR employed Keynesianism (named for British economist John Maynard Keynes). This was a major turning point for the economy. Use of the government spending & fiscal policy to "prime the pump" of the economy & to encourage consumer spending. -Because Congress was now concerned about what they see as FDR's autocratic tendencies, it was hard to get other things done.

What was the Republican platform during the 1932 election?

-Anti-Depression policies -Promise to repeal prohibition/return liquor control to the states -On stump, HH reaffirmed faith in free enterprise & predicted if Harley Smoot tariff repealed, "grass would grow int he street of 100 cities"

Assessment of FDR

-FDR was accused of waste, incompetence, etc. , and trying to make American Marxist & was accused of being Jewish & choosing too many Jews for positions ("The Jew Deal"). Accused of "beauracratic meddling" and of fomenting class strife. Others appreciated FDR's "do something" approach. -Government grew, debt sky rocketed, New Deal failed to cure the depression. -HOWEVER, New Dealers argued that relief, not economy had been objective, more important to balance the human budget, and federal government is morally bound to prevent hunger & starvation. Debt caused by WWII. Collapse of America's economic system was averted & fairer distribution of national income was achieved.

What was the Democratic platform during the 1932 election?

-balanced budget ("out of the red w/Roosevelt", "throw the spenders out!") (Note to be in the red means to be in debt -- so when Roosevelt was promising to get the country out of the red, he meant he would get it out of debt) -a "New Deal" - sweeping social/economic reforms ("Happy Days are Here Again" theme song)

FDR as the Dem candidate

-handicap helped form charming personality -had deep concern for plight of the "forgotten man" -wife, Eleanor, was greatest asset - she gave speeches, had syndicated newspaper column, battled for the poor & oppressed

Famous line from FDR's inauguration address on March 4, 1933: "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have.....

....to fear is fear itself"

Examples of demagogue personalities in the US

1. Fr. Charles Coughlin - Catholic Priest had a 1930 Michigan Radio show. He became so anti-Semitic, fascistic & demagogic, he was silenced in 1942 by his superiors. 2. Dr. Francis Townsend - retired CA physician, promised people over 60 years old, $200/month. 3. Senator Huey ("Kingfish") Long of LA - every family was to receive $5k, paid for by the rich, under his leadership. Long was assassinated in 1935.

Years covered in ch. 33 the Great Depression & the new deal

1933-1939

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1933

A New Deal program designed to raise agricultural prices by paying farmers not to farm. It was based on the assumption that higher prices would increase farmers' assumption that higher prices would increase farmers purchasing power and thereby help alleviate the Great Depression. The Supreme Court killed the AAA in 1936 declaring its tax provisions unconstitutional.

Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act (1934)

Allowed for mortgage foreclosure suspension for 5 years. This law was struck down by the Supreme Court. Congress then rewrote it to provide for 3 years of relief (instead of 5 years), and it was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Frances Perkins (1880 - 1965)

America's first woman cabinet member, Secretary of Labor.

Who wrote most of FDR's speeches during the campaign, and later wrote many of the New Deal policies?

Brain Trust - a small group of reform-minded intellectuals, mostly youngish college professors who later authored much of the New Deal legislation. They advised FDR and acted s a kind of "kitchen Cabinet")

Resettlement Administation

Charged with the task of removing near-farmless farmers to better land - & 200 million trees planted on bare prairies by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC).

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) of 1934

Created to help address the problem of inadequate housing. It gave small loans to households for home improvement or for completing new homes. Bolstered by the US ;Housing Authority (USHA) designed to lend $ to states or communities for low cost construction. Ran into opposition from real estate promoters, builders & slumlords, which limited the effectiveness of the FHA --HOWEVER, slum areas did shrink.

National Recovery Administration (NRA)

Critics called it "National Run Around." NRA was an early New Deal program designed to assist industry, labor, and the unemployed through centralized planning mechanisms that monitored workers' earnings and working hours to distribute work (e.g., set maximum hours of labor, so more jobs could be spread to more people) and established codes for "fair competition" , like minimum wages, to ensure that similar procedures were followed by all firms in any particular industrial sector. Workers were guaranteed the right to organize and bargain collectively through their own chosen representatives. Yellow dog/anti-union contracts were prohibited, and there were safe guards for child labor. Merchants following the NRA displayed the symbol (Blue eagle) in windows with the slogan "We Do Our Part"

Election 1936 - who were the candidates, what were their platforms, who won

Democrats renominated FDR ("The Chap"), endorsing the New Deal. FDR strongly rejected the Republican criticism calling them the "economic royalists." He appealed to the "forgotten man" whom he never forgot. He had the support of new immigrants (Catholics & Jews), poor, worker/unions, blacks. FDR's judicial appointments were 1/4 Catholics. Republicans nominated KS Governor Alfred M Landon - a moderate who accepted some New Deal reforms but not social security. Landon condemned the New Deal of Franklin "Deficit" Roosevelt - radical, experimental, consuming & frightful waste. (Notable that ex president Hoover backs Landon & calls for a "holy crusade of liberty" as did the AMERICAN LIBERTY LEAGUE (wealthy conservatives who organized in 1934 to fight "socialistic" New Deal schemes.) FDR won in Landslide (electoral college 523 - 8). House & Senate were overwhelmingly democratic.

1934 Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)

Designed as a watch dog administration, to protect against fraud/deception & inside manipulation of the stock market.

Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)

Director of Office of Minority Affairs in the National Youth Administration, highest ranking African American.

"Prime the pump"

Expression that is used when describing how FDR used Federal $ to assist the unemployed (through several laws)

Fireside chats

FDR gave 30 of them -- soothing assurance to citizens that its now safer to keep $ in the bank, and to address other like concerns.

Who won the 1932 election?

FDR in a landslide (voters were as much against Hoover as they were for FDR)

FDR & the Supreme Court

FDR saw his victory as a mandate to continue New Deal Reforms, but he saw the ultra conservative elderly Supreme Court Justices as blocks to his progress. FDR asked Congress for legislation to allow him to add a new member to the Supreme Court for every justice over 70 years old who would not retire (the Supreme Court would then be 15!). FDR's plan backfired & FDR was vilified for his "COURT-PACKING PLAN" & attempt to break down checks & balances of government. He was accused also of trying to become a dictator. "GOD BLESS THE SUPREME COURT" became a prayer....But then Conservative Supreme Court Justice Owens Roberts began voting with liberal colleagues ("A Switch in time saves nine" became pop witticism In the end - as a result of deaths & resignations, FDR was able to make 9 appts. But had few New Deal reforms after 1937 because FDR had alarmed Conservatives.

Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) 1935

Formed for unskilled workers after the National Labor Relations Board was established under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. John Lewis, boss of United Mine Workers, led a drive for its formation within the American Federation of Labor. Eventually when the CIO froze from the American Federation of Labor in 1938, it became the Congress of Industrial Organizations. By 1940, CIO had ~4 mil members (incl. ~200 blacks). CIO moved to the auto industry and had a SIT DOWN STRIKE (preventing General Motors from bringing in strike breakers). Victory when GM recognized the CIO as sole bargaining unit for employees. Success then extended to other industries, for e.g., US Steel Co But SMALL steel company's fought back. In 1937 there was the MEMORIAL DAY MASSACRE at Republic Steel Company in South Chicago....the police fired on pickets/workers leaving "several score" dead & wounded.

Emergency Banking Relief Act of 1933

Gave the president the power to regulate banking transactions & foreign exchange to reopen solvent banks.

Tennessee Valley Authority (1933)

Had been pushed by Nebraska Senator George W. Norris, because it was believed that the Electric Power industry was gouging the public with excessive rates. The Tennessee Valley Authority was tasked with deterring precisely how much production & distribution of electricity cost, and then to provide a measure for rate fairness charge by private companies. The Utility companies accused the TVA of dishonest bookkeeping/lack of taxes making it so cheap, and cried "socialism!". TVA was very successful - it brought the Tennessee Valley area to full employment, chap electric power, low cost housing, abundant cheap nitrates, restoration of eroded soil, reforestation, improved navigation, flood control, blue not brown rivers.

Who was the incumbent president in the 1932 election? (Incumbent candidate is the one currently holding office)

Herbert Hoover

Fair Labor Standards Act 1938 (aka Wages & Hours Bills)

Industries involved in interstate commerce were to establish minimum wage/maximum hours. The goal: $.40/hr, 40 hr./wk, child labor less than 16 years old (less than 18 years old if the job is dangerous) was forbidden. This law was bitterly opposed by industrialists, especially by southern textile manufacturers who profited from low wage labor. Also, the law excluded: agriculture, service, domestic workers -- this meant that blacks, Mexican Americans, and women, who were concentrated in these jobs, did not benefit.

Work Progress Administration (WPA) of 1935

Jobs in useful projects. About $11 billion spent on thousands of infrastructure (bridges, public buildings, roads, etc), but not all infrastructure. Examples include the Federal Arts Project - hired artists to create posters & murals (many still on Post Office walls today!). Critics of the WPA said it really stands for "We Provide Alms", Alms means Charity, instead of what it really stood for - Work Progress Administration.

Visibility of women

Just over a decade after the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, American women began to to carve a larger space for themselves in the nation's political and intellectual life. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt may have been the most visible woman in the Roosevelt White House, but there were others -- also in other areas, like the social sciences and in the literary world.

Social Security Act of 1935

Law passed to address problem of the lack of a social safety net. This law provided security for old age/disabilities, etc. by providing regular payments from the federal government. Limitation was that American Workers had o be employed & in certain jobs to get coverage.

Truth in Securities Act (Federal Securities Act)

Law passed to protect investors from fraud by stocks & bonds promoters. The law required promoters to transmit to investors sworn information regarding the soundness of their stocks& bonds ("Let the SELLER beware")

Public Works Administration (PWA)

Led by Secretary of Interior/Harold Ickes. The goal was long range recovery. Over $4 billion spent on approximately 34k projects -- infrastructure & Grand Coulee Dam on Columbia River during the depression. Seemed foolish at the time, but in WWII when it was needed, it seemed brilliant (irrigation of millions of farmland acres & electrical power created).

Demagogues (political leaders who seeks support by appealing to desires/prejudices of ordinary people rather than by rational argument)

Link between fascism and economic crisis. Demagogues often promise "Pie in the sky". At this time, authoritarian rule was strengthening in Japan, and Adolf Hitler was acquiring absolute authority authority in Germany & some worried FDR would also become dictator.

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973)

Novelist - and 3d American to win the Nobel Prize for The Good Earth (1931) about Chinese peasant society. She used her fame to advance Unitarian causes.

Hatch Act 1939

Passed in part because believed New Dealers had a huge campaign chest. The Hatch Act barred most federal administrative officials from active political campaigning & soliciting. It forbade the use of government funds for political purposes & certain campaign contributions (like from people receiving relief checks).

Indian Reorganization Act (the "Indian New Deal")

Promoted by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in attempt to reverse forced assimilation policies since 1887 Dawes Act. It encouraged tribes to establish local self-government and to preserve their native crafts and traditions. It also helped to stop the loss of Indian lands and revived tribes interest in their identity and culture. Some Indians didn't approve and called the law a "back to the blanket" measure. 77/200 tribes refused to organize under its provisions, tho the others did establish tribal governments.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Provided jobs though government camps for approximately 3 million young men. Did jobs like reforestation, firefighting, flood control, swamp drainage, etc. The youth were required to send most of their pay home to help parents. Critics of the CCC, said that the CCC militarized the youth.

Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act

Provides for Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insuring individual deposits up to $5k -also took nation off gold standard (paper $ instead) leading to "managed currency" (Goal of managed currency was inflation - FDR believed it would relieve debtors burdens & stimulate new production). Gold was to pay foreign debts but prohibited domestically.

Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935

Purpose was to stop bloated growth of super corporations.

Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)

Ran by Harry Hopkins. This law granted about $3 billion to states for direct payments or wages for work projects. FDR established the Civil Works Administration (CWA) as a branch of FERA to provide temporary jobs during winter emergency (like leaf raking, snow shoveling). Critics called these jobs boon dogging - slow working).

What were FDR's 3 Rs?

Relief, Recovery, Reform

Who was the Repub. candidate and who was the Dem. candidate in the 1932 election?

Republican - Herbert Hoover Democratic - Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR)

Margaret Mead (1901-1978)

Social scientist who helped popularize anthropology. She studied Pacific Island peoples, and ideas about sexuality, gender roles and intergenerational relationships. 34 books & curator of the American Museum of Natural History in NY.

Ruth Benedict (1887 - 1948)

Social scientist, wrote Patterns of Culture, in 1934, about cultures as collective personalities. She helped develop a "culture & personality movement".

Schecter "sick chicken" Supreme Court Decision

Struck down the National Recovery Administration (NRA) because, the Court held, that the Congress couldn't delegate legislative powers to the executive. The court also held that the control of interstate commerce couldn't apply to local fowl business Schecter bros. in Brooklyn, NY.

What significant event was occurring in the US during the election of 1932

The Great Depression

Hundred Days Congress

The first hundred days of FDR's administration, from March 9 to June 16, 1933, when an unprecedented number of reform bills were passed by a Democratic Congress to launch the New Deal. (Note - at the start of congress FDR set a nationwide banking holiday, and called for this Special Emergency "Hundred Days" Congressional Session. Congressional members (like everyone else) were panicky and desperate for change, so FDR had almost "rubber stamp" support for all the laws they passed to try and help implement the 3 Rs)

After the initial enthusiasm behind the NRA, what started to happen, and why.

The initial enthusiasm dropped because there was too much self sacrifice expected of labor, industry & the public. (Henry Ford called it "that damn Roosevelt buzzard"). Then cheating started! Called the "Age of chiselry"

National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (aka WAGNER ACT)

Was passed after the Supreme Court struck down the NRA. It was considered the Magna Carta of American Labor. It created the National Labor Relations Board and reasserted the right of labor to self-organize and to collectively bargain through chosen representatives.

Dust bowl

When the top soil from homesteads in the area from eastern Colorado to western Missouri filled the air as a result of rainless weeks followed by furious winds. Devastating - about 350K "okies" & "Arkies" migrated to CA. The dust bowl was caused by drought & wind, but also by dry-farming techniques & mechanization (tractor & plow) tore up more sod than oxen ever did. Government actions to help the farmers: 1. Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act of 1934 and the 2, the Resettlement Administration.

Age of chiselry

When unscrupulous business people (called "chiselers"/cheaters) showed the National Recovery Administration (NRA) blue eagle symbol in their window, but secretly violated the codes.

Soil Conservation & Domestic Allotment Act of 1936

law passed to replace the first AAA. This act paid farmers for cutting back on the production of soil-depleting crops and rewarded farmers practicing good soil conservation methods. The Supreme Court approved this version, because of its emphasis on conservation. ULTIMATELY, there was a 2nd AAA in 1938 that was a more comprehensive substitute for the first AAA.

Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC)

loaned money at low interest to homeowners who could not meet mortgage payments, and bailed out maortgage holding banks/helped middle class homeowners.

Prohibition under FDR

prohibition ended under FDR - FDR & the 100 days Congress legalized wine & beer that had less than 3.2% alcoholic content, & they taxed it. Then the 21st Amendment repealed prohibition. Critics called FDR a "3.2% American."