THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 1877-1945

Lecture 7The Great Depression

FOREIGN POLICY IN THE 1920s

• Washington Conference 1921-1922• Major colonial powers (U.S., France, Britain,

Japan)agree to settle any disputes with peaceful means

• Naval but not continental force disarmament• U.S. forces put down revolution in Nicaragua• Kellog-Briand Pact 1928 Nations give up war

as an instrument of national policy

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT(1882-1945)

• Privileged background, only child, distant (5th) cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, related to people on the Mayflower

• Harvard degree, Columbia Law School• Tall, handsome, shrewd, athletic• 1921: polio attack, cripples him• Personal struggle with disease transforms the snobbish

aristocrat to one of the greatest political figures of the century

• "If you had spent two years in bed trying to wiggle your toe,” "after that anything would seem easy."

FDR

• State senator in New York, 1913: Asst. Secretary of the Navy

• 1928: Governor of NY• Main issues: conservation, old-age pension,

unemployment insurance, public works projects

THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1932

• Over 12 million people are jobless• 20,000 World War One veterans march on

Washington, demanding bonuses scheduled for 1945 1 USD for each day served in US, 1,25 for overseas

• Hoover, fearing radicals, calls on the Army to put the demonstrations down.

• ”Well, this will elect me” 472-59 (votes in the electoral college

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

• Outgoing personality, empathy with the less fortunate

• A born leader, obsessed with power• A bulldog determination to succeed• The President of the forgotten man

THE HUMAN TOLL OF THE DEPRESSION

• breadlines, soup kitchens, tin-can shanties and tar-paper shacks known as "Hoovervilles,“

• apple sellers• Arkies and Okies packed into Model A Fords

heading to California• Rise of unemployment from 3 million to 12.5

million between 1929-1932• Mass evictions, shelter found in caves, sewer

pipes• Hoboes, vagrancy

THE HUMAN TOLL OF THE DEPRESSION

• Higher marriage age, declining child birth rate• Starvation, (Cameroon sent help to US!)• Break-up of families, yet declining divorce rates• Decline of the status of men, lost wage-earner

position• Improved status of women: holding the families

together• Many a family has lost its automobile and found

its soul

IMAGES OF THE DEPRESSION

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2156728/Long-lost-Depression-era-photos-capture-everyday-life-destitute-Americans.html

FDR

A NEW APPROACH

• Hoover: distant, not able to get his message through

• FDR: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself

• This nation asks for action, and action now!• A pragmatist, trial and error approach• A willingness to act, to be decisive, to

experiment

A NEW APPROACH

• The election of 1932 Realigning election• A landslide election, Franklin D. Roosevelt

defeats Hoover• I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for

the American people• Campaign song: Happy Days Are Here Again

THE BRAIN TRUST

• Pragmatists, not moralists• Influenced by the Progressive Movement• Rejection of laissez faire orthodoxy• Trust-busters: break up concentrated business power• Associationalists: cooperation between business,

labor, government• Economic planners: a system of centralized national

planning• "Take a method and try it,“ "if it fails admit it frankly

and try another. But above all try something."

STRENGTHENING THE BANKING SYSTEM

• Declaring a four day bank holiday• Banks reorganize and reopen on Monday• March 9-June 16, the Hundred Days• Farm Credit Administration-refinancing farm

mortgages at lower rates• Establishment of the Federal Deposit

Insurance Corporation• Federal Securities Act-regulating Wall Street

RELIEVING HUMAN SUFFERING

• Civilian Conservation Corps-jobs for young men (forestry, soil conservation, building recreational areas)

• Federal Emergency Relief Act- public buildings, road construction, adult literacy programs

• Civilian Works Administration• Works Progress Administration (Federal Theatre

Project, Federal Writers Project, Natl Youth Administration) putting unemployed talent to work (Nixon, Ellison)

THE FARM CRISIS• Late 1920: 1/5th of families lived in farms• Farm income dropped by 2/3• Overproduction due to fertilizers, better

machinery and plant varieties, but demand fell• Less bread consumed, Europe imposes protective

tariffs, cotton replaced with rayon• Natural disasters, boll weevil epidemic• Dust Bowl: animal grazing, ploughing destroys

the surface of the land, drought and storms lead to loss of land cover

AGRICULTURAL REGULATION

• Agricultural Adjustment Act: helping farmers to limit production, paying farmers to grow less

• Henry Wallace: secretary of agriculture, reducing supply, to keep prices high (plowing under 10 million acres of cotton, slaughtering 6 million pigs, keeping only 1 million pounds of meat)

• Uprooting farmers, dustbowl in Oklahoma, • Commemorated in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath• Soil conservation projects to deal with drought

OKIES OR UPROOTED FARMERS

REGULATING INDUSTRY

• National Industrial Recovery Act• Two goals: promoting work relief, defining

labor standards, setting wages and codes of fair competition

• Fair Practice Codes: 40 hour workweek, 13 USD minimum weekly wage

• Growing opposition on the part of business

THE NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION

• Prices, wages, maximum hours, production levels set in each industry

• Main goal: stabilizing the economy, eliminating overproduction, labor conflicts

• Leader: Hugh Johnson, logo: blue eagle• https://www.google.hu/search?

q=blue+eagle+depression&client=firefox-a&hs=GaO&rls=org.mozilla:hu:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Cct3UsPKDYbTtAadk4GoAg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=671.

REGIONAL PLANNING

• Tennessee Valley Authority- a govt. owned corporation

• Harnessing the energy of the Tennessee River• Transporting farmers from the age of

kerosene to the age of electricity• Rural Electrification Administration-providing

energy to farms, 21 dams, 35% of farm families are provided electricity

LAUNCHING THE SECOND NEW DEAL

• Fireside chats over the radio• Effective use of the media, FDR not shown in

wheelchair• Pushing for old age pension, an idea unheard

of in America• Except: Huey Long’s Share Our Wealth

program, take away fortunes of the wealthy, guarantee every family 5.000 USD, pensions for the aged

HUEY LONG, the Kingfish

OTHER CRITICS

• Father Charles Coughlin: most influential religious figure between the two wars

• Weekly radio program: The Golden Hour of the Shrine of Little Flower 16 million listeners

• Demands nationalization of banks, inflating dollar

• Anti-semitic beliefs blaming Jews and Communists for the Depression

FRANCIS TOWNSEND

• A public health official, unemployed at age 67• Pushing for old age pension• 200 USD for all Americans over age 60 per

month, money should be spent in US• All people over age 60 should retire, young

people inherit jobs—potentially ending unemployment

SOCIAL SECURITY

• Roosevelt steals the thunder• The Social Security Act of 1935• The cornerstone and supreme achievement of

the New Deal• Pension fund for retirees over

65,unemployment fund, disability assistance• Low pension, not all workers are covered,

migrant workers excluded, based on regressive taxation unfair to the poor

AFRICAN-AMERICANS

• 1936: 75% of black voters support FDR• No major civil rights advances, due to need for

southern legislative support• NRA: blacks had lower pay• AAA: limiting production area, forces 100,000 blacks

off the land,• Administration failed to outlaw lynching, or poll tax• Advances: more visibility for blacks in government:

Mary McLeod Bethune, advisor of the National Youth Administration

THE INDIAN NEW DEAL

• John Collier: Commissioner of Indian Affairs• 1934: Indian Reorganization Act• Tribes could buy land• Government recognition of tribal constitutions• Supporting the use of Native American

language and customs

DECLINING MOMENTUM OF NEW DEAL POLICIES

• Re-elected in 1936• Supreme Court strikes down most laws• FDR responds with court packing plan- extend

the size of the Supreme Court to 15, a new judge for every judge over age 70

• New Deal does not end unemployment and Depression, U.S. entry to World War Two does

COURT PACKING

• 1935: Schecter v. U.S. NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act) declared unconstitutional, improper limitation of interstate commerce (regulation of poultry industry)

• 1936 Supreme Court strikes down AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act)

• Judicial Procedures Reform bill of 1937: FDR’s plan of expanding the Supreme Court: accused of violating separation of powers

• Later nominates 5 justices to the Court

POPULAR CULTURE

• Woodie Guthrie, Pete Seeger: collecting folk songs

• Rise of Southern Agrarians I’ll Take My Stand-manifesto, calling for a return to a simpler life

• Appearance of superheroes• Marx Brothers, W.C Fields (parody and ridicule

of traditional values of patriotism, family, etc)• Frank Capra films, promotion of the American

dream

LEGACY OF the NEW DEAL• Roosevelt waged war on the Depression• End of liberal capitalism• Pro-active governing, governing as crisis management• Broker state: govt. maneuvers and mediates among major

interest groups-as an honest broker it looks out to protect not only business but workers, farmers, consumers, unemployed

• FDR was accused of introducing socialism, communism, yet he saved capitalism

• An aggressive govt. interference with the economy• http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/volpe/newdeal/

resources.html

• http://www.google.hu/imgres?imgurl=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/thisday/courtpacking.jpg&imgrefurl=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/thisday/2006/02/fdr-proposed-court-packing-plan.php&h=426&w=300&sz=65&tbnid=7Pxu8TezmjQuiM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=69&zoom=1&usg=__2S5idgM46H_IfFSO_eAQjj61ghg=&docid=g7biohRDqDTcYM&sa=X&ei=DuF3UrMmhYi0BpnogNgH&ved=0CDsQ9QEwBQ