Election 1932
• FDR (like TR)– Born wealthy in NY– Harvard Grad– NY Legislature
(senate)– NY Gov– Nominated VP– Assist Sec Navy
• Unlike TR– Suave conciliatory– TR: pugnacious,
denunciatory
FDR’s background
• Until 1921, 6’2”; strong , athletic, handsome, charming, witty
• Sometimes superficial, arrogant; a lightweight– Polio
• Fought back to partial mobility– Learned patience– Tolerance, compassion, strength of will– NY Gov, during early Depression
» “$ rather than humanity is expendable”» Spent big sums to relieve human suffering» Expressed concern for the ‘Forgotten man’» Rich said he was a traitor to his class
Eleanor Roosevelt
• TR’s niece (gave bride away)– Orphaned age 10… to England, raised by maternal
Gmother– Returned to NY, renewed friendship w/ FDR– Engaged, married
• Invaluable asset w/ health, career• Champion of dispossessed• Conscience of New Deal• Traveled w/ 4 him• Speeches in all campaigns• Syndicated newspaper column: “My Day”• Loved by liberals, condemned by conservatives• Anti-segregation (Marian Anderson @ Lincoln Memorial)
FDR’s New Deal for the forgotten man
• Vague, somewhat contradictory• Speeches ghostwritten by Brain Trust
– Reform minded intellectuals– Youngish college profs– Kitchen cabinet- wrote much of ND
• Promised balanced budget + berated H Hooverian debts: throw the spenders out!
• Theme Song: Happy Days are Here Again– Fit optimism, promise of action, risks of bold
experimentation
Hoover
• Grim, stays at WH• Worked long hours• Supporters said: half heartedly• “Worst is past”, “It might have been worse”,
“prosperity is right around the corner”• Believed that uncertainty & fear produced by
FDR’s impeding victory put nation deeper into depression
• Predicted: if Hawley-Smoot Tariff repealed, grass will grow in the streets of a hundred cities
• Reaffirmed faith in American Free Enterprise
1932 vote
• Heavy shift of black vote to Democrats– Last hired = first fired; worst sufferers of depression
• Electoral upheaval as much anti-Hoover as pro- Roosevelt– 60% voted Dem; many Socialists deserted Norman
Thomas to vote FDR– Both houses get large Dem majority
• Hoover= Lame Duck from Nov – Mar 4 33• Long period of inaction
– 20th amendment: New inaug date: Jan 20
Winter 32
• Worst days of the depression– 25% unemployment– Banks closed– Hoover offers to work with FDR; declined- no
desire to tie to Repub ideas– Hoover accused FDR of letting the depression
worsen
New Deal philosophy
• 3Rs: Relief, recovery, reform– Brain trust etc– Econ advisors: U profs, Rexford Tugwell,
Raymond Moley, Adolph A. Berle, Jr– Appointments most diverse ever
• African Americans, Catholics, Jews, Women – Frances Perkins Sec Labor 1st woman in cabinet
1st 100 days
• Pres called congress into long session
• Congress passed every law FDR requested
• More legislation than any single congress before– Alphabet soup
Bank Holiday
• Over 5k banks failed in 1933 alone– Order: all banks closed Mar 6, 1933 to be
reopened when they can est solvency
Prohibition
• Repealed
• Beer & Wine revenue act passed
• Assured public banks which reopened after the bank holiday are safe
• Public response = deposits increase
Financial Recovery programs
• Emergency Banking Relief Act– Let gov examine finances of banks; reopen
those that are sound– FDIC: guarantees deposits up to 5k– HOLC: re re-finance small homes to prevent
foreclosures– Farm Credit Admin- low interest farm loans &
mortgages to prevent foreclosures
Programs for relief of unemployed
• FERA: grants of fed. $$ to states, local govs– Operation of soup kitchens, jobless relief programs– Dir. Harry Hopkins – close friend/ advisor of FDR
• PWA under sec interior: Harold Ickes $ to state and local govs for building roads, bridges, dams, etc– Source of thousands of jobs
• CCC- employed young men 18-24; projects– Pd families sm monthly sums, cleared forests,
swamps
TVA
• Huge expir in regional development and planning
• Hired thousands in poorest region- built dams, op’d power plants, controlled floods, erosion, manufactured fertilizers
• Sold electricity to residents at low low rates
Industrial Recovery Program
• Set up NRA- to combine short term relief and long term recovery– Under Hugh Johnson– 2 guarantee reasonable profits for business– Fair wages/ hours for labor
• Suspended anti-trust laws; set codes for wages, hours, levels of production, prices of goods
• Gave workers right to organize, collectively bargain– Ltd success for 2 yrs till Sup Ct declared unconst:
Schecter v US 1935
Other programs of first new deal; after first 100 days
• CWA: created jobs, hired for temp construction projects; pd for by fed gov
• SEC: to regulate stock market and limit speculative practices; ie: margin buying
• FHA: helped const & homeowners; insured bank loans for building, repairing homes
• Law took us off Gold Standard to halt deflation– Value of $ - 1 oz gold= $35 US– Paper currency no longer redeemable in gold
• 1946: Bretton Woods Agreements: back to gold standard exchange
• 1971 Nixon Shock: US removed from Gold Standard
2nd New Deal
• Summer 1935– WPA: huge: spent billions to provide jobs: 1935-40
• Employed 3.4 mill; took off relief rolls of local, state govs• Pd two times relief rate; less than going wage• Built bridges, roads, airports, public bldgs• Hired artists, writers, actors: paint murals, write histories,
perform plays• NYA: pt time jobs to help youth stay in school, college• RA: $$ loaned to sharecroppers, tenant famers, small
farmers– Est’d fed camps: migrant farmer’s housing– Show FDR’s belief: indust workers and farmers need aid more
than business owners, priviledged classes
NLRA
• Wagner Act 1935: Major Labor Law– Replaced NIRA (struck down ’35)
• Guaranteed workers rt to join union• Union rights to bargain collectively• Outlawed practices unfair to labor• Set up NLRB to enforce law and mediate labor
disputes
Fed Taxes
• Revenue Act 1935– Raised taxes for rich– Raised taxes on large gifts from parents to
children– Profits from sale of stock, etc: raised taxes on
Capital gains
Social Security Act
• 1935: created fed insur program based on auto collection of taxes from employees + employers thru workers’ career– Trust fund: makes mo payments to retired
over 65– Incl benefits to workers fired– Disabled, blind, dependant children & moms
Election 1936
• Econ is better; still unstable• Dems nom’d FDR to second term
– Pop w farmers, workers; not businesses
• Reps nom’d Alf Landon: KS, prog gov– Criticized Dems for spending too much– Accepted most of ND
• FDR: 60%– New Dem coalition: Solid South, white ethnic groups of
cities, mid-western farmers, labor unions, African Americans– 1930s-60s
New Deal Opponents• Liberal: Socialits, lib Dems felt ND did too much
for businesses– Too little for unemployed, working poor, ethnic
minorities, women, elderly
• Conservative: said ND gave Fed Gov too much power– WPA, Wagner Act border on Socialism or even
Communism• Increased regulations, pro-union stance, borrowing to
finance Gov programs (Deficit financing)– Troublesome
– 1934: Conserv Dems joined Repubs anti ND org: American Liberty League (w/ Davis, Smith)
• Goal: stop ND from subverting US econ & polit system
Rise of Unions
• Change in labor relats of 30s due to– NIRA (33)– Wagner Act (35)
• Effect: legalized labor unions• Union membership declined in 20s; up in 30s from
less than 3 mill to 10 mill by 1941
Tensions & conflicts between rival unions
• CIO– AFL unions dom’d by skilled white male
workers, org’d by craft• Group of unions w/n AFL wanted to open
membership to all w/n industry – All races, sexes, unskilled
• 35: unions joined to form CIO (John L. Lewis)– Pres: united mine workers
• 36: AFL suspended CIO: renamed Congress broke away from AFL + bcm chief rival focus on: organizing unskilled auto, steel, so. Textile workers
Tensions 2
• Strikes: frequent– Auto: Flint, MI, 37: sit down strike at assembly
line• GM yields to demands, recognized UAW but union
organizers were beaten & driven off
– Steel: US steel recognized CIO but smaller steel co’s resist Memorial Day 1937- strike of union picketers at Republic Steel
• Chicago- 4 dead; Police fired into crowd• Most steel cos deal w/ CIO by 1941
Labor Tensions 3
• Fair Labor Standards Act (38) only/last major reform of second term of ND– Host of regs of business in interstate
commerce• Min wage (40cents per hr)• Max work week 40 hrs, time ½• Child labor restrictions for under 16s
– 1941 case: US v. Darby Lumber Co» US Sp Ct upheld child labor law under Fair Labor
Standards Act
Last phase of ND
• Recession 37-38– 33-37: econ gradually improves, banks stable,
business earnings up, unemployment down to 15%
– 37 recession hits• Causes: soc. Sec. tax reduced spending• Same time: expenditures are down for relief +
public works– Attempt to bal. budget & reduce national debt
Last phase 2
• Keynesian Econ: accd’g to Keynes: deficit spending is good in difficult times bcs that’s when the gov should spend more than revenue to spur econ growth– Primes the pump
• Increases investments, jobs– Theory adopted in 38: positive results: fed spending on
pub wks, relief go up; so did employment + production
African Americans
• Last hired, 1st fired; unemployment is higher than nat’l av.– Racial discrim continues– Excluded from most state, local relief
programs– Drove up racial tensions, esp in S
• Lynching continues• Little support for civil rights frm FDR
– Fears loss of support from white southern dems
Af-Ams 2
• improvements: some ND relief: low paying jobs w/ WPA or CCC (segregated)– 39: moral support from: Eleanor R, Harold
Ickes (Marion Anderson)– Over 100 Af Ams appointed to middle level
positions in fed gov by FDR• Mary McLeod Bethune: supporter of improved edu
& econ opps for women– Invited to DC to direct WAY
» Est’d fed council on Negro Affairs» To increase Af-Am involvement in ND
Fair Employment Practices Committee
• Exec order in 1941– Sets up committee to assist minorities in
getting defense jobs • Action taken after threat by A. Philip Randolph (RR
Porter’s Union) to march on DC for job opps
1938 elections
• Lost Dem majority in Cong– Coalition of Repubs and Conserv Dems block
further ND reform – Fears about aggressive Acts of Nazi G divert
attention from Domesting to 4n affairs
Life in Depression
• Depression Mentality– Attitude of insecurity and econ concern- wd
always remain, even thru prosperity
Women
• 2 suppliment family income, more women sought work– Total percent in work force goes up
• Accused of taking jobs from men although don’t get heavy factory jobs; lost to all; men didn’t want most jobs avail to women
• Even with Eleanor’s push for equality; women’s wages much lower than men’s
Dust Bowl Farmers
• Severe drought in Gt Plains– Ruined crops– Poor farming techniques, high winds, blew
topsoil e of NYC• Farms turn to dust• Farmers Oakies CA search for farm or
factory jobs• Often not found
Supreme Ct• Conservative decisions prove frustrating to FDRs first
and second ND– Killed NRA for business recovery– AAA for agri recovery
• By deciding laws that created them are unconstitutional
– Election results of 36: landslide… mandate?• Court Packing
– Proposal: Judicial Reorg Bill 1937: one new Justice for each over age 70.5 (6!)
• Reaction: outrage at attempt to temper w/ checks and balances… would give him dictatorial powers!
– FDR won’t back down– Neither did congressional opposition
– After math: Justices begin to back off resistance to ND• 37 upheld Wagner Act & Soc Sec Act• Several retired in FDR’s second term
Demagogues
• Appealed to desperate Americans looking for immediate solutions using radio to reach mass audiences– Proposed simplistic schemes for ending evil
conspiracy (Father Coughlin)– Guaranteeing econ security for elderly (Dr.
Townsend)– Redistributing wealth (Huey Long)
Coughlin
• Radio Priest.. Weekly radio show– Founded National Union for Social Justice– Called for inflated currency, nationaizing all
banks– Attacked ND & became anti Semitic and
fascist– Superiors in Church order him to stop
broadcasts
Townsend
• Retired MD, CA– Plan: 2% fed sales tax used to create special
fund to give everyone over 60 $200 mo provided they spend it; to stim econ.
• Popular plan… leads to Soc Sec
Huey Long
• Kingfish, LA senator, Share Our Wealth program:– Promise of 5K annual income to all families
paid for by taxiing wealthy– Candidate for pres 35– Assassinated in State Ct House
Native Americans
• John Collier- Commissioner of Bureau of Indian Affairs- 1933– Conservation– CCC projects on Reservations– Involvement in WPA and other New Deal
programs– Indian Reorganization Act (Wheeler-Howard
Act 34) repealed Dawes Act• Returned land to control of tribes & supported
preservation of Native Amer. cultures
Mexican Americans
• Discrimination in CA & SW– Principle source of agri labor since 20s– 30s drought & hi unemployment brings white
migrant farm workers– Many Mexican-Americans return to Mexico
Ch 34: From Neutrality to War
• Going on early in the 30s:– Japan threatens China– Nazi Germany rises with increased
nationalism, militarism– Italy tries to expand– US worried about Depression, inceases
isolationism
Hoover’s foreign policy
• Moral efforts (peace conferences and treaties) are ok– So long as we can be isolated– Economic sanctions are bad; and lead to war
Asia
• Sept ’31: Japan marched into Manchuria– Renamed it Manchuko; est’d puppet gov– League condemns via resolution– Japan stalks out of league
• League takes NO action– Proves to be ineffective at keeping peace
• Stimson Doctrine: Sec St declares we will not recognize legitimacy of Manchuko
• Hoover takes ‘Good Will Tour’ to Latin America 1929– Ended interventionist policies; w/d troops from Nic. 33
& Haiti 34
FDR’s foreign policies 33-38
• Good Neighbor Policy –– w/ L.A. “non-interventionist”
• Businesses no longer heavily invested in L.A.• Rise in threats from J + G
– FDR wants coop in defending region
– Pan American Conferences-
» 1933: Uruguay- we pledge no intervention
» 1936: Argentina- future disputes will be arbitrated
» & if Germany attacks; whole hemisphere resists together
– Cuba 34: US nullifies Platt Amendment- keeps rt to Guantanamo Bay base
– Mexico 38: Pres Cardenas seized US oil properties
» FDR resists demands for intervention; urges negotiations
FDR’s econ diplomacy
• London Econ Conf: 33- US w/d support when Conf called for stabilized currencies– Conf ends.. No agreement.
• Recognition of USSR- 1933 to increase trade and boost econ.
• Philippines passed Tydings-McDuffie Act 1934- to provide for independence by 46 and gradual removal of US troops
• Reciprocal Trade Agreements-– Lowered tariffs- continued policies of Wm J Bryan & Wilson
Abroad• World wide depression military
dictatorships– Italy 20s, Japan, Germany 30s , Axis Powers
of 40s• Italy: 1922 Benito Mussolini led Fascists (angry
war vets, nationalists, anti communists) – March on Rome
» Il Duce (leader)» Fascism: people should glorify nation and race by
aggressive show of force –– Germany- Nazi Party increased in 20s over econ probs,
resentment of Versailles Treaty
Abroad 2
• Japan: Nationalists, militarists increase power in 20s– Convince emperor
• Ensure access to basic raw materials– Tin, oil, iron
• Invade China + SE Asia– Control “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”
Isolation
• Revisionist history, WWI: our involvement = big mistake– Nye Committee investigation: 1934- to serve
greed of bankers, arms merchants• Neutrality Acts
– 1935: No arms shipments, no US citizen can travel on ships of belligerents
– 1936: no loans/ credit to belligerents– 1937: no arms to either side in Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War 1936
• Gen Franco (Fascist) v. Republicanism (Loyalists)– FDR, US sympathetic to Loyalists but
Neutrality Act bars action– 1939 Franco wins; est’d dictatorship– America First Committee
• Isolationists speak out against folly of involvement in Europe’s problems
– Lindbergh on tour
Prelude to War
• Aggressive acts of Fascists leave Democracies nervous– Appeasement: allowing fascists small acts of
aggression to keep peace• Ethiopia, 1935 Italy invades, league + US object.
Italy wins in 1 yr• Rhineland, 36: Treaty ordered demilitarized G-
troops march in• China 37: Japan invades. USS Panay sunk; Japan
apologized
Prelude to War 2
• Sudetenland: 1938 German speaking in Czech– Munich Conference
» Br & Fr agree to allow G to take region» G takes ALL Czechoslovakia March 1939
• US response: FDR tests public opinion– Quarantine Speech
» Suggests Democracies all get together; quarantine the sick man of Europe
» Reaction is negative; drops idea
Preparedness
• Like Wilson; FDR argues for both Neutrality & build up (security)– 1938 Congress votes 2/3 increase in naval,
military budgets• To protect against invasion of hemisphere
From Neutrality to War• 1939-41:
– March 39 Hitler broke Munich agreement• Took all Czech
– Pledge to protect Poland: Fr & Br see error of appeasement• At least they can count on help from Stalin because Communists hate
Fascists
• Sep 1, 1939: Invasion of Poland– G & USSR- Non-Aggression pact
• Invade, divide up Poland
• Br & FR declare war on G & Axis powers (Italy, Japan)
• Blitzkrieg- air power first, then tanks: lightening war– Phony War winter 39-40- propaganda only
• Spring 40: G attacks Scandinavia (N), Fr (W),
• Denmark, Norway surrender in a few days
• France falls in 1 week: June 40– Only ally left: England
Policy changes• British survival: critical to US security
– 39: “Cash & Carry” less restrictive Neutrality Act
• A belligerent cd buy arms if it uses its own ships & pays cash
– Sept 40: “Selective Service” all men 21-35 must register- 2.1 mill troops trained in 1 yr
• 1st peace time draft• Destroyers for Bases Deal: can’t sell Br destroyers
outright– Loan them 50 old destroyers; they let us build bases in
Carib Isles
Election 1940
• FDR v Wendell Wilkie Rep; – Important factors in FDR victory:
• Strong econ recovery• Fear of war
Arsenal of Democracy
• Dec. 1940 Fireside Chat 2 end Neutrality– Openly aid Brits
• We must be the arsenal of Democracy
– 4 Freedoms: address to Cong Jan 41: to lend $$ to Br to defend 4 freedoms: of speech, religion; from want, fear
• Shows our commitment to allies
– Lend Lease: ends Cash & Carry- let Br get all it needs on credit (Garden Hose) law by Mar 41
Atlantic Charter
• Secret meeting w/ Churchill off Newfoundland– Sets up peace objectives after war– Includes self determination for all people– No territorial expansion, free Trade
Shoot On Sight
• July 41: navy to escort Br ships carrying lend lease materials – US Greer was one… attacked by G sub
• FDR orders all G ships shot on sight• Undeclared naval war against G
Disputes w/ Japan
• US relations declined s. 1940– J expands into Dutch E. Indies, Burma, Fr
Indo-China (all former colonies)• US econ action: J joined Axis Sept 40
– US prohibits export of steel, scrap iron to any but Br, W/ hemisphere
• July 41: J went into Fr IndoChina; – US froze credit & stops sale of oil, vital materials– Negotiations.. J wd have to go into D.E. Indies for oil
» We offer to sell oil if they w/d from China» Cot, new J gov head: Gen Hideki Tojo.. Negots end
Pearl Harbor• US fleet anchored
– Sunday, Dec 7 1941 8 am• J planes bombed from air craft carriers
– 2 waves of attack
– 2 hours
– 2,400 Amers killed
– 1200 wounded
– 20 ships sunk/ severely damaged
– 150 planes destroyed
• Partial surprise- J codes broken; new of attack somewhere in Pacific
• Dec of War: Dec 8, FDR address’d congress said 12/7: Day which will live in infamy & state of war exists
– Dec 11, G, Italy decl war on US
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