XIX. The 1930s
A. Hoover and the Great Depression
1. Panic
a. financial institutions hurt
b. 1932 stock selling for 10% of 1928 value
c. companies start lay-offs
d. Investors not willing to reinvest
2. Farmers suffered first
a. European farms restored
i. Too little too late
3. Hoover tried to restore confidence
a. reassured business, America was on sound footing
b. called meetings between business & labor
c. thousands of banks failed, millions lost their jobs
i. kept conservative economic policies & gold standard
d. Reconstruction Finance Corporation
i. put $3 billion in failing businesses'
e. Federal Home Loan Bank Act
i. to stop foreclosures
4. Criticism and government inaction
a. believed in private sector
b. bread lines formed & cardboard cities called Hoovervilles
c. Veterans promised a bonus in 1945 congress over a veto
i. allowed to borrow 50% of bonus
d. Veterans unhappy May 1932, 17,000 march on D.C.
i. build a "Bonus City" on Anacostia flats
e. most accept a free railroad ticket home
f. President pointed out their radical element (embarrassment)
i. refused to talk to leaders
ii. claimed city a health hazard
iii. ordered in army
iv. MacArthur, Patton & Eisenhower
a. used tear gas & burnt city
b. killed two bonus marchers & wounded several others
B. Franklin Delano Roosevelt & the New Deal
1. background
a. Polio in early 1920s
b. Democratic V.P in 1920
c. Governor of New York
d. promoted cheaper electricity,
conservation & old age pensions
ii. in depression, first governor to give aid to unemployed
d. had no set plan to stop depression but elected in landslide
i. Hoover blamed for depression won New England & Penn.
2. reassured country
a. at inaugural address claims "nothing to fear but fear itself"
b. held weekly radio broadcasts known as fireside chats
3. innovative cabinet made from political appointments & experts
a. first woman, Frances Peerkins, secretary of Labor
b. unofficial cabinet of professors & experts the "Brain Trust"
4. First 100 days
a. congress willingly cooperated
b. reassure soundness of banks
i. 4 day holiday
ii. Emergency Bank Relief Act
ii. strengthened Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
a. guarantees deposits up to $5,000
b. country starts to redeposit money in banks
c. promised to cut budget but couldn't gives some impressions
i. cuts veteran's benefits
ii. reduces government salaries 15%
iii. increased spending
d. relief from Prohibition
i. Beer & Wine Revenue Act
a. light wines & 3.2 beer
ii. repeal 18th amendment
e. took dollar off gold standard but put back
f. started several relief programs
i. Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
a. gives direct aid to local governments to distribute
ii. Civil Works Administration (CWA)
a. put 4 million to work on government projects
b. replaced by Public Works Administration (PWA)
g. stabilized farm prices
i. Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
a. limited production to keep prices stable
b. killed livestock, plowed under crops
c. helped large agricultural producers
d. hurt small farmer, sharecroppers & migrant worker
ii. Dust Bowl
a. WWI when farmers grew wheat in plains
b. no production, ground cover, loss of top soil
c. height in 1930s w/ AAA great migration out
h. National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
i. promoted cooperation between labor & management
ii. blue double eagle symbol in businesses
iii. claimed only these stores cooperated to end depression
i. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
i. hired men 18-25 & few women
ii. kept them out of the work force
iii. reforestation, roads & park construction
iv. paid $30 a month sent $25 of it home
v. lived in camps almost like army
j. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
i. proposed before but could not avoid a veto
ii. first federal attempt at providing public services
iii. build a series of dams for flood control & electricity
iv. private companies objected, cut rates unfair competition
5. Opposition
a. conservatives found Liberty League against New Deal
i. worried about socialism, lost in off year election 1934
b. most opposition claims New Deal is not going far enough
i. communist party grows from 7,500 to 75,000 members
c. Dr. Francis Townsend
i. laid off from health department
ii. at 66 started old age clubs
a. national pension $200 a month
b. must be spent each month
c. money would infuse economy
d. 1/2 million members
e. most experts thought foolish
d. Upton Sinclair a progressive and muckraker
i. author of the Jungle to promote socialism
ii. runs for governor of California as Socialist in 26 & 30
iii. changes to Democrat in 1933 wins nomination in 1934
iv. proposes platform "End Poverty in California" (EPIC)
a. wanted state to buy idle & slow factories
b. proposed state cooperative & issue new money
i. money used to buy things produced by state
v. proposed $50 pension per month
vii. Hollywood launched campaign against
e. Fr. Charles E. Coughlin an early supporter
i. radio priest from Detroit
ii. 35 to 45 million audience
iii. blamed financial institutions & Jewish bankers
f. Governor Huey Long of Louisiana (the Kingfish)
i. "Share the Wealth"
ii. taxed rich oil refineries & redistribute wealth
iii. builds schools, hospitals, & thousands of miles of roads
iv. proposed a homestead allowance of $5,000
v. proposed annual guaranteed income of $2-3,000 for poor
vi. proposed old age pension as well
vii. very popular, ran state without any opposition
viii. major threat to Roosevelt but 9/8/1935 shot by assassin
6. Reaction to Criticism, 2nd 100 days (beginning of 1935)
a. started to cut ties with business
b. sponsored the Works Progress Administration
i. hires 3 million & built bridges, roads, schools, etc.
ii. even employed artists, musicians & scholars
c. Old age pensions with Social Security Act of 1935
i. took wind out of Townsend plan
ii. tried to include a national health insurance
a. medical association lobbied against it
iii. carried some unemployment insurance
iv. provided for handicapped and dependent children
v. put a tax on income to pay for it
d. Public Utility Holding Company Act
i. commissions regulate 12 largest utility companies
ii. companies to prove efficient in 5 yrs. or nationalized
e. National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
i. guaranteed labor's right to organize
ii. established the National Labor Relations Board
a. power to conduct elections
b. determine bargaining units
c. restrain unfair labor practices (black balling)
d. helps growth of unions during 1930s
C. Minorities during the Great Depression
1. African Americans suffered especially in the south
a. unemployed whites felt they deserved jobs over Blacks
b. Roosevelt's relief programs fair
i. most left Lincoln's party 1936
2. Mexican American suffered the most
a. 1920s business recruit Mexicans
b. laid off more than any other group
c. not eligible for government programs
i. government gave them bus or train tickets to Mexico
ii. once across border, felt no longer responsible
d. Mexican government outraged, conditions worse there
3. Indians had mixed effects
a. John Collier, commissioner of Indian Affairs
b. Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
i. ended the Dawes Act
ii. restores political independence
a. forced into democratic constitutions
iii. destroyed economy of Navajo and cultures of others
D. Roosevelt's second term
1. short economic recovery, people felt Roosevelt responsible
2. won every state except Maine & Vermont, convinced of suppor
3. Supreme Court overturned most of early legislation
a. including the AAA and the NIRA
b. Roosevelt wanted to challenge court appoint new justices
c. Congress objected & Roosevelt eventually withdrew
d. court approved National Labor Relation Act 5 to 4
e. appointed another justice after he retired, liberal majority
4. signs of recovery disappeared in 1937
a. Roosevelt believed country recovering & stopped programs
b. unemployment highest in decade
c. British economist John Maynard Keynes
i. only way to end is government spending
d. Roosevelt starts deficit spending
i. but very cautious, worried about budget
ii. nothing brings recovery until war