Domestic Issues
1920-1945-Domestic
Unit IX-3
Hoover’s attempts to address the
problem
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1932 The Norris-LaGuardia Act: outlawed
Yellow Dog Contracts
Provided work relief: just not nearly enough
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation :
Gave federal funds to banks, businesses, states
in hopes that lending, employment and relief
would “Trickle-down” BUT did not mandate
the above so banks did not lend, businesses did
not keep folks on the job
Agricultural Marketing Act (later)
1932 The Worst!
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Farmers’ incomes ½ of 1929 standards
½ of Pennsylvania on relief
40% Chicago workforce unemployed
Detroit Welfare Dept. $800,000 in debt
Philly 11 days without relief
Birmingham, Alabama: landlords quit collecting
rent
12,000 applied for a job paying 20 cents an hour
Hoover’s Response to the Economy
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The Agricultural Marketing Act Provided $500
million to help existing farm organizations and
to create new ones
Also created 5-member Federal Farm Board
Was supposed to buy farm surplus and sell it
domestically
Did not work
The Farm Bloc in open revolt. Wanted
McNary-Haugen Bill!
Hoover’s Response a failure
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Hoovervilles: People were living in tents on
public land all over the country
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1932 Vetoed The Garner-Wagner Bill: to
provide more work relief
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1932 Vetoed The Norris Bill: Government
should go into the business of producing
electricity and fertilizer in Tennessee Valley
The Tariff
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Remember…Hoover was a Progressive
Republican
He lost the support of the Farm Bloc:
Republicans from the Midwest and the Plains
who supported farmers and the McNaryHaugen Bill
He did not want to alienate the conservatives in
his party too (who supported a high tariff)
The Tariff
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Hoover was advised by economists NOT to sign
a higher tariff into law
But he did…to keep the support of the
Conservatives in his party
Also…the Democrats had been making a
comeback in Congress
The Hawley-Smoot Tariff
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Within one year 25 foreign countries made laws
to prohibit the purchase of U.S. goods
This tariff made it impossible for foreign
countries to sell goods to the U.S. so they could
not afford to pay us back what they owed us
from WWI
The foreign trade of the U.S. fell faster than the
international rate of trade
The Hawley-Smoot Tariff
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Caused a dislocation of world trade
This tariff was partially responsible for causing
the European depression
The Dust Bowl
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Beginning in 1931
Normal rainfall 18 inches
Down to 3-7 inches
10 tons of topsoil was blown into the Atlantic
Ocean
Farm Security Administration hired
photographers to chronicle suffering:
Dorthea Lange
Arthur Rothstein
Fear of Revolution
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Many of the wealthy waited it out in the
Caribbean
Real belief that the end of capitalism was at
hand
Lloyd’s of London began writing riot insurance
policies
Farmers organized bands of men to prevent
farm foreclosures
The Bonus Army
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May, 1932 WWI vets marched on Washington
to demand immediate payment of bonuses not
due until 1944
By June there were 17,000
Hoover had the army drive them out
MacArthur, Patton, Eisenhower: 2 infantry
regiments, 6 tanks, machine gun detachment,
tear gas. 100+ died (2 babies) 7 yr old
bayoneted
Depression blamed on bankers,
industrialists
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Henry Ford blamed lazy workers
Tax dodger’s names were made public
African Americans
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Worse off: more unemployment, homelessness
1930’s great migration North
Caused increasing Northern racism (competition
for jobs)
Same problem for Asians and Hispanics in
Southwest
Women
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A decline in divorce rate
People could not afford it
Men just left
Working women were considered unpatriotic
They took jobs from men: heads of households
Literature and entertainment
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Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath
Caldwell: Tobacco Road
Margaret Mitchell: Gone with the Wind
Popular pass times: Keep it light
Radio: Superman, the Lone Ranger, Amos and Andy
Movies: Marx Brothers, Mr. Smith goes to Washington
The End of Hoover
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1931 Moratorium on war reparations
The Dawes Plan bit the dust
Election of 1932
Republicans Hoover 59
Democrats FDR 472
FDR only one to be elected 4 times!
FDR
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Banking crisis between election and inauguration
American banking system began to collapse
Michigan was first to impose “Banking Holiday”
Hoover did nothing: he had lost the public trust
FDR could not do anything until he wa
inaugurated
No inaugural ball due to the economy
Relief, Reform, Recovery
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Happy Days are Here Again
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Hoover and FDR disagreed most on direct aid
to individuals
Hoover: Trickle Down
FDR: Pump-Priming
1933: Amendment 20 Lame Duck
Amendment: Pres to Jan 20, Congress to Jan 3
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Big Difference between Republicans
and Democrats
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The extent to which the government was
responsible for the people’s welfare
The New Deal
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The foundation of the Federal Welfare Program
Advisors: The Brain Trust…Professors from
Columbia University
Wife: Eleanor
NOTE: The New Deal will not get the U.S. out
of the depression. War Production will do it
BUT the New Deal kept us alive until economy
improved