Competency Goal 9: Prosperity and Depression (1920-1939),
appraise the economic, social, and political changes of the
decades of “The Twenties” and “The Thirties”
9.01: Elaborate on the cycle of economic boom and bust in the 1920s and 1930s
9.02: Analyze the extent of prosperity for different segments of society during
this period
9.03: Analyze the significance of social, intellectual, and technological changes of
lifestyle in the U.S.
9.04: Describe challenges to traditional practices in religion, race, and gender
9.05: Assess the impact of New Deal reforms in enlarging the role of the federal
government in American life
“The Roaring Twenties,” March 1921-October 1929
Politics and Society
“Return to Normalcy”: Winning slogan of the Republican candidate for POTUS,
Warren G. Harding, it refers to the idea that the U.S. should return to the ways before
the War (or even before the Progressive Era). In foreign policy: return to its usual
practice of neutrality, not participating in the politics and conflicts of the “Old World;”
that it should avoid, as George Washington put it, permanent alliances and just worry
about its own affairs. Harding argued that the government should take a less active role
in regulating the economy--returning, in part, to a laissez-faire approach to business.
“Ohio Gang”: Group of political associates of Harding who provided refuge for the
President at a “Little House on H Street” where they played poker, drank, and
womanized. Members of the gang also used their connections to get rich. When their
corruption was uncovered, several committed suicide or fled the country. Harding was
not directly implicated in any of the scandals, but because of his poor judgment and
general incompetence he is considered one of the worst Presidents in U.S. history.
Teapot Dome: Most famous scandal of a
scandalous administration: it involved Secretary
of the Interior Albert B. Fall selling drilling
rights to oil deposits at Teapot Rock, Wyoming,
apparently in return for personal loans totaling
$700,000 – even if the loans were not connected
with the oil rights, the deal smelled bad and was
a mistake politically. Conservationists who
opposed exploitation of western lands for
mining, etc., took advantage of the scandal to
advance their political interests.
“Silent Cal”: Nickname given to Vice-President Calvin Coolidge, former Governor of
Massachusetts who became President when Harding died of a stroke in 1923. Despite
sleeping upwards of 12 hours a day while president, he cleaned up the White House
(appointing special prosecutors to investigate Teapot Dome and send Albert Fall to jail),
ran a competent foreign policy highlighted by the Five-Powers Treaty, controlled
government spending and promoted business interests that created an era of one of the
largest economic expansions in U.S. history; (thanks largely to the low corporate taxes
advised by Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon). Coolidge retired from the Presidency, not
running in the election of 1928.
Regarding his being a man of few words: a guest at the White House bet him that she
could make him say three words. “You lose,” he replied. When he did speak, however, he
spoke volumes in few words. “What's good for General Motors,” he quipped, “is good for
America.” “The man who builds a factory,” he said, “builds a temple.” Or most famous:
“The business of America is business.” (The full quote is more telling still: “The chief
business of America is business, the chief idealism of America is idealism.”) He saw it as
government's responsibility to reduce corporate taxes and protect industries to promote
economic development and prosperity.
Nativism: An anti-immigrant movement that grew out of the isolationist movement: it
led Congress to enact laws regulating immigration with the -- Emergency Quota Act of
1921 (limits the number of immigrants and stops immigration from certain countries)
and the National Origins Act of 1924 (closes the gates to immigrants altogether); it also
led to a resurgence of white-supremacist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, which
became a major political force in the early and mid-twenties, achieving anti-Catholic
legislation in Oregon, winning the Governorship of Indiana, and nearly winning local
elections in Detroit, Michigan.
Sacco and Vanzetti: Two Italian immigrants to the Boston area who may have been
involved in the robbery of a payroll and the murder of the paymaster at a factory in South
Braintree, Mass. Later forensic studies proved Sacco's guilt, but historically that is less
important that the fact that the two were convicted in a trial that focused on their ethnicity
and their support of Communism and anarchism rather than on the evidence of guilt or
innocence, and because of poor handling of evidence “reasonable doubt” abounded (in the
1920s and today). They were sentenced to death and despite pleas for mercy from around the
world were executed in 1927. The trial and conviction became a cause celebre for radicals
and civil libertarians.
Revivalism: Amid the pressures of Modernism and change, a new spirit of revivalism
spread through urban America. Evangelists, such as Aimee Semple McPherson and Billy
Sunday, brought religion to the masses. McPherson’s Los Angeles church held just over
5,000 people and was filled for three services daily. In 1924, she started on the new
medium of radio and spread the revival across the country.
Scopes Monkey Trial: 1925 case in Tennessee. It brought into focus the tension of
tradition versus modernity, pitting science against religious fundamentalism. It involved a
question of whether a science teacher could teach the theory of evolution in public
schools. The trial caused a national sensation as two of the most famous lawyers in the
U.S. argued the case: Clarence Darrow for the evolutionists and, for the creationists,
former Secretary of State and perennial Democratic presidential candidate William
Jennings Bryan. The fundamentalists won the decision, but Darrow won public opinion.
The trial was the basis for the play and film Inherit the Wind.
Volstead Act: The law that enforced Prohibition, the banning of sale and manufacture
of alcoholic beverages.
Gangsters and Bootleggers: People who made illegal liquor, called “Bathtub Gin”
and sold it to the public, often in a secret bar or club called a speakeasy. The best-known
gangsters and bootleggers included: Al “Scarface” Capone in Chicago; Arnold Rothstein
(a.k.a. Mr. Big -- the fixer of the 1919 World Series, and controller of the narcotics trade
into the 1950s) Dutch Schultz, Meyer Lansky, and Lucky Luciano (Murder, Inc.) in New
York; the Purple Gang in Detroit; and, without the violence, Joseph Kennedy in Boston.
Culture of the 1920s
Flapper: “New woman” of the 1920s who
dressed in loose-fitting clothing, “bobbed”
her hair, went to speakeasies, smoked
cigarettes and danced “The Charleston” in
public, “sparked” with a man in the rumble
seat of his car, and did many other things
that her mother never would have done.
“Burma-Shave”: The 1920s are known as the era when national advertising campaigns
became widespread, adding to a consumer culture and suggesting prosperity. One of the
most noted and inventive advertising campaigns combined consumerism, art, humor, and
America’s new love affair with automobiles. The product was a shaving cream, called
“Burma-Shave.” The campaign consisted of a series of road signs posted in a sequence to
offer a humorous little poem. Not only did the advertisements help sell the product, they
became so well-known and well-liked that the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of
American History requested a set. Among the most representative “poems” are:
“Pity all / the mighty Caesars / they pulled / each whisker out / with tweezers”
“The Whale / put Jonah / down the hatch / but coughed him up / because he scratched”
”Within this vale / of toil / and sin / your head grows bald / but not your chin ”
“Proper / Distance / to Him Was Bunk / Pulled Him Out /of Some Guy’s Trunk
“Don’t Pass Cars / On Curve or Hill / If the Cops / Don’t Get You / Morticians Will
George Gershwin:
A composer of “serious American music” during the 1920s. He
combined European musical structures with American rhythms and jazz in such pieces
as Rhapsody in Blue. He also wrote numerous songs for Broadway musical, with his
brother, Ira Gershwin, writing the lyrics to his music.
Rudolph Valentino: The romantic leading man in silent films of
the 1920s. Best known for his part in the films, The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse and The Sheik. Because he spoke with a thick Italian accent,
Valentino could not make the switch to talkies in 1927
Charles Chaplin: A leading filmmaker of the silent era. His
character, the little tramp, won worldwide fame and popularity
in films, such as The Gold Rush and City Lights
The Jazz Singer: The first “talkie” (i.e. first movie with
synchronized sound). It starred Al Jolson as the son of a Jewish
Cantor who refuses to follow in his father’s footsteps; instead
defying his father to become a singer on the Broadway stage.
Made by Warner Brothers, it opened on October 6th, 1927. It
was an immediate hit, ushering in “the sound era.”
George Herman “Babe” Ruth: The leading sports figure in
an era that embraced spectator sports of all kinds. He began his
career as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but became world-famous
as a fielder and home-run hitter for the New York Yankees.
Jack Dempsey: Born in Manassa, Colorado,
he was known as the Manassa Mauler, heavyweight champion of the world from 1919 to 1926
Jim Thorpe: A Sauk and Fox Indian from Oklahoma, he was
raised and educated at the Carlisle Indian School. In the 1910s, he
became athlete of the decade in the Olympics and professional
baseball. In the 1920s, he played professional football and is in the
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Charles A. Lindbergh: The greatest hero of the 1920s. He was the first
to fly across the Atlantic and he did it solo, flying his plane The Spirit of St.
Louis from New York to Paris in 1927.
F. Scott Fitzgerald: From Minnesota, Fitzgerald was the leading novelist of
the “Jazz Age.” He wrote numerous novels that reflected the new lifestyles of
the 1920s. In 1925, he published The Great Gatsby, often referred to as the great
American novel of the twentieth century.
Sinclair Lewis: From Minnesota, Lewis was the leading novelist of
“Middle America” during the 1920s. He published four major novels in
the 1920s, including Main Street, Babbitt, and Elmer Gantry. He won the
Pulitzer Prize for Literature for Arrowsmith in 1927, but refused the award.
He was the first American to win a Nobel Prize for Literature (1930).
Ernest Hemingway: Novelist whose early work drew on what Gertrude
Stein called the “Lost Generation” – those who were so disillusioned by
WWI’s destructiveness that they embraced danger and a life-style of “eat,
drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.” His great novel of the 1920s is
The Sun Also Rises. It was his first novel, published in 1926
Harlem Renaissance: Artistic movement
among blacks in New York City. It included:
musicians, Louis Armstrong – trumpet; Duke
Ellington – piano; Bessie Smith –singer;
writers, Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes were
Watching God; Langston Hughes – poetry;
Alain Locke – essays, such as “The New
Negro”; and political leaders, Marcus Garvey
– the Universal Negro Improvement
Association (UNIA): seen as a radical, he
called for pan-Africanism, unity among all
black people of the world
Industry Changes America
Car Effects
Cities and Suburbs
Tourism
•Demand for steel, rubber,
glass, and other car materials
soared.
•Detroit, Michigan, grew
when Ford based his
plants there, and other
automakers followed.
•Freedom to travel by car
produced a new tourism
industry.
•Auto repair shops and
filling stations sprang up.
•Motels and restaurants arose
to meet travelers’ needs.
•Landowners who found
petroleum on their property
became rich.
•Other midwestern cities,
like Akron, OH, boomed
by making car necessities
like rubber and tires.
•Suburbs, which started
thanks to trolley lines,
grew with car travel.
•Before the auto boom,
Florida attracted mostly the
wealthy, but cars brought
tourists by the thousands.
•Buyers snatched up land,
causing prices to rise.
•Some Florida swamps
were drained to put up
housing.
Weaknesses in the Economy
•Though the “Roaring Twenties” brought prosperity to many, other Americans suffered
deeply in the postwar period
Farmers
• American farmers who
had good times during
World War I found
demand slowed, and
competition from
Europe reemerged.
• The government tried to
help in 1921 by passing
a tariff making foreign
farm products more
expensive, but it didn’t
help much.
Natural Disasters
• Boll weevil
infestations ruined
cotton crops.
• The Mississippi River
flooded in 1927,
killing thousands and
leaving many
homeless.
• “The Big Blow,” the
strongest hurricane
recorded up to that
time, killed 243
people in Florida.
Land Speculation
• In Florida, the wild
land boom came to
a sudden and
disastrous end.
• Florida sank into an
economic
depression even as
other parts of the
nation enjoyed
prosperity.
Crash and Depression
Margin: Method of buying stocks when you do not have the money – person borrows
money from a stockbroker and pays him off with interest when his stock makes a
profit. Of course, if the stock goes down the person still has to pay off the loan. Margin
is an example of the increased availability of credit during the 1920s and a cause of the
stock market crash.
Herbert Hoover, “The Engineer”: Republican
elected in 1928. He had one of the best resumes of any
POTUS: a civil engineer, heading the Food Administration
during WWI and the American Relief Administration that
provided food aid to Europe in the 1920s, Secretary of
Commerce under Harding and Coolidge. In his 1929
Inauguration Address, he said, “I have no fears for the
future of our country.” Within months, however, we were in
a depression that he seemed incapable of fixing. He
believed the crisis was caused by worldwide problems and
he believed it would run its course like any business cycle.
“Black Tuesday”: October 29, 1929, it is the day
of the great stock market crash that signaled the
beginning of the Depression. The crash did not cause
the Depression—a combination of over-production,
high consumer debt, and foreign debt caused it—but
it did speed it up and make bad problems worse.
The Great Depression
DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN THE 1920S
FACT: In 1929 the income of
the richest 1% of Americans
equaled the combined income
of the poorest 42 percent.
FACT: The average American’s disposable
income (money available to spend on consumer
goods) rose 9% in the 1920s. However, the
richest 1% saw an increase of 75%.
How did the distribution of wealth in the 1920s
make the impact of the Great Depression in the
1930s more severe for a majority of Americans?
A Working-class Americans formed a small
percentage of the population.
B Wealthy people had less money to spend on
consumer goods.
C The majority of Americans did not have major
increases in income in the 1920s.
D The increases in income were evenly
distributed among all Americans.
Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act (1930): During the Great Depression, Congress passed
this law to protect American labor and business but it made the Depression worse. It set
even higher tariffs than Fordney-McCumber and all but ended the import trade. It led to
high tariffs on American trade goods. It raised prices at a time when people were losing
their jobs and after they had lost their savings in the stock market crash.
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC): Key element of President
Hoover’s plan to fix the economy. Hoover saw the Depression as a severe example of a
natural business cycle of boom and bust. He also saw it a crisis of banking and credit. So
he called on Congress to create the RFC with $2.5 billion in funding for emergency loans
to banks, life insurance companies, farm mortgage associations, and railroads. The
money would help individuals and corporations avoid bankruptcy.
Federal Home Loan Bank: Created by an act of Congress in 1932, it was designed
to enable banks to provide discount home mortgages. This and the RFC represent a type
of trickle-down economics that did not provide immediate relief to unemployed
workers or farmers who were losing their homes and facing poverty.
Bonus Army: The Bonus Expeditionary Force, a group of WWI veterans who marched
on Washington in 1932 demanding early payment of their bonuses. When Congress
rejected their request, they set up a tent city in Anacostia Flats. President Hoover ordered
U.S. troops, commanded by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, to clear them out. Over the next four
years, they repeatedly demanded early payment and were refused. President Franklin
Roosevelt order many of them transported to work camps in the Florida Keys were they
were killed in a hurricane. Finally, in the summer of 1936, Congress agreed to pay the
bonuses early – putting $2 billion in circulation just in time for the election.
Hobos: Unemployed men who rode in boxcars on
freight trains, traveling from place to place picking up
work when they could find it. They represent the
unemployment and suffering during the Depression.
“Hoovervilles”: Shantytowns –
temporary, makeshift towns created by
homeless people–named for Herbert
Hoover, showing that people blamed
him for the Depression and their
suffering. Other examples of the
people’s blaming Hoover include
Hoover blankets (newspapers used by
the homeless while sleeping)
Bread Lines: A symbol of urban poverty, long queues grew outside soup kitchens
as the poor and unemployed in the largest cities lined up and waited for a meal.
Dust Bowl: Amid the economic depression that hit farmers particularly hard, the
weather adds insult to injury: a drought and over-tilling caused a loss of topsoil
which when pushed by winds caused a blinding dust storm that overtook the
Midwest and plains; to escape the dust bowl many farmers, called Okies because
so many came from Oklahoma, left to find work and opportunity in California
Okies
They used to tell me I was building a dream
And so I followed the mob.
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear,
I was always there, right there on the job.
They used to tell me I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead -Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad, I made it run,
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad, now it's done -Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower, up to the sun,
brick and rivet and lime.
Once I built a tower, now it's done -Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits, gee, we looked swell
Full of that Yankee Doodle-de-dum.
Half a million boots went slogging through hell,
And I was the kid with the drum.
Say, don't you remember they called me Al,
It was Al all the time.
Say, don't you remember, I'm your pal -Say, buddy, can you spare a dime?
Repeat last verse
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice come chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice come chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me
Woody Guthrie
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR: Democratic
President of the U.S. 1933-1945. He was disabled by
polio—generally confined to a wheelchair, although
the public did not know it. Former Governor of New
York, he won the nomination for the Presidency by
promising to give Americans a “New Deal”. The plan
provided relief for those hurt by the Depression; and
recovery for the economy through labor reform and
increased government spending. In his inaugural
address, he set out to restore the public's faith in the
government and the economy and to relieve people's
fears about the future.
“Let me first assert my firm belief,” he declared, “that
the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless,
unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes
needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” He
asked Congress for “broad executive power to wage a
war against the emergency, as great as the power that
would be given to me if we were invaded by a
foreign foe.”
Congress called a special session; in FDR’s “First Hundred Days,” it enacted dozens of
major pieces of legislation, creating new government agencies in the “alphabetocracy.”
FDR’s determination rubbed off on the people and they came to view him as a caring parent,
personalizing the presidency.
Roosevelt’s Brain Trust: The name given to
a group of university professors who acted as an
informal advisory council to FDR early in his
presidency and were elemental in creating the
New Deal. It included, Columbia University’s
Raymond Moley (credited with coining the term
“New Deal” and later an opponent of FDR’s
intrusive economic system), and Rexford Tugwell
(an economist in the U.S.D.A.) and Adolf Berle
(who advised FDR in foreign policy, creating the
“Good Neighbor Policy”). And from Harvard,
Felix Frankfurter (whom FDR named to the U.S.
Supreme Court). Although not officially a part of
the "Brain Trust," two others who had been with
FDR when he was Governor of New York rose to
prominence in the New Deal: Frances Perkins as
Secretary of Labor was the first woman to hold a
cabinet position; and Harry Hopkins headed the
Works Progress Administration, one of the three
more successful New Deal agencies. The First
Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, also played a significant
role as an adviser to the President.
Keynesian Economics: Along with
taking the country off of the gold
standard, this theory of British economist
John Maynard Keynes called for deficit
spending. Keynes argued that the best
way to end a depression was for the
government to spend more and put more
money into consumers’ hands through
make-work projects or even welfare.
Since tax revenues were low because of
the Depression, government had to
borrow the money—to go into debt. But
FDR feared too much debt and budget
hawks reduced deficit spending in FDR’s
Second Term, causing the economy to go
into recession in 1938.
“Bank Holiday”: Established by the Federal Emergency Banking Relief Act of
1933, the holiday was the first plank in the New Deal because in large part the
Depression was a banking/credit crisis. It involved closing banks for a period of no
less than a week so that they could review their books and reopen for business. It
restored people’s trust in banks and ended panic.
“Fireside Chat”: Approach
used by President Roosevelt to
speak directly to the American
people via radio. They informed
the people of the New Deal
policies and won tremendous
personal support for FDR. In
another example of this personal
attachment that people felt,
FDR's portrait commonly hung
in people's foyers in the place
where Catholics would often
hang a picture of Jesus Christ.
Civilian Conservation Corps: New Deal program designed
to keep young men (18-25) busy and out of trouble by sending them
to camps in the woods. Men whose families were on relief were
enrolled and paid thirty dollars per month to build roads through
forests, plant trees, build erosion walls along rivers, etc. Because
room and board was paid for in the camps, twenty-five dollars of
the pay had to be sent home to their families.
Tennessee Valley Authority: A New Deal program designed to provide jobs in
some of the hardest hit parts of the South along the Tennessee River. The government
built hydroelectric dams along the river to control flooding and harness the river’s
power to make electricity. It helped foster the Rural Electrification Program and had
an indirect role as the power source for the building of the A-Bomb.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: Part of the Glass-Steagall Banking Act
of 1933, the FDIC is a government insurance company that guarantees the security of
bank deposits: people will get their money even if the bank goes out of business. It
restores trust in the banking system.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): Created in June 1934, the SEC
will regulate the stock and bond markets; among other things it tightens rules for
buying stocks on margin, raising minimum down payments to reduce speculation.
Agricultural Adjustment Act: New Deal
program designed to raise farm and crop prices
by reducing supply – farmers were paid to take
their land out of production. It was found
unconstitutional in the case of United States v.
Butler, but did give some relief to farmers while
it lasted. FDR’s other farm programs in the First
Hundred Days were the Emergency Farm
Mortgage Act and the Farm Credit Act, which
enabled farmers to refinance their property and
extended new low-interest loans to farmers.
National Recovery Administration: Created by the National Industrial
Recovery Act, the NRA was designed to provide work relief for the unemployed.
Under the "Blue Eagle" campaign, it set wage and price controls on industries,
regulates competition, and moves to protect Labor's right to collective bargaining. It
ran "afowl" of the Constitution's interstate commerce clause and was found
unconstitutional in the “sick chicken case” – Schechter Poultry Co. v. U.S. (1935)
Opponents of the New Deal:
(1) Senator Huey P. Long of Louisiana, “The Kingfish,”
attacked Roosevelt from the Left in his book, Every Man a
King (1933); he argued that the federal government should
raise income taxes on the wealthy and “Share Our Wealth”
by guaranteeing every family an annual allowance of
$5,000 and every worker annual income of $2,500.
Dr. Francis E. Townsend attacked FDR from the
Left, insisting that government create “old age
pensions,” paying $200 per month to every
person over sixty years old who retired (opening
up a job for someone else) and who promised to
spend the money within the month.
Opponents of the New Deal:
3. Father Charles E. Coughlin, the “radio priest,” his
National Union for Social Justice called for free coinage
of silver (a la the Populists) and attacked bankers and
other economic leaders; his radio “sermons” also
included a heavy dose of anti-Semitism.
4. From the right, the American Liberty League, led
by past Democratic presidential candidates Al Smith
and John W. Davis, criticized the New Deal for not
respecting “the rights of person and property.”
Second New Deal: To answer critics, such as
Dr. Francis Townsend, and to overcome the
Supreme Court’s declaring many First New Deal
laws unconstitutional FDR pursued a new round
of legislation called the Second New Deal. It
focused not just on relief and recovery, but now
also sought to reform the country’s economic
and social problems. Unlike the more radical
reforms in the Communist Soviet Union or Nazi
Germany, however, FDR sought to do this
reform while keeping the basic structure of
American capitalism. The Second New Deal
included the Works Progress Administration
and other programs, such as Social Security and
the Rural Electrification Administration. The
Second New Deal provided emergency relief of
suffering and established several important
reform programs, but it did not end the
Depression. Only America’s involvement in
World War II ended the Depression.
Works Progress Administration: One of the most
successful programs of the 1930s, it exemplifies Keynesian
economics—using deficit spending to provide relief. It created
make-work projects, building public buildings (like post offices)
and roads. And its Federal Arts Program made work for artists,
performers, writers, and historians.
Wealth Tax Act of 1935: a.k.a. the Revenue
“Mommy, Jack wrote a dirty word.”
Act, it raised the surtax rates on incomes of over
$50,000 and graduated the rates quickly, maxing
out at 75% on incomes of over $5 million.
Because of its effect on the wealthy, it came to
be known as the “Soak the Rich Tax”.
Social Security: Pension program for seniors,
created to reduce the economic pressure on families
caring for elderly parents who do not work; it is
designed to supplement income and personal savings.
It is an example of the social/economic safety net
where through government transfer payments; the many take better care of the few. It
also represents the federal government's taking more responsibility to care for the needy.
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO):
As skilled workers had done in the depressions of the
late 1800s, unskilled workers organized unions during
the Great Depression, under the authority of the
National Industrial Recovery Act. John L. Lewis and the
United Mine Workers led the way, quickly followed by
the United Steel Workers, United Auto Workers, and
International Ladies’ Garment Workers. In 1938, the
industrial unions organized into a mass, integrated
union, the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
National Labor Relations Act of 1935:
Known as the Wagner Act, it guaranteed the right
of workers to unionize and bargain collectively. It
created the National Labor Relations Board to
mediate disputes between business and labor, but
unlike earlier times the board often sided with the
unions. The Wagner Act put the power of the
federal government, especially the courts, behind
the union movement.
New Deal Coalition: Bloc of voters for the Democratic Party created in the
landslide 1936 election that led U.S. politics into the 1960s. It included labor,
farmers, progressive elites in the Northeast, conservatives in the South, Jews, and
blacks. Southerners started leaving the coalition in 1948, but did not vote
Republican until the 1972 election. As southern whites left, African Americans
joined in greater numbers. Turmoil and violence of the late 1960s killed it as a
political force, paving the way for a Conservative resurgence (small government
and states’ rights) that led to Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980.
“Court-Packing Plan”: FDR’s response to the Supreme Court’s ruling many New
Deal programs to be unconstitutional. He planned to add six new justices to the Court to
create a majority that would favor of his policies. Many of the common people support
it during the 1936 campaign, but opposition from politicians killed the plan. It cost FDR
significant political capital and represents the lengths to which he was willing to go to
solve the crisis. It never came to pass because the Court backed off its opposition,
reversing the trend of earlier decisions in cases involving the National Labor Relations
Board (N.L.R.B. v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.) and Social Security.
Roosevelt “Black Cabinet”: Created by Mary McLeod
Bethune and Robert C. Weaver, it worked as a shadow-cabinet
and adviser to the Roosevelt administration (through Bethune’s
friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt with respect to AfricanAmerican issues. It succeeded in getting blacks placed in
increasingly important positions of the federal government and
helped to end discrimination against blacks in employment in
federal projects, most notably housing projects.
Marian Anderson: World-famous opera singer who
became the center of a controversy in 1939. She was to do a
special Easter concert at the Daughters of the American (DAR)
Revolution Constitution Hall. But the hall was segregated and
the DAR decided she could not sing. Showing her support for
civil rights, Eleanor Roosevelt intervened and arranged for her
to sing at the Lincoln Memorial. On Easter, Anderson sang to
more than 200,000 people from the steps of the monument.
Escaping the Depression
Movies and radio provided the only escape from the Great Depression for many. Many
consider 1939 to be the strongest year in Hollywood history – noted films: Gone With
the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach (John Wayne)