Chapter 24
The Great Depression and the New
Deal
1929-1939
Introduction
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
– Elected president in 1932
– During the Great
Depression
– Dominated national politics
until his death in 1945
• The New Deal
– FDR’s programs
– Aimed at relief, recovery,
and reform
Introduction (cont.)
• The New Deal went through 2 phases
• 1933-1935
– 1st New Deal
– Attempted to unite all Americans
– Relief and recovery measures
• 1935
–
–
–
–
2nd New Deal
More radical
Impose greater govt. regulation
Introduced legislation to benefit workers, farmers,
sharecroppers, and others at the bottom of the economic
ladder
Introduction (cont.)
• A superb politicians, Roosevelt won the love
of the have-nots and the hatred of many of
the financially privileged
Introduction (cont.)
• 1.) What were the causes of the 1929 stock market
crash and of the depression that followed?
• 2.) What was the social and political impact of the
crash and depression?
• 3.) What strategy did the first New Deal employ, and
what specific measures were passed to implement
it?
• 4.) Why did Roosevelt turn to a second New Deal in
1935, and what major legislation expressed the shift?
Introduction (cont.)
• 5.) How did the depression and New Deal affect
farmers, workers, women, and minorities?
• 6.) Which New Deal programs failed and why?
Which programs still have an impact on the nation
and why?
• 7.) How did the economic hard times affect American
arts and popular culture?
Crash and Depression, 1929-19323
• Black Thursday and the Onset of the Depression
– In 1928, a wave a wild speculation started
– 9 million Americans played the market in hope of quick
profits
– This drive stock prices to dangerously inflated levels
– Worse yet, they often speculated on borrowed $$$
• They bought on margin
Black Thursday and the Onset of
the Depression (cont.)
• Factors contributed to the
speculation:
• Low taxes for the rich
– Created by Sec. of Treasury
Andrew Mellon
• The easy-credit policy of
the banks
• The optimistic buyers
ignored warning signs
– Falloff of new construction
Black Thursday and the Onset of
the Depression (cont.)
• Oct. 24, 1929
–
–
–
–
Black Thursday
Speculative bubble bust
Stock prices plummeted
Panicked shareholders rushed to sell
• On the following Tuesday, the plunge continued
– History Channel video--Black Tuesday
• This stock market crash trigged the worst depression
in U.S. history
• History Channel video--1920's economic troubles
Black Thursday and the Onset of
the Depression (cont.)
• Between 1929 and 1933, the nation sank
deeper and deeper into depression
– Farm prices declined by 60%
– 5,500 banks failed
– Unemployment rose to 25%
Black Thursday and the Onset of
the Depression (cont.)
• What were the causes of the Great Depression?
– Structural vs. monetary policies
– Many economists point to the structural weaknesses in the
economy:
• 1.) Workers’ wages did not rise sufficiently during the 1920’s to
allow them to buy all of the consumer goods coming off the
factory assembly lines
– By 1929, there was an overproduction crisis
– More houses, automobiles, electric appliances, etc. for sale than
there were Americans who could afford to buy them
Black Thursday and the Onset of
the Depression (cont.)
• 2.) The 1920’s depressed agricultural sector
further weakened the economy.
• 3.) The collapse of European economies under
the weight of WWI debt repayments and the
unfavorable balance of trade with the U.S.A.
– This caused our foreign sales to fall sharply
Black Thursday and the Onset of
the Depression (cont.)
• The monetarist school of economist claim it
was the tight-money policy of the Federal
Reserve Board in the early 1930’s that caused
the Depression
– Contracted credit denied businessmen the capital
they needed to start new ventures and get the
economy rolling again
Hoover’s Response
• President Hoover’s ideological commitment to
private-sector initiative, limited govt. intervention,
and balanced federal budges severely handicapped
him in dealing with the Depression
• Hoover asked business leaders not to:
– lay off any more workers
– impose further wage cuts
• Business leaders initially agreed
– They later broke their pledge because they could not sell
their products
Hoover’s Response (cont.)
• Hoover preached that private charity and local govt.
must handle relief for the jobless
– Private philanthropy and city and county govts. were soon
overwhelmed by the numbers needing help
• Reconstruction Finance Corporation
– Empowered to lend money failing business corporations
– He held out until July 1932 in using any federal funds to
assist states in helping the unemployed
Hoover’s Response (cont.)
• His pronouncements in favor of self-help and
local initiative made him seem indifferent to
the suffering of depression victims
Mounting Discontent and Protest
• Millions of people lost their jobs
• They and their families often were unable to feed
themselves or pay rent
• They wandered the country looking for work
• They often lived in shantytowns called “Hoovervilles”
– “Hoover Valley” in Central Park was the most famous
“Hoovervilles”
“Hoovervilles” (cont.)
“Hoovervilles” (cont.)
“Hoovervilles” (cont.)
Mounting Discontent and Protest
(cont.)
• Everywhere banks foreclosed on farmers and
homeowners who could not meet mortgage
payments
• The spreading mood of despair and confusion
resulted in an expanded suicide rate
Mounting Discontent and Protest
(cont.)
• As conditions worsened, protests escalated
• Midwestern farmers tried to raise agricultural prices
by halting the shipment of food to cities
• Destitute veterans marched on Washington
demanding immediate cash payment of their
bonuses for WWI service
– Hoover ordered the army to remove the “bonus marchers”
from the capital
– The sight of armed troops expelling peaceful veterans
convinced the public of Hoover’s callousness
Mounting Discontent and Protest
(cont.)
• Writers in the early thirties reflected the
despair and disillusionment with life in
capitalist America
– John Dos Passos
• The 42nd Parallel
– James T. Farrell
• Young Lonigan
– Jack Conroy
• The Disinherited
The Election of 1932
• Republicans nominated Hoover
– Stuck by his failed antidepression measures
• Democrats nominated Franklin D. Roosevelt
– Not clear on how he would fight the Depression
• The anti-Hoover sentiments of the people carried
FDR and the Democrats to lopsided victories in the
presidential and congressional elections
• History Channel speech--FDR inaugural address
The New Deal Takes Shape, 19331935
• Roosevelt and His Circle
– The promise of govt. action and the mood of optimism in
FDR’s inaugural address lifted peoples’ spirits
– New Deal
• Relief, recovery, and reform measures
– “brain trust”
• A circle of Roosevelt’s advisers
• Devised broad programs of “federal economic planning”
Roosevelt and His Circle (cont.)
• Eleanor Roosevelt
– Along with her social
worker and women
reformer friends
• Pushed for legislation
to assist the
economically
disadvantage and
minority groups
Roosevelt and His Circle (cont.)
• Old-time Progressives, university professors,
and able young lawyers joined the Roosevelt
administration to contribute ideas and
administer new programs
The Hundred Days
• March 9 and June 16, 1933
• The administration introduced and Congress
passed an unprecedented volume of
legislation
• These laws had the overall effect of greatly
increasing federal involvement in the
economy
The Hundred Days (cont.)
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
– FDIC
– Insured bank accounts up to $5,000
• Civilian Conservation Corps
– CCC
– Employed jobless young men on conservation projects
• Home Owners Loan Corporation and the Farm Credit
Administration
– Refinanced mortgages
– Saved homes and farms of millions
The Hundred Days (cont.)
• Other important laws imposed regulation on the
stock market
• Tennessee Valley Authority
– TVA
– Electricity to rural America
• Public Works Administration
– PWA
– Construction of public projects/improvements
The Hundred Days (cont.)
• Federal Emergency Relief Administration
– FERA
– Federal $$$$ for relief efforts
• Agricultural Adjustment Act
–
–
–
–
AAA
Aimed at reviving agriculture
Guaranteed prices for agricultural produce
Paid farmers for not growing crops that were in surplus
The Hundred Days (cont.)
• National Recovery Administration
– NRA
– Aimed at reviving businesses
– Helped business draft and enforce codes to
eliminate cutthroat competition, price-cutting,
and the use of child labor
– Management promised to bargain with the unions
chosen by their employees
Problems and Controversies the
Early New Deal
• Complaints concerning the NRA multiplied
– Management resented govt. regulation
– Small businesses claimed that the codes helped only the
big farms
– The NRA was bogged down in supervising code making in
every possible industry
• In 1935, the Supreme Court ruled that the NRA was
unconstitutional
Problems and Controversies the
Early New Deal (cont.)
• Overall farm income rose by 50% between 1933 and
1937
– Drought
– the AAA payment not to grow surplus crops
• The AAA did nothing for landless farm laborers
• It hurt tenants and sharecroppers
– Landlords kicked many tenants and sharecroppers off their
property
– Landlords pocketed the govt. subsidy checks
Problems and Controversies the
Early New Deal (cont.)
• Poor farmers also fell victim to the vast dust storms
that rolled over the Upper South and the Great Plains
–
–
–
–
Destroyed the crops in their paths
History Channel video--Dust Storm
History Channel speech--Dust storms
Many poor farmers, tenants and sharecroppers headed for
CA
– They struggled to survive as migratory farm laborers
Problems and Controversies the
Early New Deal (cont.)
• Between 1933 and 1935, New Dealers were
split between whether the govt. should
concentrate on pulling up the agricultural
sector as a whole or on helping the rural poor
• It was not until 1935 that legislation aiding
farm laborers, tenants, and sharecroppers was
passed
Problems and Controversies the
Early New Deal (cont.)
• The PWA projects were
enduring projects
• Led by Harold Ickes
• The PWA was slow though
to get work under way
• It was also slow in putting
$$$ into the hands of the
unemployed
Problems and Controversies the
Early New Deal (cont.)
• Harry Hopkins led the
FERA (Federal Emergency
Recovery Administration)
• FERA quickly dispensed
millions of dollars to the
poor
• Roosevelt relied more and
more heavily on Hopkins
• Transferred funds from
PWA to FERA
Problems and Controversies the
Early New Deal (cont.)
• Hopkins created the Civil Works
Administration (CWA)
– CWA created more jobs for the poor
• Hopkins continued to dominate federal relief
policy making during and after the Great
Depression
Challenges from Right and Left,
1934-1935
• When the first phase of FDR’s New Deal did not end
the Depression, frustration with and criticism of
Roosevelt began
• In 1934, there were thousands of strikes
– Some led by communists
• American Liberty League
– Created by business leaders and conservatives
– Charged that the New Deal was radical and socialistic
– Wanted to defeat New Dealers at the polls
Challenges from Right and Left,
1934-1935 (cont.)
• FDR and policies retained the support of most
Americans
– In the 1934 midterm congressional elections the
Democrats greatly increased their majorities in
the House and Senate
Challenges from Right and Left,
1934-1935 (cont.)
• Demagogic extremists were gaining some support
– Proposed radical plans for ending the Depression
– Charles Coughlin
• National Union of Social Justice
– Francis Townsend
• Elderly supporters
– Huey Long
• “Share Our Wealth” movement
Challenges from Right and Left,
1934-1935 (cont.)
• In 1935, Roosevelt proposed a second burst of
reform, relief, and recovery legislation
– Hoped to lessen the discontent and steal the
thunder of the extremists
The New Deal Changes Course,
1935-1936
• Introduction
– Roosevelt took a swing to the left
– He proposed to Congress a new package of reform
measures
– “Second New Deal”
– Emphasis on aiding the disadvantaged rather than
trying to appeal to all classes
Expanding Federal Relief
• Emergency Relief
Appropriation Act
– Congress passed in 1935
– Granted nearly $5 billion
– Expanded work-relief
programs
• Works Progress
Administration
– WPA
– Headed by Harry Hopkins
– Received the largest
amount of $$$ from the
Emergency Relief
Appropriation Act
Expanding Federal Relief (cont.)
• WPA (cont.)
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
1935-1943
Employed over 8 million people
Construction
Clerical
Professional
Arts endeavors
Thousands of roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, post
offices, and other public facilities were constructed or
repaired
– Millions of Americans enjoyed free or low-cost plays and
concerts, saw murals and paintings, and received
instruction in the arts
Expanding Federal Relief (cont.)
• National Youth Administration
– Another new agency
– Provided part-time jobs for students
– Allowed thousands of young people who
otherwise could not have afforded to go to or
remain in college
• The PWA also shared in the $$$$
– Used for major construction projects
Expanding Federal Relief (cont.)
• The large amounts of money spent on these
work-relief programs caused mounting federal
budget deficits
• British economist John Maynard Keynes
– Said such deficit spending was a positive way to
pump funds into the economy and combat the
Depression
– Called Keynesian economics
Expanding Federal Relief (cont.)
• Roosevelt never endorsed Keynesian
economics
• He did tolerate deficit spending as a shortterm necessity to relieve the suffering
Aiding Migrants, Supporting Unions,
Regulating Business, and Taxing the
Wealthy
• The massive relief programs and other laws of the
2nd New Deal were not intended to please all social
classes
• They openly aimed at serving the needs of labor and
the rural and urban poor
• Resettlement Administration
– May 1935
– Resettled and/or made loans to small farmers, tenants,
and sharecroppers to turn them into farm owners on
productive land
Aiding Migrants, Supporting Unions,
Regulating Business, and Taxing the
Wealthy (cont.)
• Agriculture as a whole suffered a blow when
the Supreme Court declared the AAA as
unconstitutional (1936)
Aiding Migrants, Supporting Unions,
Regulating Business, and Taxing the
Wealthy (cont.)
• Wagner Act
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Aka: National Labor Relations Act
July 1935
Pro-union
Stimulated the growth of organized labor
Required employers to recognize their employees’ unions
Employers also must bargain with those unions
Established the National Labor Relations Board
• Acts as a watchdog in labor-management relations
Aiding Migrants, Supporting Unions,
Regulating Business, and Taxing the
Wealthy (cont.)
• Revenue Act
– 1935
– Boosted taxes on corporations and upper-income
Americans
– Wealthy called it the “Soak the Rich” law
The Social Security Act of 1935; End
of the Second New Deal
• Social Security Act of
1935
• Created by Frances
Perkins
– Secretary of Labor
The Social Security Act of 1935; End of
the Second New Deal (cont.)
• The Social Security Act provided:
–
–
–
–
–
Old-age pensions
Survivors’ benefits for families of deceased workers
Unemployment insurance
Aid to dependent mothers and children
Aid to handicapped
• The 1935 law did not cover farmers and domestic
workers
The Social Security Act of 1935; End of
the Second New Deal (cont.)
• “it (Social Security Act of 1935) established
the principle of federal responsibility for social
welfare and laid the foundation for a vastly
expanded welfare system in the future.”
The Social Security Act of 1935; End of
the Second New Deal (cont.)
• Social Security and the other Second New
Deal laws went a long way towards reducing
the appeal of extremist demagogues and
saving the capitalist system by reforming its
excesses and addressing the social injustices it
spawned
The Social Security Act of 1935; End of
the Second New Deal (cont.)
• Roosevelt’s New Deal now concerned itself more
fairly with the needs of other segments of the
population (besides business):
–
–
–
–
Workers
Farmers
Poor mothers and children
Sharecroppers
The Social Security Act of 1935; End of
the Second New Deal (cont.)
• FDR’s vigorous leadership also had the longterm effect of strengthening the powers of the
presidency
• He also broadened the Americans’
expectations of the role that the nation-state
should play in society
The 1936 Roosevelt Landslide and the
New Democratic Coalition
•
•
•
•
Republicans nominated Alfred Landon
Democrats renominated FDR
Roosevelt swept every state but ME and VT
The Democrats increased their large
majorities in Congress
The 1936 Roosevelt Landslide and the
New Democratic Coalition (cont.)
• The victories resulted from a new Democratic
coalition that had emerged
– It consisted of:
•
•
•
•
•
•
The South
Urban immigrants
Industrial workers
Farmers
African-Americans
Women
The 1936 Roosevelt Landslide and the
New Democratic Coalition (cont.)
• African-American voters were attracted to the
Democratic party by Roosevelt’s aid to the
poor and his stepped-up appointments of
African-Americans to responsible govt.
positions
• The Roosevelt administration also made
careful efforts to cultivate women’s votes
The Environment and the West
• The New Deal achieved an impressive record in
conservation
• The CCC built hiking trails, thinned forests, and
planted thousands of trees
• The Departments of Agriculture and the Interior
taught farmers soil-conservation practices and
stopped overgrazing on public lands
• The TVA’s dams controlled earth-eroding floods
The Environment and the West
(cont.)
• Congress created 3 more national parks
• The Wilderness Society
– Established in 1935
– Set aside 160 new wildlife refuges
The Environment and the West
(cont.)
• The West was the region perhaps most aided by New
Deal projects
• Highways linked it to the rest of the nation were
repaired and upgraded
• Western dams provided the West with hydroelectric
power, flood control, irrigation, and soil conservation
– Boulder (Hoover), Shasts, Grand Coulee, etc.
– History Channel speech--Hoover Dam
The Environment and the West
(cont.)
• The PWA and WPA also supplied western
states with thousands of public structures
– Ranged from bridges to post offices to ski lodges
The New Deal’s End Stage, 19371939
• FDR and the Supreme Court
– In Feb. 1937, FDR proposed a court reform bill that would
allow the president to appoint a new Supreme Court
justice to serve alongside each member of the Court who
had reached 70 years old and would not retire
– “court-packing” plan
– The reason Roosevelt requested this change was because
the aging, conservative majority on the Supreme Court
had been declaring reform and recovery laws
unconstitutional
• NRA
• AAA
FDR and the Supreme Court (cont.)
• The Supreme Court also seemed likely to invalidate
the Social Security and Wagner Acts
• FDR did influence a number of the elderly,
conservative judges to modify their views or retire
– Between 1937-1939, FDR was able to fill 4 Court vacancies
with liberal New Dealers
• The Supreme Court upheld the Wagner Act
The Roosevelt Recession
• Aug. 1937
• The economy turned sharply downward
• The causes:
– 1.) a reduction in consumer spending power because of
social-security deductions
– 2.) a tightening of money supply when the Federal Reserve
Board raised interest rates
– 3.) cutbacks in New Deal work and relief programs
• to try to balance the budge
The Roosevelt Recession (cont.)
• Roosevelt had to ask Congress for new
appropriations to revive and expand the PWA,
WPA, and other programs
– Because of rising unemployment and slumping
industrial output
• This restarted economic recovery
Final Measures; Growing
Opposition
• In Roosevelt’s 2nd term, Congress passed only
a few reforms
– Housing Act of 1937
– Fair Labor Standards Act
– 1937 Farm Tenancy Act
• Replaced the Resettlement Administration with the
Farm Security Administration
– A 2nd Agricultural Adjustment Act
Final Measures; Growing
Opposition
• A coalition of conservative, southern Democrats and
Republicans blocked further reform
• Roosevelt attempted to break up this anti-New Deal
coalition by asking voters to defeat conservatives in
the 1938 election
• The people instead elected more conservatives
• FDR then switched his attention to foreign affairs
– He proposed no additional domestic reform
– The New Deal ended
Social Change and Social Action in
the 1930’s
• The Depression’s Psychological and Social Impact
– The Depression imposed tremendous suffering
– The unemployment rate never fell much below 14% during
the thirties
– A quarter of all farm families had to accept relief to survive
– 1 million elderly accepted relief
– The hard times brought physical and emotional distress
– The Depression stamped on many living through it a “a dull
misery in the bones.”
The Depression’s Psychological and
Social Impact (cont.)
• Women workers:
– suffered about 20% unemployment rate
– Were often displaced by men in teaching, social work, and
librarianships
– Usually were paid less than men
– Were often told if that if they married, they would be fired
• Some women workers were helped by unions and by
the Fair Labor Standards Act
– But many of the occupations which women held were not
covered by either
The Depression’s Psychological and
Social Impact (cont.)
• Despite all these disadvantages, the
proportion of women in the labor force
continued to grow
• Hard times brought changes in family life and
population trends
– Marriage and birthrates declined
– Desertion increased
– Population growth slowed
The Depression’s Psychological and
Social Impact (cont.)
• The Depression broke some families up
• It also produced in other families a greater
solidarity
• The Depression also promoted a spirit of
cooperation among people
Industrial Workers Unionize
• In 1933, fewer than 3 million workers belonged to
unions
– Management in the steel, automobile, textile, and other
mass-production industries had defeated all previous
attempts to organize their employees
• In the 1930’s, there was a renewed interest in
unions:
– the combination of hard times
– the prolabor attitude of the govt.
Industrial Workers Unionize (cont.)
• American Federation of Labor
– Committed to protecting only its skilled craft-union
members
– Failed to grasp the new opportunities
• Committee for Industrial Organization
– Later renamed Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
– Led by John L. Lewis and Sidney Hillman
– Created and organized industry-wide unions
• in the steel, rubber, car, and textile factories
Industrial Workers Unionize (cont.)
• March 1937, Lewis convinced U.S. Steel to sign
a contract recognizing the steelworkers’ union
– It also granted pay increases
– And 40-hour workweek
Industrial Workers Unionize (cont.)
• General Motors refused to negotiate with the United
Automobile Workers (UAW)
– Walter Reuther led the UAW
• UAW officials led sit-down strikes
– Halted production for 6 weeks
– Pres. Roosevelt and the governor. of MI refused to use the
army or militia to remove the strikers
– The strikers beat back the attack of local police
• GM had no alternative but to sign a contract
recognizing the UAW
Industrial Workers Unionize (cont.)
• Henry Ford and Tom Gridler (leader of Republic and
other “Little Steel” companies) refused to deal with
unions
• They fought them with violence
– Beating of Walter Reuther and other UAW organizers
– Memorial Day shooting of striking steel workers
• By 1941, they recognized and bargained with unions
Industrial Workers Unionize (cont.)
• Workers that remained unorganized:
– Textile workers in the South
– Agricultural laborers
– Domestics
– Most women
– Most African-Americans
– Recent immigrants
Industrial Workers Unionize (cont.)
• Union membership rose to more than 8
million
• Powerful corporations gave in to unionization
because:
– Of workers’ militancy
– The refusal of the New Dealers to put the power
of govt. on the side of business against the strikers
Industrial Workers Unionize (cont.)
• Labor unity in the 1930’s, was more apparent
than real
– Many of the union leaders were radicals
• They wished to get rid of capitalism
– The rank-and-file members just wanted improved
wages, hours, and conditions
African-and Hispanic-Americans Resist
Racism and Exploitation
• The Depression slowed the movement of AfricanAmericans to cities and to the North
– By 1940, 75% of the 12 million African-Americans lived in
the South
• African-Americans in agriculture and industry had
high rates of displacement unemployment
• Often denied equal protection of the law
– Lynchings, etc.
African-and Hispanic-Americans Resist
Racism and Exploitation (cont.)
• The NAACP battled against lynchings, segregation,
and disenfranchisement
• “don’t shop where you can’t work” campaigns
• Harlem in 1935
– A major race riot
– Caused by resentment against employment and other
types of discrimination
African-and Hispanic-Americans Resist
Racism and Exploitation (cont.)
• The Depression was equally hard on more than 2
million Hispanics
• Many of the Mexican immigrants were migratory
farm laborers
– Competed for jobs with “Okies” arriving in the Southwest
• Employers and relief officials put pressure on
Hispanics to return to Mexico
– Surplus of farm workers
– About 500,000 did so during the 1930’s
African-and Hispanic-Americans Resist
Racism and Exploitation (cont.)
• Those who remained either drifted to barrios
of southwestern cities or worked for miserably
low wages on large farms
• Mexican-Americans struck for better pay and
were sometimes successful
African-and Hispanic-Americans Resist
Racism and Exploitation (cont.)
• Asian-American farmers and agricultural
workers also suffered from discrimination and
efforts to remove them from the country
A New Deal for Native Americans
• 330,000 Native Americans
• Poorest of all Americans
• By 1933, they had lost 2/3rds of their land to the
whites
• John Collier
– FDR’s commissioner of Indian affairs
– He used New Deal agencies to create jobs and build muchneeded facilities on Indian reservations
A New Deal for Native Americans
(cont.)
• Collier also proposed legislation:
– To end the Dawes Act
– Stop all further sale of Indian lands
– Grant self-govt. to the tribes
– Encourage the revival of Native American culture
A New Deal for Native Americans
(cont.)
• Indian Reorganization Act
– 1934
– Reversed the steady loss of Indian lands
– Restored tribes as legal entities
• Set the stage for later law suits by Native Americans to
regain rights and land promised in long-violated
treaties
The American Culture Scene in the
1930’s
• Avenues of Escape: Radio and the Movies
– Listening to the radio was a very popular activity
– Gave people an escape from bleak economic reality
• Comedy of Jack Benny, George Burns,
• Soap operas
– Mass culture became even more standardized than it had
been in the twenties
Avenues of Escape: Radio and the
Movies (cont.)
• Movies were also extremely popular
• Most films offered escape from a troubled world
– Little Caesar (gangster movie)
– Gold Diggers of 1933 (musical)
– Marx Brothers comedies
• Hollywood films of the thirties presented most
characters as stereotypes
The Later 1930’s: Opposing Fascism;
Reaffirming Traditional Values
• Writers and artists in the latter half of the
1930’s found much to admire in America’s
history and its people
• Not necessarily in the capitalist economic
system
The Later 1930’s: Opposing Fascism;
Reaffirming Traditional Values (cont.)
• Cultural nationalism was on the rise:
– 1.) rise of aggressive fascism abroad
• Threatened all the democratic and humanitarian values the U.S.A.
claimed to uphold
– 2.) the Communists (from 1935-1939) praised New Deal
American and advocated a Popular Front against fascism
• Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)--loyalists vs. fascist rebels led by
Francisco Franco
The Later 1930’s: Opposing Fascism;
Reaffirming Traditional Values (cont.)
• Novels that paid tribute to the endurance of
America’s rural poor:
– The Grapes of Wrath
• John Steinbeck
– Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
• James Agee and Walker Evan
• Composers used American folktales and racial
minorities in their works
– Aaron Copland
– George Gershwin
The Later 1930’s: Opposing Fascism;
Reaffirming Traditional Values (cont.)
• American jazz and swing music blossomed
• Regional writers and artists depicted their home
sections
– Zora Neal Hurston
– William Faulkner
– Thomas Hart Benton
• American folk art and historical museums became
popular
• Novels became popular to the masses
Streamlining and a World’s Fair:
Corporate America’s Utopian Vision
• Streamlining
– Change by American businesses
– Hoped to boost sales
– Making identical objects over and over
• The World’s Fair was in NYC in 1939
– Belief in science and technology as a means to economic
prosperity and personnel freedom
– Americans gained hope and optimism for their society in
the future
Streamlining and a World’s Fair:
Corporate America’s Utopian Vision
(cont.)
• Many Americans experienced growing
apprehension about the gathering war clouds
in Europe
Conclusion
• Economists believe the Great Depression was caused
by weaknesses in the 1920’s economy:
–
–
–
–
Low farm prices
Uneven income distribution
Tight credit
Contracted money supply
• The Depression affected different groups in different
ways but it touched all aspects of American life
Conclusion (cont.)
• Roosevelt’s New Deal did not fully lift the
country out of the Depression
• The New Deal did bring about major reforms:
– Social Security
– Wagner Act
– Introduced tougher regulation of big business
Conclusion (cont.)
• The New Deal set a precedent for greatly
expanded federal govt. involvement in the
economy and society
• FDR’s experimental approach and determined
optimism served the nation well during one of
it’s darkest times