Two Wars and a
Depression
The United States, 1912-1939
Woodrow Wilson
Elected in 1912 (because the
Republican Party had been split by the
Roosevelt-Taft feud) Woodrow Wilson
was only the second Democratic
President since Lincoln. Wilson was a
southerner by birth, a former college
professor of history and government,
and, as governor of New Jersey, a
moderate reformer.
He was also unwilling to admit he could
ever be mistaken.
The Money Issue and Taxation
Wilson put his support behind a number of issues that would
raise more revenue for the government, prevent major
financial panics in the future, and help consumers:
•The Underwood Tariff lowered rates on many imported items.
•The Federal Reserve System created a group of Federal banks that
would handle the flow of currency, regulate other banks through
loans, and try to maintain a steady economy.
•A Federal Trade Commission that could use a tougher anti-trust
process to encourage competition in business.
•The 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which permitted the
Federal government to collect income taxes.
Civil Rights
Wilson also did not have any
interests in civil rights (as a
child in Virginia in the 1860s
he resented the defeat of the
Confederacy by Lincoln’s
armies). While Roosevelt and
Taft had invited AfricanAmericans like George
Washington Carver to dinner at
the White House, Wilson
ended the practice and refused
to meet with any civil rights
leaders.
Rivals to Carver
Other Black leaders criticized Carver’s unwillingness to
challenge segregation. W.E.B. DuBois (left) argued that
African-Americans should enter the professions of law
and medicine, and reject a segregated society. Marcus
Garvey (right) called for a separate Black state,
Trouble Abroad
War in Europe in
1914 threatened to
interfere with
American trade.
The U.S. declared it
would be neutral in
the war, and Wilson
promised that
Americans would not
get involved.
War and Propaganda
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Every nation had secret treaties for
obtaining territory from the losers
Every nation sought to convince world
opinion that the war was the fault of
someone else
US neutrality (until 1917) based of view that
all were at fault
US businesses were selling arms to Britain
and France
US Sympathy for Victims
U.S. groups organized
aid for Serbia, Belgium,
and other smaller
nations caught up in
the Great War.
Sinking of the SS Lusitania, 1915
Wartime Propaganda
Actress Geraldine Farrar strikes a
pose as Joan of Arc in “Joan the
Woman,” Cecil B. DeMille’s 1916 film.
Critics charged that the French lily
and the actress’s raised arms
suggested that France was being
crucified by German invaders.
In 1916, Woodrow Wilson won reelection on the slogan that he had
“kept us out of war.” But even then
Wilson knew that America might have
to fight to keep Germany from
dominating European trade and the
Atlantic sea lanes over which
American products were shipped.
American Entry into War, 1917
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U.S. public increasingly angry over
German atrocities in Belgium, France
Zimmerman telegram proposes
German alliance with Mexico against
U.S.
German’s decide to again unleash
“unrestricted” submarine warfare
The Fourteen Points
When the US
entered the war,
Wilson made the
main American
war aim a
“world safe for
democracy.”
The Fourteen Points
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No secret treaties
Freedom of the seas
Free trade
Armament reductions
Self determination of peoples, based on cultural values of
nationality (including an independent Poland, breakup of
Turkish empire, adjustment of Austrian empire, restoration
of Belgium, and replacement of European colonies by
“territories” to be given independence).
An international organization for maintaining peace and
preventing future wars by negotiations – Wilson called it a
“League of nations.”
U.S. in France
Because they entered the war 3 years after it began, US
casualties were far less that those of other nations.
Enlisting the Movie Stars
Actress Mary Pickford give a pep talk to the “troops” in
her 1918 summer hit “Johanna Enlists.”
The Hun
When a German officer makes
improper advances to civilian
Mary Pickford, another
German officer intervenes.
“The Little American” (1917)
like so many films of the time,
depicted many of the German
soldiers as beasts who would
kill and rape at the slightest
provocation.
In truth, German soldiers did
execute Belgian civilians in
order to enforce obedience.
Hate the Hun
Utilizing the style of political
cartoonists, William Fox had this
marquee poster designed to
promote his 1918 action film,
“The Prussian Cur,” directed by
Raoul Walsh.
The Espionage Act of 1917
complemented the wartime
propaganda by suppressing the
speech of dissidents. Socialists,
labor leaders and pacifists, who
spoke out against the war, were
arrested and jailed.
To Hell With the Kaiser
After the U.S. entered the war, this feature literally showed
German Emperor Wilhelm and the emperor of Austria enter
into a pact with the devil to “rule the world.”
Hoover and Food
As the head of the War Food
Administration Board, Herbert
Hoover became an international
figure for his efficiency in sending
food to war-torn Europe.
Hoover, a millionaire-engineer,
promised to be part of a new breed
of political leaders, skilled in
administration and progressive in
outlook.
Victory
After 4 years of war and economic
blockade, Germany asked for an
armistice. By then, the Russian empire
had collapsed in revolution, Germany’s
allies were ruined, and Britain and
France were exhausted. This left
America the richest and most powerful
nature on earth.
Wilson wanted a peace that would
prevent future wars and counter the
attractions of the Communist revolution
in Russia. But the Treaty of Versailles
did little to promote peace in the future.
Revolution at Home
The 19th Amendment to the
Constitution gave the right to vote to
all American women aged 21 and older.
Not every woman accepted that this
would provide full equality. Alice Paul,
a suffragette, called for an “equal
rights amendment” to prevent any
discrimination against women in
business or society.
Throughout the 1920s, women would enter business in a number of
“new” professions – law, journalism, medicine. But the majority still
worked in nursing, clerical jobs or teaching (and teachers who
married were fired in most states).
Treaty Rejected
After Wilson (left, with the French and English
leaders) returned to the U.S., the Senate rejected the
Treaty of Versailles. The U.S. never joined the League
of Nations as Wilson had intended.
U.S. Regrets Role in War
In 1920, American voters elected
Warren Harding as President.
Because Harding had opposed
the Treaty of Versailles, this vote
was taken as a rejection of
America’s role in the Great War.
By the mid-1920s, U.S. history
books called American entry in
the war “a mistake.”
He said it was time to return to
“normalcy.”
The End of Reform
The 1920 presidential election demonstrated that the public had become
tired of reform movements. The Democratic candidates, James B. Cox and
his running mate Franklin D. Roosevelt, campaigned for the U.S. joining
League of Nations. But the Republican candidate, Warren Harding, running
on the slogan “Back to Normalcy,” opposed the League. He won an
overwhelming victory.
“Normalcy” Returns
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Election of Harding in 1920 opened an era
of U.S. withdrawal from most world affairs.
Americans were angry that most European
nations were not repaying their war debts.
U.S. politics was dominated by prohibition
and and rising power of Wall Street.
Farmers had a very hard time, because
the wartime prices of grain and cotton fell
as Europe recovered in 1921-22.
The Business of America – is
business
Harding, a small town businessman, took a pro-business view toward his role,
and thus did not favor support of unions or regulation of corporations. But
friends and advisors plunged his administration into scandal. Attorney General
Harry Daugherty (right) of Hardin’s “Ohio Gang,” narrowly missed being
convicted for accepting bribes and was forced to resign; other scandals erupted
in the Veterans’ Bureau.
Prohibition
After a nationwide campaign by the Women’s
Christian Temperance Unions and other antiliquor groups, the 18th amendment to the
Constitution, ratified in 1920, prohibited the
sale of any alcoholic beverages in the U.S.
The Volsted Act enforced it (people could
make a limited amount of “home brew” beer
of 3.2% or less alcohol content).
Prohibition was poorly received by much of
America, and criminal gangs quickly
expanded to supply the booze buyers wanted.
Booze and Corruption
Bribery and corruption flowed as
heavily as booze in the 1920s, with one
group of state and Federal law
enforcers working to discover and
destroy illegal liquor (left) and other
groups of local and even Federal police
taking millions of dollars to “look the
other way.”
Along the Minnesota-North Dakota
border certain county sheriffs assisted
the smuggling of liquor from Canada
into the U.S.
Racism Revival
As had happened after previous
eras of reform, the 1920s saw a
revival of racism and antiforeignism. The Ku Klux Klan
grew up again, in the South, but
also in many cities.
In Congress, a National Origins
Act altered the immigration rules
to reduce the number of
immigrants from eastern and
southern Europe.
The New Prosperity
Postwar prosperity in urban America helped make the early 1920s –
with new advertising through the radio and magazines, and with
profits from overseas trade. Rural America did not obtain much of
this “easy money” but still wanted the comforts advertised in
publications like the Sears Catalog.
The Jazz Age
The prosperity characterized the
“Roaring Twenties,” where
“flappers” smoked in public,
youth enjoyed their own status
as a “market,” movies with titles
like “Flaming Youth” suggested
an end to “old fashioned”
morals, and writers like
Fitzgerald and Lewis deride the
old ways of life.
But the prosperity rested on shaky ground – people did not make
enough money to buy all that was being manufactured. By 1927,
many industries were reducing staff and cutting wages. All that was
required was a shock to create a financial panic.
The bubble burst in 1929.
The “Teapot Dome”
The most infamous scandal of the Harding Administration, known as the “Teapot Dome,”
involved payment of $360,000 in bribes to high federal officials to arrange for the leasing of oil
drilling rights on federal naval reserves to favored companies. Albert B. Fall (far left), the
secretary of the interior, was much involved and became the first Cabinet member in history
to be convicted for crimes while in office.
Coolidge Takes Over
His administration ruined by the scandals, Harding died of a cerebral
hemorrhage on August 2, 1923. His successor, Calvin Coolidge, was able to
distance himself from the scandals by moving swiftly to bring indictments
against those who had abused the public trust. And, like Harding, this
Vermont Republican believed that the presidency should encourage
prosperity by supporting big corporations.
Low taxes, small budgets
Coolidge promised to keep Federal taxes low and the Federal budget balanced. As
this newspaper cartoon suggests, Coolidge and his Treasury Secretary, Andrew
Mellon, trimmed Federal expenses by closing down some of the Progressive era
regulatory agencies that had fought against child labor, while supporting factory
safety, and other pro-worker actions. This helped increased the prosperity of the
decade.
Easy Money
Cars, radios, and movies also helped increase national income and national
spending. Advertising, presumably the job of the man in the Abraham Lincoln
costume, played an important role in selling luxury model autos such as this
1923 Lincoln touring car.
Consumers and Producers
Registration of vehicles rose in the ’20s from 9.2 million to 26.7 million.
General Motors dominated cars by 1930. Unlike Ford, which concentrated
on the "no-frills" inexpensive "Model T," GM executives each year
introduced a variety of models that made earlier ones obsolete. With many
models and many “luxuries,” they increased their sales each year.
The “Silver Screen”
The “movies” added to a “national culture” by teaching young men and women how to
dress, look, and behave. Rudolph Valentino’s most famous film, The Sheik, left women
swooning and men copying his Latin "machismo" hair style. When he died in 1925 of
complications following an ulcer attack, his funeral became one of the public events of
the decade.
“Wild Youth”
The movies, combined with the incomes of working women to give young women liberties
they had not previously had. They could purchase new and more daring fashions featured
on the screen – shorter hemlines, more casual designs, less constrictive undergarments,
and brighter colors. This financial independence, when mixed with short or “bobbed”
hair, created the look of the “flapper” generation. Women smoking in public shocked
older Americans.
Changes in behavior
Advertising urged both men and women to smoke cigarettes as a “modern” expression of good
taste. Many companies paid radio and movie stars to publicly smoke their brands. Previously
unacceptable behavior for women – smoking, swearing, frank discussion of sex – became “smart,”
with movies, new “Confession” magazines, popular novels, and celebrities providing role models
for new behaviors.
Mass Communications and Celebrity
Radio also added to the advertising aimed at consumers. This 1924 Freed-Eisemann
radio receiver, with a separate loud-speaker, illustrates the way in which many
Americans would have heard the radio programs of the day. Dominated by large
networks, radio programs broke down local barriers, created national celebrities
among sports figures and performers, z=and paved the way for a nation-wide
“consumer culture.”
Restoring World Trade
An Assurance of Peace?
In the late 1920s, U.S. Secretary
of State Frank Kellogg joined the
French foreign minister in
persuading world leaders to sign
a pact promising to “settle all
differences without resorting to
war.” Every major nation signed
it – and then ignored it.
Prosperity on shaky ground
•Despite the rising stock market, American (and
world) prosperity rested on very little more than
public confidence; this declined as dictatorships
took hold in Europe and Asia
•World trade declined as many nations imposed
high tariffs (taxes on imported foreign goods)
•The world’s gold supply was not stabilizing prices
•Unemployment was slowly growing, as fewer
people could afford modern luxury goods
•As sales of cars, radios, and other “durable goods”
(refrigerators, washing machines, etc.) slowed down,
American factories laid off workers.
THE CRASH
Over speculation in the stock market led to wild swings in stock prices. In
October 1929, the overall market fell to less than 50% of its previous value.
Hundreds of thousands loss their jobs and the financial depression began.
Bank Failures – 9000 banks holding $7 billion closed in
1 year (no deposit insurance existed)
One in four workers were unemployed by 1933
Hunger in a food-rich nation
A BREAD LINE In NYC, 1930
Herbert Hoover’s response
As the president in 1929, Herbert Hoover
(left) was faced with the crisis. He had been
elected in 1928 as a “problem solver” who
had provided aid to Europe after the Great
war and helped the South recover from the
devastating 1927 flood.
But Hoover refused to expand the Federal
government’s debt in order to provide direct
aid. He and the Congress created the
National Recovery Administration (NRA) –
which would lend money to corporations.
He assured people that the NRA would
“engineer” recovery “in the long run.” One
economist replied, “People don’t eat in the
long run, they eat every day. And they’re
hungry now.”
The Bonus March – 1932
The hard times dragged on. In 1932, thousands of veterans from the Great War
of 1917-18 went to Washington to ask Congress to advance them money from
the bonus promised to them in 1945. Several economists argued that advance
payments of the bonus would stimulate economic recovery.
Crushing the Bonus March
Congress refused to advance the bonus
payments, while Hoover, worried about
rumors that the marchers were being
influenced by communist agents, ordered the
U.S. army to “guide” the marchers out of
Washington. Army chief Douglas MacArthur
(left) exceeded his orders, using cavalry and
tanks to drive them out.
When the veterans were gone, chased out by
tear gas, MacArthur ordered the burning of
their camp at the city’s edge. Many in the
nation were outraged at this treatment of
hungry former soldiers at a time when
Federal funds were being spent to save large
corporations from bankruptcy
Election of 1932 -- Franklin D.
Roosevelt
“It’s time for the American
people to get a new deal –
FDR, 1932
Crippled by polio in the 1920s, Franklin Roosevelt had
managed to disguise the fact that he spent most of his
waking hours in a wheel chair. A master at public
speaking, he also knew how to use radio more
effectively than most politicians of the day.
Eleanor Roosevelt – The Nation’s Conscience
“She is the greatest
argument for mercy killing
I know. She should have
been shot as a child” – NY
banker.
“If Democracy had saints . . .
Mrs. Roosevelt would be
one” – poet laureate
Archibald MacLeish.
Because FDR had only limited mobility, his wife served as his eyes and ears, traveling to meet
party leaders and supporters during his New York governorship, then during his presidency.
She most enjoyed meeting with ordinary citizens. Criticized for her active role as First Lady,
most Americans responded to her open warmth and obvious sympathy for their hardships.
Elements of the New
Deal
1. Relief -- Jobs for the
unemployed.
2. Recovery -- Restoring
the economy.
3. Reform -- Preventing
abuses in banking, etc.,
with new regulations.
“Alphabet Soup”
In the first “hundred days” of
FDR’s presidency, Congress passed
virtually every bill he asked them
to, creating new agencies to create
jobs, regulate banking, help
farmers, and assist people with
emergency goods and services. All
of these agencies were soon referred
to by their initials (Agricultural
Adjustment Administration – AAA;
Securities Exchange Commission –
SEC).
Forms of deficit spending paid for
most new programs.
Nation Recovery Administration
Business hated to “pro-labor” aspects of the
NRA, and the Supreme Court ruled that its
“price-fixing” steps were unconstitutional.
The most controversial new agency was
the NRA, which suspended the
enforcement of anti-trust laws for two
years, and encouraged every industry
to bring its members together to agree
on standards of quality, set prices,
allocate production quotas, and agree
on codes of fair competition. Labor
leaders were supposed to be part of the
teams setting the codes for each
industry, and management-labor
disputes were to be referred to the
newly created National Labor Board.
The idea was to increase jobs by
reducing competition.
Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC)
In contrast to the NRA, the CC was extremely popular with liberal and
conservative alike. By enrolling young men in CCC to do conservation-related
work in special CCC camps (modeled on US Army barracks), the Corps put these
men to work, made them send some of the pay to their family, and helped restore
the declining environment.
New Deal for the Farmer
The AAA was also controversial.
In its first form, it paid farmers a
subsidy to REDUCE farm
production. News photos and
films created a storm of anger by
showing farmers plowing under
crops, killing livestock, and
dumping milk into ditches (all to
raise prices by reducing supply).
The Supreme Cory ruled parts of
the AAA’s activities to be
unconstitutional, and FDR had to
reinvent the program in 1935-36.
The New Deal and Its Critics
“Every time
[Roosevelt] said ‘my
friends,’ with that
superior tone of his, it
was all I could do to
keep from kicking the
hell out of the radio.”
NY businessman on
FDR’s fireside chats
“[Many] had never done
an honest day’s
work in their life and
I don’t think ever
intended to if they
could get out of it.
Loafers, you know,
that’s all they were.”
Pennsylvania mailman
on depression work
relief programs.
The wealthy considered FDR (who was also rich) a “traitor to his class.”
Employed workers frequently criticized the New Deal for allowing the
unemployed to “pick up a check for doing nothing.”
Works Progress Administration -- WPA
The WPA was viewed as an expensive “make work” agency that paid men to
“lean on a shovel.” Yet, WPA workers built dams, highways, pots offices,
parks, and other public facilities that are still in use today.
WPA – Wasting the Taxpayer’s $
When you look at things today
Like Boulder Dam and TVA
And all those playgrounds
where kids can play
We did it--by leaning on a
shovel!
“Sing for Your Supper” -- a WPA
Musical written to respond to
its critics.
WPA – Federal Writer’s Project and Arts
Projects
The most controversial part of WPA was
its employment of teachers, writers and
artists in non-construction work.
Unemployed painters made murals in
public building, writers created plays and
musicals that were performed by out-ofwork actors, historians interviewed
former slaves, farms workers, and
ordinary folks, creating in the process a
set of state guides.
Critics hated this forerunner to today’s
NEA and NEH, claiming that the works
were “anti-business,” anti-American, and
“communist propaganda.”
WPA – Federal Art Project –
Paul Kelpe – History of S. Illinois Mural (painted in a state building, in
Illinois, ca. 1937)
WPA -- Federal Theater Project
A performance of “It Can’t Happen Here” (written by Sinclair Lewis,
warning of the growth of fascism), in Chicago, 1936.
American Communism and the Depression
When the American Communist Party’s
presidential candidate received 103,000
votes (a record high) in the 1932 election,
conservatives feared that the New Deal
could use big government to take control
of the economy and all wealth. “We are
walking the same road Russia did in
1918,” warned a radio speaker in 1933.
Communism offered hope to
some
Communist Party pickets
outside the White House,
1930.
“The battle is on! Go this morning to the nearest picket line and put up a united
front, mass struggle against the greedy landlords of New York.” This call
from the Daily Worker (newspaper of the Communist party) in 1933 lent
weight to the belief that some Americans wanted a class war.
Huey Long – Share the Wealth
The closest thing to communism that
drew any large numbers of
followers was the “share the
wealth” plan of Louisiana governor
Huey Long. Long called for the
government to confiscate all
personal wealth over $100,000, with
the funds then distributed among
the people in services and jobs.
“The fortune-holders of America
grew powerful enough that one per
cent of the people owned nearly
everything, ninety-nine per cent of
the people owned practically
nothing,” Long told his listeners.
FDR considered Long the “most
dangerous threat” to free
government.
Father Charles E. Coughlin
Another possible threat was father
Charles Coughlin, a priest whose
weekly radio broadcasts from
Michigan reached millions. “Shall
we suffer while this [America]
money remains idle to fatten the
wallets of the bankers or shall we
employ it to create employment
for the underprivileged?”
Coughlin asked in 1935.
Most ominous were Coughlin’s
expressions of admiration for
European dictators and his antiSemitic remarks that mirrored
the Nazi movement in Germany.
The American Nazi Movement
The American-German Bund (here at a
1938 rally) was quite small, but it had
its admirers among the GermanAmerican populations of the upper
Midwest. After a Minnesota Senator
died in an air crash in 1940, it was
discovered that he (or someone in his
office) had permitted thousands of proNazi pamphlets to be mailed out using
his Federal postal privileges.
Francis Townsend – Father of Social
Security
Social Security, created in 1935 from an idea
floated by a social worker, was one of the most
permanent reforms of the New Deal.
Accepting Help --Work Ethic Guilt
“Yes I’m out of work. I’m fifty-two
you see and I used to make good
wages. I was proud, sure of myself, I
thought things would always go on
as they were. When I did make good
money I spent it. Now I can’t find a
job. So it’s my own fault.”
Told to Sherwood Anderson, in
Puzzled America (1935)
Writers of Protest
“Mother’s hands were always
puckered and grey while she was
washing [clothes for the town
butcher, to whom she owed
money]. Her head was enveloped
in a cloud of steam all day [and]
the washboard kept her dress
waist frayed.”
The Disinherited (1933), a novel
by Jack Conroy, who flirted with
communism
Urban Protest and Ethical Dilemmas
“[After waking on a park bench] I reached Fifth
Avenue. Near Madison my eyes lit on two bottles
of milk on a doorstep. I took one and ducked
into an alley to drink it. The doorways of
grocery stores were just beginning to fill [with
deliveries]. Drivers were leaving bread and rolls
tied into gunny sacks. I found a chain store,
made as though I were looking to see if they had
opened, and tucked away a sweet rye.”
Edward Newhouse (New Masses staff writer)
“You Can’t Sleep Here”(1934)
Corruption in Business and
Government
“Heroes” attacked
crooked businessmen
and politicians -- those
who had been
respected before 1929
were now seen as
greedy and dishonest.
Film and the American Dream
Frank Capra (center), an immigrant from Russia, perfected the
“American Dream” story in movies like “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,”
“Meet John Doe” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Using
“everyman” actors like James Stewart (right) and suave stars like
Cary Grant (right), Capra portrayed ordinary Americans as decent
folk who just wanted a “fair shake” in life.
Mr. Smith Goes to
Washington (1939)
“I want to make [the promise of
America] come to life–yes, and lighted
up like that [the capital dome], too–for
every boy in the land. Boys forget what
their country means –just reading "land
of the free" in history books. And they
get to be men–and forget even more.
Liberty is too precious to get buried in
books, Miss Saunders. Men ought to
hold it up in front of them–every day of
their lives and say: "I am free–to think–
to speak. My ancestors couldn't. I can.
My children will.“
Newly selected Senator Jefferson Smith
(Stewart) on arrival in Washington DC.
Cynical Comedy
“You look like a stowaway
to me”
-- Ship captain to Marx
“Remember, the stockholder
of yesterday is the
stowaway of today” – Marx,
“Night at the Opera”
“There is no sweeter sound
than the crumbling of your
fellow man.”
Groucho Marx
War, September 1939
German invasion of Poland ignited war
in Europe as Britain and France
honored it treaty with Poland.
Frames from film showing German
army advancing into Poland. Nazi
tanks (panzers) and aircraft were
then superior to those of the Allies
Isolationism
Neutrality Laws in 1935-1936,
written by Gerald Nye of North
Dakota (below), restricted
American business with nations at
war and prevent American
citizens from being endangered.
•As U.S. journalists begin covering the war in Europe their stories would have
an impact on how Americans regard the war and its likely influence on
American policies.
William L. Shirer
Vienna “looked like any German city in
the Reich – red, white and black
Swastika flags hung from the balconies
of most of the homes. And in the
streets people raised their hands in Nazi
salute and greeted each other with ‘Heil
Hitler!’”
CBS radio correspondent William L.
Shirer on the German annexation of
Austria, March 1937.
America is Neutral
This picture of downtown Moorhead,
December 1939, shows citizens
enjoying an unseasonably warm day
as Christmas approaches.
Americans hoped that “this time”
they would not become involved in
the war in Europe. The U.S. had
also steered clear of the war
between Japan and China, raging
since 1937.
Public opinion polls showed that
while about 3 of 4 Americans
sympathized with China, Britain and
France, 4 out of 5 wanted to remain
neutral in the conflicts.