American Politics, Culture, and
Society in the Interwar Years:
1919-1941
At War’s End, Woodrow Wilson Wages
Peace
“I hate this war,
and the only thing
I care about on
this earth is the
peace I am going
to make at the
end of it.”
World War I: A Watershed Moment for
Progressive-Era Reform Politics
World War I: an Opportunity for
Female Social Advancement
World War I: An Opportunity for
Female Social Advancement
Competing Models of Feminist Politics
in the 1920s: Separatism v. Infiltration
Eleanor Roosevelt Mobilizes
Women in the Democratic Party
Alice Paul Founds the National
Woman’s Party
Pacifism in the Interwar Years: A
Bipartisan Reaction to World War I
Peace Organizations Proliferate
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s
• These include the Carnegie
Endowment for International
Peace, the World Peace
Foundation, the League of
Nations Association, and the
Woodrow Wilson Foundation
• Best understood as being
“pro-League” or “anti-League”
– and for much of this period,
the anti-League side of this
advocacy commands broader
political support.
Eleanor Roosevelt and the Bok
Peace Prize, 1924
World War I: An Opportunity for
Working-Class Social Advancement
Swords Into Plowshares: Labor Seeks
Economic Security in Peacetime
Events like the Seattle General
Strike Prompt Anti-Labor Backlash
Palmer Raids Target Labor Organizers and Militants
– Particularly Those of Foreign Ancestry and Birth
From June 1919 – January 1920,
the Palmer Raids:
• Acquired the names of
more than 60,000 potential
radical “threats”.
• Executed dozens of antisubversion raids.
• Issued more than 2,000
arrest warrants, and
arrested more than 3,000
people, 556 of whom are
eventually deported.
Josephus Daniels, Wilson’s Secretary of the
Navy, noted of Palmer’s Actions:
“…. [Palmer] was
seeing red behind
every bush and
every demand for
an increase in
wages.”
World War I: An Opportunity for African
American Social Advancement
Appeals to Black Patriotism Often
Invoke Themes of Racial Uplift
W. E. B. Dubois
• We return
• We return from
fighting
• We return fighting
• Make way for
Democracy!
The “Red Summer” of 1919 – Serious Racial
Violence Occurs in at least 25 American Cities,
Many Outside the South
“The Black Draftee from Dixie”
• And when to his loved Dixie he came back
• Maimed, in the duty alone on foreign shore
• Where the hell of war he never flinched
• Because he cried, “Democracy” was lynched
− Carrie Williams Clifford
The Election of 1920: Americans
Endorse a “Return to Normalcy”
Harlem Renaissance Signals Ferment of African
American Culture in the Cosmopolitan North
Major Figures Associated with
the Harlem Renaissance Include:
• Literary Giants like Langston
Hughes and Zora Neale
Hurston
• Jazz Musicians like Duke
Ellington and Fats Waller
• Intellectuals like W. E. B.
DuBois
• Political Organizers like
Walter White and Marcus
Garvey
The Iconic Challenge to Female
Domesticity in the 1920s: the Flapper
The Rise of the Second Ku Klux Klan in
the Early 1920s
The Gainesville, Florida KKK
Holds a Demonstration
Group Photo of The Klan’s Official Baseball
Team for the District of Columbia
The Culture Wars: Modernism v. AntiModernism in 1920s America
The 1924 Democratic National
Convention – The “Klanbake”
The Scopes-Monkey Trial Puts
Science on Trial, 1925
In 1925, at the Height of Its National Influence,
the KKK Organizes a Lavish March on
Washington
Industrial Boom in the American City
Already in Crisis: The Agricultural
Economy of the Late 1920s
Election of 1928
Secretary of Commerce Herbert
Hoover, Republican of Iowa
Governor Al Smith, Democrat of
New York
“The Crash”: October 19, 1929, “Black
Thursday”
Major Causes Remain a Source
of Debate to This Day
The Market Lost More Than a Third
Its Value in Less than Two Weeks
•
•
•
•
•
Deflation
Tight Monetary Policy
Market Disequilibria
Speculative Investing
Protectionism
NY Gubernatorial Elections of 1928
and 1930: a Revealing Comparison
Election of 1928
• FDR’s Margin of Victory:
26,064 votes
• Popular Vote Percentage:
48.96%
• Outpolled Nearest
Opponent By: 0.60%
Election of 1930
• FDR’s Margin of Victory:
725,001 votes
• Popular Vote Percentage:
56.49%
• Outpolled Nearest
Opponent By: 23.13%
The Election of 1932: A Crowded Field and
Unprecedented Economic Crisis Gives Rise to a
“New Deal for the American People”
FDR Proposes Governance for “The
Forgotten Man,” April 4, 1932
These unhappy times call
for the building of plans
that rest upon the
forgotten, the unorganized
but the indispensable units
of economic power… that
put their faith once more in
the forgotten man at the
bottom of the economic
pyramid.
Franklin D. Roosevelt at the 1932
Democratic National Convention
The Election of 1932 Sweeps Franklin Delano
Roosevelt—and His New Deal Policies—Into Power
The Interregnum and the Winter of
1932-33
The Farmers’ Holiday Movement Briefly
Gained a Foothold in Western Iowa
The “Bonus Army” Encamped On the
Footsteps of the Capitol in Washington, DC
The Banking Crisis and the First
Fireside Chat
The success of our whole
national program depends,
of course, on the
cooperation of the public—
on its intelligent support
and its use of a reliable
system… It is your problem,
my friends, your problem
no less than it is mine.
Together we cannot fail.
Major Initiatives of the “First New
Deal,” 1933-1934
Relief Policy Corrects Imbalance in
the Market for Labor
• FERA: Federal Emergency
Relief Administration
(Hopkins)
• CWA: Civil Works
Administration (Hopkins)
• PWA: Public Works
Administration (Ickes)
• CCC: Civilian Conservation
Corps (Hopkins)
Reform Policy Corrects Imbalance in
the Market for Goods and Services
• NRA: National Recovery
Administration
• AAA: Agricultural
Adjustment Administration
• EBA: Emergency Banking
Act
• FDIC: Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation
• SEC: Securities and
Exchange Commission
The NRA—“What Many People Thought The New Deal Was”—
Relies on Culture Rather than Compulsion for Compliance
A Shop-Owner Displaying Their
Adherence to NRA Code
An NRA-Themed Beauty Pageant
in Milwaukee, WI
The Cultural Origins of New Deal
Liberalism: Male Breadwinning and Federal
Relief Policy
Agricultural “Adjustment”: Destroying
Supply to Produce Demand
Critical Features of the Adjustment
Mechanism Included:
• Farmers Join Voluntary
Cooperatives that to Sell Crops at
a Set Price
• The Government Reimburses
Farmers for Any Profits They
Forego in Observing the Price
Floor
• A Tax is Levied on Agricultural
Processors to Finance Adjustment
Payments to Farmers
• Farmers Receive Financial
Incentives to Take Land Out of
Cultivation
Thousands of Sharecroppers—Mostly African
Americans—Were Cruelly Displaced by AAA
Regional Planning and Economic
Development
The Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA), Established 1933
The Rural Electrification Administration
(REA), Established 1934
With the Depression Intact, Grassroots
Reformers Attack the New Deal to Its Left, 193435
Senator Huey P. Long of
Louisiana – “The Kingfish”
Plans with Significant Regional or
Demographic Followings in 1934-35
• Dr. Francis E. Townsend and
the Townsend Plan
• Upton Sinclair and the EPIC
Movement
• Fr. Charles E. Coughlin and
the National Union for
Social Justice
• Sen. Huey P. Long and the
Share Our Wealth Society
Critiquing the New Deal To Its Right:
The US Supreme Court
“The Nine Old Men”
Major New Deal Statutes Voided
in the Court’s 1935-36 Term
• National Industrial Recovery Act
(1935)
• Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy
Act (1935)
• Agricultural Adjustment Act
(1936)
• Bituminous Coal Conservation Act
(1936)
• Municipal Bankruptcy Act (1936)
• Minimum Wage Statute for
Women (1936)
The “Second New Deal,” 1935-1936
• Tax Increases on Corporations and the Rich
– The Wealth Tax Act, The Holding Company Act
• More Robust Relief Provision and Redistribution
– Emergency Relief Provision Act, [THE WPA LAW]
• Enforceable Collective Bargaining Rights for Labor
– The Wagner Act (aka National Labor Relations Act)
• Social Insurance for the Vulnerable
– Social Security Act
1936 Election By State
1936 Election By County
The Case for Court-Packing: the New
Deal at Legislative High Tide
The Judicial Reorganization Bill
of 1937
• Adds One Justice to the
Court for Each Serving
Beyond 80 Years of Age
• Would Have Brought the
Court’s Immediate
Membership to 15 Justices
• Defeated Soundly by the
House (###) and Senate
(###), Notwithstanding
Democratic Supermajorities
in Both Chambers
Letters to the White House Favored
the Court Reorganization by 2/3
• From Rural Nebraska: “Our family is with you 100%”
• From Sullivan, IN: “Any thing you do for the Poor or
Laboring Class Man will be appeated. I don’t no what
people would off done if it had not been for Franklin
D. Roosevelt.”
• From Sacramento, CA: “I believe that if we the
common people of the U.S. had a chance to vote on
this issue, the plan would go over overwhelmingly.”
Letters to Congress Opposed the Plan
by Suspiciously High Margins
• One senator received 6,000 letters on the
issue, only five of which supported the plan.
• An investigative journalist examining the
correspondence noted that “lawyers,
educators, and students” accounted for 75%
of it.
• A congressman from NJ concluded similarly
that a silent majority supported the plan…
Rep. Elmer Wene (D-NJ)
• Describes the high proportion of anti-court
packing correspondence he receives as “a lot
of letters on crisp legal stationery and a lot of
letters with expensive engraved work…”
• Surmises that, “the chicken farmers of
Vineland and the hotel workers of Atlantic City
must think they can depend on me without
writing me letters about it.”
Labor Militancy and Industrial Unionism in
the Second Roosevelt Term, 1937-41
C.I.O. President John L. Lewis
Progression of Labor Relations in
the Age of the Wagner Act
• The AFL  The CIO
• Craft Unionism  Industrial
Unionism
• William Green  John L.
Lewis
• Strikes in the Auto and Steel
Industries
Sit-Down Strike at General Motors,
1937
The Reach and the Limits of New Deal
Citizenship in the 1930s
Major Targets of New Deal Policy
• Farmers, Agri-Businessmen,
and the Agricultural Working
Class
• Blue-Collar Laborers and The
Industrial Working Class
• Male Breadwinners and/or
Their Widows
• Knowledge Workers,
Functionaries, and
Professionals
• The Unemployed, the
Indigent, and the Disabled.
Minor or Non-Existent Targets of
New Deal Policy
•
•
•
•
People of Color
The Disenfranchised
Women
Immigrants, the ForeignBorn, and Resident Aliens
1932: A New Deal for Non-Whites?
A New Deal for Non-Whites?
No It Wasn’t
• FDR Refuses to Support a
Federal Anti-Lynching Law
• Appoints Prominent
Segregationists to Office
• Most New Deal Programs Are
Segregated, Even in States
Where Segregation is Not the
Local Custom
• Certain New Deal Policies
Deepen African American
Poverty, at Least Initially
•
•
•
•
Yes It Was
Draws African Americans
Into the New Deal Coalition
Appoints Prominent Racial
Reformers to Office
Promotes an Inclusive
Vision of Citizenship that
Does Not Exclude African
Americans
Liberalizes Certain Federal
Race Policies, Particularly as
They Pertain to Am. Indians
Eleanor Roosevelt: A Medium of African
American Support for the New Deal
ER’s Racial Liberalism Shocks Much
of White America
With FDR’s Blessing, She Cultivates
Close Ties with the Black Community
Marian Anderson’s Easter Sunday Concert
Drew Over 75,000 Spectators in 1939
The Third Term Conundrum: Was FDR
Indispensable in 1940, and If So, Why?
The Nye Committee Revisits the
Causes of World War I, 1934-1936
Senator Gerald Nye (R-ND)
The Nye Committee Produces
Provocative Findings
• Draws a Connection
Between Corporate War
Profiteers and American
Entry Into World War I.
• Casts Further Doubt on the
Legitimacy of President
Wilson’s Motives and
Judgment.
• Influential Precursor to the
Neutrality Acts of the late
1930s.
Neutrality Acts of the 1930s
• 1935: imposed a general embargo on arms
trading with all belligerents in a foreign conflict.
• 1936: forbids all loans and credit extensions to
belligerents.
• 1937: renewed previous provisions without
expiration, and extends them to conflicts within
individual states as well.
• 1939: FDR is able to end the arms embargo on a
cash-and-carry basis. Never again does the US
impose one.
A. Philip Randolph, FEPC, and the 1941
March on Washington
Flier for A. Philip Randolph’s
Planned 1941 March on Washington
Executive Order 8802
• Pressured from Both Wings of
His Party, FDR Signs Executive
Order 8802
• The Order Bans Segregation in
the Defense Industries and
Establishes a Fair Employment
Practices Committee to
Review Grievances
• The Order is Poorly Enforced,
But Still Considered a ShortTerm Victory for Civil Rights
Eleanor Roosevelt Lobbies FDR to Mobilize
African American Aviators for Combat
ER With Tuskegee Pilot Charles
Anderson, 1941
ER Recounts the Incident in Her
My Day Column of April 1, 1941
…we went out to the
aviation field, where a Civil
Aeronautics unit for the
teaching of colored pilots is
in full swing… these boys
are good pilots. I had the
fun of going up in one of the
tiny training planes with the
head instructor, and seeing
this interesting countryside
from the air.
Adolf Hitler, War Message to the
Reichstag, December 11, 1941
Whereas the German Reich experienced an enormous
improvement in social, economic, cultural and artistic
life in just a few years under National Socialist
leadership, President Roosevelt was not able to bring
about even limited improvements in his own country…
The powers that supported Mr. Roosevelt were the
same powers I fought against… The "brain trust" that
served the new American president was made up of
members of the same national group that we fought
against in Germany as a parasitical expression of
humanity, and which we began to remove from public
life.