Transcript The Great Depression

THE GREAT DEPRESSION
1929-1940
PRESIDENTS:
HERBERT HOOVER
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT
THE GREAT DEPRESSION TIMELINE:
1929: Stock Market
Crash; Great Depression
begins
1933: New Deal
begins; drought on 1935: Passed
Great Plains; FDIC Wagner Act; Social
Security Act
created
1939: The Wizard of
1941: U.S. enters
Oz becomes a
World War II
popular movie
---------1929--------1931--------1933--------1935--------1937--------1939--------1941--------
1932: Jobless
veterans march on
Washington; FDR
elected president
1934: Indian
Reorganization Act
passed; SEC created
1938: Was of the
Worlds broadcast;
Wages and Hours
Act passes
1940: FDR elected to
third term
THE GREAT STOCK MARKET CRASH
• THROUGHOUT THE 1920S STOCK MARKET GREW ON SPECULATION BY PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT ON
MARGIN.
• BUYING ON SPECULATION:
•
BELIEVING THAT THE MONEY YOU ARE PUTTING INTO A STOCK WILL GROW WITHOUT ANY REAL FACTS
• BUYING ON MARGIN:
•
BUYING A STOCK WITH MONEY BORROWED FROM A BROKER (SOMEONE WHO LOANS MONEY TO BUY STOCKS)
• MANY COULD NOT MEET MARGIN CALLS AND DEMANDS TO PAY BACK LOANS
• RESULT: PANIC SELLING
• ON OCTOBER 29, 1929 STOCK VALUES FELL $14 BILLION
• BY JULY 1932 MARKET VALUE FELL BY 89%
http://www.history.com/topi
cs/1929-stock-market-crash
CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
• OVERPRODUCTION & UNDER CONSUMPTION
• PEOPLE BUY FEWER GOODS THAN ARE
PRODUCED
• OVEREXPANSION OF CREDIT
• WEAK
CORPORATE STRUCTURES
• INEFFECTIVE GOVERNMENT ACTION
• GROWING INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND
BANKING
THE STOCK MARKET CRASH
WEAKNESS IN THE ECONOMY
• AGRICULTURAL
SECTOR HAD BEEN DEPRESSED THROUGHOUT THE
1920S
• WORLDWIDE DROP IN PRICES
• UNEMPLOYMENT
INCREASED
• ESPECIALLY IN RAILROAD, COAL, AND TEXTILE INDUSTRIES
• SPECULATION
IN REAL ESTATE AND THE RESULTING BUILDING BOOM HAD DECLINED
• BANK FAILURES WERE
RISING AS FARMERS, PEOPLE SPECULATING IN STOCKS, AND CONSUMERS
BUYING ON CREDIT COULD NOT REPAY THEIR LOANS.
• SUMMER 1929:
• ECONOMY SHOWED SIGNS OF UNDERCONSUMPTION.
• CUSTOMER DEMAND SLOWED
UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME
Income Level
• IN THE 1920S
• FAMILIES NEEDED AN INCOME OF
$2500 A YEAR TO HAVE A MODEST
1%5%
LIFESTYLE
•
•
OVER 60% OF AMERICANS ONLY
MADE AROUND $2000 PER YEAR.
(JUST ENOUGH TO COVER BASIC
NEEDS)
40% MADE LESS THAN $1500
(PLACED THEM BELOW THE
POVERTY LINE)
• 24,000 OF THE RICHEST FAMILIES IN
AMERICA HAD THE INCOME OF THE 6
MILLION POOREST FAMILIES.
29%
$10,000 and over
$5,000-$9,999
$2,000-$4,999
65%
$1,999 and under
• EXCESSIVE BUYING ON CREDIT:
• PEOPLE SPENDING MONEY THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE. (HOMES, CARS, BOATS, TRIPS, CLOTHING,
ETC.)
• LEAD TO DEBT FOR THE FIRST TIME FOR PEOPLE AT HIGH RATES
•
PRIOR TO THIS, YOU MAY OWE THE GROCER MONEY FOR LAST WEEKS GROCERIES FOR EXAMPLE, NOW THE
DEBT CEILING IS INFINITE
• RISING DEBT LED TO RESTRICTIONS ON NEW LOANS, WHICH LED TO SCARCE CREDIT, LESS
BORROWING, LOWER PRICES, MORE BANKRUPTCIES, ETC.
• WEAK
CORPORATE STRUCTURE:
• BUSINESS CONSOLIDATION OF THE 1920S RESULTED IN A FEW LARGE COMPANIES IN EACH
INDUSTRY.
• HOLDING COMPANIES CONTROLLED THE STOCK OF MANY DIFFERENT CORPORATIONS AND
DEPENDED ON THE EARNINGS OF THE DIFFERENT COMPANIES THEY HELD.
•
WHEN ONE COMPANY COLLAPSED IT AFFECTED THE REST OF THE HOLDING COMPANY
•
•
•
WEAK BANKING STRUCTURE:
•
6,000 BANKS FAILED
•
MANY WERE RURAL BECAUSE FARMERS COULD NOT PAY BACK THE LOANS
•
LARGE BANKS WERE AT RISK BECAUSE THEY HELD INADEQUATE RESERVES, INVESTING TOO MUCH IN THE STOCK MARKET AND MAKING RISKY
LOANS
INADEQUATE GOVERNMENT POLICIES:
•
STOCK MARKET SPECULATION WAS UNREGULATED BY THE GOVERNMENT.
•
TAX POLICIES THAT FAVORED THE WEALTHY RESULTED IN FURTHER UNEVEN DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME.
•
THE CONSOLIDATION OF CORPORATIONS WAS NOT CHALLENGED UNDER ANTITRUST LAWS.
•
THE FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD ALLOWED A LOW DISCOUNT RATE- THE INTEREST CHARGED TO THE MEMBER BANKS. THIS POLICY LED TO
STOCK SPECULATION. THE BOARD THEN RAISED INTEREST RATES IN 1931, DISCOURAGING SPENDING AT JUST THE TIME WHEN SPENDING
WOULD HAVE HELPED THE ECONOMY.
WEAK INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY:
•
MANY EUROPEAN ECONOMIES DEPENDED HEAVILY ON THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY.
•
•
FOREIGN NATIONS OWED U.S $$$$$
•
•
MANY OF THESE ECONOMIES DID NOT RECOVER AFTER WORLD WAR I
ONLY ABLE TO BE PAID BACK IF THE U.S. BOUGHT THEIR GOODS AND MADE FOREIGN INVESTMENTS AND LOANS.
HAWLEY-SMOOT ACT
•
RAISING TARIFFS ON AGRICULTURAL AND MANUFACTURED GOOD TO THE HIGHEST LEVELS IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
• HIGH AMERICAN TARIFFS KEPT OUT GOODS FROM OVERSEAS
• LED TO HIGH FOREIGN TARIFFS.
•
AMERICANS INVESTED AT HOME RATHER THAN ABROAD.
•
BOTH EUROPE AN AND AMERICAN BANKS FAILED BECAUSE OF DEFAULTS ON LOANS
HOOVER’S RESPONSE TO THE GREAT DEPRESSION:
1929-1933
• ECONOMIC PLAN:
• TRIED TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE IN THE AMERICAN ECONOMY
•
“PROSPERITY IF JUST AROUND THE CORNER” –HOOVER
• RECONSTRUSTION FINANCE COPORATION (1932):
•
LEND MONEY TO RAILROADS, MORTGAGE AND INSURANCE COMPANIES, AND BANKS
ON THE VERGE OF BANKRUPTCY.
• STOPPED PAYMENTS OF WAR DEBT BY EUROPEAN NATIONS
• TRICKLE DOWN: AN ECONOMIC IDEAL WHICH HELD THE BELIEF THAT THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD
GET INVOLVED IN THE ECONOMY BY PUMPING MONEY INTO IT, AND THUS CREATING A SURPLUS
SUPPLY OF MONEY THAT WOULD "TRICKLE" DOWN ONTO THE REST OF SOCIETY.
HOOVER’S RESPONSE TO THE GREAT DEPRESSION:
1929-1933
• FAILURE OF HOOVER'S PROGRAM:
• REFUSED TO PROVIDE DIRECT RELIEF
• INSISTED THE ECONOMY WAS IMPROVING
• BONUS ARMY: A GROUP OF WWI VETERANS WHO WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GIVEN ECONOMIC
RELIEF FROM THE GOVERNMENT DUE TO THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN THE WAR.
•
IN 1932 THE DEADLINE FOR THE VETERANS WAS PUSHED BACK BY THE GOVERNMENT TO A LATTER DATE
THUS CAUSING THE GROUP TO MARCH ONTO WASHINGTON TO DEMAND THEIR MONEY.
•
EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS USED TO DISBAND THESE PROTESTERS, AND BECAUSE THEY WERE VETERANS AND
HEROES OF THIS COUNTRY, HOOVER’S POPULARITY PLUMMETED BECAUSE OF IT.
• HOOVER’S ABILITY TO ACT WAS LIMITED BY HIS INABILITY TO GRASP THE DEPTH AND BREADTH OF THE
ECONOMIC CRISIS AND BY HIS BELIEFS:
•
HE HAD GREAT FAITH IN THE AMERICAN ECONOMIC SYSTEM, INSISTING THAT THE FORCES OF THE MARKET
WOULD EVENTUALLY SET THE ECONOMY RIGHT AGAIN.
•
BELIEVED IN VOLUNTARY RATHER THAN GOVERNMENTAL ACTION TO SOLVE PROBLEMS OF SOCIETY.
•
BELIEVED IN SELF-HELP AND OPPOSED DIRECT RELIEF ON THE GROUNDS THAT IT WOULD DESTROY PEOPLE’S
“RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM”
HUMAN IMPACT:
• UNEMPLOYMENT:
•
BY 1932: 12 MILLION
•
PEOPLE WERE SEEN IN LONG “BREAD LINES” AT SOUP KITCHENS
•
RELIEF EFFORT BY ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS THE RED CROSS WERE LIMITED
•
DUE TO SLOWED
PEOPLE WERE UNEMPLOYED
DOWN VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS
•
BANKS FAILED- PEOPLE LOST SAVINGS
•
JOBS FAILED- PEOPLE LOST THEIR JOBS
•
AFRICAN AMERICANS AND UNSKILLED WORKERS WERE THE FIRST TO EXPERIENCE UNEMPLOYMENT
•
•
FOUND AMONGST
AFRICAN AMERICANS THAN WHITE UNEMPLOYMENT.
WOMEN WERE CRITICIZED FOR WORKING SINCE MEN COULDN'T’T FIND JOBS.
•
•
1931: 30%-60% GREATER UNEMPLOYMENT WAS
FEMALE DOMINATED POSITIONS WERE
FAMILY LIFE CHANGED
•
MOVED IN WITH RELATIVES
•
MARRIAGES WERE
•
BIRTHRATE DROPPED
•
COLLEGE ENROLLMENT DROPPED.
POSTPONED
LESS EFFECTED
URBAN LIFE: • "HOOVERVILLE" WAS A NAME GIVEN TO ANY SHANTY TOWN THAT
ITSELF DURING THE PERIOD WHEN HERBERT HOOVER
HOOVERVILLE’S MANIFESTED
WAS PRESIDENT.
• THE NAME WAS TERMED DUE TO THE COLD, UNFRIENDLY
DISPOSITION THAT HOOVER TOOK ON THE POLICY OF HELPING
OUT THE POOR.
• HOOVER BELIEVED THAT GIVING ECONOMIC AID TO THE POOR
WOULD STIFLE THE ECONOMY.
• “HOOVERBLANKETS:” OLD NEWS
PAPERS PEOPLE SLEPT UNDER.
• MALNUTRITION, TUBERCULOSIS, AND TYPHOID INCREASED
RURAL LIFE:
• THE DUST BOWL:
• GREAT PLAINS REGION DEVASTATED BY DROUGHT IN 1930S DEPRESSION-RIDDEN AMERICA. THE
150,000-SQUARE-MILE AREA, ENCOMPASSING THE OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS PANHANDLES AND
NEIGHBORING SECTIONS OF KANSAS, COLORADO, AND NEW MEXICO, HAS LITTLE RAINFALL, LIGHT
SOIL, AND HIGH WINDS.
• WHEN DROUGHT STRUCK FROM 1934 TO 1937, THE SOIL LACKED THE STRONGER ROOT SYSTEM OF
GRASS AS AN ANCHOR, SO THE WINDS EASILY PICKED UP THE LOOSE TOPSOIL AND SWIRLED IT INTO
DENSE DUST CLOUDS, CALLED “BLACK BLIZZARDS.”
• RECURRENT DUST STORMS WREAKED HAVOC, CHOKING CATTLE AND PASTURE LANDS AND DRIVING
60 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION FROM THE REGION.
• CREATED A GROUP OF MIGRANT WORKERS “OKIES”
•
HTTP://WWW.HISTORY.COM/TOPICS/DUST-BOWL
• WORKS
ABOUT THIS TIME PERIOD:
• THE GRAPES OF WRATH BY JOHN STEINBECK
The photograph that has become known as "Migrant Mother" is
one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made of
Florence Owens Thompson and her children in February or
March of 1936 in Nipomo, California. Lange was concluding a
month's trip photographing migratory farm labor around the
state for what was then the Resettlement Administration. In
1960, Lange gave this account of the experience:
I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if
drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my
presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked
me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and
closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her
history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said
that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the
surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had
just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that
lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and
seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she
helped me. There was a sort of equality about it. (From: Popular
Photography, Feb. 1960).
THE CULTURE OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
• THE GREAT DEPRESSION CHANGED POPULAR CULTURE
• Radio of the 1930s is what television is
today.
• PEOPLE NOW SOUGHT INEXPENSIVE AND ESCAPIST
(DIVERGENT) LEISURE ACTIVITIES.
• Soap Operas
• BASEBALL
• News
• Sports
• MINI-GOLF
• Serials
• SOFTBALL
• Music
• PINBALL MACHINES
• Swing music was the new Jazz
• MONOPOLY
sound played by big bands
• COMIC BOOKS
• Musical theater became popular
• DICK TRACY WAS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR COMIC STRIPS
• George Gershwin, Irving Berlin,
• MOVIES OF THE ERA:
Cole Porter
•
KING KONG
•
GONE WITH THE WIND
•
THE WIZARD OF OZ
•
COWBOY ADVENTURES
•
WALT DISNEY CARTOONS
Radio City Christmas Spectacular premiered
in 1933
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT:
1933-1945
• 32ND PRESIDENT
• EDUCATION: HARVARD UNIVERSITY
AND THE SCHOOL OF LAW AT
• SERVED AS A DEMOCRAT IN NY LEGISLATURE
• ASSISTANT SECRETARY
OF THE
NAVY UNDER WOODROW WILSON
• GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK
• HELPED THE AMERICAN PEOPLE RESTORE FAITH IN THEMSELVES.
COLUMBIA
RESTORING CONFIDENCE:
•
INSPIRED SUPPORT AND CONFIDENCE IN PEOPLE
•
WAS A MASTER POLITICIAN
•
HAD POLIO
•
LEFT HIM IN A WHEELCHAIR BUT MADE HIM TOUGHER, MORE PATIENT, AND MORE COMPASSIONATE.
•
WAS A MASTER COMMUNICATOR
•
KNOWN FOR HIS “FIRESIDE CHATS”
•
•
HE USED
•
CONVINCED PEOPLE THAT HE HAD CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF AND THE NATION AND HAD A GENUINE CONCERN FOR THE PEOPLE
THE RADIO TO INVOLVE THE PUBLIC EMOTIONALLY IN HIS EXPLANATIONS OF WHAT HE WAS DOING TO SOLVE THE NATIONS
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.
FDR WAS CONTROVERSIAL
•
MANY LOVED AND RESPECTED
•
SOME SAW HIM AS ALMOST A DICTATOR
HIM
•
HS ATTEMPTS TO MAKE MAJOR CHANGES IN THE SUPREME COURT IS ONE EXAMPLE
•
ANOTHER
• TO BREAK
THE UNWRITTEN CONSTITUTION AND RUN FOR A THIRD TERM IN
• ELECTED FOR A FOURTH TERM IN 1944
•
1951: 22ND AMENDMENT ADDED TO THE CONSTITUTION:
•
LIMITING A PRESIDENT TO TWO
TERMS IN OFFICE
1940.
PREPARING TO LEAD THE NATION
• BETWEEN ELECTION AND INAUGURATION FDR SURROUNDED
HIMSELF WITH FORMAL AND INFORMAL ADVISERS.
• INFORMAL ADVISERS WERE KNOWN AS THE “BRAIN TRUSTS”
• A GROUP OF INTELLECTUALS AND LAWYERS
• FAVORED REFORM
FIRST 100 DAYS
• DURING THE PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT IN OFFICE
THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS, PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
PROPOSED:
•
THE WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION (WPA)
ONE OF THE LARGEST PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAM OF
THE NEW DEAL, WHICH CREATED JOB FOR WORKERS
CONSTRUCTED HIGHWAYS, ROADS, AND STREETS. IT
ALSO SUPPORTED THE ACTORS, ARTISTS, AND THEATERS.
• THE PUBLIC WORKS ADMINISTRATION (P.W.A) ALSO
CREATED JOB FOR UNEMPLOYED TO BUILD THE PUBLIC
PLACES, SUCH AS DAMS, BRIDGES, HOSPITALS, AND
SCHOOLS.
• AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT (AAA) CHECK TO
DESTROY THEIR CROPS TO STOP DEFLATION IN FOOD
PRICE.
OLD RELIABLE
• CRITICS OF THE NEW DEAL ARGUED
THAT DEFICIT SPENDING WOULD
NEVER SOLVE THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
AND THAT THE PROGRAMS
ADVOCATED BY ROOSEVELT
BORDERED ON SOCIALISM AND THE
CREATION OF THE WELFARE STATE. IN
THIS CARTOON FDR PULLS THE
SPENDING RABBIT OUT OF HIS HAT,
SYMBOLIZING THAT HE BELIEVED IN
THE MAGICAL NATURE OF DEFICIT
SPENDING.
ALPHABET AGENCIES DANCE TO FDR’S TUNE
• IN THIS POLITICAL CARTOON, FRANKLIN D.
ROOSEVELT STANDS IN THE MIDDLE AND ALL
THE KIDS ARE SMILING AND HOLDING HANDS
SURROUND HIM.
ON THE KIDS’ SHIRTS ARE
SHOWING ALL THE FEDERAL
PROGRAM PROPOSED
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT TO DEAL WITH
GREAT DEPRESSION AND IT EFFECTIVE.
BY
THE
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
1884-1962
• SHE WAS A HUMANITARIAN
• STRONG POLITICAL ACTIVISTS FOR WOMEN AND MINORITIES
•
ESPECIALLY AFRICAN AMERICANS
• SHE SERVED AS THE PRESIDENTS EYES AND EARS
• WHAT HE HEARD AND SAW WAS FILTERED THROUGH HER PROGRESSIVE VIEWS AND SENSITIVITY TO THE
PLIGHT OF OTHERS.
• ELEANOR HELPED MOLD POLICIES
• INTERVENTION ON BEHALF OF SOCIAL REFORM
• HER SYNDICATED NEWSPAPER COLUMN
• THROUGH HER TRAVELS AND SPEECHES AROUND THE NATION
• AFTER FDR’S DEATH IN 1945, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT BECAUSE A LEADER IN THE ISSUE OF HUMAN
RIGHTS AND PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN THE CREATION OF THE THE 1948 UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF
HUMAN RIGHTS
THE NEW DEAL IN ACTION: RELIEF, RECOVERY,
REFORM
• RELIEF FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO WERE
• RECOVERY
SUFFERING
FOR THE ECONOMY, SO IT COULD GROW AGAIN
• REFORM MEASURES
TO AVOID FUTURE DEPRESSIONS
KEY NEW DEAL REFORMS
EMERGENCY BANKING ACT, 1933
• ROOSEVELT’S
FIRST ACT AS PRESIDENT WAS TO CLOSE THE NATION’S BANK BY DECLARING A
BANK HOLIDAY IN ORDER TO STOP THE COLLAPSE OF THE NATIONAL BANKING SYSTEM.
• THE LAW REQUIRED THE EXAMINATION OF BANKS TO ENSURE
BANKS WERE OPERATING.
THAT ONLY FINANCIALLY SOUND
NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL RECOVERY ACT, 1933
• NRA
• HAD THE AUTHORITY
TO WORK WITH BUSINESSES TO HELP THEM RECOVER.
• NRA SET “CODES OF FAIR” COMPETITION WITHIN INDUSTRIES TO MAINTAIN PRICES, MINIMUM
WAGES, AND MAXIMUM HOURS.
• PUBLIC WAS ENCOURAGE
• MANY WERE
TO BUY FROM COMPANIES THAT FOLLOWED THE
UNHAPPY WITH THE
NRA GUIDELINES.
NRA
• CONSUMERS SAID PRICES INCREASED
• COMPANIES OPPOSED THE PROVISIONS GIVING UNIONS THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE
• SMALL COMPANIES FELT AT A DISADVANTAGE
• DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL IN 1935
GLASS-STEAGALL BANKING ACT, 1933
• CREATED THE FDIC (FEDERAL INSURANCE CORPORATION)
• GUARANTEED INDIVIDUAL BANK DEPOSITS UP TO $5,000, AN AMOUNT THAT HAD INCREASED UP TO
$100,000 BY 2008.
• IN 2009, CONGRESS TEMPORARILY INCREASED THE INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR DEPOSITS UP TO
$250,000
• SEPARATED COMMERCIAL BANKS FROM INVESTMENT
BANKS.
• IN 1999, CONGRESS REPEALED PORTIONS OF THE LAW. (UNDER
ADMINISTRATION)
• THIS LAW INCREASED THE POWERS
OF THE FEDERAL
CONTROL OVER SPECULATION ON CREDIT
THE
CLINTON
RESERVE BOARD SO THAT IT HAD MORE
SOCIAL SECURITY ACT, 1935
• COMBINATION OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND INSURANCE
• LAW HAD 3 PARTS
• PROVIDED OLD-AGE INSURANCE, PAID BY TAX ON BOTH THE EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE WHILE THE
EMPLOYEE WAS WORKING. THE WORKER AND EMPLOYER, NOT THE GOVERNMENT, FUNDED THIS
PART.
• PROVIDED UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FOR WORKERS, PAID BY THE EMPLOYERS
• GAVE ASSISTANCE TO DEPENDENT CHILDREN AND TO THE ELDERLY, ILL, AND HANDICAPPED
THE NEW DEAL AND ORGANIZED LABOR
• FDR WAS PRIMARILY INTERESTED
• BY 1935, AFTER AN ATTEMPT
IN HELPING WORKERS THROUGH SOCIAL LEGISLATION.
TO WORK WITH BUSINESSES
(NRA), FDR SAW ORGANIZED
LABOR UNIONS AS A FORCE IN SOCIETY THAT WOULD BALANCE THE POWER OF BUSINESS.
• RESULTED IN AN INCREASE IN UNION MEMBERSHIP
• NEW LABOR UNIONS FORMED AND COMPETED
WITH
AFL AND KNIGHTS OF LABOR
• COLLECTIVE BARGAINING:
• NEGOTIATION OF WAGES AND OTHER CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT BY AN ORGANIZED BODY OF
EMPLOYEES.
THE NEW DEAL’S EFFECTS ON MINORITIES AND
WOMEN
• NATIVE AMERICANS
• 1924: NATIVE AMERICANS WERE GRANTED CITIZENSHIP
• STILL CONTINUED TO SUFFER UNDER GOVERNMENT
•
FORCED ASSIMILATION (DAWES ACT 1887)
• AIMED AT BREAKING UP THE TRIBAL STRUCTURE
AND FORCING THEM TO BECOME LANDOWNING FARMERS.
• LOST AN ADDITIONAL 90 MILLION ACRES BETWEEN 1887-1934
• 1934: INDIAN REORGANIZATION ACT (WHEELER-HOWARD ACT)
•
RESTORE TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNMENT AS WELL AS NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES, CUSTOMS, AND
RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS.
•
EDUCATION FOR NATIVE AMERICAN CHILDREN UNDER THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
THE NEW DEAL’S EFFECTS ON MINORITIES AND
WOMEN
• LATINOS:
• MANY WERE
AGRICULTURALISTS AND WERE HIT HARD DURING THE GREAT
DEPRESSION.
• “OKIES” COMPETED WITH MEXICANS AND MEXICAN AMERICANS FOR MIGRANT FARM WORK IN
CALIFORNIA.
• NEW DEAL PROVIDED RELIEF FOR THESE WORKERS
• GOVERNMENT POLICY WAS TO STOP IMMIGRATION AND RETURN TO MEXICO ANY UNEMPLOYED
NONCITIZEN
THE NEW DEAL’S EFFECTS ON MINORITIES AND
WOMEN
• WOMEN:
• WOMEN WERE NOT AN ORGANIZED GROUP DURING THE 1930S
•
DUE TO A MAJORITY WORKING IN FEMALE-ONLY JOBS
• EARNED 50 CENTS TO EVERY DOLLAR A MAN EARNED!
•
WORKERS WERE SINGLE WOMEN AND FEMALE HEADS OF FAMILIES
• BELIEF THAT WOMEN WERE TO BE A WIFE AND MOTHER.
•
MANY NEW DEAL PROGRAMS WOULD NOT HIRE WOMEN.
• NEW DEAL DID HELP WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT
1936 ELECTION MANDATE
• FDR BUILT THE NEW DEAL COALITION
• A VOTING BLOC THAT EMBRACED THE SOLID DEMOCRATIC SOUTH
•
NEW IMMIGRANT WORKERS, BIG CITIES, AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY VOTED
REPUBLICAN, ORGANIZED LABOR, THE ELDERLY, AND FARMERS WHO USUALLY VOTED REPUBLICAN.
• EMERGED IN 1936
• FDR RECEIVED A CLEAR ENDORSEMENT (MANDATE) FROM THE ELECTORATE.
• THIS CREATED A SHIFT IN THE TWO-PARTY
SYSTEM.
STAGES OF THE NEW DEAL
NEW DEAL GENERATES CONTROVERSY
• CRITICISMS CAME FROM THOSE WHO FELT THAT IT WAS TOO RADICAL OR WENT
TOO FAR AS
WELL AS FROM THOSE WHO FELT ITS PROGRAMS WERE TOO CONSERVATIVE OR DID NOT GO
FAR ENOUGH
NEW DEAL GENERATES CONTROVERSY
• FDR’S POLICY STRATEGIES
• FDR WAS A PRAGMATIST (DID NOT STICK TO ONE THEORY OR BELIEF)
• SOME STRATEGIES:
•
TAKING FISCAL ACTION TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY AND LOWER UNEMPLOYMENT BY LOWERING TAXES
AND INCREASING GOVERNMENT SPENDING
•
TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE GENERAL WELFARE BY PROTECTING PEOPLE AGAINST RISKS THAT THEY
COULD NOT HANDLE ON THEIR OWN
CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
• SCHECHTER POULTRY CORPORATION V. UNITED STATES (1935)
• COURT RULED THAT THE LAW (NRA) ILLEGALLY GAVE CONGRESS POWER TO REGULATE INTRASTATE
COMMERCE (COMMERCE WITHIN A SINGLE STATE) AND VIOLATED THE SEPARATION OF POWERS BY
GIVING THE LEGISLATIVE POWERS TO THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
• NRA UNCONSTITUTIONAL
CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
• UNITED STATES V. BUTLER (1936)
• SUPREME COURT STRUCK DOWN THE
AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT (AAA)
ON THE GROUNDS THAT AGRICULTURE WAS
LOCAL, NOT AN INTERSTATE, MATTER UNDER
THE PROVISIONS OF THE 10TH AMENDMENT.
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY, 1933
• TVA PROVIDED JOBS, CHEAP ELECTRICITY, AND FLOOD CONTROL TO POOR RURAL AREAS OF
SEVEN STATES THROUGH DAM CONSTRUCTION ON THE TENNESSEE RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES
• TVA WAS PRAISED AS A BOLD EXPERIMENT IN GOVERNMENT
REGIONAL NEEDS.
• SOME THOUGHT THIS WAS ALIGNED WITH
SOCIALISM
INTERVENTION TO MEET
FDR’S COURT PACKING
• JUDICIAL REORGANIZATION BILL “COURT-PACKING” PLAN
• INTENDED TO MAKE THE SUPREME COURT APPROVE THE NEW DEAL LAWS
• NEVER BECAME A LAW BECAUSE IT WOULD HAVE THREATENED THE SEPARATION OF POWERS AND
CHECKS AND BALANCE SYSTEM
• ROOSEVELT APPOINTED 7 SUPREME COURT JUSTICES
THIRD TERM CONTROVERSY
• FDR CHALLENGED THE UNWRITTEN CONSTITUTION BY WINNING BOTH A THIRD AND FOURTH TERM.
(1940 AND 1944)
• 22ND AMENDMENT
• 2 TERM LIMIT FOR THE PRESIDENT
• HISTORIANS DEBATE WHETHER THE AMENDMENT WAS A POLITICAL REACTION AGAINST FDR AND
WHETHER IT MAKES A PRESIDENT A “LAME DUCK” FROM THE MOMENT OF THE SECOND
INAUGURATION
• “LAME DUCK:” AN OFFICIAL (ESPECIALLY THE PRESIDENT) IN THE FINAL PERIOD OF OFFICE, AFTER THE
ELECTION OF A SUCCESSOR.
•
"AS A LAME DUCK, THE PRESIDENT HAD NOTHING TO LOSE BY APPROVING THE DEAL"
CRITICS OF THE NEW DEAL
“….A hundred years from now, when historians look back at it,
they will say that old things didn’t work. What ran through the
New Deal was finding a way to make them work.”
- Gardiner C. Means governmetn financial advisor, New Deal
“Roosevelt is the only President we ever had that thought the
Constitution belonged to the pore [poor] man too…”
- George Dobbin, Mill worker 1939