Transcript Last Days of the New Deal

Last Days of the New Deal
Angela Brown Chapter 23 Section 3
• The New Deal did not end the nation’s
suffering, but it did lead to some
profound changes in American life.
• Voters expected a President to formulate
programs and solve problems.
• People accepted more government
intervention in their lives.
• Laborers demanded more changes in
workplace.
The Recession of 1937
• Improvement from New Deal did not last
long.
• The new Social Security Tax was partly
to blame for the recession of 1937.
• The tax came directly out of paychecks.
• Workers had less money so bought
fewer goods.
• FDR distressed at rising national debt –
cut back on programs.
• National debt – total amount of money
the federal government has borrowed.
• Government borrows when its revenue,
or income, does not keep up with its
expenses.
• National debt rose from $21 billion in
1933 to $43 billion by 1940.
• After 1937 Harry Hopkins persuaded
FDR to expand slashed programs to
relieve recession.
Unions Triumph
• The Wagner Act provided Federal
protection for the activities of labor
unions.
• Made unions more attractive to workers
• By 1945, 36% of workers were
unionized.
A New Labor Organizations
• 1935 United Mine Workers President
John L. Lewis created a Committee for
Industrial Organization (CIO) within the
AFL.
• Sought to organize unskilled workers –
welcomed all workers
• AFL suspended CIO unions in 1936.
• 1938 Coalition, or alliance of groups
with similar goals changed its name to
Congress of Industrial Organizations
• Aim to challenge conditions in industry –
main tool was the strike
An Era of Strikes
• Wagner Act legalized collective bargaining but
did not force companies to accept union
demands = wave of strikes
• Sit-Down Strikes – laborers stopped work but
refused to leave the workplace.
• Supporters outside picketed = no scabs or
substitute workers
• Most Famous – 1936 United Auto Workers
(UAW) GM’s main plant in Flint, Michigan
• Executive turned off heat, blocked entry (no
Food), called in police against picketers
outside.
• Wife of a striker grabbed bullhorn and
urged other wives to join picketers.
• Organized food deliveries and set up
speaker’s bureau to present the union’s
position to the public
• They formed the Women’s Emergency
Brigade to picket – GM gave in
• Ford resisted unionism in his 1937
Detroit Ford Plant – men beat UAW
officials who distributed leaflets
• Republic Steel Company refused as well
– 1937 Chicago police killed 10
picketers, injured 84 others
• 1939 Supreme Court outlawed sit-down
strikes stated it was too potent a
weapon and an obstacle to negotiations.
New Deal’s Effects on Culture
• Literature
• The Good Earth (1931) Pearl Buck –saga of
peasant struggle in China
• Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941) James
Agee and photographer Walker Evans – lived
for weeks with share croppers in Alabama
• The Grapes of Wrath (1939) John Steinbeck –
Dust Bowl victims travel to California
• Their Eyes are Watching God (1937) – Zora
Neale Hurston – strong willed African
American woman in a Florida town
Radio and Movies
• 1930s stars Jack Benny, Fred Allen,
George Burns, and Gracie Allen
• Soap Operas began – 15 minute stories
• Symphony music and operas flourished.
• Technicolor movies 1931 – double
feature 25 cents or drive in theater for
whole family 25 cents
• Federal agencies used motion pictures to
publicize their work.
• Hollywood –
– Mr. Smith goes to Washington (1931),
– Monkey Balls (1931),
– Duck Soup (1933),
– The Wizard of Oz (1939),
– Mickey Mouse, Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs (1937)
The WPA and the Arts
• FDR earmarked WPA funds to support
unemployed artists, musicians,
historians, theater people and writers
• Federal Writer’s Project – 1935 –
assisted 6,000 writers
• Historians surveyed government
records, wrote state guidebooks,
collected life stories of 2,000 former
slaves
• Federal Music Project started community
symphonies and organized fee music lessons,
collected and preserved folk heritage
• Federal Art Project (1935) – put 10,000 artist
to work
• Federal Theatre Project – directed by Vassar
College professor Hallie Flanagan used drama
to create awareness of social problems –
launched careers of Burt Lancaster, Arthur
Miller, John Houseman, and Orson Welles
• Investigated by the House on Un-American
Activities Committee (HUAC) as being a
propaganda machine for communism –
Congress killed appropriation in 1939
Lasting New Deal Achievements
• Public Works and Federal Agencies
• Many New Deal bridges, dams, tunnels, public
buildings, and hospitals stand today.
• The Tennessee Valley Authority
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC)
• Securities and Exchange Commission
continues to monitor the workings of the stock
exchange.
• U.S. farmers still plant according to federal
crop allotment strategies.
Social Security
• System discriminated against women for
a longtime.
• Assumed male-head of the household
• Mother could lose benefits for children if
a male lived in the household. (whether
providing support or not)
• Women seldom stayed in workforce long
enough or earned high enough wages to
receive maximum benefits.
A Legacy of Hope
• Greatest Achievement – restored hope
• Government programs meant the
difference between survival and
starvation for millions.
• READ PAGE 677 – SOCIAL SECURITY