The New Deal ContinuedChapter 14

1936-1939Unemployment (16.9%) and the number of people on public relief remains high

But Congress is now less willing to blindly endorse FDR’s suggestions (and to pay for them!)

ROOSEVELT’S COALITION*People who voted for him

FDR supporters and Democratic Party included:

“Solid South”- anti-Repub since Civil War

Political Machines of large cities and immigrants

Organized labor - The Wagner Act allowed them to organize

Blacks - left the “Party of Lincoln” for New Deal Democrats

Scholars -

1936 ELECTION

Roosevelt wins in a landslide against Alf Landon of Kansas

*61% to 37% of popular vote

Attack on the Supreme CourtFDR says it’s too inefficient and slow and pushes Congress to reform it

Wanted to be able to add a new Supreme Court Justice for every justice on the court over 70 that refused to retire*This was viewed as an attack on the (conservative) Supreme Court and opposed by virtually everyone

Recession of 1937-1938

~Expenditures in public works and other employment programs were reduced~Fed. Reserve raised interest rates for loans which reduced business investments

THINKING THE ECONOMY HAD RECOVERED ENOUGH TO REDUCE RELIEF FUNDING:

~Conditions similar to the first months of the Great Depression in 1930~More deficit spending by the government in 1938 when renewing relief efforts

~New Social Security taxes also reduced the amount of money businesses and people had to invest and spend

*This resulted in:

Growth of Organized Labor

1935 Wagner Act: legalizes organization of labor

American Fed. Of Labor (AFL): supported the organization of only skilled workers

*THIS RIGHT HAD BEEN LOST WHEN THE NIRA WAS STRUCK DOWN BY SUPREME COURT

Congress of Industrial Organizations: created by John Lewis to support the organization of all workers in an industry skilled or unskilled

In conflicts between management and labor the “sit down strike” tactic is first utilized

Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938Established:A minimum wage ($0.40/hr)A maximum work week (44 hrs)

Banned child labor (under 16) in industries with interstate commerce

“To put a floor through which wages shall not fall, and a ceiling beyond which the hours of industrial labor shall not rise”

The Dust Bowl1932-1936 drought years bring more misery to farmersFarmers suffered from land lost to foreclosure, loss of topsoil, or both

AGRICULTURE:

“BLACK BLIZZARDS” OR “DUSTERS”

“Okies” (and “Arkies”) move west for work in the orchards and fields of the west coast states

*Treated poorly by most and were unwelcome by people who had their own Depression-related problems

Tenant Farming and SharecroppingTo plant and work a field for the owner or bank, using the harvest to repay loans or rent.

*When the New Deal policies paid farmers to plant fewer acres, these people were often out of work – with no compensation

Programs to reform/help farmers included:Low interest loans

Electrification of rural areas

Resettling of farmers to better land

Soil Conservation techniques taught•Shelter Belts•Strip farming

*2ND A.A.A. – used congressional appropriations ($) to avoid it

being struck down by the Supreme Court like the first one

was

Entertainment* This is considered by many to be the “Golden Years” of the American Film Industry

Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers

1939

1933

Washoe TheatreAnaconda, MT

*Still retains the theater stylefrom that earlier era…

Shirley Temple

Clark Gable

ERROL FLYNN

*Stars included:

Radio

~Daytime serials were called “soap operas” because soap companies often sponsored them ~War of the Worlds scare 1938 -

(*H.G. WELLS (author) VS ORSON WELLES) (radio dramatizer)

Art- WPA Projects:

-Photographers were paid for pictures of depression-era hardships

- Gutzum Borglam works on Mt. Rushmore

Ex. Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother”

Sports

Joe Louis – The “Brown Bomber”, a

popular heavyweight

boxing champ

J. Owens - 1936 Berlin Olympic

sprinter/jumper (*won 4 gold

medals!)

Lou Gehrig – NY Yankee great , the “Iron Horse”

BABE DEIDRIKSON – great

female multi-sport athlete

Crime/ Law

Al Capone -

Bonnie N’ Clyde -

Baby Face Nelson -

Ma Barker -

John Dillinger -

J. Edgar Hoover

*Longtime and powerful head of the F.B.I.

1932 KIDNAPPING OF LINDBERGH’S BABY

*Considered the “crime of the century”

Black Americans- Received skills/trades through federal programs like the CCC, WPA, etc.

PRO:

- Appointed to gov’t positions

CON:- Discriminated against in many areas- Often forced to live in segregated areas- Lynchings (60 between 1930-34)

*FDR refused to make lynching a fed crime because he didn’t want to create opposition with Southern legislatures

Native Americans ~ John Collier (a

reformer)) heads the Bureau of Indian Affairs

~Works to stop further sales of Indian lands

~Also benefited from new deal programs (Ex. CCC)

Women~ Being appointed to gov’t positions gave

women more status to fight for their rights

Ex. F. Perkins (Sec of Labor)

~ Eleanor Roosevelt campaigned for women’s rights (as well as human rights)

Impact of the New Deal~GREATLY INCREASES SIZE/SCOPE OF FED GOV’T~CHANGES VIEW OF GOV’T ASSISTANCE FROM ONE OF CHARITY TO ONE OF “ENTITLEMENT”

*TODAY (since the 1990’s) A PERIOD OF WELFARE REFORM…

•The Fed Gov’t now assures every citizen of a minimum standard of living (thru min wage, medicaid, soc sec, medicare, unemployment, WIC, AFDC, SNAP, subsidized housing, and other gov’t programs…)