COALITION OF CONVENIENCE: THE ROOSEVELT-LEWIS COURTSHIP, 1933 TO 1942 Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors McFarland, Charles K. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 09/10/2021 19:08:15 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/290188 ! This dissertation has been 65—9920 microfilmed exactly as received * MC FAR LAND, Charles Keith, 1934- COALITION OF CONVENIENCE: THE ROOSE­ VELT-LEWIS COURTSHIP, 1933 TO 1941. University of Arizona, Ph.D., 1965 History, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan COPYRIGHTED BY CHARLES KEITH MC FARLAND 1965 OOALITIOH OP COHVEIIEVOE: THE ROOSEVELT-LEIfIS COURTSHIP, 1933 TO 1941 by Charles Keith MeParland • Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UUITERSITY OF ARIZOIA 1965 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by Kfltfa Moorland entitled "Coalition of Convsnlenost ths Roossvelt- Lewis Courtship. 1953-1941" be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy jr. r. f t, J/ 7 /H> Dissertation Director D«e After inspection of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance:* /?: /: AX • (.-L,AJ -7. / y/r qm/n d- ^ ft <£<1 & /& //£> •$ ?/&/<>.c~ T XL#*? *This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final examination. STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library, Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: FB2F10S There were no two public figures quite like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the urbane President of the United States, and John Llewellyn Levis, the controversial leader of the United Mine Workers of Amerloa and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, during the period of the lew Seal. In their endeavor to achieve power and their objective from 1933 to 1941, these virile personalities were regarded on one side as the saviors of the Amerioan free enterprise system and on the other as tyrants and dictators* So great was their impact, and so fragile the relationship between then, that scholars already have surrounded the Roosevelt-Lewis courtship with an aura of confusion* Labor historians and economists who have contribu­ ted to the vast amount of literature concerning this crucial period have tended to neglect many of the primary biblio­ graphical sources at their disposal embodied in the works of people Intimately involved in the political struggles of the Roosevelt administration, and their ventures to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park have been far too Infrequent. On the other hand, however, political scientists and historians of the lew Seal decade have generally been delinquent in their examination of the materials Hi IT available to thea la the Journals and proceedings of Aaerloan onions and labor organizations and In their pur­ suit of porsonal Interviews with labor Isadora actITS during thsso years* Finally, a review of tho aajor bio- graphioal studios dorotod to tho oaroors of tho two nan •how that few writers haro boon ablo to intorprot thoir 11T08 and tiaes without bseoaiag personally Involved in tho story* for exaaple, ooaparo tho Tory favorable study prosontod in throo Toluaos by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., entitled Tho Age of ReosoTelt (1957-1960), with tho ex- troaoly flattering study by Saul 1). Alinaky, John Lawls t Aft Sl9gfrtLT (1949)• Shon noto tho oritloal exaalaation of R00S0T0lt by John T* Flynn in Tho RoosaTolt Mrth (1948), and tho analytioal study by Jaaos A. Voohsler, Wbl k fffrtrnt si lite &• iula. 094*). Although a scholar cannot take lightly tho oalssion of proaiaont sources of inquiry, he aay appreciate or oTon defend such partisanship. Most of those authors wore young adults during tho 1930's, and thoir experiences in tho sooial, eoonoaie, and politleal issues of tho period are OTident in their works* Tho present writer ooaos froa a later generation, franklin 3). Roosevelt was first elooted President of the United States alaost two years before his birth, and he had reached the tender age of six when John L* Lewis opposed the popular will in 1940 and predieted T the sound defeat of the Democratic President. The writer spent his entire youth in the ooal mining regions of the Allegheny Mountains in western Maryland, where the gentle­ man from Hyde Park had no small personal following Indeed. But among the citizens of that area whose eoonomio welfare was looked in the rioh reins of ooal, John L* Lewis, the ooal miner from Lucas, Iowa, was most surely "Mr. America11 of the lew Seal era. lational politios was not considered the most im­ portant subjeot for discussion in this writer's heme, and as he was a generation too late to view Roosevelt as his grand benefactor, most of his familiarity with the lew Deal derlred from university study rather than first-hand ex­ perience* Certainly most of his professors in undergraduate and graduate sohool held a warm spot in their hearts for President Roosevelt, but throughout their oourses and seminars in American history the author tried to maintain an attitude of splendid objectivity* It was little wonder that he believed—and he still believes—that he could undertake an objective and nonpartisan examination of this fascinating relationship and overoome many of the short­ comings of previous works* She primary emphasis of this dissertation is placed on the political and legislative controversies in which Roosevelt and Lewis were simultaneously involved Tl from 1933 to 1941. The origins and growth of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and the details of other organized labor aotivity during these years is also dis­ cussed at length. let, in order to elaborate on the Issues which explain the "coalition of convenience" formed by the two men, the author has inoluded those topics which he judged most relevant and has carefully ezoluded subjects perhaps as pertinent to the history of labor in the lev Seal era but not to the understanding of this critioal relationship. At the beginning of the research, various areas of examination and location of source materials were suggested by a group of prominent students of the American labor movement* Among these were Philip Taft of Brown Univer­ sity, John 0. P. Hall of Charlotte College, Joseph G* Rayback of Pennsylvania State University, Irving Bernstein of the University of California (Los Angeles), Jack Barbash of the University of Wisconsin, and Walter Galenson and John Hutchinson of the University of California (Berkeley)* Their eneouragement and assistance was most helpful in the initial stages of this study* The author wishes to express his appreciation to the staff at the Library of Congress, Washington, D* 0.; to Edwin Kaye of the Industrial Relations Library at the University of California (Los Angeles); to Xllzabeth B* Drewry and the Til staff at the Franklin D. Hoooevelt Library in Hyde Park, lew Tork; to Elizabeth B* Mason, assistant director of the Oral History Hesearoh Offloe at Oolumbia University; and to Hex V* Lauok of the United Mine Yorkers of Amerioa, for their oooperation in making available Material necessary for the completion of this dissertation* A. special note of gratitude is due Lee Pressman, former oounsel for the Congress of Industrial Organizations; Eli L* Oliver, foraer ezeoutlre vice-president of Labor's Ion-Partisan League; Henry 0. Fleisher, foraer editor of the 010 Hews; Hex V* Lauck, assistant editor of the United Mine Workers Journal: and to John L* Lewis himself, for inforaatiTe and Interesting personal interviews* Foraer Secretary of Labor, Mfcdaa Frances Perkins, was able to clarify a series of questions through several letters whioh she kindly prepared for this writer* Finally, the staff at the library of the University of ixlzona was aost oooporatlre in aaking a vast aaount of material available during the oourse of this projeot* Several aeabers of the faoulty of the Department of History at the University of Arizona have been sources of oontinual assistance* J* A. Oarroll and Janes Donohoe contributed significantly to the author's program of graduate study and to the completion of this dissertation* Ourrin T* Shields, chairman of the Apartment of Government, Till and Conrad Joyner, of that department, offered helpful suggestions throughout the stages of study* Mrs* Catherine Bell, of Tucson, graciously gare the benefit of her pro­ fessional experience which Improved the dissertation*