Chapter 24 - the Great Depression and the New Deal

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Chapter 24 - The Great Depression and the New Deal

 Hard times o The bull market . Stock market resembled a sporting arena  Millions following stock prices . Business leaders and economists told Americans it was their duty to buy stocks . John J. Raskob  Chairman of the board of GM  Wrote an article stating that a person who invested $15 in a good common stock per month would have $80,000 within 20 years . Bull market of the 1920s  Stock prices increased at twice the rate of industrial production  Paper value outran real value . 4 million Americans owned stocks  Had been lured into the market through margin accounts o Allowed investors to purchase stocks by making a small down payment and borrowing the rest from a broker o The Crash . The Wall Street crash if 1929 was not a one or two day catastrophe  It was a steep slide . Bull market peaked in early September  Prices lowered . October 23  Dow Jones industrials lost 21 points in one hour  Large investors concluded that the boom was over . October 28  Dow lost 28 points (13% of its value) . October 29, “Black Tuesday”  More than 16 million shares were traded as panic selling took hold . The market’s foundation of credit crumbled  Based on margin debt . Many investors with margin accounts had no choice but to sell when the stock values fell . Shares themselves represented the security for their loans  More money had to be put up to cover the loans when prices declined . Mid-November  $30 billion in the market price of stocks had been wiped out . Half of the value of stocks listed in The New York Times was lost within 10 weeks . Political and economic leaders downplayed the impact of the crash . Andrew Mellon  “It will purge the rottenness out of the system High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people” o Underlying Weaknesses . The economy after the crash became less resistant to existing problems  Workers and consumers received too small a share of the enormous increases in labor productivity o 1923-1929: manufacturing output per worker-hour increased by 32% o Wages only rose 8% during the same time o Rise in productivity encouraged overproduction . Farmers hadn’t regained their prosperity from the World War I years  Suffered from declining prices, drop in exports, and large debts incurred by wartime expansion . Unequal distribution of income and wealth  1929: top .1% of Americans had and aggregate income equal to the bottom 42%  Top 5% of Americans received 30% of the nation’s income  Bottom 60% got only 26% of nation’s income  80% of the nation had no savings  .5% of Americans owned 32.4% of net wealth of the entire population . Manufacturers decreased their production and laid off workers  Layoffs brought further declines in consumer spending o Prompted another round of production cutbacks  Consumers had less to spend  Businesses were hesitant to expand . Banks began to fail as depositors withdrew their uninsured funds  Thousands of families lost their savings o Mass Unemployment . Unemployment insurance did not exist; public relief was inadequate  Loss of a job meant economic catastrophe for workers . Unemployment across America became a sign of a deepening depression . 1930; Department of Labor  9% of the labor force was out of work  Doubled by 1931  By 1933, more than ¼ of workers didn’t have jobs . ***no statistics tell how long these people were without work or if they had part-time jobs*** . Many Americans blamed themselves for their failure in finding work  Feelings of shame, guilt, inadequacy, uselessness, and despair . Joblessness was most difficult for men between 35-55  Family responsibilities were heaviest on these men . Unemployment upset the psychological balance in many families by undermining the traditional authority of the male . Women found it easier to hold onto jobs  Wages were lower . Summed up strains found in families  “Fathers feel they have lost their prestige in the home; there is much nagging, mothers nag at the fathers, parents nag at the children. Children of working age who earn meager salaries find it hard to turn over all their earning and deny themselves even the greatest necessities as a result leave home” o Hoover’s Failure . Companies lacked the money and resources to deal with the worsening situation . Detroit and Chicago  50% unemployment by 1932 . Los Angeles  70,000 nonresident jobless and homeless men . Hoover failed to respond to human suffering  Administered large-scale humanitarian efforts during WWI with efficiency, but failed to face the facts of the Depression . 1931 State of the Union Address  “Our people are providing against distress from unemployment in true American fashion by magnificent response to public appeal and by action of the local governments” . Resisted calls from Congress  Wanted a greater federal role in relief efforts or public works projects  Worried about “injuring the initiative and enterprise of the American people” . The President’s Emergency Committee for Unemployment (1930) and the President’s Organization for Unemployment Relief (POUR)  Encouraged local groups to raise money to help the unemployed  Plan for recovery centered on restoring business confidence . Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)  Based on the War Finance Corporation of the WWI years  Made government credit available to banks, railroads, insurance companies  Stimulated economic activity  Assumed the credit problem was one of supply rather than demand . 1932; Democrats pushed through the Emergency Relief Act  Authorized the RFC to lend $300 million to states that had exhausted their own relief funds  Hoover reluctantly signed the bill o Protest and the Election of 1932 . March 7  Communist organizers led a march of auto workers and unemployed for the Ford River Rouge factory o Ford-controlled police fired tear gas and bullets o Killed four and wounded 50 others  Farmers’ Holiday Associations o Desperate farmers in Iowa o Aimed to raise prices by refusing to sell product o 1,500 farmers turned back cargo trucks outside Sious City . Dumped milk and other perishables into ditches  Bonus Army o Protest descending on Washington D.C. in 1932 o Veterans who were given bonds after WWI demanded immediate payment of the bonus in cash o By the summer, they camped out all over the capital city o House passed a bill for immediate payment . Senate rejected the bill, most of the veterans left o July . General Douglas MacArthur forcibly evicted the remaining veterans from their encampment o Provided the most disturbing evidence of the failure of Hoover’s administration  1932; Democrats nominated Franklin D. Roosevelt as their candidate o “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people” o Roosevelt’s plans for recovery were vague o Roosevelt won the election by a landslide o Democrats won big majorities in both the House and the Senate  FDR and the First New Deal o FDR the man . Born in 1882 in Dutchess Country, New York . Was an only child . His mother, Sara Delano, was the dominant figure in his childhood . Roosevelt’s education reinforced the aristocratic values of his family  Groton  Harvard  Columbia Law School . He believed in:  A strong sense of civic duty  The importance of competitive athletics  Commitment to public service . In 1905, FDR married Eleanor Roosevelt (distant cousin)  Niece of Theodore Roosevelt . Elected as a Democrat to the NY State Senate in 1910 . Was assistant navy secretary from 1913-1920 . Summer of 1921:  FDR gets polio o Was told he would never walk again without support  Eleanor encouraged him to fight his handicap and continue his political career  “Once I spent two years lying in bed trying to move my big toe, anything else seems easy” . Governor of New York in 1928:  Instituting unemployment insurance  Strengthened child labor laws  Provided tax relief for farmers  Provided pensions for the old  Set up a Temporary Emergency Relief Administration  Set up a group of key advisers; the “brains trust”: rejected the old progressive dream of re-creating an ideal society o Raymond Moley o Rexford G. Tugwell o Adolf A. Berle o Samuel Rosenman o Basil O’Connor o Felix Frankfurter o Restoring Confidence . Roosevelt conveyed a sense of optimism  Helped restore the shaken confidence of the nation . Called for a four day “bank holiday”  Help the country’s ailing financial system  More than 1,300 banks failed in 1930  Contemporary investigations revealed… o Illegal loans to bank officials o Tax evasion that helped erode public confidence in the banking system  Between election day and the inauguration the bank system had come close to shutting down altogether o Due to widespread bank failures and hoarding of currency . Fireside chat  Radio broadcasts that became a standard part of Roosevelt’s political technique  Were enormously successful  Gave courage to Americans  Communicated a sense of compassion from the White House . Emergency Banking Act  Gave the president broad powers over all banking transactions and foreign exchange  Authorized healthy banks to reopen under licenses from the Treasury Department  Provided greater federal authority to be present in managing the affairs of failed banks o The hundred days . March to June 1933  “The Hundred Days”  FDR pushed a number of acts through Congress o Designed to combat various aspects of the Depression  New Deal was no unified program to end the Depression o Improvised series of reform and relief measures . Some contradicted each other  Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) o Unemployment relief effort o Provided work for jobless young men in protecting and conserving the nation’s natural resources . Road construction . Reforestation . Flood control . National park improvements o Workers received room and board and $30 a month  Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) o $500 million given from Congress o ½ the money went as direct relief to the states o The rest was distributed on the basis of: . A dollar of federal aid for ever three dollars of state and local funds spent for relief o Establishment of work relief projects was left to state and local governments o Harry Hopkins . Former NYC social worker . Driven by deep moral passion to help the less fortunate . Emerged as a key figure for New Deal relief programs  Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) o Provided immediate relief to the nation’s farmers o Established a new federal role in agricultural planning and price setting o Established parity prices for basic farm commodities . Corn, wheat, hogs, etc . Parity pricing  Based on the purchasing power that farmers had enjoyed during the prosperous years of 1909-1914 o Incorporated the principle of subsidy . Farmers received benefit payments in return for reducing acreage or cutting production where surpluses existed o Landlords often failed to share their AAA payments with tenant farmers . Frequently used benefits to buy tractors and other equipment that displaced sharecroppers  Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) o One of the most unique projects of the New Deal era o Built dams and power plants o Produced cheap fertilizer for farmers o Brought cheap electricity for the first time to thousands of people o Stood as a model of how careful government planning could dramatically improve the social and economic welfare of an underdeveloped region  National Industrial Recovery Act o Each industry would be self-governed by a code hammered out by representatives of business and labor o Led by General Hugh Johnson o Symbolized by the Blue Eagle stamp o Almost all the NRA codes were written by the largest firms in any industry  Public Works Administration (PWA) o Led by Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes . Authorized $3.3 billion for the construction of roads, public building, and other projects o Idea was to provide jobs . Stimulate the economy through increased consumer spending o “priming the pump” . The government had to prime the economy with jobs for the unemployed o PWA spent more than $4.2 billion building roads, schools, post offices, bridges, courthouses  Left Turn and the Second New Deal o Hundred Days Legislature package tried to offer something for everybody. o Washington brought reassurance that the nation was back on track, although the Depression made millions of people think otherwise o The New Deal had critics that complained that FDR ruined the traditional boundaries of government action while others argued that Roosevelt hadn’t done enough  Roosevelt’s critics o Republican newspapers and the American Liberty League denounced Roosevelt and his advisors. - They held the administration responsible for what they considered an attack on property rights, the growing welfare state, and the decline of personal liberty. o American Liberty League o dominated by executives of DuPont and General Motors - League attracted support from a group of conservative Democrats, including Al Smith - Al Smith was the former presidential candidate who declared the New Deal’s laws “socialistic.” o League supported anti-New Dealers for Congress o In the 1934 election, Democrats built up their majorities from 310 to 319 in the House and 60-69 in the Senate  Roosevelt’s loyal supporters turned critical o Father Charles E. Coughlin - attracted a national radio audience of 40 million listeners with sermons attacking wall streets, international bankers, and “plutocratic capitalism” - supported Roosevelt and the New Deal at first and tried to build a relationship with the president - In 1934, he was frustrated with his limited influence on the administration and began attacking FDR. o New Deal policies were part of a Communists Conspiracy - Threatened community autonomy with centralized federal power. o Couglin broke from the FDR and founded the National Union for Social Justice o The movements on the left were very troublesome for Roosevelt for they thought the New Deal was too timid in its measures  End Poverty in California o Upton Sinclar - Well known novelist and socialist - Entered the 1934 Democratic primary party for governor by running EPIC - Proposed a $50 a month pension for all poor people over 60 - Campaign emphasized the government system of “production for use” workshops for the unemployed - Lost a close general election only because the republican candidate received heavy financial and tactical support from Hollywood studio executives and frightened regular Democrats.  Old Age Revolving Pension plan o Created by Francis E. Townsend - Retired doctor - Created a large following among citizens with this plan - He called for payments of 200 dollars per month to all people over 60, but had to be spent within 30 days o Attracted a nationwide following of more than 3 million by 1936  Huey Long o posed as the greatest potential threat to Roosevelt’s leadership o Long captured LA’s governor ship in 1928 by attacking the state’s oil industry o He significantly improves public education, roads, medical care, and other public services o Long first supported Roosevelt but in 1934, his own presidential ambitions and his impatience with the pace of the New Deal measures led it a break with Roosevelt  Share Our Wealth Society o Organized by Huey Long o Its purpose was to “break up the swollen fortunes of America and to spread the wealth among all our people.” o homestead worth $5000 and a $2500 annual income for everyone was promised by Long o Long’s economics were not clear o A secret poll of the summer of 1935 stunned the Democratic National Committee by showing that Long might attract three or four million votes o Long’s third-party candidacy was prevented due to his assignation in that September  New Deal in the South and West  Southern Farming and Landholding o Impact on South and West . Farm programs moved agriculture away from sharecropping and tenant farming . Wage labor and agribusiness . Dam building projects created electricity for Southerners . West got the most payments for welfare, work relief, and loans . New Deal – rational resource use o Farming in the South . 1930 – less than half of farmers owned land o Sharecroppers . ¾ African American farmers were sharecroppers . Half of white farmers . About $100 annually if any . Cotton and tobacco o AAA . Agricultural Adjustment Administration . Boosted prices by paying farmers to “plow under”  Take land out of production . Went to mostly large landowners . Planters did not usually share payments with sharecroppers and tenants o STFU . Southern Tenant Farmers Union . Founded in 1934 . Protested AAA policies  Protested evictions  Called for strikes for higher wages  Challenged landlords for fair share of payments . Six southern states . About 30,000 farmers  Half black . Drew attention but did not change national farm policy o Labor-saving machinery . Tractors . Mechanical harvesters o Impacts of Cash Infusion . Lower demand for labor and higher eviction rate . Many migrated to cities in search of work o Help of New Deal . Destroyed old sharecropping and tenant system . Helped landowners prosper . Access to government funds  Diversify crops  Consolidate holdings  Work land more efficiently . 1 to 2 million sharecroppers would move to bigger cities  Memphis, Birmingham, Chicago, Detroit, etc.  Rural Electrification and Public Works o Early 1930s – 3% of southerners had electricity o Farmhouses . No electric lighting . No indoor plumbing . No refrigerators of washing machines o Tennessee Valley Authority . Made electricity available for the first time . Public investment and government planning . Built 16 dams across 800 miles of Tennessee River  Brought flood control and electric power to hundreds of thousands of families  7 southern states . Reduced consumer electric rates . Created landscaped parks . Built public libraries and better school systems . 1944 – largest power producer in US . Provided luxuries for farmers and families  Radio  Electric lights  The Dust Bowl o Disaster in the Great Plains in the mid-1930s o Droughts through early 1930s o Violent dust storms during droughts . Result of stripping the landscape of vegetation o Great Plains became “vast wheat factory” o Great Plains suited for: . Mechanized farming . Gasoline-powered tractors . Harvester-thresher . Disc plows  All increased productivity o In 1830, it took 58 hours to ship an acre of wheat to granary . In 1930s, it took less than three hours o Farmers broke more land to compensate for low wheat prices in 1920s o Nothing to prevent soil erosion . Dust storms blew away tens of millions of acres of topsoil o Economic and psychological losses for those who stayed . Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico . Denver journalist called calamity the “Dust Bowl” o Difficult for humans and livestock to breathe . “Dust pneumonia” and other respiratory infections o Destroyed crops and trees o Travelers stuck in automobiles and trains o Worst storms – Spring 1935 o Intervention from federal agencies . Resettlement Administration  Direct emergency relief to families . Crop and seed loans . Moratoriums (freezes) on loan payments . Works Progress Administration  Provided temporary jobs 1 1 . /5 to /3 applied for relief  90% in hardest-hit cities . Agricultural Adjustment Administration  Paid wheat farmers millions of dollars o Farmers could not grow what they could not sell o Diversion of soil for different crops o Governmental policies . Designed to  Alter land use patterns  Reverse soil erosion  Nourish the return of grasslands . Department of Agriculture  Led by Henry A. Wallace o Secretary of State  Designed to change farming practices . Soil Conservation Service (SCS)  Researched controlling wind and water erosion  Set up demonstration projects  Offered equipment, supplies, and assistance to farmers in conservation work  Pumped funds into Great Plains o Created soil conservation district . Administered conservation regulations locally o Dust Bowl reduced by 1940 . From 5 million acres to 4 million acres . New Deal restricted market forces in agriculture . SCS techniques abandoned due to heavy rainfall and WWII  Long-term farming reduced concern for land o Policies and organizations had little effect on sharecroppers and tenants . Thousands of sharecropper and tenant families forced off land . Became “Okies”  About 300,000 people that migrated to California in the 1930s  Included victims of the Dust Bowl but most came from blue- collar and businessmen workers looking to improve economic lot  California had better opportunities o More jobs o Higher wages o Higher relief payments  Most only found low-paying agriculture jobs in fertile areas o San Joaquin and Imperial Valley districts  Discriminated as “poor white trash” o Struggles to create communities within migrant labor camps  Improved situation through WWII and demand for labor o Competition for Mexican laborers . By 1936, 85-90% of migratory workers were white Americans  Less than 20% before Great Depression . Mexicans who were still employed had decreases in their wages . Southwestern communities sought to deport Mexicans and Mexican Americans  Supported by: o Employers o Private charities o Immigration and Naturalization Service  Little effort to distinguish citizens from aliens o Most deported children were actually citizens  Most aggressive campaign in Los Angeles County o Shipped out over 13,000 Mexicans by boxcar from 1931-1934 1 o About /3 of LA’s 150,000 Mexicans left the city in the early 1930s . Nearly half a million (500,000) total left the United States in the 1930s  Water Policy o Large-scale water irrigation projects due to New Deal . Designed for cheaper power and flood prevention o Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of the Interior . Established under the national Reclamation Act of 1902 . Originally purposed to create dams and irrigation works  Encourage growth of small farms in arid regions in West  Unsuccessful until 1920s . Focus changed to multipurpose dams to control entire river systems  Boulder (Hoover) Dam o Designed to harness Colorado River . Wildest and most isolated Western river o Had many anticipated effects: . Flood prevention . Irrigation of Imperial Valley in California . Domestic water for southern California . Cheap electricity for Los Angeles and southern Arizona o Hoover opposed public power aspect . Government should not compete with private companies  Contrary to most Westerners o Believed cheap public power was critical for development  Roosevelt’s support for public power gained political backing of West in 1932 o Completed in 1935 o Funds from Public Works Administration . Total cost was $114 million  Offset by cost of hydroelectric power  Los Angeles aqueduct o 259 miles o $220 million o Channel water to growing population o Lake Mead . Created by construction of dam . World’s largest artificial lake  115 miles up canyon . Helped make Imperial Valley one of the most productive agricultural districts in the world  Boulder Dam transformed Bureau of Reclamation into major federal agency o Huge resources o Completed All-American Canal in 1938 . 80 mile channel . Connects Colorado River to Imperial Valley . 130 mile branch to Coachella Valley . $24 million . Carried flow of water equal to Potomac River . More than 1 million acres of desert land open for cultivation  Fruits  Melons  Vegetables  Cotton . Irrigation projects promised to repay cost of canal in 40 years  Interest-free loan was government subsidy to private growers o Central Valley Project (CVP) . Watershed that stretched through California interior . 500 miles long and about 125 miles wide . Brought water from Sacramento River in North to arid lands of San Joaquin Valley in South . Completed in 1947 . Cost $2.3 billion . Stored and transferred water . Provided  Electricity  flood control  municipal water . cost paid by  federal government  local municipalities  buyers of electric power . proved a boon to large-scale farmers in Sacramento and San Joaquin River Valleys o Grand Coulee Dam . Northwest of Spokane Washington . Completed in 1941 . Designed to  Convert power of Columbia River to cheap electricity  Irrigate uncultivated land  Stimulate economic development of Pacific Northwest . Employed tens of thousands of workers . Pumped millions of dollars into depressed economy  Washington ranked first in per capita federal expenditures from 1933 to 1940 . Provided cheapest electricity in US in the long run . Attract new manufacturing to area of previously just lumber and metals o Environmental and human cost . Grand Coulee and other dams reduced Columbia River . Tens of thousands of workers, mostly Mexican, now worked in fertile fields for very low wages  Health suffered from contact with pesticides . Colorado River no longer empties into Pacific Ocean  Built up salt deposits o Water unfit for drinking or irrigation  Water pollution still plagues river today  A New Deal for Indians o Important changes for Indians . 1933 – Indians lived on reservations  About 320,000 people in about 200 tribes  Mostly in Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, and South Dakota . Indians suffered from poverty worse than any other group  Infant mortality rate was twice that of white people  Diseases were more prevalent on the reservation o Alcoholism, measles, tuberculosis, etc.  Half of Indians on reservations were landless o Lived with relatives instead o BIA . Bureau of Indian Affairs . Oldest federal bureaucracy in West  Corruption and mismanagement  Tried to assimilate Indians through education o Interfered with religious affairs and tribal customs o Merriam Report . 1928 . Prepared by Institute for Government Research . Critiqued BIA management  Scathing and widely public . No effort from Hoover to reform BIA o John Collier . Appointed by Roosevelt in 1933 . Roots in service and community organizations in eastern slums . Interested in Indians  Spent time with Indians in Taos, New Mexico  Involved with struggle to help Pueblo Indians hold onto tribal lands . Executive secretary of American Indian Defense Association . Driving force behind IRA o IRA . Indian Recognition Act of 1934 . Reversed allotment provisions of Dawes Severalty Act of 1887  Weakened tribal sovereignty  Shifted land from tribes to individuals . Permitted restoration of surplus lands . Allocated funds for purchase of additional land . Sought to restore tribal structure  Wanted to make tribes part of federal government o Tribes that ratified IRA could elect tribal council as legal tribal government . Congress wanted to change Collier’s original plan o IRA approval from Indians . Mixed feelings on reservations . Linguistic barriers made support and communication difficult  Ex. Papagos from Arizona had no word for “budget” or “representative” o “law,” “constitution,” “charter,” and “rule” were all the same word o “reservation agent,” “king,” “president,” and “Indian commissioner” were all the same word . Approved by 181 tribes . Rejected by 77 tribes o Navajos . Nation’s largest tribe  More than 40,000 members . Rejected IRA . Protest against BIA forced reduction of livestock  Part of soil conservation program o Blamed Navajo sheep for erosion . Threatened to make Lake Mead and the Boulder Dam inoperable o Navajos believed erosion was due to lack of water and acreage  Navajos took anger out on Collier o Sensitive BIA . BIA more sensitive to Indian culture . Increase in Indians employed in BIA  1933 – a few hundred  1940 – over 4,600 . Indian political autonomy  BIA and Congress interfered with reservation governments o Especially in money matters o Dictated and underfunded tribes o Margold Opinion . Nathan Margold  Lawyer for Department of the Interior  Wrote legal opinion of tribal governments in 1934 o Sovereignty except for when limited in Congress Act . “Margold Opinion” upheld in United States  Led to restoration of tribal rights and land for Indian people in the West  Depression-Era Culture o American culture in the 1930s, like all other aspects of national life, was profoundly shaped by the Great Depression. o A New Deal for the Arts . The Depression hit America’s writers, artists, and teachers just as hard as blue-collar workers  In 1935, the WPA allocated $300 million for the unemployed in these fields  Federal Project No. 1 o “Federal One” o An umbrella agency covering writing, theater, music, and the visual arts which proved to be one of the most innovative and successful New Deal programs o Offered work to desperate artist and intellectuals, enriched the cultural lives of millions, and left a substantial legacy of artistic and cultural production  Federal Writers Project o At its height, employed 5,000 writers on a variety of programs o A popular series of state and city guidebooks, each combining history, folklore, and tourism o “Life in America” . Included valuable oral histories of former slaves, studies of ethnic and Indian cultures, and pioneering collections of American songs and folk tales . American writers helped by the Writers Project:  Ralph Ellison  Richard Wright  Margaret Walker  John Cheever  Saul Bellow  Zora Neale Hurston  Federal Theater Project (FTP) o Reached as many as 30 million Americans with its productions under the direction of the dynamic Hallie Flanagan of Vassar College o Sought to expand the audience for theater beyond the regular patrons of the commercial stage o Successful productions: . “Living Newspaper” . T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral . Maxwell Anderson’s Valley Force . Orson Welle’s Macbeth o Brought vital and exciting theater to millions who had never attended before  Federal Music Project o Under Nikolai Sokoloff of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra o Employed 15,000 musicians and financed hundreds of thousands of low priced public concerts by touring orchestras. o The Composers’ Forum Laboratory supported new works by American composers such as Aaron Copland and William Schuman  Other painters who received government assistance through the FAP: o Willem de Kooning o Jackson Pollock o Louise Nevelson  Holger Cahill o Director of the FAP o Documentary impulse . Documentary Impulse  A deep desire to record and communicate the experiences of ordinary Americans  During the 1930s, an enormous number of artists, novelists, journalists, photographers, and filmmakers tried to document the devastation wrought by the Depression in American communities; they also depicted people’s struggles to cope with, and reverse, hard times.  Mainstream media also adapted this stance . The “documentary impulse” became a prominent style in 1930s cultural expression . Photograph  In 1935, Roy Stryker, chief of the Historical Section of the Resettlement Administration gathered a remarkable group of photographers to help document the work of the agency  Stryker encouraged them to photograph whatever caught their interest, even if the pictures had no direct connection with RA projects  Photographers: o Dorothea Lange o Walker Evans o Arthur Rothstein o Russell Lee o Ben Shahn o Marion Post Wolcott  THE SINGLE MOST SIGNIFICANT VISUAL RECORD OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION o Photographers traveled through rural areas, small towns, and migrant labor camps and produced powerful images of despair and resignation as well as hope and resilience  The double vision ^, combining pain with faith, could be found in many other cultural works of the period o John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath (1939) . Sympathetically portrayed the hardships of Oklahoma Dust Bowl migrants on their way to California o Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 bestseller Gone with the Wind o Elizabeth Noble . “With real events looming larger than any imagined happenings, documentary films and still photographs, reportage and the like have taken the place once held by grand invention o James Rorty, in Where Life Is Better (1936) . Was encouraged by his cross-country trip o Waiting for Lefty . Capitalism  For some, the capitalist system was the culprit responsible for the Great Depression . Communism  Relatively few Americans became Communists or Socialists in the 1930s – at its height, the Communist Party of the United States had perhaps 100,000 members—and many of these remained active for only a brief time  Marxist analysis, with its emphasis on class conflict and the failures of capitalism, had a wide influence on the era’s thought and writing  Some writers joined the Communist Party believing it to be the best hope for political revolution  Soviet Union o An alternative to an American system that appeared mired in exploitation, racial inequality, and human misery.  Communist writers o Writers: . Michael Gold (novelist) . Meridel LeSueur (poet) . Granville Hicks (editor) o Sought to radicalize art and literature and celebrated collective struggle over individual achievement  Intellectuals o A more common pattern for intellectuals, especially when they were young, was brief flirtation with communism o African American writers, attracted by the Communist Party’s militant opposition to lynching, job discrimination, and segregation, briefly joined the party or found their first supportive audiences there . Richard Wright . Ralph Ellison . Langston Hughes o Many playwrights and actors associated with New York’s influential Group Theater were part of the Communist Party orbit in those years . Clifford Odets’s Waiting for Lefty  Depicted a union organizing drive among taxi drivers  Left-wing influence o Reached its height after 1935 during the “Popular Front” period . Alarmed by the rise of fascism in Europe, Communists around the word followed the Soviet line of uniting with liberals and all other antifascists . The American Communist Party  “Communism is Twentieth-Century Americanism”  Communists became strong supporters of Roosevelt’s New Deal, and their influence was especially strong within various WPA arts projects  Abraham Lincoln Brigade o American volunteers against fascists o Sense of commitment and sacrifice appealed to millions of Americans sympathetic to the republican cause . Communists and other radicals, known for their dedication and effectiveness, also played a leading role in the difficult CIO unionizing drives in the auto, steel, and electrical industries o Film and Radio in the 1930s . Despite the Depression, the mass-culture industry expanded enormously during the 1930s  Played an more integral role than ever in shaping the rhythms and desires of the nation’s everyday life  Moviegoing itself, usually enjoyed with friends, family, or a date, was perhaps the most significant development of all . Film Genres  Gangster films did very well in the early Depression years o Little Caesar (1930), starring Edward G. Robinson o Public Enemy (1931) with James Cagney o They depicted violent criminals brought to justice by society, but along the way they gave audiences a vicarious exposure to the pleasures of wealth, power, and lawbreaking  Social disorder o Marx Brothers films . Duck Soup (1933) . A Night at the Opera (1935) o Mae West’s popular comedies . She Done Him Wrong (1933) . I’m No Angel (1933)  Movie musicals o Busby Berkeley’s Gold Diggers of 1933, and 42nd Street (1933)  Screwball comedies o Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night (1934) o Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby (1938)  Socially conscious view of the Depression era o Warner Brothers studio . I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) . Wild Boys of the Road (1933) . Black Legion (1936)  Walt Disney o Moral tales that stressed keeping order and following the rules o Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1935)  Frank Capra o Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) o You Can’t Take It with You (1938) . Radio broadcasting emerged as the most powerful medium of communication in the home, profoundly changing the rhythms and routines of everyday life.  National Broadcasting Company (NBC)  Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) . The Depression actually helped radio expand  The well-financed networks offered an attractive outlet to advertisers seeking a national audience  Radio programming achieved a regularity and professionalism absent in the 1920s, making it much easier for a listener to identify a show with its sponsor  Older cultural forms o Eddie Cantor o Ed Wynn o Kate Smith o Al Jolson  Amos ‘n’ Andy o Adapted the minstrel “blackface” tradition to the new medium  White comedians o Freeman Gosden o Charles Correll o Used only their two voices to invent a world of stereotyped African Americans for their millions of listeners . Soap Operas  Aimed mainly at women working in the home, these serials alone constituted 60% of all daytime shows by 1940.  Soaps o Ma Perkins o Helen Trent o Clara Lou and Em  Revolved around strong, warm female characters who provided advice and strength to weak, indecisive friends and relaives  Thrillers: o Inner Sanctum o The Shadow o Emphasized crime and suspense, made great use of music and sound effects to sharpen their impact . Radio News  Arrived in the 1930s  Showed the medium’s potential for direct and immediate coverage of events  Network news and commentary shows multiplied rapidly over the decade  Complex political and economic issues and the impending European crisis fueled a news hunger among Americans o The Swing Era . One measure of radio’s cultural impact was its role in popularizing jazz  Pre-1930s, jazz was heard largely among African Americans and a small coterie of white fans and musicians  Broadcasts of live performances began to expose a broader public to the music o As well as radio disc jockeys who played jazz records on their shows  Black Musicians began to enjoy reputations outside of traditional jazz centers like Chicago, Kansas City, and New York o Duke Ellington o Count Basie o Benny Moten  Benny Goodman o The key figure in the “swing era” largely through radio exposure o A white, classically trained clarinetist had been inspired by African American bandleaders Fletcher Henderson and Don Redman . Purchased arrangements from them and attracted attention on late-Saturday-night broadcasts o In 1935, at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, Goodman made the breakthrough that established his enormous popularity . The young crowd roared its approval and began to dance wildly to Henderson’s arrangements . Goodman’s music was perfect for doing the jitterbug or lindy hop (dances borrowed from African American culture) o “The King of Swing” . Goodman helped make big-band jazz a hit with millions of teenagers and young adults from all backgrounds  Big band music accounted for the majority of million-selling records o Goodman o Basie o Jimmie Lunceford o Artie Shaw  The Limits of Reform o In his second inaugural address, Roosevelt emphasized what still need to be done to remedy effects of the Great Depression . Stunning electoral victory made social reform seem bright . By 1937, the New Deal was in retreat o Court Packing . May 1935, Schecter v. United States  The Supreme Court found the National Recovery Administration unconstitutional in its entirety . Early 1936, Butler v. United States  Court invalidated the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, declaring it an unconstitutional attempt at regulating agriculture  Court mostly composed of Republicans over 70 years old o Roosevelt began looking for ways to get more reform friendly judges on the court . February 1937, FDR asked Congress for legislation that would expand the Supreme Court from 9 justices to a maximum of 15  President empowered to make new appointments whenever an incumbent judge failed to retire upon reaching age 70  Roosevelt argued that age prevented justices from keeping up with their workload o Few people believed this logic o Newspapers denounced the “court-packing bill”  Opposition of conservatives and outraged New Dealers in Congress o Ex. Democratic senator Burton Wheeler  President argued the purpose was to restore the balance of power among the 3 branches of federal government  Battle for bill dragged on, and FDR’s claims weakened  When justice Willis Devanter announced plans to retire, Roosevelt had the first chance to make a Court appointment . Court upheld the constitutionality of some key laws from the Second New Deals  Including the Social Security Act and National Labor Relations Act  In August, FDR backed off from his plan and accepted compromise bill that reformed lower court procedures, but left Supreme Court untouched  FDR won a more responsive Court . Court fight weakened Roosevelt’s relations with Congress  More conservative Democrats felt free to oppose further New Deal measures o The Women’s Network . Great Depression and New Deal brought significant changes for women in American economics and politics . Women continued to perform unpaid domestic labor within their homes  Work was not covered by Social Security Act o Growing minority worked for wages and salaries outside of the act . 1940, 25% of the workforce was female  Increase in married working women as a result of hard times  Sexual stereotyping still forced women into low-paying and low-status jobs . New Deal brought measurable, but temporary, increase in women’s political influence  New Deal opened possibilities to effect change for women associated with social reform . “Women’s network” was linked by personal friendships and professional connections  Made a presence in national politics and government  Most women in the network had been active in movements promoting suffrage, labor law reform, and welfare programs . Eleanor Roosevelt was a powerful political figure in her own rights  Used her prominence as First Lady to fight for liberal causes she believed in  Revolutionized the role of political wife by taking a position involving no institutional duties, and turning it into a base for independent action  Enjoyed great influence with her husband  Her support for a cause gave the cause instant credibility  Strong supporter of protective labor legislation for women  Convened a White House Conference on the Emergency Needs of Women in 1933 o Helped Ellen Woodward, head of women’s projects in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, find jobs for 100,000 women . In jobs ranging from nursery school teaching to sewing  Worked for anti-lynching legislation, compulsory health insurance, and child labor reform  Fought racial discrimination in New Deal programs  Guardian of “human values” within the administration o Buffer between Depression victims and political bureaucracy  Testified before legislative committees, lobbied her husband and Congress, wrote a widely syndicated newspaper column . Closest political ally was Molly Dewon  Dewon was director of the Women’s Division of the Democratic Party o Women for the first time played a central role in shaping the party platform and running election campaigns o Proved tireless organizer, traveled to cities and towns educating women about Democratic policies and candidates  Dewon’s success impressed FDR, and he went to her for advice on political appointments  Dewon placed more than 100 women in New Deal programs  Persuaded FDR to appoint Frances Perkins as secretary of labor o The first woman cabinet member in US history o Veteran activist for social welfare and reform o Served as FDR’s industrial commissioner in NY before appointment o Perkins embodied the gains made by women in appointive offices o Department was responsible for creating the Social Security Act and Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 . Both incorporated protective measures long advocated by women reformers o Defined feminism as the movement of women to participate in service to society o New Deal agencies were spaces for scores of women in the federal bureaucracy . FERA, WPA, Social Security Board o Social work profession (roughly 2/3 female in the 1930s) grew rapidly in response to massive relief and welfare programs o New Deal for Minorities . African Americans  Always around the bottom of the economic ladder  During the Depression, they suffered disproportionately o Black workers were the “last hired, first fired” o Because jobs were scarce during the Depression, domestic service jobs (cooking, janitorial work, elevator opening) were coveted  Roosevelt administration made little effort to combat racism and segregation in American life o Worked about offending the powerful southern Democratic congressman key for political coalition o Local administration of many federal programs meant most New Deal programs accepted discrimination  CCC established separate workers for people with the same jobs  NRA codes tolerated lower wages for black workers  TVA would not hire black Americans  AAA committees in the South reduced acreage and production to boost prices, thousands of black sharecroppers and laborers were forced off the land  Racism was also in the Social Security Act o Excluded domestics and casual laborers from old-age insurance . Those holding these jobs were mostly African American  FDR issued executive order in 1935 banning discrimination in WPA programs o Between 15-20% of WPA employees were black o The minimum wage of $12 a week was what allowed many African Americans to survive  FDR appointed many African Americans to second level positions in his administration o “Black Cabinet” . Mexicans  Great Depression reduced their demand for labor  Faced massive layoffs, deepened poverty, and deportation  During the 1930s, 400,000 Mexican nationals and children returned to Mexico o Often coerced by local officials unwilling to provide them relief, but happy to offer train fare to border towns  Many native born Americans said deporting Mexicans could reduce unemployment for US citizens o Claims reflected deep racial prejudice  New Deal programs did little to help the Mexicans still in America o AAA benefited large growers, not stoop laborers  National Labor Relations Act and Social Security Act made no provisions for farm laborers  FERA and WPA at first tried to provide relief and jobs to needy, regardless of citizenship status o After 1937, these reliefs were eliminated . New Deal record for minorities was mixed  African Americans in the cities benefited from the New Deal relief o Though assistance was not color-blind  New Deal made no attempt to attack deeply rooted patterns of racism and discrimination in American life  Deterioration faced by Mexicans resulted in a reverse exodus  By 1936, for the first time, a majority of black voters switched political allegiances to the Democrats o Evidence that they supported the direction taken by the New Deals o The Roosevelt Recession . Economy had improved by 1937  Unemployment had declined to 14%  Farm prices had improved to 1930 levels  Industrial production was slightly higher than the 1929 mark . Economic traditionalists called for reducing the federal deficit  Grown to over $4 billion in fiscal year 1936 . Roosevelt was uneasy about the growing debt, and called for large reductions in federal spending  Particularly in WPA and farm programs . Federal Reserve System worried about inflation and tightened credit policies . Instead of stimulating business, the retrenchment brought a steep recession  The stock market crashed again in August 1937 o Industrial output and farm prices dropped o Big increase in unemployment  As conditions worsened, FDR blamed the “strike of capital” o Claimed businessmen had refused to invest because they wanted to hurt his prestige o In reality, the administration’s severe spending cutbacks were mostly responsible for the decline . After 5 years, the New Deal had not brought economic recovery  Through 1937-1938, administration drifted  Roosevelt received conflicting advice o Some urged a massive antitrust campaign against monopolies o Some urged a return to the strategy of stimulating the economy with more federal spending  Republican gains in 1938 made new reform efforts tougher to gain . 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act  Established the first federal minimum wage and set a maximum workweek of 44 hours for employees engaged in interstate commerce . National Housing Act of 1937 (aka Wagner-Steagall Act)  Funded public housing construction and slum clearance and provided rent subsidies for low-income families . By 1938, the whirlwind of New Deal was over  Conclusion o New Deal did little to alter fundamental property relations or distribution of wealth . Programs largely failed to help the most powerless groups in America . Changed many areas of American life o New Deal increased the role of federal government in American lives and communities . Western and southern communities were transformed through federal intervention . Relief programs established framework for welfare state o Efforts to end racial and gender discrimination were modest at best Subject: US History [1] Subject X2: US History [1]

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