The United States In The 20th Century 1932-1940 (1967)

on the chill morning of March 4th 1933 one phase of American Life ended and a new phase began symbolizing the passing phase was Herbert Hoover last of three successive conservative presidents accompanying him on this inaugural day was the Democratic president-elect Franklin Roosevelt Roosevelt symbolized the new phase of American life as he himself would put it in his inaugural address he as president was offering the American people a new deal why the overwhelming Vote for This liberal candidate after 12 years of conservative government what was the state of the nation in 1933 as Roosevelt assumed the presidency the nation was in the midst of the greatest economic depression it had ever known a depression triggered by the stock market collapse of 1929 a decline of over $50 billion in stock prices had been only the start caught off guard by the market collapse hundreds of banks were short of funds to pay off their depositors without an adequate supply of working capital more and more factories and other places of business closed unemployment Rose to alarming levels long lines of waiting men waiting for jobs waiting for a free bowl of soup unemployment in urban areas was further aggravated by the rural situation there were few markets for Farm produce many Farm families lost their homes and their land these dispossessed people streamed to the cities in search of non-existent work there were few Americans whose lives were not affected by the Great Depression the weight of the Nationwide financial disaster had fallen on the shoulders of president Herbert Hoover Hoover had taken every opportunity to present to the nation his measures for correcting the economic depression his measures tended to be moderate ones Hoover had met with leaders of Labor and management reflecting his own philosophy of government he had requested them to join in a program of voluntary reforms to correct economic problems these voluntary programs however had not solved the economic problems of the depression the people desperate for a solution clamored for Swift and decisive action the 1932 Democratic party convention nominated Franklin delanor Roosevelt as their presidential standard Bearer a skilled speechmaker Roosevelt presented to the people a comprehensive program to put the country on its feet everywhere he spoke his audiences reacted enthusiastically Roosevelt knew that hard times still lay ahead but confidently he promised the American people a new deal they voted to give him that opportunity so on March 4th 1933 Franklin Roosevelt was sworn in as president of the United States his inaugural address reflected his liberal philosophy that the executive branch of the federal government must assume more direct control over the nation's economy a program of relief for business was among the major concerns of the new Administration one goal was to reopen closed Banks and and other financial institutions so that investment capital for business could begin to flow again for this reason President Roosevelt signed an executive order suspending business in all banks during this bank holiday bank records would be examined financially sound Banks could then reopen next a special session of Congress was called the chief business was a bill authorizing an issue of $2 billion in new currency this meant that sufficient currency was put in circulation to meet the demands of the nation's Commerce Then There came from Congress a long list of presidentially inspired legislation to promote and stimulate business recovery these measures produced an almost endless list of new government agencies each with its own alphabetic abbreviation the NRA or National Recover y Administration with its Blue Eagle symbol had a widespread effect on large and small businesses the NRA was a bold experiment in economic manipulation in which management labor and the federal government worked together toward recovery under NRA administrator Hugh Johnson codes were prepared to guide production and prices but it was up to the industries themselves to regulate their own Affairs not open to regulation however were minimum wage scales established under the NRA another NRA guarantee was that workers had the right to join unions and that unions had the right to bargain collectively but the NRA had a stormy career and by 1935 its opponents were questioning the agency's constitutionality on May 27th 1935 the Supreme Court ruled that the NRA was indeed unconstitutional despite the president's efforts to save it the NRA was abandoned another economic experiment was relief for the unemployed by the early 30s the unemployed numbered in the millions to tide these workers over until business picked up a major program of unemployment relief was initiated by the New Deal under Harry Hopkins a professional social worker a new agency the Federal emergency relief Administration was set up to administer unemployment relief Hopkins was convinced that mere handouts of government funds would accomplish little the nation's workers Hopkins announced needed jobs not charity so the government must create jobs by the end of 1933 nearly 28 million Americans were on relief many of these unemployed were being registered for government Works programs that would take people off relief provide jobs and at the same time stimulate the stalled economy among the unemployed were thousands of young men who had reached their working years during the Depression these men many of whom had never had the chance to earn their own living were encouraged to seek jobs in a government works project set up especially for them in April 1933 this agency was the CCC the Civilian Conservation Corps the aim of the CCC was to move jobless young men out of the Cities into rural camps where they were clothed housed and fed in return the more than 2 and a half million members of the core worked at a variety of conservation projects they built New Roads cleared areas of harmful insects and weeds fought forest fires planted new forests and built check dams to prevent soil erosion some critics thought the CCC a first step toward fascism or socialism but the liberal Administration was convinced that the CCC and other longrange relief programs such as large-scale construction projects were necessary to economic recovery the leading construction agencies which provided jobs for thousands were the pwa the Public Works Administration and later the WPA the works progress administration although jobs with such agencies paid only modest salaries they did offer work to thousands of men taking them off relief roles and giving them the self-respect that came with working for pay among the public improvements for which the pwa and WPA wide labor were the paving of city streets the construction of urban state and federal Highway systems the clearance of slums and other areas of substandard housing WPA labor built new schools and libraries new public buildings and hospitals stimulated by federal recovery programs Private Industry began to recover from the effects of the depression jobs were becoming more plentiful but so were labor problems organized labor was gaining great strength under the Roosevelt administration which actively protected it a major protective measure was Senator Robert Wagner's National Labor Relations Act of 1935 this new deal legislation prevented industry from interfering with Union organizing attempts the ACT also reaffirmed that provision of the earlier National Recovery Act which protected the right of Labor to collective bargaining in wage disputes one of Labor's most effective bargainers was John L Lewis head of the CIO Congress of industrial organizations a new tactic used by the CIO against management was the sitdown strike in which workers refused to leave factories the sitdown strike became symbolic of the labor struggles of the mid 1930s as the economy inched toward recovery there were often thousands of strikes in a single year to lessen the conflict between management and labor which produced scenes like these Congress passed such legislation as the fair labor standards Act and the Wagner Act which eventually did much to end violence as a result Labor Management relations gradually became more Comm for example problems of working conditions for women were settled to a great extent by the fair labor standards act which also set maximum working hours and minimum wage scales thus the Roosevelt administration's program of business and unemployment relief eased the problems of Industry during the Depression agriculture too was slowly being eased out of the depression a program of farm relief had been instituted under the Roosevelt administration secretary of agriculture Henry a Wallace was The Guiding Spirit behind the farm relief program under the AAA or agricultural adjustment Act of 1933 Wallace administered government control over Farm production farm surpluses for well over a decade had depressed prices and lowered farm income Wallace believed that the solution was to limit production thereby increasing demand farmers were instructed to take the Extreme Measures of destroying Surplus crops and animals to limit the amount of farm products reaching markets emphasis on Crop Production was later shifted by the AAA to emphasis on soil conservation agents of the AAA also taught Farmers to use mechanized equipment this educational program did much to modernize farming the Supreme Court however was considering several cases challenging the constitutionality of the AAA in 1936 the court did declare the agency unconstitutional on the grounds of federal interference with private Enterprise agriculture secretary Wallace appeared before several congressional committees to propose a second AAA act that would meet the Court's objections this act eventually passed in 1938 continued federal aid to Farmers and limited production of certain crops other Farm relief legislation initiated by Wallace set up a federal Soil Conservation program a certain portion of land would be taken out of cultivation Farmers cooperating in this program would be paid in addition Surplus crops of good years would be stored at government expense and save for poor years among the New Deal Farm relief programs the one considered most successful involved the economic recovery of an entire rural region the Tennessee Valley this land had been abused for a century and a half through backward farming methods and eroded by periodic floods the Tennessee Valley had become one of the nation's poest agricultural regions a massive restoration program was begun in 193 4 under a government created Tennessee Valley Authority TVA a system of dams was built to provide flood control and electrical power with cheap and plentiful electricity available industry was attracted to the Tennessee Valley and jobs were created for many of its people as electrification of the area gained momentum TVA raised living standards throughout the valley in time the TVA became a model for similar Federal projects in Regional development but the TVA had its critics too it became one of the Prime campaign issues in the presidential election of 1936 the Conservative Republican candidate Al Landon charged that under the New Deal government competed unfairly with private Enterprise the brunt of this attack was borne by the principal author of the New Deal President Franklin D Roosevelt but the president and the voters despite the multitude of charges seemed to have an attraction for each other that nothing could diminish one of the most popular and controversial of American presidents he grew throngs of listeners during the campaign of 1936 in which he ran for reelection ction the liberal president pointed out with obvious Pride the major achievements of his new deal Administration a great rise in employment production and national income the economy was making a comeback and the public voted overwhelmingly for another four years of the New Deal under Roosevelt still all economic problems had not been solved employment dipped as a severe recession struck in 1937 to keep the economy moving the administration adopted further Extreme Measures one of these increased benefits to the unemployed as part of a program of deficit spending the government would spend large sums obtained on credit to be repaid in prosperous times but the Supreme Court continued to be a thorn in the side of the administration the majority of the justices were conservative and time and again the court found New Deal legislation unconstitutional to ensure a liberal majority Roosevelt considered increasing the number of justices from 9 to 15 however this plan denounced as a scheme for packing the court was eventually abandoned in foreign affairs the Spectre of international War Rose to haunt the New Deal aggressive wars were being fought in China Ethiopia and and Spain military dictatorships in Italy under Bonito musolini and in Germany under Adolf Hitler seemed poised to set the torch of War to Europe in the United States a program of limited National Defense was put into effect diverting funds from economic recovery to military activities this became an issue presented to voters in the presidential campaign of 1940 by the Republican candidate when L Wilkey cautioning against foreign entanglements the personable wilky fought a hard-hitting popular campaign selected by the Democratic National Convention to be wil's opponent was Franklin D Roosevelt breaking American tradition to run for a third term Inauguration Day 1940 found an increasingly tense and apprehensive American people listening closely to the inaugural address of their President Franklin roosev successful in his bid for a third term during his campaign the president had made one promise that he would not be able to keep your sons are not going to be sent into any Foreign Wars he had declared yet during his coming third term the nation would be committed to a foreign war but it was in domestic affairs in social welfare reforms that the achievements of the New Deal could best be measured in leading the economy out of depression and toward recovery the New Deal instituted a number of reforms in 1933 to ensure the savings of depositors in the event of future bank failures the New Deal established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation which still continues to protect Savers deposits a major reform considered the major reform by many was the Social Security Act of 1935 both employers and employees contribute sums to individual accounts to provide unemployment insurance and old age benefits upon retirement carrying out the Social Security program meant a permanent enlargement of the role of the Federal Government in American Life In addition to such lasting measures the New Deal had initiated temporary economic reforms to pull the nation's people from the depths of depression the encouragement given to workers and workers unions led to the growth of organized labor as a vital force in the American economy temporary relief programs and assistance to Farmers reflected the liberal philosophy that the regulated flow of agricultural produce to protect the farmer against depression and the building of Public Works to provide jobs in time of need were government responsibilities in 8 years President Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal had made great changes in the scope and structure of the federal government not all his reforms were successful but together they represented a new philosophy of the role of government in the Affairs of the [Music] nation