Elusive Eden: A New History of California, fourth edition

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: THE DEPRESSION DECADE

• Economic collapse global--Outgrowth of WWI reparations, US tariff

policies--Stagnant wages, speculative mania• Tarnished Republican White House, Congress--Franklin Delano Roosevelt challenged Herbert

Hoover--Promised "New Deal”• 1932 Democrats swept White House,

Congress

THE IMPACT OF THE DEPRESSION• Stock market crashed October 1929• Symptom of deeper economic problems• US economy collapsed--By 1932 national income declined 50 %--Wiped out gains since 1889--housing construction fell to 1929 levels--+ 15 million workers unemployed

• California hard hit--Oil, autos, manufacturing depended on

national economy--Chief products unnecessary: specialty crops,

tourism, movies --1919 agricultural revenues $750 million --$327 M 1929--oil industry had stockpiles, laid off 1000s--construction, real estate tanked

• southern Cal economy vulnerable--movie revenues fell--unusually high percentage of service

occupations--hurt mc white-collar workers--highest proportion of elderly in nation--many living on savings, investments

• relief rolls swelled--1/5th LA pop on relief --$16.20 / month --Private orgs like Foursquare Church pitched in• 1932 SF unemployment rate 25 %

• 1932 1,250,000 Californians on relief --State spent surpluses--delinquent taxes cut revenues• white MC suddenly experienced want• Expressed increased hostility towards African

Americans, Hispanics, Asians

THE NEW DEAL IN CALIFORNIA• Relief most urgent need in early 1930s• Hoover insisted economy sound--"the dole" created dependency--Churches, voluntary assns could manage needs

• State welfare programs inadequate--1931 legislature created State Unemployment

Commission --to oversee unemployment relief projects--State labor camps built roads, bridges--1931–1932 supervised 28 forestry camps, 2

highway camps--Only for men

• State quickly ran through $30M budget surplus

--By 1933 $9.5M deficit--Homelessness epidemic--1000/day newcomers--Men, women, children

• March 1933 FDR took office--White House, Congress immediately created

govn programs for relief, reform--Federal Emergency Relief Administration

(FERA) gave out $500M--funds delivered by California's SERA--$20-$30 /mo

• Civil Works Administration spent $800M on public jobs

--1933–1934 employed +150,000 Californians --Built airports, bridges, roads, schools

• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) employment + relief

--Urban youth sent to countryside for public works

--Built roads in national parks, planted shelterbelt trees

--Paid $25/mo--Only took white males

• By 1935 federal spent $285M in California • 1935 Congress launched $5B Works Progress

Administration (WPA) --Construction--Arts--Word "boondoggle" entered English language

LARGE-SCALE PUBLIC WORKS• public works rebuilt, improved state

infrastructure• California Public Works Administration (PWA)

funded state projects --Newport Harbor in Orange County

• Federal funds through Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) provided loans

--Oakland–San Francisco Bay Bridge joint public/private venture

--Bureau of Reclamation funded Colorado River, Central Valley construction

• Colorado River Project, All-American Canal started in 1920s, finished in 1930s

--RFC bought $200 M Metropolitan Water District (MWD) bonds to build aqueduct

--Bureau of Reclamation paid for rest

• April 1931 Congress awarded construction contract to syndicate of firms

--incorporated as Six Companies--Henry J. Kaiser chairman --Frank Crowe superintendent of construction--Built air-conditioned housing for workers--Became Boulder City, Nevada--dam 660 feet thick at bottom, 45 feet thick at the top, 1,282

feet high--Reservoir Lake Mead, capacity 32 M acre-feet --Six Companies cleared $10 million profits

• Federal connections, track record brought Six Companies new contracts

--Golden Gate Bridge--Oakland–San Francisco Bay Bridge--Grand Coulee, Bonneville dams

• 1933 construction began on Golden Gate Bridge

--Financed by Marin, San Francisco county bond issues

--completed 1937--world's longest suspension bridge when

completed--1933 construction began on Oakland–San

Francisco Bay Bridge--Completed 1936

THE CENTRAL VALLEY PROJECT• New Deal financing behind Central Valley

Project on San Joaquin/Sacramento River Delta

• Populations, farms, sugar and petroleum industries booming

• San Francisco, Oakland dammed San Joaquin tributaries

• By 1920, volume, velocity of San Joaquin, Sacramento rivers falling

--Worst in summer --Freshwater/saltwater line moved eastward--Saltwater polluted western Delta's industrial,

municipal water supplies --threatened Delta farms--Wells drew saltwater --Periodic drought compounded problems

• 1915 Delta water users, city of Antioch filed lawsuits to protect Sacramento River

--Named upstream irrigation districts--private land and water companies--1922 state supreme court sided with upstream

interests --State had no legal interest in Delta water

quality

• In 1920s drought legislature attempted to formulate water plan

--Competing interests unable to agree on solutions

• Sacramento Valley users campaigned for barrier dam across western Delta

--Some western Delta industries, Bay Area cities supported plan

--Protected downstream water users

--inner Delta users objected --barrier would raise water levels, flood Delta

farms, towns--shipping, coastal fishers opposed barrier-- would impede ships, spawning fish

• State, federal water experts proposed large upstream dams in northern Sacramento Valley

--Would impound water in winter--Provide irrigation water for interior farms--Flush Delta in summer--San Joaquin Valley supported--Needed more water

• Southern California opposed all plans--Already had water from Owens Valley,

Colorado River--Opposed paying for northerners' water

• State engineer Edward Hyatt developed water transfer plan in 1931

--Proposed Shasta Dam on northern Sacramento River --Would store water for irrigation, flood control, navigation,

Delta flushing--Straighten, enlarge natural channels --Could carry more Sacramento River water into San Joaquin

portion of Delta--install giant pumps to carry water from southern Delta to

western San Joaquin Valley--construct Contra Costa Conduit --would flush saltwater in western Delta

• 1933 legislature approved Central Valley Project bill

--southern Californians, private power companies objected

--forced bill into referendum --passed narrowly --support/opposition regional

• legislature approved $170 M revenue bond issue

--financed construction--provided for public distribution of power--ensured New Deal support

• 1935 FDR adopted CVP project--Gave Bureau of Reclamation financing--Allocated federal funds --Construction began 1937 --Finished 1950s

• Shasta, Keswick dams on Sacramento River--Impounded Sacramento, Pit, and McCloud

rivers--Formed Lake Shasta--Water carried south to the Sacramento–San

Joaquin Delta--Pumped into Delta-Mendota Canal--Carried 117 miles south to San Joaquin Valley

• Friant Dam on San Joaquin River built east of Fresno

--Friant-Kern Canal sends water south to Bakersfield

--Madera Canal carries water north--Irrigation water supported 700,000 new acres

of farming

• Later additions incorporated new rivers--Trinity, Lewiston dams impound Trinity River--Used to flow to Pacific--Now diverts through tunnels to Whiskeytown

Dam, then Sacramento Valley --Folsom, Nimbus dams built on American River --New Melones Dam built on Stanislaus River--San Luis Reservoir built west of Los Banos--stores water for west side of San Joaquin Valley

• CVP legislation included saltwater control --Congress, Bureau of Reclamation didn't--late 1930s, early 1940s Bureau of Reclamation

promised to release water from Shasta Dam for Delta purity

--later denied responsibility for Delta--main priority southern exports --developed water too expensive to "waste" --federal courts upheld Bureau of Reclamation position --federal agencies not bound by state laws

• Private power companies complained about competition with public electricity

• Critics demanded California comply with Newlands Act "160-acre rule"

--1930s focus on creating jobs--Fed more concerned about protecting New

Deal programs--Not anxious to enforce 160-acre rule

THE REVIVAL OF LABOR• Depression, New Deal rebuilt organized labor

movement• 1932 25% unemployment in San Francisco,

30% in Los Angeles --Worse in specific industries--50% in building trades

• Employers reduced staff, extended hours, cut wages and benefits to stay in business

• SF waterfront dominated by "blue-book" unions

--Longshoremen hired in daily "shape-up" --foremen expected kickbacks

• New Deal's National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) challenged

--Section 7(a) guaranteed workers' right to organize, collective bargaining

--Revived unions--1935 Congress passed the Wagner Act--Preserved 7(a) labor protections--Established National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) --Employers refused to implement until legal challenges

overturned or upheld

• Spring 1934 SF waterfront workers joined International Longshoremen's Association

--challenged Matson Co. "blue-book" union --with other waterfront unions demanded

shorter hours, higher pay, end to shape-up--demanded union-controlled hiring hall --Industrial Association, shipping companies

refused to negotiate--Called leaders communists

• Longshoremen struck May 9, 1934--sailors, masters and mates, marine engineers

and firemen, stewards unions joined--3,500 men walked off jobs--Pacific Coast shipping paralyzed

• Industrial Association negotiated agreement eastern ILA leaders

--SF workers rejected--strikers organized Joint Maritime Strike

Committee --elected Harry Bridges chairman

• July 3 1934 Industrial Association, business leaders forced confrontation

--sent fleet of trucks to unload ships--police escort protected trucks, strikebreakers--strikers, police battled 2 days--2 longshoremen killed--July 5 Gov. Merriam called in National Guard

• SF workers sided with longshoremen--unions called general strike --July 16 1000s walked off jobs, stayed off 4 days

• Strikers, employers agreed to arbitration --Employers agreed to recognize local union leaders--July 31 maritime strike ended--October 12 arbitrators reached decision --Recognized ILA as bargaining agent --Endorsed state wide bargaining--Employers/ILA to jointly operate hiring halls --Guaranteed 6-hour work day, pay raise--Gains eventually extended to Bay Area warehouse workers--1937 merged as International Longshoremen's and

Warehousemen's Union

• SF longshoremen, general strikes inspired other workers

--Older unions gained members--new unions formed--1933-1938 California union membership

tripled

THE OPEN SHOP IN LOS ANGELES• Merchants & Manufacturers Association, Los

Angeles Times resisted NIRA--Pressured employers not to deal with unions, comply

with Section 7(a)--M&M paid for massive anti-union campaign--organized Southern Californians, Inc.--formed The Neutral Thousands (TNT), Women of the

Pacific as strikebreakers--used bullies, spies, blacklists, tear gas to break unions--slowed but could not stop unionization

• 1934 to 1939 So Cal unions grew--By 1939 ½ of LA workers belonged to unions--auto, tire, movie, oil refining, airplane

industries unionized--union membership rose from 33,000 to +

200,000

AGRICULTURAL LABOR• NIRA specifically excluded farm labor• composition of farm labor force, grower

organization resisted unionization--¾ workforce Mexicans, ¼ Filipino--Migrated from harvest to harvest--Agricultural communities provided off season

relief to ensure return--1930s relief dried up, city leaders encouraged

Mexicans to leave

• By 1937 + 150,000 Mexicans left California• Strikes pushed growers to support

repatriation --1930s Communist Party organizers formed

Trade Union Unity League --TUUL helped organize Cannery and

Agricultural Workers Industrial Union--1933–1934 CAWIU organized farm strikes --¾ resulted in wage increases

• + 15,000 workers involved in 1933 San Joaquin Valley cotton strike

--largest in history of American agriculture--1937 John Steinbeck wrote about it in In

Dubious Battle --Communist leadership justified grower, police

violence--CAWIU leaders prosecuted under criminal

syndicalism law

• Growers responded by organizing Associated Farmers of California

--Included growers, processors, variety of business groups--financed by SF Industrial Association, Southern Californians,

Inc., PG&E, Southern Pacific, Holly Sugar Corporation, and Spreckels Investment Company

--employed private army to protect strikebreakers, attack pickets, break up union meetings

--local governments supported, sometimes deputized --cities passed anti-picketing ordinances --critics called "farm fascism"--effectively prevented farm labor organization

DEPRESSION POLITICS• Gov. Rolph fiscally conservative--Willing to spend $30M surplus on relief, public

works--Gov, legislature cut $24M from 1933–1935

budget

• Personal style: "smile with Sunny Jim" --Depression not serious--Banker, wealthy shipping magnate--4-term mayor of SF--Photo hound, left city management to others--Had affair with actress, missed meetings,

showed up drunk--Owned SF "Pleasure Palace," winked at

Prohibition

--Business experiences, politics made anti-union--Condoned violence against striking farm

workers--Nov 1933 praised lynch mob that murdered

two confessed kidnap-murders, promised to pardon anyone convicted of lynching

--June 1934 died suddenly --Lt. Gov. Frank E. Merriam finished term

• Frank Merriam 14 years of political experience--Chair Repub state committee--Assemblyman, then assembly speaker --state senator• still, Californians sick of Republicans

THE SINCLAIR EPISODE• Democrats expected to take capitol,

legislature in 1934 elections--Republicans discredited--FDR elected by landslide--Cal Democratic party registrations up

• William Gibbs McAdoo revived Cal party--Lawyer, businessman--Woodrow Wilson Secretary Treasury--1922 moved to southern California--president of national Democratic party--Helped secure DNC nomination for FDR--Elected to US Senate same election FDR

elected president

• Cal Dems divided north-south--Northern cal supported SF publisher Justus

Wardell--Southern cal " " George Creel• Creel advertising genius--ran Wilson's WWI propaganda campaign--1932 federal relief administrator

• Both fiscal conservatives--Pro-business, anti-radical positions now unpopular --Caught off-guard by 3rd party challenger Upton

Sinclair

• Upton Sinclair entered 1934 gov campaign --Famous muckracking author--Internationally famous for 1901 The Jungle--Ran as Socialist candidate 1925, 1930 gov races--Criticized Republican, Democrat candidates'

conservatism, corruption

• 1933 published booklet w plan to relieve suffering

--End Poverty in California (EPIC) --Switched party registration to Democrat--Announced candidacy with new book--I, Governor of California and How I Ended

Poverty: A True Story of the Future

• EPIC plan attractive --repeal sales tax--tax wealthy, corporations--pay $50/mo pension to elderly poor or

disabled

• "production-for-use" would relieve unemployed

--State would issue $300 million in bonds --Use proceeds to purchase idle farms, factories--Pay idle men, women in scrip to produce

goods, food--Co-ops to redistribute goods, services

• Popularity sign of Cal distress--+ 2,000 EPIC clubs formed --Supporters registered 330,000 new Democrats --Signed up Republican Edmund G. (Pat) Brown --Won Democratic primaries with +52% of vote

• Democratic party regulars horrified--Refused to support Sinclair in general election--Convinced FDR not to endorse--FDR needed Cal Dems• Opponents launched first modern media

smear campaign against Sinclair--Used newspaper editorials, fake print and

radio news stories, fake newsreels to discredit--Renamed program "Easy Pickings in California"

• Sinclair made Gov. Merriam look good--Merriam shifted stance--Unpopular for calling out National Guard in

July 1934 waterfront strike --Announced support for collective bargaining,

shorter work week, New Deal--Stayed out of anti-Sinclair campaign

• Strategy successful--Merriam elected--Sinclair published new book-- I, Candidate for Governor and How I Got

Licked

MERRIAM'S "PRAGMATIC CONSERVATISM"• Gov. Merriam called his politics "social justice

without socialism" --Approved State Emergency Relief

Administration --Required to receive federal relief funds• approved federal takeover of Central Valley

Project

• Supported state pension program--received fed funds under 1935 Social Security

Act --Offset expenditures with higher taxes• Approved state income tax, capital gains--higher taxes on banks, corporations--restructured sales tax to exclude groceries,

fuel, prescription drugs

• 1937 Democrat Culbert Olson ran for gov--state senator for LA county--elected 1934 with EPIC support --threw support to liberal Democratic measures --proposed modified production-for-use

program--increased welfare, pension payments--progressive taxation

--slum clearance--low-cost housing--public ownership of public utilities--support for organized labor--promised to pardon Tom Mooney--won 1938 Democratic primary

• New Deal, FDR will popular --FDR endorsed Olson --Democratic party supported Olson--Drew some Republicans too

• Gov. Merriam in trouble with Cal Republicans--Fiscal policies, cooperation with FDR offended

conservatives--Taxes on corporations alienated business

leaders--Enough to overcome Republican-favoring

electoral process

• Nov 1938 Olson elected governor--First Democratic victory in 44 years --Republicans took back state senate--Senate dominated by rural counties, interests--Democrats lost majority in assembly

UTOPIAN SCHEMES AND THE PENSION MOVEMENT

• New Deal had competitors in Cal• Like progressives, Technocracy movement

anti-politician--Based on writings of 19th c writer Edward

Bellamy ("Looking Backward")--Replaced politicians, businessmen leaders with

scientists, engineers--Replaced money w energy units called "ergs"

• California elderly especially supportive of schemes offering pensions

--1929 legislature approved Old Age Security Act --nation's first mandatory state pension plan--elderly homeowners didn't qualify--retired Californians supported Sinclair

• 1934 Francis E. Townsend proposed Old Age Revolving Pensions

--Congress to adopt national sales tax --Funds used to pay $200/mo to everyone over

age 60--Had to spend all of money that month--Could not work for wages--Townsend clubs formed all over state, nation

• Another pension plan called "Ham and Eggs" --1936 radio commentator Robert Noble

launched--Asked for listeners for contributions--Promised $25 every Monday--Teamed up with advertising agency--1938 Willis and Lawrence Allen took over,

changed to $30 every Thursday--state to issue weekly scrip to unemployed over

50

--scrip would circulate like money--state would reimburse scrip holders $52 at

year's end--narrowly defeated as 1938 ballot initiative--qualified again in 1939, defeated

• Popularity of Townsend, Ham & Eggs plans

forced FDR to adopt old age pension plan

OLSON'S "NEW DEAL FOR CALIFORNIA"• Olson took office January 1939• Partisan politics undermined success--Legislature cut $100M from proposed budget--killed universal health insurance proposal--defeated proposals to raise corporate taxes,

regulate lobbyists--best remembered for pardoning Tom Mooney,

Warren Billings, siding with FDR on internment of Japanese

THE "OKIES"• New element in California's harvest labor

force • Drought, New Deal policies forced 1000s from

Midwestern farms--1935 to 1939 + 300,000 refugees arrived--Most from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri,

Texas--Derogatorily called "Okies"

• California logical choice--easily reached via Hwy 66--Years of promotion as paradise• Half settled in southern Cal cities, esp. LA• Rest looked for farm work --Ineligible for state relief 1st year--Took lower wages than Mexican workers

• Relief benefits cut off during harvest season--Little choice but to accept work, wages offered--Okies joined Cal labor cycle: relief, harvest,

relief--State subsidized growers, low farm wages

• Not like earlier migrant farm workers--White, Anglo-Saxon, most Protestant--Intended to settle permanently--Valued hard work, land ownership, education--Registered to vote

• 1937 created a surplus of farmworkers--Growers appreciated white, English-speaking

workers--Same time brought unwanted attention to

conditions in Cal

• refugees attracted sympathy of Farm Security Administration photographers

--Photographs exposed long-standing traditions of Cal agriculture

--Brought Eleanor Roosevelt to Cal to investigate, report to Congress

--Shaped New Deal programs for farmer, farm workers

• 1939 John Steinbeck brought international attention

--Grapes of Wrath told story of Joad family--Lost farm to New Deal policies--Arrived in Cal via jalopy--Snubbed, attacked by hostile Californians

• Same year Carey McWilliams published "Factories in the Field"

--Singularly sympathetic to all migrant workers --Critical of growers, state supported violence • Okies changed political landscape in rurual

areas--registered Democrat--1938 supported Culbert Olson, New Deal--Upset Republican majorities in rural counties

• Republicans responded with California Citizens’ Association (CCA)

--Similar to Associated Farmers--Funneled banking, oil, railroad, real estate,

insurance company $$ to attack Okies, New Deal, FDR, Olson as socialists

• By 1939 CCA shaping Cal politics--turned popular opinion against Okies--wrote legislation barring indigents from Cal--banned state relief payments for "immigrants"--suggested Okies not "white"--labor unions supported CCA measures

• Okies identified with farmers, growers, not labor leaders

--Unlikely to join unions--More likely to be strikebreakers than union

members--Staunchly anti-communist--1937 stayed away from UCAPAWA --Slowed down farm organizing efforts

• Created new California subculture--Patriotic, fundamentalist, socially conservative--Aligned against blacks, Mexicans, Asians--Helped form conservative Democratic wing

• Conditions for Okies improved after 1941--Left the fields--Took higher paid war jobs--Cultural influence remained--Merle Haggard popularized in 1969 "Okie From

Muskogee"

THE CULTURAL SCENE BETWEEN THE WARS• SF retained lead in cultural attractions --de Young Museum --Palace of the Legion of Honor --1932 War Memorial Opera House opened

• City taxes supported arts--Supported opera company, San Francisco

Symphony--Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra endowed

1919--1921 launched summer program at Hollywood

Bowl--"Concerts Under the Stars"

• Huntington Library and Art Gallery acquired Blue Boy

• Otis Art Institute, Chouinard Art Institute showed new works

--1930s Europeans fled to Los Angeles --novelist Thomas Mann--playwright Bertold Brecht--composer Arnold Schoenberg--conductors Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walter

• Architect Richard Neutra introduced "functionalism"

--Form follows function--pioneered the "art moderne" style --Contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright --student of skyscraper inventor Louis Sullivan--helped redefine California ranch

• Architect Irving F. Morrow did the same in northern California

--consulting architect on Golden Gate Bridge --added arched lamps to design--open rail for views--international orange to counteract Bay fog

• LA home to new musical style --1935 Benny Goodman brought "big band

sound" to Los Angeles --Became the "King of Swing" --1936 integrated band with pianist Teddy

Wilson, Lionel Hampton on vibraphone--Influenced Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington,

generation of musicians

• New Deal launched careers of musicians, artists, writers, historians

--WPA artists painted murals on public buildings--Dorothea Lange produced most famous work

for Farm Security Administration• Depression-era literature dark--James M. Cain, Double Indemnity --Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep

• Carey McWilliams part of California tradition of social criticism

--Arrived in California in 1920s--Earned law degree while writing for Los

Angeles Times --1939 published Factories in the Fields--California: The Great Exception (1946) shaped

generation of scholarship --1949 North From Mexico explained ambitions

of Mexican migrants

• 1939-1940 San Francisco hosted Golden Gate International Exposition

--Enlarged Yerba Buena Island, renamed "Treasure Island"

--Celebrated completion of GG, Oakland Bay Bridge

--Modern marvel of television--Unemployment still high--Growing concern US might be drawn into war

in Europe

Sacramento “Hooverville”Unemployed workers who had lost their homes lived in shantytowns made of salvaged boxes, boards, tin, and tar paper. Usually called “Hoovervilles” to mock President Hoover’s failure to ease the Depression, they appeared on the outskirts of most sizable towns. Courtesy of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Dorothea Lange: The PhotographerPaul S. Taylor American, 1895–1984 Dorothea Lange in Texas on the Plains, c.1935 © The Dorothea Lange Collection, Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.

Golden Gate BridgeThe Golden Gate Bridge was one of the engineering marvels of the 1930s. Construction of the span claimed the lives of ten workmen, despite elaborate safety nets strung beneath. In 1939–1940, completion of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge was celebrated with the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. Courtesy of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

The DeltaIn this Delta cabbage field, salt encrusts the surface and stunts the plants. California Department of Water Resources.

Harry BridgesThe longshoremen’s and general strike of 1934 produced, in Harry Bridges, one of California’s most imaginative and innovative labor leaders. Born in Australia, Bridges migrated to California as a seafarer and became a key figure in winning the strikes of 1934, expanding the union inland, developing the area-wide contract, eliminating racism in union membership, and adapting in later years to containerization. Accused of being a Communist Party member, he was harassed with attempts to deport him for twenty years. Courtesy of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

John SteinbeckCourtesy of The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.