Upload
susan-cunningham
View
216
Download
2
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
FOREIGN POLICY IN THE 1920s
• Washington Conference 1921-1922• Major colonial powers (U.S., France, Britain,
Japan)agree to settle any disputes with peaceful means
• Naval but not continental force disarmament• U.S. forces put down revolution in Nicaragua• Kellog-Briand Pact 1928 Nations give up war
as an instrument of national policy
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT(1882-1945)
• Privileged background, only child, distant (5th) cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, related to people on the Mayflower
• Harvard degree, Columbia Law School• Tall, handsome, shrewd, athletic• 1921: polio attack, cripples him• Personal struggle with disease transforms the snobbish
aristocrat to one of the greatest political figures of the century
• "If you had spent two years in bed trying to wiggle your toe,” "after that anything would seem easy."
FDR
• State senator in New York, 1913: Asst. Secretary of the Navy
• 1928: Governor of NY• Main issues: conservation, old-age pension,
unemployment insurance, public works projects
THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1932
• Over 12 million people are jobless• 20,000 World War One veterans march on
Washington, demanding bonuses scheduled for 1945 1 USD for each day served in US, 1,25 for overseas
• Hoover, fearing radicals, calls on the Army to put the demonstrations down.
• ”Well, this will elect me” 472-59 (votes in the electoral college
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
• Outgoing personality, empathy with the less fortunate
• A born leader, obsessed with power• A bulldog determination to succeed• The President of the forgotten man
THE HUMAN TOLL OF THE DEPRESSION
• breadlines, soup kitchens, tin-can shanties and tar-paper shacks known as "Hoovervilles,“
• apple sellers• Arkies and Okies packed into Model A Fords
heading to California• Rise of unemployment from 3 million to 12.5
million between 1929-1932• Mass evictions, shelter found in caves, sewer
pipes• Hoboes, vagrancy
THE HUMAN TOLL OF THE DEPRESSION
• Higher marriage age, declining child birth rate• Starvation, (Cameroon sent help to US!)• Break-up of families, yet declining divorce rates• Decline of the status of men, lost wage-earner
position• Improved status of women: holding the families
together• Many a family has lost its automobile and found
its soul
IMAGES OF THE DEPRESSION
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2156728/Long-lost-Depression-era-photos-capture-everyday-life-destitute-Americans.html
A NEW APPROACH
• Hoover: distant, not able to get his message through
• FDR: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself
• This nation asks for action, and action now!• A pragmatist, trial and error approach• A willingness to act, to be decisive, to
experiment
A NEW APPROACH
• The election of 1932 Realigning election• A landslide election, Franklin D. Roosevelt
defeats Hoover• I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for
the American people• Campaign song: Happy Days Are Here Again
THE BRAIN TRUST
• Pragmatists, not moralists• Influenced by the Progressive Movement• Rejection of laissez faire orthodoxy• Trust-busters: break up concentrated business power• Associationalists: cooperation between business,
labor, government• Economic planners: a system of centralized national
planning• "Take a method and try it,“ "if it fails admit it frankly
and try another. But above all try something."
STRENGTHENING THE BANKING SYSTEM
• Declaring a four day bank holiday• Banks reorganize and reopen on Monday• March 9-June 16, the Hundred Days• Farm Credit Administration-refinancing farm
mortgages at lower rates• Establishment of the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation• Federal Securities Act-regulating Wall Street
RELIEVING HUMAN SUFFERING
• Civilian Conservation Corps-jobs for young men (forestry, soil conservation, building recreational areas)
• Federal Emergency Relief Act- public buildings, road construction, adult literacy programs
• Civilian Works Administration• Works Progress Administration (Federal Theatre
Project, Federal Writers Project, Natl Youth Administration) putting unemployed talent to work (Nixon, Ellison)
THE FARM CRISIS• Late 1920: 1/5th of families lived in farms• Farm income dropped by 2/3• Overproduction due to fertilizers, better
machinery and plant varieties, but demand fell• Less bread consumed, Europe imposes protective
tariffs, cotton replaced with rayon• Natural disasters, boll weevil epidemic• Dust Bowl: animal grazing, ploughing destroys
the surface of the land, drought and storms lead to loss of land cover
AGRICULTURAL REGULATION
• Agricultural Adjustment Act: helping farmers to limit production, paying farmers to grow less
• Henry Wallace: secretary of agriculture, reducing supply, to keep prices high (plowing under 10 million acres of cotton, slaughtering 6 million pigs, keeping only 1 million pounds of meat)
• Uprooting farmers, dustbowl in Oklahoma, • Commemorated in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath• Soil conservation projects to deal with drought
REGULATING INDUSTRY
• National Industrial Recovery Act• Two goals: promoting work relief, defining
labor standards, setting wages and codes of fair competition
• Fair Practice Codes: 40 hour workweek, 13 USD minimum weekly wage
• Growing opposition on the part of business
THE NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION
• Prices, wages, maximum hours, production levels set in each industry
• Main goal: stabilizing the economy, eliminating overproduction, labor conflicts
• Leader: Hugh Johnson, logo: blue eagle• https://www.google.hu/search?
q=blue+eagle+depression&client=firefox-a&hs=GaO&rls=org.mozilla:hu:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Cct3UsPKDYbTtAadk4GoAg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=671.
REGIONAL PLANNING
• Tennessee Valley Authority- a govt. owned corporation
• Harnessing the energy of the Tennessee River• Transporting farmers from the age of
kerosene to the age of electricity• Rural Electrification Administration-providing
energy to farms, 21 dams, 35% of farm families are provided electricity
LAUNCHING THE SECOND NEW DEAL
• Fireside chats over the radio• Effective use of the media, FDR not shown in
wheelchair• Pushing for old age pension, an idea unheard
of in America• Except: Huey Long’s Share Our Wealth
program, take away fortunes of the wealthy, guarantee every family 5.000 USD, pensions for the aged
OTHER CRITICS
• Father Charles Coughlin: most influential religious figure between the two wars
• Weekly radio program: The Golden Hour of the Shrine of Little Flower 16 million listeners
• Demands nationalization of banks, inflating dollar
• Anti-semitic beliefs blaming Jews and Communists for the Depression
FRANCIS TOWNSEND
• A public health official, unemployed at age 67• Pushing for old age pension• 200 USD for all Americans over age 60 per
month, money should be spent in US• All people over age 60 should retire, young
people inherit jobs—potentially ending unemployment
SOCIAL SECURITY
• Roosevelt steals the thunder• The Social Security Act of 1935• The cornerstone and supreme achievement of
the New Deal• Pension fund for retirees over
65,unemployment fund, disability assistance• Low pension, not all workers are covered,
migrant workers excluded, based on regressive taxation unfair to the poor
AFRICAN-AMERICANS
• 1936: 75% of black voters support FDR• No major civil rights advances, due to need for
southern legislative support• NRA: blacks had lower pay• AAA: limiting production area, forces 100,000 blacks
off the land,• Administration failed to outlaw lynching, or poll tax• Advances: more visibility for blacks in government:
Mary McLeod Bethune, advisor of the National Youth Administration
THE INDIAN NEW DEAL
• John Collier: Commissioner of Indian Affairs• 1934: Indian Reorganization Act• Tribes could buy land• Government recognition of tribal constitutions• Supporting the use of Native American
language and customs
DECLINING MOMENTUM OF NEW DEAL POLICIES
• Re-elected in 1936• Supreme Court strikes down most laws• FDR responds with court packing plan- extend
the size of the Supreme Court to 15, a new judge for every judge over age 70
• New Deal does not end unemployment and Depression, U.S. entry to World War Two does
COURT PACKING
• 1935: Schecter v. U.S. NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act) declared unconstitutional, improper limitation of interstate commerce (regulation of poultry industry)
• 1936 Supreme Court strikes down AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act)
• Judicial Procedures Reform bill of 1937: FDR’s plan of expanding the Supreme Court: accused of violating separation of powers
• Later nominates 5 justices to the Court
POPULAR CULTURE
• Woodie Guthrie, Pete Seeger: collecting folk songs
• Rise of Southern Agrarians I’ll Take My Stand-manifesto, calling for a return to a simpler life
• Appearance of superheroes• Marx Brothers, W.C Fields (parody and ridicule
of traditional values of patriotism, family, etc)• Frank Capra films, promotion of the American
dream
LEGACY OF the NEW DEAL• Roosevelt waged war on the Depression• End of liberal capitalism• Pro-active governing, governing as crisis management• Broker state: govt. maneuvers and mediates among major
interest groups-as an honest broker it looks out to protect not only business but workers, farmers, consumers, unemployed
• FDR was accused of introducing socialism, communism, yet he saved capitalism
• An aggressive govt. interference with the economy• http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/volpe/newdeal/
resources.html
• http://www.google.hu/imgres?imgurl=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/thisday/courtpacking.jpg&imgrefurl=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/thisday/2006/02/fdr-proposed-court-packing-plan.php&h=426&w=300&sz=65&tbnid=7Pxu8TezmjQuiM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=69&zoom=1&usg=__2S5idgM46H_IfFSO_eAQjj61ghg=&docid=g7biohRDqDTcYM&sa=X&ei=DuF3UrMmhYi0BpnogNgH&ved=0CDsQ9QEwBQ