Despairing Americans

1. Despairing Americans • Bank failures; by 1932, 200 per month • Decline in employment • Blacks and unskilled labor lost jobs first; blacks unemployment rate was 35% • 1930, 4 million lost jobs • 1931, 100,000 people were fired every week • By 1932, 25% of workforce was unemployed; that is 13 million with 30 million dependents

2. 80% were unemployed in Toledo, Ohio • 40% were unemployed in Chicago • 100% were unemployed in Donora, Pennsylvania • Average weekly pay was $25, and then it fell to $17 • Between 1929 and 1933, hundreds of thousands lost their homes

3. Women who kept their jobs were criticized for displacing men in the work force, but that was not true • There were sex-typed jobs • Rates for unemployment for women were lower than for men • Women were cheaper to hire, and men did not want a “woman’s job”

4. Health deteriorated • Some starvation • Farmers were hit by: • drought • Foreclosures and bank failures • Clouds of hungry grasshoppers • Overproduction and lowered prices

5. Native Americans: • Congress increased Indian Bureau’s budget in 1931, but much of the money went to raise white employees’ salaries • It also went to hiring more bureaucrats • The money did not provide Native Americans with relief

6. Transients looking for work • Hobos • Shantytowns called Hoovervilles

7. Marriage rates, birth rates, and divorce rates all declined • Movies acted as an escape from harsh reality • Racial tensions: discrimination, segregation, poverty, fear, disenfranchisement and lynchings; NAACP fought against these

8. Scottsboro Trial • Famous civil liberties case • Symbolized the ugliness of race relations during Great Depression • 2 white women accused 9 African-Americans of raping them; they lied

9. African-Americans fought back • Supreme Court defended the 14th Amendment; equality under the law • Langston Hughes promoted civil rights • African-American newspapers defended rights and tried to raise racial conciousness

10. Most American responded to the depression with bewilderment, and they weren’t sure who to blame – the government, themselves?? • Rather than move toward radicalism, mood of despair overtook Americans

11. There were scattered protests by farmers • A more spectacular protest came from the Bonus Expeditionary Force in 1932 • World War I veterans wanted immediate payment of bonuses promised for 1945 • House voted yes • Senate voted no

12. 15,000 unemployed veterans marched on Washington • General MacArthur was sent in to forcibly crush the veterans’ camps • This hit Hoover’s image

13. Communist and Socialist Parties gained few new members, perhaps some intellectuals • Generally, Americans stood behind their government

14. Hoover’s Actions or Lack Thereof • Hoover was against direct government relief • He encouraged voluntary private relief • Toward the end of his time in office he did a few things: • Public works projects: Boulder &Grand Coulee Dams

15. Chartered Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1932 that made loans to banks, insurance companies, and railroads • Thought benefits would trickle down; they didn’t and they don’t • Hawley-Smoot Tariff, 1930 was a mistake; it raised tariffs by 1/3 and weakened the economy even more • Revenue Act of 1932 raised taxes

16. Hoover Assessed • Some believe Hoover mobilized the resources of the federal government as never before with public works projects and loans to banks • Others that when faced with unprecedented problems, he failed to take bold steps to meet them

17. 1932 Election • Herbert Hoover, Republican • Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democrat • Roosevelt won because Americans wanted more government intervention • What most soured the public on Hoover was that he seemed not to lead at a time when innovative leadership was needed • FDR appealed to American optimism

18. Franklin Delano Roosevelt • Goals • Restore public confidence in government • Reform banks and stock exchanges • Provide relief to the suffering • Use deficit spending, if necessary • Wanted to give a new deal to Americans , and so his administration was called the New Deal

19. Some thought the New Deal was too conservative; other felt it was too irresponsible • During this time workers organized, non-whites gained some ground, and Native Americans found their culture respected • Women were excluded from some of his actions like Social Security and minimum wage laws

20. Roosevelt • Born into money • Married his 5th cousin Anna Eleanor Roosevelt • Practiced law • Was a New York State Assemblyman • Became Assistant Secretary of the Navy under Wilson • Nominated as V.P. candidate in 1920 – didn’t win

21. Struck down by polio and fought back in 1921 • Elected governor of New York in 1928 • As governor, established the New York Temporary Emergency Relief Administration in 1931; mobilized on behalf of the poor

22. As governor, also pressed for unemployment insurance and direct relief for the jobless • Was willing to experiment as depression deepened • Set up a “Brain Trust” – lawyers and professors who could come up with ideas and programs to help Americans

23. FDR believed in restoring purchasing power to consumers by cutting production “economics of scarcity” • Believed we needed centralized economic planning and experimentation to bring recovery

24. In inaugural address, he instilled hope and courage in the people • First Hundred Days got more legislation passed than any other president • Emergency Banking Relief Act • Closed banks for 4 days • Only solvent banks could reopen • Prohibited gold hoarding

25. Economy Act tried to balance budget by cutting veterans’ benefits and allowances by $400 million and reducing federal employees’ pay by $100 million • Beer-Wine Revenue Act legalized low alcohol beer and wine • Agricultural Adjustment Act paid farmers to reduce acreage cultivated or plow under crops • landowners threw off tenant farmers to reduce acreage under cultivation

26. Civilian Conservation Corps. Helped create trails, parks, cabins; Ex: Herrington Manor • National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) • Public Works Administration • Given $3.3 billion for roads, sewage and water systems, public buildings, and other projects

27. National Recovery Administration - representatives of workers and consumers met to drat codes that limited production and established prices • Section (7a) guaranteed the right of workers to unionize and bargain collectively

28. Tennessee Valley Authority – built dams to bring electricity and economic well-being to the entire Tennessee River Valley • Federal Securities Act – compelled brokers to tell the truth about new securities issues • Banking Act – established FDIC (insurance)

29. Most Americans liked what Roosevelt was doing to help Americans during depression as reflected in Congressional elections of 1934 – many Democrats elected to Congress • Some businessmen renounced the New Deal for excessive regulation, deficit financing, and its welfare programs

30. Demagogues who attacked FDR: • Father Coughlin • Dr. Francis Townsend – said FDR stole his Old Age Revolving Pension Plan • Huey Long, governor of Louisiana – formed “Share our Wealth Society” in 1934 which favored massive redistribution of wealth by the government; almost a dictator in Louisiana

31. Supreme Court struck down NIRA because it gave President too much power and AAA because agriculture is a local problem, not subject to federal action

32. Second New Deal • 1933 and 1934, FDR cooperated with business • 1935, he denounced business leaders for placing selfish interests above the national welfare • Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, 1935 • authorized president to issue executive orders to establish public works projects for jobless

33. Works Progress Administration, (WPA) • Employed over 8.5 million people on 1.4 million projects • In addition to public works, there were projects for theatre, music, and writers

34. Second Hundred Days • National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act - granted workers the right to unionize and to bargain collectively • Social Security – established a cooperative federal-state system of unemployment compensation and old age and survivors’ insurance

35. Second Term • Court-packing plan • FDR sought to add judges to Supreme Court to make it more sympathetic to New Deal legislation • It was opposed

36. Recession of 1937-1938 • FDR tried to wean Americans from some of his programs because they weren’t meant to be permanent, but the country fell into a recession within a depression • FDR revived deficit spending in 1938, but recession lasted until1939

37. Mixed Progress for Non-Whites • For Blacks, FDR was the most appealing president since Abraham Lincoln • Felt he was courageous the way he handled his handicap • FDR created a Black Cabinet as advisors to the president • New Dealers were committed to first-class citizenship for Black Americans; foremost was Eleanor Roosevelt

38. FDR was fearful of alienating southern whites and remained uncommitted on civil rights • Though Blacks benefited from the New Deal programs, they did not get their fair share • Yet they still gave overwhelming support to the New Deal

39. The mixed message of the New Deal led some Blacks to conclude that they could truly only count on themselves, and they organized self-help and direct-action movements • They planned a March on Washington in 1941 • Sought equal access to jobs in defense industries

40. To avert a march, FDR issued Executive Order 8802 that established Fair Employment Practices Committee • It prohibited discrimination in war industries and in the government

41. Native Americans • Benefited more from New Deal • John Collier was appointed commissioner of Indian Affairs • Indian Reorganization Act, 1934 was championed by Collier • Ended land allotment system of Dawes Act • Restored lands to tribal ownership and forbade future division into individual parcels

42. Collier also encouraged Indian religions and tribal customs • Mexican Americans • No government programs benefited them • Many returned to Mexico • Mexican-born population dropped from 617,000 in 1930 to 377,000 in 1940

43. By 1936, Mexican farm labor force in California was almost entirely replaced by dispossessed white farmers, Okies, from the “Dust Bowl”

44. Women • Had to economize as never before • Women’s contributions to family life did not increase their status; husbands still exercised authority over all family members • During 1930s, more women than ever left home to become paid workers

45. They faced widespread hostility from those who thought they took jobs from men • Women were active participants in the New Deal • “Women’s Network” of government and Democratic Party officials in Washington • Eleanor Roosevelt was at its center

46. Frances Perkins was the Secretary of Labor and the first female cabinet member • New Deal took into account women’s needs; however, particular programs mandated lower pay for women

47. Election of 1940 • Roosevelt’s victory over Wilkie showed that he was riding a wave of public approval • Most historians see Roosevelt as a great president citing his courage, buoyant self-confidence, willingness to experiment, and capacity to inspire a nation at its lowest

48. Others say he did not formulate a bold coherent strategy of recovery and reform • All agree he transformed and strengthened the presidency and the federal government • The economy itself remained capitalist

49. The New Deal failed at its fundamental purpose: to put people back to work • In the end, it was massive government spending during World War II that put people back to work – at first supplying Europe and then supplying ourselves