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diff --git a/smith/12_new_deal b/smith/12_new_deal new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1f0a86 --- /dev/null +++ b/smith/12_new_deal @@ -0,0 +1,192 @@ +Europe tumbles when US crashes. +- Develops fascism, naziism, communism + +FDR believed large corporations were to blame for the economic state, +which could only be solved by an active preseident and a strong govt. +- American Gov't had a responsibilty to help people in distress +- passed dozens of measures to promote welfare and economic recovery +- Not specifically ideological, but a pragmatist + - New Deal (ND) was experimental, some programs failed miserably + +Herbert Hoover just didn't want to do anything +- Andrew Mellon wanted to liquidate {real estate, stocks, farmers} +- Let the capitalist system "purge itself of rottenness" +- Invited business, agricultural, unions to talk (later) + - Encouraged them to stop strikes, maintain employment + - "Ineffective cheerleader for capitalism" +- Provided no direct federal relief + - biggest emergency since the Civil War +- Passed 1932 Revevue Act: huge tax increase + - worsened economic slowdown + - Pushed "self-reliance" narrative + - believed in charities, voluntarism +- New Dem Congress forced Hoover to Reconstruction Finance Corporation + - helped out big banks, railroads + - Dems still questioned these policies + - Hoover only allowed RFC to make loans to states +- Hoover did not take it as a sign + +Bonus Army March +- Wanted Congress to pay veterans the 4 million cash bonuses they + promised for 1935 + - It is actually 1932, but the House authorized it (Senate denied) + - Veterans with no place to go camped in vacant buildings, + shantytown (first nonviolent protestors in US) + - Congress paid for train tickets home + - William Mitchell, Attorney General, ordered buildings cleared + - Secretary of War dispatched soldiers to remove them + - Horses, tanks, tear gas + - General MacArthur + - Soldiers, exceeding orders, burned their encampment + - PR disaster for Hoover + Republicasn (heartless) +- Hoover became tired and poor morale + - said he "had no Wilsonian qualities" + - terrible, cold speaker + +1032 Election: FDR met public demand for change (Hoover lost) + - FDR is NY governor + - Said his campaign was a "call to arms" + - Wanted new ideas and agressive action + - Hoover lacked vitality and vision + +Roosevelt's First 100 Days +- Asked for broad power from Congress to respond to the emergency +- Chicago Tribune, Repub newspaper, praised him +- Presidency defined by leadership and action +- He and his advisors wanted to build back the economy and help those in + need + - "Our greatest primary task is putting people to work" - FDR + - Gave farmers money to make less crops +- 100 First Days: created 50 programs, some of which to become the ND +- Hundreds of banks were failing + - FDR asked Congress to pass "Emergency Banking Relief Act" + - 4 day bank holiday to stall the bank collapse + - Funded banks to restore confidence + - "Safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than in your + mattress" + - Removed Gold Standard + - Glass-Steagall Banking Act + - Created Federal Deposit Insurance Incorporation (FDIC) to + isnure up to 250K. + - Divided savings banks from investment banks. Only investment + banks could invest in stock mkt after 1933 + - Securities Act of 1933 regulated sales of stocks and bonds + - Required publicly traded companies to disclose all relevant + information + - Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) enforces this. +- Helping the Unemployed and Homeless + - Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) gave money to states for + unemployed and homeless + - Proved ineffective + - First large-scale effort to put people on gov't payroll at good + wages: Civil Works Admin. + - Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) managed by War Dept. employed + unmarried unemployed young men as "Soil Soldiers" ($1/day for no + more than 9mo) + - Cleared brush, constructed roads, trees, parks, taught farmers + - National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) established PWA (sewage + plants, dams, highways) and National Recovery Administration (NRA) + - NRA set prices, wages, and working standards --- unique for + the government in peacetime + - NRA codes included fair labor policies (like 40hr/8hr, no + child labor, unionization), negotiation policies + - Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional because it + would be a Congressional responsibility + - Some NRA policies had lasting effects like + national minimum wage, workweek + - Farm Credit Administration and Agricultural Adjustment Act/Adm + (AAA) + - FCA bailed out farmers so they didn't lose homes, farms + - AAA paid farmers to destroy cotton crop + - Pigs were slaughtered and buried + - Wheat, cotton, corn production declined, prices rose +- In the first 100 days, FDR gained the most pulbic support + - Most loved by the people + - Twice weekly press conferences won over journalists + - Very visible to the people + - Hated by some people + - Leftists criticized him for not doing enough (decline slowed, + but prosperity remained elusive) + - Conservatives believed he was bringing in socialism + - Prone to idealistic principles and pragmatic politics, allowing + compromise and contradiction +Huey Long, enemy of FDR +- Classic Demagogue/populist appealing to the people +- Wore pink shirts, pastel ties +- King Fish of Louisiana +- Used bribery, intimidation and blackmail to support his policies +- Funded schools, lowered taxes +- Jealous of FDR. + - "Share the Wealth Society" + - Wanted to raise taxes on wealthiest Americans and redistribute + thousands to the poorest + - May have unseated Roosevelt + - Roosevelt called the senator one of the two most dangerous in the + country +Father Charles Coughlin, the other most dangerous man +- Fiery Roman Catholic radio priest +- Criticized Roosevelt as "anti-god" pushing Communist conspiracy + - that he wanted to put oil companies, big companies, and god-given + resources under gov't control +- Very anti-semitic, which forced radio stations to drop him by 40s +- In 30s, he was going strong however + +The Court was strongly opposing Roosevelt's New Deal and Congress's +support of him +- Businesses were filing lawsuits that allowed this +- Ex: Court unanimously killed NIRA, saying it violated anti-trust + +- US v Butler: tax on middlemen (warehouses, processors) in Agricultural + Adjustment Act unconstitutional +- 7 of 9 cases, SC ruled against ND. +- Second New Deal tried to undermine the appeal of Huey Long + - Banking reforms, taxes on wealthy, continue employing people + - Works Progress Administration (WPA) employs hugely: increases by 2 + million people each year + - NLRA "Wagner" Act guaranteed workers the right to unionize and + protected them. Required businesses to act in good faith. + - Social Security Act: old age pensions and unemployment relief + (insurance) through wage and payroll taxes + - Only by 1950s did it become seen as primary source of + retirement income, previously supplemental + - Conservative compared to European countries: other countries + used general funds instead of payroll taxes; also used a + regressive flat tax + - Removed a lot of money from circulation, hurting economy + - Excluded about half of workers + - Wealth-Tax "Soak the rich" Act + - Raised taxes on evasive rich + - Called communism; Roosevelt responds that he wanted to "save + capitalism" by supporting a more equal dist. of wealth +Huey Long assassinated in 1939. Roosevelt wins in a landslide against +Alf Landon +- Keeps huge Democrat majority in Congress +- Constructs a new Democrat political bloc + +Court-packing +- If Congress enlarged the Court, it wouldn't block the Second ND + - Wanted 6 new justices, one for each over 75 years old +- Backfired; public focused on constitutionality of proposal + - Congressional Reps and Dems decided it was too controversial +- Justices began to uphold SS Act, Wagner Act. + - One conservative justice resigned, replaced by Roosevelt with a + New Dealer + +Evaluating the New Deal +- Economy began to grow around 1939, so gov't stopped spending, + increasing unemployment, tumbling the economy + - Roosevelt relaunched federal spending + - Housing funding +- Conservative Southern Democrats balked at Northerners and + African-Americans, acting against New Deal +- Congressional elections of 1938 lost many seats to Reps + - Roosevelt began speaking about "preserving" reforms instead of + expanding + - Stalemate +- "more energy than coherence" +- But it did improve life in many ways: worker protections, bank regs, + public health + - Demonstrated that American Democracy could handle a collapse of + capitalism +- 10M Americans still remained unemployed +- Halfway Revolution was its longlasting impact |