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