AP Chapter 33

The American Pageant

Chapter 33

The Great Depression and the New Deal,

1933-1939

Cover Slide

"Buy an Auto" ad

Recognizing the connection between

sales and jobs, this ad asked readers to

purchase an automobile and keep

workers working so that they too could

spend and stimulate the economy.

Unfortunately, the number of people

with enough money to spend was never

enough to rekindle the economy and the

Depression continued. (Private

Collection)

"Buy an Auto" ad

Copyright Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Black tenant farm family from Putnam County, Georgia, Harmony Community, 1941

Numerous African American families were evicted from their farms during the Great

Depression. White planters who received government payments for taking land out of

cultivation were supposed to share these payments with their tenants and sharecroppers.

Instead, many kicked these families off the land and kept the money for themselves. This

family in Putnam County, Georgia, loaded all its possessions into a rickety truck for the trip

north. (National Archives)

Black tenant farm family from Putnam County, Georgia, Harmony Community, 1941


CCC workers

Here, Civilian Conservation Corps workers plant seedlings to reforest a section of

forest destroyed by fire. Before its demise in 1942, the CCC enrolled over two

million young men. In addition to its work in conservation, the CCC also taught

around thirty-five thousand men how to read and write. (UPI/Bettmann )

CCC workers


Construction of a Dam by William Gropper

The New Deal's Federal Arts Project commissioned murals for post offices and other

public buildings. Gropper, whose work often exposed social injustice and class

inequalities, painted his upbeat mural for the Department of the Interior building in

Washington, D.C. (Smithsonian American Art Museum,Washington,D.C. Art

Resource, NY)

Construction of a Dam by William Gropper


Dorothea Lange photo of migrant

mother and child

Dorothea Lange became one of the most

famous photographers of the Depression.

Her photo of a migrant mother and her

children at a migrant camp in Nipomo,

California, captured the human tragedy

of the Depression. Seeking jobs and

opportunities, over 350,000 people

traveled to the state, most finding few

opportunities. (Library of Congress)

Dorothea Lange photo of migrant mother and child


Eleanor Roosevelt visits West Virginia Coal Mine, 1933

A New Yorker cartoon of 1933 portrayed one coal miner exclaiming to another: "Oh

migosh, here comes Mrs. Roosevelt." But reality soon caught up with humor, as the

First Lady immersed herself in the plight of the poor and the exploited. ( (c)

Bettmann/Corbis)

Eleanor Roosevelt visits West Virginia Coal Mine, 1933


Farmer's Holiday Association marching

Protesting Minnesota farmers demand relief in a 1933 march on the state capitol.

(Minnesota Historical Society)

Farmer's Holiday Association marching


Federal Theatre Project Poster:

"Power"

The New Deal's massive hydroelectric

power projects were celebrated in this

"Living Newspaper" production by the

WPA's Federal Theatre Project, which

took place in August of 1937 in San

Francisco. (Library of Congress)

Federal Theatre Project Poster: "Power"


Forgotten Woman

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

campaigned on helping the "forgotten

man." As shown in this political cartoon

Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady, did

not forget women. She worked diligently

to ensure that they benefited from the

New Deal and had access to government

and the Democratic Party. (Franklin D.

Roosevelt Library)

Forgotten Woman


Four families from the Dust Bowl in Texas in an overnight roadside

This 1937 image by Dorothea Lange, a photographer with the Farm Security

Administration, pictures migrants from the Texas Dust Bowl gathered at a roadside

camp near Calipatria in southern California. (Library of Congress)

Four families from the Dust Bowl in Texas in an overnight roadside


Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert

Hoover on the way to FDR's

inauguration, March 4, 1933

With little in common but their top hats,

Herbert Hoover and Franklin D.

Roosevelt ride to Roosevelt's

inauguration on March 4, 1933. (Library

of Congress)

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover on the way to FDR's inauguration, March 4, 1933


John Collier and Native Americans

John Collier worked to ensure the

passage of the Indian Reorganization

Act. Designed to restore tribal

sovereignty under federal authority, each

tribe had to ratify the act to participate.

Not all tribes did; seventyseven rejected

it, including the Navajos, the nation's

largest tribe. This photo shows a group

of Navajos meeting with Collier to

discuss governmentimposed limitations

on the number of sheep each Navajo

could own. (Wide World Photos, Inc.)

John Collier and Native Americans


Kids at the movies--Metro Theatre, 2175 Logan Ave, 1935

Throughout the Depression, the most popular form of entertainment was the movies,

providing escape from daily hardships into a prosperous world of fantasy. At twenty

cents a ticket, movies attracted as many as seventy-five million people a week. In

this photo, taken at a movie theatre in San Diego, children display door prizes given

during the matinee. (San Diego Historical Society, Photograph Collection)

Kids at the movies--Metro Theatre, 2175 Logan Ave, 1935


Mary McLeod Bethune

In 1935 Mary McLeod Bethune (front center), became the first African American

woman to hold a high-ranking government position, serving as the head of the Office

of Minority Affairs in the National Youth Administration. Here, she is shown with

the council of Negro Women, which she helped organize in 1935 to focus on the

problems faced by African Americans at the national level. (New York Public

Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture)

Mary McLeod Bethune


Memorial Day Massacre

How do historians know that police officers were largely responsible for the 1937 Memorial Day Massacre in

Chicago? There is both photographic and medical evidence of the police's culpability. Covering the story at

the Republic Steel plant were a cameraman from Paramount News and photographers from Life magazine

and the Wide World Photos syndicate. Paramount News suppressed its film footage, claiming that releasing it

"might very well incite local riots," but an enterprising reporter alerted a congressional committee to its

existence, and a private viewing was arranged. Spectators at this showing, the reporter noted, "were shocked

and amazed by the scenes showing scores of uniformed policemen firing their revolvers pointblank into a

dense crowd of men, women, and children, and then pursuing the survivors unmercifully as they made frantic

efforts to escape." Medical evidence also substantiated the picketers' version: none of the ten people killed by

the police had been shot from the front. Clearly, the demonstrators had been trying to flee the police when

they were shot or clubbed to the ground. (WideWorld Photos, Inc.)

Memorial Day Massacre


Mexican pecan shellers

In San Antonio, Texas, many Mexican

Americans held jobs as pecan shellers

and were among the worst paid in the

nation--sometimes working a 54-hour

week for only three dollars. (Benson

Latin American Collection, University of

Texas, Austin)

Mexican pecan shellers


NRA code

The National Recovery Administration

was Roosevelt's main vehicle to restore

industrial recovery during his First One

Hundred Days. Headed by General Hugh

Johnson, the NRA's goal was to mobilize

management, workers, and consumers

under the symbol of the Blue Eagle;

establish national production codes; and

get America moving again. (Collection

of David J. and Janice L. Frent)

NRA code


Oklahoma drought refugees stalled on highway

Plagued by dust storms and evictions, thousands of tenant farmers and sharecroppers

were forced to leave their land during the Great Depression. Known as the "Okies"

and "Arkies," they took off for California with their few belongings. These refugees

from drought-stricken Oklahoma experienced car trouble and were stalled on a New

Mexico highway. (Library of Congress)

Oklahoma drought refugees stalled on highway


Poster by Ben Shahn: "Years of Dust"

Under the Agricultural Adjustment Act,

farmers received government payments

for not planting crops or for destroying

crops that were already planted. Some

farmers, however, needed help of a

different kind. The Resettlement

Administration, established by executive

order in 1935, was authorized to resettle

destitute farm families from areas of soil

erosion, flooding, and stream pollution

to homestead communities. This poster

was done by Ben Shahn. (Library of

Congress)

Poster by Ben Shahn: "Years of Dust


Sharecropper by Jerry Bywaters, 1937

Sharecropper, an oil painting by Jerry

Bywaters, shows one of the major

problems facing farmers on the southern

plains in the 1930s: grasshoppers, which

along with drought and dust storms

ravaged crops in Oklahoma, Kansas, and

other states. (Dallas Museum of Art,

Allied Arts Civic Prize, Eighth Annual

Dallas Arts Exhibition.)

Sharecropper by Jerry Bywaters, 1937


Social Security poster

Enacted in 1935, Social Security has

been one of the most enduring of all

New Deal programs. This poster urges

eligible Americans to apply promptly for

their Social Security cards. (Library of

Congress)

Social Security poster


Unemployed by Reginald Marsh, 1932

The Great Depression produced large-

scale unemployment, reaching 25

percent in 1933. This picture, titled

Unemployed, painted by Reginald

Marsh, effectively captured the despair

of men and women seeking jobs.

(Library of Congress)

Unemployed by Reginald Marsh, 1932

Cover Slide


Women's emergency brigade with signs

During the 1937 sit-down strike by automobile workers in Flint, Michigan, a women's

"emergency brigade" of wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, and sweethearts conducted daily

demonstrations at the plants. When the police sought to force the men out of Chevrolet Plant

No. 9 by filling it with tear gas, the women armed themselves with clubs and smashed out the

plant's windows to let in fresh air. (Wide World Photos, Inc.)

Women's emergency brigade with signs


WPA artist Alfred Castagne painting WPA construction workers, May 19, 1939

The Works Progress Administration not only built roads and buildings, but also

provided employment for teachers, writers, and artists. A common theme among

WPA artists and writers was the strength and dignity of common people as they faced

their difficult lives. Here, a Michigan WPA artist sketches WPA workers. (National

Archives)

WPA artist Alfred Castagne painting WPA construction workers, May 19, 1939


Young harvester by Walker Evans in

the fields of Westmorland County,

Pennsylvania


Young harvester by Walker Evans in the fields of Westmorland County, Pennsylvania


Young Mexican cotton picker, 1930s

Whether in agricultural labor or urban

barrios, Mexican Americans endured

harsh conditions during the depression.


Young Mexican cotton picker, 1930s


Franklin Delano Roosevelt Background:

Wealthy NY family & Harvard graduate NY Governor &VP Candidate (1920) Cousin to Theodore Roosevelt Paralyzed by infantile paralysis

(Polio) in 1921 Political strengths:

Great speaking voice, suave, charming Compassion for the forgotten man Conciliatory& optimistic

Eleanor Roosevelt FDRs wife Became his legs in political elections Became a champion of the dispossessed

(common man)

Republicans reluctantly nominate Hoover

Prosperity is just around the corner

Uncertainty & fear plunged the nation deeper into the depression

Tried to assert his faith in the American people & of free enterprise

Democrats nominate Franklin D. Roosevelt

NEW DEAL to Americans

Campaign is vague promised a balanced budget

Brain Trust University professors as advisors to FDR

FDR wins 472 to 59 Electoral votes; popular vote almost 23 million to 16 million

Blacks begin to shift to the Democratic Party

Most people voted for a change

The Depression deepened November 1932-March 1933

Hoover was a lame-duck president and was powerless

FDR, for political reasons, would not support any long-range programs that may have helped the country

FDRs First 100 Days

Fireside Chats: First of many Assures the American people

that its safer to store $$ in a re-opened bank than under the mattress

1 billion$$$ is brought back

Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act Establishes the Federal

Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC )

Protects savings of $5,000 (later raised)

Takes the nation off the Gold Standard

FDRs First 100 Days

Hundred Day Congress

Pump Priming theory: Get money into the economy to

get it flowing again

Keynesian economics: John Maynard Keynes--British

economist

Depression=increased spending; inflation=decreased spending

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): Most popular of New Deal

programs

Urban young men hired for reforestation, firefighting, flood control, swamp drainage, and work in National Parks

Paid monthly and required to send some $$ home to family

Immediate Relief

Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)

Re-finance homes for non-farm homeowners

Helps 1 million and cements loyalties to the Democrat Party

Civil Works Administration (CWA) A branch of the FERA Temporary jobs in make-

work jobs and projects Critics called it

boondoggling

Demagogues

Father Charles Coughlin: Catholic Radio priest Called for a National

Union for Social Justice Against the New Deal Became radical, anti-

Semitic & is finally silenced by Catholic leaders

Demagogues

Huey P. Kingfish Long Share the Wealth

program Every family would get

$5,000 from the rich Possible candidate for the

presidency (Democrat against FDR)

Assassinated in 1935

Demagogues

Other FDR critics: Liberals felt Roosevelt had

not gone far enough Conservatives felt he had

gone too far: Wealthy DuPont family American Liberty League

125,000 members, against New Deal programs

Francis E. Townsend From California Lost retirement in Stock

Market Crash Proposed pensions for

the elderly $200 monthly--if they

retired and spent the $ Then: More jobs & more

$ in the economy Gained a following of 5

million members Led to the Social

Security System 1935

Demagogues

Created in 1935 as reaction to demagogues

Harry L. Hopkins in charge Right-hand man to FDR

9 million employed Spent $11 Billion

Public buildings, bridges, roads etc.

Part-time work for high school & college students

Included projects for the arts: Musicians, actors and

writers guilds (Ronald Reagan, John Steinbeck etc.)

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Harry Hopkins

Women and the New Deal

Eleanor Roosevelt

Activist & wrote a weekly newspaper column

Frances Perkins

Secretary of Labor First woman Cabinet member

Mary McLeod Bethune

First African American woman in major federal job Director of Office of Minority Affairs in National

Youth

Ruth Benedict & Franz Boas cultures have personalities

similar to individuals Margaret Mead

Anthropologist study of Pacific Islanders

Credited with spawning the 60s sexual revolution

Social Sciences:

The Good Earth About Chinas peasant

society Won the Nobel Prize for

literature in 1938 Pearl S.

Buck

Women and the New Deal

Helping Industry and Labor

Public Works Administration Harold L. Ickes Slowly release funds 4 billion on 34,000

projects Highways, public

buildings, etc.

Grand Coulee Dam largest structure created since the Great Wall of China

Helping Industry and Labor

Farmers had been in a recession since WWI

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) (1933)

Unpopular attempt at artificially raising prices

Butler v. U.S. (1936) Declared the Agricultural Adjustment Act

(AAA) unconstitutional

Soil Conservation and Allotment Act 1936

Pay farmers to plant soil-conserving crops

Second Agricultural Adjustment Act 1938

Farmers are paid for idle land (conservation) Helps the big farms Puts more sharecroppers out of work

Dust Bowls and Black Blizzards

Prolonged drought & winds

Created huge blowing clouds of dust or Black Blizzards

5-state area Top-soil is blown all the

way to NY Cause:

Poor conservation of the Great Plains area

Overproduction

Dust Bowls and Black Blizzards

Farms failed and were foreclosed Okies and Arkies

Went west mainly to California

Worked as farm laborers

Grapes of Wrath Written by John

Steinbeck

1939 Pulitzer-Prize winning book

Described the Joad familys experience

Dealing with the Dust Bowl

Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act (1934)

Suspend mortgage foreclosures for 5 years

Supreme Court rules it unconstitutional

Revised law passed for 3 years & is accepted

Resettlement Administration

Remove farmers to better land

CCC plants 200 wind-blocking trees

Indian Reorganization Act

Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier

Allowed tribes to establish local self-government

Preserved native crafts and traditions

Revived interest in identity and culture

Battling Banking & Big Business

Federal Securities Act

Truth in Securities Act

Required promoters to give sworn information on soundness of stocks & bonds

Securities and Exchange Commission

Watch dog administrative agency

Against fraud, deception and insider trading

TVA Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee River valley Constant flooding & poverty

Muscle Schoals Federally owned since WWI -

produced nitrates TVA headed by Senator George W.

Norris (Nebraska) 22 dams built in all Becomes a yardstick of electricity

prices so other power companies can be regulated

Results: Full employment, cheap electricity &

nitrates Low cost housing, reforestation,

improved navigation & flood control

TVA Tennessee Valley Authority

Housing & Social Security

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) 1934 Small loans to homeowners

to improve house and for new homes

Still exists today United State Housing

Authority

Lend $$ to states or communities for low cost construction

Housing & Social Security

Social Security Act 1935 Federal state

unemployment insurance

Pensions for the elderly Pensions to blind, physically

handicapped & other dependents

Paid for by payroll deductions from employers and employees

Government recognizing its responsibility for welfare of citizens

New Deal for Labor

National Labor Relations Board or Wagner Act 1935

Allowed labor unions to organize and bargain collectively through their own representatives

Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) John L. Lewis break-away from AFL 1938

Will win a critical sit-down strike against General Motors in Flint Michigan 1937

Labor

A strike on little steel led to the

Memorial Day Massacre violence erupted and 10 killed

Republic Steel Co. Chicago

Fair Labor Standards Act 1938

Established:

Minimum wage (then 40 cents/hour)

Maximum hours

Stopped child labor

1936 Election

Democrats re-nominate FDR

Based upon the success of the New Deal

Wins by a landslide 523-8 Electoral Votes

2/3 majority in Congress

20th Amendment moved Inauguration to January 20th from March

Republicans nominate Kansas Governor Alfred M. Landon

Republicans attacked Franklin Deficit Roosevelt

American Liberty League organized to fight socialism

1936 Election

FDRs Court Packing Scheme

7 of 9 major New Deal bills declared unconstitutional FDR considered his victory a mandate

from the people FDR wants to add one member of

the Supreme Court for each member over 70 who refuses to retire Raise # of justices from 9-15 members

Public furor against the measure Inexplicably, Chief Justice Owen

Roberts changes & begins to vote with progressive justices

Damages FDRs administration Public becomes suspicious of his

motives and it reinvigorated his conservative opposition

Twilight of the New Deal

1933-1937 in spite of massive government spending, the New Deal did not eradicate the depression still 15% unemployment (down from 25%)

Roosevelts recession in 1937 Cause increased taxes from Social

Security & a cut in government spending Now FDR works on a planned deficit Keynesianism economics

Relief checks to gain votes ??? Hatch Act 1937 barred federal officials

from political campaigning and solicitation

No government funds for political purposes

Congressional elections of 1938 big come-back for Republicans

New Deal or Raw Deal

New Deal did have waste, incompetence, confusion & contradictions- some graft

Many socialist, even communists were employed

Now no effort to balance the budget

Business bitter felt the government was competing with private enterprise

Roosevelt did try to get the people to purge 3 members of Congress who he did not like they were elected

New Deal had failed to cure the depression

FDRs Balance Sheet

New Dealers pointed out that Relief, not the economy was the desired result

New Deal had relieved the worst of the crisis in 1933

Federal Government bound to prevent mass hunger and starvation

FDR may have saved the American system of free enterprise.

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AP Chapter 33