The Great Depression and the New Deal, 1929–1940

Introduction

 What were the causes and consequences of the Great Depression?  What characterized the politics of hard times?  Who was Franklin D. Roosevelt and what were the two New Deals?  How did the federal sphere expand in the West?  What characterized American cultural life during the 1930s?  What were the legacies and limits of New Deal reform?

Sit-Down Strike at Flint: Automobile Workers Organize a New Union

 Flint/GM strike.  Depression hard.  GM resists UAW.  Strikers seized plants.  Community support.  GM gave in.  UAW recognized.

Hard Times

 Stock prices rose.  Easy credit.  Market peaked, eased down.  Worth 1/2.  Margin buyers pay cash.  Depression unseen.  Chart: The Stock Market 1921–1932 Chart: The Stock Market 1921–1932

 Crash not cause.  Economic flaws seen  Industrial growth Up, wages static.  Rich-poor gap widened.

 Manufacturers spend less  Workers laid off.  Bank runs  No consumer demand  33% idle in ‘33.  Social male role overturned.  Chart: Unemployment, 1929–1945 Chart: Unemployment, 1929–1945

 Relief sources overwhelmed.  Hoover vetoed aid.  Reconstruction Finance Corporation.  Banks saved, but no growth.

 Map: The Election of 1932 Map: The Election of 1932  Bonus Army.  FDR wins.

FDR and the First New Deal

 FDR privileged.  Polio.  2-term governor:  reformer  “brain trust”

 Four-day “bank holiday.”  Fireside chats.  Congress passed bank laws.

 “Hundred days” session.  Revive industry.  Revive agriculture.  Emergency relief.

Left Turn and the Second New Deal

 Socialistic.  Too timid including:  Upton Sinclair.  Francis Townsend.  Huey Long.  Strikes demonstrations

 FDR shifted leftward.

 Committee for Industrial Organization.  John Lewis organizes.  Flint GM success led to victories.  Reinvigorated labor movement.

 FDR reelected  His supporters included:  traditional white southern Democrats  big-city political machines  trade unionists  depression-hit farmers  ethnic voters

The New Deal in the South and West

 1930, Southern land ownership.  The Agricultural Adjustment Administration.  Subsidies helped owners/hurt workers.  Migration.

 Map: The Dust Bowl Map: The Dust Bowl  The Dust Bowl.

 Soil Conservation Service.  AAA.  “Okies.”  Aggressive deportation.

 Map: The New Deal and Water Map: The New Deal and Water  Water projects.  urban growth , agricultural expansion  massive irrigation.  Flood control.  Low-cost electricity.  Consequence:  a few farmers rich.  Mexicans got low wages.  Environment declined..

 Harmful practices reformed.  Indian Reorganization Act.  Some tribes rejected IRA.  Bureau of Indian Affairs:  restore tribal rights.  Restore cultural rights.

Depression-Era Culture

 American culture.  New Deal’s Federal Project No. 1:  artists and intellectuals.  The Federal Writers Project  theatrical performances  orchestra tours  new compositions  new art

 “Documentary impulse”.  Farm Security Administration photographers.  John Steinbeck portrayed Okies.

 Marxist analysis influenced writers.  Communists’ “popular front”.

 Movies an enjoyable escape.  Hollywood social issues.  Walt Disney’s cartoons.  Frank Capra’s comedies.

 Vaudeville, minstrel comedy shows.  Soap operas.  Network news.

 Radio popularized jazz.  Benny Goodman.  Popularized African-American music.  Swing era.

The Limits of Reform

 1937, New Deal in retreat.  SCOTUS overturned key New Deal programs.  FDR asked for judges.  New Dealers feared FDRs motives.  FDR gets judges—at a cost.

 New Deal affected women.  Women gain influence.  Eleanor Roosevelt.  Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins.  Women gain roles in society.

 No new deal for minorities.  Lower wages for black.  Blacks unprotected.  FDR banned WPA discrimination.  1936, black voters supported Democrats.  Little help to Mexicans and Mexican Americans.

 1937, FDR federal deficit too large.  Spending cut.  Severe recession.  Increased unemployment.  Weakened New Deal support.  1938 elections increased GOP.  Further reforms nearly impossible.