Final Exam

Essays
Megan Voegele

Dr. Sauer—Ohio History Section 901

12/8/09

Voegele 1
Megan Voegele

Dr. Sauer

Ohio History Section 901

12/3/09

Final Exam Question Number One: The Role of Business and the State in Caring for the

People of Ohio from 1925 to 1935

In the few years before the Great Depression struck the United States, many warning

signs appeared as certain economies collapsed. By 1925, Calvin Coolidge had been president

for two years, and he was enjoying the economic boom of the Roaring Twenties. Walter

Lippman claimed that Coolidge’s successful presidency was in essence, doing nothing.

Coolidge wanted to keep the old moral and economic precepts, and he refused to let the

Federal government step in and hinder the growing boom. He also did not provide very much

aid for farmers under the suffering agricultural economy.

At this time, Ohio was enjoying the increased wealth and luxuries that resulted from the

20s. They engaged in the skyscraper race that swept the nation, and played their hands at

stocks. However, by the time Hoover won the election of 1928, things started to turn sour. Both

the agricultural economy and the housing economies had turned soft, and then something

happened that few could anticipate—the Stock Market Crash of 1929.

While Hoover was attempting to get a handle on the situation on a national level, the

conservative administrator of Ohio, Meyers, tried to remedy the local crisis by expanding state

spending. This attempt failed, however, when the money fell short. Ohio’s relief system was

entirely local. Townships and cities were responsible for dealing with paupers, and sometimes a

Move-on system was employed. This basically entailed packing up many homeless and poor

and shipping them to places like Indiana so that Ohio wouldn’t have to deal with them.

Voegele 2
 By 1930, matters grew far worse as the Dust Bowl crisis appeared in the West. Ohio

experienced its worst drought in history, and the agricultural economy immediately collapsed.

Hoover responded by releasing huge amounts of commodities, including cotton, wheat and

flour, which were received by more than 3 million people.

In another attempt to remedy the situation, the first state sales tax was administered in

Ohio, despite the Chamber of Commerce’s protests. Alcohol, playing cards, and theater tickets

were among some of the first taxed items. The government assumed that anyone who was

wealthy enough to go to the theater could afford to pay taxes. Some other creative ideas arose

such as the plan to have the OSU football team play games for the poor.

Ohio eventually reached 40% unemployment. Cities that had depended highly on

manufacturing such as Toledo were especially hit hard. In Toledo, 60-70% of all people who

were looking for work could not find it. They still managed to set up relief programs, however.

One of them was a program that could feed a family of four for a very cheap price. To qualify for

this, the families had to undergo the very rigorous investigation of the Means Test. Across the

state, each small grocery store closed down one by one as they could no longer provide food for

the people.

In 1931, Ohio faced a new government as George White took the government seat.

White attempted to create several relief programs but had to struggle against the Republican-

controlled legislature. He successfully reduced the state budget by twenty million dollars,

implemented the Ohio Highway patrol, and created taxes on cosmetics and other non-essential

items. He also made a successful move by creating the State Relief Commission.

In 1932, the Democrats took over Congress with the Roosevelt Coalition. He promised

change, and most importantly the New Deal. One of the first things he did was to declare a

bank holiday so that the Federal government could help struggling banks. He wanted to put the

Voegele 3
people’s trust back in the banks. He also stirred up multiple relief programs such as the Civilian

Conservation Corps, the Civil Works Administration, Public Works Administration, Federal

Emergency Relief Administration, Agricultural Adjustment Act, and the National Industrial

Recovery Act. The CCC hired many people to work on various government projects including

reforestation, flood control and road construction. They also did a lot of work for state parks. The

CWA was directed mostly at Ohio, and they reconstructed many public buildings, roadways and

parks in the state. They had no wage differential, no discrimination, and no means test. Under

the PWA the government provided 3.3 million dollars to hire Americans. Under FERA, the

federal government distributed billions of dollars to the state governments in the form of grants

that did not have to be repaid. This paid for the immediate employment of 400,000 people,

although the jobs were all “rubber shovel” jobs. The AAC intended to reduce the number of

crops that farmers produced and the number of livestock sent to slaughter. The NIRA was the

larger part that the PWA was a component of. The other parts of the program would try to

encourage fairer business practices and recognized laborers’ right to unionize. These programs

provided a lot of success, but there was still pressure to do more for the American people until

Roosevelt’s second New Deal in 1935.

Voegele 4
 Final Exam Question Number 2: The Role of the Federal Government and the State of

Ohio in caring for the welfare of the people of Ohio between 1935 and 1940.

Although the programs from the first New Deal did help, Roosevelt felt he needed to deal

more with the current depression and prevent against any future ones. His second wave of

programs then became known as the second New Deal. Among these were more relief

programs such as the Works Progress Administration and the National Youth Administration.

The Emergency Relief Appropriation act was designed to help qualified Americans, but

increasingly forced them to work on public projects. The WPA was part of the Emergency Relief

Appropriation act, and it included similar projects to the ones the PWA involved. But along with

numerous bridges and roads, the WPA created programs for actors, artists and academics.

Unlike the PWA, the WPA differentiated workers and tried to place them where they would best

fit.

Green Hills was an excellent example of how the WPA directly influenced Ohio. In order

to live there you had to be working and poor. Green Hills strongly encouraged community

building, and they forced the people there to join “community activities” such as sports teams

and recreation. It turned out to be a lot more expensive than originally thought.

Other programs such as the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act were

designed to help farmers suffering with dry infertile soil in the Great Plains and other regions.

They hoped to prevent further soil erosion while compensating farmers. The Rural Electrification

Act was created to provide jobs for electricians in rural areas so that businesses would be

encouraged to move there. This directly affected many of Ohio’s farmers and provided many

rural homes with electricity.

One of Roosevelt’s most influential and permanent moves was the Social Security Act.

When businesses were struggling, they usually laid off the elderly first (anyone over 49.) The act

Voegele 5
was designed to help these elderly, disabled, and blind, and collected 1% of the worker’s wages

for a future retirement fund. It was originally intended to be a supplemental income, but has now

grown to entirely different levels.

The Federal government also wanted to focus on housing, which it did with the Federal

Housing Act. The Federal Housing Act created the Federal Housing Administration, which

insured mortgages of lower-income Americans. Several Ohio cities used these funds to build

federally -funded housing projects.

These projects did not solve the Great Depression, but they did provide aid to many

Ohioans and millions of other Americans. Most importantly they demonstrate that Ohio’s relief

programs went from locally based to an entire federal government takeover. The problems of

the Great Depression would continue to stir trouble until Americans began to get ready for

World War II.

Voegele 6
 Final Exam Question 3: Ohio’s Role in WWII and its immediate aftermath.

World War II was one of the most important wars in history, and the state of Ohio

definitely played a part in the Allies’ triumph. WWII began in September 1939 when Germany

invaded Poland and tensions grew between Germany and European countries. The war grew

out of Germany’s desire to reclaim land that had been seized from it during World War I. The

United States got involved in the war with the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

In the attack on Pearl Harbor, many Americans lost their lives. Rear Admiral Isaac

Campbell Kidd, Machinist’s Mate First Class Robert R. Scott, and Seaman First Class James

Richard Ward died and sacrificed their lives for others during the attack, earning Congressional

Medals of Honor. They were each from Ohio.

Roosevelt then declared war, but focused his efforts on preventing Great Britain from

falling to the Germans instead of attacking the Japanese. When The Germans found

themselves faced with a two-front war against the Soviets and Americans and British, they

surrendered in 1945. Newly elected President Harry Truman then turned his attention to Japan,

employing an “island hopping” war strategy. America then did something that was both

revolutionary and horrifying: they released the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

slaughtering over 200,000 people. The crew of the Enola Gay was piloted by Paul Tibbets, and

this was the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Paul Tibbets was also an Ohioan.

The Japanese surrendered and the Allies gained victory, but at a great cost. Many lost

their lives, and among them were 23,000 Ohioans. 839,000 of the soldiers that fought in the war

were from Ohio, and they definitely accounted for a large portion. On the home front, Ohioans

grew victory gardens and joined the scrap drives. Ohio also provided employment in defense

plants and other industries where thousands of jobs were left vacant when the men left for the

army. Women joined the war effort along with some elderly and disabled.

Voegele 7
 After the war, Ohio suburbanization grew rapidly. With the aid of automobiles people had

been able to move outside of the cities and commute to work for many years. Many Americans

prospered during World War II as the war had created many jobs. By the time the war ended,

families had accumulated enough wealth to move outside of the cities and to neighborhoods

outside, encouraging the growth of suburbs. Suburbs became famous as neighborhoods with

houses that all looked the same--- the American dream of having a home with a green lawn and

white picket fence. When the men came home they wanted to start their families, and this

encourage the baby boom of the 1950’s.

At this point highways were in development, and this also aided the transit of commuters

from home to work. In 1956, the Interstate Highway Act was created, which was designed to

connect the country’s major cities. This also contributed greatly to the growth of suburbs, and

helped create communities like Parma outside of Cleveland, Ohio. The major interstates in Ohio

are 70, 71, 75, 76, 77, 80, and 90. They all exist to this day after decades of construction.

Without the interstates and highways, suburbanization would have been nearly impossible to

achieve. However, Ohio like many other states now faces a dependence on automobiles and oil

that has hurt the wallets of many citizens.

Voegele 8
 Final Exam Question Number 4: Comparing and Contrasting the governorships of

Lausche and Disalle, and Rhodes and Gilligan.

Frank Lausche was one of Ohio’s first new immigrants to become a governor. He

originated from Cleveland, and was mayor of Cleveland for many years. He first served as a

Democratic governor in 1945, and quickly became known for not always doing what his party

demanded of him. He often crossed political lines, and garnered the support of many

Republicans. He was eventually known as “Frank the Fence” for having such moderate views.

He was a political machine from Cleveland, and he never raised taxes once. He was also

credited with gathering a community of ethnic voters partially due to his Slovenian heritage. He

was criticized as being a penny-pincher and fought unnecessary spending at ever turn. He also

fought against federal tax breaks for large oil companies, gaining him a reputation for anti-labor

views.

In 1959, formerly Toledo Democratic mayor Michael Disalle was elected governor of

Ohio. He had a drastically different governorship from Frank Lausche’s. Where Lausche was

careful about spending and never raised taxes, Disalle wanted taxes at every turn. He increased

taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, gasoline and corporations, and he attempted to increase state

expenditures. This outraged the predominantly Republican Ohio Legislature, which rejected the

governor’s spending proposals. Disalle highly opposed the death penalty, and spent much of his

personal time attempting to pardon the men on death row case by case. He wanted to upgrade

educational programs and improve conditions at correctional and mental institutions among

many other things, and called for a large budget increase which was overwhelmingly voted

down. In contrast, Lausche’s no-spending and no-taxing views meant bad news for the schools

and mental institutions, which were horribly run and very poor. This was something that Disalle

intended to fix, but he was never able to carry out his full plan. On the other hand, Disalle’s

governorship was criticized for its heavy expenditures.

Voegele 9
 James Rhodes was one of Ohio’s most famous governors. He was a political animal

from Columbus Ohio, and became the Republican Governor of Ohio in 1962. He attempted to

scale back many of the programs that his predecessor, Michael Disalle, had established.

However, he had grand plans for Ohio. He passed massive bond issues and authorized the

creation of airports, prisons, schools, state office buildings and other public buildings. He was

responsible for the creation of many universities, but he only accounted for their construction

and not their staff or upkeep. He decided that Ohio needed to grow in its job economy, and so

he invited foreign companies into Ohio. He was forced to leave office after his two terms were

over.

Governor John Gilligan took his place in 1971. He was a Cincinnati native and member

of the Democratic party. Many said that he was aloof, and it was true that he didn’t speak much

to the common people. The state lottery grew during his time in office although he opposed it.

He passed a new income tax to overcome Ohio’s budget shortfalls. He also wanted to improve

Ohio’s transportation infrastructure.

In 1974, Rhodes promised to get rid of Gilligan’s tax if he was reelected as governor,

and so he was reelected for a third term in 1975. He not only did not get rid of the tax, but ended

up taxing Ohio even more as it faced the Rust Belt crisis. He promised that the higher taxes

were only until the emergency was over, and yet he had plans that would have put Ohio

massively in debt by bonds. He had a “blueprint” for Ohio that involved dozens of airports,

museums and metropolitan dreams, but it was massively voted down. Gilligan’s taxes were

simple and only to relieve the budget a little, whereas Rhodes’ taxing got way out of hand during

his third term.

Voegele 10
 Final Exam Question 5: In Relevance to the Governorships of Taft and Strickland, The

Best Way Forward for the State of Ohio

Both governors Bob Taft and Ted Strickland have contributed a lot to the state of Ohio.

As Secretary of State, Taft encouraged a lot of businesses to come to Ohio, and as governor he

did more. He valued education and wanted to make Ohio one of the nation’s leaders in

computer technology, and the program was called the Third Frontier. When Taft first took office,

there was a serious crisis in the State’s education system, and he wanted to amend this. During

his governorship many more students passed the necessary and mandatory tests. However,

Taft also signed the largest tax increase in state history that generated $2.9 in revenue. During

his term, the Ohio economy was seriously lagging and that state lost over 13,432 jobs to

international trade in 2006.

Strickland also highly valued education, and he made this the centerpiece of his

gubernatorial career. So far he has only proposed minimal tax increases, and he has striven to

shift funding from Ohio’s private universities to the public ones. He opposes “abstinence-only”

sexual education programs, and voted against partial birth abortions. For the economy, he has

striven to create more jobs, especially in the coal and energy industries in Ohio.

So far, I think Strickland is doing a fairly good job. I definitely think he needs to continue

to focus on providing more jobs in this recession. Raising taxes is the last thing he should do,

because if the taxes are lower people will spend more and thus help the businesses which will

in turn create positions of employment. I agree with his efforts to improve the education system,

and I hope that with more state funding the cost of university tuition will lower. At University of

Cincinnati, the tuition has reached alarming heights at $9,000 a year, with an added room and

board cost of nearly $9,000 as well.

Voegele 11
 I think we should continue building our computer technology programs. This is one of the

things that Taft did that should be followed up on. We need our engineers and our intellectuals

to help bolster a more advanced and educated society.

Voegele 12