Business-Government Partnership of the 1920s

In the 1920 election, Republicans Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge promised a
return to "normalcy," which meant a strong probusiness stance and conservative
cultural values. Central to what Republicans termed the "New Era" was business-
government cooperation. The Department of Commerce, headed by Herbert Hoover,
assisted private trade associations by cooperating in such areas as product
standardization and wage and price controls. Many women tried to break into party
politics, but Democrats and Republicans granted them only token positions on party
committees; women were more influential as lobbyists. Americans were
unenthusiastic about increased taxation and more governmental bureaucracy after
enduring years of progressive reforms and an expanded federal presence in World
War I.

In the immediate postwar years, the nation suffered rampant inflation accompanied
by intense business activity; federal efforts to halt inflation produced the recession of
1920 to 1921. In 1922, stimulated by an abundance of consumer products, the
economy began a recovery that continued through 1929. The federal government
was soon recording a budget surplus, and this economic expansion provided the
backdrop for the partnership between business and government. New techniques of
management and mass production led to growth in manufacturing output; demand
for goods and services kept unemployment low. Oligopolies became the norm in
manufacturing, and financial institutions also expanded and consolidated. Members
of the working class enjoyed higher wages and a better standard of living, but
scientific management techniques reduced workers' control over their labor. The
United States was the most productive country in the world and competed in foreign
markets that eagerly desired American consumer products.

European countries had difficulty repaying their war debts to the United States due
to tariffs such as the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922 and the Hawley-Smoot Tariff
of 1930. The Dawes Plan of 1924 offered Germany substantial loans from American
banks and a reduction in the amount of reparations owed to the Allies. U.S. officials
continued the quest for peaceful ways to dominate the Western Hemisphere but
retreated slightly from military intervention in Latin America. International
cooperation on the American side came through forums such as the 1921
Washington Naval Arms Conference. U.S. policymakers vacillated between wanting to
play a larger role in world events and fearing that treaties and responsibilities would
limit their ability to act unilaterally.

Politics in the Republican "New Era"

The electorate turned away from progressivism in 1920 and elected the Republican
Warren G. Harding to the presidency, guaranteeing the return of a probusiness
conservative administration. The most active member of the administration was
Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, who set about organizing a voluntary
government-business relationship. His plan was to provide information and support
to businesses with the assumption that they would voluntarily work on behalf of the
public interest. Government and big business often ignored antitrust laws, and
corporations used government assistance to enlarge their economic power. Secretary
of the Interior Albert Fall was sent to prison for bribery in connection with the Teapot
Dome scandal, and when Harding died suddenly in August 1923, Vice President
Calvin Coolidge became president, promising an honest administration; he won the
election of 1924 handily. By the 1920s, the progressive spirit of reform had declined
in the face of government-business cooperation, Republican Party dominance, and a
prosperous economy.
The Economy
The runaway inflation that followed World War I was countered by tight money
policies, which in turn plunged the nation into a recession in 1920 to 1921. But by
1922 the economy began to recover, and the gross national product grew
approximately 40 percent over the next seven years. New consumer products, most
notably the automobile, spurred this growth. Changes in industrial management and
mass-production techniques led to a 40 percent increase in worker productivity.
Agriculture, along with textiles and coal mining, did not, however, recover from the
recession. The increased production of coal and textiles during the war led to
overcapacity, and European agricultural production glutted the world market. The
farmers' share of the national income declined sharply, foreshadowing the depression
of the 1930s.

The Heyday of Big Business

Throughout the 1920s, business leaders enjoyed public acclaim. The most revered
businessman of the decade was Henry Ford. Business consolidation occurred in many
industries, especially in the realm of manufacturing, transportation, and banking. The
1920s saw large-scale corporate reorganizations with bureaucratic structures of
authority replacing family-run enterprises. While working men and women enjoyed
higher wages and an overall improved standard of living, techniques of scientific
management and rationalization of workers' routines reduced laborers' control over
their work and time. Concurrently, the strength of unions eroded as businesses
promoted "welfare capitalism" and the American Plan (or nonunion shop). Supreme
Court decisions that limited workers' ability to strike further strengthened the hand
of business owners and weakened workers' autonomy.

Economic Expansion Abroad

During the 1920s, American companies such as General Electric, Ford, and Standard
Oil aggressively sought investment opportunities abroad. Other American companies
invested internationally during the 1920s to take advantage of lower production costs
or to produce raw materials and supplies, concentrating mainly on Latin America.

As the world's largest creditor nation, European countries had difficulty repaying their
war debts to the United States. American tariffs, such as the Fordney-McCumber
Tariff of 1922 and the Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930, further hampered European
payments. Germany especially faced extremely trying circumstances at home. The
Dawes Plan of 1924 offered Germany substantial loans from American banks and a
reduction in the amount of reparations owed to the Allies.

Another aspect of international cooperation undertaken by American negotiators

occurred through forums such as the 1921 Washington Naval Arms Conference. By
placing limits on naval expansion, policymakers hoped to encourage stability in areas
such as the Far East and to protect the fragile postwar economy from an expensive
arms race. In the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact, the United States joined other nations
in condemning militarism. But critics complained that the act lacked mechanisms for
enforcement.

Throughout the 1920s, U.S. policymakers were hamstrung by domestic politics.

Americans vacillated between wanting to play a larger role in world events and
fearing that treaties and responsibilities would limit their nation's ability to act
unilaterally.
Foreign Policy in the 1920s
Isolationism appeared to be the mood in the country during this decade. But this
interpretation overlooks the rapidly increasing involvement of American industry in
countries around the world. In the Western Hemisphere, the United States continued
to intervene in the internal affairs of Latin America. There was neither public nor
political support for entangling diplomatic relationships with foreign countries, and
the United States never joined organizations such as the League of Nations and the
World Court. There were, however, exceptions to this policy. The United States joined
with other powers in an attempt to limit the buildup of naval forces and to establish
some parity among the major naval powers. The Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact of 1928
rejected military force as a way of settling disputes among nations and reflected a
widespread desire for peace among the signatories. The U.S. government remained
divided over the future role of the nation in world affairs; it wanted to be a major
player on the world scene but was reluctant to engage in diplomatic negotiations that
would limit its ability to act unilaterally.

Summary 2

A New National Culture

During the 1920s, most Americans—especially the middle class—increasingly defined
the quality of their lives by the products that they were able to buy, products that
they learned about through massive advertising in the national media, and which
they paid for through the expanded use of debt. The advertising developed for these
products simultaneously represented and heavily influenced the rapid change of
social values that characterized the decade. The national communications media,
especially radio and the movies, also played a significant role in diminishing
distinctions between regions in the country and establishing nationwide cultural
standards of leisure, taste, and style.

A Consumer Culture
The American consumer culture came into its own in the 1920s. The homogenization
of culture that had begun in the late nineteenth century proceeded apace in the
1920s, influenced by radio, nationally circulated general-purpose magazines, and
movies. The advertising industry spent billions of dollars annually to entice
consumers into buying their goods; advertisers made consumption a cultural ideal for
most of the middle class, bringing psychology into play to create demand for a
certain product or to direct consumers to one brand rather than another. The
development of consumer credit—buying on the installment plan—greatly enhanced
the process, although even with credit not all Americans had the resources to
participate equally in the new consumer society. The invention of electric home
appliances had a significant impact on the lives of women. Domestic chores were no
longer the backbreaking labor they had been, although paradoxically, the new
products did not dramatically increase women's leisure time because more middle-
class housewives began to do their own housework and laundry rather than hiring
household servants. The new technology also established new standards of
cleanliness.

The Automobile Culture

The automobile served as the icon of the consumer culture of the 1920s. Few
inventions so altered the way of life of so many people. Automobile manufacturing
had a broad effect on the American economy. Many new industries sprang up in
response to this development, not the least of these being the leisure business. Auto
production stimulated the steel, petroleum, chemical, rubber, and glass industries
and caused an increase in highway construction. Car ownership spurred the growth
of suburbs, contributed to real estate speculation, and spawned the first shopping
center. Americans became devoted tourists, and almost one-third of the population
took a vacation by car in 1929. Young people were particularly delighted with the
automobile because it freed them from parental supervision and changed the dating
patterns of the past.

Mass Media and New Patterns of Leisure

Leisure became increasingly tied to consumption and mass media, as Americans had
more time and energy to spend on recreation. The movies made a great contribution
to the creation of mass culture. People all across the country saw the same movies
and sought to copy the values and attitudes that the movies held out to them. The
lucrative American movie industry, increasingly concentrated in southern California,
came to dominate American culture and the world's film industry. Movies became
even more powerful cultural influences with the advent of "talkies." "Flappers" burst
onto the American scene to represent emancipated womanhood, although in
actuality they reflected only a tiny minority of women. The development of the
recording industry made it possible for new forms of musical entertainment to be
widely available. The popularity of jazz in the 1920s was so great that the era is
known as the Jazz Age. Jazz, which had its roots in earlier African American rhythms
and music, became a distinctive American art form and brought African American
musicians and singers, both male and female, into the limelight. Jazz often
expressed black dissent in the face of mainstream white values. Journalism provided
another source for mass culture. Popular magazines and tabloid newspapers enabled
people from all walks of life and all areas of the country to share the information
provided by these outlets of mass media. The new instrument of radio completed this
picture. No longer was it enough to read about the world; now one could listen to it.
Americans took to radio with a vengeance; 40 percent of the nation's homes had one
by 1929. Unlike European countries where the airwaves were considered a
government monopoly, American broadcasting was in the hands of private industry,
and profit making propelled it forward.

As more American workers worked fewer hours and took paid vacations, leisure also
became tied to mass culture. Cities and small towns of America developed public
recreation facilities where people could swim, picnic, or otherwise enjoy themselves.
Spectator sports became big business in the 1920s with the increasing
commercialization of baseball and boxing. Newspapers began to focus on sports and
sports figures, and many of the most popular heroes of the period, such as Babe
Ruth and Jack Dempsey, came from the sports world. Baseball stars and aviation
pioneers captivated the attention of Americans with their demonstration of virtues of
individualism, self-reliance, and hard work. Individual attainment was the hallmark of
fame in the 1920s, and the most acclaimed American of the period was Charles
Lindbergh, who flew his airplane on the first solo nonstop flight from New York to
Paris in 1927.

Summary 3

Dissenting Values and Cultural Conflict

Even in this age of prosperity for most working Americans, some of the economic
and cultural harbingers of the new era worried more tradition-minded people, as
deeply felt tensions surfaced in conflicts over immigration, religion, Prohibition, and
race relations. Many Americans whose ancestors had come from abroad despised
newcomers and sought to limit their influence by restricting immigration, especially
from southeastern Europe, Russia, and Asia. A revived Ku Klux Klan targeted
minorities, and religious fundamentalists protested the teaching of scientific ideas,
such as evolution, that did not conform to their religious doctrines. These largely
Protestant efforts at social control faced vocal opposition, however. Americans
successfully defied and finally repealed Prohibition after thirteen years. The
modernist movement in the arts, which was marked by skepticism and technical
experimentation in literature, invigorated American writing abroad and at home. The
Harlem Renaissance was a movement among young writers and artists who broke
with older genteel traditions of black literature to reclaim a cultural identity with
African roots. Despite cultural conflicts and workplace issues, Americans were
generally optimistic and expected prosperity and progress to continue as Herbert
Hoover began his presidency in 1929.

The Rise of Nativism

As farmers struggled with severe economic problems, rural communities lost
residents to the cities at an alarming rate. The 1920 census indicated that there had
been a sharp decline in the relative size of the rural population since 1870. Urban
America (defined as towns of more than 2,500) had surpassed rural America. There
were ninety-three cities with populations greater than 100,000 by 1929. The mass
media generally reflected the cosmopolitan values of cities, and many Americans
worried that the cities, and the immigrants living there, would soon dominate the
culture.

Many native-born white Protestant Americans did not like what they saw happening
to "their" country. They regarded Catholics and Jews of the more recent immigrant
generation as being incapable of adopting what were seen as traditional American
values. The result of this perception was an attempt to place limitations on
immigration. Laws had already barred the Chinese from entering the United States,
and many thought that the time had come to further reduce the level of immigration
of "undesirables." One of the mechanisms devised to accomplish this task was the
1924 National Origins Act, which based the number of immigrants to the United
States from any country in a given year on the number of people from that country
residing in the United States in 1890. After 1927, the law set a cap of 150,000
immigrants per year and tied admission into the United States to a quota system.
While limiting all immigration, the act and its amendments clearly privileged older
immigrant groups whose "national origins" were northern and Western European, at
the expense of more recent southern and Eastern Europeans. Japanese immigrants
were excluded entirely. Puerto Ricans, after the Jones Act of 1917 conferred U.S.
citizenship, continued to travel to the mainland, particularly to New York City.

The Ku Klux Klan experienced a resurgence in the aftermath of the 1915 release of
the film Birth of a Nation, which celebrated the activities of the Klan. In keeping with
the changing times, the new Klan thrived largely in urban areas and added
antagonism to its racial hostility, directed at Jews and Catholics. The Klan attracted
widespread support for a brief period of time but collapsed as a result of internal
conflict, corruption, and the immoral acts of its leadership.

Legislating Values: The Scopes Trial and Prohibition

The conflict between religious modernism, which tried to reconcile religion and
science, and religious fundamentalism, which held to a literal interpretation of the
Bible, came to a head in the 1920s over the issue of evolution. When the Tennessee
legislature passed a law forbidding the teaching of evolution, the newly formed
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) persuaded John Scopes, a high school biology
teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, to break the law in an attempt to challenge its
constitutionality. In the trial of the decade, William Jennings Bryan served as
prosecutor, and the famous criminal lawyer Clarence Darrow led the defense. Even
though Darrow seemed to have the better of the debate, the jury found Scopes
guilty. The verdict was overturned on a technicality, thereby preventing a Supreme
Court test. The law remained on the books, unenforced, for the next several
decades.

The law prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages
contributed to the lawless reputation of the 1920s. Many people continued to drink
liquor, and Prohibition led to the creation of a new criminal class—the bootleggers—
and a new underground institution—the speakeasy. Since Prohibition was in the
Constitution, it took time for the "wets" to organize sufficiently to gain the necessary
support in Congress to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment.

Intellectual Crosscurrents
Many American writers felt alienated by the materialistic culture of the 1920s. The
disillusionment with the ravages of World War I affected the works of such writers as
Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot, and John Dos Passos. The modernist literary
movement, centered in Paris, drew Americans into its orbit and energized their art.
At home, the narrowness of the business culture was exposed by Sinclair Lewis and
F. Scott Fitzgerald. Freudian psychology influenced the complex novels of William
Faulkner and plays of Eugene O'Neill. Black America also went through a cultural
renaissance in the 1920s. Pride in (and ambivalence about) their heritage drove
African American literary artists to publish novels and poetry that moved to establish
their racial and cultural identity in a predominately white world. Jean Toomer,
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and others produced literary works of merit.
Although this movement waned in the Great Depression, a new generation of black
writers rediscovered its works during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Although the Harlem Renaissance had little impact on the masses of African
Americans, the organization of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA),
led by the Jamaican immigrant Marcus Garvey, built racial pride and challenged white
political and cultural hegemony. Garvey's message focused on the relationship
between black Americans and Africa. He claimed that no black person would ever be
welcome in the white world and urged African Americans to consider returning to
their ancestral homeland. Irregular business dealings led to Garvey's conviction and
deportation.

Cultural Clash in the Election of 1928

The election of 1928 can be seen as a referendum on the diverse culture of the
1920s. The Democrats nominated the governor of New York, Alfred E. Smith—an
urban Catholic son of Irish immigrants and a product of Tammany Hall politics. To his
supporters, he embodied the new, diverse America, but his urban working-class
origins, stance on enforcing Prohibition, and Catholic beliefs alienated voters. The
Republican candidate was the former secretary of commerce, Herbert Hoover.
Although Hoover had never held elective office, his administrative skills and record of
public service recommended him, and as an engineer, he represented the new ideals
of a managerial and technological elite. The Republicans won a decisive victory, but
the growing support for the Democratic candidate in the cities foreshadowed what
would become a major element in the coalition of urban voters that was completed
by the New Deal.
Chapter 24
Summary 1

The Coming of the Great Depression

Many histories point to the stock market crash of October 1929 as the beginning of
the Great Depression, but that long economic crisis had actually begun much earlier,
before people took notice. Its roots were in the structural weaknesses of the
economy, the failing agricultural economy of the 1920s, and the unequal distribution
of wealth. The collapse of stock prices injured thousands directly, but it also
destroyed the unwavering belief in business success and created a crisis of
confidence that lengthened the depression and contributed to its severity.
International factors, notably the dependence of Europe on the flow of capital from
the United States, also contributed to the depth, severity, and worldwide character of
the crisis.

Causes of the Depression

The depression did not begin suddenly; parts of the country's economy began to
show clear signs of weakness beginning in 1927. The economy had several structural
weaknesses in the 1920s; agriculture had never recovered from the post-World War I
recession, and other basic industries were either stagnant or declining. The
Republican administration had changed the tax structure to favor the wealthy and
business, bringing about increasing economic inequality. The stock market crash in
1929 did not cause the collapse of the economy, but it did hasten and intensify it.
The speculation that drove stock prices up did not reflect real economic value, and,
when productive enterprises faltered, panic selling led to the crash.

The Deepening Economic Crisis

The more the economy contracted, the more people expected the depression to last;
the longer they expected it to last, the more afraid they became to spend or invest
their money. In 1930, many farmers went bankrupt, which caused many rural banks
to fail. In turn, failing rural banks defaulted on their obligations to urban banks,
which then also began to collapse. In 1931 the Federal Reserve System significantly
increased the discount rate, squeezing the money supply and forcing prices down
thus depriving businesses of funds for investment. Amidst the crisis and waning
confidence in the banks, Americans kept their dollars stashed away rather than
depositing them, further tightening the money supply.

The Worldwide Depression

Weakness in the American economy created a ripple effect internationally so that
when the United States plunged into the Great Depression, it created economic
hardship in the rest of the world as the nation's international trade plummeted and
mutual tariff barriers intensified the worldwide depression. The worse the depression
became, the more reluctant people were to engage in activity that would lead to
recovery; the fear of a worsening economic climate led Americans to spend less and
business to invest less, just the opposite of what would have stimulated recovery.
The deepening agricultural crisis contributed to the rash of bank failures in 1930 and
1931. Between 1929 and 1933, the gross national product (GNP) was cut in half, and
100,000 businesses failed; by 1933, a quarter of the population was unemployed.

Summary 2
Hard Times
Much of the human impact of the depression was hard to see, despite the vivid
imagery recorded in contemporary photographs. Most middle-class Americans
measured hard times by the sacrifices of keeping things together and the
humiliations of downward mobility rather than by utter destitution. Traditional gender
roles frequently contributed to the way men and women responded to their individual
troubles, and even as financial distress forced many women to become family
breadwinners, the crisis actually reinforced the identification of women with the
responsibilities of maintaining a home and family. Statistically, significant numbers of
people postponed marriage, and the depression altered parenting practices as well as
patterns of education. Cheap mass entertainment thrived, however, as people found
an escape from their troubles in books, magazines, movies, or an evening at home
around the radio.

The Invisible Scar

People reacted to the depression in a variety of ways. Most families were not totally
devastated, only damaged. Some reacted with despair but kept their anxiety bottled
up within themselves and their households. The prevailing myths about American
economic life held all people individually responsible for their economic fate. Many
people in the 1930s blamed themselves for their situation and felt humiliated by their
poverty. The key to surviving the Great Depression was to maintain self-respect. It
became particularly humiliating, therefore, when a middle-class family found it
necessary to apply for relief.

Families Face the Depression

The depression tended to reinforce existing family relationships. Strong families grew
stronger; weak families deteriorated. Women found their lives less disrupted than
men's because unemployment weakened the self-respect of the husband, whereas
the role of the wife remained more constant. Women increased their importance to
family economic survival by making clothes, preserving food, and carefully
monitoring family finances. Americans managed to keep up a fairly high level of
consumption during the depression. Costs had come down, and installment buying
continued to encourage consumer spending.

There were fewer marriages or divorces during the depression. The birthrate dropped
as well. In the 1930s, information about contraception became widely available.
Although abortion remained illegal, many women underwent the process to prevent
unwanted births, and many died because of improper procedures or unsanitary
conditions. Largely owing to the work of Margaret Sanger, the medical profession
began to educate the public about proper contraceptive techniques and became
involved in advising family planning.

The number of married women in the workforce increased by 50 percent in the

1930s. With the traditional breadwinners being unemployed or underemployed, wives
sought jobs in order for the family to survive. Strong opposition to this practice led
many states to prohibit married women from working, and the federal government
would not allow both husband and wife to hold federal jobs at the same time. Sex-
typed employment often worked to the advantage of women in this period because
lower-paying "female" jobs suffered less from the economic decline than did those of
men.

The lack of economic opportunity meant that some young people stayed in school for
more years than had previously been the case; others took to the roads as hobos.
The distinct minority who went to college faced a financial sacrifice that encouraged
seriousness of purpose. Many of these students became involved in political and
social movements.
Popular Culture Views the Depression
The mass culture that emerged in the 1930s helped the people to survive the
depression years by providing a variety of emotional outlets. Movies were perhaps
the most important source of escapism during this period, simultaneously reaffirming
traditional values and criticizing political corruption. The overt sexuality of many films
led the movie industry to adopt a censorship code in 1934. Newsreels informed
filmgoers about the world, and newspapers focused attention on sensational events
in daily life. Radio continued to fascinate, and daytime serials brought drama to
lessen the tedium of work and housework. The economic constraints of the 1930s
made the family the center of leisure activities and in some ways strengthened
traditional values.

Summary 3
Harder Times
For such groups as African Americans, farmers, Mexican Americans, and Asian
Americans, times had always been hard, and during the 1930s, they became harder.
Conditions were bleak everywhere, and competition for what work still existed
aggravated racism and other expressions of ethnic and community hostility, even
against midwestern Okie migrants, who were white and Protestant. Yet the pursuit of
individual dignity in the face of hardship laid the groundwork for change when times
improved. The legacy of the depression experience included demands for civil rights
on the part of blacks, a new militancy in the Mexican American labor movement, and
the enduring impact of the midwestern migration on the culture and economy of
California.

African Americans in the Depression

The fact that most blacks were already poor meant that they hardly felt new
psychological stress from the national economic collapse. The 75 percent of African
Americans who lived in the South had scarcely improved their economic position
since Reconstruction. The agricultural depression that had been upon the nation
since the early 1920s only made the situation worse for black tenant farmers. The
Scottsboro case brought into sharper focus the pattern of racial discrimination
characteristic of southern law enforcement. In the North, Harlem served as a mecca
for migrating blacks. The depression led to a deterioration of urban centers, however,
and this decline transformed middle-class black neighborhoods into slums. Urban
blacks began to support the Democratic Party in the 1930s and, in return, New Deal
programs provided relief money to blacks living outside the South.

Dust Bowl Migrations

The continuing agricultural depression and widespread drought on the Great Plains
aggravated an already suffering agricultural sector and drove many farm families out
of the area. The destination of many of them was California, where large-scale,
intensive agriculture had opened up vast new areas of farmland. California growers
had depended on a series of cheap, immigrant farm workers to work their fields, but
native-born migrant white farm workers increasingly supplanted these workers in the
1930s.

Mexican American Communities

During the depression, about one-third of the Mexican Americans went back to
Mexico. Some returned to Mexico voluntarily when employment in the United States
became difficult to find, while others were deported by the Hoover administration to
prevent their becoming a drain on the system of relief when farmwork ran out.
Activists in the Mexican American community were involved in attempts to organize
unions among their fellow workers. Women were particularly active in the successful
formation of labor unions for cannery workers in 1939. The activism in the fields and
canneries foreshadowed the later, somewhat more successful, attempts by Mexican
Americans to establish farmworkers' unions.

Asian Americans Face the Depression

Men and women of Asian descent constituted a minority that was concentrated
primarily in the western states. Although all were subject to a pervasive anti-Asian
racism, Asian Americans had carved out a modest success by the time of the
depression. American prejudices against Asians were compounded by the economic
anxieties of the depression, leaving many families to return to Asia or to find
assistance in America through traditional Asian social organizations and kin
networks. The New Deal also aided Asians, but only those who were American
citizens; for instance, until the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943, many
Chinese immigrants were ineligible for New Deal programs, as they had not yet been
granted American citizenship. Filipinos were not affected by the ban on Asian
immigration passed in 1924 because the Philippines were a U.S. territory.
Consequently, their numbers swelled during the 1920s. When the depression struck,
Filipinos were among the most militant of United States agricultural workers, and
they organized for better wages. In 1936, Filipinos and Mexican workers came
together in a Field Workers Union chartered by the American Federation of Labor.
Racial hostility mounted against Filipinos, leading to the Tydings-McDuffie Act, which
classified all Filipinos in the United States as aliens and restricted immigration. As
aliens, Filipinos were not eligible for citizenship or most assistance programs.

Summary 4

Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression

President Herbert Hoover tried to organize the business community to maintain
wages and production, and he supported an unprecedented campaign of public works
construction to provide employment. He also inaugurated the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation (RFC) (modeled on the War Finance Corporation of World War I
experience) to lend federal money to businesses in order to stimulate investment.
None of it managed to overcome the depression, and along with Hoover's adamant
refusal to support direct federal relief payments to the unemployed, his
administration's failure to beat the depression contributed to his reputation for being
coldhearted toward those in distress and to his political repudiation in 1932. Many
citizens began to harbor hard feelings against Hoover; his willingness to bailout
banks and businesses, though not individuals, added to his reputation of being a
harsh man. As the depression went on, bitterness and discontent increased and
flared up in a variety of agricultural and industrial strikes, in food and rent riots in
major cities, and in the "Bonus March" of World War I veterans that the army
dispersed in the summer of 1932. Apathy and despair, more than anger or
revolution, characterized the elections that year. The Republicans nominated Hoover
once again for president, and the Democrats nominated Governor Franklin Delano
Roosevelt of New York. Roosevelt won the election, yet in his campaign, he hinted
only vaguely at new approaches to alleviate the depression. People voted as much
against Hoover as for Roosevelt. The significance of the 1932 election was that it
marked the emergence of a Democratic coalition that would help to shape national
politics for the next four decades.

Hoover Responds
Hoover's response to the depression was slow because he failed to view the situation
realistically. Hoping to avoid coercive measures on the part of the federal
government, Herbert Hoover asked businesses to maintain wages and production
levels voluntarily during the depression. Hoover asked governments to increase
public construction projects, signed the Agricultural Marketing Act, and declared a
moratorium on payment of the Allied debts. A 33-percent tax increase designed to
balance the budget choked investment and contributed significantly to the
continuation of the depression.

Hoover successfully pushed Congress to create a system of government home-loan

banks and supported the Glass-Steagall Banking Act, which temporarily propped up
the ailing banking system. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was the first
federal institution created to intervene directly in the economy during peacetime.
Although the RFC's trickle-down effect was minimal, it represented a watershed in
American political history and the growth of the federal government.

Hoover simply believed that, in the long term, privately organized charities were
sufficient to meet the nation's social welfare needs, and he refused to consider plans
for direct federal relief for those out of work.

Rising Discontent
As the depression deepened, many citizens came to hate Herbert Hoover. His
apparent lack of sensitivity brought him scorn and mockery. Violent opposition to
foreclosures energized farmers to organize demonstrations in which they destroyed
crops in protest against low prices. Strikes broke out in the mines and factories when
employers cut wages or laid off workers. Employers responded to protest with violent
suppression through the use of the National Guard and private security forces. Food
riots and hunger marches struck the cities, where Communists organized
"unemployment councils" to agitate for food and jobs. But the most dramatic and
widely publicized protest involved the "Bonus Army," a gathering in Washington,
D.C., of World War I veterans who sought immediate payment of the pension due to
them in 1945. When the U.S. Army, acting under orders of the president, drove them
out of the nation's capital, Hoover's popularity plunged to a new low.

The 1932 Election: A New Order

Without another viable candidate, the Republicans nominated Hoover again in 1932.
He found himself facing Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York. Roosevelt's
campaign rested on his belief that the solution to the economic crisis in the United
States required bold experimentation. Roosevelt's election, a turning point in
American political history, created a new and very powerful political coalition within
the Democratic Party, but his victory was as much a denunciation of Hoover as it was
support for Roosevelt. After the election, the economy continued to plunge
downward, and the winter of 1932-33 proved to be the lowest point in the
depression cycle. The people could do little but wait to see what bold new programs
the new president had to offer.

Chapter 25
Summary 1

The New Deal Takes Over, 1933-1935

Franklin Roosevelt's willingness to experiment with solutions, along with his
remarkable rapport with the masses of the American people, allowed the New Deal
to start off with a remarkable flurry of legislation that provided for relief, limited
recovery, and reform in a wide variety of areas. A legislative session, known as the
"Hundred Days," saw fifteen pieces of major legislation enacted and remains one of
the most productive legislative sessions ever.

Roosevelt intended to be the savior of capitalism rather than a threat to it, but the
dramatic expansion of government power and intervention in the economy
nevertheless drew criticism from the right that the New Deal was doing too much. At
the same time, as the crisis eased but did not end, others criticized the New Deal for
not going far enough. As the election of 1936 approached, Roosevelt and the
Democrats were afraid that critics of the New Deal might split the vote and permit
the Republicans to retake the White House.

The Roosevelt Style of Leadership

Roosevelt crafted his administration's programs in response to shifting political and
economic conditions rather than according to an established blueprint. He established
a close rapport with the American people through his use of radio-broadcasted
"fireside chats" that fostered a sense of intimacy. Contributing to his success was the
president's willingness to experiment, fail, and experiment again. Roosevelt turned to
advisors and administrators scattered throughout the New Deal bureaucracy when
searching for new ideas and fresh faces; it was said to have been "a glorious time for
obscure people."

The public perceived Roosevelt as being genuine and warm. The power of the
executive branch of government greatly expanded under his leadership. Roosevelt
relied heavily on the advice of his cabinet and his "Brain Trust" of professors to
formulate policy.

The Hundred Days

The Roosevelt administration commenced by confronting and defusing the banking
crisis. The executive branch then proposed, and Congress enacted, fifteen major
pieces of legislation in the first months of 1933. Among these were laws to reform
the banking system and a conservation program, the Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC), that put unemployed young men to work. The overall goal of administration
policy was to reduce agricultural overproduction, stimulate industrial recovery, and
relieve unemployment. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) established cash
subsidies for farmers who promised to reduce their production of certain farm
commodities. This measure, however, had the undesirable effect of driving many
tenant farmers, including many black farmers in the South, off their lands. The
National Recovery Administration (NRA) aided in industrial recovery through a
complicated series of quotas. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
provided money for state relief organizations that could be given directly to the
needy. Work relief programs supplemented direct relief and provided federally funded
jobs. Although these programs did not even begin to end the depression, the fact
that the Roosevelt administration was doing something offered Americans a sense of
hope where there had been only despair. When it became clear that the depression
persisted, the administration sought to bring about structural reform, including
greater federal control of the value of the dollar, new stock market regulations, and a
more centralized Federal Reserve bank system.

The New Deal under Attack

Wealthy businessmen accused Roosevelt of being a "traitor to his class" and, along
with conservative Democrats, lobbied against his New Deal programs. The
conservative Supreme Court decreed some major elements of the "Hundred Days"
legislation to be unconstitutional, including the National Recovery Administration
(NRA). Roosevelt was concerned that the Supreme Court might invalidate his entire
New Deal program. Under the leadership of a retired doctor, Francis Townsend, the
elderly began to mount a campaign for some kind of government-sponsored old-age
pension. Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest from Michigan who had been an
early supporter of the president, began to call for the nationalization of the banking
system and the expansion of the money supply. The priest's weekly radio program
reached millions of listeners and posed a threat to the president's reelection in 1936.
The major threat to Roosevelt's leadership, however, came from another early
supporter who had turned against him, Senator Huey Long of Louisiana. After
breaking with Roosevelt because of what he considered the timidity of New Deal
reform, Long appeared to be a potential competitor to Roosevelt for national
leadership.

Summary 2
The Second New Deal, 1935-1938
As the depression continued and attacks on the New Deal mounted, Roosevelt-with
his eye on the 1936 election-began to construct a new coalition and broaden the
scope of his response to the depression. The Second New Deal emphasized reform
and promoted legislation to increase the role of the federal government in providing
for the welfare of citizens. Because he felt that his opponents might refashion the
future of New Deal reforms, Roosevelt sought fundamental changes in the structure
of the Supreme Court. Roosevelt proposed the addition of one new justice for each
sitting justice over the age of seventy, but opponents protested that he was trying to
"pack" the Court. His handling of the Court issue undermined his credibility.

By 1935, Roosevelt had abandoned his hope of building a classless coalition. Pushed
from both the left and right, he reluctantly abandoned what he conceived as the
middle ground and moved to the left. Motivated by politics as much as by ideology,
to support the rights of organized labor, institute Social Security, and create a much-
expanded program of work relief for the still unemployed millions, these programs
continued to expand the federal presence in the economy and the daily life of
Americans. And as a matter of politics, they succeeded brilliantly. Roosevelt and the
Democrats won the 1936 election by one of the largest landslides in American
history. However, Roosevelt's second term was marked by increased opposition in
Congress, from conservative Democrats as well as from Republicans, and by political
stalemate.

Legislative Accomplishments
Pushed from the left and criticized by the right, Roosevelt decided by 1935 to
abandon the middle and shift dramatically to the left. Labor was given the legal right
to organize unions by the Wagner Act, which also forbade employers to discriminate
against union members. The Social Security Act provided for federal pensions and
also for unemployment insurance. With this legislation, the United States began its
development into a modern welfare state, joining with other industrial nations in
taking responsibility for the basic needs of its citizens. Although Roosevelt had hoped
to bring federal work relief programs to an end, persistent massive unemployment
required that they continue. For the rest of the depression, the Works Progress
Administration (WPA) was the major source of federal jobs for the unemployed,
providing a marginal income for millions of Americans. Even at that, it never reached
more than one-third of the unemployed and ended only when the wartime economy
brought an end to the depression. The Revenue Act of 1935, which its conservative
opponents called the "soak the rich" bill, increased the tax burden of the upper class
and helped consolidate Roosevelt's support among the poor.

The 1936 Election

In the election of 1936, Roosevelt won the support of a coalition of voters who had
benefited from the New Deal programs. Huey Long's assassination in September
1935 removed the threat of a serious third-party challenge and contributed to
Roosevelt's overwhelming victory at the polls.

Stalemate
Because he felt the future of New Deal reforms might be in doubt, Roosevelt asked
for fundamental changes in the structure of the Supreme Court only two weeks after
his inauguration. Roosevelt proposed the addition of one new justice for each sitting
justice over the age of seventy; opponents protested that he was trying to "pack" the
Court with justices who favored the New Deal. The issue became a moot point when
the Supreme Court upheld several key pieces of New Deal legislation, and a series of
resignations created vacancies on the Court. Roosevelt managed to reshape the
Supreme Court to suit his liberal philosophy through seven new appointments, but
his handling of the Court issue was a costly blunder.

The economic crisis gave the president influence in proposing and passing legislation,
and the executive branch's influence was also expanded by the administration of the
New Deal programs; Congress resisted this accrual of power. A bill passed in 1939
allowed Roosevelt to create the Executive Office of the President and name six
administrative assistants to the White House staff. The White House also took control
of the budget process.

The slight economic recovery between 1933 and 1937 turned into the "Roosevelt
recession" of 1937 and 1938 when the president sharply cut the federal budget and
reduced WPA funding. The government spent its way out of recession in 1938, but
the Republicans increased their power in the congressional elections of that year,
weakening the president's mandate. By 1938, the New Deal had run out of steam.
Roosevelt's basic conservatism became clear; he was willing to experiment with the
system in order to maintain it but not to make revolutionary changes. Only the
severity and persistence of the depression had allowed the New Deal to go as far as
it had.

Summary 3
The New Deal's Impact on Society
The New Deal accelerated the expansion of the federal bureaucracy, and power was
increasingly centered in the nation's capital, not in the states. During the 1930s the
federal government operated as a broker state, mediating between contending
pressure groups seeking power and benefits.

Organized labor won the battle for recognition, higher wages, seniority systems, and
grievance procedures. The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) served as the
cutting edge of the union movement by promoting "industrial unionism"—organizing
all the workers in one industry, both skilled and unskilled, into one union. The CIO
recognized that to succeed, unions had to become more inclusive, and they worked
deliberately to attract new groups to the labor movement. The CIO quickly allied
itself with the Democratic Party, hoping to use its influence to elect candidates who
were sympathetic to labor and social justice. The labor movement never developed
into a dominant force in American life, and many workers remained indifferent or
even hostile to unionization.
Under the experimental climate of the New Deal, Roosevelt appointed the first female
cabinet member, the first female director of the mint, and a female judge on the
court of appeals. Eleanor Roosevelt had worked to increase women's power in
political parties, labor unions, and education; as first lady, she pushed the president
and the New Deal to do more.

Although some New Deal programs reflected prevailing racist attitudes, blacks
received significant benefits from programs that were for the poor regardless of race.
The Resettlement Act fought for the rights of black farmers, and many blacks
reasoned that the aid from Washington outweighed the discrimination present in
many federal programs. Blacks had voted Republican since the Civil War, but in 1936,
blacks outside the South gave Roosevelt 71 percent of their votes. Blacks have
remained overwhelmingly Democratic ever since.

The expansion of federal responsibilities in the 1930s created a climate conducive to

conservation efforts, as did public concern heightened by the devastation in the dust
bowl. The New Deal was ahead of its time in attention to conservation, but many of
the tactics used in its projects are now considered to have been intrusive.

The arts flourished during the 1930s. For instance, the documentary—probably the
decade's most distinctive genre—influenced practically every aspect of American
culture: literature, photography, art, music, film, dance, theater, and radio.

In sum, the New Deal brought the federal government into the everyday lives of
American citizens through Social Security payments, farm loans, work relief,
mortgage guarantees, and conservation and cultural programs.

New Deal Constituencies and the Broker State

Government bureaucracy expanded sharply in the 1930s, with power being ever
more centralized in Washington. The intervention of the federal government on
behalf of organized labor led to a resurgence of union activity. By 1940, 23 percent
of the nonfarm workforce was unionized. The Congress of Industrial Organizations
led in the expansion. Workers in the automobile and steel industry achieved union
recognition. Blacks and women found a place in the industrial unions of the CIO,
although rarely did they achieve leadership positions. Unlike the nonpartisan
American Federation of Labor, the CIO quickly allied itself with the Democratic Party,
providing both funds and political support for New Deal programs. In spite of these
gains, organized labor never played as large a role in American political life as some
in the movement might have anticipated.

Several women held high office in government during the Roosevelt administration,
including the first female cabinet member, Frances Perkins. The president's wife,
Eleanor, became a significant figure in her own right. Pushing for reform in the areas
of labor, education, and women's issues, Eleanor Roosevelt has been called the
conscience of the New Deal. Even with such visibility, women faced discrimination in
many of the "alphabet soup agencies" including the NRA and the CCC.

New Deal programs treated blacks in similar ways. The fact that they were included
at all was partly the result of the intervention of Eleanor Roosevelt, as civil rights
were not on the national agenda in the 1930s. Most programs that aided blacks did
so on a segregated basis, and President Roosevelt refused to support a federal
antilynching bill for fear that it would weaken his support among southern members
of Congress. But because the majority of African Americans were poor, they
benefited from programs designed to ease poverty. The perception that they had a
friend in the White House caused blacks to shift their political allegiance. No longer
did they support the Republican Party of Lincoln; the Democrats now had the loyalty
of African Americans.

Mexican Americans stood to gain from New Deal programs that offered a variety of
relief possibilities. As they became more active in politics and union affairs, Mexican
Americans became an important part of the New Deal coalition.

Though not a constituency, the federal government treated American Indians more
sympathetically during the 1930s. Attempts to force Indians into American
mainstream culture declined, but minimal federal reform efforts had little effect on
the abject poverty of the reservations.

The New Deal and the Land

The New Deal was active in supporting conservation policies. The Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA) built a number of dams to control erosion in the vast Tennessee
River Basin and to produce cheap hydroelectric power. Attempts to bring the dust
bowl under control led to the planting of millions of trees to serve as windbreaks on
the plains. Agents from the Department of Agriculture taught farmers how to till
hillsides and plant marginal areas to prevent soil erosion. CCC and WPA workers
helped construct scenic highways and make wilderness areas available to the public
by cutting trails and building shelters, many of which still exist today. Later,
environmentalist sensibilities would prevent the creation of such massive and
intrusive projects.

The New Deal and the Arts

Numerous federally sponsored cultural programs operated during the depression. A
WPA project known as "Federal One" put unemployed artists, actors, and writers to
work; "art for the millions" became a popular New Deal slogan. The Federal Art
Project commissioned murals for public buildings and post offices across the country.
Under the Federal Music Project, government-sponsored orchestras toured the
country and presented free concerts that emphasized American themes. The Federal
Writer's Project, at its height, employed about 5,000 writers, some of whom later
achieved great fame. The only time that America had a federally supported national
theater was during the Federal Theatre Project.

The accomplishments of the artists, producers, and writers involved in these

programs were substantial. The documentary, probably the decade's most distinctive
genre, influenced practically every aspect of American culture: literature,
photography, art, music, film, dance, theater, and radio. The work of 1930s artists,
writers, photographers, and musicians created evocative images of life in the United
States during the depression years.

The Legacies of the New Deal

For the first time in American history, the federal government became a factor in
almost every citizen's life. The New Deal laid the foundations of the modern welfare
state when the federal government accepted some responsibility for the basic welfare
of the nation's citizens, setting a precedent of government action to counter
economic instability.

While the New Deal offered more benefits to American citizens than they had ever
been given before, its safety net was not comprehensive. For instance, the welfare
system was predicated on the ideal of "family wage," which assumed that men were
workers and women were homemakers.

The New Deal political coalition formed in the depression consisted of ethnic groups,
city dwellers, organized labor, blacks, and a broad section of the middle class. This
coalition would keep the Democrats as the majority party in the United States until
the contradictions of racial policy would help bring about the coalition's dissolution.