chapter 24 the great depression and the new deal 1929-1940 chapter 24 the great depression and the...

Chapter 24The Great Depression and the New Deal

1929-1940

Chapter 24The Great Depression and the New Deal

1929-1940

OUT OF MANY

A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

© 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

Part One:

Introduction

2© 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter Focus Questions

What were the causes and consequences of the Great Depression, and what were its consequences?

How did Hoover and Congress respond to the Great Depression?

What was the First New Deal, and how did it differ from the Second New Deal?

How did the New Deal expand the scope of the federal government in the South and West?

How did the Great Depression affect American cultural life during the 1930s?

What were the limits of the New Deal’s reforms, and what legacy did they leave?


Part Two:

American Communities: Sit-Down Strike at Flint:

Automobile Workers Organize a New Union


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

Union

In 1937, the community of Flint, Michigan, went on strike at the General Motors plant. The depression hit this auto-producing town very hard. The United Auto Workers attempted to take advantage of the Wagner Act and organize a union, but GM resisted them. Strikers seized two GM plants and refused to leave. Supported by the governor, the strikers resisted efforts to eject them. The community rallied to support the strikers. GM gave in and recognized the UAW, a move that the other automakers soon followed.


Part Three:

Hard Times


Underlying Weakness of the 1920s Economy

The crash did not cause the depression but revealed the underlying economic weakness.

Industrial growth during the 1920s had not been accompanied by comparable increases in wages or farm income.The gap between rich and poor widened, as did that between production and consumption.Table: Distribution of Total Family Income Among Various Segments of the Population, 1929-44 (in percentages


Dorothea Lange captured the lonely despair of unemployment in White Angel Bread Line, San Francisco, 1933. During the 1920s, Lange had specialized in taking portraits of wealthy families, but by 1932, she could no longer stand the contradiction between her portrait business and “what was going on in the street.” She said of this photograph: “There are moments such as these when time stands still and all you can do is hold your breath and hope it will wait for you.”

SOURCE: Dorothea Lange, “White Angel Breadline, San Francisco, 1933.” Copyright the Dorothea Lange Collection, The Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.


The Bull Market and the Crash

During the 1920s, stock prices rose rapidly. Investors were lured by easy-credit policies like buying on margin. The market peaked in early September 1929, drifted down until late October, and crashed on October 29. By mid-November, the market had lost half of its value. Buyers on margin faced paying hard cash to the cover the loans they received for purchasing stock that sold well below what they had originally paid. Few people predicted that a depression would follow.The stock market crash led manufacturers to decrease spending and lay off workers.


© 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. 11

Rollin Kirby’s 1929 cartoon depicts an individual investor losing his money as he clings to a bear running down Wall Street. The bear symbolizes an atmosphere of panic selling and heavy losses, the opposite of a “bull” market in which investor confidence spurs buying and faith in the future.

Mass Unemployment

By 1933, nearly one-quarter of the labor force was out of work.

Unemployment took a tremendous personal toll and undermined the traditional authority of the male breadwinner.


Hoover’s Failure

The enormity of the depression overwhelmed traditional sources of relief. President Hoover seemed unable to accept the facts of the depression. He vetoed measures to aid the unemployed. His Reconstruction Finance Corporation failed to restore business confidence.Efforts to make government credit available saved banks but did not encourage business growth.


Isaac Soyer’s Employment Agency, a 1937 oil painting, offered one of the decade’s most sensitive efforts at depicting the anxiety and sense of isolation felt by millions of depression-era job hunters. SOURCE: Isaac Soyer, “Employment Agency,” 1937. Oil on canvas, 34 ½” x 45”. Whitney Museum of American Art.


A Global Crisis and the Election of 1932

Map: The Election of 1932

In 1932, protests erupted throughout the country, including the Bonus Army of veterans in Washington. The Democrats, led by Franklin D. Roosevelt, won a massive electoral victory.


MAP 24.1 The Election of 1932 Democrats owed their overwhelming victory in 1932 to the popular identification of the depression with the Hoover administration. Roosevelt’s popular vote was about the same as Hoover’s in 1928, and FDR’s Electoral College margin was even greater.


Part Four:

FDR and the First New Deal


FDR the Man

FDR came from a privileged New York background. His rapid rise in politics came to a halt when he was stricken with polio. The experience changed him, allowing him personally to understand struggle and hardship. He served two terms as governor of New York where he established a reputation as a reformer.


This New Yorker magazine cover depicted an ebullient Franklin D. Roosevelt riding to his 1933 inauguration in the company of a glum Herbert Hoover. This drawing typified many mass-media images of the day, contrasting the different moods and temperaments of the new President and the defeated incumbent.


“The Only Thing We Have to Fear”: Restoring Confidence

To restore confidence, on his first full day as president, FDR called for a four-day “bank holiday.”

In his fireside chat a week later, he told Americans of the steps he had taken, strengthening public faith in his ability to help.

Congress passed legislation that strengthened the banking system, helping to avert the immediate banking crisis.


The Hundred Days

FDR called a special “hundred days” session of Congress to enact his program to revive industry and agriculture while providing emergency relief.


A recruitment poster represents the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as much more than simply an emergency relief measure, stressing character building and the opportunity for self-improvement. By the time the CCC expired in 1942, it had become one of the most popular of all the New Deal programs.


Roosevelt’s Critics, Right and Left

Critics from the right lambasted the New Deal as being socialistic. More troublesome for FDR were critics who claimed the New Deal had been too timid including:

Francis Townsend called for providing $200 monthly payments to all persons over 60. Huey Long, who served as governor and then as senator for Louisiana, called for a “Share Our Wealth” program to redistribute wealth. Long’s assassination in 1936 ended his probable third-party candidacy.

Strikes and street demonstrations added to the pressure.


Part Five:

Left Turn and the Second New Deal


The Second Hundred Days

FDR responded by shifting leftward.


Labor’s Upsurge: Rise of the CIO

A militant group within the AFL formed the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO), later the Congress of Industrial Organizations, to organize mass-production workers. Led by John Lewis of the United Mine Workers, the CIO drew upon communists and other radicals to engage in the dangerous task of building industrial unions. The success at the Flint GM plant led to victories in other industries. The reinvigorated labor movement took a place as a key power broker in FDR’s New Deal coalition.



Photographer Milton Brooks won the first Pulitzer Prize for photography with this 1941 image for the Detroit News. He captured a violent labor confrontation in front of the Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge plant, as private armed guards, employed by Ford, assault and beat organizers for the United Automobile Workers.

The New Deal Coalition at High Tide

FDR easily won re-election in 1936.

His supporters included:traditional white southern Democrats

big-city political machines

trade unionists

depression-hit farmers

ethnic voters


Part Six:

The New Deal in the South and West


Southern Farming and Landholding

In 1930, less than ½ of all southern farmers owned their land; over ¾ of the region’s African-American farmers and nearly ½ of its white farmers were sharecroppers or tenants.

The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) was able to boost prices by paying farmers to “plow under—take their land out of production.

Many of the subsidies went to large landowners who used the money to buy labor-saving machinery, which put many out of work.

Those who were put out of work were forced to migrate to industrial centers such as Memphis, Chicago, Birmingham, and Detroit.


Rural Electrification and Public Works

The Tennessee Valley Authority and the Rural Electrification Administration gave millions of southern households electricity for the first time.


The Dust Bowl

Map: The Dust Bowl, 1935-40

The Dust Bowl, caused by farmers’ methods that stripped the landscape of its natural vegetation and left nothing behind to hold down the topsoil, swept through parts of the region.


MAP 24.2 The Dust Bowl, 1935–40 This map shows the extent of the Dust Bowl in the southern Great Plains. Federal programs designed to improve soil conservation, water management, and farming practices could not prevent a mass exodus of hundreds of thousands out of the Great Plains.


The Dust Bowl

Farmers were encouraged to plant soil-enriching crops. The Soil Conservation Service provided assistance to farmers engaged in conservation work. The AAA provided subsidies to farmers who reduced their acreage. As landowners reduced acreage by evicting their tenants and sharecroppers, these families became part of a stream of “Okies.”Responding to rising racial hostility, officials carried out an aggressive deportation campaign against Mexicans and Mexican Americans.


Years of Dust. This 1936 poster by the artist and photographer Ben Shahn, served to publicize the work of the Resettlement Administration, which offered aid to destitute farm families hit hard by the Dust Bowl. Shahn’s stark imagery here was typical of the documentary aesthetic associated with Depression-era art and photography.

SOURCE: The Granger Collection/© Estate of Ben Shahn / Licensed by Vaga, New York, NY.


Water Policy

Map: The New Deal and WaterThe New Deal built a series of water projects that allowed urban growth, agricultural expansion, and massive irrigation. These projects promoted flood control and supplied low-cost electricity.The consequence of these projects was that a few farmers became wealthy and thousands of Mexican workers labored in the fields for very low wages. A general decline in the environment also occurred.


MAP 24.3 The New Deal and Water This map illustrates U. S. drainage areas and the major large-scale water projects begun or completed by federal agencies in them during the New Deal. By providing irrigation, cheap power, flood control, and recreation areas, these public works had a historically unprecedented impact on America’s Western communities.


A New Deal for Indians

John Collier, the new head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, reformed many harmful practices.The Indian Reorganization Act restored tribal ownership of land. The Bureau of Indian Affairs grew more sensitive to Indian cultural freedom and supported efforts to restore tribal rights.


Part Seven:

The Limits of Reform


Court Packing

FDR became frustrated when the Supreme Court overturned several key New Deal programs.He asked Congress to allow him to appoint a number of new judges. New Deal sympathizers feared this would disrupt the constitutional balance and blocked the effort. In time FDR got a more sympathetic court, but the battle cost him heavily.


The Women’s Network

The New Deal brought significant changes for women.

Women who had been engaged in reform work increased their influence.

Eleanor Roosevelt promoted a number of reforms, particularly around issues pertinent to women.

The New Deal saw the first female Cabinet member, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, a long-time reformer.

New Deal agencies opened up spaces for many women, particularly in social welfare programs.


First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt rides with miners in a flag-decorated car during a visit to the mining town of Bellaire, Ohio, in 1935. Mrs. Roosevelt was more outspoken than the President in championing the rights of labor and African Americans, and she actively used her prestige as First Lady in support of social justice causes.


A New Deal for Minorities?The New Deal did not directly combat racism. NRA codes allowed for lower wages for black workers. Blacks were among the people left unprotected by the gaps in New Deal reforms, such as Social Security. FDR banned discrimination in WPA projects, leaving African Americans to find jobs. A “Black Cabinet” led by Mary McLeod Bethune advised FDR on black issues and got a number of second-level positions opened up. By 1936, a majority of black voters supported the Democrats. The New Deal did little to help Mexicans and Mexican Americans.


The Roosevelt Recession and the Ebbing of the New Deal

By 1937, FDR had become convinced that the federal deficit had grown too large.He cut spending, creating a severe recession that increased unemployment and weakened popular support for the New Deal. The 1938 elections increased Republican strength and made further reforms nearly impossible.


Part Eight:

Depression-Era Culture


A New Deal for the Arts

Due in part to government support, American culture was influenced by the depression.

The New Deal’s Federal Project No. 1 provided assistance to artists and intellectuals. The Federal Writers Project enabled many of the country’s writers to survive and go on to prominence.

The New Deal also funded theatrical performances, sent orchestras out on tour, financed new compositions, and supported new works of art.


Fletcher Martin painted Mine Rescue (1939) in the Kellogg, Idaho, post office. The work was part of a Treasury Department program that employed unemployed artists to beautify government buildings. The mural was eventually removed under pressure from local citizens who worried that it might upset those who had lost loved ones in mine accidents.

SOURCE: Fletcher Martin (1904 –79),”Mine Rescue,” 1939, mural study for Kellogg, Idaho Post Office; tempera on panel, 15 ¾ x 36 ½ in. (40.0 x 92.7 cm). Copyright Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC/Art Resource, NY.


The Documentary Impulse

A “documentary impulse” led many artists to try to record the extent of human suffering. Photographers employed by the Farm Security Administration traveled throughout rural areas, recording the faces of despair and resilience. Novelists like John Steinbeck portrayed the hardships of Okies but affirmed their willingness to persevere.



Seeing History Documenting Hard Times in Black and White and Color.

Waiting for Lefty

Marxist analysis, with its emphasis on class conflict and the failure of capitalism, had a wide influence on the era’s writers.

Alarmed by the rise of fascism, communists tried to appeal to antifascists by forging a “popular front” that helped to spread their influence.


Film and Radio in the 1930s

Millions of Americans found the movies an enjoyable escape.

By and large Hollywood avoided confronting controversial social issues and relied upon indirect comments in gangster films and screwball comedies.

Walt Disney’s cartoons were moral tales that stressed following the rules.

Frank Capra’s comedies idealized small-town America and suggested that solutions were to be found in the old-fashioned values of common people.


Reginald Marsh, Twenty Cent Movie, 1936. Marsh documented the urban landscape of the 1930s with great empathy, capturing the city’s contradictory mix of commercialism, optimism, energy, and degradation. The popularity of Hollywood films and their stars reached new heights during the Great Depression. SOURCE: Reginald Marsh, “Twenty Cent Movie ,” 1936. Egg tempera on composition board. 40” x 40”. Whitney Museum of American Art/Artists Rights Society, New York.


Film and Radio in the 1930s

In 1930, 40 percent of American homes had a radio. Ten years later, 90 percent did. Network radio relied on older forms, vaudeville, and blackface minstrel comedy. Soap operas dominated daytime radio and featured strong women who gave advice to weak, indecisive friends. By the end of the decade network news had become the prime news source for most Americans.


The Swing Era

Radio stations helped to popularize jazz music.

White performers like Benny Goodman popularized African-American musical forms for a mass audience, initiating the swing era.


Part Nine:

Conclusion


chapter 24 the great depression and the new deal 1929-1940 chapter 24 the great depression and the...

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