Franklin Delano Roosevelt Following the path of his fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt, whom he admired, Franklin Roosevelt entered public service through politics, but as a Democrat. He won the election to the New York Senate in 1910. President Wilson appointed him to Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920. In the summer of 1921, when he was 39, disaster hit him when he was stricken with poliomyelitis. Demonstrating indomitable courage, he fought to regain the use of his legs, particularly through swimming. At the 1924 Democratic Convention he dramatically appeared on crutches to nominate Alfred E. Smith as "the Happy Warrior." In 1928 Roosevelt became Governor of New York. He was elected President in November 1932, to the first of four terms. By March there were 13,000,000 unemployed, and almost every bank was closed. In his first "hundred days," he proposed, and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those in danger of losing farms and homes, and reform, especially through the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Herbert Hoover After the United States entered the war, President Wilson appointed Hoover head of the Food Administration. He succeeded in cutting consumption of foods needed overseas and avoided rationing at home, yet kept the Allies fed. After the Armistice, Hoover, a member of the Supreme Economic Council and head of the American Relief Administration, organized shipments of food for starving millions in central Europe. He extended aid to faminestricken Soviet Russia in 1921. When a critic inquired if he was not thus helping Bolshevism, Hoover retorted, "Twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed!"
After capably serving as Secretary of Commerce under Presidents Harding and Coolidge, Hoover became the Republican Presidential nominee in 1928. He said then: "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land." His election seemed to ensure prosperity. Yet within months the stock market crashed, and the Nation spiraled downward into depression. John Maynard Keynes Keynes became a celebrity before becoming one of the most respected economists of the century when his eloquent book The Economic Consequences of the Peace was published in 1919. Keynes wrote it to object to the punitive reparations payments imposed on Germany by the Allied countries after World War I. The amounts demanded by the Allies were so large, he wrote, that a Germany that tried to pay them would stay perpetually poor and, therefore, politically unstable. We now know that Keynes was right. Besides its excellent economic analysis of reparations, Keynes’s book contains an insightful analysis of the Council of Four. Keynes wrote: “The Council of Four paid no attention to these issues, being preoccupied with others—Clemenceau to crush the economic life of his enemy, Lloyd George to do a deal and bring home something which would pass muster for a week, the President to do nothing that was not just and right” Charles Dawes Charles Gates Dawes (August 27, 1865April 23, 1951) pursued two careers during his lifetime, one in business and finance, the other in public service. He was at the height of his fame in both in 1926 when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1925. He was the vicepresident of the United States; he had achieved worldwide recognition for his report on German reparations in 1924; he had a secure reputation as a financier. In 1902, turning over to his brothers the management of the utilities, he entered the third phase of his business career, that of banking. He founded and became president of the Central Trust Company of Illinois, often referred to as the «Dawes Bank», and spent virtually full time in its management until 1917. The comptrollership of the currency was Dawes's first official governmental position. President William McKinley, for whom he had acted as a fundraiser in the 1896 campaign, had appointed him in 1898, and in 1901 promised to support him as a candidate for the Senate from
Illinois. When McKinley was assassinated, Dawes, shorn of presidential support, withdrew his candidacy. Warren Harding A Democratic leader, William Gibbs McAdoo, called Harding's speeches "an army of pompous phrases moving across the landscape in search of an idea." Their very murkiness was effective, since Harding's pronouncements remained unclear on the League of Nations, in contrast to the impassioned crusade of the Democratic candidates, Governor James M. Cox of Ohio and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Thirtyone distinguished Republicans had signed a manifesto assuring voters that a vote for Harding was a vote for the League. But Harding interpreted his election as a mandate to stay out of the League of Nations. Republicans in Congress easily got the President's signature on their bills. They eliminated wartime controls and slashed taxes, established a Federal budget system, restored the high protective tariff, and imposed tight limitations upon immigration. By 1923 the postwar depression seemed to be giving way to a new surge of prosperity, and newspapers hailed Harding as a wise statesman carrying out his campaign promise"Less government in business and more business in government." Behind the facade, not all of Harding's Administration was so impressive. Word began to reach the President that some of his friends were using their official positions for their own enrichment. Alarmed, he complained, "My...friends...they're the ones that keep me walking the floors nights!" Albert Fall Albert Bacon Fall, (born Nov. 26, 1861, Frankfort, Ky., U.S.—died Nov. 30, 1944, El Paso, Texas), U.S. secretary of the interior under President Warren G. Harding; he was the first American to be convicted of a felony committed while holding a Cabinet post. Fall had little formal schooling but studied law and, after moving to New Mexico Territory, began to practice in 1889. After a lengthy political career in New Mexico, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1912, serving until his appointment as secretary of the interior in 1921. He resigned from the Cabinet two years later and returned to New Mexico. In 1924 a Senate investigation revealed that Fall had accepted a large bribe to lease to private oil interests, without competitive bidding, naval oil reserve lands in the Teapot Dome reserve in Wyoming and other reserves in California. He was convicted of bribery in 1929 and served nine months of a oneyear prison sentence.
John W. Davis In 1899 he was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates, and in 1910 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. From 1913 to 1918 he served as solicitor general of the United States, and he was one of Pres. Woodrow Wilson’s advisers at the Paris Peace Conference following World War I (1919). He also served as ambassador to Great Britain (1918–21), after which he accepted a partnership in a New York law firm. At the Democratic National Convention of 1924, neither the supporters of New York Gov. Alfred E. Smith nor those of the more traditional William G. McAdoo would yield their votes in order to settle on a presidential candidate. After 102 ballots the party compromised by choosing Davis, who went down to overwhelming defeat that fall before Republican Calvin Coolidge. Returning to private law practice, Davis appeared in many cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. The capstone of his career was his victory in 1952 when the Supreme Court ruled that Pres. Harry S. Truman had exceeded his constitutional powers in seizing control of the nation’s steel mills. Calvin Coolidge Acceding to the presidency upon Harding’s unexpected death (August 2, 1923), Coolidge took the oath of office from his father, a notary public, by the light of a kerosene lamp at 2:47 am on August 3 at the family home in Plymouth, Vermont. He inherited an administration mired in scandal. Cautiously, quietly, and skillfully, Coolidge rooted out the perpetrators and restored integrity to the executive branch. A model of personal rectitude himself, Coolidge convinced the American people that the presidency was once again in the hands of someone they could trust. The change of ambience in the White House did not miss the keen eye of Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, who said that the new White House was “as different as a New England front parlor is from a backroom in a speakeasy.” At the Republican convention in 1924 Coolidge was nominated virtually without opposition. Running on the slogan “Keep Cool with Coolidge,” he won a landslide victory over conservative Democrat John W. Davis and Progressive Party candidate Robert La Follette, gaining about 54 percent of the popular vote to Davis’s 29 percent and La Follette’s nearly 17
percent; in the electoral college Coolidge received 382 votes to Davis’s 136 and La Follette’s 13. Coolidge, Calvin: Calvin Coolidge and Charles Lindbergh discussing Lindbergh’s historic flight. Coolidge was famous for being a man of few but wellchosen words. Despite his reputation, “Silent Cal,” as he was called, had a keen sense of humour, and he could be talkative in private family settings. His wit was displayed in a characteristic exchange with a Washington, D.C., hostess, who told him, “You must talk to me, Mr. President. I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you.” Coolidge replied, “You lose.” Alfred E. Smith Although few believed Smith had a chance in the gubernatorial race the following year, he was elected by a narrow margin. He proved an extraordinary vote getter, though he lost the governorship in the Republican landslide of 1920. He was again elected governor in 1923 and served three more terms until 1928. As governor he fought for adequate housing, improved factory laws, proper care of the mentally ill, child welfare, and state parks. He effected a reorganization of the state government on a consolidated, businesslike basis and repeatedly demonstrated his leadership by forcing Republican legislatures to accept his recommendations. Smith was the first Roman Catholic to receive serious consideration as a candidate for the presidency of the United States. His religion, combined with his opposition to Prohibition, resulted in a prolonged deadlock with William G. McAdoo, the “dry” candidate, at the Democratic National Convention of 1924. Neither candidate was nominated. Four years later, Smith’s name was again placed in nomination and he won on the first ballot. A champion of urban America, he carried on an aggressive campaign as the “Happy Warrior” and presented a picturesque figure with his brown derby hat, cigar, and colourful speech as his trademarks and “The Sidewalks of New York” as his theme song. The rural districts of the West and the South combined to ensure his defeat by the conservative Republican, Herbert Hoover. Eleanor Roosevelt During her 12 years as first lady, the unprecedented breadth of Eleanor’s activities and her advocacy of liberal causes made her nearly as controversial a figure as her husband. She instituted regular White House press conferences for women correspondents, and wire services that had not formerly employed women were forced to do so in order to have a representative
present in case important news broke. In deference to the president’s infirmity, she helped serve as his eyes and ears throughout the nation, embarking on extensive tours and reporting to him on conditions, programs, and public opinion. These unusual excursions were the butt of some criticism and “Eleanor jokes” by her opponents, but many people responded warmly to her compassionate interest in their welfare. Beginning in 1936 she wrote a daily syndicated newspaper column, “My Day.” A widely soughtafter speaker at political meetings and at various institutions, she showed particular interest in child welfare, housing reform, and equal rights for women and racial minorities. In 1939, when the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to let Marian Anderson, an African American opera singer, perform in Constitution Hall, Eleanor resigned her membership in the DAR and arranged to hold the concert at the nearby Lincoln Memorial; the event turned into a massive outdoor celebration attended by 75,000 people. On another occasion, when local officials in Alabama insisted that seating at a public meeting be segregated by race, Eleanor carried a folding chair to all sessions and carefully placed it in the centre aisle. Her defense of the rights of African Americans, youth, and the poor helped to bring groups into government that formerly had been alienated from the political process. Harry Hopkins Hopkins was a social worker in New York City through the 1920s. In response to the pressing needs arising in the economic depression stemming from the stock market crash of 1929, Hopkins was appointed (1931) executive director (later chairman) of the New York State Temporary Emergency Relief Administration established by Roosevelt, then governor. When Roosevelt became president (1933), he brought Hopkins with him to the nation’s capital. In his new post as administrator of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, he combined crusading moral fervour with executive ability. Heavy Democratic victories in the 1934 elections encouraged Hopkins to pressure the president to recommend extensive reforms in the program the following year—including the introduction of the Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA), which he directed. While opponents heaped scorn upon Hopkins for what they termed a gigantic giveaway program to earn votes, millions of Americans were put to work on a wide range of public projects. With enormous zest and dedication, Hopkins had by 1938 directed the spending of more than $8,500,000,000 for unemployment relief, aiding some 15,000,000 people, with the record marred by only a few insignificant scandals. In this period, he also served on the president’s Drought Committee, the Committee on Economic Security, the National Emergency Council, and the National Resources Planning Board and headed the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation.
Father Charles Coughlin Coughlin was the son of a Great Lakes seaman and a seamstress. He was raised in the port town of Hamilton and educated at St. Michael’s College in Toronto. He seriously considered entering politics but finally chose the priesthood, and he was ordained in Detroit in 1923. In 1926 he became pastor of the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan, and in 1930 experimented with the new medium of radio, broadcasting sermons and talks to children in 1930. His political and economic interests began to appear and he soon was attacking Pres. Herbert Hoover and supporting Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt upon his election in 1932. Coughlin rapidly gained listeners. Gradually he began expressing reactionary views that were increasingly antiNew Deal and larded with antiSemitic rhetoric. He turned on Roosevelt, and a magazine he had founded, Social Justice, carried shrill attacks on communism, Wall Street, and Jews. The magazine was banned from the mails for violating the Espionage Act and ceased publication in 1942. In the same year, the Catholic hierarchy ordered him to stop broadcasting. Francis Townsend Dr. Townsend published his plan in a Long Beach, California newspaper, as a kind of extended "Letter to the Editor," in early 1933. He was surprised by the swift and massive response the letter generated. Townsend had tapped a major social problem in America (poverty among the elderly) and the nation was crying out for a solution. Townsend's letter led to the formation of an organization and the development of a formal Plan. The Plan was then published as a pamphlet and distributed throughout America. Townsend fully expected Roosevelt to endorse his plan. Roosevelt, like most establishment figures of the era, saw the Townsend Plan as irresponsible and unworkable. Indeed, there is some evidence that Roosevelt was prodded to introduce his Social Security proposal to counter the growing influence of the Townsend Plan. Townsend and his followers were bitterly disappointed with Social Security because it did not promise immediate payments in 1935, because the benefits Social Security promised were small compared to the $200 per month that Townsend wanted, and because people had to work under the Social Security program to earn a payment.
Huey P. Long In spite of an impoverished background, young Long managed to obtain enough formal schooling to pass the bar examination in 1915. He was politically ambitious and won election to the state railroad commission at age 25. In this post his calls for the equitable regulation of the state utility companies and his attacks on Standard Oil earned him widespread popularity. He ran for the Louisiana governorship in 1924 and was defeated, but in 1928 he won the governorship through the heavy support of the discontented rural districts. His picturesque if irreverent speech, fiery oratory, and unconventional buffoonery soon made him nationally famous, and he was widely known by his nickname, “Kingfish.” Long made a genuine contribution with an ambitious program of public works and welfare legislation in a state whose road system and social services had been sadly neglected by the wealthy elite that had long controlled the state government. Always the champion of poor whites, he effected a freetextbook law, launched a massive and very useful program of road and bridge building, expanded state university facilities, and erected a state hospital where free treatment for all was intended. He was opposed to excessive privileges for the rich, and he financed his improvements with increased inheritance and income taxes as well as a severance tax on oil—earning him the bitter enmity of the wealthy and of the oil interests. Long’s folksy manner and sympathy for the underprivileged diverted attention from his ruthless autocratic methods. Surrounding himself with gangster like bodyguards, he dictated outright to members of the legislature, using intimidation if necessary. When he was about to leave office to serve in the U.S. Senate (1932), he fired the legally elected lieutenant governor and replaced him with two designated successors who would obey him from Washington. In order to fend off local challenges to his control in 1934, he effected radical changes in the Louisiana government, abolishing local government and taking personal control of all educational, police, and fire job appointments throughout the state. He achieved absolute control of the state militia, judiciary, and election and taxassessing apparatus, while denying citizens any legal or electoral redress. Frances Perkins until 1912 she was executive secretary of the Consumers’ League of New York. In that position she lobbied successfully for improved wages and working conditions, especially for women and children. From 1912 to 1917 she was executive secretary of the New York Committee on Safety and from 1917 to 1919 executive director of the New York Council of
Organization for War Service. She was appointed in 1919 to New York’s State Industrial Commission by Governor Alfred E. Smith, and in 1923 she was named to the State Industrial Board, of which she became chairman in 1926. Smith’s successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, appointed Perkins state industrial commissioner in 1929. She was, both before and after the onset of the Great Depression of the 1930s, a strong advocate of unemployment insurance and close government supervision of fiscal policy. When Roosevelt entered the presidency in 1933 he named Perkins secretary of labor, making her the first woman to serve in a cabinet position. After the initial controversy of her appointment died away she settled into a 12year term of effective administration of her department. She pushed for a minimum wage and maximum workweek, a limit on employment of children under 16, creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps, and unemployment compensation—all of which were enacted. She helped draft the Social Security Act and supervised the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938). When the focus of labour activity shifted in the late 1930s from government to unions, Perkins played a less visible role. Her most important work was then the building up of the Department of Labor, particularly the strengthening of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mary McLeod Bethune Mary McLeod was the daughter of former slaves. She graduated from Scotia Seminary (now BarberScotia College) in Concord, North Carolina, in 1893 and from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in 1895. She married Albertus L. Bethune in 1898, and until 1903 she taught in a succession of small Southern schools. In 1904 Bethune moved to the east coast of Florida, where a large African American population had grown up at the time of the construction of the Florida East Coast Railway, and in Daytona Beach, in October, she opened a school of her own, the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls. Having virtually no tangible assets with which to start, she worked tirelessly to build a schoolhouse, solicit help and contributions, and enlist the goodwill of both the African American and white communities. In 1923 the school was merged with the Cookman Institute for Men, then in Jacksonville, Florida, to form what was known from 1929 as BethuneCookman College in Daytona Beach. Bethune remained president of the college until 1942 and again from 1946 to 1947. Under her administration the college won full accreditation and grew to an enrollment of more than 1,000. Robert Wagner
Wagner quickly abandoned law for Democratic Party politics. Starting as a ward heeler for Tammany Hall, he moved up the ranks until in 1904 he won a seat in the New York State Assembly. Four years later he was elected to the state senate. It was in the New York Senate—especially as an outgrowth of his investigation into industrial working conditions in New York City—that Wagner first won renown as a leader in formulating social legislation. From 1919 to 1926 Wagner served as a justice of the New York Supreme Court. In 1926 he ran successfully for the U.S. Senate, a position to which he would be reelected three times. During his first term Wagner introduced legislation to assist labour and the unemployed, but his initiatives were rebuffed. Not until the advent of the New Deal did Wagner’s legislative proposals become law. He helped draft the National Industrial Recovery Act (1933), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration bill (1933), and the law establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps (1933). An ally of President Franklin Roosevelt, Wagner firmly believed in the government’s duty to take an active role in promoting the public good. In 1935 Wagner sponsored two major pieces of New Deal legislation: the Social Security Act (enacted 1936) and the National Labor Relations Act (better known as the Wagner Act). The latter bill established the National Labor Relations Board, guaranteed workers the right to bargain collectively without jeopardizing their jobs, and outlawed a number of unfair labour practices. In 1937 the WagnerSteagall Act created the United States Housing Authority, an agency to provide loans for lowcost public housing. James Braddock A merican world heavyweight boxing champion from June 13, 1935, when he outpointed Max Baer in 15 rounds at the Long Island City Bowl in New York City, until June 22, 1937, when he was knocked out by Joe Louis in Chicago. Joe Louis American boxer who was world heavyweight champion from June 22, 1937, when he knocked out James J. Braddock in eight rounds in Chicago, until March 1, 1949, when he briefly retired. During his reign, the longest in the history of any weight division, he successfully defended his title 25 times, more than any other champion in any division, scoring 21 knockouts.
Key Terms Hoovervilles During the 1928 presidential campaign, Hoover said, “We are nearer today to the ideal of the abolition of poverty and fear from the lives of men and women than ever before in any land.” One year later the Stock Market Crash of 1929 plunged the country into the worst economic collapse in its history. President Hoover parted ways with those leaders of the Republican Party—including Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon—who believed there was nothing for the government to do but wait for the next phase of the business cycle. Hoover took prompt action. He called business leaders to the White House to urge them not to lay off workers or cut wages. He urged state and local governments to join private charities in caring for Americans made destitute by the Depression. He asked Congress to appropriate money for publicworks projects to expand government employment. In 1931 he backed creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC, established 1932), a largescale lending institution intended to help banks and industries and thereby promote a general recovery. The nation’s economy failed to respond to Hoover’s initiatives. As the Depression worsened, banks and other businesses collapsed and poverty stalked the land, and the American people began to blame Hoover for the calamity. The homeless began calling their shantytowns “Hoovervilles.” Demands rose for greater government action, especially direct relief payments to the most impoverished of the millions of unemployed. Believing that a dole would prove addictive, sapping the will of Americans to provide for themselves, Hoover adamantly opposed direct federal relief payments to individuals. He was also a firm believer in a balanced budget, unwilling to plunge the federal government into massive debt through a welfare program. This is not to say that Hoover opposed assistance to those in need. Bonus Army Bonus Army camps gathering of 12,000 to 15,000 World War I veterans who, with their wives and children, converged on Washington, D.C., in 1932, demanding immediate bonus payment for wartime services to alleviate the economic hardship of the Great Depression. Adjusted Compensation certificates, or bonuses, had been voted by Congress in 1924 but were not scheduled for full payment until 1945. In an effort to force early lumpsum payment of these urgently needed benefits, the Bonus Army, sometimes called the “Bonus Expeditionary Force,”
converged on the nation’s capital in the summer of 1932; they moved into abandoned shacks below the Capitol. Black Tuesday During the 1920s, the U.S. stock market underwent rapid expansion, reaching its peak in August 1929, a period of wild speculation. By then the production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stocks in great excess of their real value. Among the other causes of the eventual market collapse were low wages, the proliferation of debt, a weak agriculture, and an excess of large bank loans that could not be liquidated. Black Tuesday hits Wall Street as investors trade 16,410,030 shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors, and stock tickers ran hours behind because the machinery could not handle the tremendous volume of trading. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression. Brain Trust Brain Trust, also called Brains Trust, in U.S. history, group of advisers to Franklin D. Roosevelt during his first campaign for the presidency (1932). The term was coined by journalist John F. Kieran and gained national currency at once. Raymond Moley, Rexford G. Tugwell, and Adolph A. Berle, Jr., all professors at Columbia University, were the three principal members, although others served with them from time to time. Under the chairmanship of Moley, the Brain Trust presented Roosevelt with its thinking on economic and social problems facing the nation and helped him weigh the alternatives of public policy that would be open to the new president. It contributed suggestions and drafts for campaign speeches, all of which underwent considerable revision by Roosevelt. First One Hundred Days March 4, 1933, was perhaps the Great Depression's darkest hour. The stock market had plunged 85% from its high in 1929, and nearly onefourth of the workforce was unemployed. In
the cities, jobless men were lining up for soup and bread. In rural areas, farmers whose land was being foreclosed were talking openly of revolution. The crowd that gathered in front of the Capitol that day to watch Franklin D. Roosevelt's Inauguration had all but given up on America. They were, a reporter observed, "as silent as a group of mourners around a grave." Roosevelt's Inaugural Address was a pitchperfect combination of optimism ("The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"), consolation (the nation's problems "concern, thank God, only material things") and resolve ("This nation asks for action, and action now"). The speech won rave reviews. Even the rockribbed Republican Chicago Tribune lauded its "dominant note of courageous confidence." F.D.R. had buoyed the spirits of the American people — and nearly 500,000 of them wrote to him at the White House in the following week to tell him so. Hours after the Inauguration, Roosevelt made history in a more behindthescenes way. He gathered his Cabinet in his White House office and had Justice Benjamin Cardozo swear them in as a group, the first time that had ever been done. F.D.R. joked that he was doing it so they could "receive an extra day's pay," but the real reason was that he wanted his team to get to work immediately. And that team came through brilliantly. In the next 100 days — O.K., 105, but who's counting? — his Administration shepherded 15 major bills through Congress. It was the most intense period of lawmaking ever undertaken by Congress — a "presidential barrage of ideas and programs," historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. observed, "unlike anything known to American history." During the Hundred Days, F.D.R. took the country in a whole new direction. The 1932 election had been, in the words of President Herbert Hoover, not a "contest between two men" but one between "two philosophies of government." Hoover believed in small government and letting the free market operate. The Federal Government that Hoover presided over was stunningly limited in scope. Its entire budget was — fiscal conservatives, read it and weep — under $4 billion. Even as the U.S. endured the worst depression in its history, Hoover argued that the answers lay in unfettered capitalism and private charity. Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was the name given to the Great Plains region devastated by drought in 1930s depressionridden America. The 150,000squaremile area, encompassing the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring sections of Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico, has little rainfall, light soil, and high winds, a potentially destructive combination. When drought struck from 1934 to 1937, the soil lacked the stronger root system of grass as an anchor, so the winds easily picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds, called “black blizzards.” Recurrent dust storms wreaked havoc, choking cattle and pasture lands and driving 60 percent of the population from the region. Most of these “exodusters” went to agricultural areas first and then to cities, especially in the Far West.
Fireside Chats President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took office in early 1933, would become the only president in American history to be elected to four consecutive terms. He would lead his nation through two of the greatest crises in its history—the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II (193945)—and would exponentially expand the role of the federal government through his New Deal reform program and its legacy. From March 1933 to June 1944, Roosevelt addressed the American people in some 30 speeches broadcast via radio, speaking on a variety of topics from banking to unemployment to fighting fascism in Europe. Millions of people found comfort and renewed confidence in these speeches, which became known as the “fireside chats.” Legislative Acts GlassSteagall Banking Reform Act The GlassSteagall Act also created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guaranteed bank deposits up to a specified limit. The Act also created the Federal Open Market Committee and introduced Regulation Q, which prohibited banks from paying interest on demand deposits and capped interest rates on other deposit products. The GlassSteagall Act's primary objectives were twofold – to stop the unprecedented run on banks and restore public confidence in the U.S. banking system; and to sever the linkages between commercial and investment banking that were believed to have been responsible for the 1929 market crash. The rationale for seeking the separation was the conflict of interest that arose when banks were engaged in both commercial and investment banking, and the tendency of such banks to engage in excessively speculative activity. The GlassSteagall Act's repeal in 1999 is believed in some circles to have contributed to the 2008 global credit crisis. Commercial banks, around the world, were saddled with billions of dollars in losses due to the excessive exposure of their investment banking arms to derivatives and securities that were tied to U.S. home prices. Civilian Conservation Corps Formed in March 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps, CCC, was one of the first New Deal programs. It was a public works project intended to promote environmental conservation and to
build good citizens through vigorous, disciplined outdoor labor. Close to the heart of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the CCC combined his interests in conservation and universal service for youth. He believed that this civilian “tree army” would relieve the rural unemployed and keep youth “off the city street corners.” The CCC operated under the army’s control. Camp commanders had disciplinary powers and corpsmen were required to address superiors as “sir.” By September 1935 over 500,000 young men had lived in CCC camps, most staying from six months to a year. The work focused on soil conservation and reforestation. Most important, the men planted millions of trees on land made barren from fires, natural erosion, or lumbering—in fact, the CCC was responsible for over half the reforestation, public and private, done in the nation’s history. Corpsmen also dug canals and ditches, built over thirty thousand wildlife shelters, stocked rivers and lakes with nearly a billion fish, restored historic battlefields, and cleared beaches and campgrounds. National Recovery Administration National Recovery Administration (NRA), National Recovery Administration [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]U.S. government agency established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to stimulate business recovery through fairpractice codes during the Great Depression. The NRA was an essential element in the National Industrial Recovery Act (June 1933), which authorized the president to institute industrywide codes intended to eliminate unfair trade practices, reduce unemployment, establish minimum wages and maximum hours, and guarantee the right of labour to bargain collectively. The agency ultimately established 557 basic codes and 208 supplementary codes that affected about 22 million workers. Companies that subscribed to the NRA codes were allowed to display a Blue Eagle emblem, symbolic of cooperation with the NRA. Although the codes were hastily drawn and overly complicated and reflected the interests of big business at the expense of the consumer and small businessman, they nevertheless did improve labour conditions in some industries and also aided the unionization movement. The NRA ended when it was invalidated by the Supreme Court in 1935, but many of its provisions were included in subsequent legislation. Agricultural Adjustment Administration Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), 1933 in American history, major New Deal program to restore agricultural prosperity by curtailing farm production, reducing export surpluses, and raising prices. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (May 1933) was an omnibus farmrelief bill embodying the schemes of the major national farm organizations. It established
the Agricultural Adjustment Administration under Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace to effect a “domestic allotment” plan that would subsidize producers of basic commodities for cutting their output. Its goal was the restoration of prices paid to farmers for their goods to a level equal in purchasing power to that of 1909–14, which was a period of comparative stability. In addition, the Commodity Credit Corporation, with a crop loan and storage program, was established to make pricesupporting loans and purchases of specific commodities. Although benefit payments to farmers totaled $1,500,000,000 by 1936, a rise in commodity prices was attributable mainly to severe drought conditions in 1933–36. In spite of its limited achievements, the early AAA program was favoured by most farmers. The Supreme Court declared the act unconstitutional in 1936, and Congress passed new agricultural legislation two years later based on the soil conservation concept. While farmers’ cash income doubled between 1932 and 1936, it took the enormous demands of World War II to reduce the accumulated farm surpluses and to increase farm income significantly. Tennessee Valley Authority U.S. government agency established in 1933 to control floods, improve navigation, improve the living standards of farmers, and produce electrical power along the Tennessee River and its tributaries. The Tennessee River was subject to severe periodic flooding, and navigation along the river’s middle course was interrupted by a series of shoals at Muscle Shoals, Ala. In 1933 the U.S. Congress passed a bill establishing the TVA, thus consolidating all the activities of the various government agencies in the area and placing them under the control of a single one. A massive program of building dams, hydroelectric generating stations, and floodcontrol projects ensued. The fusion of a broad range of specific powers with a sense of social responsibility to the region made the TVA significant as a prototype of naturalresource planning. Its jurisdiction is generally limited to the drainage basin of the Tennessee River, which covers parts of seven states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The TVA is a public corporation governed by a board of three directors appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. The constitutionality of the TVA was immediately challenged upon the agency’s establishment, but it was upheld by the Supreme Court in the case of Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority (1936) and in later decisions. Social Security Act Original U.S. legislation establishing a permanent national oldage pension system through employer and employee contributions; the system was later extended to include
dependents, the disabled, and other groups. Responding to the economic impact of the Great Depression, five million old people in the early 1930s joined nationwide Townsend clubs, promoted by Francis E. Townsend to support his program demanding a $200 monthly pension for everyone over the age of 60. In 1934 Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt set up a committee on economic security to consider the matter; after studying its recommendations, Congress in 1935 enacted the Social Security Act, providing oldage benefits to be financed by a payroll tax on employers and employees. Railroad employees were covered separately under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1934. The Social Security Act has been periodically amended, expanding the types of coverage, bringing progressively more workers into the system, and adjusting both taxes and benefits in an attempt to keep pace with inflation. Wagner Act Sponsored by Democratic Sen. Robert F. Wagner of New York, the Wagner Act established the federal government as the regulator and ultimate arbiter of labour relations. It set up a permanent threemember (later fivemember) National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with the power to hear and resolve labour disputes through quasijudicial proceedings. Specifically, the NLRB was empowered to decide, when petitioned by employees, if an appropriate bargaining unit of employees existed for collective bargaining; to conduct secretballot elections in which the employees in a business or industry could decide whether to be represented by labour unions; and to prevent or correct unfair labour practices by employers (later also by unions). The act prohibited employers from engaging in such unfair labour practices as setting up a company union and firing or otherwise discriminating against workers who organized or joined unions. The act also barred employers from refusing to bargain with any such union that had been certified by the NLRB as being the choice of a majority of employees. Fiercely opposed by Republicans and big business, the Wagner Act was challenged in court as a violation of the “freedom of contract” of employers and employees and as an unconstitutional intrusion by the federal government in industries that were not directly engaged in interstate commerce, which Congress was empowered to regulate under the commerce clause (Article I, section 8). Fair Labor Standards Ac t The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. Covered nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Overtime pay at a rate not less than one and onehalf times the
regular rate of pay is required after 40 hours of work in a workweek. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Many states also have minimum wage laws. In cases where an employee is subject to both state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher minimum wage. Covered nonexempt employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 per workweek (any fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24hour periods) at a rate not less than one and onehalf times the regular rate of pay. There is no limit on the number of hours employees 16 years or older may work in any workweek. The FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on weekends, holidays, or regular days of rest, unless overtime is worked on such days. Hours worked ordinarily include all the time during which an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace. Employers must display an official poster outlining the requirements of the FLSA. Employers must also keep employee time and pay records. These provisions are designed to protect the educational opportunities of minors and prohibit their employment in jobs and under conditions detrimental to their health or wellbeing. Agricultural Marketing Act The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929, under the administration of Herbert Hoover, established the Federal Farm Board from the Federal Farm Loan Board established by the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 with a revolving fund of half a billion dollars.[1] The original act was sponsored by Hoover in an attempt to stop the downward spiral of crop prices by seeking to buy, sell and store agricultural surpluses or by generously lending money to farm organizations. Money was lent out to the farmers in order to buy seed and food for the livestock, which was especially important since there had previously been a drought in the Democratic South. However, Hoover refused to lend to the farmers themselves, as he thought that it would be unconstitutional to do so and if they were lent money, they would become dependent on government money. HawleySmoot Tariff1930 The SmootHawley Tariff Act raised the United States’s already high tariff rates. In 1922 Congress had enacted the FordneyMcCumber Act, which was among the most punitive protectionist tariffs passed in the country’s history, raising the average import tax to some 40 percent. The FordneyMcCumber tariff prompted retaliation from European governments but did little to dampen U.S. prosperity. Throughout the 1920s, however, as European farmers recovered from World War I and their American counterparts faced intense competition and declining prices because of overproduction, U.S. agricultural interests lobbied the federal government for protection against agricultural imports.
In his 1928 campaign for the presidency, Republican candidate Herbert Hoover promised to increase tariffs on agricultural goods, but after he took office lobbyists from other economic sectors encouraged him to support a broader increase. Although an increase in tariffs was supported by most Republicans, an effort to raise import duties failed in 1929, largely because of opposition from centrist Republicans in the U.S. Senate. In response to the stock market crash of 1929, however, protectionism gained strength, and, though the tariff legislation subsequently passed only by a narrow margin (44–42) in the Senate, it passed easily in the House of Representatives. Despite a petition from more than 1,000 economists urging him to veto the legislation, Hoover signed the bill into law on June 17, 1930.
McNaryHaugen Bill The McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Act, which never became law, was a controversial plan in the 1920s to subsidize American agriculture by raising the domestic prices of farm products. The plan was for the government to buy the wheat, and either store it or export it at a loss. It was coauthored by Charles L. McNary (ROregon) and Gilbert N. Haugen (RIowa). Despite attempts in 1924, 1926, 1927, and 1928 to pass the bill — it was vetoed by President Calvin Coolidge, and never approved. It was supported by thenSecretary of Agriculture Henry C. Wallace and even Vice President Charles Dawes. According to the bill, a federal agency would be created to support and protect domestic farm prices by attempting to maintain price levels that existed before the First World War. By purchasing surpluses and selling them overseas, the federal government would take losses that would be paid for through fees against farm producers. Dawes Plan Dawes Plan, arrangement for Germany’s payment of reparations after World War I. On the initiative of the British and U.S. governments, a committee of experts, presided over by an American financier, Charles G. Dawes, produced a report on the question of German reparations for presumed liability for World War I. The report was accepted by the Allies and by Germany on Aug. 16, 1924. No attempt was made to determine the total amount of reparations to be paid, but payments were to begin at 1,000,000,000 gold marks in the first year and rise to
2,500,000,000 by 1928. The plan provided for the reorganization of the Reichsbank and for an initial loan of 800,000,000 marks to Germany. The Dawes Plan seemed to work so well that by 1929 it was believed that the stringent controls over Germany could be removed and total reparations fixed. This was done by the Young Plan. KelloggBriand Pact Hoping to tie the United States into a system of protective alliances directed against a possible resurgence of German aggression, the French foreign minister, Aristide Briand, first suggested a bilateral nonaggression pact in the spring of 1927. The U.S. secretary of state, Frank B. Kellogg, prodded by the American “outlawry of war” movement and supported by those who were disappointed at the failure of the United States to join the League of Nations, proposed that the pact be converted into a general multilateral treaty, which the French accepted. As a result of Kellogg’s proposal, nearly all the nations of the world eventually subscribed to the KelloggBriand Pact, agreeing to renounce war as an instrument of national policy and to settle all international disputes by peaceful means. The signatories allowed themselves a great variety of qualifications and interpretations, however, so that the pact would not prohibit, for example, wars of selfdefense or certain military obligations arising from the League Covenant, the Monroe Doctrine, or postwar treaties of alliance. These conditions, in addition to the treaty’s failure to establish a means of enforcement, rendered the agreement completely ineffective.
FordneyMcCumber Tariff Law The Fordney–McCumber Tariff of 1922 was a law that raised American tariffs on many imported goods in order to protect factories and farms. Congress displayed a probusiness attitude in passing the tariff and in promoting foreign trade through providing huge loans to
Europe, which in turn bought more American goods.[1] The Roaring Twenties brought a period of sustained economic prosperity with an end to the Depression of 1920–21; the prosperity ended in late 1929, and the tariff was revised in 1930.
Reconstruction Finance Corporation Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), U.S. government agency established by Congress on January 22, 1932, to provide financial aid to railroads, financial institutions, and business corporations. With the passage of the Emergency Relief Act in July 1932, its scope was broadened to include aid to agriculture and financing for state and local public works. The RFC made little use of its powers under the Herbert Hoover administration but was more vigorously utilized during the New Deal years and contributed greatly to the recovery effort. During World War II the agency was enormously expanded in order to finance the construction and operation of war plants and to make loans to foreign governments. The RFC was intended to be an independent, nonpolitical agency, and during its early years it operated without much interference. As the functions of the RFC grew, however, and as it began to assume responsibility for disbursing huge sums of money, it tended to become involved in politics. Beginning in 1948 various congressional investigations of the RFC revealed widespread corruption, and, on the recommendation of the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, the agency was reorganized in 1952. The RFC was finally dismantled under the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration, which sought to limit government involvement in the economy. The 1953 RFC Liquidation Act terminated its lending powers, and by 1957 its remaining functions had been transferred to other agencies. NorrisLaguardia AntiInjunction Act Passed in 1932 that removed certain legal and judicial barriers against the activities of organized labour in the United States. The act declared that the members of labour unions should have “full freedom of association” undisturbed by employers. The act also barred the federal courts from issuing injunctions to prevent strikes, picketing, or boycotts by labour groups and prohibited “yellowdog” contracts. Previously, employers could, as a condition of employment,
require employees to sign an agreement pledging that they would not join a union. If the workers did join a union after signing such a document, they were fired. The Norris–Laguardia Act was co sponsored in Congress by George Norris and Fiorello La Guardia. It was passed during the depths of the Great Depression, when public opinion had shifted both against employers who sought to prevent workers from joining unions and against judges who used the power of the courts to limit normal union activities. The act was a precursor to the more sweeping Wagner Act of 1935. Nine Power Treaty A 1922 treaty affirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China as per the Open Door Policy. This was after the Suzerainty system fell apart after the Western invasions of the Opium Wars, that outlawed the Chinese "Closed Door Policy" into China of the former Imperial Qing dynasty. The NinePower Treaty was signed on 6 February 1922 by all of the attendees to the Washington Naval Conference: the United States, Belgium, the British Empire, Republic of China, France, Italy, Imperial Japan, the Netherlands, and Portugal.
Federal Emergency Relief Act Mrs. Roosevelt passed Sanford's request on to an administrator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) in Washington, D.C., who dutifully advised Sanford to contact her local emergency relief administrator in Chicago for assistance. The Great Depression was one of the most important events of the mid20th century, an economic catastrophe that touched all facets of American society. It devastated personal finances (including incomes and investments), drastically restricted national revenue and international trade, and caused unemployment to skyrocket. Such an allencompassing event changed family narratives as well. As with any major historical event—and especially those of a decidedly traumatic nature—how relatives responded to or weathered the crisis of the Great Depression formed an essential aspect of family history. The efforts of the federal government to counteract the Depression through the various programs
of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal—and in particular the work of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration during the depths of the Depression—produced many records that document such personal experiences, offering useful information about individuals and family members at a dramatic moment in history. Homeowners Refinancing Act An Act of Congress of the United States passed as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression to help those in danger of losing their homes.[1] The act, which went into effect on June 13, 1933, provided mortgage assistance to homeowners or wouldbe homeowners by providing them money or refinancing mortgages. Sponsored by Senate Majority leader Joe Robinson of Arkansas, it also created the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), building off of Herbert Hoover's Federal Loan Bank Board. The Corporation lent lowinterest money to families in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. By the mid1930s, the HOLC had refinanced nearly 20% of urban homes in the country .
Public Works Administration New Deal government agency (1933–39) designed to reduce unemployment and increase purchasing power through the construction of highways and public buildings. Authorized by the National Industrial Recovery Act (June 1933), the agency was set up by President Franklin D. Roosevelt under the administration of his secretary of the interior, Harold L. Ickes. During its existence, the PWA spent about $4 billion in the construction of more than 70 percent of the nation's new educational buildings; 65 percent of its new courthouses, city halls, and sewagedisposal plants; 35 percent of its new publichealth facilities; and 10 percent of all new roads, bridges, and subways. As the nation moved into a war economy, beginning in 1939, the PWA was gradually liquidated.
Federal Securities Act The Securities Act of 1933 was the first major piece of federal legislation regarding the sale of securities. Prior to this legislation, the sale of securities was primarily governed by state laws; however, the market crash of 1929 raised some serious questions about the effectiveness of how the markets were being governed. Because of the turmoil surrounding the investing community at this time, the federal government had to bring back stability and investor confidence in the overall system. In general, the legislation was enacted as the need for more information within and about the securities markets was acknowledged. The legislation addressed the need for better disclosure by requiring companies to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration ensures companies provide the SEC and potential investors with all relevant information by means of the prospectus and registration statement. Securities Exchange Act The Securities and Exchange Commission was established in 1934 to regulate the commerce in stocks, bonds, and other securities. After the October 29, 1929, stock market crash, reflections on its cause prompted calls for reform. Controls on the issuing and trading of securities were virtually nonexistent, allowing for any number of frauds and other schemes. Further, the unreported concentration of controlling stock interests in a very few hands led to the abuses of power that the free exchange of stock supposedly eliminated.
Beer and Wine Revenue Act President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Beer and Wine Revenue Act. This law levies a federal tax on all alcoholic beverages to raise revenue for the federal government and gives individual states the option to further regulate the sale and distribution of beer and wine. With
the passage of the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act in 1919, temperance advocates in the U.S. finally achieved their long soughtafter goal of prohibiting the sale of alcohol or “spirits.” Together, the new laws prohibited the manufacture, sale or transportation of liquor and ushered in the era known as “Prohibition,” defining an alcoholic beverage as anything containing over 0.5 percent alcohol by volume. President Woodrow Wilson had unsuccessfully tried to veto the Volstead Act, which set harsh punishments for violating the 18th Amendment and endowed the Internal Revenue Service with unprecedented regulatory and enforcement powers. In the end, Prohibition proved difficult and expensive to enforce and actually increased illegal trafficking without cutting down on consumption. In one of his first addresses to Congress as president, FDR announced his intention to modify the Volstead Act with the Beer and Wine Revenue Act. No fan of temperance himself, FDR had developed a taste for alcohol when he attended New York cocktail parties as a budding politician. (While president, FDR refused to fire his favorite personal valet for repeated drunkenness on the job.) FDR considered the new law “of the highest importance” for its potential to generate muchneeded federal funds and included it in a sweeping set of New Deal policies designed to vault the U.S. economy out of the Great Depression. 21st Amendment In February 1933, Congress adopted a resolution proposing the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which repealed both the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act. The resolution required state conventions, rather than the state legislatures, to approve the amendment, effectively reducing the process to a onestate, onevote referendum rather than a popular vote contest. That December, Utah became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, achieving the necessary majority for repeal. A few states continued statewide prohibition after 1933, but by 1966 all of them had abandoned it. Since then, liquor control in the United States has largely been determined at the local level. Works Progress Administration During its eightyear existence, the WPA put some 8.5 million people to work (over 11 million were unemployed in 1934) at a cost to the federal government of approximately $11 billion. The agency’s construction projects produced more than 650,000 miles (1,046,000 km) of roads; 125,000 public buildings; 75,000 bridges; 8,000 parks; and 800 airports. The Federal Arts Project, Federal Writers’ Project, and Federal Theater Project—all under WPA aegis—employed thousands of artists, writers, and actors in such cultural programs as the creation of art work for
public buildings, the documentation of local life, and the organization of community theatres; thousands of artists, architects, construction workers, and educators found work in American museums, which flourished during the Great Depression. The WPA also sponsored the National Youth Administration, which sought parttime jobs for young people.
Federal Housing Administration When the Federal Housing Administration was established in 1934, it was intended to stimulate the housing industry. By providing insurance to lenders, the idea was that more people would be able to qualify for mortgages, and therefore, purchase a home. FHA loans are generally given to people who otherwise would be unable to qualify for a conventional home mortgage loan.
Fair Labor Standards Act The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. Covered nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Overtime pay at a rate not less than one and onehalf times the regular rate of pay is required after 40 hours of work in a workweek. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Many states also have minimum wage laws. In cases where an employee is subject to both state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher minimum wage.
Covered nonexempt employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 per workweek (any fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24hour periods) at a rate not less than one and onehalf times the regular rate of pay. There is no limit on the number of hours employees 16 years or older may work in any workweek. The FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on weekends, holidays, or regular days of rest, unless overtime is worked on such days. Hours worked ordinarily include all the time during which an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace. Employers must display an official poster outlining the requirements of the FLSA. Employers must also keep employee time and pay records. These provisions are designed to protect the educational opportunities of minors and prohibit their employment in jobs and under conditions detrimental to their health or wellbeing. United States Housing Authority The United States Housing Authority, or USHA, was a federal agency created during 1937 within the United States Department of the Interior by the Housing Act of 1937 as part of the New Deal. It was designed to lend money to the states or communities for lowcost construction.
Indian Reorganization Act Many of the Meriam report’s recommendations for reform were incorporated in the Indian Reorganization Act. The act curtailed the future allotment of tribal communal lands to individuals and provided for the return of surplus lands to the tribes rather than to homesteaders. It also encouraged written constitutions and charters giving Indians the power to manage their internal affairs. Finally, funds were authorized for the establishment of a revolving credit program for tribal land purchases, for educational assistance, and for aiding tribal organization. About 160 tribes or villages adopted written constitutions under the act’s provisions. Through the revolving credit fund, many Indians improved their economic position. With the funds for purchase of land, millions of additional acres were added to the reservations. Greatly improved staffs and services were provided in health and education, with more than half of all
Indian children in public school by 1950. The act awakened a wider interest in civic affairs, and Indians began asking for the franchise, which they had been technically granted in 1924. Civil Works Administration There were plenty of other opportunities for the unemployed in the New Deal. In the fall of 1933, Roosevelt authorized the Civil Works Administration. Also headed by Hopkins, this program employed 2.5 million in a month's time, and eventually grew to a multitudinous 4 million at its peak. Earning $15 per week, CWA workers tutored the illiterate, built parks, repaired schools, and constructed athletic fields and swimming pools. Some were even paid to rake leaves. Hopkins put about three thousand writers and artists on the payroll as well. There were plenty of jobs to be done, and while many scoffed at the makework nature of the tasks assigned, it provided vital relief during trying times.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The FDIC’s income is derived from assessments on insured banks and from investments. Insured banks are assessed on the basis of their average deposits; they are currently allowed prorata credits totaling twothirds of the annual assessments after deductions for losses and corporation expenses. The corporation is authorized to insure bank deposits in eligible banks up to a specified maximum amount that has been adjusted through the years. Having begun in 1934 with deposit insurance of $5,000 per account, in 1980 the FDIC had raised that amount to $100,000 for each deposit. From 1933, all members of the Federal Reserve System were required to insure their deposits, while nonmember banks—about half the United States total—were allowed to do so if they met FDIC standards. Almost all incorporated commercial banks in the United States participate in the plan. The FDIC is managed by a board of five directors who are appointed by the U.S. president; the five board positions are chairman, vice chairman, director, comptroller of the currency, and director of the Office of Thrift Supervision.
Adkins v. Children’s Hospital In Adkins v. Children's Hospital, the Supreme Court ruled that a minimum wage law for women violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment because it disrupted a citizen's right to freely contract labor. In 1918, D.C. passed a law setting a minimum wage for women and children laborers. It created a group to investigate current wages, come up with ideas on ideal wage levels, and ultimately set minimum wages. The law was designed to protect women and children’s health and morals, resulting from wages which are unable to maintain decent standards of living.
Court Packing Plan On February 5, 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt announces a controversial plan to expand the Supreme Court to as many as 15 judges, allegedly to make it more efficient. It was called the Court Packing Plan, as many critics believe Roosevelt was trying to pack the court to have a shot at passing his New Deal.
Schechter v. U.S. In 1935, Schechter v. United States, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a central piece of this New Deal legislation. In reviewing the conviction of the company for breaking the Live Poultry Code, the Court held that the code violated the Constitution's separation of powers because it was written by agents of the president with no genuine
congressional direction. The Court also held that a majority of the code exceeded the powers of Congress because the activities it policed were beyond what Congress could constitutionally regulate. U.S. v. CurtissWright In 1936, this court case upheld supremacy of executive branch to conduct foreign affairs. It also established principle of executive supremacy in national security, which was needed greatly during this time. And it upheld export limitations on the grounds of national security. This court case really set a precedent on how the United States would ultimately treat this war that was happening in Europe. And as we know, the US takes it very seriously and later on, it ultimately helps the United States in the long run when we do enter the war.
West Coast Hotel v. Parrish In this court case held in 1937, the minimum wage declared constitutional which really affects the people of the United States a lot today. This court case also effectively overturns Lochner’s decision. United States v. Butler The court case of United States v. Butler in 1936 declared the AAA unconstitutional because it attempted to regulate and control agricultural production, which was to be reserved for the states. This case also said that its tax benefitted one specific sector of society and not the entire thing.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/glass_steagall_act.asp http://www.britannica.com/ http://www.history.com/ https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2012/fall/fera.html