I. Harding and 20s politics

1. I. Harding and 20s politics • Weak President; “amiable boob” • Hoover and Mellon policies: tax cuts, credit buying for consumer goods • High tariff, weak ICC

2. Bad side of Harding years • Unions membership down; Farmers lost war markets, gained debt • Scandal: Attorney General Daugherty sold liquor permits • Interior Sec. Fall bribed sold oil reserves in Teapot Dome, Wyoming

3. Post war treaties • Kellogg – Briand Pact – agreement not to make war.

4. Describe Harding Economic advisors Economic policies Unions Farmers 4 power 5 power 9 power scandals

5. I. Coolidge • Harding died 1923 of pneumonia, stress? • “Silent” Calvin Coolidge – rural Vermont; old virtues • “America’s business is business; man who builds a factory builds a temple”

6. Election of 1924 • GOP – “Keep Cool with Coolidge” won • Demo divisions – urban/rural, wet/dry, n/s, immigrants/racists – corporate lawyer John Davis • Progressives – Fighting Bob Lafollette of Wisconsin – govtrr, aid for farmers, prolabor antimonopoly

7. Foreign policy • Isolationism and Latin • US owed $16b after WWI • Allies demanded reparations, $32b; Germany printed money, loaf of bread $120m • US loaned $ to Germany

8. review • What happened to Harding? • Who was the next President? What kind of fella? • What problems did Democrats have in 1924? Whom did they nominate? • Did anyone else run? What party? • How would you describe 20s foreign policy? • What was odd about debt repayments?

9. II. Hoover • 1928 Coolidge: “I choose not to run.” • GOP nominated Hoover: humanitarian, rags to riches, shy, rugged individualism • Demos nominated wet NY Irish Catholic Al Smith, the “Happy Warrior” : vote for Smith is vote for pope

10. prosperity • Agricultural Marketing Act – lend money to support cooperatives • Hawley-Smoot Tariff – highest in history – 60%, hurt world trade

11. Crash • Causes: speculation, buying on margin • Black Tuesday Oct 29, 1929 • $40b lost in two months • 12m unemployed, 5,000 bank failures: “for sleeping or jumping”

12. review • What kind of guy was Hoover? Smith? • What hurt Smith in the campaign? • What was Hoover’s politics? • Who was struggling in the 20s? • What did Hoover do for farmers? • What the heck happened with the tariff? • When did the Stock Market Crash? Why?

13. III. Depression • Causes: world trade, inequality, crash, credit buying, (ticc) • Soup kitchens, breadlines, apple sellers, Hoovervilles, bank runs • ¼ unemployment, 60% malnutrition, 5000 banks closed • Penny auctions

14. Hoover’s response • Quoted Cleveland: “people support govt…” • State/local/charities overwhelmed; Hoover tried to help business – RFC; fed pigs not people • Hoover Dam on Colorado River

15. End of Hoover • Bonus (BEF) army, 2 days of riots attacked by MacArthur with bayonets and tear gas • Japan attacked Manchuria, no Open Door • League didn’t act; no US

16. review • Name 4 causes of the Depression • Describe life in the Depression • What did Hoover do about the Depression? Why? • Who did Hoover help? • What did Japan invade? • What did the League of Nations do? Why?

17. IV. FDR’s New Deal • FDR’s polio – strong and compassionate, smooth-talking “traitor to his class.” • Eleanor – his conscience; straddled aisle at segregated meeting • Convention speech: “I pledge a new deal for the American people”

18. His ideas • Brain trust wrote speeches • “Happy Days are Here Again” – more optimistic than Hoover, who only got 6 states • Blacks to Democrats • Inaugural “only thing we have to fear is fear itself”

19. 3 r’s of the New Deal • Banking Holiday – stop runs • Hundred Days – many laws/try anything, usually progressive • 1. relief – ease suffering • 2. recovery – end Depression • 3. reform – no more Depressions

20. review • What sort of guy was Roosevelt? • What role did Eleanor play? • What did FDR promise at the convention? • How was he better than Hoover? • How did the black vote change? • What should we fear? • What were the 3 r’s of the New Deal? • How fast were many laws passed?

21. I. laws • Glass-Steagall FDIC – insures bank deposits • No gold standard – inflation, gold used internationally later • CCC – young men conservation – reforestation, firefighting, flood control, swamp drainage

22. More laws • FERA – Harry Hopkins - $3b to states • AAA – pay farmers not to farm; declared unconstitutional; 2nd 1938 • HOLC – Home Owners Loan Corporation • CWA – temporary jobs, make-work; boondoggling

23. demagogues • Father Coughlin – social justice, anti-semitic • Huey Long – “Share Our Wealth,” “Every Man a King;” assassinated 1935 • Charles Townsend – pensions, $200/month, gotta spend

24. review • FDIC • CCC • FERA • Harry Hopkins • AAA • HOLC • CWA • Huey Long • Father Couglin • Francis Townsend

25. II. More laws • WPA – Hopkins; public works: bridges, buildings, roads, art and writing projects– 9m jobs • NRA – National Recovery Administration – min. wage, max hrs, collective bargaining, blue eagle; declared unconst. In Schecter case

26. And more laws • PWA – public works act; Interior Sec. Harold Ickes – recovery • 34,000 buildings, highways, parkways • 21st amendment – tax $, good Demo politics

27. Impersonal forces • Dust Bowl – Dust Storms; Okies/Arkies, Grapes of Wrath; Soil conservation Act – plant soybeans or nothing • Indian Reorg Act 1934 – bring back tribes • SEC – Securities and Exchange Commission – regulate stock market

28. Whole buncha laws • FDIC • CCC • FERA • HOLC • CWA • 3 demagogues • NRA • AAA • WPA • PWA • Soil Conservation Act • Indian Reorg. Act • SEC

29. III. And more laws • TVA – Tennessee Valley Authority – cheap power and jobs in SE; • FHA – Federal Housing Administration – loans for housing; still exists • SSA – Social Security – pensions, unemployment, disability

30. Labor friendly government • Wagner Act (NLRA) set up the NLRB – protected collective bargaining. • John Lewis led CIO – Congress of Industrial Organization – used sit-down strike for unskilled workers; no scabs • Fair Labor Standards Act – 40 hr week, 40 cents/hr, no child labor, for most

31. A little Social Security humor 

32. politics • FDR dominated Alf Landon, 1936, 523 to 8 (MN and VT), took office in Jan (20th am.); Literary Digest mistake • Court-packing – FDR proposed adding 6 justices, to help those over 70: “switch in time that saved 9” – Owen Roberts

33. review • TVA • SSA • FHA • CIO • Wagner Act • NLRA • NLRB • Fair Labor Standards Act • 1936 election • Court-packing • “switch in time that saved 9

34. I. End of New Deal • Unemployment still 15% after much pump priming • Keynesianism – deficit spending to stimulate economy • 1937 inaugural (don’t write): “I see 1/3 of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished…The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

35. A little Keynsian humor

36. criticism • Condemned as “alphabet soup” and Jewish. • Federal government the largest business in U.S. • Debt doubled • Undermined work ethic • Still a depression • No civil rights

37. FDR’s defense • Govt prevented mass hunger and starvation • More equality • Self-respect for those helped • Saved free enterprise • Hamiltonian means for Jeffersonian ends

38. review • How much unemployment? • John Maynard Keynes • Keynesianism • Pump-priming • Criticisms • Defenses • Explain: “Hamiltonian means for Jeffersonian ends”

39. I. FDR’s foreign policy • US withdrew from London conference, fearing loss of control over currency • Tydings-McDuffie Act 1934: Phillipine independence in 12 years • Recognized Soviet Union

40. Improving relations • Good Neighbor policy to Latin America: troops out of Haiti, stayed out of Cuba, didn’t retaliate for Mexican oil nationalization. • Reciprocal trade agreement: lowered tariff on 21 countries who did the same.

41. Ignoring Dictators • Nazi Germany rearmed, Japan built up navy, and Italy invaded Ethiopia without consequence. • Neutrality Acts: No American could sail on belligerent ship, sell munitions or make loan to belligerent.

42. review • London Conference • Good neighbor • Haiti • Cuba • Mexico • Tydings McDuffie • Soviet Union • Reciprocal trade • Nazis • Fascists • Japan • Neutrality Acts

43. II. Appeasement • Francisco Franco’s Fascists defeated Spanish Loyalists because he got more help from outside forces. • Japan invaded China • Germany armed Rhineland, began Holocaust, and occupied Austria.

44. Munich • Hitler demanded Sudetenland; meeting at Munich. • Britain’s Chamberlain: “peace in our time” when Hitler promised Sudetenland “is the last territorial claim” and invaded Czechoslovakia 6 months later.

45. WWII • Aug 1939 Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. • Britain and France declared war when Nazis invaded Poland Sep 1., 1939. • US aided Britain thru “cash and carry” policy.

46. FDR and Holocaust • US allowed in more Jews than any other country prior to war. • Jews hit quota; nativists might have shut down immigration altogether. • US wouldn’t bomb rail lines or Auschwitz itself in 1944 prior to D-Day.

47. review • Spanish Civil War • China • Rhineland • Austria • Sudetenland • Appeasement/Munich • Czechoslovakia • Nazi-Soviet nonaggression Pact • Cash and carry • US complicity in Holocaust

48. III. The fighting • Poland fell to German “Blitzkrieg” in three months, followed by “sitzkrieg” – no action. • Hitler then took France in less than a month; British soldiers escaped at Dunkirk

49. Preparing for war • $37b to mobilize, 2m man conscription. • Isolationists, led by Lindbergh, battled interventionists during the Battle of Britain between R.A.F. and Luftwaffe • Unneutral FDR destroyer deal: 50 old destroyers for Br. Bases, no Cong. approval

50. Big changes • FDR beat liberal Republican Wendell Wilkie for a 3rd term in 1940, 449-82. • Lend-lease – war bill 1776; “garden hose,” “guns not sons,” “billions not bodies,” US as “arsenal of democracy” $50b.