Responding to the Great Depression
I. The Election of 1932:
Herbert Hoover vs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Hoover: “General prosperity had been a great
ally
in the election of 1928. Great Depression was a
major enemy in 1932.”
“Herbert Roosevelt and Franklin Hoover”
--one
columnist’s opinion of the two candidates
Campaign Song for FDR:
At first, “Anchors Aweigh”
“Sounds like a funeral march.” (two campaign
workers)
“Happy Days are Here Again.”
Bonus Army: “Hoover sent the army. Roosevelt
sent his wife.”
FDR:
“Above all, be sure there is plenty of
good coffee. No questions asked. Just let free
coffee flow all the time.”
Electoral Vote: 472 to 59
Inauguration: March 4, 1933
II.
THE NEW DEAL
“Brain
Trust”
--FDR’s trusted advisers
--politicians and
professors
First
Hundred Days:
March 9 to June 16, 1933
Will
Rogers:
“Congress does pass
legislation—they just wave at the bills as they go by.”
John
Maynard Keynes(1883
to 1946):
Keynesian Economics
--unemployment leads to
money hoarding
--govt. must expand
money supply
--short term but massive
government spending
Nixon: "We are all
Keynesians now.”
POLICIES OF THE NEW DEAL
--RELIEF, RECOVERY,
REFORM--
A. RELIEF:
1.
work relief:
1935--1943
WPA --employed 8.5
million americans
--spent $10.5 billion
--constructed 651,087
miles of roads
--125,110 public
buildings
--8192 parks
--853 airports
-- built or repaired
124,087 bridges
2.
direct assistance
B. RECOVERY:
1. industry:
2. agriculture:
C. REFORM:
1. Social Security Act:
2.
Emergency Banking Act:
Was the New Deal Successful?
III. OTHER RESPONSES TO THE DEPRESSION:
A. Cultural Responses
B. Political Responses
from the Left:
1.
Huey Long, "Share Our Wealth"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIMi7fBA6e4 huey on “grub”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8elIlcrNf0 every man a king
2. Dr. Townsend,
"Old Age Revolving
Pension"
3.
Father Coughlin, "Social Justice"
C. Political Responses
from the Right:
1.
Father Coughlin turns Right
2.
William Dudley Pelly's "Silver Shirts"
IV. SIGNIFICANCE:
A.
desperate times require desperate policy
B. changing
expectation of govt. involvement
"It is my contention that no one should be allowed to write
about FDR who did not experience that era. It really is one of those cases of
you had to be there. Roosevelt may be a myth...today, but 60 years ago that
myth looked more like hope. In his fireside chats, he turned our Philco radios
into shrines, and when he said that America could not afford to live with
one-third of a nation ill-housed and ill-fed, we thought he would do something
about it. And he did."
Daniel Schorr, "The FDR 'Myth': You Had To Be There," Christian
Science Monitor, 25 October 1996
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