Chapters+1-13+Reading+Guide


 * READING GUIDE**

David M. Kennedy. //Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945//. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN: 978-0-19-514403-1

Today we will review the Prologue and Chapters 1-2. Thursday we will review chapters 3-4.

We are going to take it slower the rest of the semester. One chapter (rather than 2 chapters) weekly.

First 2/3 of our course on domestic aspect of 1930s. Remainder on international threats.

Read at least the first sentence of each paragraph--it is usually the topic sentence.

Look for sound-bite sentences that have descriptive impact: P. 88 we can no longer pass the hat and rattle the tin cup

I hope you will realize how much a history major needs to understand politics and economics, both in the past and current events.

Overview: End of World War I Treaty of Versailles Business-friendly decade of the 1920s: Republican Presidents Election of 1928: Al Smith versus Herbert Hoover Stock Market Crash of 1929 Hoover was President from 1928-1932 Roosevelt was Governor of New York from 1928-1932


 * PROLOGUE**: November 11, 1918, 1-9

3 Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Let's begin to stitch together a sketch of him as a person and leader

6 World War I and the Treaty of Versailles Let's make sure we understand the context.

7 Japanese attitude toward the Versailles Treaty Compare to attitude of Iran these days.

9 FDR and Hitler come to power within five weeks of each other


 * CHAPTER 1: The American People on the Eve of the Great Depression**, 10-42

10 What does the author mean by "transformed the scanty Jeffersonian government"?

11 Herbert Hoover: let's develop a clear picture of him

We read the National Archives article. The Ordeal of Herbert Hoover (2 part series) http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/summer/hoover-1.html http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/summer/hoover-2.html

Herbert Hoover (Google Images) []

Hoover won the 1928 election against Al Smith []

Dirty Campaigning in the Roaring Twenties: Herbert Hoover vs. Al Smith (Mental Floss) []

Herbert Hoover political cartoons (Google Images) []

Herbert Hoover political cartoons (Cornell) []

Try this: Time Capsule [] Type in "6 February 1929"

Now: What new parts of the biographical picture come into place?

13 changes in America

14-16 immigration/Urban life

15 Nativism. Ku Klux Klan

16 Yet the country still very rural; plight of farmers

18 The South; Jim Crow

20 balance between rural/urban America is the central econ problem

21-23 Industrialization: mass production required mass consumption which necessitated either better wages or consumer credit. Modern advertising methods. New products.

24 insecurity of employment

27 Women

30, 33-34 Role of federal govt

30-32 Democratic Party

32-33 Republican Party

Rest of chapter has lots of financial analysis which you may not find easy to follow. I will work us through it if you wish.

No clear connection between the Stock Market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.

Crash of 1929 [note to myself: go to website] [] My Website Spotlight blog post on the Crash of 1929 []

People compare recent stock market downturns to the Crash of 1929.. Recent problems in China stock market.

41-42 good sketch of American society.


 * CHAPTER 2: Panic**, 43-69

44-47 Hoover sketch Role of voluntarism in his economic thought

49-50 Tariffs/protectionism vs free trade NAFTA these days; TPP Hawley-Smoot Tarif of 1930

51-52 Orthodox economic theory/Hoover's understanding of it

53 Sustain purchasing power/don't cut paychecks

54 (+57) Stimulus of construction work Federal govt could not raise construction expenditures quickly

55 small size of federal govt Independence of Federal Reserve System

56 The future: hard to predict [58 statements not as outrageous as they appeared in retrospect] 59 Not yet losing. But tide began to ebb.

59-62 Congressional political party makeup. Remind students of how Congress is structured. Compare to today. Obstructionism--compare to today Speaker of the House of Representatives Garner

65-69 Weakness of the banking system

69 last paragraph


 * CHAPTER 3: The Ordeal of Herbert Hoover**, 70-103

70-71 What do you think of Hoover's argument: WWI caused Depression?

72-73 What comparisons between debt forgiveness then and bailouts today? Why such a hot potato? Germany recently paid off the final interest payment on WWI debt. Put in details of Dawes Plan and Young Plan

73 sentiment: penny-pinching, isolationist, anti-European, anti-Wall Street, and hotly felt

75-76 Let's talk about the Gold Standard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard We now have a system of floating currencies. Check out this website: http://www.forexdirectory.net/quotesfx.html The price of gold fluctuates as you can see at this website: http://www.forexdirectory.net/gold.html

Compare to issues today surrounding the Euro.

77 Is there a comparable "psychology of fear" today? Countries look after themselves.

83 What is meant by "Hoover stood on the shore of a political and ideological Rubicon"?

83 Is the Federal Reserve an "uncooperative partner" today? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System

84 Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Compare to bank bailouts. TARP.

85 "If Hoover could be made to support federal relief for the banks, why not federal relief for the unemployed." What ideological comparisons today?

86-90 Impact of the Depression on people. Passivity of the American people. Compare to Greece today.

86-90 **Impact of the Depression on people**

America in the 1930s (University of Virginia) Click on "Site Index" http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/front.html

1930s Timeline—by year and by month within each year in 4 categories (University of Virginia) Check out how incredible this is!! http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s2/Time/1929/1929fr.html

Depression Slang (University of Virginia) http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/hess/Slang/depression.html http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/hess/Slang/depression.html#Hoover http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/hess/Slang/kids.html#Joe

The Color Landscape of the Depression Era (79 photos) (Denver Post Photo Blog) http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2011/11/03/captured-the-color-landscape-of-the-depression-era/5064/

America in Color from 1939-1943 [focus on people] (Denver Post Photo Blog) http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/07/26/captured-america-in-color-from-1939-1943/2363/


 * Riding the Rails**

Great Depression: How Young Americans Survived the Hard Times http://www.erroluys.com/HowAmericansHelpedEachOtherDuringtheGreatDepression.htm

Riding the Rails (Google Images) http://bit.ly/wJj6OJ

Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move during the Great Depression (Overview) http://www.erroluys.com/RidingtheRails.htm

Riding the Rails during the Great Depression http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_07.html

[]
 * Seabiscuit** (Google Images)

Seabiscuit (American Experience) [] My Website Spotlight blog post on Seabiscuit []

90 fear of creating a permanent welfare-dependent class then (compare to now)

91 Hoovervilles, etc. go on Google images for examples.

92 Bonus Army

Bonus Expeditionary Force "Cheered in 1917, Jeered in 1932" World War I veterans (15,000) camped in Washington Demanded payment immediately of promised (1945) cash bonuses President Hoover ordered the army to evict the veterans

Army, commanded by Douglas MacArthur, operated harshly []

Bonus March (Google Images) []

Bonus Army (Today in History, Library of Congress) Scroll down 80% of the way []

1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles (Today in History, Library of Congress) Scroll down 90% of the way President Hoover couldn't make it; he was busy dealing in Washington with Bonus Army []

93-94 What is comparable today to "we don't give a hoot in a rain barrel who controls North China." [Yemen, Libya, etc.]

What are we doing today that may "set a match to a long fuse" leading to a future war.

94 Hoover profile

94 Presidential election of 1932. Herbert Hoover versus Franklin D. Roosevelt [] []

[]

95-101 FDR and Eleanor sketch

Franklin D. Roosevelt (Miller Center, University of Virginia) [] My Website Spotlight blog post []

Franklin D. Roosevelt obituary (New York Times) []

Eleanor Roosevelt obituary (New York Times) []

Eleanor Roosevelt (Google Images) []

97-98 Democratic Party sketch

100 What do we need most from a President: first-class temperament or first-class intellect? Does it matter one way or another?

102 FDR simply "weaved together incompatible drafts." Is this surprising?

103 Do leaders generally grow in office? Could this last paragraph describe Donald Trump?


 * CHAPTER 4: Interregnum**, 104-130

Interregnum: Period between the election in early November and the inauguration of the new President. Was longer then (March 2) than now (January 20).

Hoover and FDR did not work together during that transition period.

104 Is the interval before election and inauguration today still too lengthy? Compare to parliamentary political system

105 Compare the coordination between Hoover/FDR to Bush/Obama. The World War One debt issue again.

106-107 How might different views of the causes (domestic/foreign) of Depression have led to different possible solutions? FDR did not want to worry about the international implications. Can a US President today take such a view?

110 last paragraph is good

111 Would U.S. ever be wise to just have a dictator solve problems?

111-115 FDR sketch Was FDR a "peanut brain"? React to the statement about FDR's capacity for "almost impenetrable concealment of intention."

To what other Presidents can FDR be compared? Ronald Reagan [p. 115 a few simple but powerful political principles]

116 FDR barely missed being assassinated. What would our history have been like without him?

117 Seemingly three purposes of New Deal: social reform, political realignment, economic recovery. Let's watch for these in actual policies.

119-120 What else can we learn about the "Brain Trust." Does Obama have/need a Brain Trust? Role of presidential advisers/gurus.

Brain Trust http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Trust

125 Political scene.Remind students of how our Congress is structured; factions even within party majorities. Does Obama have comparable party majorities in Congress?

128 Democratic Party. How FDR wanted to bring it under his full control.

129 Are any members of Congress today comparable to "Depression babies"? How about Tea Partiers?


 * CHAPTER 5: The Hundred Days**, 131-159

Congress was in session for one hundred days before it adjourned.

During this period, FDR went **fifteen for fifteen** in major legislation.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA02/volpe/newdeal/hundred_days.html
 * Hundred Days** (University of Virginia)

Hundred Days Cartoons (University of Virginia) http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA02/volpe/newdeal/cartoons.html

Franklin D. Roosevelt (Miller Center, University of Virginia) Domestic Affairs (read down to "First New Deal: Saving Capitalism?") []

131-132 Washington in 1933. A city under siege. Bank failures.

133 How was it possible the "two men never saw each other again"?

134 **FDR Inaugural Address**. Some specifics: priority of domestic over foreign, special session of Cogress, power to wage war--on the economic situation.

136 Emergency Banking Act. "Capitalism was saved in eight days."


 * Saving the Banks:**

Context: prior bank failures FDR issued a decree closing all banks in America. This approach called a "banking holiday"

Provided for government supervision and assistance to banks Strong ones would be reopened with federal support. Weak ones would be closed Glass-Steagall Act created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Deposit insurance ($5,000) would be available

Emergency Banking Act (Google Images) http://bit.ly/MNj1Cc

Banking Crisis (University of Virginia) http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA02/volpe/newdeal/banking.html

136 **FDR's Fireside Chats** Fireside chats (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireside_chats

FDR's Fireside Chats: The Power of Words (EDSITEment) http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/fdrs-fireside-chats-power-words#sect-background

137-138 How FDR handled **press conferences**? Compare the "press" then and now.

139 "Here at last was a leader who could lead." But to where was he leading?

139 Hundred Days Is the Hundred Days a fair comparison for today's leaders?

140-141 Great sentence describing American agriculture: "It included …."

141 Something must be done about agriculture. We will do this part in Chapter 7.

144 **Civilian Conservation Corps** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps

Job corps for young men, aged 18–25. Supervised by U.S. army. Workers paid $30 per month, of which $25 had to be sent to family. Pumped $2 billion into economy (equivalent to $200 billion today). Work planned by National Park Service: Tree planting (North Dakota to Texas), flood control, road construction.

Civilian Conservation Corps (Google Images) http://bit.ly/QDRHlO

Civilian Conservation Corps (National Archives, //Prologue// magazine) http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/fall/ccc.html

Civilian Conservation Corps (American Experience) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/ccc/ Go to Photo Gallery. Click through the photos there. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/photo-gallery/ccc/

145 Political value of enlarging the federal role in relief. Tammany Hall (think, too, of Hezbollah, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood) What about that Alexander Hamilton comparison?

145-146 Bio sketch of Harry Hopkins.

Hull House https://www.nwhm.org/html/exhibits/progressiveera/hullhouse.html https://www.nwhm.org/html/exhibits/progressiveera/settlementhouse.html

146 Social Gospel tradition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Gospel

Rick Warren and the Social Gospel http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/progressiverevival/2008/12/rick-warren-and-the-social-gos.html

Walter Rauschenbusch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Rauschenbusch

Washington Gladden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Gladden

148 Tennessee Valley Authority http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Valley_Authority

FDR knew the details of the public power issue. Neither fish nor fowl, but will taste good to people in Tennessee Valley.

150 Congress wanted action. FDR did not want to do work-spreading, but he had initially no plan of his own.

151 Major legislation. Let's not worry about most of these

Home relief (dole) versus work relief [can be criticized as make-work]

National Industrial Recovery Act (University of Virginia) http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA02/volpe/newdeal/nira.html

Industrial cornerstone for New Deal. Corporations were to hold down prices. Labor was to accept wages offered. Shows faith in planning. Section 7 (a) of the NIRA encouraged labor unionizing.

Public Works Administration: release money into the economy through public construction by private companies "Four Million Jobs in two years. FDR did it in 2 months." (Slate) http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2009/01/wrong_harry.html

151 FDR eclectic approach. Shut people in a room; don't come out until you have a solution.

153 Great summary of Hundred Days. Terrific concluding paragraph.

Glass-Steagall Act: divorced commercial/investment banking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass-Steagall_Act

154 FDR didn't have a plan.

155 Killing the London economic conference emboldened our potential enemies. Any current analogies?

157 Inflation not compatible with the gold standard. Congress demanded inflation.

158 FDR knew what was occurring internationally—or did he?


 * CHAPTER 6: The Ordeal of the American People**, 160-189

160-162 Lorena Hickok. Footnote #6 is a fine example of format and informative quality. Lorena Hickok (Wikipedia) []

162-163 How much of stock value has eroded now compared to then? Bank deposits? Foreclosures?

164-165 Out migration to Russia. Would you have gone there? Our treatment of Mexican people has varied greatly. What do you think?

166 What is unemployment rate today?

167 That Rose Bowl example is powerful and a great way to bring to life an otherwise sterile statistic.

167 Hopkins: can't keep stirred up over six million. Yes?

168 Human wreckage of …… What do you think? True?

171 FERA checks flowed to swing states. Are you shocked?

For swing states in 2012 election, see "Polls See Sharp Divide in 3 Swing States" (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/us/politics/polls-see-sharp-divide-in-3-swing-states.html?pagewanted=all

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (Wikipedia) []

172-173 Are the needy to blame for their plight? How would you handle being a welfare administrator?

175" Mortifying" means test? Niggardly, condescending administrators?

176 CWA projects: mounted swiftly. People today say "shovel-ready."

CWA: A subdivision of Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) Civil Works Administration (Wikipedia) []

177 Would you like to do have done lunch with Hugh Johnson? Great sentence: "Melodramatic in his temperament…." Hugh Samuel Johnson (Wikipedia) []

178 Major issue then as today: lavish or penny-pinching approach. []

Major issue then as today: lavish or penny-pinching approach.

"Four Million Jobs in two years. FDR did it in 2 months." (Slate) Compares Obama's stimulus with FDR's CWA/PWA http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2009/01/wrong_harry.html

183 Look up the Blue Eagle. Comparable today to what? Blue Eagle (Wikipedia) [] Blue Eagle http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&q=blue+eagle+nra&gbv=2&aq=6&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=blue+eagle

184 What does "cartelization of American industry" mean?

189 Last paragraph. Any sense that we are in danger today?


 * CHAPTER 7: Chasing the Phantom of Recovery**, 190-217

191 A New Deal or a stacked deck? 192 Any "desolate facts of American rural life" today? 194 Notice the theme of "the tense membrame of class and race" in South.

DUST BOWL

194-195 What can we learn about the "Dust Bowl" times from these websites?

Farming in the 1930s http://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/farminginthe1930s.html Click through each of the seven modules:

Spirit of ’32 (Farm Holidays) (GMU) http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6696

Drought and poor farming techniques led to dust storms.

Dust Bowl (Finding Dulcinea, On This Day) http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/May/Great-Plains-Hit-With-Devastating-Dust-Storm.html

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s (Living History) []

Comparison of 2012 drought with 1930s Dust Bowl http://www.weather.com/news/dust-bowl-20120718

Room for Debate: How can we prevent another Dust Bowl? (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/07/25/how-can-we-prevent-another-dust-bowl

Dust Bowl 1930 (Google Images) http://bit.ly/wzsbYY

Surviving the Dust Bowl (American Experience) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl/ My Website Spotlight blog post on Surviving the Dust Bowl http://thelearningprofessor.blogspot.com/2011/12/website-spotlight-surviving-dust-bowl.html

Grasshoppers bring ruin to Midwest (History.com This Day in History | 7/26/1931) []


 * Route 66**

Because of Dust Bowl conditions, many from Oklahoma (Okies) and Arkansas (Arkies) fled to California.

Route 66 http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/exhibition_10_1.html http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2011/11/09/captured-the-85th-anniversary-of-u-s-route-66/5078/ My Website Spotlight blog post on Route 66 http://thelearningprofessor.blogspot.com/2012/06/website-spotlight-route-66.html

First drive-in movie theater opens (History.com This Day in History | 6/6/1933) []

Drive-In Theaters Offer a Bit of the Past, and Its Prices (NY Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/business/drive-in-theaters-offer-a-bit-of-the-past-and-its-prices.html?_r=1

197 FDR embraced a questionable economic theory. "Like a cracker-barrel argument: dubious premises to sputtering conclusion." 198-199 But it kept the farmers quiet. Spirit of ’32 (Farm Holidays) (GMU) [] 199 Adam Smith and his "invisible hand." What do you think of it? []


 * Agricultural Adjustment Act** (AAA) 1938

Agricultural Adjustment Act was designed to help farm problems:

Overproduction Low prices paid for crops Low income of farmers Difficulty of paying mortgages Rise in farm foreclosures

Three million people left farms in the 1930s.

The act provided for the following:

Government paid subsidies to farmers who a) Restricted crop acreage: wheat, cotton, corn, rice, or tobacco b) Reduced number of livestock, particularly pigs.

202 System of farm subsidies. What in the 2008-2009 stimulus package will outlive its current utility?

205 "The drama of their destruction fixed the AAA in the minds of many Americans." What other examples of good/bad PR then and now can we think of?

210 FDR reaction to proposed anti-lynching bill. Will see more in next chapter. 211 Nucleus of young lawyers in a given government agency. What other examples then and now? 213 AAA like NRA protected big interests. Will big interests always come out on top? 214 American Liberty League and some of its key proponents. American Liberty League (Wikipedia) [] 215-216 We will deal in next chapter with Long, Townsend, Sinclair, and Coughlin. 216 November 1934 mid-term election results. [] [] 217 Comparison of FDR to McClellan. Any other such comparisons?


 * CHAPTER 8: The Rumble of Discontent**, 218-248

218-219 Read this introductory material carefully. Great overview. Critics of the New Deal (Wikipedia) []

223-224 Folks have always been suspect of us in California!

224-225 Francis Townsend []

Francis Townsend video http://youtu.be/B10O4qUR7tY

Proposed an Old Age Revolving Pensions plan Every person over age 60 would get a $200 per month pension. His plan would cost 50% of national income to help 7% of population

227-234 Father Charles Coughlin

Father Coughlin video http://youtu.be/IS9_gqCytV4

Catholic priest from Detroit Weekly radio sermons (30 million audience) Criticized the New Deal Proposed a National Union for Social Justice to counter the New Deal. Anti-Semite: depression caused by international Jewish bankers. Expressed support for Hitler's approach to running Germany.

Charles E. Coughlin radio broadcast in 1935 (Holocaust Museum bio) []

Reverend Charles E. Coughlin (American Experience) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/peopleevents/pandeAMEX96.html

234-242 Huey Long

Huey Long Share our Wealth video http://youtu.be/hphgHi6FD8k

Former Governor of and Democratic Senator from Louisiana. Proposed a Share Our Wealth Society Tax rich people heavily Furnish each family an annual income of $2,500 Assassinated in 1935

Huey Long threat to FDR video http://youtu.be/mdzAbxsjPRA

243 Alan Brinkley analysis of appeal of these critics. 244-248 Roosevelt's response

Sister Aimee http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/sister/sfeature/temple.html


 * CHAPTER 9: A Season for Reform**, 249-287

249 John Maynard Keynes

A Point of View: What would Keynes do? (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18923542

251 Should we follow today those criteria to give out work-relief funds? []

252 Rural Electrification Administration

252 National Youth Administration.

252-256 Works Progress Administration. Plus each of its parts.

Let's watch this excellent video: Harry Hopkins and the Works Progress Administration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfCJQBnPqNM&feature=youtu.be

Works Progress Administration (WPA) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration

Webquest: Posters from the WPA http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaposters/highlights.html

Employed educated persons: Federal Art, Writers', Theater Projects Federal Music Project (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Music_Project Federal Theatre Project (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Theatre_Project Federal Writers' Project (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Writers%27_Project

Criticized by conservatives as make-work

259 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Frances Perkins video [done by students for National History Day] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFEjybiXKLU&feature=youtu.be

Triangle Shirtwaist http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/March-April-08/On-this-Day--NYC-Garment-Factory-Fire-Kills-146-.html

257-273 Social Security. Let's analyze these pages carefully.

Designed by FDR to prevent more radical alternatives (from Townsend and Long)

Workers required to pay into it Answer to critics of "relief" Worker's payment matched by employer

FICA deduction today.

The Social Security Act (EDSITEment) http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/social-security-act#sect-background

Frances Perkins (FDR's Secretary of Labor) http://www.aflcio.org/About/Our-History/Key-People-in-Labor-History/Frances-Perkins-1880-1965 http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/aboutfdr/perkins.html

273-281 1935 Special legislation session. Why did FDR handle it the way he did?

Old Right (United States) (Wikipedia) [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Right_(United_States]

Conservative coalition

285-287 Presidential Election of 1936 United States presidential election, 1936 (Wikipedia) []

We will skip this chapter.
 * CHAPTER 10: Strike**

323 How could FDR have gotten into such difficulties? Was he overly bold after a sweeping victory in 1936? []
 * CHAPTER 11: The Ordeal of Franklin Roosevelt**, 323-362

http://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/essays/biography/3
 * Election of 1936**: FDR versus Alf Landon


 * New Deal coalition**

Democratic Party consisted of the following:

Farmers Urban immigrants Organized labor

White southerners

Northern blacks Ever since the Civil War, blacks had usually voted Republican. Big shift occurred during the New Deal: blacks began voting for Democrats

This New Deal coalition held together until the 1960s, when the civil rights movement created internal tension in the Democratic Party.

324 Political risk: new President could reverse; Congress could dismantle; Supreme Court could overturn. How should a President proceed?

325 We will look at how FDR struck out at 1) judiciary, 2) Congress, and 3) southerners in his Democratic Party.


 * COURT PACKING**

Court Packing video http://youtu.be/glLqH2JGXhY

325-337 Judiciary, the so-called **Court Packing** attempt. Let's look in detail.

Supreme Court had declared AAA and NIRA unconstitutional on 5-4 votes. FDR wanted to appoint pro–New Deal justices Proposed six new ones (one for every member over age 70). Congress (both parties) opposed the plan Felt he was overreaching and looking like a dictator.

Issue later became moot: a swing justice changed his voting pattern. The so-called "switch in time that saved nine" Owen Roberts

Soon thereafter, several older justices retired.

Court Packing (On This Day, Finding Dulcinea) http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/Feb/On-This-Day--FDR-Suggests--Court-Packing--Plan.html

Court Packing (University of Virginia) http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA02/volpe/newdeal/court.html

Court Packing Cartoons (University of Virginia) http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA02/volpe/newdeal/cartoons.html

Roosevelt Goes Too Far in Packing the Court (GMU). This is useful. []

332-333 How about the Vice President!!! Plus Burton Wheeler. John Nance Garner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [] []

335 Switch in time that saved nine. The switch in time that saved nine (Wikipedia) [] []

337 Use Google Search to define Pyrrhic victory. What were the deep fissures in the Democratic party at this juncture.

338 Are barons sort of like warlords. What is an American Runnymede.

339-341 Conservative coalition. Conservative coalition (Wikipedia) []

[] http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/12/entry

342-342 FDR's approach to an anti-lynching bill.

345-349 FDR went against southern wing of Democratic party. Poor results in 1938 congressional elections. [] []

350-357 Roosevelt recession of 1937

Seeing a temporary economic improvement, FDR stopped deficit spending; the economy took a dive.

Shows FDR conservatism.

People talk today about the need for more stimulus and the merits/demerits of cost cutting.

What is Obama equivalent, if any?

"Are We About to Repeat the Mistakes of 1937?" (New York Times) http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/are-we-about-to-repeat-the-mistakes-of-1937/

361 Two great summary paragraphs: one on FDR's New Deal, the other on the gathering storm clouds internationally.


 * CHAPTER 12: What the New Deal Did**, 363-380


 * Assessment of the New Deal**

From Kennedy Book 361 Two great summary paragraphs: one on FDR's New Deal, the other on the gathering storm clouds internationally.

Liberal, evolutionary reform program New Deal was not a revolutionary break with the past. New Deal ideas (TVA & Social Security) had been around for decades. New Dealers had been active in reform movements since Progressive era.


 * New Deal failed in its fundamental purpose: to put people back to work and end the depression.**
 * Depression only ended due to World War II.**

But New Deal gave Americans back their psychological will to overcome.

In the past, federal government had served as an economic regulator. During New Deal, it became an economic guarantor and stimulator as well.

Congressional Republicans are currently trying to limit/decrease the size of government, much of which began with the New Deal.

Look up how each of the following are playing out in 2011.

366 Glass-Steagall Banking Act Glass-Steagall Act (Wikipedia) []

367 Securities and Exchange Commission Securities Act of 1933 (Wikipedia) []

369 Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) []

377 Good summary.

http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/HIST+386+Content
 * For CHAPTER 13 (Kennedy text) AND BEYOND, GO TO:**