Download Franklin Roosevelt and His New Deal

Franklin Roosevelt and His New Deal
Roosevelt‟s philosophy: Pragmatism “Let’s concentrate on one thing…Save the people and
the nation and if we have to change our minds twice a day to accomplish that end, then we
should do it”
Eleanor Roosevelt: a real First Lady
Inauguration
March 4, 1933 depression at its worst: unemployment 25%; bank failures at peak
“The only thing to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.’
Roosevelt also asked Congress for broad executive powers “as if the nation were at war.”
Roosevelt‟s Cabinet
State: Cordell Hull
Labor: Frances Perkins
Interior: Harold Ickes
Treasury: Hans Morgenthau
Brain Trust: Rexford Tugwell and Raymond Morley
Hundred Days: March 7 through June 16, 1933
15 major bills passed including AAA, NRA, TVA, CCC
Emergency Banking Relief Act: Bank Holiday explained by FDR in “Fireside Chat”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Important “Hundred Days” Legislation
1. AAA Agricultural Adjustment Act
Replaced by Soil Conservation and domestic Allotment Act
2. NRA National Recovery Act head: Hugh Johnson no power to enforce rules
Aim: to eliminate waste and inefficiency via cooperation among competitors
557 Codes of Fair Competition
Blue Eagle symbol of compliance with NRA “We do our part”
Section 7a of NRA provided for Collective Bargaining
NRA declared unconstitutional by Schecter Poultry Corporation vs. the US
3. Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee went from 45% to 80% of the national income
4. Civilian Conservation Corps “Roosevelt’s tree army”
conserved both natural and human resources; one billion trees planted
New Deal terms: Ballyhoo
Boondoggle
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Opposition to the New Deal
1. Liberty League FDR a “Traitor to his class”
2. Dr. Townsend
3. Fr. Charles Coughlin “radio priest”
Union for Social Justice
4. Huey Long of Louisiana “Share Our Wealth” program
“Everyman a king, but no one wears a crown.”
Long: “the most successful demagogue in America”
Collectively Townsend, Coughlin and Long were a threat to the New Deal so Roosevelt moves left to
Second New Deal
1935 Works Progress Administration: Work relief for unemployed; Harry Hopkins: administrator
8 million people employed over 8 year time period
Federal Writers Project “intellectuals have to eat too”
1935 Social Security
Initial Social Security payment: 1% of wages; maximum tax a year: $30
1935 National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act
Re-asserted the right of labor to organize and bargain collectively
1938 Fair Labor Standards Act or Wages and Hours Bill
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Election of 1936 Roosevelt vs. Al Landon
Democratic landslide: Roosevelt captures 61% of vote-largest plurality thus far in US history
New Deal Coalition interest groups who voted Democratic in 1936 and for next 20 years
Court Packing Plan: add one justice for each Supreme Court Justice over 70 (9+6)
“In the Court Packing Plan no astute politician had ever erred so badly in estimating the effect of an
action since Douglas and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.”
Roosevelt failed to: 1. consult Congress
2. appreciate that Americans regarded Supreme Court as untouchable
“Roosevelt lost the battle but won the war”
Within 4 years Roosevelt appoints 7 new justices
Political result of the Court Packing plan? FDR looks vulnerable now; Southern Democrats defect
1937-8 Recession “a recession within a depression” Roosevelt withdraws $2 billion from economy
Evaluation of the New Deal
National Debt: 1932
$19 billion
1939:
$40 billion
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Hitler, Nazism and World War II
I International Setting
A. Depression
B. League of Nations defied
1. Japan invaded Manchuria; US reaction: Stimson Doctrine
“Collective Security died and World War II began in Manchuria in 1931”
2. 1935 Mussolini„s Italy attacks Ethiopia
Haile Sellassee‟s ineffectual appeal to UN
II International Conditions within Germany which led to Nazism
A. Punishment of the Treaty of Versailles, real and psychological
1. Territory lost?
2. War Guilt Clause $33 billion reparations bill
B. Psychological effect of the loss of World War I on Germany
C. Weaknesses of the Weimar Republic
l. Political: no history of participatory democracy
2. Economic
a. 1923 Inflation
1. 1914: 4 marks = $1.00
2. 1923: 25 million marks = $1.00
3. 1923 Hitler‟s attempted putsch in a Munich beer hall
b. 1929 Depression
c. 1923-29 Stresseman Era best time of the Weimar Republic
III Ultimate Crisis of the Weimar Republic
A. Depression: accelerated unpopularity of the Weimar government and paved way for
political extremism.
B. November, 1932 election to Reichstag; small increase in Communist vote is the key to
a later Nazi victory.
Note: The Nazis never attained a majority of the votes in a fair election in Germany.
Proportional representation in Reichstag- many political parties.
C. January 30, 1933 Hitler legally appointed Chancellor of Germany by President
von Hindenburg.
D. Nazi political take-over:
Reichstag fire blamed on Communists-an excuse to suspend all civil liberties
2. Enabling Act March 1933 “legislative suicide”
“law for relieving the distress of the people of the Reich.”
IV Biography of Hitler
A. Born: Austria, 1889
B. World War I: Corporal in German army
C. 1920 joins German Workers Party
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D. putsch in Munich beer hall
1. light sentence: 5 years; Hitler only served 13 months.
2. writes Mein Kampf in Landsberg prison suite
E. 1933-45 Fuehrer of the Third Reich
V Reasons for the Personal Appeal of Hitler
A. rapid recovery from the depression 1932: 6 000,000 unemployed
1936 160,000 unemployed
B. appeal to a common prejudice: Jews are the scapegoats
C. public spectacles: parades, uniforms, Neurenberg sportzplatz;
1936 Olympics, Jesse Owens
D. use of mass means of communication: Volksradio
E. appeal to nationalism; to correct the wrongs of Versailles
“German mass movements from Luther to Hitler which stress nationalism all succeed.”
VI Hitler‟s Foreign Policy in Action “Saturday Surprises”
A. Germany announced re-armament in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles
B. 1936 Germany occupies demilitarized Rhineland
C. 1936 Rome-Berlin Axis (alliance).
D. March, 1938 Anschluss forced union with Austria
E. 1937 Japan joins Germany and Italy in the Anti-Comintern alliance
F. September, 1938 Munich Conference; Hitler, Mussolini, Deladier and Chamberlain
agree to Germany’s acquisition of the Sudeten or western region of Czechoslovakia
later Munich associated with appeasement;
in Cold War after WWII West determined to avoid appeasement of aggressor nations
G. Germany occupies the remaining eastern part of Czechoslovakia
England and France promise war if Poland is attacked
H. August 1939 German-Russia 10 year non-Aggression Pact
I. September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland; beginning of World War II
J. September 3, 1939 England and France declare war on Germany
VII Hitler‟s Conquest of Europe
A. September 1939 France relies on defense of Maginot Line
B. September-April 1940 Phony war or sitzkrieg”
C. April 1940 Germany’s conquest of western Europe begins
1. April Denmark conquered in 3 hours
2. April Norway prolonged and bitter fighting
3. May Netherlands 40 days; Belgium 18 days; Luxembourg
4. May 30, 1940 evacuation of 300,000 British troops from beaches of Dunkirk
5. June 5, 1940 France attacked
June 22, 1940 France surrendered to Germany at Compiegne
Marshall Petain and the French Vichy government
6. September 1940 worst of the Battle of Britain: blitz
RAF 800 planes and pilots; Luftwaffe 2400 planes and pilots
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United States Neutrality Legislation
1935 arms embargo
1936 no loans to belligerents
1937 no US citizen on a belligerent ship
1937 Cash and Carry
Ludlow Amendment: a national referendum needed to declare war; narrowly defeated
October 1937 Roosevelt‟s “Quarantine Speech” proposes a quarantine against
aggressor nations
US reaction?
December 1937 USS Panay sunk by Japanese US reaction?
In US 2 different sentiments seen in these organizations:
1. America First
2. Committee to Defend America by aiding the Allies
June, 1940: following the fall of France, less than 40% in US for helping England
By September 1940 60% of US for helping England even if it meant war
Battle of Britain: turning point in US opinion
Role of Edward R. Morrow’s radio broadcasts
May 1940 Winston Churchill becomes England’s Prime Minister
September 1940 Destroyer Base Deal by executive agreement
50 “overage” destroyers swapped for 8 English bases from New Foundland to Bermuda
Poll: 90% of US against entering the war but 70% favor the Destroyer Base Deal
Election of 1940 the issue?
Republicans: Wendell Willkie “simple barefoot Hoosier”
Democrats: Roosevelt gets 55% of the vote
FDR: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: your boys aren’t going to be sent into any foreign
wars.”
Roosevelt wins 27 million to 22 million
Lend Lease: “An Act to Further Promote the Defense of the US.”
FDR wants the US to be an “arsenal for democracy.”
$31 billion in Lend Lease aid given to England
$13 billion
to Russia
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June 1941 Hitler invades USSR; Stalin stunned
US reaction to news of German invasion of USSR?
Hitler indecisive: attack Leningrad? Moscow? Stalingrad?
1942-43 Germans at Stalingrad under General von Paulus
91,000 Germans left to surrender to the Russians at Stalingrad
--------285,000 original German army at Stalingrad
If Hitler had sent even some troops trapped at Stalingrad to North Africa,
Rommel might have won in North Africa.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fall 1940 Undeclared Shooting War in the North Atlantic:
Hitler sees Lend-Lease as an official declaration of war by the US
German subs attack US ships en route to England
Roosevelt adopts a “shoot on sight” policy against Nazi subs
By December, 1941 Congress revises Neutrality laws
If there were no Pearl Harbor, when and if would the US have declared war on Germany?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------War with Japan
1937 Japan invades China
US policy: pressure Japan to leave China
July 1941 Japan invades Indo-China
US freezes Japanese assets; Japan can’t purchase US oil
80% of Japan’s oil comes from the US
What are Japan’s options?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Nomura: Japanese ambassador to the US
Kurusu: Japan’s special envoy
Kenoye: Japan’s Prime Minister
Grew:
US Ambassador to Japan
Tojo:
Japanese wartime prime minister
US had much intelligence information; US had broken Japanese code
Wohlstetter: “In short we failed to anticipate Pearl Harbor not for want of relevant materials
But because of a plethora of irrelevant ones.”
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December 7, 1941 “The date which shall live in infamy…”
3,435 US dead; 8 battleships destroyed
David Kennedy, historian: “If Japan had not become an enemy- then D-day would have occurred in
June, 1943 and US would have liberated Germany alone with Russia advanced only to Ukraine not
Germany by the end of the war.”
Allied strategy in WWII: defeat Hitler in Europe first then Japan
US in World War II
“Rosie the Riveter” rationing
“World War II was won on the assembly lines of Detroit”
Cost of WWII: $321 billion, ten times the cost of WWI.
In WWII US spent 2 times more money than it had spent during the 150 years of its national existence
16 million men in uniform , 7 million of whom had been unemployed.
February, 1942 Internment of 120,000 Japanese-Americans; 2/3rds of whom were US citizens
1942- a very critical year: “If the Allies had not won at El Alamein, if the Russians had not held at
Stalingrad, then the Third Reich, together with Japan would have controlled the Euro-Asian landmass
and Africa.”
1941 to early 1942: Japan conquered:
Guam,
British Malaya,
Dutch East Indies,
Philippines
Wake Island,
Singapore,
Burma,
In Philippine, islands of Bataan and Corregidor hold out until April, 1942, then the Bataan death
march
General MacArthur abandoned his troops in Philippines to escape to Australia
Turning Point in the battle of the Pacific: naval battles
1. April, 1942 battle of Coral Sea
2. June, 1942 battle of Midway Island
US goes on the offensive in the Pacific
August, 1942-February 1943 Guadalcanal; fanatical Japanese resistance
November 1943 Tarawa: again suicidal Japanese resistance
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Battle for North Africa
June, 1942 British General Montgomery halts German General Rommel at El Alamein
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May, 1942 Allied Bombing of German cities begins
September 1942 Germans halted at Stalingrad
Stalin demands a “second front”: an all-out attack on fortress Europe
November 1942 “Operation Torch” Allied invasion of North Africa;
commanded by US General Eisenhower
After attacking Americans at Kasserine Pass, Rommel is trapped at Tunis and surrenders
January 1943 Allied Conference at Casablanca:
Churchill and Roosevelt agree on “unconditional surrender.”
August 1943 invasion of Sicily, 6 weeks campaign
September, 1943 Italy invaded at the toe of peninsula (a mistake.)
Germans put up huge resistance in mountains south of Rome
July 1943 Mussolini fired by King of Italy; Mussolini later rescued by German commandos
June, 1944 Rome falls to the Allies
May, 1945 Germans in Italy surrender to Allies
Was the Italian campaign a mistake?
“The Allied invasion of Italy…postponed the invasion of France by as much as a year, deeply
embittering the Soviet Union and giving the Soviets time to begin moving toward the counties of
Eastern Europe.”
November, 1943 Teheran Conference first meeting of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
Russia promises to enter the war with Japan three months after the war with Germany is over
June 6, 1944 D-day invasion of Normandy beaches
3 million Allied troops under General Eisenhower’s command
August 25, 1944 Paris liberated
Election of 1944
Republican candidate Thomas Dewey of New York
Roosevelt’s health an issue so Vice-President Harry S. Truman
Final defeat of Germany
December, 1944 Russia penetrates eastern Germany after “liberating” eastern Europe from Nazis
December, 1944 Battle of the Bulge in Ardennes forest last German offensive
April 12, 1945 Roosevelt dies; Vice-President Truman in dark about atomic bomb and much else
April 30, 1945 Hitler commits suicide
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May 8, 1945 Victory in Europe Germany surrenders
German Admiral Doenitz and Field Marshall Jodl asked to surrender;
Significance of this?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Allied wartime conferences
January, 1943 Casablanca Churchill and Roosevelt “unconditional surrender”
November, 1943 Teheran first meeting of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
February, 1945 Yalta
Later criticized as a “giveaway” of eastern Europe to Stalin; issue of “free” elections in Poland
July, 1945 Potsdam
Churchill –later replaced by new Prime Minister Clement Attlee, Truman and Stalin
Final plans for the division of Germany, Austria and their capital
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Final defeat of Japan
US submarines destroy much of Japanese shipping
Massive bombing raid of Tokyo; 100,000 killed . napalm bombs
October, 1944 MacArthur “returns” to the Philippines
Huge naval battle at Leyte Gulf ; Japanese surface fleet destroyed
60,000 US casualties in re-taking the Philippines; military question its strategic significance
March, 1945 US Marines capture Iwo Jima; after 25 day battle 20,000 US casualties
US still 750 miles from Japan
April-June 1945 Okinawa 50,000 US casualties; 100,000 Japanese casualties
17% of all casualties sustained by US Navy and Marines in all of WWII
Meanwhile Japanese Kamikaze sink 30 US ships USS Indianapolis
July 1945 Potsdam Conference attended by Attlee, Stalin and Truman
At Potsdam Truman told of successful detonation of first atomic bomb at Los Alamos NM
Ultimatum to Japan
Manhattan Project role of Sczilard, Einstein,; General Groves and US military in charge
1. Enrico Fermi, splits atom; released energy of atom in Einstein’s famous equation
2. Oak Ridge TN: U-235 isotope extracted from uranium ore
3. Hanford WA plutonium produced
4. Los Alamos NM J.Robert Oppenheimer; final assembly of the bomb
“We have become death the shatterer of worlds.”
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Truman’s decision to drop the bomb: “one of the most fateful decisions in history.”
“an answer- never a question”
August 6 Hiroshima 180,000 casualties
August 8 Soviet Union enters the war against Japan (Teheran)
August 9 Nagasaki 90,000 casualties
August 14
Japan surrenders “V-J day”
September 2, 1945 formal surrender ceremonies in Tokyo Bay
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Comparative Casualties in World War II
England
350,000 dead
100,000 civilians
China
10,000,000 dead
6,000,000 civilians
Japan
3,000,000 dead
1,000,000 civilians
Poland
8,000,000 dead
6,000,000 civilians
Germany
6,500,000 dead
1,000,000 civilians
United States 405,399 dead
6 civilians
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Death toll in World War II
Russia: 15-20 million included civilians; 18% of total Soviet population died in WWII
Poland : 5.8 million
In all about 35 million Europeans died; 2 million Japanese
US hopes for a better world quickly dashed
Almost immediately the US finds itself in a deadly Cold War with its former ally: Soviet Union
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