Download AP Notes8 - Global Studies

Unit 8: America Takes Charge
Part 22: World War I
The order of events:
-Sarajevo, June 28, 1914: Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his lovely wife Sophie
are assassinated-he is the heir apparent to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
-Vienna, July 23: Austrian government issues an ultimatum threatening war against
Serbia and invades four days later.
-Berlin, August 1: Austria-Hungary’s master, Kaiser Wilhelm I, declares war against
Serbian ally, Russia.
-Berlin, August 3: Germany declares war against France, an ally of Russia, and
immediately begins an invasion of neutral Belgium because it is the fastest way to Paris
(as part of the Schlieffen Plan.)
-London, August 4: GB, an ally of France, declares war against Germany.
-American reaction? Shock at how quickly this war started, but we did not want to ally ourselves with a
European nation (to follow in the tradition begun by GW and TJ.) WW issued a declaration of American
neutrality, and encouraged Americans not to take sides. However, it would prove to be nearly impossible
to protect US trade rights and remain neutral at the same time. The four steps America went through over
the next few years went like this: A contented neutral country to a country waging a war for peace. The
US then turned into a victorious world power and finally into an alienated, isolationist country.
A. Neutrality: U.S typically wants to trade with both sides, but the British are the first to blockade
the continent and seize U.S. ships. WW complains that this is a violation of neutrality, but in
reality who is neutral?
a. Submarine Warfare: This was the only way the Germans could compete with the British
navy. They established a “war zone” around the British Isles and France and announced
that any nation heading into those waters would see their ships sunk.
i. Lusitania Crisis: May 7, 1915: British ocean liner sank off the coast of Ireland
by the German u-boats. Most of the passengers died, including 128 Americans.
WW sent a mean message telling the Germans they had better watch
themselves, SecState Bryan resigned saying the message was too warlike. (How
many times is this guy going to go the wrong direction?)
ii. Other sinkings: August 1915, the Arabic is sunk. It was yet another passenger
ship, so WW sent a note to the Germans in which he wants a pledge that no
other passenger ships would be sunk without warning. Germany agreed and
stuck to the pledge until March 1916, when they sank the Sussex, injuring
several American passengers. WW threatened to cut off diplomatic relations,
which is a step toward war, but Germany backed down and responded with the
Sussex Pledge, which they promised not to sink any commercial or passenger
ship without warning. They remained true to this through 1916.
b. Economic Links with Great Britain and France: The US had been in a bit of an
economic recession just before the war but by 1915, thanks to the war orders from GB
and France, which tied us to those countries. The U.S. could have traded with Germany
as well, but the British blockade prevented it, plus we did not want the Brits to cut off
trade with us. WW basically turned his head from the Brit blockade, but restricted the
German one. In other words, WW took sides fairly early in this war. US trade with
Britain and France quadrupled during the war, while our trade with Germany fell to
almost zero.
i. Loans: US government allowed J.P. Morgan and other wealthy Americans to
loan over $3 billion in secured credit to GB and France; the loans maintained
US prosperity as well as sustained the war effort. (In a side note, God borrowed
some “beer money” from Morgan three weeks later…)
c. Public Opinion: WW’s economic policies inadvertently lured the American popular
opinion in favor of the Allies. American newspapers painted the Germans as barbarous
and “Huns.” This view was reinforced by incidents like the Lusitania.
i. Ethnic influence: In 1914, first and second generation immigrants made up
over 30% of the population, so there were lots of close connections to all sides
in the war. Italians were pro-Ally when Italy joined the Allies in 1915, whereas
Irish Americans were pro-Central Powers due to British anti-Irish policies.
Overall, most Americans favored the Allies. Why? Our relationship with France
was fairly solid since they helped us in the Revolution, and the democratic
government of GB tied us close to them. The German autocratic rule of the
Kaiser turned off many Americans.
ii. British war propaganda: Brits controlled the war news that came from Europe,
which means Americans were reading stories written by biased reporters. There
were plenty stories about German atrocities in Belgium and eastern France.
B. The War Debate: After the Lusitania incident, a vocal minority of Republicans, including TR,
argued for war against Germany. Most Americans were happy to have a booming economy and
preferred neutrality.
a. Preparedness: Many easterners, including TR, knew that the US army and navy were
unprepared in case of war and called for preparedness. The National Security League
was formed, it was a group of business leaders to promote preparedness and extend
direct aid to the Allies. (And make themselves lots of money.)
i. WW at first opposed the call for preparedness, but in 1915 he changed this
view and approved an ambitious expansion of the armed forces. Most
Democrats were opposed to this war preparation, but he finally convinced
Congress after a long nationwide speaking tour. Congress passed the National
Defense Act in June 1916, which increased the army by 175,000. A month
later, Congress approved the construction of more than 50 warships over the
course of the next year.
b. Opposition to War: Many people, particularly in the Midwest and west, were opposed to
preparedness because it would lead to war. Populists, Progressives, and Socialists
opposed the preparation, including Bryan, Jeannette Rankin (the first woman elected to
Congress, without the women’s right to vote), and Jane Addams. Suffragists also opposed
the war, but fell in line once we got involved.
c. The Election of 1916: The split is why WW won in ’12, and now with TR declining to
run as a progressive again, the Progressive party was dead and the Republicans were back
to full strength. Charles Evans Hughes, a SC justice and former governor of NY was the
Republican nominee.
i. “He kept us out of the war.” Wilson’s peace platform, plus his Progressive
leadership and the unknown Hughes lead to WW’s victory. For the first time,
Democratic strength in the South and West overcame Republican dominance
in the Northeast.
d. Peace Efforts: In 1915 WW sent Colonel Edward House to Berlin, London, and Paris to
negotiate a peace settlement to end the war, but the trip was unsuccessful. In January,
1917, WW went before Congress and declared the US commitment to “Peace without
victory.”
C. Decision for war: April 1917, WW calls for a declaration of war. Why?
a.
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare: Germans had resumed it in early 1917, in hopes that
they could cut off supplies to the Allies and win the war before the Americans got
involved. Germany announced this new policy in January, WW broke off diplomatic
relations a few days later.
b. Zimmerman Telegram: March 1, US newspapers reported of the attempted deal between
Germany and the still pissed off Mexicans. Arthur Zimmerman, the German foreign
minister, proposed that Mexico ally itself with Germany and in return Germany would
help them retrieve their lost lands in the US.
c. Russian Revolution: With Russia in the mix, WW had a hard time selling the “war for
democracy” due to Russia’s communist revolution. However, now with Russia pulling
out, it could truly be what WW wanted.
d. Renewed Sub Attacks: In the first weeks of March, German subs sank 5 unarmed US
ships.
e. Declaration of War: April 2. 1917. “The world must be made safe for democracy.” A
few pacifists, including LaFollette and Rankin, voted against, but the overwhelming
majority voted for the war.
D. Mobilization: The U.S. had to hurry because the Germans were planning a major offensive that
could end the war. WW was in a hurry to try and make a difference.
a. Industry and Labor: Troops would take months to train, so the first US impact would be
through shipping of supplies, like munitions and food. As a result, WW creates several
agencies to get the party started:
i. War Industries Board, headed by Bernard Baruch, a Wall Street broker, sets
production priorities and established centralized control over raw materials and
prices.
ii. Food Administration, headed by distinguished engineer Herbert Hoover,
encouraged American households to eat less meat and food to be shipped
overseas. As a result, US shipments overseas tripled.
iii. Fuel Administration, headed by Harry Garfield, was set up to conserve coal,
closed nonessential factories, and brought daylight savings time into effect.
iv. National War Labor Board, headed by William Howard Taft, helped arbitrate
disputed between workers and management which lead to labor winning many
concessions that had earlier been denied. Wages went up, the 8-hour workday
was more common, and union membership increased.
b. Finance: WW managed to raise money to pay for the war (over $33 billion over two
years, by way of loans and taxes. Liberty Bond drives were held and Congress raised both
personal income taxes and passed an excise tax on luxury goods.
c. Public Opinion and Civil Liberties: The government used both patriotism and
intimidation to get Americans behind the war effort:
i. Committee on Public Information: Headed by George Creel, the government
enlisted artists, actors, musicians to depict the heroism of the boys in Europe
and to make the Kaiser look evil. This propaganda included speeches and
public performances.
ii. American Protective League: a nativist group who mounted “Hate the Hun”
campaigns. They attacked all things German, from sauerkraut to Beethoven.
iii. Espionage and Sedition Acts: Pacifists and socialists criticized the war effort.
Espionage Act was passed in 1917, followed by Sedition Act in 1918. Under
each, the penalty for speaking out against the war was stiff, fines and prison
time.
1. Espionage Act: provided prison up to 20 years for persons who wither
tried to incite rebellion in the armed forces or obstruct the operation
of the draft.
2. Sedition Act: prohibited anyone from making disloyal or abusive
remarks about the US government. About 2,000 people were
prosecuted under these acts; half of those were convicted and jailed,
including Eugene V. Debs, who was sentenced to 10 years for speaking
against the war.
3. Schenck v. United States: SC upholds the constitutionality of the
Espionage Act in this case, in which a man was imprisoned for
distributing anti-draft pamphlets. In 1919, Justice Oliver Wendell
Holmes said that the right to free speech could be limited when it
represented a “clear and present danger” to the public safety.
iv. Armed Forces: As soon as US declared war, thousands of men volunteered, but
not enough. Conscription involved all men aged 21-30 (and later 18-45) to
register with the government.
1. Selective Service Act: SecWar Newton Baker devised how it would
work. It was intended to be a democratic way for all American men to
be called into service. 2.8 million men were eventually called into
service by the lottery. A total of 4.7 million Americans were issued a
uniform for the war. Of these, over 2 million actually saw action on
the Western Front.
2. African Americans: Segregation was the rule. Almost 400,000 served in
segregated units. Only a few became officers, and none were allowed to
be Marines. DuBois hoped that this would ensure equality when the
war was over, but it didn’t work out.
d. Effects on American Society:
i. More jobs for women: Men left, women took their jobs, leading to the 19 th
amendment.
ii. Migration of Mexicans and Blacks: Lots of job opportunities led to blacks
moving to the major northern cities, as well as a revolution in Mexico leading
to Mexicans migrating to southwest and Midwest for jobs.
E. Fighting the War: Millions were already dead as we arrived in 1918. The Russians were now
undergoing their second revolution, this one led by the Bolsheviks. With no eastern front, the
Germans could now concentrate forces on the western front.
a. Naval Operations: Sub attacks claimed 900,000 tons of shipping in April 1917, leaving
the Brits desperate for shipping assistance. The US undertook a record-setting program
of ship construction, employing a convoy system of armed escorts accompanying
merchant ships. This program was effective enough to keep Britain and France from
starving to death.
b. American Expeditionary Force: American troops were eager to get to Europe; not
knowing what trench life was like. George M. Cohan even wrote “Over There.” John J.
Pershing commanded the AEF, with the first US troops to see action used as stop gaps in
the Brit and French lines. By the summer of 1918 US troops were working
independently of the European forces.
i. Last German Offensive: At Chateau-Thierry on the Marne, US troops
withstood the final German offensive to the west, and then counterattacked at
the Battle of Belleau Wood.
ii. Drive to victory: From August through October, the Allies were on the
offensive along the Meuse and through the Argonne Forest (Meuse-Argonne
Offensive). It was successful in driving the tired German force back toward the
German border. US troops took part in the Battle of St. Mihiel, the southern
section of the Allied line.
iii. Armistice: November 11, 1918: Germans promised to surrender arms and give
up and evacuate occupied territory.
iv. US casualties: 49,000 in only a few months of fighting, with many more
thousands dead of disease, including a flu epidemic that swept through training
camp. Total US fatalities in WWI: 112,432. (Including one of TR’s sons, who
was shot down while flying behind enemy lines. All 4 of TR’s sons went off to
fight. When the telegram came to inform him, his first words were “How am I
ever going to explain this to his mother?”)
F. Making the Peace: WW had always said he wanted a “peace without victory.” Not exactly what
the Treaty of Versailles is known for. WW would submit his peace plan, the 14 Points, in January
1918.
a. The Fourteen Points: Several of the Points related to specific lands changing hands and
going to rightful owners (for example, Alsace and Lorraine to France, German
evacuation of Belgium and Romania and Serbia.
b. More importantly: the major points:
i. Recognition of freedom of the seas.
ii. An end to secret treaties.
iii. Reduction in arms.
iv. An “impartial adjustment of all colonial claims.”
v. Self-determination for all various nationalities within the Austria-Hungarian
Empire.
vi. “A general association of nations…” A League of Nations.
c. The Treaty of Versailles: Beginning in January of 1919 at Versailles, all allied nations
were present. This was the first time a US president traveled abroad for diplomatic
purposes. WW went to defend his 14 points. WW took leading Democrats and only one
Republican, whose advice WW never sought. Bad move.
i. The Big Four: The goal of the Europeans at the conference was revenge and
compensation for lost territory. Nobody believed in WW’s plan. David Lloyd
George of GB, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Vittorio Orlando of Italy
met with WW daily, forcing WW to compromise on many of his proposals. He
did insist on the League of Nations. What would TR have done at this
conference?
ii. Peace Terms: They adjourned in June 1919 with the following terms:
1. Germany was disarmed and stripped of its colonies in Asia and Africa.
It had to admit guilt for the war, accept French occupation of the
Rhineland for 15 years, and pay huge reparations payments to GB and
France.
2. Applying self-determination, lands once occupied by Germany,
Austria-Hungary and Russia were granted their independence,
including: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland, and the created
states of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
3. All signers of the treaty would join the League of Nations. Article X of
the covenant called on each member nation to stand ready to protect
the independence and territorial integrity of other nations.
d. The Battle for Ratification: WW returned to the US assuming he would win
ratification. Republicans were opposed to joining the League simply because it might
end up with us being dragged into European troubles or, worse still, them getting
dragged into our hemisphere (which would violate the Monroe Doctrine.)
i. Increased partisanship after the war: The old rule of Congress trying to take
power back from the president following a war is quite evident here. WW’s
problems started in the 1918 midterm elections when he told the American
people that they had to vote democratic as an act of patriotic loyalty. Nice
move. It back-fired, Republicans won a majority in the House and Senate. Now
in 1919 WW needs Republican help and they are not real excited about the
prospect. The leader against WW in the Senate was Henry Cabot Lodge.
ii. Opponents: Irreconcilables and Reservationists: Senators opposed to the Treaty
of Versailles were split into two groups. The irreconcilables consisted of 12
Senators could not accept US membership in the League for any reason. The
reservationists, a larger group led by Lodge, would accept the League if certain
changes were made. WW chose to not make any changes and fight for it on its
own terms. Bad move.
iii. Wilson’s western tour and breakdown: WW went on a western train tour to
stump for the League and Treaty approval. September 25, 1919 he collapsed
after a Colorado speech and returned to DC. He then suffered a massive stroke
from which he never fully recovered.
iv. Rejection of the treaty: Senate voted twice on the Treaty in November 1919,
defeating it without reservations both times. In 1920 a group of Democrats
joined the reservationists and attempted to pass the Treaty with reservations,
but WW told his loyal supporters to defeat it. The US never passed the Treaty
of Versailles, nor did we join the League. We signed a separate peace with
Germany in 1921.
G. Postwar Problems: Always tough to go from patriotic fervor to economic and social stresses of
postwar uncertainty.
a. Demobilization: 4 million men back home and looking for work. Women and blacks
lost their war time jobs. The economic boom of war time slowed, US farmers saw prices
drop as European farm products were back on the market. In the cities, consumers who
had saved money during the war went on spending sprees, leading to a brief boon and
inflation. By 1921, a recession descended upon America with 10% unemployment.
b. The Red Scare: With the communist takeover in Russia and knowledge of what the
eventual goal of communism was, Americans were swept up in an anti-communist
fervor. We went from hating Germans to hating Reds. Hey, you gotta hate somebody…
i. Palmer Raids: A series of unexplained bombings forced Attorney General A.
Mitchell Palmer to establish a special office under J. Edgar Hoover to
investigate radicals. Palmer ordered mass arrests of radicals, Socialists, and
agitators. Starting in November 1919 through January 1920, over 6,000 people
were arrested. Most of these arrests were based on little actual evidence. Most of
them were foreign born and 500 of them, including the outspoken Emma
Goldman, were deported. The Scare faded quickly because Palmer warned of a
huge May Day Riot that never came to be. This loss of credibility and rising
concerns about civil liberties caused the hysteria to recede. Q: Does it take
tyranny to preserve democracy?
ii. Labor Conflict: During the war unions made great strides, both with winning
many concessions from management and with public relations. This changed
after the war, however, with a series of strikes in 1919 combined with a general
fear of Revolution and communism.
1. Strikes of 1919: The strikes started in Seattle in January 1919. 60,000
unionists joined ship workers in a peaceful strike for higher pay.
Troops were called, but no violence. In Boston in September, police
went on strike to protest the firing of a few policemen who had tried
to start a union. Governor Calvin Coolidge sent in the National Guard
to break the strike. US Steel workers struck in September as well, state
and federal troops were called out and, after much violence, the strike
was broken in January 1920.
2. Race Riots: The Great Migration increased racial tensions in northern
cities. There were race riots during the war, East St. Louis, Illinois in
1917, for example. The worst one was in Chicago in 1919 with 40
people killed and 500 injured (swimming incident.) Lynching
increased in the South as veterans returned home and wondered what
in the hell they were fighting for.
Part 23: The Roaring Twenties
In the election of 1920, Americans voted for William Harding over Democrat James Cox of Ohio (with a
pre-polio FDR as his VP candidate.) Cox wanted the US to join the League of Nations, whereas Harding
was indecisive in nearly every issue. Harding did contribute a new word, promising a “return to
normalcy.” Apparently, the idealism of the Progressive Era was over.
A. Republican Control: Three Republican presidents dominated the era with a Republican Congress
bringing up the rear. Meanwhile, business boomed while farmers and unions struggled.
a. Business Doctrine: TR died in 1919. This loss, combined with public disillusionment
over the war, caused American voters to take a step toward conservatism. This new era
did not push laissez-faire, rather they supported limited government regulation of
business. The regulatory commissions introduced in the Progressive era were now being
administered by business friendly administrators, and many in the Republican Party
believed that America would benefit if the pursuit of profits took the lead in developing
the economy.
b. The Presidency of Warren Harding: He had been a newspaper publisher before entering
politics. He was handsome and looked presidential. When the Republican convention
deadlocked in 1920, the leaders met in a “smoke filled room” and picked him as the
compromise candidate.
i. A few good choices: Harding knew he was an idiot so he tried to appoint
capable men to his cabinet. Charles Evans Hughes was SecState, Herbert
Hoover was SecCommerce, Andrew Melon SecTreas. He also appointed Taft to
Chief Justice of SC. He even pardoned Eugene V. Debs, which surprised many
in America (Debs had won 920,000 votes for president while in jail in 1920.)
Why did Harding pardon him? He said because he was feeling generous.
ii. Domestic Policy: Harding basically just signed into law what the Republican
Congress passed. For example, a reduction in the income tax, an increase in the
tariff under the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922, the establishment of the
Bureau of the Budget, which established the fact that Congress would review
and vote on the budget.
iii. Scandals and death: What’s the deal with postwar presidents dealing with
scandal? (US Grant, anyone?) Harding’s problem was that he also nominated a
bunch of idiots, like Albert Fall as SecInterior and Attorney General Harry
Daugherty. In 1924, Congress found out that Fall had accepted bribes for
granting oil leases in Teapot Dome, Wyoming. Daugherty took bribes for
agreeing not to prosecute certain criminal suspects. Harding died in 1923 as
these scandals were coming out, he was never implicated in the scandals. He
was, however, sworn in to the KKK in the White House.
c. The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge: He had become popular through his successful
breaking of the Boston police strike in 1919. A couple of Coolidge’s favorite quotes?
“The business of America is business.” “If you don’t say anything, you won’t be called
on to repeat it.” And, the classic…”When more and more people are thrown out of
work, unemployment results.”
i. The Election of 1924: Democrats nominated John Davis of West Virginia, who
tried to make an issue of the Teapot Dome scandal. Progressive Democrats
broke from the body and nominated Bob LaFollette of Wisconsin. Coolidge
won easily, but LaFollette won 5 million votes (finishing third), not bad for a
third party in a conservative era.
ii. Vetoes and inaction: He vetoed many bills, most of which were passed by a
Conservative congress. For example, he vetoed a bill that would have given
bonuses to WWI veterans, and he vetoed the 1928 McNary-Haugen bill, which
would have given financial aid to struggling farmers.
d. Hoover, Smith, and the Election of 1928: Coolidge does not want to run again, so Reps.
nominate Herbert Hoover. He had served three presidents in appointed positions, but
had never been elected to anything in his life. The Dems nominated New York
Governor Alfred Smith, a Catholic and an opponent of prohibition. He appealed to
many immigrant voters, but the South was reluctant to elect a Catholic. Hoover
promised to extend “Coolidge Prosperity,” even predicting that poverty would soon be
ended outright. Hoover won a landslide, even winning votes in the South. Typically,
bigots in the South would rather vote for the party that freed the slaves over voting for a
Catholic. People are idiots.
B. Mixed Economic Development: Politics in the back seat, economic growth and social change in
the front. Brief postwar recession in 1921, lengthy period of economic prosperity (1922-28),
followed by economic crash (October 1929). Unemployment was below 4% during the boom
years. By 1930, 2/3 of homes had electricity and income increased dramatically. However, as
many as 40% of US families in both rural and urban areas were below poverty level, especially
farmers.
a. Causes of business prosperity: The business boom was led by a 64% rise in
manufacturing between 1919 and 1929. How did this happen?
i. Increased productivity: With Frederick Taylor’s scientific applications to
business, production increased. Mass production methods also increased
production, thanks to Henry Ford’s assembly line, which was not his invention
(nor was the automobile) but his improvements on it made it possible to copy.
ii. Energy technologies: The increased use of oil and electricity also increased
production. Oil powered factories and gas provided fuel to the ever-growing
number of autos. By 1930, oil accounted for 23% of US energy (up from 3% in
1900). Electricity increased by 300% in the decade, with homes full of new
appliances and factories using electrical motors.
iii. Government policies: Government favored big business by offering tax cuts and
not enforcing the anti-trust laws of the Progressive era.
b. Farm Problems: The best years for farmers were 1916-1918 as the war artificially inflated
the worth of their products and the government guaranteed a minimum sales price for
wheat and corn. Farmers who borrowed money to expand were now facing large debts.
Farmers used new fertilizers and techniques in order to produce more, which only
served to deflate prices as the market was flooded with too much product.
c. Labor Problems: Wages rose during the 20s, but union membership fell off by 20%.
There are many reasons, including open shops (keeping jobs open to non-union
workers), welfare capitalism (companies voluntarily paying higher wages and better
conditions in order to remove the desire to join a union), while in the South attempts to
unionize the textile industry were met with mob violence, often backed by state and
local police.
i. Unsuccessful strikes: United Mine Workers, led by John L. Lewis, engaged in
several unsuccessful strikes in Pennsylvania, W.Va., and Ky. Conservative
courts routinely issued injunctions against strikes and nullified labor laws
aimed at protecting workers welfare.
C. A New Culture: 1920 census reveals that for the first time more than half of Americans live in
urban areas. The culture of the cities were much different than the culture of the rural areas. The
cities were immoral, mass consumption, and popular tastes whereas the rural folk favored strict
religion and moral codes.
a. The Jazz Age: It was the music of the younger generation. Brought north by black
musicians, jazz became a symbol of the new, modern age of the cities. Phonographs and
radios made jazz available to the public, especially the youth.
b.
i. Consumerism: With electricity in the homes, Americans could now go out and
find appliances that made life simpler. Items like Refrigerators, vacuum
cleaners and washing machines, for example. Cars were cheaper and sold in the
millions as the horse and buggy became a thing of the past. Advertisement
skyrocketed as research revealed that humans can be manipulated by a wellplaced ad. People could buy these items on credit, which was pretty easy to get
in the 1920s. Chain stores proliferated and began to run neighborhood stores
out of business.
ii. Impact of the automobile: By 1929 a total of 26.5 million cars were registered,
up from 1.2 million in 1913. This was an average of one car per American
family. The car replaced the railroad as the key promoter of economic growth.
Steel, glass, rubber, gasoline, highway construction were all dependant on
automobile sales. The auto affected everything Americans did, like shopping,
traveling for pleasure, commuting to work, even “courting” the ladies. New
problems were traffic, injuries and death on the roads.
iii. Entertainment: The radio was the new thing, replacing newspapers as the
medium of choice. The first commercial radio station was KDKA in Pittsburgh
and broadcast to only a few thousand listeners. By 1930 there were over 800
stations broadcasting to 10 million radios (about 1/3 of all US homes.) NBC
was formed in 1924 and CBS in 1927. This meant that people at one end of the
country could hear the same program as someone on the other end of the
country. News, sports, soaps, quiz shows, and comedies dominated the airwaves.
iv. Movies: Hollywood was the home of the industry, starting in the 1920s. Going
to the movies was the new rage, sexy and glamorous superstars emerged (Greta
Garbo and Rudolf Valentino.) Palaces were built as movie theaters, with talkies
breaking ground in 1927 (The Jazz Singer.) By 1929 over 80 million tickets sold
each week.
v. Popular heroes: In the old days, politicians and military leaders were the
heroes. In this era, sports stars and movie actors were the heroes. Jack Dempsey,
Jim Thorpe, Babe Ruth, Bobby Jones, Gertrude Ederle (swimmer). But the
biggest hero of the era was Charles Lindbergh.
Gender Roles, Family, and education: Even though they had won the 19th Amendment,
women did not vote as a bloc, rather they voted like their husband.
i. Women at home: Women were expected to live their lives in the home, but at
least the washing machine and vacuum cleaner allowed them to get more work
done!
ii. Women in the labor force: Most working women were found in the cities,
where they worked the traditional female jobs and for lower wages.
iii. Revolution in morals: There was a revolt against sexual taboos in the ‘20s,
partly as a result of Sigmund Freud’s discussion of sexual repression and mental
illness. Premarital sex was on the rise, as movies, novels, cars, and new dance
steps (like the Fox Trot or the Charleston) promoted promiscuity.
Contraceptives were illegal in most states, although Margaret Sanger’s work was
becoming more accepted throughout the US.
1. Youth fashion: the Flapper look was all the rage. It was influenced by
young actresses, but flappers were relatively independent women who
shocked their elders by wearing dresses hemmed to the knee and
“bobbing” their hair, smoking cigarettes, and driving cars. Funny
thing was that once they found a man, they became the very thing they
were rebelling against.
iv. Divorce: Because women could now vote, lawmakers were forced to allow
women to divorce. As a result, 1 in 6 marriages ended in divorce by 1930,
compared to 1 in 8 in 1920.
v. Education: More and more states were passing compulsory education laws. By
1929, 25% of school age young adults were graduates (doubling from 1920.)
c. Religion: It was traditional rural values vs. the modernizing forces of the cities.
i. Modernism: Modernists criticized certain passages in the Bible, thanks to
Darwin, and many of them even accepted evolution without abandoning their
faith.
ii. Fundamentalism: Rural protestant preachers taught that the Bible must be
accepted word for word, creationism explained the origin of all life. They
blamed this new modernism as a reason for America’s slipping morality.
iii. Revivalists on the radio: Sort of a new Great Awakening, people like Billy
Sunday attacked drinking, gambling, and dancing while Aimee Semple
McPherson attacked communism and jazz music from her home in L.A.
d. The Literature of Alienation: Dominant themes of the decade? Calling religion
hypocritical and condemning the sacrifices of wartime as a fraud perpetrated by money
interests. Writer Gertrude Stein called this group of authors the “Lost Generation.” F.
Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Sinclair Lewis; poets Ezra Pound and T.S.
Eliot; and playwright Eugene O’Neill attacked our business-oriented culture. Fitzgerald
and O’Neill were drunk all of the time, Eliot and Hemingway moved to Europe.
e. Art: Industrial design was a new profession. Its goal was to make products look as good
as they worked. Frank Lloyd Wright built upon Louis Sullivan’s architectural
functionalism (form follows function.) Many architects would follow this idea, which
means we had a bunch of boring skyscrapers. The paintings of Edward Hopper and
Georgia O’Keefe criticized the new technologies.
f. The Harlem Renaissance: By 1930, almost 20% of blacks lived in the North. Standard
living was rising a little, but discrimination continued. The largest black community
developed in Harlem, on the island of Manhattan. 200,000 blacks by 1930, Harlem was
famous for being the home of jazz musicians, actors, artists, and writers. This movement
became known as the Harlem Renaissance.
i. Poets and musicians: Black poets included Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes,
James Weldon Johnson, and Claude McKay. (Have students look up a good
poem by each and read in class…) Some were poems of joy and hope, others of
rage and bitterness. Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong helped make jazz a
colorless music. Bessie Smith was a great blues singer, and Paul Robeson was a
singer/actor. Although Harlem was integrated, audiences around the country
were not.
ii. Marcus Garvey: The UNIA came to Harlem from Jamaica via the services of
Garvey. He advocated self-pride for blacks (“Black is Beautiful”), he built on the
ideas of DuBois. He established an organization for black separatism, black
economic self-sufficiency, and a new back to Africa movement. His ownership
of the Black Star Line, a ship line that would take blacks back to Africa, was
investigated by the federal government and they found that he had fraudulently
sold stock in the steam line. He was convicted and deported and his movement
collapsed. DuBois did not like the Back to Africa idea, but did like the black
pride idea. His black pride idea would re-emerge in the 1960s and 1970s.
D. Cultures in conflict: There were sharp divisions in US society, between young and old, between
urban modernists and rural fundamentalists, and nativists and foreigners.
a. Fundamentalism and the Scopes Trial: Dayton, Tennessee hosted the “Trial of the
Century.” The ACLU persuaded Scopes to teach evolution in his class so that he would
get arrested and they could challenge the law stipulating a teacher cannot teach that
subject.
i. The Trial: The nation watched in awe as Clarence Darrow defended Scopes and
William Jennings Bryan testified as an expert on the Bible. Darrow made
Bryan look foolish in his testimony, Bryan died of a stroke just after the trial.
b.
c.
d.
ii. Aftermath: Scopes was convicted, which was eventually overturned due to a
technicality. Evolution laws remained on the books in many states for years,
although they were rarely enforced. The northern press claimed that that
fundamentalism had been defeated.
Prohibition: US passed the 18th Amendment during WWI because we wanted a sober
work force. It prohibited the sale, and manufacture of alcoholic beverages. It was ratified
in 1919. The Volstead Act (1919) was the federal law which enforced the Amendment.
This was a clear victory for the long temperance movement.
i. Defying the law: Drinking slowed, but certainly did not stop. Speakeasies in the
cities were rampant, bootlegging was everywhere, and city police were “on the
take.” Harding even served alcohol in the White House.
ii. Organized Crime: Al Capone and others like him ran a bootlegging ring out of
Canada. Prohibition allowed these gangs to bring in big money that they will
eventually turn into drug money when the amendment is repealed.
iii. Political discord and repeal: Most republicans supported the “noble
experiment”, at least publicly, but the problem was that while alcohol-related
deaths and alcoholism were declining, organized crime was on the rise.
Southerners wanted to keep prohibition, northerners wanted to repeal it. By
the Great Depression, economic issues entered the argument and in 1933 it was
repealed with the 21st amendment.
Nativism: Immigration shoots back up after the War. Over a million foreigners entered
the US between 1919 and 1921. These were Jews and Catholics from Eastern and
Southern Europe. Nativists thought these immigrants might be radicals fomenting
revolution, others feared competition for jobs. Public demand for restrictive legislation
was quickly acted upon by Congress.
i. Quota Laws: First Quota Act of 1921 limited immigration to 3% of the number
of foreign born persons from a given nation counted in the 1910 census (a
maximum of 357,000). This wasn’t good enough because too many southern
and eastern Europeans were still allowed in. So a second Quota Act of 1924 was
passed, this one set quotas at 2% based on the census of 1890 which was before
the arrival of the “new” immigrants. Asians and Europeans could still get in.
By 1927, the limit for Asians and southern Europeans was 150,000, with
Japanese completely barred. Unlimited immigration to the US was officially
over. By the way, Canadians and Latin Americans were exempt from
restrictions; over 500,000 Mexicans migrated legally to the US in the 20s.
ii. Sacco and Vanzetti: Italian immigrants who in 1921 had been convicted of
robbery and murder in a Massachusetts court. There was little proof that they
had committed the crime, but the fact that they were anarchists and
immigrants led to their conviction and eventual execution in 1927.
Ku Klux Klan: This new Klan was started in 1915 and was just as popular in the
Midwest as it was in the South. Catholics, Jews, foreigners and suspected Commies were
all targets. There were 5 million members by 1925, with most support coming from
lower middle class and small town folk.
i. Tactics: Still in the white hoods, they burned crosses and applied vigilante
justice, used whips, tar and feather, and the noose. In Indiana and Texas in the
20s, if one wanted to be elected to public office one had to get the approval of
the KKK.
ii. Decline: Many approved of the Klan simply because the Klan promised to drive
out bootleggers, gamblers, and adulterers. However, fraud and corruption were
rampant. In 1923, Indiana’s Grand Dragon, David Stephenson, was convicted
of murder. This and other infractions led to the Klan’s numbers dwindling by
the end of the 20s.
E. Foreign Policy in the 1920s: The Fiction of Isolation: US was anything but isolationist in the
1920s, despite the fact that we never joined the League. We were fearful of being pulled into
another war, but we did not move back to the Gilded Age. Instead, we pursued arrangements in
foreign affairs that would advance out interests while preserving peace.
a. Disarmament and Peace: Promote peace and cut military spending were the goals of the
Republicans of the 1920s. The most successful conference occurred during Harding’s
presidency, in Washington in 1921.
i. Washington Naval Conference of 1921: SecState Hughes initiated naval
disarmament talks with Belgium, China, France, GB, Italy, Japan, Netherlands,
and Portugal. Basically we wanted our navy to relatively bigger in size than
almost everyone else’s. Three agreements resulted:
1. Five Power Treaty: The nations with the five largest navies agreed to
maintain the following ratio with respect with their largest warships:
Unites States, 5; GB, 5; Japan, 3; France, 1.67; Italy, 1.67. GB and US
agreed not to fortify their possessions in the Pacific, while no limit was
placed on the Japanese.
2. Four Power Treaty: US, GB, French and Japanese agreed to respect
each other’s holdings in the Pacific.
3. Nine Power Treaty: All nine nations at the convention agreed to
honor the Open Door Policy in China.
ii. Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928): American women actually pushed for this (and
thanks to her efforts here and in other areas, Jane Addams won the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1930.) This pact was a treaty arranged by US SecState Frank
Kellogg and French foreign minister Aristide Briand. Almost every nation in
the world signed it. The pact renounced the aggressive use of force to achieve
national gains. It was ineffective because permitted defensive wars and failed to
provide the taking of action against those who broke it.
iii. Business and Diplomacy: The Republican presidents of the 1920s believed that
the better American business does, the better our relations with foreign
countries. Thus, they used diplomacy to advance American business interests in
Latin America and elsewhere.
1. Latin America: Mexico’s new constitution in 1917 mandated
government ownership of all mineral and oil resources. Fearing
American investors would be kicked out; Coolidge worked out an
agreement protecting American interests.
2. US military presence: We remained in Haiti and Nicaragua, and
withdrew from the Dominican in 1924. American investment in Latin
America doubled from 1919 to 1929.
3. Middle East: Although the Brits got the head start in claiming oil
reserves in the region, SecState Hughes succeeded in winning oil
drilling rights in the region.
4. Tariffs: Fordney-McCumber (1922) increased duties on foreign goods
by 25%. It was protective in the short run, but destructive in the long
run. European nations were slow to recover because of the tariff, debts
owed to the US were slow if forthcoming at all. Many countries
imposed tariffs of their own. This was one major cause of the Great
Depression, as worldwide trade slowed.
iv. War Debts and Reparations: We entered WWI as a debtor nation, importing
more than we exported. We emerged a creditor nation, having lent more than
$10 billion to the allies. Harding and Coolidge wanted every cent paid back,
GB and France objected. They said they had bigger losses and that the money
they borrowed from us had been spent in the US. Tariffs made payback
difficult as well. To get the money, GB and France forced the Germans to pay
$30 billion in reparations payments. Germany could not pay, of course, as it
was in a bankrupted state of near anarchy.
1. Dawes Plan: Coolidge’s vice president and an American banker,
Charles Dawes negotiated a compromise that was accepted by all sides
in 1924. It was a cycle of payments that started with the US loaning
money to Germany, Germany then taking this money and paying off
its debts to GB and France. They would then pay us back what they
owed us. It helped to alleviate economic troubles, but the Dawes
payments stopped after the Stock Market Crash.
2. Legacy: Finland was the only country to fully repay its war debt. The
unpaid debts left hard feelings on all sides, the Europeans seeing the
Americans as greedy and the Americans noticed the Europeans were
not goose-stepping. We became more isolationist.
Part 24: The Great Depression and the New Deal
In the past, when banks experienced “runs” or the economy fell off a bit, it bounced back within a year.
This was considered a natural turn of events in capitalism, called a “business cycle.” (See the Panics of
1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, and 1893.) This was different. It affected all classes of people, lasted 12 years, and
was the center of attention for two presidencies.
A. Causes and Effects of the Depression, 1923-1933:
a. Wall Street Crash: The stock market continued to skyrocket through September and
into October of 1929. An average investor who had purchased $1,000 worth of stock at
Hoover’s election would have doubled his money in less than a year. Millions were
investing in this boom market, and millions lost it all when it collapsed.
i. Black Thursday and Black Tuesday: Market was fluctuating in the weeks prior
to late October, but the true panic began on Thursday, Oct. 24. There was an
unprecedented volume of sales and stock prices plunged. The next day a group
of investors bought billions in stock and stabilized the market. The selling
frenzy resumed on Monday. The next day, Black Tuesday, the bottom fell out
completely. Millions of panicky investors ordered their brokers to sell but there
were no buyers to be found.
ii. Prices continued to drop after that day. By late November the Dow Jones index
had fallen from a high of 381 to an all-time low of 198. They would eventually
bottom out at 41 in 1932.
b. Causes of the Crash: The Crash triggered economic turmoil, but it wasn’t the sole cause
of the Depression.
i. Uneven Distribution of Income: Productivity and corporate profits were up,
but wages had not risen at the same rate.
ii. Stock market speculation: Many people in many economic classes were playing
the market; people were now looking to get rich quick instead of invest long
term in a company. Buying on margin allowed people to borrow most of the
cost of the stock, with as little as 10% down. When the price of the stock
increased, they could repay the loan. When the prices began to drop, they lost
everything they had borrowed and invested.
iii. Excessive use of credit: Many believed this boom was permanent, which
increased the number of installment buys. Advertising persuaded people to buy
the latest things on credit.
iv. Overproduction of consumer goods: Workers with stagnant wages (or money
tied up in credit payoffs) could not keep up with the overproduced goods.
v. Weak farm economy: Farmers had never really shared in the boom, they had
overproduced, were in high debt, and selling at low prices since the end of the
war. Severe weather and a long drought would further their troubles in the
‘30s.
vi. Government policies: There was very little regulation of business in the ‘20s,
but had enacted high tariffs which hurt US farmers and cut international trade.
Years of this type of behavior would prove hard to correct.
vii. Global economic problems: International baking, manufacturing and trade had
made nations more interdependent. The US failed to recognize that Europe
had still not recovered from WWI. We wanted our money back, but our high
tariff made it difficult to sell foreign goods in America. Germany was still
working on reparations, the Dawes Act helped by those payments stopped after
the Crash.
c. Effects of the Depression: It is a depression we never fully figured out, only was brought
the world out of it. There are economic indicators that track the health of a nation’s
economy, like GNP (the US GNP dropped from $104 billion in 1929 to $56 billion in
1933.) US income dropped 50%, 20% of all banks closed, 10 million savings accounts
were wiped out. 13 million were unemployed by 1933, 25% of the American working
population (not including farmers.) Politically, Republican laissez faire was over and a
new era of bigger government would emerge.
i. Social effects: Farmers and blacks had increased problems, poverty and
homelessness increased, as did the stress on families as work was scarce.
Foreclosure and evictions were commonplace.
B. Hoover’s Policies: Nobody knew at the time how long and hard this Depression would be. We
had been through panics before and had survived them, why should this one be any different?
Hoover advised people to use restraint; that prosperity would soon return. He urged businesses
not to cut wages, unions not to strike, and private charities to increase their efforts for the needy
and jobless. He rejected government assistance for the needy until 1930, fearing that it would
destroy Americans’ self-reliance. He did slowly realize that people needed help, but he believed
this help should come from the state and local governments. Congress was Republican at the time
as well.
a. Responding to a worldwide depression: Europe quickly felt the repercussions of the
Crash. Because of trade and Dawes, European prosperity was heavily attached to ours.
Hoover’s first major decision concerning this international situation was incredibly
stupid.
i. Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930): This was the highest tariff in US history. It taxed
imports at rates from 31% to 49%. Hoover and Congress had passed it thinking
it would protect American business. But what it did was force European
countries to pass similar tariffs, so that their business was protected from
American imports. It reduced trade for all nations and sent the world even
deeper into the depression.
ii. Debt Moratorium: By 1931, conditions were so bad here and in Europe that
Hoover proposed a suspension on the payment of international debts. GB and
Germany accepted, but France said no. therefore, the international community
suffered loan defaults, and banks everywhere scrambled to meet the demands of
so much money being withdrawn by depositors.
b. Domestic programs: Too Little, Too Late: By 1931, Hoover realized that some
Americans needed government assistance.
i. Federal Farm Board: It had been created in 1929 before the crash, but its
powers were now enlarged to meet the economic crisis. It was authorized to
help stabilize farm prices by temporarily holding surplus grain and cotton in
storage. This program was much too modest to handle the vast overproduction
of farm goods.
ii. Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC): Federally funded and government
owned, this corporation was created by Congress in ’32 as a measure for
propping up faltering railroads, banks, life insurance companies, and other
financial institutions. Hoover reasoned that emergency federal loans from this
corporation would help stabilize them, and then this would “trickle down” to
smaller businesses and ultimately bring recovery. Democrats said that it would
only help the rich.
iii. Limited Work Projects: There were some work projects enacted by Hoover, like
Hoover Dam for instance, but Hoover always thought it was not the federal
government’s job to provide aid to the people.
c. Despair and Protest: Many Americans were becoming very desperate by 1931 and ’32.
i. Unrest on the farms: Farmers would band together and stop banks from
foreclosing, farmers in the Midwest even formed the Farm Holiday Association
which attempted to reverse the drop in process by stopping the entire crop of
grain harvested in 1932 from reaching the market. The effort collapsed after
some violence.
ii. Bonus March: In the summer of ’32, a thousand unemployed WWI vets
marched to DC demanding payment of their bonuses promised to them for
1945. Thousands more veterans joined them, along with wives and children.
They took up in shacks outside of DC, while others shacked up in unused office
buildings. Congress failed to pass the Bonus Bill. Two vets were then killed in a
clash with police. At this point, Hoover ordered the army to break up the
encampment. Douglas MacArthur went in using tanks and tear gas and drove
the vest out of DC. Americans looked at Hoover as a heartless bastard.
d. The Election of 1932: Hoover warned that a Democratic victory would result in more
problems.
i. Democrats: Nominate Franklin Roosevelt with Texan House Speaker John
Nance Garner as VP. FDR pledged a “New Deal” with a platform designed and
written by A. Mitchell Palmer. He promised the repeal of Prohibition, aid for
the unemployed, and cuts in government spending.
ii. Results: 60% of voters went for FDR. Even Socialists, who were also desperate,
left their candidate, Norman Thomas, and supported Roosevelt. Both houses of
Congress would become Democrat as well.
iii. Hoover as the “lame duck”: Hoover offered to work with FDR to begin
implementing his ideas, but FDR declined, not wanting to link himself with
any Republican ideas. The Lame Duck amendment, #20, was passed in
February 1933 and ratified in October to shorten the period between an
election and an inauguration. Jan. 20 would be the new date.
C. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal: FDR was a distant cousin to TR and Eleanor was TR’s niece.
FDR expanded the size of the federal government and altered the way it operated, and greatly
enlarged the power of the presidency (much like his cousin had before.) He spent 12 years and 2
months in office and was one of the most influential leaders of the 20 th century.
a. FDR, The Man: The only child of a wealthy NY family, he served in the state legislature
and then as Assistant Secretary of the US Navy (just as his cousin had done.) However,
FDR was a Democrat and had been the vice-president candidate in 1920 (James Cox) but
lost to Warren Harding.
i. Disability: He was paralyzed by polio in 1921. He was wealthy enough to retire,
but he decided to resume his career and eventually regained the full power of
his upper body. He never walked again, but with the use of braces, crutches,
and a wheelchair he managed to get around. His strengths included a warm
personality; he was a gifted speaker, and the ability to inspire others. He was
b.
c.
elected governor of New York in 1928, even though he had campaigned from a
car and a wheelchair. As governor, he instituted a number of relief and welfare
programs.
ii. Their relationship: Fifth cousins once removed, TR even remarked upon their
wedding, “It’s a good thing to keep the name in the family.” FDR was also
distantly related to the following: George Washington, John Adams, James
Madison, Martin van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, and William
Howard Taft. Even Winston Churchill was a 7th cousin once removed.
iii. Fooling Around: In 1918 Eleanor found out FDR was having an affair with
Lucy Mercer, Eleanor’s personal secretary. She told him to break it off or she’d
publicly sue for divorce. He broke it off, but only because his won mother told
him to either end it or she would cut him out of the family fortune. From this
point on, there was no physical contact between FDR and Eleanor.
1. He then took up with a new mistress in 1928 as Governor of NY, and
this woman, Missy Lehand, followed him into the White House. There
were many reports of people walking into the Oval Office to find her
sitting in FDR’s lap. Missy died in ’44, he then brought Lucy back and
she was with him (in secret, thanks to the Secret Service) until he died
with her by his side, in Georgia in ’45.
2. Meanwhile, Eleanor had started up her own affair with Lorena
Hickock, a reporter who lived in the White House across the hall from
her.
iv. Eleanor Roosevelt: The most active first lady in history. They had a strained
personal relationship (they both had girlfriends), but she was the social
conscience to the president and she influenced him to support minorities and
the poor.
New Deal Philosophy: His New Deal was a mystery during the campaign, there was no
detailed plan about ending the depression, but he was committed to action and willing
to experiment with political solutions to economic problems. The words “New Deal”
were simply words in his acceptance speech (he was the first president to personally
accept his nomination at the convention). A canny media picked up on the “New Deal”
and thus the name of the program.
i. The Three R’s: Relief for people out of work; Recovery for business and the
economy; and Reform for American economic institutions.
ii. The Brain Trust and other advisors: Many of these guys had advised him as
Governor. Louis Howe was his chief political advisor; while the Brain Trust was
a group of university professors, including Rexford Tugwell, Raymond Moley,
and Adolph A. Berle, Jr. His appointments were the most diverse in history,
including blacks, Jews, Catholics, and women. Francis Perkins, his secretary of
labor, was the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.
The First Hundred Days: Sworn in on March 4, 1933, FDR called Congress into a
special 100-day-long session. Congress passed into law every FDR request, enacting more
legislation than any other Congress in history (in only 100 days!!). There were so many,
most of them became known for their acronyms.
i. Bank Holiday: Banks were failing at a frightening rate with people rushing to
withdraw their money. 5,000 failed in 1933 alone. On March 6, 1933, FDR
ordered all banks closed. As soon as a bank was declared solvent, it was
reopened. If not, it remained closed. He wanted to take this time so the
government could stabilize the banks and reestablish Americans’ faith in the
banking system. If people’s money is not in the banks, our banks cannot
provide loans, investments curtail, etc.
d.
ii. Repeal of Prohibition: 21st Amendment was enacted, and Congress also passed
the Beer-Wine Revenue Act, which legalized the sale of beer and wine.
Anheuser-Busch sent FDR the first case of Budweiser off the assembly line.
iii. Fireside Chats: FDR went on the radio march 12 to present the first of many
chats. He assured listeners that the banks that were reopening were safe. The
public responded, with more money being deposited than withdrawn.
iv. Financial Recovery Program: (Recovery) The financial part of his new program
included the following programs:
1. Emergency Banking Relief Act: authorized the government to
investigate the closed banks.
2. Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation (FDIC): guaranteed
individual bank deposits up to $5,000.
3. Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC): provided refinancing of
small homes to prevent foreclosing.
4. Farm Credit Administration: provided low-interest farm loans and
mortgages to prevent foreclosures on the property of farmers in debt.
v. Programs for relief for the unemployed (Relief):
1. Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA): offered grants of
federal money to states and local governments to operate soup kitchens
and other forms of relief. Harry Hopkins was the director of FERA
and was one of FDR’s closest friends.
2. Public Works Administration (PWA): directed by SecInterior Harold
Ickes, it gave money to state and local governments for building roads,
bridges, dams, and other public works. This provided thousands of
jobs. (Examples, the Triborough Bridge and Lincoln tunnel in NYC,
linked Key West to the mainland, and built the aircraft carriers
Hornet and Yorktown.)
3. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): employed young men on federal
land projects and paid their families small monthly sums.
4. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): A huge experiment in regional
development and public planning. It was a government corporation
that hired thousands of people in one of the nation’s poorest regions,
the Tennessee Valley. They built dams, operated electric plants,
controlled flooding and erosion, and manufactured fertilizer. The
TVA sold electricity to the people of the region at a fraction of what
the old electric company had charged people in the region.
vi. National Recovery Administration (NRA): Its function was to combine
immediate relief with long-term reform. Directed by Hugh Johnson, the NRA
was an attempt to guarantee reasonable profits for business and fair wages and
hours for labor. With antitrust laws temporarily suspended, the NRA could
help each industry (like steel, oil, and paper) set codes for wages, hours of work,
levels of production, and prices of finished goods. It also gave workers the right
to organize and bargain collectively. The NRA operated with moderate success
for two years until the SC deemed it unconstitutional in 1935 (Schechter v.
U.S.).
vii. Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA): Encouraged farmers to
produce less, which would boost prices by offering to pay government subsidies
for every acre they plowed under. It also called for butchering of livestock, etc.
AAA was also declared unconstitutional in 1935.
Other Programs of the First New Deal: Following the first hundred days, Congress took
a break, but FDR kept right on pushing things through Congress:
i. Civil Works Administration (CWA): It was added to the PWA and other
programs to add jobs. It hired laborers for temporary construction projects
sponsored by the federal government.
ii. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): Created to regulate the stock
market and place limits on the speculation that was instrumental in the Crash.
iii. Federal Housing Administration (FHA): Gave construction and homeowners a
boost by insuring bank loans for building new houses and repairing old ones.
iv. To try and halt deflation, the US dollar was set at $35 per ounce of gold, but no
longer were paper dollars redeemable in gold.)
D. The Second New Deal: FDR’s first two years in office were focused on Recovery. The midterm
elections of ’34 gave him an even larger mandate, launching the Second New Deal in the summer
of ’35. This new legislation focused on Relief and Reform.
a. Relief Programs:
i. Works Progress Administration (WPA): Headed by Harry Hopkins, of FERA
fame, this agency was much larger than the relief agencies of the New Deal. It
spent billions from 1935-1940 to provide jobs for people. It employed 3.4
million jobs in its first year, to both men and women who had previously been
on the relief rolls of state or local governments. It paid double the relief rate,
but not as much as regular employment. Bridges, roads, airports, and public
buildings (like the Pentagon) were built. Unemployed artists, writers and actors
were also employed to paint murals, write histories, and perform in plays.
1. National Youth Administration (NYA): a part of the WPA, it provided
part-time jobs to help young people stay in school (high school or
college) or until they could get a job with a private employer.
ii. Resettlement Administration (RA): Rexford Tugwell was in charge of this
organization that provided loans to sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and small
farmers. It also established federal camps where migrant workers could find
decent housing. The aim was to move tenants to better soil, but it was not given
enough money to do much with.
b. Reforms: FDR believed that workers and farmers needed to receive more government
help than members of the business community and the rich.
i. National Labor Relations Act (The Wagner Act) (1935): This replaced the
NIRA after it was declared unconstitutional. It guaranteed a worker’s right to
join a union and a union’s right to bargain collectively. It also outlawed
business practices that were unfair to labor. The National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB), was empowered to enforce the law and make sure that workers’
rights were protected. This marks a significant change in that the federal
government is now fully in support of unions and labor.
ii. Rural Electrification Administration (REA): Provided loans for electrical
cooperatives to supply power in rural areas.
iii. Federal taxes: Increased the income taxes on the wealthy. Increased the tax on
large gifts from parent to child and on capitol gains (profits from the sale of
stocks or other properties.)
c. The Social Security Act: Perhaps the farthest reaching reform was this one. It created a
federal insurance program based upon the automatic collection of taxes from employees
and employers throughout people’s working careers. As soon as you turn 65, social
security payments would kick in. Also part of this law, unemployment compensation,
disability, and money for dependant wives and children.
d. The Election of 1936: The economy was improved but still weak. The people loved him
while business hated him due to things like the Wagner Act.
i. Alf Landon: Republican nominee in 1936, from Kansas. He was a progressive
who criticized FDR for spending too much but overall supported most of the
New Deal ideas.
ii. Results: FDR destroyed Landon. (Landon did win Vermont and Maine!) The
Solid South was now in full swing through the 60s. Also supporting the
Democrats were white ethnic groups, Midwestern farmers, and labor unions.
Blacks also joined the Democrats for the first time.
E. Opponents of the New Deal: The New Deal programs were popular with the people but there
were always opponents, primarily because the New Deal legislation was controversial.
a. Liberal Critics: Socialists and liberals criticized the New Deal for helping business too
much while not helping the common man enough. Also said FDR did not help blacks,
women and the elderly enough.
b. Conservative Critics: There were a lot more of these. The federal government has too
much power, we are bordering on socialism or even communism (Wagner Act, WPA,
etc.) Business leaders were alarmed by increased regulations, the new pro-union stance,
and the large scale borrowing of money (deficit spending) to pay for the new programs.
The conservative Democrats formed the American Liberty League in 1934 (with leaders
Al Smith and John Davis) with the purpose of stopping New Deal reform from
subverting the US economic and political system. To put is bluntly, they were afraid the
US was turning pink.
c. Demagogues: In times of desperation, people tend to turn to anyone who offers
immediate solutions to their problems. So while Germany fell for Hitler, Americans
were turning to their own dipshits.
i. Father Charles E. Coughlin: A Catholic priest with a radio show, he founded
the national Union for Social Justice, which called for issuing an inflated
currency and nationalizing all banks. In 1934 he received more mail than
anyone in the country, including the President. His attacks on the New Deal
became increasingly anti-Semitic and Fascist until his superiors in the Catholic
church ordered him to stop broadcasting.
ii. Dr. Francis E. Townsend: Prior to the passage of the Social Security Act, this
retired physician from Long Beach, California offered a simple plan for
guaranteeing a secure income. He proposed a 2% federal sales tax to create a
special fund from which every retired person over 60 would receive a check for
$200 a month. By spending this money quickly, the economy would be
stimulated and end the depression. The popularity of this plan persuaded
FDR’s SS Act.
iii. Huey Long: FDR once mentioned to Rexford Tugwell that “Huey Long is the
most dangerous man in the country.” “Who is the other,” Tugwell asked.
“Father Coughlin?” “No. Douglas MacArthur.”
1. The Kingfish of Louisiana, Senator Long was popular in his own state
with the “Share Our Wealth” program. He was, according to Gertrude
Stein, not boring like Roosevelt, Smith, and Harding were. H.G.
Wells, when visiting the US, made a point to meet Long. It promised
a minimum income of $5,000 for every American family to be paid for
by taxing the wealthy. He was actually aligned with Father Coughlin as
a possible run for the presidency drew near. The Republicans hoped
that Long would run as a third party candidate, Coughlin would be his
vice president nominee, and enough Democrats would leave the party
that the Republicans would squeak through. He announced his
candidacy for president in ’35 and would have been a tough opponent,
but was gunned down by an assassin in the Louisiana State House that
year. Dr. Carl Austin Weiss shot him because Long was trying to
unseat an obscure Louisiana judge who also happened to be Weiss’
father-in-law. As he staggered through the corridors, Long said, “I
wonder what they shot me for?”
d.
The Supreme Court: The Court was FDR’s most frustrating critic. They killed the NRA
and the AAA. FDR interpreted his landslide election in ’36 as a mandate to end the
obstacles posed by the Court.
i. Court Reorganization Plan (Court Packing Scheme) 1937: FDR had not
appointed any new judges to the Court in his first term. He now proposed that
the president be authorized to appoint to the Supreme Court an additional
justice for each current justice who was older than a certain age (70.5 years.)
This would have allowed FDR to add 6 more justices, all of them liberal.
ii. Reaction: Even liberal democrats saw this for what it was. Many accused FDR
of wanting to become a dictator. This was the first time in his presidency that a
major bill that he wanted was shot down by Congress.
iii. Aftermath: The Court was actually becoming more liberal anyway, including
upholding the constitutionality of the Wagner Act and Social Security. Also,
several justices retired during his second term, enabling him to appoint a
majority of the Court, ensuring passage of his programs.
F. Rise of Unions: NIRA and the Wagner Act caused a lasting change in labor-management
relations by legalizing unions. Union membership shot upward, from 3 million in the early ‘30s
to 10 million by ’41.
a. Formation of the C.I.O.: As Unions grew in size, there were many conflicts between
differing Unions. Many groups made up the AFL, which was dominated by skilled white
workers and organized according to craft. A group of workers in the AFL wanted union
membership to be extended to all workers in an industry regardless of sex, race, or skill.
In 1935 the industrial unions, as they were called, joined together and formed the
Committee of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
i. John L. Lewis was their leader, he had been the United Mine Workers leader.
In 1936 the AFL suspended the CIO unions, which had been renamed the
Congress of Industrial Organizations. The CIO then broke away from the AFL
and became its chief rival. It focused on organizing unskilled workers in the
automobile, steel, and southern textile industries. (Remember, the southern
textile workers had tried to unionize in the early part of the 20 th century and
were met with mob violence and beatings at the hands of state and local police.)
b. Strikes: Even though collective bargaining was now legal, many companies still resisted
union demands.
i. Automobile industry: A sit-down strike occurred at the GM plant in Flint,
Michigan in 1937 as a result of the workers desire to form a union. GM
requested bringing in troops, but the president and the governor declined to do
that. The company was finally forced to recognize the United Auto Workers
(UAW). Union organizers at the Ford plant in Michigan were beaten and
driven away. Nice one, Henry.
ii. Steel: US Steel recognized one of the CIO unions, but smaller companies
resisted. On Memorial Day, 1937, a demonstration by union picketers at
Republic Steel in Chicago ended in 4 deaths, as the police fired into the crowd,
and was nicknamed the Memorial Day Massacre. By 1941 almost all of the
smaller steel companies agreed to a deal with the CIO.
iii. Fair Labor Standards Act: Provided a host of regulations on businesses in
interstate commerce. It established minimum wage (40 cents an hour), a
maximum workweek of 40 hours and time and a half for overtime, and child
labor restrictions for those under 16.
1. US v. Darby Lumber Co.: SC reversed its earlier ruling (Hammer v.
Dagenhart, 1918) by upholding the child labor provisions of the Fair
Labor Standards Act.
G. Last Phase of the New Deal: Fair Labor Standards Act was the only major reform of FDR’s
second term. The New Deal lost momentum in the late ‘30s for both economic and political
reasons.
a. Recession, 1937-1938: The economy slowly pulled out of its nosedive in FDR’s first
term. Banks were stabilized, businesses were making money, and unemployment was at
15%. However, in 1937 the economy hit a back slide. Why?
i. Causes: Social Security by definition reduced consumer spending at the same
time that FDR was cutting expenditures for relief and public works. FDR was
trying to balance the budget and beat a depression at the same time.
ii. Keynesian Economics: British economist John Maynard Keynes taught FDR
that he had made a mistake in attempting to balance the budget. In Keynesian
theory, deficit spending was acceptable because in difficult times the
government needed to spend well above its tax revenues in order to initiate
economic growth. This “priming the pump” would increase investments and
create jobs. FDR’s advisors adopted this theory in 1938 to positive results. As
federal spending on public works and relief went up, so did employment and
industrial production.
b. Weakened New Deal: The economy was improving, but there were no booms and still
some problems. The court packing scheme did not help FDR’s efforts and the mid-term
elections saw a reduction in Democrats in Congress. A coalition of Republican and
conservative Democrats blocked any further New Deal legislation. Also, starting in 1938
fears of Nazi aggression took attention away from domestic issues.
H. Life During the Depression: Lots of people who lived through the Depression never totally got
over it. They developed a “Depression mentality,” which means they were insecure and never
fully trusted prosperity.
a. Women: Pressure on men to find jobs did not help the women’s movement. However,
because families needed money, a higher percentage of women were now in the labor
force. They did not take jobs from men, simply because did not get factory jobs that
everybody lost and men did not take women’s jobs (although Taft did work as a stripper
at the “Pole and bucket” for several months.) Women made less money for the same job
during the Depression. Margaret Bourke-White was one of the great photographers of
the era, including a collection titled You Have Seen Their Faces.
b. Dust Bowl Farmers: A drought hit the Midwest in the ‘30s, which resulted in a Dust
Bowl. Poor farming practices combined with a drought and high winds caused the Dust
Bowl. “Okies” left Oklahoma and other heavily hit areas and headed west to California
and new opportunity, as detailed in Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath (1939).”
c. African Americans: They were the last hired, first fired. Their unemployment rate was
higher than the national average; they were also often excluded from state and local
relief programs. This increased racial tensions, and lynching continues in the South.
FDR did not want to lose white southern votes so he did nothing to alleviate the
problem.
i. Improvements: There were low paying jobs with the WPA and the CCC, but
these jobs were segregated. Eleanor Roosevelt gave them moral support, like
when Marian Anderson was supposed to sing at the Constitution Hall until she
showed up and organizers (the Daughters of the American Revolution) realized
she was black so they barred her from playing. Eleanor Roosevelt and Harold
Ickes (SecInterior) arranged for a special concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
ii. Black Appointments: Over a hundred blacks were appointed to mid-level
positions in federal departments by FDR. Mary McLeod Bethune had been a
long time supporter of education and economic improvements for women. She
established the Federal Council on Negro Affairs for the purpose of increasing
black involvement in the New Deal.
d.
e.
iii. Fair Employment Practices Committee: An executive order in ’41 set up a
committee to assist minorities in gaining jobs in defense industries. FDR took
this action only after A. Philip Randolph, head of the Railroad Porter’s Union,
threatened a march on Washington to demand equal opportunities for blacks.
Ironically, Randolph was there at MLK’s March in ’63.
iv. The Scottsboro Case: March, 1931, 9 black teenagers were removed from a
freight train in a small town near Scottsboro, Alabama. Despite no evidence of
rape at all, all nine were convicted of raping two white women who were also
riding the rails. 8 of the Scottsboro Boys were sentenced to death, but none of
them were ever executed. The Supreme Court and the NAACP got into the
case and eventually 4 of the 9 saw the charges dropped, four received early
parole, and one escaped prison. But they did spend time in prison for a crime
they did not commit. One was in jail into the 1950s.
Native Americans: John Collier, longtime advocate of Native American rights, was
appointed commissioner of Indian Affairs in ’33. He organized CCC projects on
reservations and gained native involvement in the WPA and other New Deal programs.
i. Indian Reorganization Act (Wheeler Howard Act) 1934: The Dawes Severalty
Act of 1887 had encouraged Indians to be independent farmers as well as get
rid of tribal customs, was repealed in ’34. Land was returned to the tribes, and
stressed the preservation of native customs. Critics complained that the New
Deal was too paternalistic and controlled the Native Americans.
Mexican Americans: Also discriminated against in the New Deal era. They had been a
great source of agricultural labor in California in the 20s, but during the Depression
white migrant workers were everywhere looking for work. “Riding the rails” was
common among white migrants (including Robert Mitchum), which means that
competition for jobs drove many Mexicans back to Mexico.
Terms: The Great Depression:
Great Depression
Stock market
Wall Street
Black Tuesday
Dow Jones index
Income distribution
Buying on margin
Gross national Product
Herbert Hoover
Hawley-Smoot tariff (1930)
Debt moratorium
Farm Board
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Bonus march
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
20th Amendment
Lame duck
First New Deal
Relief, Recovery, Reform
Brain Trust
Frances Perkins
Hundred Days
Bank holiday
Repeal of prohibition
Fireside chats
FDIC
PWA
Harold Ickes
CCC
TVA
NRA
Schechter v. U.S.
SEC
FHA
Second New Deal
WPA
Harry Hopkins
National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
Social Security Act
Father Charles Coughlin
Francis Townsend
Huey Long
Court packing scheme
CIO
John L. Lewis
Sit down strike
Fair Labor Standards Act
New Democratic coalition
John Maynard Keynes
Depression mentality
Drought, dust Bowl, Okies
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Marian Anderson
Mary McLeod Bethune
Fair Employment Practices Committee
A Phillip Randolph
Indian Reorganization Act (Wheeler-Howard Act)
Part 25: World War II
When FDR came to power in 1933, the naïve work the US had engaged in during the 1920s (KelloggBriand, League of Nations, Washington Naval Conference, etc.) was in danger due to Hitler’s rise in
Germany and Japanese threats to China. In the US, worries about the Depression overshadowed foreign
developments. Most Americans were sure that even if a massive war did break out, we would not be
involved this time.
A. Herbert Hoover’s Foreign Policy: He wanted to keep the US out of making foreign
commitments, which would come to be known as “isolationism” in the 30s. He believed in
conferences and economic sanctions.
a. Japanese Aggression in Manchuria: In September, 1931, Japan violated the Open Door
Policy and the covenant of the League of Nations by invading Manchuria, renaming it
Manchukuo, and setting up a puppet government. The League passed a resolution
condemning the aggression, but did nothing. This set a precedent of the League doing
nothing to aggressors.
i. Stimson Doctrine (1932): The US’ reaction to was to pass this doctrine, which
stated the US would not recognize any territory taken by force. SecState Henry
Stimson wrote it. A republican, he was Hoover’s SecState, but came back as
SecWar in 1940 at the urging of FDR. He served until September, 1945. He
was heavily involved in the creation of the Atomic Bomb.
b. Latin America: In 1929 Hoover went on a goodwill tour of Central and South America,
and he ended the interventionist policies of Taft and Wilson by agreeing pulling troops
out of Nicaragua by 1933 and negotiating a treaty to pull troops out of there by 1934.
B. FDR’s Policies, 1933-1938: He extended the goodwill toward Latin America, but internationally
in these years he did not do much due to the Depression.
a. Good Neighbor Policy: FDR promised “a policy of the good neighbor” toward Latin
America for a couple reasons:
i. Dollar Diplomacy no longer made economic sense, US business could no
longer afford foreign operations.
ii. The rise of militant regimes in Germany and Italy forced FDR to become
friendly with our neighbors to keep them from levitating toward that type of
government.
iii. The Good Neighbor Policy at work:
1. Pan-American Conferences: US pledged to never intervene in the
internal affairs of Latin American countries during the 1933 PanAmerican Conference. This repudiates the work of TR. At the ’36
Conference, FDR himself pledged to submit future disputes in the
region to arbitration. He also promised that if Germany tried anything
in our hemisphere, we would all band together to keep them out. We
basically traded military intervention with economic influence, when
possible.
2. Cuba: US nullified the Platt Amendment in 1934, hanging on only to
our rights to Guantanamo Bay.
3. Mexico: Lazaro Cardenas, the new president of Mexico, nationalized
all oil properties in 1938. Despite business pressure, FDR encouraged
American companies to negotiate a settlement.
b. Economic Diplomacy: Most of these have the same goal: Helping the US economy
during the Depression.
i. London Economic Conference (1933): During Hoover’s last months he made a
commitment for the US to get involved in an international conference on how
to fix the world economy. FDR initially supported it but changed his mind
when the discussion turned to stabilization of currencies. He did not want this
to mess up his recovery program, so he withdrew (known as FDR’s
“Bombshell”) and the conference ended without any agreement.
ii. Recognition of the Soviet Union: FDR recognized the USSR for one reason:
trade.
iii. Philippines: Governing a land so far away was expensive, so Congress passed the
Tydings McDuffie Act of 1934 which called for the independence of the
Philippines by 1946. In 1935 they elected a president and set forth to achieve
this goal.
iv. Reciprocal Trade Agreements: FDR lower tariffs in order to increase trade. In
1934, SecState Cordell Hull suggested a plan, which Congress approved, that
would reduce the tariff by 50% for nations that reciprocated with comparable
reductions for US imports.
c. Events Abroad: Fascism and Aggressive Militarism: Economic hardships led the way for
militant dictatorships in the 1930s.
i. Italy: Benito Mussolini took control of Italy in 1922, installing the Fascist
Party. Dressed in black shirts, the fascists installed “Il Duce”.
1.
d.
e.
Fascism: The idea that people should glorify their nation and their
race through an aggressive show of force. All for the state.
ii. Germany: The Nazi Party rose to prominence in the 20s and 30s as a reaction
to the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler used anti-Semitism to control the masses and
bully Germany out of the Depression. He gained control of the Reichstag in
1933 and was anointed “der Fuhrer”.
iii. Japan: Military leaders became more and more influential in the 20s and 30s,
convincing the Emperor that Japan needed to invade China and Southeast Asia,
which would give the Japanese all the raw materials they would need in order to
form the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (“Asia for Asians” in which
Japan would kick all Western powers out of Asia and then run Asia under
Japanese rule. It was based on Japanese superiority.)
American Isolationists: As we watched events in Asia and Europe, we became staunchly
opposed to getting involved. This sentiment was strongest in the Midwest and among
Republicans.
i. Revisionist History of WWI: Senator Gerald Nye of North Dakota investigated
America’s reasons for getting involved for WWI. The Nye Report (1934)
concluded that the main reason for US involvement in the war was to serve the
interests of greedy bankers and manufacturers. The committee heavily
influenced isolationist legislation in the following years.
ii. Neutrality Acts: Isolationists held a majority in both houses of Congress
through 1938. FDR reluctantly signed these neutrality bills. Each law was in
regard to nations FDR proclaimed to be at war.
1. Neutrality Act of 1935: Authorized the president to prohibit all
shipments and to forbid US citizens to travel on the ships of
belligerent nations.
2. Neutrality Act of 1936: Forbade the extension of loans and credits to
belligerents.
3. Neutrality Act of 1937: Forbade the shipment of arms to the opposing
sides in the Civil War in Spain.
iii. Spanish Civil War: General Francisco Franco led the forces of fascism against
the Loyalists, the Republican form of government. FDR sympathized with the
Loyalists, but the Neutrality Acts kept us from getting involved. Franco won in
1939 thanks in large part to the assistance of Nazi Germany.
iv. America First Committee: In 1940, after WWII had begun, isolationists were
worried about FDR’s supposed pro-British policies. Charles Lindbergh became
the star speaker for America First, which warned America to not get involved.
Prelude to war: With Hitler building a military that no one in Europe could match, the
Brits and the French decided to adopt the philosophy of appeasement in order to avoid
conflict. Smart move. The US went along with this policy.
i. The Appeasement:
1. Ethiopia, 1935: Mussolini invaded this third world country to prove
Italy’s military might. After a year of tough fighting, he won. The
League of Nations did nothing despite the pleas of Ethiopian emperor
Haile Salassie.
2. Rhineland, 1936: Hitler ordered troops into the demilitarized
Rhineland despite the Versailles Treaty. No reaction from the Allies.
3. China, 1937: Japan invaded China and mistakenly sank a US gunboat,
the Panay, in the process. They apologized and we quickly forgave
them.
4. Sudetenland, 1938: Hitler wanted this western piece of Czechoslovakia
because most of the inhabitants spoke German. FDR encouraged
Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier to meet with Hitler in
Munich in September, 1938. At this conference, the Sudetenland was
given to Hitler. Despite the fact that there were no Czech
representatives at the meeting. “Munich” has become synonymous
with appeasement.
5. U.S. Response: FDR tested public opinion in 1937 by saying we
should “quarantine” aggressors in Asia. US response was highly
negative to the idea, so he dropped the idea altogether.
6. Preparedness: Much like Wilson, FDR argued for neutrality while
proposing an arms buildup. In 1938 Congress increased the military
and naval budgets by two-thirds, isolationists went along with this
because they felt it would prevent our hemisphere from being invaded.
C. From Neutrality to War, 1939-1941: March, 1939 Hitler took the rest of Czechoslovakia, proving
Hitler’s ambitions.
a. Outbreak of war in Europe: GB and France pledge to fight if Poland is attacked. The
idea was that Stalin was in their back pocket in case fighting broke out. Communism
and Fascism were ideologically opposites, certainly they would never join forces.
However, in August 1939 Hitler and Stalin signed the Non Aggression Pact in which
they secretly divided Poland.
i. Invasion of Poland: September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland, starting
WWII. Blitzkrieg was employed. GB and France declared war against Germany
with Italy and Japan (the Axis) soon to be involved as well.
ii. The Phony War and Blitzkrieg: The winter of 1939-1940 saw little action and
many wondered if Hitler was done. However, the spring of 1940 saw a reemergence of Blitzkrieg as Hitler took Scandinavia and France. Denmark and
Norway surrendered in a few days, France in a week. By June 1940, the only
Allie that was free of German troops was GB.
b. Changing US policy: Americans were opposed to Hitler but still wanted to keep out of
war. FDR knew that British survival was crucial to US security, not to mention trade
problems caused by Nazi expansion. He began chipping away at the Neutrality Acts until
there was very little left of them by 1940.
i. Cash and Carry: Since the Brits ruled the waves, if we were going to trade with
a belligerent nation it had to be GB. This new Neutrality Act, the “cash and
carry” policy, said that a belligerent nation could buy US goods if it used its
own ships and paid cash.
ii. Selective Service Act (1940): All American men aged 21-35 had to register for
the draft. It also called for the training of 1.2 million men in just one year. This
was America’s first peacetime draft and was heavily debated by isolationists.
iii. Destroyers for bases deal: In September 1940, Britain was going through the
Blitz. German subs threatened British dominance of the seas. Britain needed
destroyers to kill subs but FDR could not outright sell destroyers to Britain. He
arranged a trade giving GB 50 older destroyers in exchange for giving the US
the right to build military bases on British Islands in the Caribbean.
c. The Election of 1940: FDR decided to run if the Democrats wanted to nominate him.
Of course they did, as he was still very popular. During the campaign, he said, “Your
boys are not going to fight in any foreign wars.”
i. Wendell Wilkie: He had never run for public office, he was a lawyer and
worked as an executive in a utility company. He disagreed with the New Deal
but agreed with his preparedness and giving aid to GB. His biggest weapon was
FDR’s breaking of the 2-term tradition.
ii. Results: FDR won 54% of the popular vote. Why did he win? Perhaps two
reasons, first we had a strong economic recovery based on defense purchases
and secondly, the fear of war caused voters to stay with an experienced leader.
d.
Arsenal of Democracy: After his election, FDR believed he had a mandate to offer more
aid to GB. In a 1940 fireside chat, he said, “We must be the great arsenal of democracy.”
i. The Four Freedoms: January 6, 1941 FDR delivered a speech proposing lending
money and material to GB in defense of the “four freedoms.” He said the US
must stand behind those countries who believe in freedom of speech, religion,
freedom from want, and freedom from tyranny.
ii. Lend Lease Act: FDR wanted to get rid of the cash requirement and allow for
credit from GB. FDR said if your neighbor’s house was on fire, you would not
ask him to pay you for use of your hose, you would simply help him and work
out the details later. Despite isolationist objections, Congress adopted the bill in
March of ’41. This marks a change in American mind set as the public is
becoming pro-British and understanding the importance of aiding them.
iii. Atlantic Charter: FDR arranged for a secret meeting with Winston Churchill in
August. On a ship off the coast of Newfoundland, they drew up the Atlantic
Charter which affirmed their objectives after the war was over. They both
wanted self-determination, free trade, and no territorial expansion.
iv. Shoot-on-sight: In July 1941 FDR ordered the navy to escort British ships
carrying lend-lease materials as far as Iceland. On September 4, the Greer, an
American destroyer, was attacked by a German sub it had been hunting. In
response, FDR ordered the US Navy to shoot any German ship on sight. We
were fighting an undeclared naval war against the Germans in the Atlantic.
e. Disputes with Japan: In 1940 Japan was allied with the Germans and the Italians
(Tripartite Pact.) After seeing what Hitler was doing in Europe, the Japanese wanted to
expand into the Dutch East Indies, British Burma, and French Indochina-territories still
held by European countries.
i. U.S. Economic Action: FDR cut off sales of steel and scrap iron to Asian
countries as a reaction to Japan joining the Axis powers. Japan called this an
“unfriendly act.” In July 1941, Japanese troops occupied French Indochina,
prompting FDR to freeze Japanese assets in America and cutting off US oil to
Japan.
ii. Negotiations: Japan needed navy to fuel its navy and air force. Without US oil,
the Japanese eyed the oil resources in the Dutch East Indies. SecState Hull
insisted that Japan pull its troops out of China, they refused. The US and the
Japanese negotiated the oil question through September ’41. In October, a new
government headed by military leader Hideki Tojo took over negotiations.
Neither side would give in. FDR’s advisors hoped that an armed confrontation
with Japan could be avoided until our Pacific fleet was strengthened while the
Japanese knew that there chance to take control of the Pacific was now.
f. Pearl Harbor: The U.S. fleet had just been relocated from San Diego to Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii in 1941. In the early morning of Dec. 7 the Japanese launched a massive air
attack, destroying most of the ships located at Pearl (including 8 battleships, 2,400
people, 150 airplanes, etc.)
i. Partial Surprise: The government knew an attack somewhere in the Pacific was
imminent, just not sure exactly where. Most felt it was the Philippines, the
Dutch East Indies, or Malaya. We also picked them up on radar, a mini sub was
sunk, etc.
ii. Declaration of war: Dec. 8, 1941, FDR asked Congress to declare war. There
was only one dissenting vote (Jeannette Rankin). Germany and Italy then
honored their commitments and declared war on us on the 11th.
D. World War II, The Home Front: In December, 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Now the
USSR was on the Allied side, creating The Big 3. They decided to concentrate on Europe first,
then the Pacific.
a. Industrial Production:
b.
i. War Production Board: Established to manage war industries. Headed by
Donald Nelson, it was heavily criticized for mismanaging money until Harry
Truman, a new Senator, investigated the waste, which led to his selection as vice
president on the 1944 ticket.
ii. Office of War Mobilization: Set production priorities and controlled raw
materials.
iii. Cost plus system: US government paid war contractors the cost of production
plus a certain percentage of the profit.
iv. The Economy and Unemployment: At near zero by 1944 and the Depression
was a thing of the past. Our output was twice that of all the Axis powers
combined. Auto plants were converted into tank assembly lines, etc. Henry
Kaiser’s California shipyards could turn out a new ship in 14 days.
v. Wages, prices, and rationing: The Office of Price Administration froze wages,
prices, rent, and rationed meat, sugar, gas, tires, etc.
vi. Unions: Unions agreed that while the war was on there would be no strike.
However, workers were angry that their wages were frozen while the companies
made lots of money. The Smith-Connally Act of 1943, which passed over FDR’s
veto, gave the government the right to take over war-related businesses whose
operations were threatened by a strike. FDR actually used this law when he
ordered the army to take over the railroads for a brief period in ’44.
vii. Financing the war: Lots of money spent during the war (over $100 billion in
1945 alone). How did we pay for it? Increase in income tax and the selling of
war bonds. In 1944 most Americans were paying income tax and the money
was being deducted directly from paychecks. $135 billion were raised from war
bonds, which supplemented the income tax increase.
The War’s Impact on Society: Americans left rural areas for factory jobs in the Midwest
and on the Pacific Coast, new factories and new military bases gave rise to new towns
and communities. The South’s warm climate and low labor cost meant that a number of
new defense installations would emerge in that area.
i. African Americans: 1.5 million left the South looking for jobs in the North and
West. A million more joined the military with segregation still in place in the
military. Race riots erupted in NYC and Detroit in the summer of ’43. Civil
Rights leaders encouraged blacks to flash the Double V signal: One V for
victory abroad and another for victory for equality at home. NAACP
membership increased during the war, CORE was born during the war (1942)
to work more militantly for black interests.
1. Smith v. Allwright (1944): SC ruled that it was unconstitutional to
deny membership in political parties to blacks as a way of excluding
them from voting in primaries.
ii. Mexican Americans: Over 300,000 served in the military and many more
worked in defense plants. A 1942 agreement with Mexico allowed Mexican
farm workers, called Braceros, to enter the US in the harvest season without
going through formal immigration procedures. With all of these Mexicans
around, the Zoot Suit Riots broke out in the summer of ’43, in which whites
and Mexicans battled in the streets.
iii. Native Americans: 25,000 served in the military, and many more in defense
plants. Many left the reservation and never returned.
iv. Japanese Americans: They suffered the most, as over 100,000 Japanese
Americans were forced to leave their West Coast homes and settle in
internment camps, starting in 1942. Japanese Americans living in other areas
were not involved. Isn’t this unconstitutional? According to the SC case
Korematsu v. US (1944), this internment is justified in wartime. In 1988 the
federal government agreed that an injustice had taken place an awarded any
survivors a financial compensation.
v. Women: Over 200,000 served in the military in non-combat roles. Almost 5
million women entered the workforce. The song “Rosie the Riveter” was used
to encourage women to take defense jobs. They were paid well below that of
male wages.
vi. Propaganda: Posters, songs, and news bulletins had many purposes: Maintain
public morale, to encourage people to sacrifice and conserve resources, and to
increase war production.
1. The Office of War Information: controlled news about troops and
battles. All media outlets reflected an optimistic outlook on the war.
News reels were common at the movies.
c. The Election of ’44: Not as mush interest as in normal years, due to the war.
i. FDR (Again): Many did not want to change the horse in the middle of the
stream. Henry Wallace, FDR’s vice president, was replaced because Democrats
thought he was becoming too radical and uncontrollable. Harry Truman was
picked to replace him as a result of his money saving investigations into war
production. Many around him knew FDR was ill but publicly nothing was said.
ii. Thomas Dewey: He had a strong record of prosecuting corruption and
racketeering as governor of New York. He offered no real alternative to FDR
and the nation voted as such.
iii. Results: FDR won 53% of the popular vote and 432-99 electoral vote. He would
live for less than three months after the inauguration in January of ’45.
E. World War II: Battlefronts: There were two “theaters of operation” in World War II, the Pacific
and Europe. In the Pacific, by 1942 the Japanese reached their height of power, occupying the
Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, and hundreds of islands in the South Pacific.
a. Fighting Germany: The German high tide was also in 1942, as they extended deep into
the Soviet Union until a bad decision involving Stalingrad turned the tide of the entire
war.
i. Defense at sea, attacks by air: American and British military strategy in 1942
concentrated on two objectives: overcoming the menace of the German
submarines and beginning bombing raids on German cities. The Battle of the
Atlantic was a protracted struggle to control shipping lanes with German subs
sinking over 500 ships in 1942. However, radar, sonar, and the bombing of
German naval bases began to contain the menace.
ii. From North Africa to Italy: With the German forces occupying North Africa,
the Allies had the daunting task of sweeping through North Africa to kick them
out. This began with Operation Torch in November 1942. Led by Ike and
Monty, the Allies took North Africa by May 1943. The action then moved
across the Med through Sicily and into Italy. Mussolini fell from power in the
summer of ’43 but Hitler’s men rescued him and gave him control of Northern
Italy. The Allies invaded Italy in September of ’43. Italy was being defended
primarily by Germans. They held much of northern Italy until the surrender in
1945.
iii. From D-Day to victory in Europe: The Allies invaded France on June 6, 1944 at
Normandy. British, Canadian and American forces stormed the beaches. The
attack was bloody but successful. The Allies then pushed to Paris, which was
liberated by the end of August. By September, the Allies had crossed into
Germany in a final push toward Berlin. The Germans launched a desperate
counterattack in Belgium in December 1944. Called the Battle of the Bulge,
this offensive was successful at first but quickly reversed.
iv. German surrender and discovery of the Holocaust: Allied bombing of Germany
decimated the German ability to produce war goods. Hitler committed suicide
in the bunker on April 30, 1945. Unconditional surrender took place a week
later, May 7, 1945.
1. The Holocaust: The US forces found death camps as they marched on
Berlin, as did the Soviets. As many as 6 million Jewish civilians had
been systematically exterminated under the auspices of the SS and
Heinrich Himmler.
b. Fighting Japan: The US was pretty much on its own in the Pacific. In 1942 the Japanese
controlled Korea, eastern China, the Philippines, British Burma and Malaya, French
Indochina, the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and the Pacific islands west of Midway.
i. Turning Point, 1942: The Pacific war was a naval war, sort of a modern day
chess match. Two major naval engagements highlighted 1942 and proved to be
the turning point in the Pacific. The first was the Battle of the Coral Sea over
May 7-8. U.S. aircraft carriers (of the PWA) blocked Japanese invasion of
Australia. The second was the Battle of Midway, June 4-7. The US intercepted
and decoded Japanese transmissions and we destroyed 4 of their carriers and
300 of their planes.
ii. Island Hopping: Instead of taking back every island the Japanese controlled, we
selected the ones that were on a straight course for Japan. The strategy was
adapted by Admiral Chester Nimitz and allowed the Allies to move rather
quickly toward Japan. Even Douglas MacArthur got involved as he retook the
Philippines (although many claim this was a waste of manpower and not a
strategic necessity.
iii. Major battles: Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines in 1944 was the largest
naval battle in history and saw the Japanese navy virtually destroyed. Kamikazes
appeared for the first time here, and they later inflicted heavy damage at the
Battle of Okinawa (April to June, 1945) in which the US suffered 50,000
casualties and killed 100,000 Japanese.
iv. Atomic bombs: As we prepared for the invasion of Japan estimates reported
that US casualties alone could reach as many as 1,000,000. The Manhattan
Project had begun in 1942. Directed by Robert Oppenheimer, the project
employed over 100,000 people and cost $2 billion. It was successfully tested on
July 16, 1945. Harry Truman told the Japanese to surrender “or face utter
destruction.” He dropped the first one on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and
the other on Nagasaki on August 9. 250,000 were killed either immediately or
from prolonged cancers or burns.
v. Japan surrenders: Japan surrendered within a week of the second bomb and a
formal surrender ceremony took place aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo
Harbor on Sept. 2, 1945. The Emperor was allowed to remain as head of state
but he had no power. Douglas MacArthur was placed in charge of occupation.
F. Wartime Conferences: The Big Three met several times throughout the war.
a. Casablanca (Jan ’43): This was only two of the Big 3, FDR and Churchill agreed to
invade Sicily and to demand “unconditional surrender” from the Axis powers.
b. Teheran (Nov. ’43): The Big 3 meet for the first time in the swinging city. They agreed
on an invasion of France in the Spring of ’44 and that the Soviets would invade
Germany and eventually join the war against Japan.
c. Yalta (Feb, ’45): Stalin’s resort on the Black Sea, this was the most significant over time.
The Big 3 agreed that after victory in Europe was achieved:
i. Germany would be divided into zones of occupation.
ii. There would be free elections in the liberated countries of Eastern Europe
(even though the Soviets were there and not real high on free elections.)
iii. The Soviets would enter the war against Japan, and they did as soon as we
dropped the A-Bomb on them.
iv. The Soviets would control the southern half of Sakhalin Island and the Kurile
Islands in the Pacific and would receive special concessions in Manchuria.
v. The United Nations would be formed at a conference in San Francisco.
d. Death of FDR (April 12, 1945): News of his death shocked the public, although those
close to him could see his health deteriorating rapidly. HST followed in some very large
footprints.
e. Potsdam (July, ’45): Only Stalin remains from the Big 3. HST and Clement Attlee
replace the other legends. The three issue a warning to Japan to surrender
unconditionally and agree to hold a war crimes trial of Nazi leaders.
G. The War’s Legacy: This was the most destructive war in the history of the world.
a. Costs: 300,000 American lives, 800,000 wounded. US spent $320 billion, ten times
more than we spent in WWI. Federal spending increased 1,000 percent during the war
with our national debt hitting $250 billion in 1945. And people complained that the
New Deal was expensive.
b. The United Nations: Congress readily accepted the UN, as opposed to the League of
Nations. Meeting in Dumbarton Oaks, near D.C. in 1944, representatives from the US,
China, USSR, and GB proposed an international organization to be called the UN. In
April, 1945, delegates from 50 nations met in San Francisco where after 8 weeks they
had drafted a charter. The Senate quickly accepted US involvement in the UN. The UN
became official on October 24, 1945.
c. Expectations: With the US remaining unscarred during the war (at least in terms of
damage to cities, etc.), it was set to become the most powerful and wealthiest nations on
Earth. People looked to the future as more peaceful and promising. Unfortunately, the
USSR’s aims around the world and the A-Bomb made those hopes seem a bit naïve. The
US would be back in a war (Korea) in July 1950. So much for peace.
Terms: WWII
Cordell Hull
Fascism
Benito Mussolini
Adolf Hitler
Nazis
Axis Powers
Isolationism
Appeasement
Ethiopia
Rhineland
Czechoslovakia
Sudetenland
Munich
Quarantine speech
Poland
Blitzkrieg
Cash and carry
Selective Training and Service Act
Destroyers for bases deal
Wendell Wilkie
Terms, WWII
For the following terms, discuss their significance in regards to World War II. If the term is a person,
discuss his or her role in the war. If the term is a battle, find out when the battle took place and what
significance that battle played in regards to how the war played out.
Selective Training and Service Act
Destroyers for bases deal
FDR’s Four freedoms speech
Lend Lease Act
Joseph Stalin
Franklin Roosevelt
Winston Churchill
Hideki Tojo
Atlantic Charter
Pearl Harbor
Office of Price Administration
Rosie the Riveter
Smith v. Allwright
Korematsu v. U.S.
Harry S. Truman
Battle of the Atlantic
Battle of Stalingrad
Invasion of North Africa
George Patton
Omar Bradley
Dwight Eisenhower
D Day (June 6, 1944)
Omaha Beach
Battle of the Bulge
Holocaust
Battle of Midway
Chester Nimitz
Douglas MacArthur
Iwo Jima, Okinawa
Manhattan Project
Alamagordo, New Mexico
Tinian Island
Paul Tibbets, Jr.
J Robert Oppenheimer
Atomic bomb
Hiroshima, Nagasaki
Big Three
Yalta Conference
United Nations