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The existential fear that gripped a world defined by the collapse of capitalism and the rise of competing dictatorship help create a new national state to manage capitalism and assert global power.
“Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive statements. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body – the producers and consumers themselves. Recovery can be speeded and its effects aided by cooperative action. That cooperation requires that every individual should maintain faith and courage. Everyone should be self-reliant. Each and every one of us should search for methods or improving our business or service. The vast majority whose income is not affective should not hoard out of fear, but should pursue their normal living and recreations. Each should seek to assist neighbors who may be less fortunate. Each industry should assist its own employees. Each community and each state should assume its full responsibility for organization and relief of distress with that distress with that sturdiness and independence that built a great nation”
Adapted from Hoover’s message to Congress, December 1, 1930
Franklin D. Rooseveltused what he called Hoover's failure to deal with these problems as a platform for his own election, promising reform in his policy called the New Deal.
FDR and Mass Media/Propaganda
"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
FDR getsREALwith his first Inaugural address - RECOGNIZE - EXPLAIN - ASSERT - LEAD
The Great Communicator: FDR, the Media and the Message
President Roosevelt was a masterful communicator, with the skillful ability to use his speeches, press conferences, and national radio broadcasts to shape policy and the course of American history
Relief FDR wanted relief given to persons in need by providing them with money, loans and jobs.
Measures adopted to restore confidence and provide support … largely successful, some evolved standard banking policy
Emergency banking bill Glass Steagall Act to curb speculation
Civilian Conservation Corps to provide work for unemployed youth Works Progress Administration to provide work
Public Works Administration
Recovery FDR wanted to provide recovery for business and agriculture by passing laws that would assist them in getting back on their feet
Measures adopted to provide economic recovery; effective in the short term? … but were controversial and led to a discussion of government role … e.g., supreme court ruling on TVA and NRA
Tennessee Valley Authority for regional development and energy generation
Agricultural Adjustment Act to control production levels
National industrial Recovery Act to curb over production
National Recovery Act to establish codes and price quotas
Reform FDR wanted to establish reform by passing legislation that would prevent another depression from ever happening again
Measures focused on reforming business practices; milestone measures in creation of the modern welfare state?
Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate stock market
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure bank deposit
Wagner Act: establishes the National Labor Relations Board; offers protection for labor
Social Security Act provides pension for workers
Spending in 1916 was $697 million; in 1936 it was $9 billion. The government modified taxes to tap wealthy people the most, who could take it in stride most easily. The deficit was made up in part by raising taxes and borrowing money through the sale of government bonds. Meanwhile, the national debt climbed to unprecedented heights
During the years of 1929-1941, otherwise known as the Great Depression, FDR’s administration has responded to many of the nation’s needs and was mostly effective in solving their problems.
Responses were focused mainly on the economic downfall of the nation which helped FDR’s administration avoid the racial issues
The responses to the problems were mostly only effective temporarily and sometimes even had downfalls leading to the final result of America still in the Great Depression even after Roosevelt’s first term as president Main source of power/authority role of the government shifted
The New Masses (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist Party, USA. With the coming of the Great Depression in 1929 America became more receptive to ideas from the political Left and The New Masses became highly influential in intellectual circles. The magazine has been called “the principal organ of the American cultural left from 1926 onwards."
Women and the New Deal
"It's one of the great mysteries of the city where women go when they are out of work and hungry. There are not many women in the bread line. There are no flop houses for women as there are for men, where a bed can be had for a quarter or less. You don't see women lying on the floor of the mission in the free flops. They obviously don't sleep . . . under newspapers in the park. There is no law I suppose against their being in these places but the fact is they rarely are. Yet there must be as many women out of jobs in cities and suffering extreme poverty as there are men. What happens to them? " Meridel Lesueur, New Masses, January 1932.
Opposition to the New Deal
It seems very apparent to me that the Administration at Washington is accelerating it's [sic] pace towards socialism and communism. Nearly every public statement from Washington is against stimulation of business which would in the end create employment. Everyone is sympathetic to the cause of creating more jobs and better wages for labor; but, a program continually promoting labor troubles, higher wages, shorter hours, and less profits for business, would seem to me to be leading us fast to a condition where the Government must more and more expand it's relief activities, and will lead in the end to disaster to all classes." Letter to Senator Robert Wagner, March 7, 1934.
Brain trust began as a term for a group of close advisers, often academics, to a political candidate or incumbent, prized for their expertise in particular fields. The term is most associated with the group of advisers to Franklin Roosevelt during his presidential administration. More recently the use of the term has expanded to encompass any group of advisers to a decision maker, whether or not in politics
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