Lecture 8 – The New Deal and World War II

The New Deal and World War II

Part One: The New Deal, Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Democratic President who followed Hoover
• Would bring the United States out of the Great Depression
• Believed that government should intervene to protect citizens from social and economic hardship

Election of 1932

• Democrats knew that they had a chance to recover the White House from the Republicans who had been in the presidency since the Civil War 75% of the time
• FDR wins in a landslide victory – something you can view obviously from the previous slide

The New Deal

• Forms the New Deal Coalition, supports interests of farmers, factory workers, immigrants, city dwellers, African Americans, women and progressives
• This coalition dominated politics until 1945, when FDR died
• Believed in the promise of a government that would intervene and save the economy

The First 100 Days

• FDR promised to proceed with “direct, vigorous action” when he was elected
• Had three objectives to accomplish in the first 100 days of his term:
  • Provide relief to the poor
  • Foster recovery of farms and business
  • Reform the government and economy to prevent similar slumps
• He was so initially successful that presidents since are compared by their performance in the first 100 days in office

Banking and Finance Reform

• When FDR became President, banks were on the brink of ruin
• Passed the Emergency Banking Act: gave US secretary of the treasury the power to decide which banks could reopen and which banks to bail out with recovery funds
• Passed the FDIC: guarantees bank customers that the federal government would reimburse them for deposits if their bank failed

FDR’s fireside chats

• FDR would speak in an informal matter on the radio to explain the new banking system and to restore confidence to the American public
• This new legislation along with these chats worked and banks began to reopen

Relief and Conservation Programs

• FDR also passed legislation to give relief to the poor and unemployed
• Depression necessitated federal relief programs, which would be a major part of the New Deal
• Federal Emergency Relief Administration: provided four to five million households with monthly support and created thousands of public works projects jobs
• Overall, provided unemployment payments and created new jobs

Relief and Conservation Programs

Agricultural Initiatives

• FDR also assisted farmers who had been suffering in the Great Depression
• Passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act: paid farmers not to grow crops so that prices would not fall
• Though it protected farmers, it was difficult for hungry Americans to imagine that farmers were not producing as much food as they could

Industrial Recovery

• During the Depression, city dwellers suffered from a high level of unemployment
• New Deal created the National Recovery Administration: encouraged industrialists to agree on rules, known as codes, to create more fair working conditions, to set prices, and to reduce competition
• Would stabilize industry and maintain work forces

Challenges of the New Deal

• There was resistance to this type of big government intervention
• Though the New Deal rescued capitalism from the Depression, many believed the government was stepping into private business
• These opponents called the New Deal “the Raw Deal”

Charles Coughlin

• A radical challenger to the New Deal, Father Coughlin reached an audience of 40 million Americans
• Expressed outrage at suffering of the poor, blaming the Communists, bankers, and Jews for the depression (and largely anti-Semitic)
• Though he agreed with many aspects of the New Deal, calling it Christ’s Deal, he eventually challenged Roosevelt in the presidential election of 1936 (though he lost dramatically)

Francis Townsend

• A man from Long Beach, CA that criticized the New Deal for not being extensive enough
• Proposed payments for the elderly (early idea of social security)
• Called for more pensions

Huey Long

• A stronger opponent to the New Deal, Long was from Louisiana and a very powerful politician, became governor
• Championed the poor over the rich
• Not a white supremacist like other Democratic southern leaders of the time
• Eventually became a US Senator
• Called for a major tax bill that would make it illegal to make more than $1 million a year or inherit more than $5 million

The Welfare State

• Though many of the early efforts of the New Deal did improve the lives of Americans, there was need for more reform, recovery, and relief
• FDR continued to pass new acts and create new administrations to attack poverty and despair in the American economy

Unemployment Relief

• Americans still needed jobs
• 8 million were still jobless in 1935, so FDR passed the Works Progress Administration (WPA)
• The WPA created more government-funded jobs, such as working on railroads, bridges, parks, and public buildings
• Provided jobs for 7% of the nation’s workers by 1936

Social Security and Tax Reform

• Passed Social Security: the most important feature (and likely has most impact on modern day) of the New Deal
• Provided a modest income to relieve the poverty of the elderly or those who could no longer work
• Provided that tax contributions from workers would go into a fund that would pay pensions of eligible workers at retirement age

Achievements of the New Deal

• Replaced fear with more optimism and confidence
• Created jobs and gave relief to the suffering
• Passed permanent legislation such as the Social Security Act that funds retired workers today

Problems of the New Deal

• Does not create full scale recovery
• War-time production would be catalyst for total recovery
• Republicans and other social conservatives believed that the New Deal threatened the free markets and capitalism

Part Two: World War II

Period of Peace Between the Two World Wars

• WWI created a very dangerous example and the nations involved wanted to avoid a similar war at almost any cost, yet this proved impossible
• The defeated nations, particularly Germany, Japan, and Italy (The Axis Powers in WWII), had been humiliated and wanted to restore their power

US Isolationism

• FDR believed the US’s priority should be rebuilding its strength after the effects of the depression
• US practices isolationism: looks the other way as problems brew in other parts of the world
• Ignores Nazi aggression when Hitler rearms Germany
• Watches from the sidelines when Japan invades Manchuria, a province of China in 1931

The Good Neighbor Policy (US Latin American Policy)

• In his inaugural address, FDR had stated the US will practice the “policy of the good neighbor” when it came to foreign relations
• US allows Latin America to take care of its self, called self-determination
• Though US does not intervene in Latin American affairs, it does allow for dictators to rise in Nicaragua and Cuba
• US continues to exercise economic influence in Latin America

The Beginning of War in Europe

• Hitler builds Germany’s military strength and avenges Germany’s loss in WWI, while accusing Jews of causing the decline of the German economy
• In Japan, government becomes militant and conquers territories throughout Southeast Asia
• US continues to practice isolationism: retreating from conflict outside of the nation

Nazi Aggression

• Hitler leads a campaign to dominate Europe
  • Makes an alliance with Austria
  • Conquers Czechoslovakia without firing a shot
  • Invades and conquers Poland
  • Makes a pact with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to prevent Russia from joining Britain and France
  • Takes over Denmark and Normandy
  • 1940 – invades the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France

Nazi Aggression

Winston Churchill

• Britain, under the rule of Churchill, vows not to surrender to Hitler, as France had after it was invaded
• Defends itself successful from a German attack in 1940

Japan Attacks the United States

• While Hitler did not directly provoke the US, Japan did
• Japan ignores the US’s plea  to stop a campaign of aggression in SE Asia
• Enters an alliance with Germany
• December 7, 1941, Japan attack the US naval fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Attack at Pearl Harbor

• Occurs December 7, 1941
• Surprise attack destroys 18 US naval ships, kills 2400 Americans, and ruins the US’s ability to make war in the Pacific
• Was a major victory for the Japanese, but ultimately it would unite the US in a major effort to defeat Japan and avenge the attack
• On December 8, 1941- the US enters WWII                       

US Enters the War

• US does not waste any time in preparing for war
• Hitler dispatches German subs to hunt for American ships and the US targets Germany as an enemy as well

Mobilizing for WWII

• US does not waste time and mobilizes millions of Americans to fight in the armed forces
• Creates major economic mobilization, as factories were set up to produce necessary supplies for war
• This creates a major boom in the economy and eventually takes the US out of the Great Depression

Japanese Internment Camps

• Under the guise of protecting the “home-front,” the US government forces Japanese living in the mainland of the United States into internment camps
• They were considered too suspicious and accused of acting as spies for Japan, when there was no evidence of this
• Under Executive Order 9066, FDR ordered all Americans of Japanese descent to leave their homes and businesses and live in government camps
• Japanese Americans lost about $400 million dollars worth of property and business
• No cases of subversive behavior were EVER discovered

Wartime Economy

• The US became a wartime economy by 1942
• Factories were converted from making cars to making tanks and airplanes for war
• So many war time supplies were created that the US supplied its own armies, as well as the armies of its allies in WWII, mainly Great Britain

The Home Front: Fighting in the Pacific

• US had to fight the Japanese in the Pacific
• US won a major battle in the Philippines, under the leadership of Douglas MacArthur
• US took over island the Japanese had previously conquered
• Battle of Midway: the US has a major victory and the Japanese never recover their power in the Pacific

War in Europe

• Hitler begins to march deep into the Soviet Union
• US fights Germany in both North African and in Italy, successfully driving the Nazis out of both these regions

Women and Family

• Millions of women take over for the men fighting at war and worked in assembly lines to produce goods for war
• Government advertisers call on women to do their patriotic duty to supply the US military

Workers Fight Racist Discrimination at Home

• More African American workers mobilize during the war to fight discrimination at home
• One leader of a popular black newspaper asserted that it was important to: “to persuade, embarrass, compel , and shame our government and out nation…into a more enlightened attitude”

Reaction to the Holocaust in the US

• Since the 1930s, the Nazis in Germany had persecuted Jews in Europe
• Many attempts for Jews to seek asylum in the US had been rejected
• In 1942, Hitler announced his “final solution” to rid the world of Jews and others such as Gypsies, homosexuals, political dissenters, and the handicapped
• Despite reports of this atrocious plan, many in the US believed reports of the Holocaust were exaggerated
• When Russian and US soldiers arrived, they found that indeed the Nazis had planned to kill all Jews and were systematically murdering them in concentration camps

Bombing Raids

• British and American pilots fly major bombing raids in Germany territories
• Many casualties occur – about 2/3 of all American pilots die in these raids
• 85,000 American pilots die
• Does cause major damage to Germany territories

DDAY

• A major assault occurs in German controlled Normandy, France on June 6, 1944
• The US, and other Allied soldiers, storm the beach
• Eventually they are able to liberate Paris from Germany
• A crucial attack that weakened Nazi power

Defeat of Japan

• Another major offensive is launched in the Pacific and eventually the US is able to defeat Japan, along with the help of the British, Indian and Chinese allies
• There were major American casualties in the Pacific theatre of the war
• To ultimately defeat the Japanese, the US decides to drop the atomic bomb over Japan

Atomic Warfare

• In 1945, the US dropped the atomic bomb when the Japanese failed to surrender unconditionally
• When the Japanese did not agree to surrender in this fashion, the US dropped the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan
• 78,000 Japanese civilians were killed in Hiroshima and another 100,000 in Nagasaki

Atomic Warfare

• Trigger Warning, Again the Next Few Slides depict images of warfare

Allied Victory

• The Allied powers, largely in part because of the United States’ ability to mobilize their economy to supply the war efforts, led them to victory
• 405,399 Americans were killed during WWII
• Eventually crushed their enemy in an unconditional surrender

The US Becomes a SUPERPOWER

• Wartime production lifts the US completely out of the Great Depression
• At the end of the war, the United States is a global superpower
• US had the strongest military in the world
• Only country to have nuclear power at this point
• American land had not been attacked while much of Europe had been destroyed
• US will help to reconstruct Europe while occupying Japan