Opposition to the New Deal

Opposition• ‘New Deal’ unique in American history

• Of course opposition was bound to exist

• Opposition took three forms– The ‘New Deal’ isn’t doing enough!

– The ‘New Deal’ is doing too much!

– Opposition from the Supreme Court

The New Deal isn’t doing enough!• Many Americans still desperately poor

– Worst hit were blacks & poor farmers

• Key figure: Huey Long (see slide)

• Key figure: Dr. Francis Townsend– Campaigned for $200/month pensions for

60 y.o.s, providing they spent it in same month, thus stimulating the economy

• Key figure: Father Coughlin– Catholic priest– Used weekly radio address to attack FDR– Set up National Union of Social Justice, had

large membership– Movement faded in early ’40s after Vatican

instructed him to stop his attacks

Huey Long• A remarkable character

– 1928: Governor of Louisiana– 1932: Senator of Louisiana– Gained power through legal & illegal means

(intimidation & bribery)– Used power to help the poor– Relentlessly taxed big businesses in state– Used $$$ to build roads, schools, hospitals– Employed blacks equally w/ whites– Clashed w/ KKK– At first supported New Deal, later said ND too

complicated & not doing enough• ‘Share the Wealth’ scheme, ‘Every man a king!’

– Personal fortunes max @ 3 million– Yearly income max @ 1 million– Gov’t taxes shared w/ all Americans– Pensions for all over 60 y.o.– Free washing machines & radios for everyone

• Aggressive & forceful, w/ many friends & enemies• FDR considered him one of two most dangerous men in

America until Long was assassinated in 1935 (how convenient)

The New Deal is doing too much!• Business community & Republicans

– ND complicated w/ too many codes & regs

– Gov’t shouldn’t support unions & wages, that is the job of the market (supply & demand)

– Gov’t schemes like TVA unfair competition since private companies aren’t funded by gov’t

– ND like Stalin’s 5-Year Plans, not free-market

– FDR behaving like a dictator

– Wealthy were wealthy because they worked hard for it. High taxes on wealthy discouraged people from working hard to achieve wealth & gave money to people who did little for it

The New Deal is doing too much!• FDR upset w/ tactics of Republicans

– Tried to smear him & ND Democrats w/ dirt

– Said FDR paralyzed from STD, not polio

– Employers put memos in employee pay checks saying ND would never happen

• FDR turned on enemies bitterly

• 1936 election:– Massive win for FDR, more than in 1932

– Highest margin of victory ever achieved

– ‘Everyone is against the New Deal except the voters’

• FDR

Opposition from the Supreme Court• Supreme Court most powerful opponent

– Dominated by anti-ND Republicans

– Could overturn ND laws as unconstitutional

• MAY 1935: Schechter Poultry Corp. found guilty of violating NRA regs– Sold diseased chickens for people to eat

– Filed false sales claims to inflate value

– Exploited workers

– Threatened gov’t inspectors

• SC ruled in favor of Schechter on appeal– Fed gov’t had no right to prosecute company

– NRA was unconstitutional

– NRA took too much power away from states

‘Court Packing Scheme’• FDR furious

– SC denied laws citizens wanted FDR to use

– FDR asked Congress to expand SC from 9 justices to 15, the new six being pro-ND

• FDR misjudged mood of Americans– Citizens alarmed at FDR’s grab for power

– Feared FDR attacking American system of gov’t

– FDR had to back down

• ‘A switch in time saves nine’– SC shaken by FDR’s attempt

– Less obstructionist from Fall ’35 onward

– Most Second New Deal measures approved by SC in 1937

Opposition to New Deal• The New Deal is nothing more or less than an effort to take away from the

thrifty what the thrifty and their ancestors have accumulated, or may accumulate, and give it to others who have not earned it and never will earn it, and thus indirectly to destroy the incentive for all future accumulation. Such a purpose is in defiance of all the ideas upon which our civilization has been founded.

– A Republican opponent of the New Deal speaking in 1935

• For twelve years this nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing government. The nation looked to government but government looked away. Nine crazy years at the stock market and three long years in the bread-lines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long yeas of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that government is best which is most indifferent … We know now that government organized by money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been united against one candidate – me – as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate of me – and I welcome their hatred.

– A speech by FDR in the 1936 presidential election campaign