The New Deal Affects Many Groups

The New Deal Affects Many Groups

23.3

NAMES AND TERMS

• Francis Perkins• Congress of Industrial

Organizations (CIO)• Mary McLeod Bethune• John Collier• New Deal coalition

OBJECTIVES

• Analyze the effects of the New Deal programs on women.

• Describe Roosevelt’s attitude toward African-American’s.

• Identify the groups that formed the New Deal coalition.

• Describe the supporter of FDR’s New Deal.

THE NEW DEAL BRINGS NEW OPPORTUNITIES

• ND represents an important opportunity for women/minorities

• gains were limited, however– patterns of prejudice and discrimination were

hard to break• some were resolved to prevent their full/equal

participation

WOMEN MAKE THEIR MARK• Francis Perkins – 1st female cabinet member

– Secretary of labor– Played a major role in creating Social Security system – Supervised labor legislation

• FDR also appt 3 female diplomats & 1 female federal judge

• WOMEN STILL FACED WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION – (82% said woman should not work if husband has a

job!)

BUT, there are problems…• National Recovery Administration – set wages;

some were lower for women• Federal Emergency Relief Administration & Civil

Works Admin hired fewer women than men• CCC hired only men• Despite these problems, women made small

gains • Gains: 11.7% in 1930 to 15.6% in 1940!• WIDESPREAD CRITICISM OF WOMEN

WORKING DID NOT CHANGE THE PROGRESSION OF WOMEN GETTING JOBS

AFRICAN-AMERICAN ACTIVISM

• growth of activism by AAs• A. Phillip Randolph

– Established 1st all-black labor union –

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters• Laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement

African-Americans Take Leadership Roles

• Mary McLeod Bethune – educator • appointed to head Division of Negro• Affairs of the NYA• Her job:

– To make sure they hired AAs as administrators – To provide job training to AAs

• Organized “Black Cabinet” – advisors on racial affairs– William Hastie and Robert Weaver appt to Department of Interior

• NEVER BEFORE SO MANY AA VOICES HEARD IN GOVT!

Mrs. Roosevelt’s influence…

• Eleanor was key to keeping door open for AAs

• Marian Anderson in ‘39• DAR would not let her perform for them; • Eleanor resigned and arranged for Marian performed at Lincoln Memorial instead

FDR FAILS TO FULLY SUPPORT CIVIL RIGHTS

• Feared upsetting Southern white Dems• Refused to pass anti-lynching law• Refused to end poll tax

Some New Deal agencies discriminated ag. AAs –

• NRA, CCC, TVA– Lower wages for AAs and favored whites

• 1934 – AAs help organize Southern Tenant Farmers Union– To protect tenant farmers & sharecroppers – black &

white• In North, the union organized tenants’ groups

and tried to inc job ops• Despite these problems, most blacks

supported FDR as he was their best hope

Mexican-American Fortunes • Supported ND, though they benefited less than

AAs!– CCC and TVA helped some, but disqualified many

migrants as they had no permanent address • They had come to US during ‘20s

– Mainly in Southwest• Farm laborers – not governed by state or

federal work laws– Wages – fell to $.09/hr!

• Attempts at unionization – – violence from employers & govt authorities!

NATIVE AMERICANS GAIN SUPPORT

• Strong support by federal govt• John Collier -Commissioner of Indian

Affairs– appt by FDR in ‘34• helped create Indian Reorganization Act

– change govt policy from assimilation to NA autonomy!

– Restored some lands to tribal ownership

Changes to Native American Policies

• Economic changes: lands belong to whole tribe– Govt can’t take over unoccupied lands & sell them to non-

Indians

• Cultural changes: # of boarding schools for AAs reduced; attend school on reservation

• Political changes: elect tribal councils on reservations– PROS: those who valued tribal traditions.– OBJECTIONS: from those who owned land individually under

Dawes Act – tired of whites telling them what was good for them (the more “Americanized”)

[* Dawes Act: broke up reservations; gave land to individual Indians 1887]

FDR CREATES NEW DEAL COALITION

• New Deal coalition – diverse groups dedicated to supporting the New Deal

• Despite mixed results for minorities, they supported FDR– Southern whites– Various urban groups– AAs– Unionized industrial workers

• Dems dominated national politics thru ‘30s and ‘40s

LABOR UNIONS FLOUIRSH • Better working conditions & increased bargaining power

(Wagner Act)• Unions gave $$ to FDR’s reelection campaigns• Promised to vote for him• Union membership grows!

– 1933 – less than 3 m to more than 10 m in 1942 • auto, rubber, electrical, coal miners, workers in mass-

production industries• struggle for who will control unions!

– AFL – craft unions – life carpenters, electricians– Leaders opposed industry-wide unions as in auto manufacturing

.

CIO• John L. Lewis (UMW) & David Dubinsky ( ILGW)

team up to organize industrial unions – formed Committee for Industrial Organizations

Unskilled & semi-skilled workers• got auto & steel industries to recognize the

unions• by ’38 – these unions were thrown out of AFL!!

– Committee changed its name – becomes Congress of Industrial

Organizations (CIO) – AFL & CIO stayed separate until ’55, then teamed up

LABOR DISPUTES• One main tactic of ‘30s – SIT-DOWN

STRIKE– DON’T WALK OFF THE JOB – sit down in the

plant, but do not work!– You can’t carry on working w/strikebreakers if

people are occupying the plant!– Some opposed the sit-down as a violation of

private property• It was very effective!

More labor disputes. . .

• OTHER DISPUTES WERE NOT PEACEFUL• Republic Steel plant, Chicago, 1937• Police attacked the strikers, including women• 10 killed, 84 wounded• called “Memorial Day Massacre”• NLRB requires head of co. to negotiate w/labor

union• THIS RESULTS IN A GAIN OF STRENGTH ON

THE PART OF LABOR IN THE ‘30s

• 1937, May 30: Memorial Day Incident, Strikers Killed at Republic Steel• 10 people received fatal injuries when city police dispersed a large group of

striking steel workers and their sympathizers who were marching in the direction of the plant of the Republic Steel Corporation near Burley Avenue and One Hundred and Sixteenth Street in that city.

• This encounter occurred 4 days after the outbreak of a strike of union employees of the corporation and while picketing was in progress in front of the plant.

• In addition to the fatalities, none of which was suffered by the police, approximately 90 members of the group were injured (30 by gunfire) and 35 police sustained injury

FDR WINS IN ‘36• Support for FDR was huge in Northern cities• NY, Chicago, Boston, Philly – all had powerful political

machines– they provided jobs in exchange for votes– In ’36, FDR won the nation’s 12 largest cities

• Support came from a wide variety of religious & ethnic communities:– RC, Jews, Polish, Italians, and Irish, and other Slavic peoples – His appeal based on ND labor laws and work-relief programs

that helped poor• President appointed many officials of urban-immigrant

background, especially Roman Catholics and Jews, to important govt jobs

Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivering a radio address, 1936. Our thirty-second president was the first Chief Executive to make extensive use of radio to communicate with American voters.

SUM UP

• ND had huge impact on women, AAs, Mexican-Amercans, and workers and a huge impact on American society and culture