Opponents of the New Deal
Opponents
The supreme court opposed many parts of the New Deal. They declared the National Recovery Act illegal and the Agricultural Adjustment Act unconstitutional. Huey Long was especially against the New Deal. Long argued that FDR was not helping the poor enough. He proposed the Share Our Wealth Plan. FDR was born into a high class family but when he was president his new deal put made taxes higher for the upper class. Upper class citizens felt that he had betrayed his class and FDR was later expelled from his social class. Father Charles Coughlin was a famous Demagogue that was against the New Deal. (To the right is a picture of Father Charles Coughlin)
American History - Part 179 - FDR - Supreme Court Battle - Slapped by voters
Rise of Unions
The Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) formed out of opposition to the American Federation of Labror's choice to organized based on the industry not the craft. The CIO made huge agreements with U.S Steel and General Motors. The CIO organized the very first successful sit down strike against General Motors.
FDR signed a landmark bill that banned oppressive child labor and set minimum wage to 25 cents and hour in industries whose " combined employment represented only about one-fifth of the labor force." (Grossman)
Rioting Across America - The Great Depression
Last Phase of the New Deal
During 1937 and 1938 the American economy experienced a recession. The cause of the recession seemed to be the the monopoly powers, so FDR attacked the monopolies. By the end of 1938 the economy began to resurface. The business world hated the New Deal and continued to have strikes to strengthen the unions and weaken the New Deal.
Life During the Depression
Even though the American economy was at its complete lowest, American families were still able to survive. By changing there expensive habits and making compromises women were able to still feed there families. Since the men considered themselves as the breadwinners of the family, when they lost their jobs and could no longer provide income for their family they felt like a failure. Women on they other hand usually became absorbed with the housework to try and keep the family together. If a women tried to go find a job she was risking being looked at like she was a "job-stealer" from the men. Many dust bowl farmers abandoned their homes in the dust bowl and moved east to find jobs because the land was completely "unfarmable". Even if the families sealed up their doors and windows a thick layer of dust still existed in the homes. African Americans were hit the hardest by the depression. In the south more than half of all blacks were fired to make jobs for the white man. Also lynchings rose to 28 in 1933. Native Americans could barely find work an their land reduced drastically to just 48 million acres total. They lived in some of the worst conditions and many diseases would run though the reservations, but discrimination was beginning to go down and the Indian identity began to emerge. Not only did Mexican families have to experience the job and food shortages like everyone else they also had to be wary of deportation. To make room for jobs millions of Mexicans were deported during the 1930s.
Life in the Great Depression