New Deal Opposition Flashcards
How did the Supreme Court feel about the New Deal
-they opposed it as majority of the Supreme Court were Republican
-they believed states and people should have individual freedom and rights, and that federal government and president should not take too much power into their own hands
Sick Chicken case
1935
-Schechter Poultry Corp signed up to the NRA codes, then broke rules about wages and condition of their bird.
-The Schechter brothers claimed the federal government had no power over trade within a state and the Supreme Court agreed
-the ruling was known as the ‘Sick Chicken Case’, and they said that Congress had given too much law-making power to the NRA.
-This meant the NRA was effectively closed down
Cotton Processor Case
1936
-A cotton processor challenged the AAA, claiming it did not have the power to tax his business
-the supreme court found in the company’s favour, pointing out that agricultural production should be supervised by the state government rather than a federal agency
What was Roosevelt’s response to the actions of the Supreme Court
-he argued that the Supreme Court had gone against the views of the American people who had voted for him
-created a plan to appoint new judges to the court who favoured the new deal, and he asked congress to appoint a new judge to replace every current one over the age of 70, hoping to replace 6 judges
-congress believed Roosevelt was acting like dictators of Europe. They defeated his plan
-Supreme Court received his message, and their decisions started to reflect the public mood and challenges to the New Deal stopped
-as more judges retired or died, Roosevelt was able to appoint more of his own sympathetic judges, making New deal safe from legal challenge
Why did the republicans oppose Roosevelt and what did they do
-he was in the Democratic Party, the main opponent to them
-made the federal government too powerful, they opposed the size and power of the Alphabet Agencies and support the anti-new deal decisions of the Supreme Court
-Spent too much money, billions were spent by the federal government on the New Deal. They did not like higher taxes on the Revenue Act or using borrowed money to do this
What did the republicans do to oppose Roosevelt
-they campaigned for Alfred Landon in the presidential elections of 1936, but most Americans still voted for Roosevelt. After a recession and his unpopular plan to pack the Supreme Court, he lost some support.
-after regaining strength when the won many seats in Congress in 1938, with the power of democrats from states that disliked Roosevelt, they used their new power to:
1. Cut spending on relief
2. Investigate Alphabet Agencies: House of Representatives tried to weaken the WPA and NLRB (b is for board not bill) by accusing officials of being communists
3. Block new measures such as a housing plan and required for more public work projects
-they 1938 elections to congress had made New Deal lose a lot of power.
Why did businesses oppose the New Deal
after the immediate problems of 1933 were over:
1. They did not like being told what to do: NRA codes and New Deal laws made businesses pay minimum wages and restrict working hours, going against lapses-faire belief businesses men had
2. New Deal supported unions: NIRA and Wagner Act gave unions power to challenge business managers, which they did not like
3. businesses did not like the way government was spending so much: federal taxes were used to fund New Deal Programmes. They wanted low taxation to people had more disposable income.
American Liberty League
1934
-Conservatives from Democrats and Republicans joined with business leaders to oppose the New Deal, creating the ALL
-created a national organisation that distributed leaflets, broadcast speeches and sponsored dinners to spread their message
-they believed the New Deal was anti-business and threatened the power of the states, and that charities should handle relief and business people who had money should be allowed to keep it
-$1 million spent on its organisation
Ways other groups tried to stop the New Deal
-The US chamber of commerce publicly criticised the second new deal legislation like the Wagner Act
-businesses sponsored legal challenges to the alphabet agencies: The Iron and Steel Institute paid for the Schechter brothers’ appeal against the NRA.
How much success did the American Liberty League have and why
-struggled to recruit: only 150k people joined the league (small part of the total population)
-unpopular: republicans told them to stay out of the 1936 because they thought league support would damage their campaign
-Supreme Court changed its attitude: after 1937, the court began to support New Deal laws, making the sponsorship of legal challenges a less effective measure
it closed down in 1940
Which opponents of the New Deal argued it did not do enough
-Huey Long
-Father Charlie Coughlin
-Francis Townsend
-Upton Sinclair
features of what Huey Long did
-governor of Louisiana
-heavily taxed the rich and big businesses in Louisiana, and introduced social services and reforms to the state such as free textbooks to school children
-support for him grew and he was able to win election to congress as a senator
-proposed the Share Our Wealth scheme in 1934, which capped annual income at $1 million and gave the rest to ordinary Americans, as well as a total personal fortune of $50 million
-this would ensure everyone gets a $2,500 income annually
-there were not enough rich people to fund it, but 8 million Americans joined SOW clubs
-he was assassinated in the 1935
Father Coughlin
-Roman Catholic priest in Detroit.
-large radio network gave him a show called The Golden Hour of the Little Flower, which had 30 million listeners
-politicians had to take his opinions seriously
-he believed the New Deal was influenced b Wall Street financiers, who he thought caused the depression, so he thought the New Deal was ineffective. He also thought communists were responsible for some policies and were using these policies to get what they wanted
-he set up the National Union for Social Justice, calling for:
1. Currency and banking reforms
2. Nationalisation of part of the US economy
3. A Fairer taxation policy
-came together with Gerald Smith and Francis Townsend, forming the National Union Party and ran for presidency with WIlliam Lemke as their candidate in 1936. Received 1/30 of Roosevelt’s votes.
-Roosevelt’s second new deal had reforms that Coughlin campaigned for, so they could not criticise him. Coughlin also attacked a liked president and became increasingly anti-Semitic, so Coughlin lost support and is influence declined.
Dr Francis Townsend
-retired public health officer
-shocked by 3 elderly women searching through bins for leftover food
-came up with Old Age Revolving Pensions Ltd. He proposed that everyone over the age of 60 should get $200 a month that had to be spent
-it would be funded by 2% sales tax, and the elderly would spend the money and help the economy
-500,000 people joined Townsend Clubs and 20m Americans signed a petition to support the plan.
-however, the figures did not make sense, the money from sales tax would be too little, so it could not challenge Roosevelt’s proposed social security act
Upton Sinclair
-novelist, whose ‘The Jungle’ book exposed poor conditions for workers in the meat-packing industry
-used fame to run for governor in California in 1934, using the slogan ‘End Poverty in California’.
-argued that empty land and shut-down factories should be opened up for the unemployed to use, and they would produce what they needed to help their poverty
-it was seen as too radical, so Californians elected the Republican candidate
