Rugged Times for Rugged Individualists

89.  Hoover's dilemma was that, as a humanitarian, he detested the misery and poverty around him.  However, since he was also an individualist who believed in free enterprise, he cowered at the thought of government handouts, fearing that they would destroy the nation's morale.

90.  As the depression deepened and relief by local government agencies broke down, Hoover was finally forced to accept the new proposition that the welfare of the people in a nationwide crisis is a direct concern of the national government.  He decided to assist the railroads, banks, and rural credit corporations, thinking that financial health would trickle down from the top of the economic pyramid.

91.  Some of the criticism of Hoover was unfair because his efforts probably prevented an even more serious collapse.  His policies also paved the road for Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.

Herbert Hoover Battles the Great Depression

92.  Hoover recommended that Congress vote for huge sums for useful public works.  The most imposing of these projects was the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.

93.  Hoover opposed all schemes that he saw as "socialistic," such as the Muscle Shoals Bill, which he vetoes because he opposed the government selling electricity in competition with its own citizens.

94.  The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was created in 1932 and became a government leading bank.  It was meant to provide indirect relief by helping insurance companies, banks, agricultural organizations, railroads, and state and local governments.  It would specifically not give loans to individuals.  It was of widespread benefit, though it came months to late to be most useful, as well as obviously beneficial to giant corporations.

95.  Indirect benefits flowed to labor.  The Norris-La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act in 1932 outlawed anti-union contracts and forbade the federal courts from issuing injunctions to restrain strikes, boycotts, or peaceful picketing.

96.  Hoover's efforts to lead were complicated by a hostile Congress.  During his first two years, the Republican majority was highly uncooperative.  During his last two years, the Democrats come in control of the House and nearly the Senate.  Insurgent Republicans combined with opposition Democrats to harass Hoover, and Congress deliberately created some of  his troubles.

Routing the Bonus Army in Washington

97.  The "Bonus Expeditionary Force" (BEF), consisting of about 20,000 veterans, converged on the capital in 1932, demanding the immediate payment of their entire bonus.  The Bonus Army constructed shacks on vacant lots, endangering public health, and many of them refused to leave after the bill failed to pass.  Hoover eventually ordered the army to evacuate the Bonus Army after riots that left two people dead.  General Douglas MacArthur evicted them with far more force than Hoover had planned, using tear gas and bayonets in the "Battle of Anacostia Flats."  This resulted in further deterioration of Hoover's already horrible reputation.

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The Dynamic Decade

By 1920, for the first time most Americans didn't live in the country but in urban areas

Women
- Found work in the cities, but tended to cluster in low paying jobs such as clerk and typist
- Margret Sanger led an organized birth control movement
- Alice Paul's National Women's party began in 1923 to compaign for an Equal Rights Amendment

Modernists thought that God was a "good guy" and that the universe was a pretty nice place

Some churches tried to fight the devil with advertising and movies

The chimes had "struck sex o'clock in America"
- Sexual allure used to advertise everything
- "Flappers" were girls that were no longer nearly as modest, asserting their independence
- New one-piece bathing suit

Freud claimed that sexual repression was often responsible for ill health
- Teenagers jazz danced together
- A kiss no longer equaled a marriage proposal

Jazz Music
- Blacks like W. C. Handy, "Jelly Roll" Morton, and Joseph "Joe" King Oliver gave birth to jazz
- The entertainment industry gave birth to all white bands like Paul Whiteman's

Harlem, one of the largest black communities in America, brought forth poet Langston Hughes and political leader Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey
- founded the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) to promote the resettlement of blacks in Africa
- Sponsored stores and other businesses to keep black dollars in black pockets
- Convicted in 1927 for mail fraud
- Set an example for the later Nation of Islam (Black Muslim) movement

Defeat Through Deadlock

55. Lodge objected to Article X of the League especially because it morally bound the US to help any member victimized by external aggression.

56. Wilson kept sending orders to the Senate democrats to vote against ratification of the treaty because of the Lodge reservations attached. He hoped that once they were cleared away the path would be open for ratification without reservations

57. The Lodge-Wilson personal feud, traditionalism, isolationism, disillusionment, and partisanship all contributed to the defeat of the treaty. Wilson also contributed to its defeat by his unwillingness to compromise.

The Solemn Referendum of 1920

58.  Warren G. Harding won the presidential election of 1920. The Democrats lost because people were ready for a change from "high and mighty" Wilsonism, idealism, and self-sacrifice.

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Progressive Era Foreign Policy Acts

Panama Canal Toll Acts of 1912

Exempted American coast shipping from tolls, angering Britain. Wilson persuaded Congress to repeal it in 1914.

Jones Act of 1916

Granted territorial status to the Philippines and promised independence as soon as a "stable government" could be established (July 4, 1946).

Progressive Era Conservation/Land Use Acts

Desert Land Act of 1877

The first weak step toward conservation. The federal government sold land cheaply as long as the buyer irrigated the land within three years.

Forest Reserve Act of 1891

Authorized the president to set aside forests as national parks. In the 1890s, 46 million acres of forest were saves under this act.

Carey Act (1894)

Distributed federal land to the states as long as it was irrigated and settled.

Newlands Act (1902)

The federal government was allowed to collect money from the sale of public lands in the western states and use the money for the development of irrigation projects. The giant Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River is one example of the impact of this act.

Progressive Views

Progressives were split of the issue of Conservation. The preservationists believed that nature should be left untouched. The other group believed that it should be used wisely.

New Federal Agencies

Women's Bureau (1920)

Female activists agitated through two new federal agencies, which gave them a small national stage for social investigation and advocacy.

Federal Trade Commission Act (1914)

Another new federal agency in the Department of Labor along with the Women's Bureau.

Federal Trade Commission Act (1914)

Allowed a presidentially appointed Federal Trade Commission to investigate industries involved in interstate commerce, like the meat industry. They were intended to end unfair trade practices, unlawful competition, false advertising, mislabeling, adulteration, and bribery.

Federal Reserve Act (1913)

The Federal Reserve Board oversaw a nationwide system of 12 banks. It was empowered to issue Federal Reserve Notes, or paper money, backed by commercial paper, allowing the amount of money in circulation to be swiftly increased. It would carry the nation through the financial crises of WWI, allowing the Republic to progress toward the modern economic age.

Federal Farm Loan Act (1916)

Wilson, leading progressive reforms, made credit available to farmers at low interest rates.

Amendments to the Constitution

16th Amendment (1913)

Allowed Congress to enact a graduated income tax through the Underwood Tariff. By 1917 revenue from the income tax had far surpassed to revenue from the tariff

17th Amendment (1913)

Established the direct election of Senators, a favorite goal of progressives.

18th Amendment (1919)

Prohibited all alcoholic drinks - temporarily.

19th Amendment (1920)

The vote was given to women.

Protecting Workers

La Follette Seaman's Act of 1915

Required better conditions and a living wage on merchant ships. However, it unintentionally "crippled the American merchant machine" since freight rates rose comparably with the crew's wages.

Worker's Compensation Act of 1915

Wilson gave assistance to federal civil service employees during times of disability.

Anti-Trust

Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890

Represents the beginning of the prosecution of trusts. It was neither powerful nor successful. The Standard Oil Company was judged to be a violation of it. It was finally expanded by the Clayton Anti-Trust Act.

Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914

Lengthened the list of objectionable business practices in the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. It also gave benefits to labor, exempting labor and agricultural organizations from antitrust prosecution, legalizing strikes and peaceful picketing.

Food Safety

Meat Inspection Act of 1906

In response to uproar about Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and the public's response to it, Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act which decreed that meat to be shipped over state lines was subject to federal inspection at every stage of its preparation.

The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

Prevented the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals.

Railroads

Elkins Act of 1903

After the Interstate Commerce Commission (1887) proved inadequate to restrain the railroad "octopus," TR led Congress in passing the Elkins Act which imposed heavy fines on railroads that offered rebates and on shippers that accepted them.

Hepburn Act of 1906

Restricted free passes and expanded the Interstate Commerce Commission to reach express companies, sleeping-car companies, and pipelines. It was given real power to nullify rates and set maximum rates.