History 315-2: The U.S. since 1900, the Mid-20th Century; Fall 2013, Northwestern University

September 30, 2013: “The Crisis of the Old Order”

• Parents were not able to find work to feed their children, an this happened during a time when it was supposed to be impossible for it to happen
• People like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan made the United States competitive with others on the Western belt
• The genius of American Industrialization is taking outside technology and mass producing it
• Ford mass produced a consumer good, the vehicle – products that nobody had and nobody actually needs
• American industrial system: making and selling products that nobody needs t live, but becomes so convenient that people become unable to live without it (ex. iPads, vehicles)
• This created the middle class where people could become financially successful and purchase large homes to fill it with stuff
• An expanding industrial system penetrates into areas that haven’t been industrialized and gathers from the periphery
• Small shop owners, such as shoe makers, become outclassed by industrialization because they cannot keep up with mass production
• Consequentially, people move from the periphery into the core, where the jobs are
• Working conditions were poor, and work would be relentless
• Thousands died per year on the job, and those who got injured rarely even got compensated
• Job security was catastrophic instability
• People frequently purchased burial insurance because it would be embarrassing to have a family member die and not be able to afford to bury them
• Employees were able to form unions, but employers were able to stop them, and the power usually swung in favor of employers; they were able to easily shut down strikes
• Race was color coded and the lines were rigid, ex. slaves were not able to leave slavery
• Within five years after the Civil War, and the passing of the amendments, slaves, once considered property, now had equal rights as their former masters
• There was a counter-revolution that created legal restrictions segregating white and colored people; it created a physical separation – it was separate, but equal
• These were violations of the amendments
• Blacks were not able to use the legal system to change the laws because they didn’t have access to the legal system
• The point of this segregation was public, ritualized humiliation of colored people, while white people feel empowered (even if they have no real power)
• Lynching was the public ritualized murder of blacks, involving mutilation and torture; whites were able to demonstrate their superiority through barbarism
• Progressives used the Federal government’s power to check the abuses of the industrial system
• World War I resulted in the slaughter of a million men due to how mechanized slaughter had become
• A 14-year-old black boy got stoned to death for swimming in white people’s water
• The Steel Strike of 1919 caused people from the south moving north into the core
• It took the racial problems of the south and moved them up north
• Andrew Mellon represented Wall Street and made his fortune by being the financial treasurer for Carnegie; his “trickle-down” method encouraged business investment that would expand, and was accomplished with tax cuts
• Income ended up trickling up, and became more concentrated in the top who were already wealthy
• The Ku Klux Klan had immense government power, and disliked all outsiders; they burned down minority neighborhoods, like Tulsa (1923)
• People in autumn of 1929 began to sell and withdraw investments, which caused a panic, resulting in more people wanting to sell; this caused financial markets to freeze up
• Corporations couldn’t make income because they couldn’t sell products, had no investments, and couldn’t get loans; so, they lay off workers, who can no longer spend, which accelerates the cycle
• This cycle was the Great Depression, mainly caused by overproduction
• From 1929 –> 1932: GNP, $104B –> $74B; real investment, $16B –> $0.3 B; unemployment: 3.2% –> 25%

October 02, 2013: “Nothing to Fear”

• Mussolini attempted to create the opposite of communism nationalism
• The template for the answer was fascism
• In 1922, Mussolini toppled the Italian government and set himself as the new dictator
• Japanese militarism in performance: …
• Hitler’s party was on the teeter-totter of being a terrorist group; its main theme was racism, which led to genocide. The officials engaged in street violence, picking fights with German communists
• The Ku Klux Klan was the closest thing to a fascist movement, but fell apart after its leader’s conviction of a sex crime, undermining their message
• Ford Hunger March (1932): people marched for Ford to open jobs. Police told them to turn back; when they didn’t, police opened fire
• There were 50,000 marchers at the funeral procession
• Bonus Army (spring 1932): veterans of World War I started marching and finding illegal rides to go to Washington, D.C. and demand their money early; 20k veterans showed up at Washington, D.C.
• The House moved the bill up to the Senate. The 20k veterans death marched in circles around the capitol building. The Senate turned them down
• The veterans stayed there in tents, so the army was assigned to clear the area; the U.S. army burned the camp to the ground
• The Senate turned them down because this was extra expenses that were not balanced into the budget; it was due to be paid out in 1945, not 1932
• Roosevelt was a progressive who believed industrialism could be reformed through application of government power
• Wilson believed the U.S. was powerful enough to be a part of international affairs
• If countries form economic ties, they gain political stability
• Wilsonians believed the U.S. needed ot bring democratic ideals into the world
• Roosevelt got polio and couldn’t walk. When he felt physically capable, he ran for political power in New York, and year later in 1933, he was inaugurated a president
• Roosevelt said that if Congress doesn’t act, he will have to take emergency powers, but that’s not what happened
• The New Deal is a set of coherent and patterned programs; it was a progressive idea of the government to intervene in the economy and do things that businessmen were not doing to help recover the economy
• The businessmen were unappreciative because they were used to a booming economy, while Roosevelt was dealing with a failing economy
• Employment programs (PWA, WPA, CCC, NYA): the government employed people, and they gave them a wage so they would spend it
• Agricultural Adjustment Act: farmers don’t make enough money and were prone to overproduction, so AAA paid farmers not to produce crops so the scarcity increases
• Social Security Act: at 65, you can retire and the government pays you a pension; it was politically marketed as a pension plan instead of you paying old people
• National Labor Relations Act: it became illegal for employers to stop people from forming unions; the object of this was to give employees more power, give them higher wages, and more spending money
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: encouraged people to use banks and show it is safe, by insuring bank deposits
• Glass-Steagall Act: restricted what banks could do with the money
• The Federal Electrification Plan brought electricity to the countryside to connect them and make industry enter those areas
• Federal Housing Act: purchasing a house in the 1920s required 50% down payment and five-year repayment, or multiple mortgages; this act extended repayment to 30 years and down payment to 20%, allowing normal Americans to purchase houses
• Home Owner’s Loan Corporation also contributed to the above
• Unemployment rate, 1933-1937: 25.2% –> 22% –> 20% –> 17% –> 14.3%; it is still depression-level, but massive progress from 25%
• Ordinary Americans loved the New Deal because they saw that the government cared about them

October 04, 2013: “Nothing to Fear”

• Neighborhoods in Chicago were divided by race
• The church attempted to organize the community into something immigrants were used to
• Employers attempted to create tension among communities; if employees went on strike, they would bring in strike breakers
• The employers created ethnic, racial, geographic, language, and other barriers to make the labor movement fail; it was not a problem of poor leadership
• Progressivism aims to create an ideology that capitalism can be good for workers, and introduces a more democratic aspect
• Movies are a part of mass culture that bring people together with a common frame of reference, because they were all watching the same thing
• Radio was a way for family to come together and be a part of the greater community, and was accessible to lower-income families
• Mass communication becomes a unifier for working-class people in Chicago
• National party participation: people begin to vote because they are brought aware to the issues due to mass culture and communication, and contributed because they felt the government cared for them
• The Great Depression brought people together through struggle
• Critique: the narrative was oversimplified because it doesn’t address all of the unresolved tensions; the author takes being white for granted
• The narrative acts less as a national overview, but more as a case study for Chicago
• “Taking whiteness for granted”: not fully explaining what being white in the 1920s in Chicago meant; it wasn’t fully contextualized