Defunct
68-542: Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other The Conservative Manifesto (officially titled " An Address to the People of the United States ") was a position statement drafted in 1937 by a bipartisan conservative coalition of politicians in
136-464: A " Conservative Manifesto " in December 1937, which included several statements of conservative philosophical tenets, including the line "Give enterprise a chance, and I will give you the guarantees of a happy and prosperous America." The document called for a balanced federal budget, state's rights , and an end to labor union violence and coercion . Over 100,000 copies were distributed and it marked
204-892: A Democrat himself, his party did not universally support the New Deal agenda in Congress. Democrats who opposed Roosevelt's policies tended to hold conservative views , and allied with conservative Republicans. These Democrats were mostly located in the South . According to James T. Patterson : "By and large the congressional conservatives agreed in opposing the spread of federal power and bureaucracy, in denouncing deficit spending, in criticizing industrial labor unions , and in excoriating most welfare programs. They sought to 'conserve' an America which they believed to have existed before 1933." The coalition dominated Congress from 1937 to 1963, when former Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson assumed
272-539: A contrast. Prior to World War II most, though not all, conservative Republicans were non-interventionists who wanted to stay out of the war at all costs, while most, though not all, Southern conservatives were interventionists who favored helping the British defeat Nazi Germany . After the war, a minority of conservative Republicans (led by Taft) opposed military alliances with other nations, especially NATO , while most Southern Democrats favored such alliances. During
340-425: A downturn of Roosevelt's power in congress as more of his policy were denied as the country entered the " Roosevelt Recession ", a downturn of the economy that had been looming for the better part of a year, that Roosevelt thought would blow over relatively quickly. As for the president himself, he was decidedly against the ideas of the conservative manifesto as he attempted to break through the conservative wall against
408-536: A majority of Southern Democrats and Republicans it could muster, but also on how many votes it would win away from the opposing faction, the Northern Democrats. In 1968 , Nixon and native Southerner and American Independent candidate George Wallace carried the same number of states in the South . The coalition "found itself frequently allied with a conservative President against the restricted power of
476-456: A new large-scale spending program to Congress and received $ 3.75 billion, which was split among Public Works Administration (PWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and various relief agencies. Other appropriations raised the total to $ 5 billion in the spring of 1938, after which the economy recovered. Although the American economy began to recover in mid-1938, employment did not regain
544-520: A public housing provision when conservatives split. Truman was frustrated by continued conservative strength in Congress, in spite of liberal gains in the 1948 midterm elections. As noted by one study, "First of all, only one-third of the Senate is up for election every two years. In spite of the fact that the House has a narrow liberal majority, there are only 38 votes in the Senate wholeheartedly committed to
612-554: A rhetorical campaign against monopoly power, which was cast as the cause of the depression, and appointing Thurman Arnold in the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice to act, but Arnold was not effective. In February 1938, Congress passed a new AAA bill, the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 , which authorized crop loans, crop insurance against natural disasters, and large subsidies to farmers who cut back production. On April 2, Roosevelt sent
680-502: A total of 96) and 89 congressmen (out of a total of 431). Given his party's overwhelming majorities, FDR decided he could overcome opposition to his liberal New Deal policies by the conservative justices of the Supreme Court , which had struck down many New Deal agencies as unconstitutional. Roosevelt proposed to expand the size of the court from nine to fifteen justices; if the proposal met with success, he would be able to "pack"
748-467: A turning point in terms of congressional support for New Deal legislation. Coalition opposition to Roosevelt's "court packing" Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 was first led by House coalition Democrat and House Judiciary Committee chairman Hatton W. Sumners . Sumners refused to endorse the bill, actively chopping it up within his committee in order to block the bill's chief effect of Supreme Court expansion. Finding such stiff opposition within
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#1732794131452816-586: Is a summary of its provisions: Josiah Bailey was the leader of the conservatives that drafted the Conservative Manifesto. He was a Senator from North Carolina from 1931 to his death in 1946 and served on the committee of commerce and the committee of claims. He was a member of the North Carolina Constitutional Commission, United States Collector of Internal Revenue for North Carolina. He was an editor with
884-564: The Biblical Recorder , and was a practitioner of law who was admitted to the bar in 1908. He was the only name to actually be applied to the conservative manifesto as he was the only one to not deny his involvement and openly state his support before his official address. The New Deal was an economic plan put forth by Franklin Roosevelt that was notable in the speed by which it reacted to problems but heavily criticized by opponents
952-706: The Great Depression in the United States . By the spring of 1937, production, profits, and wages had regained their early 1929 levels. Unemployment remained high, but it was substantially lower than the 25% rate seen in 1933. The American economy took a sharp downturn in mid-1937, lasting for 13 months through most of 1938. Industrial production declined almost 30 percent, and production of durable goods fell even faster. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in May 1937 to 19.0% in June 1938. Manufacturing output fell by 37% from
1020-657: The Public Works Administration and Works Progress Administration , experienced drastic cuts in the budget which Roosevelt signed into law for the 1937–1938 fiscal year. In addition, the Federal Reserve's tightening of the money supply in 1936 and 1937 caused an increase in interest rates, which discouraged investment in business. Mainstream economists differ in the relative importance they assign to each of these factors: Monetarists and their successors have tended to emphasize monetary factors and
1088-657: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April 1943 stated that although the committee had 15 Democrats, seven Republicans, and one independent, because of the Republican-conservative Democratic alliance only 12 of the 23 members supported Roosevelt's policies. Conservatives also had strong representation in Congress in the post-war years. A handful of liberal measures, notably the minimum wage laws, did pass when
1156-528: The United States . Those involved in its creation included longtime opponents of President Franklin Roosevelt 's New Deal as well as former supporters who had come to believe its programs were proving ineffective. The Conservative Manifesto is an economic plan that was based on a set of beliefs that were relatively universal to the conservative coalition on both the Democrat and Republican sides of
1224-633: The United States Congress throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These included Democratic House members as conservative as Georgia 's Larry McDonald , who was also a leader in the John Birch Society . During the administration of Ronald Reagan , the term "boll weevils" was applied to this bloc of conservative Democrats, who consistently voted for Reagan administration policies, such as tax cuts, increases in military spending, and deregulation . The boll weevils were contrasted with
1292-637: The conservative wings of the Republican and Democratic parties to oppose President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 's New Deal . In addition to Roosevelt, the conservative coalition dominated Congress for four presidencies, blocking legislation proposed by Roosevelt and his successors. By 1937, the conservatives were the largest faction in the Republican Party which had opposed the New Deal in some form since 1933. Despite Roosevelt being
1360-618: The " gypsy moth Republicans "—moderate Republicans from the Northeast and Midwest who opposed many of Reagan's economic policies . As a result of the 1994 " Republican Revolution ", Republicans became the majority of Southern members of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since the Reconstruction era , also replacing many conservative Democratic congressmen. A few Democratic Congressmen switched parties, such as Alabama Senator Richard Shelby . After declining in
1428-480: The 1937 peak and was back to 1934 levels. Producers reduced their expenditures on durable goods, and inventories declined, but personal income was only 15% lower than it had been at the peak in 1937. In most sectors, hourly earnings continued to rise throughout the recession, partly compensating for the reduction in the number of hours worked. As unemployment rose, consumer expenditures declined, leading to further cutbacks in production. The Roosevelt Administration
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#17327941314521496-427: The 1980s, the conservative coalition ended after 1994. However, many similarly conservative Democrats served until the 2010 midterm elections . The Blue Dog Coalition is considered the main successor to the conservative coalition among Democrats, as it began after the 1994 midterm elections. Recession of 1937%E2%80%9338 Employment The recession of 1937–1938 was an economic downturn that occurred during
1564-475: The AFL ( American Federation of Labor ). The recovery was explained by the conservatives in terms of the diminishing of those threats sharply after 1938. For example, the antitrust efforts fizzled out without major cases. The CIO and AFL unions started battling each other more than corporations, and tax policy became more favorable to long-term growth. "When The Gallup Organization 's poll in 1939 asked, 'Do you think
1632-641: The Congressional liberals" in Nixon's first year as president in 1969, according to the 1969 Congressional Quarterly almanac. Conservative senators blocked an amendment that would have blocked the Safeguard anti-ballistic missile but lacked the votes to confirm Supreme Court nominee Clement Haynsworth . With Nixon's reelection and sweep of the South—as well as nearly every state in the country—in 1972 ,
1700-591: The Democratic stronghold of the Solid South had fallen to the GOP at the presidential level, save for 1976, 1992, and 1996, when a Southern Democrat was the Democratic nominee. However most of the state and local elections were still dominated by Democrats until the 1990s; at first these long-serving Southern Democrats still wielded great power due to the seniority system through chairing powerful committees; however,
1768-487: The House agenda through the House Rules Committee and the threat of possible filibusters in the Senate (which then required a 2/3 majority to break) several liberal initiatives such as a health insurance program were stopped. Truman's civil rights act died in Congress, leaving him to use executive orders to act against segregation. Much of Truman's Fair Deal in 1949–1951 was defeated, with exceptions such as
1836-568: The House as a whole, liberals were preponderant." In 1961, the House narrowly voted 217–212 in favor of a plan to enlarge the Rules Committee from 12 to 15 members. The aim of this was to provide committee liberals with a majority on most issues "and thereby prevent conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats on the Committee from blocking House floor action on liberal Administration proposals approved by legislative committees." In this
1904-437: The House, making it more responsive to the overall Democratic Caucus and leadership, and with less power for committee chairs (and the minority party.) Over in the Senate, the similarly large Democratic majority modified Rule 22, which governs the filibuster, shrinking the required majority to invoke cloture in most cases from two-thirds of the Senate to the current three-fifths, or 60 votes. These actions together greatly reduced
1972-437: The House, the administration arranged for the bill to be taken up in the Senate. Congressional Republicans decided to remain silent on the matter, denying pro-bill congressional Democrats the opportunity to use them as a unifying force. Republicans then watched from the sidelines as their Democratic coalition allies split the Democratic party vote in the Senate, defeating the bill. In the hard-fought 1938 congressional elections,
2040-486: The Interior Harold L. Ickes attacked automaker Henry Ford , steelmaker Tom Girdler , and the super rich " Sixty Families " who supposedly comprised "the living center of the modern industrial oligarchy which dominates the United States". Left unchecked, Ickes warned, they would create "big-business Fascist America—an enslaved America". The President appointed Robert Jackson as the aggressive new director of
2108-466: The New Deal by causing another depression that voters would react against by voting Republican. It was a " capital strike " said Roosevelt, and he ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look for a criminal conspiracy (they found none). Roosevelt moved left and unleashed a rhetorical campaign against monopoly power, which was cast as the cause of the new crisis. United States Secretary of
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2176-412: The New Deal policy. Conservative coalition Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other The conservative coalition , founded in 1937, was an unofficial alliance of members of the United States Congress which brought together
2244-523: The Republicans scored major gains in both houses, picking up six Senate seats and 80 House seats. Thereafter the conservative Democrats and Republicans in both Houses of Congress would often vote together on major economic issues, thus defeating many proposals by liberal Democrats. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was the last major New Deal legislation that Roosevelt succeeded in enacting into law. A confidential British Foreign Office analysis of
2312-543: The US's excellent economic performance. That backfired in the recession and the heated political atmosphere of 1937. Business-oriented conservatives explained the recession by arguing that the New Deal had been very hostile to business expansion in 1935–1937, had threatened massive antitrust legal attacks on big corporations and by the huge strikes caused by the organizing activities of the CIO ( Congress of Industrial Organizations ) and
2380-408: The aisle of in 1937 and heavily influenced the conservative platform going forward from this point. It was first expressed by a number of conservative Republicans and Democrats who were concerned with Franklin Roosevelt 's New Deal plan for solving the Great Depression believing it was steering the country towards collectivism. However, most have reportedly denied involvement and so the responsibility
2448-769: The antitrust division of the Justice Department , but this effort lost its effectiveness once World War II began and big business was urgently needed to produce war supplies. But the Administration's other response to the 1937 dip that stalled recovery from the Great Depression had more tangible results. Ignoring the requests of the Treasury Department and responding to the urgings of the converts to Keynesian economics and others in his Administration, Roosevelt embarked on an antidote to
2516-438: The attitude of the Roosevelt administration toward business is delaying business recovery?' the American people responded 'yes' by a margin of more than two-to-one. The business community felt even more strongly so." Fortune' s Roper poll found in May 1939 that 39% of Americans thought the administration had been delaying recovery by undermining business confidence, while 37% thought it had not. But it also found that opinions on
2584-472: The bill, the 1964 GOP Presidential nominee, Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), voted against cloture; before his presidential campaign Goldwater had supported civil rights legislation but opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on constitutional grounds, believing private individuals had the right to choose with whom they engaged in business . The GOP was massively defeated in 1964, but recovered its strength in
2652-505: The coalition did have the power to prevent unwanted bills from even coming to a vote. The coalition included many committee chairmen from the South who blocked bills by simply not reporting them from their committees. Furthermore, Howard W. Smith , chairman of the House Rules Committee , often could kill a bill simply by not reporting it out with a favorable rule; he lost some of that power in 1961. The conservative coalition
2720-585: The coalition usually voted together on urban and labor issues, they were divided on other economic issues, such as farm and Western issues (such as water). Conservative Southern Democrats generally favored high government spending on rural issues, and in this urban and liberal Democrats supported them while Republicans were opposed. For this reason, Democratic caucuses of 230 to 260 seats were enough to pass Democratic farm programs, whereas on labor issues even Houses with in excess of 280 Democratic Members could not pass labor priorities. Foreign policy goals also presented
2788-477: The congressional elections of 1966, and elected Richard Nixon president in 1968. Throughout the 1954–1980 era the Republicans were a minority in both the House and Senate, but most of the time they cooperated with Conservative Democrats. In defining the size of the Conservative Coalition in 1964, one study noted that As of adjournment Oct. 3, the potential strength of the conservative coalition
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2856-399: The conservative coalition split. Some infrastructure bills received conservative support, and funding for more highways was approved under both FDR and President Dwight D. Eisenhower ; Eisenhower also expanded public housing. While such liberal successes did happen, they often required negotiations between factions controlling different House committees. With conservatives heavily influencing
2924-473: The conservatives of both parties. He also believed that Roosevelt was experimenting without much thought to economic theory and that he would go too far and cause more harm than good. Josiah Bailey started out his term in the United States Senate being a weak objector of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He later claimed that this was simply an act so that he may get re-elected and eventually go on
2992-711: The court with six new justices who would support his policies. However, the Southern Democrats , who controlled the entire South at the time with little Republican opposition, were divided between liberal and conservative factions. While the Southern Democrats included many New Deal supporters, there were also many conservatives among them who were opposed to the expansion of federal power. Among their leaders were Senators Harry Byrd and Carter Glass of Virginia and Vice President John Nance Garner of Texas. U.S. Senator Josiah Bailey ( D - NC ) released
3060-457: The depression, reluctantly abandoning his efforts to balance the budget and launching a $ 5 billion spending program in the spring of 1938, an effort to increase mass purchasing power. Roosevelt explained his program in a fireside chat in which he told the American people that it was up to the government to "create an economic upturn" by making "additions to the purchasing power of the nation". The Roosevelt Administration reacted by launching
3128-444: The early 1937 level until the United States entered World War II in late 1941. Personal income in 1939 was almost at 1919 levels in aggregate, but not per capita. The farm population had fallen 5%, but farm output was up 19% in 1939. Employment in private sector factories regained the levels reached in early 1929 and early 1937, but did not exceed them until the onset of World War II. Productivity steadily increased, and output in 1942
3196-415: The growing needs of the public while adhering to the traditional values of individualism, hard work, self-help, balanced budgets, strong local governments and administrative efficiency. Bailey respected Roosevelt as a leader and recognized that while Roosevelt intended to be moderate in order to attempt to not fracture the nation but believed that the struggles of the Great Depression was causing him to abandon
3264-537: The inner workings of Congress, liberal Democrats, together with Conservative and Liberal Republicans led by Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen , convinced all but six Republicans to vote for cloture on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . This vote broke a Southern filibuster led by Senators Robert Byrd (D- WV ) and Strom Thurmond (D- SC ). Though a greater percentage of Republicans than Democrats (about 80% versus 60% respectively) voted for cloture and for
3332-399: The issue were highly polarized by economic status and occupation. In addition, AIPO found in the same time that 57% believed that business attitudes toward the administration were delaying recovery, while 26% thought they were not, emphasizing that fairly subtle differences in wording can evoke substantially different polling responses. Keynesian economists stated that the recession of 1937
3400-722: The late 1930s. It remained a declining political force until it disappeared in the mid-1990s when few conservative Democrats remained in Congress. Following the 1994 Republican Revolution , many of the remaining conservative Democrats in Congress joined to form the Blue Dog Coalition . Never a formalized alliance, the conservative coalition most often appeared on votes affecting labor unions based on Congressional roll call votes. Congressional opponents of civil rights reform—consisting of white Southern Democrats and Republicans, despite being an overall minority in both chambers—prevented major congressional action on civil rights during
3468-486: The liberal program endorsed by the American voters last November." Also, while northern Democrats supported the Truman Administration's social welfare initiatives 91% of the time, the corresponding figure for southern Democrats was 46%. During his presidency, John F. Kennedy attempted with some success to reduce the conservative hold over the Rules Committee, which had blocked liberal reform measures over
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#17327941314523536-507: The method by which it went about solving those problems which could be seen as hasty. The New Deal: There were also many other pieces of legislation passed beyond these, but these are the major laws passed and organizations created. Josiah Bailey was an influential member of the Southern Democratic Conservative Party and had been a United States Senator for North Carolina since 1931. He wished to answer
3604-552: The offensive. Bailey agreed with the idea behind the New Deal: to promote enterprise but crack down on extreme corporate profits. It wasn't until he saw Roosevelt begin to build a new party around himself that Bailey began to start making his own move with the manifesto. Bailey's Conservative Manifesto created a marked change in how politics worked, particularly in the South. This piece consolidated conservative efforts in order to halt further New Deal legislation. This ultimately led to
3672-534: The plan was successful, as the enlarged House Rules Committee gave liberals a majority; albeit a precarious one. In January 1963 the enlargement of the Rules Committee was made permanent, with the House voting 235–196 in favor. In its heyday in the 1940s and 1950s, the coalition's most important Republican leader was Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio ; the leading Democrats in the coalition were Senator Richard Russell, Jr. of Georgia and Congressmen Howard W. Smith of Virginia and Carl Vinson of Georgia. Although
3740-535: The post-war period, Republican presidents often owed their legislative victories to ad hoc coalitions between conservative Republicans and conservative southern Democrats. The liberal wing of the Democratic Party (elected mainly from Northern cities and Unionized regions), on the other hand, tended to combine with Republicans from the west and the north to put their own legislation through. Under President Lyndon Johnson , who had an intimate knowledge of
3808-444: The power of the Southern Democrats to steer and block legislation in the House and Senate, and reduced the institutional benefits of being loyal to the Democratic Party. Many surviving Southern Democrats switched parties and became Republicans after that party gained a majority in 1995. Boll weevils was a political term used in the mid-to-late 20th century to describe a bloc of conservative Democrats, mostly Southerners, who remained in
3876-401: The presidency and broke its influence. Johnson took advantage of weakened conservative opposition, and Congress passed many progressive economic and social reforms in his presidency. The conservative coalition, which controlled key congressional committees and made up a majority of both houses of Congress during Kennedy's presidency, had prevented the implementation of progressive reforms since
3944-407: The relevant time period through control of influential committees and by exploiting the Senate filibuster rule. The conservative coalition opposition weakened on civil rights bills, ultimately enabling President Johnson and Everett Dirksen to convince sufficient numbers of Senate Republicans to ally with liberal Democrats to invoke cloture and push through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . However,
4012-632: The strong Democratic victory in 1974 following the Watergate scandal led to a tremendous number of Northern and liberal Democratic freshmen in House, tilting the balance of the Democratic Caucus away from the Southerners. These Watergate Babies joined forces with more senior liberals and stripped committee chairmanship from three senior Southern Democrats: Wright Patman , William R. Poage , and F. Edward Hébert , and otherwise reformed
4080-419: The two blocs in the coalition (the point at which the coalition is defined in this study), its strength, assuming all Members voted, would be 17 Republicans and 12 Southern Democrats in the Senate (29 total) and 89 Republicans and 53 Southern Democrats (142 total) in the House. In neither chamber would the coalition have a winning majority. Therefore, whether the coalition won or lost depended not only on how large
4148-407: The years. As noted by one study, "By the late 1930s, the coalition succeeded in winning enough votes in the Rules Committee to prevent many Roosevelt (and later, Truman) proposals from reaching the floor, even though the measures had been reported by legislative committees of the House. Because of the seniority system, conservatives retained control of the Rules Committee in many Congresses in which, in
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#17327941314524216-464: Was 56 of the 100 votes in the Senate and 280 of the 429 votes in the House (there were 5 vacancies and the House Speaker is not counted because he rarely votes). This constituted a winning majority in each chamber. The figures are based on a lineup of 33 Republicans and 23 Southern Democrats in the Senate and 176 Republicans and 104 Southern Democrats in the House. Counting only bare majorities of
4284-399: Was a result of a premature effort to curb government spending and balance the budget. Roosevelt had been cautious not to run large deficits. In 1937 he actually achieved a balanced budget. Therefore, he did not fully utilize deficit spending . Between 1933 and 1941 the average federal budget deficit was 3% per year. In November 1937 Roosevelt decided that big businesses were trying to ruin
4352-441: Was not unified with regards to foreign policy, as most Southern Democrats were internationalists. Most Republicans supported isolationism until President Dwight D. Eisenhower took office in 1953. In 1936 , President Franklin D. Roosevelt had won a second term in a landslide, sweeping all but two states over his Republican opponent, Alf Landon . For the 1937 session of Congress, the Republicans would have only 17 senators (out of
4420-543: Was some bipartisan opposition to Roosevelt's New Deal as it was being implemented up until this point. Ultimately the Manifesto was delivered to the people of the United States through a document called "An address to the People of the United States" on 19 December 1937. The full text of the Manifesto, as read into the record of the U.S. Senate, is available here (beginning on page 1937): https://www.congress.gov/75/crecb/1937/12/20/GPO-CRECB-1937-pt2-v82-11.pdf . Following
4488-588: Was taken up by Josiah Bailey , a congressman from North Carolina . The document was leaked to the public by the New York Times , in this case two reporters named Joseph Alsop and Robert Kitner During its initial leak by the New York Times it was seen as anti- New Deal , and there is some level of truth to this. Its original intent was to convince Roosevelt that there needed to be some level of balance between enterprise and government and that there
4556-409: Was under assault during Roosevelt's second term, which presided over a new dip in the Great Depression in the fall of 1937 that continued through most of 1938. Production and profits declined sharply. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in 1937 to 19.0% in 1938. The downturn was perhaps due to nothing more than the usual rhythms of the business cycle, but up until 1937, Roosevelt had claimed responsibility for
4624-486: Was well above the levels of both 1929 and 1937. The recession was caused by both monetary and fiscal contractionary policies which worked to reduce aggregate demand . Cuts in federal spending and increases in taxes at the insistence of the US Treasury caused many Americans to lose their jobs, with knock-on effects on the broader economy. Historian Robert C. Goldston also noted that two vital New Deal job programs,
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