The Steel Workers Organizing Committee ( SWOC ) was one of two precursor labor organizations to the United Steelworkers . It was formed by the CIO ( Committee for Industrial Organization ) on June 7, 1936. It disbanded in 1942 to become the United Steel Workers of America . The Steel Labor was the official paper of SWOC.
164-573: A wide variety of unions had formed in the brand-new steel industry in the 1900s. Local steel unions formed in steel mills here and there, but no national organization existed. The Long Depression of 1873–79 forced a number of unions to merge in order to survive. In 1876, the Sons of Vulcan (a puddlers union), the Iron and Steel Heaters Union (a union of workers who operated roughing and rolling machines, and who acted as catchers for still-hot rolled steel),
328-829: A prohibitionist with a famous name. Roosevelt, then 38, resigned as Assistant Secretary after the Democratic convention and campaigned across the nation for the party ticket. During the campaign, Cox and Roosevelt defended the Wilson administration and the League of Nations , both of which were unpopular in 1920. Roosevelt personally supported U.S. membership in the League, but, unlike Wilson, he favored compromising with Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and other "Reservationists". Republicans Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge defeated
492-673: A protective tariff in 1879 in Otto von Bismarck 's Germany over the protests of his National Liberal Party allies. In 1887, Italy and France embarked on a bitter tariff war . In the United States, Benjamin Harrison won the 1888 US presidential election on a protectionist pledge. As a result of the protectionist policies enacted by the world's major trading nations, the global merchant marine fleet posted no significant growth from 1870 to 1890 before it nearly doubled in tonnage in
656-402: A Republican, but Roosevelt decided to seek the 1920 vice presidential nomination. After Governor James M. Cox of Ohio won the party's presidential nomination at the 1920 Democratic National Convention , he chose Roosevelt as his running mate, and the convention nominated him by acclamation . Although his nomination surprised most people, he balanced the ticket as a moderate, a Wilsonian, and
820-533: A billion dollars of debt. One in four laborers in New York were out of work in the winter of 1873–1874 and, nationally, a million became unemployed. The sectors which experienced the most severe declines in output were manufacturing, construction, and railroads. The railroads had been a tremendous engine of growth in the years before the crisis, yielding a 50% increase in railroad mileage from 1867 to 1873. After absorbing as much as 20% of US capital investment in
984-459: A campaign team led by Howe and Farley, and a " brain trust " of policy advisers, primarily composed of Columbia University and Harvard University professors. Some were not so sanguine about his chances, such as Walter Lippmann , the dean of political commentators, who observed: "He is a pleasant man who, without any important qualifications for the office, would very much like to be president." However, Roosevelt's efforts as governor to address
1148-471: A car. Due to his aggressive campaign, his name gained recognition in the Hudson Valley, and in the Democratic landslide in the 1910 United States elections , Roosevelt won a surprising victory. Despite short legislative sessions, Roosevelt treated his new position as a full-time career. Taking his seat on January 1, 1911, Roosevelt soon became the leader of a group of "Insurgents" in opposition to
1312-471: A court of appeals, as a depository of information, and as a tool of co-ordination; by ignoring or bypassing collective decision-making agencies, such as the Cabinet...and always by persuading, flattering, juggling, improvising, reshuffling, harmonizing, conciliating, manipulating. When Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 4, 1933, the U.S. was at the nadir of the worst depression in its history . A quarter of
1476-524: A descending pattern of recovery. Roosevelt was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down and was diagnosed with polio . A 2003 study strongly favored a diagnosis of Guillain–Barré syndrome , but historians have continued to describe his paralysis according to the initial diagnosis. Though his mother favored his retirement from public life, Roosevelt, his wife, and Roosevelt's close friend and adviser, Louis Howe, were all determined that he continue his political career. He convinced many people that he
1640-420: A distant second place. Roosevelt then promised the vice-presidential nomination to Garner, who controlled the votes of Texas and California; Garner threw his support behind Roosevelt after the third ballot, and Roosevelt clinched the nomination on the fourth ballot. Roosevelt flew in from New York to Chicago after learning that he had won the nomination, becoming the first major-party presidential nominee to accept
1804-673: A fever pitch, and fears of a bubble culminated in a panic in Vienna beginning in April 1873. The collapse of the Vienna Stock Exchange began on May 8, 1873, and continued until May 10, when the exchange was closed; when it was reopened three days later, the panic seemed to have faded, and appeared confined to Austria-Hungary . Financial panic arrived in the Americas only months later on Black Thursday , September 18, 1873, after
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#17327660354941968-682: A few years mining abated. Resumption of silver dollar coinage was authorized by the Bland–Allison Act of 1878. The resumption of the US government buying silver was enacted in 1890 with the Sherman Silver Purchase Act . Monetarists believe that the 1873 depression was caused by shortages of gold that undermined the gold standard, and that the 1848 California Gold Rush , 1886 Witwatersrand Gold Rush in South Africa and
2132-662: A four-day national "bank holiday", to end the run by depositors seeking to withdraw funds. He called for a special session of Congress on March 9, when Congress passed, almost sight unseen, the Emergency Banking Act . The act, first developed by the Hoover administration and Wall Street bankers, gave the president the power to determine the opening and closing of banks and authorized the Federal Reserve Banks to issue banknotes. The " first 100 Days " of
2296-707: A fourth year, taking graduate courses. Like his cousin Theodore, he was a member of The Explorers Club . Roosevelt entered Columbia Law School in 1904, but dropped out in 1907 after passing the New York bar examination . In 1908, he took a job with the prestigious law firm of Carter Ledyard & Milburn , working in the firm's admiralty law division. During his second year of college, Roosevelt met and proposed to Boston heiress Alice Sohier, who turned him down. Franklin then began courting his childhood acquaintance and fifth cousin once removed, Eleanor Roosevelt ,
2460-501: A great deal and incorporated some of his 1924 ideas into the design for the United Nations in 1944–1945. Smith, the Democratic presidential nominee in the 1928 presidential election , asked Roosevelt to run for governor of New York in the 1928 state election . Roosevelt initially resisted, as he was reluctant to leave Warm Springs and feared a Republican landslide. Party leaders eventually convinced him only he could defeat
2624-577: A house built for herself alongside that townhouse. Eleanor never felt at home in the houses at Hyde Park or New York; however, she loved the family's vacation home on Campobello Island , which was also a gift from Sara. Burns indicates that young Franklin Roosevelt was self-assured and at ease in the upper class. On the other hand, Eleanor was shy and disliked social life. Initially, Eleanor stayed home to raise their children. As his father had done, Franklin left childcare to his wife, and Eleanor delegated
2788-519: A mania of railroad-building. In the late 1870s the economic situation in Chile deteriorated. Chilean wheat exports were outcompeted by production in Canada, Russia and Argentina and Chilean copper was largely replaced in international markets by copper from the United States and Spain. Income from silver mining in Chile also dropped. Aníbal Pinto , president of Chile in 1878, expressed his concerns
2952-480: A niece of Theodore Roosevelt. In 1903, Franklin proposed to Eleanor. Despite resistance from his mother, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were married on March 17, 1905. Eleanor's father, Elliott , was deceased; Theodore, who was then president, gave away the bride. The young couple moved into Springwood . Franklin's mother, Sara Roosevelt, also provided a townhouse for the newlyweds in New York City, and had
3116-424: A plant here or there. Little Steel capitulated in the spring of 1941. Improving economic conditions had not led to rising salaries, and worker walk-outs involving tens of thousands of employees lashed Bethlehem Steel in New York and Pennsylvania. Long-delayed court rulings forced the company to dismantle its company unions, and most of the company's plants voted for the union by the fall. Huge majorities voted for
3280-461: A plant were recruited into a single union. Theoretically, after organizing in an industry was complete, the FLUs would be broken up and the workers parceled out to the appropriate craft union. Although a number of AFL affiliates protested the use of FLUs, Green put them off — declaring that the FLUs were but temporary organizing devices. The AFL seemed committed to organizing with FLUs, and to organizing
3444-447: A political figure. Roosevelt and Smith came from different backgrounds and never fully trusted one another, but Roosevelt supported Smith's progressive policies, while Smith was happy to have Roosevelt's backing. Roosevelt gave presidential nominating speeches for Smith at the 1924 and 1928 Democratic National Conventions; the speech at the 1924 convention marked a return to public life following his illness and convalescence. That year,
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#17327660354943608-503: A pure gold standard . This measure, referred to by its opponents as "the Crime of 1873" and the topic of William Jennings Bryan 's Cross of Gold speech in 1896, forced a contraction of the money supply in the United States. It also drove down silver prices further, even as new silver mines were being established in Nevada , which stimulated mining investment but increased supply as demand
3772-455: A seat in the state senate. The senate district, located in Dutchess , Columbia , and Putnam , was strongly Republican. Roosevelt feared that opposition from Theodore could end his campaign, but Theodore encouraged his candidacy despite their party differences. Acting as his own campaign manager, Roosevelt traveled throughout the senate district via automobile at a time when few could afford
3936-708: A second panic in Vienna and further failures in continental Europe before receding. France, which had been experiencing deflation in the years preceding the crash, was spared financial calamity for the moment, as was the United Kingdom. Some have argued the depression was rooted in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War that devastated the French economy and, under the Treaty of Frankfurt , forced that country to make large war reparations payments to Germany. The primary cause of
4100-535: A separate home in Hyde Park at Val-Kill and devoted herself to social and political causes independent of her husband. The emotional break in their marriage was so severe that when Franklin asked Eleanor in 1942—in light of his failing health—to come live with him again, she refused. Roosevelt was not always aware of Eleanor's visits to the White House. For some time, Eleanor could not easily reach Roosevelt on
4264-490: A single recession lasted from 1873 to 1896 or 1897 is not supported by most modern reviews of the period. It has even been suggested that the trough of this business cycle may have occurred as early as 1875. In fact, from 1869 to 1879, the US economy grew at a rate of 6.8% for real net national product (NNP) and 4.5% for real NNP per capita. Real wages were flat from 1869 to 1879, while from 1879 to 1896, nominal wages rose 23% and prices fell 4.2%. Irving Fisher believed that
4428-777: A staff of physical therapists and using most of his inheritance to purchase the Merriweather Inn. In 1938, he founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis , leading to the development of polio vaccines. Roosevelt remained active in New York politics while also establishing contacts in the South, particularly in Georgia, in the 1920s. He issued an open letter endorsing Al Smith 's successful campaign in New York's 1922 gubernatorial election, which both aided Smith and showed Roosevelt's continuing relevance as
4592-411: A strange wish for you. It is that you may never be President of the United States." Franklin's mother, the dominant influence in his early years, once declared, "My son Franklin is a Delano, not a Roosevelt at all." James, who was 54 when Franklin was born, was considered by some as a remote father, though biographer James MacGregor Burns indicates James interacted with his son more than was typical at
4756-467: A strike was strong, leading to a walkout in 1937 but SWOC was financially exhausted and had not adequately planned for a protracted dispute. Unlike U.S. Steel, the companies of Little Steel were willing to use violence, espionage and large numbers of strikebreakers to crush the union. The worst incidence of violence occurred in Chicago Illinois , when 10 people were killed and 30 wounded during
4920-590: A strong influence throughout Roosevelt's life, officiating at his wedding and visiting him as president. Like most of his Groton classmates, Roosevelt went to Harvard College . He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and the Fly Club , and served as a school cheerleader. Roosevelt was relatively undistinguished as a student or athlete, but he became editor-in-chief of The Harvard Crimson daily newspaper, which required ambition, energy, and
5084-553: A tour of the battlefield at Verdun . In September, on the ship voyage back to the United States, he contracted pandemic influenza with complicating pneumonia, which left him unable to work for a month. After Germany signed an armistice in November 1918, Daniels and Roosevelt supervised the demobilization of the Navy. Against the advice of older officers such as Admiral William Benson —who claimed he could not "conceive of any use
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5248-709: A valuable political player. After the election, Roosevelt returned to New York City, where he practiced law and served as a vice president of the Fidelity and Deposit Company . Roosevelt sought to build support for a political comeback in the 1922 elections , but his career was derailed by an illness. It began while the Roosevelts were vacationing at Campobello Island in August 1921. His main symptoms were fever; symmetric, ascending paralysis; facial paralysis; bowel and bladder dysfunction; numbness and hyperesthesia ; and
5412-490: Is a real possibility that a romantic relationship existed" between his father and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway , who resided in the White House during part of World War II. Aides referred to her at the time as "the president's girlfriend", and gossip linking the two romantically appeared in newspapers. Roosevelt cared little for the practice of law and told friends he planned to enter politics. Despite his admiration for cousin Theodore, Franklin shared his father's bond with
5576-571: Is the longest-lasting contraction identified by the NBER, eclipsing the Great Depression's 43 months of contraction. Figures from Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz show net national product increased 3 percent per year from 1869 to 1879 and real national product grew at 6.8 percent per year during that time frame. However, since between 1869 and 1879 the population of the United States increased by over 17.5 percent, per capita NNP growth
5740-602: Is the only president to have served more than two terms. His initial two terms were centered on combating the Great Depression , while his third and fourth saw him shift his focus to America's involvement in World War II . A member of the prominent Delano and Roosevelt families, Roosevelt was elected to the New York State Senate from 1911 to 1913 and was then the assistant Secretary of
5904-582: The 1879 famine , thousands of Irish tenant farmers affected by depressed producer prices and high rents launched the Land War in 1879, which resulted in the reforming Irish Land Acts . In the United States, the Long Depression began with the Panic of 1873. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the contraction following the panic as lasting from October 1873 to March 1879. At 65 months, it
6068-470: The 73rd United States Congress saw an unprecedented amount of legislation and set a benchmark against which future presidents have been compared. When the banks reopened on Monday, March 15, stock prices rose by 15 percent and in the following weeks over $ 1 billion was returned to bank vaults, ending the bank panic. On March 22, Roosevelt signed the Cullen–Harrison Act , which brought Prohibition to
6232-532: The Aspinwalls and the Delanos , respectively—and resided at Springwood , a large estate south of Hyde Park's historic center. Roosevelt's father, James, graduated from Harvard Law School but chose not to practice law after receiving an inheritance from his grandfather . James, a prominent Bourbon Democrat , once took Franklin to meet President Grover Cleveland , who said to him: "My little man, I am making
6396-531: The Bonus Army further damaged the incumbent's popularity, as newspapers across the country criticized the use of force to disperse assembled veterans. Roosevelt won 57% of the popular vote and carried all but six states. Historians and political scientists consider the 1932–36 elections to be a political realignment . Roosevelt's victory was enabled by the creation of the New Deal coalition , small farmers,
6560-630: The Democratic Party , and in preparation for the 1910 elections , the party recruited Roosevelt to run for a seat in the New York State Assembly . Roosevelt was a compelling recruit: he had the personality and energy for campaigning and the money to pay for his own campaign. But Roosevelt's campaign for the state assembly ended after the Democratic incumbent, Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler , chose to seek re-election. Rather than putting his political hopes on hold, Roosevelt ran for
6724-562: The Fifth Party System . He created numerous programs to provide relief to the unemployed and farmers while seeking economic recovery with the National Recovery Administration and other programs. He also instituted major regulatory reforms related to finance, communications, and labor, and presided over the end of Prohibition . In 1936, Roosevelt won a landslide reelection . He was unable to expand
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6888-838: The Iron and Steel Roll Hands Union (another union of roughers, rollers and catchers) and the Nailers Union (riveters) merged to form the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (the AA). The AA was a founding member of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (FOTLU) and its successor, the American Federation of Labor (AFL). While the AA had a good degree of success organizing steel workers, it also had some significant failures. In 1892,
7052-537: The Memorial Day Massacre . At least six other people, all union members or supporters, were killed before the strike ended later that summer The AA—and SWOC—had a role in the most important labor relations court case of the modern era. During SWOC's attempt to organize Jones and Laughlin Steel in 1936, the company summarily fired hundreds of union supporters. SWOC filed an unfair labor practice against
7216-493: The Navy , was well-read on the subject, and was an ardent supporter of a large, efficient force. With Wilson's support, Daniels and Roosevelt instituted a merit-based promotion system and extended civilian control over the autonomous departments of the Navy. Roosevelt oversaw the Navy's civilian employees and earned the respect of union leaders for his fairness in resolving disputes. No strikes occurred during his seven-plus years in
7380-618: The Panic of 1893 , another huge market crash. In the United States, the National Bureau of Economic Analysis dates the recession through March 1879. In January 1879, the United States returned to the gold standard which it had abandoned during the Civil War; according to economist Rendigs Fels, the gold standard put a floor to the deflation, and this was further boosted by especially good agricultural production in 1879. The view that
7544-551: The Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War . The episode was labeled the "Great Depression" at the time, and it held that designation until the Great Depression of the 1930s. Though it marked a period of general deflation and a general contraction , it did not have the severe economic retrogression of the later Great Depression. The United Kingdom was
7708-487: The Tammany Hall machine that dominated the state Democratic Party. In the 1911 U.S. Senate election , which was determined in a joint session of the New York state legislature, Roosevelt and nineteen other Democrats caused a prolonged deadlock by opposing a series of Tammany-backed candidates. Tammany threw its backing behind James A. O'Gorman , a highly regarded judge whom Roosevelt found acceptable, and O'Gorman won
7872-535: The United States Navy Reserve and the Council of National Defense . In April 1917, after Germany declared it would engage in unrestricted submarine warfare and attacked several U.S. ships, Congress approved Wilson's call for a declaration of war on Germany . Roosevelt requested that he be allowed to serve as a naval officer, but Wilson insisted that he continue as Assistant Secretary. For
8036-603: The Western United States – an expansion funded largely by foreign investors. In 1873, during a decline in the value of silver – exacerbated by the end of the German Empire's production of thaler coins – the US government passed the Coinage Act of 1873 in April. This essentially ended the bimetallic standard of the United States, forcing it for the first time onto
8200-670: The official implementation of term limits . Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt obtained a declaration of war on Japan. After Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. on December 11, 1941, the United States Congress approved additional declarations of war in return. He worked closely with other national leaders in leading the Allies against the Axis powers . Roosevelt supervised
8364-535: The production of iron doubled between the 1870s and 1890s, the price of iron halved. Many countries experienced significantly lower growth rates relative to what they had experienced earlier in the 19th century and to what they experienced afterwards: The global economic crisis first erupted in Austria-Hungary , where in May 1873 the Vienna Stock Exchange crashed. In Hungary, the panic of 1873 terminated
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#17327660354948528-430: The $ 100,000 American Peace Award for the best plan to deliver world peace. Roosevelt had leisure time and interest, and he drafted a plan for the contest. He never submitted it because Eleanor was selected as a judge for the prize. His plan called for a new world organization that would replace the League of Nations. Although Roosevelt had been the vice-presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket of 1920 that supported
8692-415: The 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s were a period of falling price levels and rates of economic growth significantly below the periods preceding and following. Between 1870 and 1890, iron production in the five largest producing countries more than doubled, from 11 million tons to 23 million tons, steel production increased twentyfold (half a million tons to 11 million tons), and railroad development boomed. But at
8856-548: The 1896–99 Klondike Gold Rush helped alleviate such crises. Other analyses have pointed to developmental surges (see Kondratiev wave ), theorizing that the Second Industrial Revolution was causing large shifts in the economies of many states, imposing transition costs, which may also have played a role in causing the depression. Like the later Great Depression , the Long Depression affected different countries at different times, at different rates, and some countries accomplished rapid growth over certain periods. Globally, however,
9020-453: The 19th century". The Union Générale, a French bank, failed in 1882, prompting the French to withdraw three million pounds from the Bank of England and triggering a collapse in French stock prices. The financial crisis was compounded by diseases impacting the wine and silk industries French capital accumulation and foreign investment plummeted to the lowest levels experienced by France in
9184-530: The AA's convention, but Tighe refused to say whether he would permit a CIO address. Fewer than 100 delegates gathered at the AA's convention in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania , on April 28, 1936. Tighe locked the doors of the convention hall to keep the CIO officials out. Tighe then asked the members to vote on whether they wished to hear the CIO offer. The delegates voted 42 to 43 (with seven abstentions) to refuse to hear
9348-618: The AA's membership. When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the NIRA on constitutional ground on May 27, 1935, the organizing drive collapsed. Tighe reported to the AFL in May 1935 that his membership stood at 8,600. At the AFL's convention in Atlantic City in October 1935, the executive council issued a report in which it claimed it had not been "advisable to launch an organizing campaign for
9512-425: The AFL called for an organizing campaign in the steel industry. As early as 1926, AFL president William Green had convinced the federation's executive council to re-establish federal labor unions (FLUs) as a compromise between workers' desires to belong to an industrial union and the jurisdictional rights of existing AFL affiliates. The FLU had been one of Samuel Gompers ' favorite recruiting devices. All workers in
9676-429: The CIO would move ahead with an organizing drive in the steel industry with or without the AA. Leonard met with the AA executive board the following day. The AA officials accepted the CIO proposal. They voted to affiliate with the CIO, and a memorandum was drafted which established the AA as an administrative unit within the CIO's steelworker organizing committee. Subsequently, the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC)
9840-535: The CIO: $ 500,000 for the organization of the steel industry, provided the campaign occurred along industrial lines. A motion was made and carried to appoint a committee to study the proposal. Tighe remained uncertain as to what course to take. He sent AA international secretary Louis Leonard to consult with Green at Green's home in Coshocton, Ohio . Green countered the CIO offer with a pledge of 35 organizers and an undetermined amount of money. Leonard then met Lewis on June 3 in Washington, D.C. Lewis made it clear that
10004-466: The CIO—the AA among them. SWOC's internal structure was dictated in most ways by the agreement with the AA. The AA gave SWOC the constitutional legitimacy it needed in order to function as a union. The AA remained inactive except for issuing charters and the approval of contracts for existing lodges. The AA authorized SWOC to handle all matters regarding organizing and to negotiate contracts on behalf of new locals. The only provision for internal governance
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#173276603549410168-426: The Cox–Roosevelt ticket in the presidential election by a wide margin, carrying every state outside of the South. Roosevelt accepted the loss and later reflected that the relationships and goodwill that he built in the 1920 campaign proved to be a major asset in his 1932 campaign. The 1920 election also saw the first public participation of Eleanor Roosevelt who, with the support of Louis Howe , established herself as
10332-402: The Democrats were badly divided between an urban wing, led by Smith, and a conservative, rural wing, led by William Gibbs McAdoo . On the 101st ballot, the nomination went to John W. Davis , a compromise candidate who suffered a landslide defeat in the 1924 presidential election . Like many, Roosevelt did not abstain from alcohol during Prohibition, but publicly he sought to find a compromise on
10496-402: The Great Depression. Reflecting changing public opinion, the Democratic platform included a call for the repeal of Prohibition; Roosevelt himself had not taken a public stand on the issue prior to the convention but promised to uphold the party platform. Otherwise, Roosevelt's primary campaign strategy was one of caution, intent upon avoiding mistakes that would distract from Hoover's failings on
10660-405: The Great Depression. In the 1932 presidential election , Roosevelt defeated president Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory . During his first 100 days as president , Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented federal legislation and directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing the New Deal , building the New Deal coalition , and realigning American politics into
10824-433: The House John Nance Garner of Texas and Al Smith, the 1928 Democratic presidential nominee. Roosevelt entered the convention with a delegate lead due to his success in the 1932 Democratic primaries , but most delegates entered the convention unbound to any particular candidate. On the first presidential ballot, Roosevelt received the votes of more than half but less than two-thirds of the delegates, with Smith finishing in
10988-610: The Interior and Secretary of Agriculture, respectively. In February 1933, Roosevelt escaped an assassination attempt by Giuseppe Zangara , who expressed a "hate for all rulers". As he was attempting to shoot Roosevelt, Zangara was struck by a woman with her purse; he instead mortally wounded Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak , who was sitting alongside Roosevelt. As president, Roosevelt appointed powerful men to top positions in government. However, he made all of his administration's major decisions himself, regardless of any delays, inefficiencies, or resentments doing so may have caused. Analyzing
11152-415: The January 1936 AFL executive council meeting. The CIO proposed raising $ 500,000 toward a $ 1 million goal to fund the organizing drive. The CIO also requested a jurisdictional waiver, so that skilled workers could be assigned to the AA and while other workers joined a new industrial steelworkers union. The executive council rejected the plan and demanded that the CIO disband. To maintain the pretense of action,
11316-402: The League, by 1924 he was ready to scrap it. His draft of a "Society of Nations" accepted the reservations proposed by Henry Cabot Lodge in the 1919 Senate debate. The new Society would not become involved in the Western Hemisphere, where the Monroe doctrine held sway. It would not have any control over military forces. Although Roosevelt's plan was never made public, he thought about the problem
11480-430: The NBER, eclipsing the Great Depression's 43 months of contraction. In the United States, from 1873 to 1879, 18,000 businesses went bankrupt, including 89 railroads. Unemployment peaked in 1878 at 8.25%. The period preceding the depression was dominated by several major military conflicts and a period of economic expansion. In Europe, the end of the Franco-Prussian War yielded a new political order in Germany , and
11644-517: The Navy under President Woodrow Wilson during World War I . Roosevelt was James M. Cox 's running mate on the Democratic Party 's ticket in the 1920 U.S. presidential election , but Cox lost to Republican nominee Warren G. Harding . In 1921, Roosevelt contracted a paralytic illness that permanently paralyzed his legs. Partly through the encouragement of his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt , he returned to public office as governor of New York from 1929 to 1933, during which he promoted programs to combat
11808-739: The Navy Department as World War I broke out in Europe in August 1914. Though he remained publicly supportive of Wilson, Roosevelt sympathized with the Preparedness Movement , whose leaders strongly favored the Allied Powers and called for a military build-up. The Wilson administration initiated an expansion of the Navy after the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a German submarine , and Roosevelt helped establish
11972-556: The Panic of 1873 and the severity of the contractions which followed it could be explained by debt and deflation and that a financial panic would trigger catastrophic deleveraging in an attempt to sell assets and increase capital reserves; that selloff would trigger a collapse in asset prices and deflation , which would in turn prompt financial institutions to sell off more assets, only to further deflation and strain capital ratios . Fisher believed that had governments or private enterprise embarked on efforts to reflate financial markets,
12136-553: The Rank and File Movement formed within the AA. A number of militant local affiliates had sprung up across the nation or had joined existing lodges in large enough numbers to elect their own, militant leaders. The locals coalesced into the Rank and File Movement and challenged the conservative leadership to act, demanding that the AA reorganize along industrial union lines. At its annual convention in San Francisco in October 1934,
12300-473: The Republican Party to launch a third-party campaign against Wilson and sitting Republican president William Howard Taft . Franklin's decision to back Wilson over his cousin in the general election alienated some of his family, except Theodore. Roosevelt overcame a bout of typhoid fever that year and, with help from journalist Louis McHenry Howe , he was re-elected in the 1912 elections . After
12464-458: The Republican gubernatorial nominee, New York Attorney General Albert Ottinger . He won the party's gubernatorial nomination by acclamation and again turned to Howe to lead his campaign. Roosevelt was joined on the campaign trail by associates Samuel Rosenman , Frances Perkins , and James Farley . While Smith lost the presidency in a landslide, and was defeated in his home state, Roosevelt
12628-753: The Southern whites, Catholics, big-city political machines, labor unions, northern black Americans (southern ones were still disfranchised), Jews, intellectuals, and political liberals. The creation of the New Deal coalition transformed American politics and started what political scientists call the "New Deal Party System" or the Fifth Party System . Between the Civil War and 1929, Democrats had rarely controlled both houses of Congress and had won just four of seventeen presidential elections; from 1932 to 1979, Democrats won eight of twelve presidential elections and generally controlled both houses of Congress. Roosevelt
12792-727: The Supreme Court in 1937 , the same year the conservative coalition was formed to block the implementation of further New Deal programs and reforms. Major surviving programs and legislation implemented under Roosevelt include the Securities and Exchange Commission , the National Labor Relations Act , the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation , and Social Security . In 1940 , he ran successfully for reelection , before
12956-554: The ability to manage others. He later said, "I took economics courses in college for four years, and everything I was taught was wrong." Roosevelt's father died in 1900, distressing him greatly. The following year, Roosevelt's fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt became U.S. president. Theodore's vigorous leadership style and reforming zeal made him Franklin's role model and hero. He graduated from Harvard in three years in 1903 with an A.B. in history. He remained there for
13120-488: The aftermath of the American Civil War , increasing by nearly a quarter between 1865 and 1873, they stagnated until the 1880s, posting no real growth, before resuming their robust rate of expansion in the later 1880s. The collapse of cotton prices devastated the already war-ravaged economy of the southern United States . Although farm prices fell dramatically, American agriculture continued to expand production. Thousands of American businesses failed, defaulting on more than
13284-466: The agricultural sector . In the United States, historians refer to the Depression of 1873–1879 , kicked off by the Panic of 1873 , and followed by the Panic of 1893 , book-ending an era of prosperity. The U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research dates the contraction following the panic as lasting from October 1873 to March 1879. At 65 months, it is the longest-lasting contraction identified by
13448-609: The bubble in 1873. Both the Union Pacific and the Northern Pacific lines were central to the collapse; another railway bubble was the Railway Mania in the United Kingdom. Because of the Panic of 1873, governments depegged their currencies, to save money. The demonetization of silver by European and North American governments in the early 1870s was certainly a contributing factor. The US Coinage Act of 1873
13612-736: The company and won. Republic Steel appealed in court, alleging that the National Labor Relations Act was unconstitutional. But in National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation , 301 U.S. 1 (1937), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the NLRA. SWOC inspired a number of similarly-structured organizing committees in the CIO. But none of these were as successful as SWOC. Organizing slowed after
13776-402: The council refused to authorize an AFL-led organizing drive. Instead, the council voted to initiate a joint organizing drive similar to the failed 1919 campaign. Green dared not refuse the AFL executive council's instructions to undertake a joint organizing drive, but he did not wholeheartedly implement a plan, either. For the first six months of the year, Green did nothing. After the creation of
13940-545: The country, coal operators were using the competitive advantage of the captive mines to stonewall the UMW. Lewis and the Congress of Industrial Organizations did not wish to leave the AFL. In order to avoid antagonizing the AFL but eager to begin an organizing drive in steel along industrial union lines, the CIO resolved to work through the AA instead. The CIO first attempted to push a steelworker industrial organizing plan through
14104-432: The crisis would have been less severe. David Ames Wells (1890) wrote of the technological advancements during the period 1870–1890, which included the Long Depression. Wells gives an account of the changes in the world economy transitioning into the Second Industrial Revolution in which he documents changes in trade, such as triple expansion steam shipping, railroads, the effect of the international telegraph network and
14268-442: The decade from 1869 to 1879 saw a 3-percent-per annum increase in money national product, an outstanding real national product growth of 6.8 percent per year in this period, and a phenomenal rise of 4.5 percent per year in real product per capita. Even the alleged "monetary contraction" never took place, the money supply increasing by 2.7 percent per year in this period. From 1873 through 1878, before another spurt of monetary expansion,
14432-508: The early 1870s, the bank had joined in the speculative fever, investing in real estate and unsecured loans to railroads; its collapse in 1874 was a severe blow to African-Americans . The recession exacted a harsh political toll on President Ulysses S. Grant . Historian Allan Nevins says of the end of Grant's presidency: Various administrations have closed in gloom and weakness ... but no other has closed in such paralysis and discredit as (in all domestic fields) did Grant's. The President
14596-413: The economy. His statements attacked the incumbent and included no other specific policies or programs. After the convention, Roosevelt won endorsements from several progressive Republicans, including George W. Norris , Hiram Johnson , and Robert La Follette Jr. He also reconciled with the party's conservative wing, and even Al Smith was persuaded to support the Democratic ticket. Hoover's handling of
14760-469: The effects of the depression in his own state established him as the front-runner for the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination. Roosevelt rallied the progressive supporters of the Wilson administration while also appealing to many conservatives, establishing himself as the leading candidate in the South and West. The chief opposition to Roosevelt's candidacy came from Northeastern conservatives, Speaker of
14924-441: The election in late March. Roosevelt in the process became a popular figure among New York Democrats. News articles and cartoons depicted "the second coming of a Roosevelt", sending "cold shivers down the spine of Tammany". Roosevelt also opposed Tammany Hall by supporting New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson 's successful bid for the 1912 Democratic nomination . The election became a three-way contest when Theodore Roosevelt left
15088-700: The election, he served as chairman of the Agriculture Committee; his success with farm and labor bills was a precursor to his later New Deal policies. He had then become more consistently progressive , in support of labor and social welfare programs. Roosevelt's support of Wilson led to his appointment in March 1913 as Assistant Secretary of the Navy , the second-ranking official in the Navy Department after Secretary Josephus Daniels who paid it little attention. Roosevelt had an affection for
15252-401: The employer's company unions and turned the unions against the employer. Green denigrated the contract for not achieving a closed shop . SWOC suffered its first defeat when it attempted to organize the 186,000 workers laboring for "Little Steel"— Republic Steel , Bethlehem Steel , Youngstown Sheet and Tube , National Steel , Inland Steel and American Rolling Mills . Worker sentiment for
15416-516: The executive council then passed a resolution instructing Green to come up with his own organizing plan for the steel industry. The CIO then attempted to subvert the AA from within. If the AA changed its mind about organizing along industrial lines, Green and the AFL—which above all else respected each member union's autonomy—could do little to prevent the organizing campaign. The CIO approached President Tighe on April 15 and asked to speak to delegates at
15580-674: The failure of the banking house of Jay Cooke and Company over the Northern Pacific Railway . The Northern Pacific railway had been given 40 million acres (160,000 km ) of public land in the Western United States and Cooke sought $ 100,000,000 in capital for the company; the bank failed when the bond issue proved unsalable, and was shortly followed by several other major banks. The New York Stock Exchange closed for ten days on September 20. The financial contagion then returned to Europe, provoking
15744-478: The federal Steel Labor Relations Board in late June 1935 (an independent labor relations board created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt because of the failures of the National Labor Board ), Green worked with Tighe, steel industry executives and the steel board to create a plan to allow collective bargaining in the steel industry. The talks dragged on through the end of the year. The sticking point
15908-433: The fleet will ever have for aviation"—Roosevelt personally ordered the preservation of the Navy's Aviation Division . With the Wilson administration near an end, Roosevelt planned his next run for office. He approached Herbert Hoover about running for the 1920 Democratic presidential nomination, with Roosevelt as his running mate. Roosevelt's plan for Hoover to run fell through after Hoover publicly declared himself to be
16072-510: The following way: If a new mining discovery or some novelty of that sort does not come to improve the actual situation, the crisis that has long been felt, will worsen This "mining discovery" came, according to historians Gabriel Salazar and Julio Pinto , into existence through the conquest of Bolivian and Peruvian lands in the War of the Pacific . It has been argued that economic situation and
16236-545: The governor's wife but would also be free to pursue her own agenda and interests. He also began holding " fireside chats ", in which he directly addressed his constituents via radio, often pressuring the New York State Legislature to advance his agenda. In October 1929, the Wall Street Crash occurred and the Great Depression in the United States began. Roosevelt saw the seriousness of
16400-464: The hardest hit; during this period it lost some of its large industrial lead over the economies of continental Europe . While it was occurring, the view was prominent that the British economy had been in continuous depression from 1873 to as late as 1896 and some texts refer to the period as the Great Depression of 1873–1896 , with financial and manufacturing losses reinforced by a long recession in
16564-504: The impacts of economic uncertainty. The extraordinary collapse of farm prices provoked a protectionist response in many nations. Rejecting the free trade policies of the Second Empire , French president Adolphe Thiers led the new Third Republic to protectionism, which led ultimately to the stringent Méline tariff in 1892. Germany's agrarian Junker aristocracy, under attack by cheap, imported grain, successfully agitated for
16728-512: The initial burst of success. By 1939, SWOC was in debt by $ 2.5 million. Little Steel continued to strongly resist unionization, establishing company unions and intimidating workers. SWOC made little inroad below the Mason-Dixon line , except for a few beachheads in border states which came about as part of its agreements with U.S. Steel. However, the callous treatment of workers displaced by technological change occasionally helped SWOC organize
16892-648: The issue acceptable to both wings of the party. In 1925, Smith appointed Roosevelt to the Taconic State Park Commission, and his fellow commissioners chose him as chairman. In this role, he came into conflict with Robert Moses , a Smith protégé, who was the primary force behind the Long Island State Park Commission and the New York State Council of Parks. Roosevelt accused Moses of using
17056-640: The judiciary, the police force, and organized crime , prompting the creation of the Seabury Commission . The Seabury investigations exposed an extortion ring, led many public officials to be removed from office, and made the decline of Tammany Hall inevitable. Roosevelt supported reforestation with the Hewitt Amendment in 1931, which gave birth to New York's State Forest system . As the 1932 presidential election approached, Roosevelt turned his attention to national politics, established
17220-498: The latter half of the 19th century. After a boom in new investment banks after the end of the Franco-Prussian War, the destruction of the French banking industry wrought by the crash cast a pall over the financial sector that lasted until the dawn of the 20th century. French finances were further sunk by failing investments abroad, principally in railroads and buildings. The French net national product declined over
17384-472: The leadership of John L. Lewis , the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) had rapidly expanded its membership. It had even gained a foothold in the so-called "captive mines"—those mines owned and operated by the steel industry to provide coke and coal for steel production. So long as the steel industry remained nonunion, pressure could be put on the captive mines to stay nonunion. And throughout
17548-652: The march of civilization." His platform called for aid to farmers, full employment , unemployment insurance, and old-age pensions. He was elected to a second term by a 14% margin. Roosevelt proposed an economic relief package and the establishment of the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration to distribute those funds. Led first by Jesse I. Straus and then by Harry Hopkins , the agency assisted over one-third of New York's population between 1932 and 1938. Roosevelt also began an investigation into corruption in New York City among
17712-656: The measure. In 1878, Congress overrode President Rutherford B. Hayes 's veto to pass the Silver Purchase Act , a similar but more successful attempt to promote "easy money". The United States endured its first nationwide strike in 1877, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 . This led to widespread unrest and often violence in many major cities and industrial hubs including Baltimore , Philadelphia, Pittsburgh , Reading , Saint Louis , Scranton , and Shamokin . The Long Depression contributed to
17876-566: The mobilization of the American economy to support the war effort and implemented a Europe first strategy. He also initiated the development of the first atomic bomb and worked with the other Allied leaders to lay the groundwork for the United Nations and other post-war institutions, even coining the term "United Nations". Roosevelt won reelection in 1944 but died in 1945 after his physical health seriously and steadily declined during
18040-522: The name recognition of prominent individuals including Roosevelt to win political support for state parks, but then diverting funds to the ones Moses favored on Long Island, while Moses worked to block the appointment of Howe to a salaried position as the Taconic commission's secretary. Roosevelt served on the commission until the end of 1928, and his contentious relationship with Moses continued as their careers progressed. In 1923 Edward Bok established
18204-411: The new union's president. David J. McDonald was appointed the union's first secretary-treasurer. Long Depression The Long Depression was a worldwide price and economic recession , beginning in 1873 and running either through March 1879, or 1899, depending on the metrics used. It was most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by
18368-557: The next year, Roosevelt remained in Washington to coordinate the naval deployment, as the Navy expanded fourfold. In the summer of 1918, Roosevelt traveled to Europe to inspect naval installations and meet with French and British officials. On account of his relation to Theodore Roosevelt, he was received very prominently considering his relatively junior rank, obtaining long private audiences with King George V and prime ministers David Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau , as well as
18532-452: The nomination in person. His appearance was essential, to show himself as vigorous, despite his physical disability. In his acceptance speech, Roosevelt declared, "I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people... This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms." Roosevelt promised securities regulation, tariff reduction, farm relief, government-funded public works, and other government actions to address
18696-481: The office, as he gained valuable experience in labor issues, wartime management, naval issues, and logistics. In 1914, Roosevelt ran for the seat of retiring Republican Senator Elihu Root of New York. Though he had the backing of Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo and Governor Martin H. Glynn , he faced a formidable opponent in Tammany Hall's James W. Gerard . He also was without Wilson's support, as
18860-707: The one in office. In its centennial year, a year of deepest economic depression, the nation drifted almost rudderless. Recovery began in 1878. The mileage of railroad track laid down increased from 2,665 mi (4,289 km) in 1878 to 11,568 in 1882. Construction began recovery by 1879; the value of building permits increased two and a half times between 1878 and 1883, and unemployment fell to 2.5% in spite of (or perhaps facilitated by) high immigration. Business profits declined briefly between 1882 and 1884. The recovery in railroad construction reversed itself, falling from 11,569 mi (18,619 km) of track laid in 1882 to 2,866 mi (4,612 km) of track laid in 1885;
19024-509: The opening of the Suez Canal. Wells gives numerous examples of productivity increases in various industries and discusses the problems of excess capacity and market saturation. Wells' opening sentence: The economic changes that have occurred during the last quarter of a century – or during the present generation of living men – have unquestionably been more important and more varied than during any period of
19188-566: The part of individuals. And yet the world wonders, and commissions of great states inquire, without coming to definite conclusions, why trade and industry in recent years has been universally and abnormally disturbed and depressed. Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), also known as FDR , was the 32nd president of the United States , serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. The longest-serving U.S. president, he
19352-740: The period (1874–1877, 1881–1886, and 1891–1892), separated by periods of recovery. The United Kingdom, which had previously experienced crises every decade since the 1820s, was initially less affected by this financial crisis, even though the Bank of England kept interest rates as high as 9 percent in the 1870s. The 1878 failure of the City of Glasgow Bank in Scotland arose through a combination of fraud and speculative investments in Australian and New Zealand companies (agriculture and mining) and in American railroads. Building on an 1870 reform , and
19516-567: The power to act. During the transition, Roosevelt chose Howe as his chief of staff, and Farley as Postmaster General. Frances Perkins, as Secretary of Labor, became the first woman appointed to a cabinet position. William H. Woodin , a Republican industrialist close to Roosevelt, was chosen for Secretary of the Treasury, while Roosevelt chose Senator Cordell Hull of Tennessee as Secretary of State. Harold L. Ickes and Henry A. Wallace , two progressive Republicans, were selected for Secretary of
19680-483: The president needed Tammany's forces for his legislation and 1916 re-election. Roosevelt was soundly defeated in the Democratic primary by Gerard, who in turn lost the general election to Republican James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr. He learned that federal patronage alone, without White House support, could not defeat a strong local organization. After the election, he and Tammany Hall boss Charles Francis Murphy sought accommodation and became allies. Roosevelt refocused on
19844-589: The president's administrative style, Burns concludes: The president stayed in charge of his administration...by drawing fully on his formal and informal powers as Chief Executive; by raising goals, creating momentum, inspiring a personal loyalty, getting the best out of people...by deliberately fostering among his aides a sense of competition and a clash of wills that led to disarray, heartbreak, and anger but also set off pulses of executive energy and sparks of creativity...by handing out one job to several men and several jobs to one man, thus strengthening his own position as
20008-551: The prewar economic boom that followed. Only the United Kingdom and the Netherlands remained committed to low tariffs. In 1874, a year after the 1873 crash, the United States Congress passed legislation called the Inflation Bill of 1874 designed to confront the issue of falling prices by injecting fresh greenbacks into the money supply. Under pressure from business interests, President Ulysses S. Grant vetoed
20172-513: The price depression in the United States was the tight monetary policy that the United States followed to get back to the gold standard after the Civil War . The U.S. government was taking money out of circulation to achieve this goal, therefore there was less available money to facilitate trade. Because of this monetary policy the price of silver started to fall causing considerable losses of asset values; by most accounts, after 1879 production
20336-406: The price of steel rails collapsed from $ 71/ton in 1880 to $ 20/ton in 1884. Manufacturing again collapsed – durable goods output fell by a quarter again. The decline became a brief financial crisis in 1884, when multiple New York banks collapsed; simultaneously, in 1883–1884, tens of millions of dollars of foreign-owned American securities were sold out of fears that the United States
20500-493: The proposal. But the CIO found a way to end-run the AA leadership. When the Pennsylvania State Federation of Labor sent a delegation to deliver greetings to the AA, the delegation included John Brophy , the newly hired organizing director of the CIO. Tighe initially refused him entrance, but was forced to give Brophy access under pressure from the delegates. In his remarks, Brophy explained the offer of
20664-503: The revival of colonialism leading to the New Imperialism period, symbolized by the scramble for Africa , as the western powers sought new markets for their surplus accumulated capital. According to Hannah Arendt 's The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), the "unlimited expansion of power" followed the "unlimited expansion of capital ". In the United States, beginning in 1878, the rebuilding, extending, and refinancing of
20828-514: The same time, prices in several markets collapsed – the price of grain in 1894 was only a third what it had been in 1867, and the price of cotton fell by nearly 50 percent in just the five years from 1872 to 1877, imposing great hardship on farmers and planters. This collapse provoked protectionism in many countries, such as France, Germany, and the United States, while triggering mass emigration from other countries such as Italy, Spain, Austria-Hungary , and Russia. Similarly, while
20992-513: The situation and established a state employment commission. He also became the first governor to publicly endorse the idea of unemployment insurance . When Roosevelt began his run for a second term in May 1930, he reiterated his doctrine from the campaign two years before: "that progressive government by its very terms must be a living and growing thing, that the battle for it is never-ending and that if we let up for one single moment or one single year, not merely do we stand still but we fall back in
21156-441: The steel industry" in the previous year. Other events swiftly overtook the AA. The National Labor Relations Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt on July 5, 1935. Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) formed within the AFL on November 8, 1935. The AFL had long resisted industrial unionism , but the changing nature of work and the American economy were draining the AFL of members and inhibiting organizing. Under
21320-513: The steel industry. Between 1932 and 1934, the number of FLUs had risen to 1,798 from 307. But no organizing drive in steel emerged. The AFL executive council meeting in January 1935 considered organizing steel workers into FLUs, but only Green and two other vice presidents supported the plan. Green pointed out to the council that the AA had no resources to organize new members, and was philosophically opposed to organizing any but skilled workers. But
21484-502: The task to caregivers. She later said that she knew "absolutely nothing about handling or feeding a baby." They had six children. Anna , James , and Elliott were born in 1906, 1907, and 1910, respectively. The couple's second son, Franklin, died in infancy in 1909. Another son, also named Franklin , was born in 1914, and the youngest, John , was born in 1916. Roosevelt had several extramarital affairs. He commenced an affair with Eleanor's social secretary, Lucy Mercer , soon after she
21648-443: The telephone without his secretary's help; Franklin, in turn, did not visit Eleanor's New York City apartment until late 1944. Franklin broke his promise to Eleanor regarding Lucy Mercer. He and Mercer maintained a formal correspondence and began seeing each other again by 1941. Roosevelt's son Elliott claimed that his father had a 20-year affair with his private secretary, Marguerite LeHand . Another son, James, stated that "there
21812-449: The ten years from 1882 to 1892. A ten-year tariff war broke out between France and Italy after 1887, damaging Franco-Italian relations which had prospered during Italian unification . As France was Italy's biggest investor, the liquidation of French assets in the country was especially damaging. The Russian experience was similar to the US experience – three separate recessions, concentrated in manufacturing, occurred in
21976-515: The time. Franklin had a half-brother, James Roosevelt "Rosy" Roosevelt , from his father's previous marriage. As a child, Roosevelt learned to ride, shoot, sail, and play polo, tennis, and golf. Frequent trips to Europe—beginning at age two and from age seven to fifteen—helped Roosevelt become conversant in German and French. Except for attending public school in Germany at age nine, Roosevelt
22140-478: The total supply of bank money rose from $ 1.964 billion to $ 2.221 billion – a rise of 13.1 percent or 2.6 percent per year. In short, a modest but definite rise, and scarcely a contraction. The period preceding the Long Depression had been one of increasing economic internationalism, championed by efforts such as the Latin Monetary Union , many of which then were derailed or stunted by
22304-439: The unemployed. Recovery meant boosting the economy back to normal, and reform was required of the financial and banking systems. Through Roosevelt's 30 " fireside chats ", he presented his proposals directly to the American public as a series of radio addresses. Energized by his own victory over paralytic illness, he used persistent optimism and activism to renew the national spirit. On his second day in office, Roosevelt declared
22468-533: The union at Youngstown Sheet and Tube and at Inland Steel. Republic Steel quietly signed contracts soon thereafter, and the union expanded its membership at U.S. Steel. Wage increases in the contracts averaged 10 percent a year. Once only an organization which existed solely on paper, SWOC now had more members than the Mine Workers. SWOC had had little success at the historically important Homestead mill. But in April 1941, after layoffs sparked renewed interest in
22632-569: The union fought and lost the Homestead strike , which nearly bankrupted the union and cost it a majority of its members. It attempted a recognition strike at U.S. Steel in 1901, which also failed and cost the union most of its members in that influential company. It engaged in a strike in 1919 for which it was ill-prepared and which was broken during the Red Scare . By mid-1933, the AA was almost moribund. Union president Michael F. Tighe, 76,
22796-539: The union, U.S. Steel signed a contract with SWOC. It marked the successful return of a union to the plant for the first time since 1892. In 1940, SWOC director Philip Murray was elected president of the CIO. SWOC and the AA were disbanded at a convention held in Cleveland, Ohio on May 22, 1942. A new organization, the United Steel Workers of America (USWA), was founded. Philip Murray was installed as
22960-583: The view of new wealth in the nitrate was the true reason for the Chilean elite to go into war with its neighbors. Another response to the economic crisis, according to Jorge Pinto Rodríguez , was the new pulse of conquest of indigenous lands that took place in Araucanía in the 1880s. France's experience was somewhat unusual. Having been defeated in the Franco-Prussian War , the country
23124-624: The war years. Since then, several of his actions have come under criticism , such as his ordering of the internment of Japanese Americans . Nonetheless, historical rankings consistently place him among the three greatest American presidents. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York , to businessman James Roosevelt I and his second wife, Sara Ann Delano . His parents, who were sixth cousins, came from wealthy, established New York families—the Roosevelts ,
23288-409: The western railways, commensurate with the wholesale giveaway of water, timber, fish, minerals in what had previously been Indian territory, characterized a rising market. This led to the expansion of markets and industry, together with the robber barons of railroad owners, which culminated in the genteel 1880s and 1890s. The Gilded Age was the outcome for the few rich. The cycle repeated itself with
23452-462: The workforce was unemployed, and farmers were in deep trouble as prices had fallen by 60%. Industrial production had fallen by more than half since 1929. Two million people were homeless. By the evening of March 4, 32 of the 48 states—as well as the District of Columbia—had closed their banks. Historians categorized Roosevelt's program as "relief, recovery, and reform". Relief was urgently needed by
23616-495: The world's history. Other changes Wells mentions are reductions in warehousing and inventories, elimination of middlemen, economies of scale , the decline of craftsmen, and the displacement of agricultural workers. About the whole 1870–90 period Wells said: Some of these changes have been destructive, and all of them have inevitably occasioned, and for a long time yet will continue to occasion, great disturbances in old methods, and entail losses of capital and changes in occupation on
23780-504: The years preceding the crash, this expansion came to a dramatic end in 1873; between 1873 and 1878, the total amount of railroad mileage in the United States barely increased at all. The Freedman's Savings Bank was a typical casualty of the financial crisis. Chartered in 1865 in the aftermath of the American Civil War, the bank had been established to advance the economic welfare of America's newly emancipated freedmen . In
23944-463: The £200 million indemnity imposed on France led to an inflationary investment boom in Germany and Central Europe. New technologies in industry such as the Bessemer converter were being rapidly applied; railroads were booming. In the United States, the end of the Civil War and a brief post-war recession (1865–1867) gave way to an investment boom, focused especially on railroads on public lands in
24108-451: Was homeschooled by tutors until age 14. He then attended Groton School , an Episcopal boarding school in Groton, Massachusetts . He was not among the more popular Groton students, who were better athletes and had rebellious streaks. Its headmaster, Endicott Peabody , preached the duty of Christians to help the less fortunate and urged his students to enter public service. Peabody remained
24272-481: Was J. B. S. Hardman. The first issue was published was August 1, 1936. The newspaper's initial purpose was to promote social change, but this mission changed over time to become more moderate. Information provided about the labor movement in America to steelworkers was limited. SWOC had a major success on March 2, 1937, when the union signed a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel. SWOC effectively infiltrated
24436-450: Was elected governor by a one-percent margin, and became a contender in the next presidential election. Roosevelt proposed the construction of hydroelectric power plants and addressed the ongoing farm crisis of the 1920s . Relations between Roosevelt and Smith suffered after he chose not to retain key Smith appointees like Moses. He and his wife Eleanor established an understanding for the rest of his career; she would dutifully serve as
24600-413: Was elected in November 1932 but like his predecessors did not take office until the following March. After the election, President Hoover sought to convince Roosevelt to renounce much of his campaign platform and to endorse the Hoover administration's policies. Roosevelt refused Hoover's request to develop a joint program to stop the economic decline, claiming that it would tie his hands and that Hoover had
24764-467: Was falling. Silver miners arrived at US mints, unaware of the ban on production of silver coins, only to find their product no longer welcome. By September, the US economy was in a crisis, deflation causing banking panics and destabilizing business investment, climaxing in the Panic of 1873 . The Panic of 1873 has been described as "the first truly international crisis". The optimism that had been driving booming stock prices in central Europe had reached
24928-479: Was formed in Pittsburgh on June 7, 1936. Green was outraged. He denounced what he saw as the takeover of the AA on June 5, and declared that the CIO steelworker organizing drive would fail. More importantly, however, Green interpreted the move as proof that the CIO was engaging in dual unionism . After specious charges were drawn up and an illegal trial conducted, the AFL suspended the 10 unions which belonged to
25092-565: Was growing, thus further putting downward pressure on prices due to increased industrial productivity, trade and competition. In the US the speculative nature of financing due to both the greenback , which was paper currency issued to pay for the Civil War and rampant fraud in the building of the Union Pacific Railway up to 1869 culminated in the Crédit Mobilier scandal . Railway overbuilding and weak markets collapsed
25256-407: Was hired in 1914. That affair was discovered by Eleanor in 1918. Franklin contemplated divorcing Eleanor, but Sara objected, and Mercer would not marry a divorced man with five children. Franklin and Eleanor remained married, and Franklin promised never to see Mercer again. Eleanor never forgave him for the affair, and their marriage shifted to become a political partnership. Eleanor soon established
25420-431: Was improving, which he believed to be essential prior to running for office. He laboriously taught himself to walk short distances while wearing iron braces on his hips and legs, by swiveling his torso while supporting himself with a cane. He was careful never to be seen using his wheelchair in public, and great care was taken to prevent any portrayal in the press that would highlight his disability. However, his disability
25584-426: Was lower. Following the end of the episode in 1879, the U.S. economy would remain unstable, experiencing recessions for 114 of the 253 months until January 1901. The dramatic shift in prices mauled nominal wages – in the United States, nominal wages declined by one-quarter during the 1870s, and as much as one-half in some places, such as Pennsylvania . Although real wages had enjoyed robust growth in
25748-454: Was met with great opposition by farmers and miners, as silver was seen as more of a monetary benefit to rural areas than to banks in big cities. In addition, there were US citizens who advocated the continuance of government-issued fiat money ( United States Notes ) to avoid deflation and promote exports. The western US states were outraged – Nevada , Colorado , and Idaho were huge silver producers with productive mines, and for
25912-581: Was preparing to abandon the gold standard. This financial panic closed eleven New York banks, more than a hundred small state banks, and led to defaults on at least $ 32 million worth of debt. Unemployment, which had stood at 2.5% between recessions, surged to 7.5% in 1884–1885, and 13% in the northeastern United States, even as immigration plunged in response to deteriorating labor markets. The 1880s saw an extraordinarily large expansion of industry, of railroads, of physical output, of net national product, and real per capita income. As Friedman and Schwartz admit,
26076-536: Was referred to as "Grandmother" due to his advanced age and timidity, and he suspended locals that called for aggressive action. Passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) on June 16, 1933, sparked widespread union organizing throughout the country, even in the steel industry. The AA's membership rose to more than 150,000 by February 1934 (although most had not become dues-paying members). In 1934, an opposition group known as
26240-532: Was required to pay £200 million in reparations to the Germans and was already reeling when the 1873 crash occurred. The French adopted a policy of deliberate deflation while paying off the reparations. While the United States resumed growth for a time in the 1880s, the Paris Bourse crash of 1882 sent France careening into depression, one which "lasted longer and probably cost France more than any other in
26404-419: Was that the chairman of the CIO was empowered to appoint a director for SWOC and a policy committee. For all intents and purposes, the AA ceased to exist and function after it was subsumed by SWOC. Philip Murray was appointed director of SWOC, and ran the organization (and union) until his death. Murray oversaw a $ 500,000 budget and 36 organizers. Steel Labor was the official paper of SWOC. Its first editor
26568-450: Was the AFL's demand for representational exclusivity (the concept that if a majority of workers voted for the union then all employees in the bargaining unit should belong to the union). By early 1935, what little organizing the AA had exhibited in the steel industry melted away. Continued pressure by the steel companies—including the widespread establishment of company unions, the use of violence, spies and unwarranted dismissal—had decimated
26732-589: Was well known before and during his presidency and became a major part of his image. He usually appeared in public standing upright, supported on one side by an aide or one of his sons. Beginning in 1925, Roosevelt spent most of his time in the Southern United States , at first on his houseboat, the Larooco . Intrigued by the potential benefits of hydrotherapy , he established a rehabilitation center at Warm Springs, Georgia , in 1926, assembling
26896-407: Was without policies or popular support. He was compelled to remake his Cabinet under a grueling fire from reformers and investigators; half its members were utterly inexperienced, several others discredited, one was even disgraced. The personnel of the departments was largely demoralized. The party that autumn appealed for votes on the implicit ground that the next Administration would be totally unlike
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