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101-456: WRA can refer to: Organisations [ edit ] War Relocation Authority , a WWII US internment agency Water Resources Agency , Taiwan White Ribbon Association (formerly British Women's Temperance Association ) World Road Association , an international forum Wildrose Alliance , a political party in Alberta, Canada Places in

202-477: A country that had imprisoned them, and believed the question of allegiance was an implicit accusation that they had been disloyal to the United States. Although most answered in the affirmative to both, 15 percent of the total inmate population refused to fill out the questionnaire or answered "no" to one or both questions. Under pressure from War Department officials, Myer reluctantly converted Tule Lake into

303-513: A crowd of 5,000 to 10,000 and ended with several inmates being badly beaten. The entire camp was placed under martial law on November 14, 1943. Military control lasted for two months, and during this time 200 to 350 men were imprisoned in an overcrowded stockade (held under charges such as "general troublemaker" and "too well educated for his own good"), while the general population was subject to curfews, unannounced searches, and restrictions on work and recreational activities. Angry young men joined

404-564: A decisive point in the consolidation of the conservative coalition in Congress. The liberal bloc in the House had been halved, and conservative Democrats had escaped 'relatively untouched ' ". In the House elected in 1938 there were at least 30 anti-New Deal Democrats and another 50 who were "not at all enthusiastic". In addition, "The new Senate was split about evenly between pro- and anti-New Deal factions." The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

505-502: A form of self-governance , with elected inmate leaders working under administration supervisors to help run the camps. This allowed inmates to keep busy and have some say in their day-to-day life; however, it also served the WRA mission of "Americanizing" the inmates so that they could be assimilated into white communities after the war. The "enemy alien" Issei were excluded from running for office, and inmates and community analysts argued that

606-739: A four-day bank holiday and implemented the Emergency Banking Act , which enabled the Federal Reserve to insure bank deposits; this was made permanent with Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Other laws established the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which allowed industries to create "codes of fair competition"; the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which protected investors from abusive stock market practices; and

707-473: A gold outflow. Under the gold standards, price–specie flow mechanism countries that lost gold, but nevertheless wanted to maintain the gold standard, had to permit their money supply to decrease and the domestic price level to decline ( deflation ). As long as the Federal Reserve had to defend the gold parity of the dollar it had to sit idle while the banking system crumbled. In March and April in

808-546: A maximum security segregation center for the "no-nos" who flunked the loyalty test, in July 1943. Approximately 12,000 were transferred to Tule Lake, but of the previous residents cleared as loyal, only 6,500 accepted the WRA offer to move to another camp. The resulting overpopulation (almost 19,000 in a camp designed for 15,000 by the end of 1944) fueled existing resentment and morale problems. Conditions worsened after another labor strike and an anti-WRA demonstration that attracted

909-434: A much stronger position. The House contained 169 non-southern Democrats, 93 southern Democrats, 169 Republicans, and 4 third-party representatives. For the first time, Roosevelt could not form a majority without the help of some southerners or Republicans. In addition, the president had to contend with several senators who, having successfully resisted the purge, no longer owed him anything. Most observers agreed, therefore, that

1010-588: A provision for the "construction, reconstruction, alteration, or repair under public regulation or control of low-cost housing and slum-clearance projects". Many unemployed people were put to work under Roosevelt on a variety of government-financed public works projects, including the construction of bridges, airports, dams, post offices, hospitals, and hundreds of thousands of miles of road. Through reforestation and flood control, they reclaimed millions of hectares of soil from erosion and devastation. As noted by one authority, Roosevelt's New Deal "was literally stamped on

1111-514: A security threat. Resentment over poor working conditions and low wages, inadequate housing, and rumors of guards stealing food from inmates exacerbated tensions and created pro- and anti-administration factions. Labor strikes occurred at Poston, Tule Lake and Jerome, and in two violent incidents at Poston and Manzanar in November and December 1942, individuals suspected of colluding with the WRA were beaten by other inmates. External opposition to

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1212-542: A series of laws and executive orders, the government suspended the gold standard. Roosevelt stopped the outflow of gold by forbidding the export of gold except under license from the Treasury. Anyone holding significant amounts of gold coinage was mandated to exchange it for the existing fixed price of U.S. dollars. The Treasury no longer paid out gold for dollars and gold would no longer be considered valid legal tender for debts in private and public contracts. The dollar

1313-542: A steady, sharp upward recovery. Thus the Federal Reserve Index of Industrial Production sank to its lowest point of 52.8 in July 1932 and was practically unchanged at 54.3 in March 1933. However, by July 1933 it reached 85.5, a dramatic rebound of 57% in four months. Recovery was steady and strong until 1937. Except for employment, the economy by 1937 surpassed the levels of the late 1920s. The Recession of 1937

1414-450: A system of domestic allotments, setting total output of corn, cotton, dairy products, hogs, rice, tobacco, and wheat. The farmers themselves had a voice in the process of using the government to benefit their incomes. The AAA paid land owners subsidies for leaving some of their land idle with funds provided by a new tax on food processing. To force up farm prices to the point of "parity", 10 million acres (40,000 km ) of growing cotton

1515-461: A total of five million. Political and business leaders feared revolution and anarchy. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. , who remained wealthy during the Depression, recalled that "in those days I felt and said I would be willing to part with half of what I had if I could be sure of keeping, under law and order, the other half." Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of

1616-516: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages War Relocation Authority After the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor , President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 , authorizing military commanders to create zones from which certain persons could be excluded if they posed a threat to national security. Many people of Japanese ancestry were also suspected of espionage after

1717-702: The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which raised rural incomes by controlling production. Public works were undertaken in order to find jobs for the unemployed (25 percent of the workforce when Roosevelt took office): the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enlisted young men for manual labor on government land, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) promoted electricity generation and other forms of economic development in

1818-515: The Army-run camps that housed dissidents and other "troublemakers", it was estimated that it cost 38.19 cents per day ($ 7.00 in present-day terms ) to feed each person. The WRA spent slightly more, capping per-person costs to 50 cents a day ($ 9.00 in present-day terms ) (again, to counteract rumors of "coddling" the inmates), but most people were able to supplement their diets with food grown in camp. The WRA allowed Japanese Americans to establish

1919-537: The Bonus Bill that would give World War I veterans a cash bonus. Congress finally passed it over his veto in 1936 and the Treasury distributed $ 1.5 billion in cash as bonus welfare benefits to 4 million veterans just before the 1936 election. New Dealers never accepted the Keynesian argument for government spending as a vehicle for recovery. Most economists of the era, along with Henry Morgenthau of

2020-489: The Great Depression 's economic damage was caused directly by bank runs. Herbert Hoover had already considered a bank holiday to prevent further bank runs but rejected the idea because he was afraid to incite a panic. However, Roosevelt gave a radio address, held in the atmosphere of a Fireside Chat . He explained to the public in simple terms the causes of the banking crisis, what the government would do, and how

2121-745: The Hoshi-dan and its auxiliary, the Hokoku-dan , a militaristic nationalist group aimed at preparing its members for a new life in Japan. This pro-Japan faction ran military drills, demonstrated against the WRA, and made threats against inmates seen as administration sympathizers. When the Renunciation Act was passed in July 1944, 5,589 (over 97 percent of them Tule Lake inmates) expressed their resentment by giving up their U.S. citizenship and applying for "repatriation" to Japan. The West Coast

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2222-510: The Securities Act of 1933 was passed. It required the disclosure of the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and the names and compensations of corporate officers for firms whose securities were traded. Additionally, the reports had to be verified by independent auditors. In 1934, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was established to regulate the stock market and prevent corporate abuses relating to corporate reporting and

2323-697: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The largest programs still in existence are the Social Security System and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). From 1929 to 1933 manufacturing output decreased by one third, which economist Milton Friedman later called the Great Contraction . Prices fell by 20%, causing deflation that made repaying debts much harder. Unemployment in the United States increased from 4% to 25%. Additionally, one-third of all employed persons were downgraded to working part-time on much smaller paychecks. In

2424-539: The (relatively few) reports produced by the CAS did not contradict the WRA's official stance that Japanese Americans remained, for the most part, happy behind the barbed wire. Morris Opler did, however, provide a prominent exception, writing two legal briefs challenging the exclusion for the Supreme Court cases of Gordon Hirabayashi and Fred Korematsu . Concerned that Japanese Americans would become more dependent on

2525-422: The 1920s more than five hundred banks failed per year, and then it was less than ten banks per year after 1933. Under the gold standard , the United States kept the dollar convertible to gold. The Federal Reserve would have had to execute an expansionary monetary policy to fight the deflation and to inject liquidity into the banking system to prevent it from crumbling—but lower interest rates would have led to

2626-774: The 1920s, such as the TVA. The "First New Deal" (1933–1934) encompassed the proposals offered by a wide spectrum of groups (not included was the Socialist Party , whose influence was all but destroyed). This first phase of the New Deal was also characterized by fiscal conservatism (see Economy Act , below) and experimentation with several different, sometimes contradictory, cures for economic ills. Roosevelt created dozens of new agencies. They are traditionally and typically known to Americans by their alphabetical initials. The American people were generally extremely dissatisfied with

2727-514: The 28 questions were hastily, and poorly, revised for their new purpose of assessing inmate loyalty. The form was largely devoted to determining whether the respondent was a "real" American — baseball or judo , Boy Scouts or Japanese school — but most of the ire was directed at two questions that asked inmates to volunteer for combat duty and forswear their allegiance to the Emperor of Japan. Many were offended at being asked to risk their lives for

2828-561: The AAA. In 1936, the Supreme Court declared the AAA to be unconstitutional , stating, "a statutory plan to regulate and control agricultural production, [is] a matter beyond the powers delegated to the federal government". The AAA was replaced by a similar program that did win Court approval. Instead of paying farmers for letting fields lie barren, this program subsidized them for planting soil-enriching crops such as alfalfa that would not be sold on

2929-457: The American landscape". The rural U.S. was a high priority for Roosevelt and his energetic Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A. Wallace . Roosevelt believed that full economic recovery depended upon the recovery of agriculture and raising farm prices was a major tool, even though it meant higher food prices for the poor living in cities. Many rural people lived in severe poverty, especially in

3030-583: The Democratic Party's base to the New Deal coalition of labor unions , blue-collar workers, big city machines , racial minorities (most importantly African-Americans), white Southerners, and intellectuals. The realignment crystallized into a powerful liberal coalition which dominated presidential elections into the 1960s, as an opposing conservative coalition largely controlled Congress in domestic affairs from 1937 to 1964. Historians still debate

3131-765: The Farm Security Act to raise farm incomes by raising the prices farmers received, which was achieved by reducing total farm output. The Agricultural Adjustment Act created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) in May 1933. The act reflected the demands of leaders of major farm organizations (especially the Farm Bureau ) and reflected debates among Roosevelt's farm advisers such as Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, M.L. Wilson , Rexford Tugwell and George Peek . The AAA aimed to raise prices for commodities through artificial scarcity . The AAA used

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3232-485: The Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth... I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people. This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms. Franklin D. Roosevelt , 1932 The phrase "New Deal" was coined by an adviser to Roosevelt, Stuart Chase , who used A New Deal as the title for an article published in

3333-593: The NRA and the first version of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) unconstitutional, but the AAA was rewritten and then upheld. Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961) left the New Deal largely intact, even expanding it in some areas. In the 1960s, Lyndon B. Johnson 's Great Society used the New Deal as inspiration for a dramatic expansion of progressive programs, which Republican Richard Nixon generally retained. However, after 1974

3434-610: The New Deal, such as unemployment relief and public works programs. Roosevelt entered office with clear ideas for policies to address the Great Depression , though he remained open to experimentation as his presidency began implementing these. Among Roosevelt's more famous advisers was an informal " Brain Trust ", a group that tended to view pragmatic government intervention in the economy positively. His choice for Secretary of Labor , Frances Perkins , greatly influenced his initiatives. Her list of what her priorities would be if she took

3535-548: The Pearl Harbor attack. Military Areas 1 and 2 were created soon after, encompassing all of California and parts of Washington , Oregon , and Arizona , and subsequent civilian exclusion orders informed Japanese Americans residing in these zones they would be scheduled for "evacuation." The executive order also applied to Alaska as well, bringing the entire United States West Coast as off-limits to Japanese nationals and Americans of Japanese descent. On March 18, 1942,

3636-681: The Roosevelt administration launched the Tennessee Valley Authority , a project involving dam construction planning on an unprecedented scale to curb flooding, generate electricity, and modernize poor farms in the Tennessee Valley region of the Southern United States. Under the Farmers' Relief Act of 1933, the government paid compensation to farmers who reduced output, thereby raising prices. Because of this legislation,

3737-726: The South. Major programs addressed to their needs included the Resettlement Administration (RA), the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), rural welfare projects sponsored by the WPA, National Youth Administration (NYA), Forest Service and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), including school lunches, building new schools, opening roads in remote areas, reforestation and purchase of marginal lands to enlarge national forests. In 1933,

3838-566: The Treasury Department, rejected Keynesian solutions and favored balanced budgets. At the beginning of the Great Depression, the economy was destabilized by bank failures followed by credit crunches . The initial reasons were substantial losses in investment banking, followed by bank runs . Bank runs occur when a large number of customers withdraw their deposits because they believe the bank might become insolvent. As

3939-654: The United States [ edit ] Western Reserve Academy , a private school in Ohio Worcester Regional Airport , Massachusetts Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title WRA . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WRA&oldid=1143609248 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

4040-432: The WPA wound down in late 1942 and early 1943, many of its employees moved over seamlessly to the WRA. Milton S. Eisenhower was the WRA's original director. Eisenhower was a proponent of Roosevelt's New Deal and disapproved of the idea of mass internment. Early on he had tried, unsuccessfully, to limit the internment to adult men, allowing women and children to remain free, and he pushed to keep WRA policy in line with

4141-492: The WPA's regional director, managed the first “Reception and Induction” centers. Another WPA veteran, Clayton E. Triggs, was the administrator the Manzanar Relocation Center, a facility which, according to one insider, was “manned just about 100% by the WPA.” Drawing on his background in New Deal road construction, Triggs installed such familiar concentration camp features as guard towers and spotlights. As

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4242-507: The WRA came to a head following these events, in two congressional investigations by the House Un-American Activities Committee and another led by Senator Albert Chandler . The leave clearance registration process, dubbed the " loyalty questionnaire " by inmates, was another significant source of discontent among incarcerated Japanese Americans. Originally drafted as a War Department recruiting tool,

4343-582: The WRA he raised wages for interned Japanese Americans, worked with the Japanese American Citizens League to establish an internee advisory council, initiated a student leave program for college-age Nisei , and petitioned Congress to create programs for postwar rehabilitation. He also pushed Roosevelt to make a public statement in support of loyal Nisei and attempted to enlist the Federal Reserve Bank to protect

4444-782: The WRA pulled the strings on important issues, leaving only the most basic and inconsequential decisions to Nisei leaders. In February 1943, the WRA established the Community Analysis Section (under the umbrella of the Community Management Division) in order to collect information on the lives of incarcerated Japanese Americans in all ten camps. Employing over twenty cultural anthropologists and social scientists—including John Embree , Marvin and Morris Opler , Margaret Lantis , Edward Spicer , and Weston La Barre —the CAS produced reports on education, community-building and assimilation efforts in

4545-578: The WRA was formed via Executive Order 9102 . It was in many ways a direct successor to the Works Projects Administration (WPA) and the efforts of both overlapped and intermingled for quite some time. From March until November, the WPA spent more on internment than any other agency including the Army and was on the scene with removal and relocation even before Executive Order 9192. Beginning on March 11, for example, Rex L. Nicholson,

4646-530: The West Coast. Tule Lake closed on March 20, 1946, and Executive Order 9742, signed by President Harry S. Truman on June 26, 1946, officially terminated the WRA's mission. New Deal The New Deal was a series of domestic programs, public work projects , and financial reforms and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, with

4747-510: The administration, in which he met with Congress for 100 days. During those 100 days of lawmaking, Congress granted every request Roosevelt asked and passed a few programs (such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure bank accounts) that he opposed. Ever since, presidents have been judged against Roosevelt for what they accomplished in their first 100 days. Walter Lippmann famously noted: At

4848-430: The aggregate, almost 50% of the nation's human work-power was going unused. Before the New Deal, USA bank deposits were not "guaranteed" by government. When thousands of banks closed, depositors temporarily lost access to their money; most of the funds were eventually restored but there was gloom and panic. The United States had no national safety net, no public unemployment insurance and no Social Security . Relief for

4949-428: The aim of addressing the Great Depression , which began in 1929. Roosevelt introduced the phrase upon accepting the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination, and won the election in a landslide over Herbert Hoover , whose administration was viewed by many as doing too little to help those affected. Roosevelt believed that the depression was caused by inherent market instability , and that massive government intervention

5050-565: The average income of farmers almost doubled by 1937. In the 1920s, farm production had increased dramatically thanks to mechanization, more potent insecticides, and increased use of fertilizer. Due to an overproduction of agricultural products, farmers faced severe and chronic agricultural depression throughout the 1920s. The Great Depression even worsened the agricultural crises and, at the beginning of 1933, agricultural markets nearly faced collapse. Farm prices were so low that in Montana wheat

5151-590: The bank run progressed, it generated a self-fulfilling prophecy : as more people withdrew their deposits, the likelihood of default increased and this encouraged further withdrawals. Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz have argued that the drain of money out of the banking system caused the monetary supply to shrink, forcing the economy to likewise shrink. As credit and economic activity diminished, price deflation followed, causing further economic contraction with disastrous impact on banks. Between 1929 and 1933, 40% of all banks (9,490 out of 23,697 banks) failed. Much of

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5252-542: The banks in the Federal Reserve System reopened within the next three days. Billions of dollars in hoarded currency and gold flowed back into them within a month, thus stabilizing the banking system. By the end of 1933, 4,004 small local banks were permanently closed and merged into larger banks. Their deposits totaled $ 3.6 billion. Depositors lost $ 540 million (equivalent to $ 12,710,128,535 in 2023) and eventually received on average 85 cents on

5353-707: The call for deregulation of the economy gained bipartisan support. The New Deal regulation of banking ( Glass–Steagall Act ) lasted until it was suspended in the 1990s. Several organizations created by New Deal programs remain active and those operating under the original names include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and

5454-482: The camps, taking data from observations of and interviews with camp residents. While some community analysts viewed the Japanese American inmates merely as research subjects, others opposed the incarceration and some of the WRA's policies in their reports, although very few made these criticisms public. Restricted by federal censors and WRA lawyers from publishing their full research from the camps, most of

5555-534: The crumbling economy, mass unemployment, declining wages, and profits, and especially Herbert Hoover 's policies such as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act and the Revenue Act of 1932 . Roosevelt entered office with enormous political capital . Americans of all political persuasions were demanding immediate action and Roosevelt responded with a remarkable series of new programs in the "first hundred days" of

5656-423: The decision and fought to remain in the United States, with the help of civil rights attorney Wayne M. Collins . The camp remained open until the 4,262 petitions were resolved.) Despite wide-scale protests from inmates who had nothing to return to and felt unprepared to relocate yet again, the WRA began to eliminate all but the most basic services until those remaining were forcibly removed from camp and sent back to

5757-549: The decline in prices would finally end. In her essay "What ended the Great Depression?" (1992), Christina Romer argued that this policy raised industrial production by 25% until 1937 and by 50% until 1942. Before the Wall Street Crash of 1929 , securities were unregulated at the federal level. Even firms whose securities were publicly traded published no regular reports, or even worse, rather misleading reports based on arbitrarily selected data. To avoid another crash,

5858-412: The dollar of their deposits. The Glass–Steagall Act limited commercial bank securities activities and affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms to regulate speculations. It also established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insured deposits for up to $ 2,500, ending the risk of runs on banks. This banking reform offered unprecedented stability because throughout

5959-538: The drainage basin of the Tennessee River . Although the First New Deal helped many find work and restored confidence in the financial system, by 1935 stock prices were still below pre-Depression levels and unemployment still exceeded 20 percent. From 1935 to 1938, the "Second New Deal" introduced further legislation and additional agencies which focused on job creation and on improving the conditions of

6060-446: The effectiveness of the New Deal programs, although most accept that full employment was not achieved until World War II began in 1939. The First New Deal (1933–1934) dealt with the pressing banking crisis through the Emergency Banking Act and the 1933 Banking Act . The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided US$ 500 million (equivalent to $ 11.8 billion in 2023) for relief operations by states and cities, and

6161-575: The elderly, workers, and the poor. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) supervised the construction of bridges, libraries, parks, and other facilities, while also investing in the arts; the National Labor Relations Act guaranteed employees the right to organize trade unions ; and the Social Security Act introduced pensions for senior citizens and benefits for the disabled, mothers with dependent children, and

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6262-415: The emergency budget, which was needed to defeat the depression. It was imbalanced on a temporary basis. Roosevelt initially favored balancing the budget, but soon found himself running spending deficits to fund his numerous programs. However, Douglas—rejecting the distinction between a regular and emergency budget—resigned in 1934 and became an outspoken critic of the New Deal. Roosevelt strenuously opposed

6363-422: The end of February we were a congeries of disorderly panic-stricken mobs and factions. In the hundred days from March to June, we became again an organized nation confident of our power to provide for our own security and to control our own destiny. The economy had hit bottom in March 1933 and then started to expand. Economic indicators show the economy reached its lowest point in the first days of March, then began

6464-631: The federal government the largest employer in the nation), the Social Security Act and new programs to aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. The final major items of New Deal legislation were the creation of the United States Housing Authority and the FSA, which both occurred in 1937; and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 , which set maximum hours and minimum wages for most categories of workers. The FSA

6565-881: The focus of their lives. However, the pay rate was deliberately set far lower than what inmates would have received outside camp, an administrative response to widespread rumors that Japanese Americans were receiving special treatment while the larger public suffered from wartime shortages. Non-skilled labor earned $ 14/month while doctors and dentists made a paltry $ 19/month. Many found consolation in religion, and both Christian and Buddhist services were held regularly. Others concentrated on hobbies or sought self-improvement by taking adult classes, ranging from Americanization and American history and government to vocational courses in secretarial skills and bookkeeping, and cultural courses in such things as ikebana , Japanese flower arrangement. The young people spent much of their time in recreational pursuits: news of sports, theatrics, and dances fills

6666-425: The general public to restrict who could exit the camps, led to a revision of the application process in 1943. Initially, applicants were required to find an outside sponsor, provide proof of employment or school enrollment, and pass an FBI background check. In the new system, inmates had only complete a registration form and pass a streamlined FBI check. (The "loyalty questionnaire," as the form came to be known after it

6767-578: The government the longer they remained in camp, Director Dillon Myer led the WRA in efforts to push inmates to leave camp and reintegrate into outside communities. Even before the establishment of the "relocation centers," agricultural laborers had been issued temporary work furloughs by the WCCA, and the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council had been placing Nisei in outside colleges since

6868-404: The ground up, and wartime shortages of labor and lumber combined with the vast scope of each construction project (several of the WRA camps were among the largest "cities" in the states that housed them) meant that many sites were unfinished when transfers began to arrive from the assembly centers. At Manzanar, for example, internees were recruited to help complete construction. Life in a WRA camp

6969-671: The informal conservative coalition . By 1942–1943, they shut down relief programs such as the WPA and the CCC and blocked major progressive proposals. Noting the composition of the new Congress, one study argued The Congress that assembled in January 1939 was quite unlike any with which Roosevelt had to contend before. Since all Democratic losses took place in the North and the West, and particularly in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, southerners held

7070-712: The job illustrates: "a forty-hour workweek, a minimum wage, worker's compensation , unemployment compensation , a federal law banning child labor , direct federal aid for unemployment relief, Social Security , a revitalized public employment service and health insurance". The New Deal policies drew from many different ideas proposed earlier in the 20th century. Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold led efforts that hearkened back to an anti-monopoly tradition rooted in American politics by figures such as Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson . Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis , an influential adviser to many New Dealers, argued that "bigness" (referring, presumably, to corporations)

7171-415: The meeting Eisenhower wrote to his former boss, Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard , and said, "when the war is over and we consider calmly this unprecedented migration of 120,000 people, we as Americans are going to regret the unavoidable injustices that we may have done". Disappointed, Eisenhower was director of the WRA for only ninety days, resigning June 18, 1942. However, during his tenure with

7272-726: The money came from the PWA agency. PWA also built warplanes, and the WPA built military bases and airfields. To prime the pump and cut unemployment, the NIRA created the Public Works Administration (PWA), a major program of public works, which organized and provided funds for the building of useful works such as government buildings, airports, hospitals, schools, roads, bridges, and dams. From 1933 to 1935, PWA spent $ 3.3 billion with private companies to build 34,599 projects, many of them quite large. The NIRA also contained

7373-569: The original idea of making the camps similar to subsistence homesteads in the rural interior of the country. This, along with proposals for helping Japanese Americans resettle in labor-starved farming communities outside the exclusion zone, was met with opposition from the governors of these interior states, who worried about security issues and claimed it was "politically infeasible," at a meeting in Salt Lake City in April 1942. Shortly before

7474-577: The pages of the camp newspaper. Living space was minimal. Families lived in army-style barracks partitioned into "apartments" with walls that usually did not reach the ceiling. These "apartments" were, at the largest, twenty by twenty-four feet (6.1 by 7.3 m) and were expected to house a family of six. In April 1943, the Topaz camp averaged 114 square feet (10.6 m ) (roughly six by nineteen feet [1.8 by 5.8 m]) per person. Each inmate ate at one of several common mess halls, assigned by block. At

7575-472: The planning of the entire agricultural sector of the economy and was the first program on such a scale for the troubled agricultural economy. The original AAA targeted landowners, and therefore did not provide for any sharecroppers or tenants or farm laborers who might become unemployed. A Gallup poll printed in The Washington Post revealed that a majority of the American public opposed

7676-611: The poor was the responsibility of families, private charity and local governments, but as conditions worsened year by year demand skyrocketed and their combined resources increasingly fell far short of demand. The depression had psychologically devastated the nation. As Roosevelt took the oath of office at noon on March 4, 1933, all state governors had authorized bank holidays or restricted withdrawals—many Americans had little or no access to their bank accounts. Farm income had fallen by over 50% since 1929. Between 1930 and 1933, an estimated 844,000 non-farm mortgages were foreclosed on, out of

7777-445: The population could help. He closed all the banks in the country and kept them all closed until new legislation could be passed. On March 9, 1933, Roosevelt sent to Congress the Emergency Banking Act , drafted in large part by Hoover's top advisors. The act was passed and signed into law the same day. It provided for a system of reopening sound banks under Treasury supervision, with federal loans available if needed. Three-quarters of

7878-412: The president could at best hope to consolidate, but certainly not to extend, the New Deal. James Farley thought that Roosevelt's wisest course would be "to clean up odds and ends, tighten up and improve things [he] already has but not try [to] start anything new." In any event, Farley predicted that Congress would discard much of Roosevelt's program. As noted by another study, "the 1938 elections proved

7979-430: The progressive magazine The New Republic a few days before Roosevelt's speech. Speechwriter Rosenman added it to his draft of FDR's presidential nomination acceptance speech at the last minute. Upon accepting the 1932 Democratic nomination for president, Roosevelt promised "a new deal for the American people". In campaign speeches, Roosevelt committed to carrying out, if elected, several elements of what would become

8080-522: The propaganda they circulated in camp) steered resettlers toward cities that lacked large Japanese American populations and warned against sticking out by spending too much time among other Nikkei, speaking Japanese or otherwise clinging to cultural ties. By the end of 1944, close to 35,000 had left camp, mostly Nisei. The WRA's "Americanization" efforts were not limited to the Nisei resettlers. Dillon Myer and other high-level officials believed that accepting

8181-538: The property left behind by displaced Japanese Americans, but was unable to overcome opposition to these proposals. Eisenhower was replaced by Dillon S. Myer , who would run the WRA until its dissolution at the end of the war. Japanese Americans had already been removed from their West Coast homes and placed in temporary " assembly centers " (run by a separate military body, the Wartime Civilian Control Administration [WCCA]) over

8282-414: The sale of securities. In a measure that garnered substantial popular support for his New Deal, Roosevelt moved to put to rest one of the most divisive cultural issues of the 1920s. He signed the bill to legalize the manufacture and sale of alcohol, an interim measure pending the repeal of prohibition , for which a constitutional amendment of repeal (the 21st ) was already in process. The repeal amendment

8383-540: The short-lived CWA gave locals money to operate make-work projects from 1933 to 1934. The Securities Act of 1933 was enacted to prevent a repeated stock market crash. The controversial work of the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was also part of the First New Deal. The Second New Deal in 1935–1936 included the National Labor Relations Act to protect labor organizing, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief program (which made

8484-419: The spring of 1942. The WRA had initiated its own "leave permit" system in July 1942, although few took the trouble to go through the bureaucratic and cumbersome application process until it was streamlined over the following months. (By the end of 1942, only 884 had volunteered for resettlement.) The need for a more easily navigable system, in addition to external pressure from pro-incarceration politicians and

8585-402: The spring of 1942; Myer's primary responsibility upon taking the position was to continue with the planning and construction of the more permanent replacements for the camps run by the WCCA. The WRA considered 300 potential sites before settling on a total of ten camp locations, mostly on tribal lands . Site selection was based upon multiple criteria, including: The camps had to be built from

8686-477: The unemployed but also to build needed schools, municipal buildings, waterworks, sewers, streets, and parks according to local specifications. While the regular Army and Navy budgets were reduced, Roosevelt juggled relief funds to provide for their claimed needs. All of the CCC camps were directed by army officers, whose salaries came from the relief budget. The PWA built numerous warships, including two aircraft carriers;

8787-541: The unemployed. The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibited "oppressive" child labor, and enshrined a 40-hour work week and national minimum wage. In 1938, the Republican Party gained control of Congress and joined with conservative Democrats to block further New Deal legislation, and some of it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court . The New Deal produced a political realignment, reorienting

8888-630: The values and customs of white Americans was the best way for Japanese Americans to succeed both in and out of camp. Administrators sponsored patriotic activities and clubs, organized English classes for the Issei, encouraged young men to volunteer for the U.S. Army, and touted inmate self-government as an example of American democracy. "Good" inmates who toed the WRA line were rewarded, while "troublemakers" who protested their confinement and Issei elders who had been leaders in their prewar communities but found themselves stripped of this sway in camp were treated as

8989-547: Was a negative economic force, producing waste and inefficiency. However, the anti-monopoly group never had a major impact on New Deal policy. Other leaders such as Hugh S. Johnson of the NRA took ideas from the Woodrow Wilson Administration, advocating techniques used to mobilize the economy for World War I . They brought ideas and experience from the government controls and spending of 1917–1918. Other New Deal planners revived experiments suggested in

9090-487: Was a temporary downturn. Private sector employment, especially in manufacturing, recovered to the level of the 1920s but failed to advance further until the war. The U.S. population was 124,840,471 in 1932 and 128,824,829 in 1937, an increase of 3,984,468. The ratio of these numbers, times the number of jobs in 1932, means there was a need for 938,000 more jobs in 1937, to maintain the same employment level. The Economy Act , drafted by Budget Director Lewis Williams Douglas ,

9191-475: Was allowed to float freely on foreign exchange markets with no guaranteed price in gold. With the passage of the Gold Reserve Act in 1934, the nominal price of gold was changed from $ 20.67 per troy ounce to $ 35. These measures enabled the Federal Reserve to increase the amount of money in circulation to the level the economy needed. Markets immediately responded well to the suspension in the hope that

9292-687: Was also one of the oversight authorities of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration , which administered relief efforts to Puerto Rican citizens affected by the Great Depression. Roosevelt had built a New Deal coalition , but the economic downturn of 1937–1938 and the bitter split between the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) labor unions led to major Republican gains in Congress in 1938. Conservative Republicans and Democrats in Congress joined

9393-602: Was difficult. Those fortunate enough to find a job worked long hours, usually in agricultural jobs. Resistance to camp guards and escape attempts were a low priority for most of the Japanese Americans held in the camps. Residents were more often concerned with the problems of day-to-day life: improving their often shoddily-constructed living quarters, getting an education, and, in some cases, preparing for eventual release. Many of those who were employed, particularly those with responsible or absorbing jobs, made these jobs

9494-667: Was made mandatory for all adults regardless of their eligibility for resettlement, would later spark protests across all ten camps.) At this point, the WRA began to shift its focus from managing the camps to overseeing resettlement. Field offices were established in Chicago, Salt Lake City and other hubs that had attracted Japanese American resettlers. Administrators worked with housing, employment and education sponsors in addition to social service agencies to provide assistance. Following Myer's directive to "assimilate" Japanese Americans into mainstream society, this network of WRA officials (and

9595-401: Was necessary to stabilize and rationalize the economy. During Roosevelt's first hundred days in office in 1933 until 1935, he introduced what historians refer to as the "First New Deal", which focused on the "3 R's": relief for the unemployed and for the poor, recovery of the economy back to normal levels, and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression. Roosevelt declared

9696-429: Was passed on March 15, 1933. The act proposed to balance the "regular" (non-emergency) federal budget by cutting the salaries of government employees and cutting pensions to veterans by fifteen percent. It saved $ 500 million per year and reassured deficit hawks, such as Douglas, that the new president was fiscally conservative. Roosevelt argued there were two budgets: the "regular" federal budget, which he balanced; and

9797-448: Was plowed up, bountiful crops were left to rot and six million piglets were killed and discarded. The idea was to give farmers a "fair exchange value" for their products in relation to the general economy ("parity level"). Farm incomes and the income for the general population recovered fast since the beginning of 1933. Food prices remained still well below the 1929 peak. The AAA established an important and long-lasting federal role in

9898-514: Was ratified later in 1933. States and cities gained additional new revenue and Roosevelt secured his popularity especially in the cities and ethnic areas by legalizing alcohol. Relief was the immediate effort to help the one-third of the population that was hardest hit by the depression. Relief was also aimed at providing temporary help to suffering and unemployed Americans. Local and state budgets were sharply reduced because of falling tax revenue, but New Deal relief programs were used not just to hire

9999-489: Was reopened to Japanese Americans on January 2, 1945 (delayed against the wishes of Dillon Myer and others until after the November 1944 election, so as not to impede Roosevelt's reelection campaign). On July 13, 1945, Myer announced that all of the camps were to be closed between October 15 and December 15 of that year, except for Tule Lake, which held "renunciants" slated for deportation to Japan. (The vast majority of those who had renounced their U.S. citizenship later regretted

10100-410: Was rotting in the fields because it could not be profitably harvested. In Oregon , sheep were slaughtered and left to rot because meat prices were not sufficient to warrant transportation to markets. Roosevelt was keenly interested in farm issues and believed that true prosperity would not return until farming was prosperous. Many different programs were directed at farmers. The first 100 days produced

10201-401: Was the last major New Deal legislation that Roosevelt succeeded in enacting into law before the conservative coalition won control of Congress. Though he could usually use the veto to restrain Congress, Congress could block any Roosevelt legislation it disliked. Nonetheless, Roosevelt turned his attention to the war effort and won reelection in 1940–1944. Furthermore, the Supreme Court declared

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