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114-552: The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (Public Law 80-402), popularly called the Smith–Mundt Act , was first introduced by Congressman Karl E. Mundt (R-SD) in January 1945 in the 79th Congress . It was subsequently passed by the 80th Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman on January 27, 1948. The Act was developed to regulate broadcasting of programs for foreign audiences produced under

228-567: A "sunset clause" for governmental activities that Rep. Karl Mundt (R-SD) and Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs William Benton stated clearly: as private media stood up, government media would stand down. Section 501(a) of the Act (care of the Voice of America website) provides that information produced by VOA for audiences outside the United States shall not be disseminated within

342-452: A college classmate who also taught at Bryant High School. In 1927, both Karl and Mary Mundt received Master of Arts degrees from Columbia University following four years of summer study there. Beginning in 1928, they both taught at Eastern State Normal School (now Dakota State University ), continuing there until 1936. Karl headed the speech department and taught psychology and economics, while Mary taught drama and French. In 1936, Mundt

456-564: 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

570-399: A first-year teacher he taught speech, psychology , sociology , and government, coached the debate, oratory, and extemporaneous speech teams, and began a school newspaper. After his first year, he was promoted to Superintendent of Bryant schools, a position he held until 1927. As superintendent, he continued to coach debate and oratory. In 1924, Mundt married Mary Elizabeth Moses (1900–1985),

684-739: 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

798-473: 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

912-434: 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

1026-588: 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

1140-542: 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

1254-593: 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

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1368-450: 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

1482-461: 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

1596-469: Is forbidden to broadcast within the United States." However, any American with a shortwave receiver or an Internet connection can listen to VOA. This is incidental, however. VOA cannot direct or intend its programs to be "for" Americans. The following are administered by the Broadcasting Board of Governors , an agency of the United States government. The Department of State is also covered by

1710-702: 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

1824-537: 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

1938-489: 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

2052-640: The House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously reported the bill out was meaningless. Cox told Benton that the Foreign Affairs Committee was "a worthless committee consisting of worthless impotent Congressmen; it was a kind of ghetto of the House of Representatives". Cox publicly characterized the State Department as "chock full of Reds" and "the lousiest outfit in town". The information component of

2166-646: The National Forensic League , a high school organization promoting speech and debate activities. Mundt served as the organization's national president from 1932 until 1971. Mundt was the primary sponsor of the Alexander Hamilton Bicentennial Convention, held in the summer of 1957. It featured 55 high school (mostly) seniors in Washington, D.C. , and Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, as representatives of

2280-536: The Office of War Information (OWI) included moving substantial OWI programs over to the State Department, including a radio broadcast operation not-yet-commonly known as the Voice of America . The Bloom Bill was altered and reintroduced in October 1945 to include the substantial information programs from OWI, notably the libraries, book publishing, movies and film strip production, and speakers tours. In December 1945, it

2394-510: 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

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2508-686: The Smith-Mundt Act , signed into law in 1948. He was a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee from 1943 to 1948. HUAC's activities during this period included the Alger Hiss hearings and investigations of the motion picture industry . Mundt was unsuccessful in attempts to have HUAC continue investigating the Ku Klux Klan . He also introduced a modification to Title 50, criminalizing

2622-697: 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

2736-420: The U.S. State Department to communicate to audiences outside of the borders of the United States through broadcasting , face-to-face contacts, exchanges (including educational, cultural, and technical), the publishing of books, magazines, and other media of communication and engagement. Funding for these activities comes from other legislation passed by the U.S. Congress called appropriations . The legislation

2850-706: The United States Department of State and then the United States Information Agency (USIA) beginning in 1952, were prohibited from disseminating information intended for foreign audiences, with the express intent that Congress , the American media , or academia would be the distributors of such information. The exchanges in the act, known as the Mundt Exchanges through about the early 1960s, went beyond those of

2964-543: The (then) 48 states and seven territories in a "mock" constitutional convention. The Karl Mundt Archives including personal papers, congressional correspondence and many personal items are available at Dakota State University in Madison . The Karl Mundt Library was named in his honor and dedicated by Richard Nixon in 1969. The Karl E. Mundt National Wildlife Refuge in South Dakota was named in his honor when it

3078-422: 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

3192-774: 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

3306-624: 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

3420-652: The Act in 1972 and 1985 reflected the Cold War 's departure from the "struggle for minds and wills" (a phrase used by both President Truman and President Eisenhower) to a balance of power based on "traditional diplomacy" and counting missiles, bombers, and tanks. As a result, Senator J. William Fulbright argued America's international broadcasting should take its "rightful place in the graveyard of Cold War relics". A decade later, Senator Edward Zorinsky (D-NE) successfully blocked taxpayer access to USIA materials, even through Freedom of Information Act requests, as he compared

3534-619: The Ambassador to the Soviet Union), and Ambassador to the Soviet Union Walter Bedell Smith . They agreed that it was "folly" to spend millions for foreign aid and relief without explaining America's aims. Congress, in recommending passage of the bill, declared that "truth can be a powerful weapon". Congress further declared six principles were required for the legislation to be successful in action: tell

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3648-457: 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

3762-471: The American public from being targeted by the government-sponsored information and broadcasting which is directed at audiences beyond America's borders. Some experts claim that the United States is the only industrialized democracy to do this, and creates mistrust of the same activities in these audiences who increasingly question why Americans cannot read or hear the same material. However, anyone with an Internet connection can access VOA programs and articles for

3876-546: The Bloom Bill was seen as a revitalization of the Office of War Information, for which many in Congress held contempt as a New Deal "transgression". The cultural component was held in greater disdain, which caused Benton to change the name of his office from the Office of Cultural and Public Affairs a year after it was created to the Office of Public Affairs. Other comments were similarly tough. The ranking minority member of

3990-545: The Congress as they answered critical concerns about government engaging domestic audiences. Added to the Bloom Bill, the predecessor to the Smith–Mundt Act in June 1946 by Representative John M. Vorys (R-OH) "to remove the stigma of propaganda" and address the principal objections to the information activities the Congress intended to authorize. These provisions remain unamended and were the real prophylactic to address concerns

4104-583: 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

4218-765: 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

4332-485: 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

4446-406: The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, Rep. John Taber (R-NY), called for a "house-cleaning" of "some folks" in the State Department to "keep only those people whose first loyalty is to the United States". The Federal Bureau of Investigation was also concerned over the ability of State to monitor and control participants in the exchange programs. In July 1946, the Bloom Bill passed

4560-549: The House of Representatives, Mundt sponsored and supported proposals for "Buy American" legislation, was a member of the Foreign Affairs committee from 1941 to 1948, and played a key role in encouraging the United States to join the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1945. He was a key proponent of the Voice of America , which was established as a result of

4674-599: The House, but due to a failure to steward the bill in the Senate, it was blocked from moving in the United States Senate by Senator Robert A. Taft . Taft's reasoning, which he gave in a speech later, was concern about a growing government bureaucracy. After the department, when Congress reconvened, Taft supported the legislation. On March 21, 1947, pre– Pearl Harbor isolationist and former teacher Representative Karl E. Mundt (R-SD) introduced H.R. 3342, which

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4788-593: 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

4902-610: 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

5016-681: 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,

5130-878: The Senate on the Intergovernmental Relations Advisory Commission. In 1954, he chaired the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations for the Army-McCarthy Hearings . His accomplishments as a Senator included obtaining support for Missouri River projects, establishment of the EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota , agriculture programs, and Interstate highway construction in South Dakota . In 1925, Bruno E. Jacob founded

5244-686: The Senate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Senator Vera C. Bushfield , who had succeeded her husband after his death in September 1948. Mundt was re-elected to the Senate in 1954, 1960, and 1966. In 1960, he was challenged for reelection by then- U.S. Representative George McGovern and nearly defeated. On November 23, 1969, Mundt suffered a severe stroke and was subsequently unable to attend sessions of Congress, although he received extensive speech and physical therapy . His wife, Mary, led his staff in Mundt's place and refused calls for

5358-466: The Smith–Mundt Act. No other department or agency of the United States government is covered by the Smith–Mundt Act. The United States Agency for International Development and Millennium Challenge Corporation have said they are not sure whether they are covered. A 1998 U.S. Court of Appeals ruling indicated that this act exempts Voice of America from releasing transcripts in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The act does not prohibit

5472-726: 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,

5586-594: The State Department admitted to lax oversight due to personnel and budget constraints, Congress voiced its frustration and slashed State's information budget. This time, Taber said if the "drones, the loafers, and the incompetents" were weeded out, he would allow a few million dollars for international broadcasting. Several significant leaders went to the House to testify in support of the bill, including Secretary of State George C. Marshall , Chief of Staff General Dwight D. Eisenhower , Under Secretary of State Dean Acheson , Secretary of Commerce W. Averell Harriman (formerly

5700-493: The State Department in this work. Section 1437 of the Act requires the State Department to maximize its use of "private agencies". Section 1462 requires "reducing Government information activities whenever corresponding private information dissemination is found to be adequate" and prohibits the State Department from having monopoly in any "medium of information" (a prescient phrase). Combined, these provide not only protection against government's domination of domestic discourse, but

5814-687: The State Department said overseas. In 1967, the Advisory Commission on Information (later renamed the Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy) recommended the de facto prohibition on domestic distribution be removed noting that there is "nothing in the statutes specifically forbidding making USIA materials available to American audiences. Rather, what began as caution has hardened into policy." This changed in 1972 when Senator J. William Fulbright (D-AR) argued that America's international broadcasting should take its "rightful place in

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5928-566: 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

6042-454: The U.S. government would create Nazi-style propaganda or resurrect President Woodrow Wilson 's CPI -style activities. The amendment said the information activities should only be conducted if needed to supplement international information dissemination of private agencies; that the State Department was not to acquire a monopoly of broadcasting or any other information medium; and that private sector leaders should be invited to review and advise

6156-451: The USIA to an organ of Soviet propaganda. There are three key restrictions on the U.S. State Department in the Smith–Mundt Act. The first and most well-known restriction was originally a prohibition on domestic dissemination of materials intended for foreign audiences by the State Department. The original intent was the Congress, the media and academia would be the filter to bring inside what

6270-487: The United States … but, on request, shall be available in the English language at VOA, at all reasonable times following its release as information abroad, for examination only by representatives of United States press associations, newspapers, magazines, radio systems, and stations, and by research students and scholars, and, on request, shall be made available for examination only to Members of Congress. "This means that VOA

6384-635: The Web, radio and television (VOA increasingly emphasizes television programming now) in English and other languages. Chronological legislation relative to U.S. Congressional revisions as pertaining to the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act. Karl E. Mundt Mundt was born in Humboldt, South Dakota . He was the son of Ferdinand John Mundt (1875–1947) and Rose (Schneider) Mundt (1874–1965). Both of his parents were

6498-435: The activities continued because they received money from Congress, which carried implicit authority but actual authority was still lacking. Co-sponsoring the Mundt bill in the Senate was Senator H. Alexander Smith (R-NJ). The stated purpose of the reintroduced legislation was not to curtail the overall information activities of the United States, but to raise the quality and volume of the government's information programs. As

6612-510: 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

6726-430: 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

6840-428: 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

6954-565: 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

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7068-590: 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

7182-468: 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

7296-439: 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

7410-416: The complementary Fulbright Program to include any country and any skill. Whereas the Fulbright Act, the name Benton gave the original 1946 amendment to the Surplus Property Act of 1944, required a bilateral agreement signed by the Secretary of State following certification of the availability of local funds by the U.S. Treasury , after the sale of U.S. surplus war equipment in the nation, and supported only

7524-437: The crippled Senator to resign. Mundt was stripped of his committee assignments by the Senate Republican Conference in 1972, but he remained in office through the end of his term on January 3, 1973. He did not seek reelection in 1972, and was succeeded in the Senate by Democrat James G. Abourezk . Karl Mundt died in Washington, D.C. in 1974 of a heart ailment and was buried at Graceland Cemetery in Madison, South Dakota . In

7638-410: 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

7752-482: 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,

7866-474: The department was restricted to operating these programs within North, Central, and South America. It would provide legislative approval for a new peacetime instrument of foreign policy . Congress harbored significant reservations about empowering the State Department to propagate informational and ideological materials to the American public. A key issue was oversight over State Department programs, including exchanges, which books were distributed abroad, art that

7980-446: The descendants of German immigrants. Mundt attended public schools in Humboldt, Pierre , and Madison , graduating from Madison High School in 1919. In high school, he excelled in oratory and debate , which became lifetime passions. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton College in Minnesota in 1923 with a major in economics , he became a teacher and principal at Bryant High School in Bryant , South Dakota. As

8094-412: 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

8208-538: 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

8322-446: 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

8436-575: 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

8550-415: 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

8664-422: 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

8778-588: The entirety of the Executive Branch from distributing information at home, just the State Department and Broadcasting Board of Governors. The result of the amendments to the Act means that most United States taxpayers do not know how the VOA (and its successor agencies) operate or what their programming content was, as was noted in 1967 by the Stanton Commission report noted above. The act insulates

8892-474: The exchange of students and teachers, the Mundt Act used monies appropriated by the Congress for the program and did not require a signed bilateral agreement or other certification. Further, the Mundt exchanges supported educators and students, technicians (from industry experts to sewage treatment engineers), entertainers, and even bureaucrats to help nations develop local capacity and stability. Amendments to

9006-631: 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

9120-437: The graveyard of Cold War relics" as he successfully amended the Act to read that any program material "shall not be disseminated" within the U.S. and that material shall be available "for examination only" to the media, academia, and Congress (P.L. 95-352 Sec. 204). In 1985, Senator Edward Zorinsky (D-NE) declared USIA would be no different than an organ of Soviet propaganda if its products were to be available domestically. The Act

9234-499: The guidance by the State Department, and it prohibited domestic dissemination of materials produced by such programs as one of its provisions. The original version of the Act was amended by the Smith–Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 which allowed for materials produced by the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to be made available within the United States. The original legislation authorizes

9348-616: 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

9462-712: 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)

9576-467: The legislation was to engage in a global struggle for minds and wills, a phrase used by Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. It established the programming mandate that still serves as the foundation for U.S. overseas information and cultural programs at the Department of State. Since 1972, the act prohibits domestic access to information intended for foreign audiences. Prior to this,

9690-514: The library. One of the principal characters of the Coen brothers ' 1991 film Barton Fink is a traveling salesman named Karl Mundt, played by actor John Goodman . 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

9804-726: 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

9918-663: The passage of certain classified information to foreign nationals. Mundt voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 , 1960 , 1964 , and 1968 , as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution , the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court . As a Senator, Mundt served on the Senate's Appropriations Committee , Foreign Relations Committee , Government Operations Committee , and Permanent Investigations Subcommittee , and he represented

10032-472: 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

10146-611: 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

10260-445: 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

10374-412: 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

10488-430: 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

10602-414: 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

10716-540: 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

10830-547: The truth; explain the motives of the United States; bolster morale and extend hope; give a true and convincing picture of American life, methods, and ideals; combat misrepresentation and distortion; and aggressively interpret and support American foreign policy . As a Cold War measure, it was intended to compete with propaganda from the Soviet Union and Communist organizations primarily in Europe. The principal purpose of

10944-477: 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;

11058-541: 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

11172-547: 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

11286-487: 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 ,

11400-475: 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

11514-687: 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

11628-601: Was amended to read: "no program material prepared by the United States Information Agency shall be distributed within the United States" (P.L. 99-93). At least one court interpreted this language to mean USIA products were to be exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests. In response, the Act was amended again in 1990 to permit domestic distribution of program material "12 years after the initial dissemination" abroad (P.L. 101-246 Sec 202). The second and third provisions were of greater interest to

11742-400: Was an evolution from the bill he had originally introduced in January 1945, which itself was a version of a bill he introduced in March 1943, at the request of the State Department. The State Department's information and exchange activities were still ongoing, although without authorization from the Congress. The authority was derived from Congressional appropriations legislation. In other words,

11856-568: Was distributed as representing the United States, and the radio programming. When the Bloom Bill (H.R. 4982) went to the House Rules Committee in February 1946, committee Chairman Eugene Cox (D-GA) informed Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs William B. Benton that ten of the twelve committee members were against anything the State Department favored because of its "Communist infiltration and pro-Russian policy". That

11970-561: Was established in 1974. The Karl E. Mundt Foundation, established in Mundt's honor in 1963, awards prizes for essays and oratorical contests, sponsors seminars and public lectures, and helps support the annual Karl E. Mundt Debate Tournament and Karl E. Mundt Dakota Invitational Oral Interpretation Contest in South Dakota. The Karl E. Mundt Foundation had its offices at the Karl Mundt Library at Dakota State University, but closed in July 2017. The Karl Mundt Archives are now one with

12084-619: Was introduced in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in January 1945 by Rep. Mundt, a member of the committee. It was modified a few months later at the request of the State Department. At this time, it did not include broadcasting. The bill was reintroduced with the State Department's requests and renamed the Bloom Bill, after the committee's chairman, Rep. Sol Bloom (D-NY). The purpose was to make permanent various exchange activities, and some information programs such as books and other printed material. President Truman's dissolution of

12198-401: 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

12312-429: 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

12426-448: 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

12540-514: 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

12654-569: Was reintroduced again as H.R. 4982, but whereas the previous iterations amended pre-war legislation from 1939 authorizing exchanges in the American Republics, plus the Philippines, this time was a stand-alone and it also included the radio operation. The language "shall disseminate" abroad found in the early versions was a specific authority requested by the State Department to permit it to operate globally. Under previous authorities,

12768-410: 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

12882-493: Was the Republican candidate for the House of Representatives in South Dakota's 1st congressional district , losing in a Democratic year to Fred H. Hildebrandt . He won the seat in the 1938 election, a year more favorable to Republicans, and was re-elected four times. In 1948, he was elected to the Senate seat previously held by Harlan J. Bushfield . He resigned his House seat on December 30, 1948, having been appointed to

12996-401: 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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