FDR A Four Term Progressive--Part 6

Roosevelt did not let the decision on the Agricultural Adjustment Act stop him from implementing additional legislation that moved the New Deal forward. He continued to meet with members of his administration, while for the most part ignoring Congress, to draw up programs supposedly designed to rid the nation of its economic problems. This is how the vast majority of programs were put together. It was, for all intents and purposes, a dictatorial process.

The primary solution to the Depression was known as "pump priming". Simply put it was more and more government spending. Indeed as a youngster in high school and then college, I vividly recall teachers and professors preaching that the Federal government was the only facility that had access to tremendous amounts of money that could now be used to pay for all these wonderful programs espoused by the Roosevelt Administration.

Recovery went on at an enormous price. The National Industrial Recovery Act spent $3.3 billion through the Public Works Administration or PWA later to be know as the WPA. These two organizations were supposed to end unemployment but that did not happen. Then there was the Tennessee Valley Authority. Working with Republican Senator George Norris, FDR put together the largest government owned industrial enterprise in our history. The first impulse is to say TVA was a good thing. Was it? Why wasn't this effort carried out by private industry? Why didn't we give incentives to public power companies to do this job? Most importantly how happy were those folks, already in poor economic condition, about TVA and the loss of their homes and livelihoods?

In the economic arena Roosevelt moved in 1933 to regulate the banks and in 1934 put into place the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate Wall Street the epicenter of capitalism. However, a major and extremely controversial move was taken under Executive Order 6102 which took all the gold owned privately and turned it over to the US Treasury. Declared by many to be unconstitutional, FDR claimed that he had the power to do this under the 1917 War Powers Act. The ability of Americans to own gold was finally reinstated under President Ford in 1934.

While many would say that all these programs were wonderful, they did not end the Depression. There were consequences for all these programs in that Peter was robbed to pay Paul. In order to keep his campaign promise of cutting the federal budget, Roosevelt had to make cuts and he did so in a rather harsh but not unusual manner. He cut benefits to veterans by 40% and cut the military budget overall a tactic that would soon prove to be costly but one still practiced to this day. Over 500,000 veterans and their widows were removed from the pension rolls and had benefits cut. The salaries of Federal workers were cut as were the budgets of the military and navy. Spending was reduced on education and research and little was done to assist science until World War II began. However, he did sign an Executive Order in April of 1933 that ended Prohibition because much as politicians today view gambling, FDR was convinced he could acquire lots of money from taxing alcohol.

FDR and the Democrats had tremendous success in the 1934 Congressional election. Roosevelt gained larger majorities in the House and Senate. This in turn allowed him to move forward and continue the nationalization of our government with the consolidation of power in the hands of the central government. As for the people, they were going to pay more for less, move toward becoming wards of the state and pay no attention as everything from charity to education fell within the control of the Federal government.

FDR A Four Term Progressive--Part 5

The Roosevelt Administration was absolutely furious with the Supreme Court decision on the Agricultural Adjustment Act. The primary reason for the anger was that the Social Security Act was coming on line and they feared that the Court would declare it unconstitutional. Roosevelt was so irate that he took to calling the justices the "nine old men" and that something needed to be done to stop them.

In 1937 Congress passed the Judiciary Reorganization Bill. This Bill soon came to be known as the Court Packing Bill. It contained a lot of provisions. The primary one gave the President the right to add extra judges to the Court for every judge over the age of 70.5 years of age. This would have given Roosevelt the power to appoint 6 new justices. It was all done as a counter to the Court declaring a pile of New Deal programs unconstitutional.

Normally a Justice is replaced upon his retirement or death. Roosevelt, however, was extremely impatient and decided to force the Court's hand after Butler. He turned to Article III of the Constitution and found that it was silent on how many justices could be on the Supreme Court the exception being that there could be but one Chief Justice because he was mentioned in the Constitution under Article 1 section 3. There was also precedent in that there had been changes numerous times to the number of justices on the Court

Roosevelt went on offense. He declared that the conservatives on the Court were putting words in the mouth of the Constitution, words that had never been there and it was never the intent of the Founders to have those words. He stated that the Court's decisions were "frustrating" and they were blocking his political and economic programs to bring about an end to the Depression.

Roosevelt had won re-election in 1936 despite the fact that his first New Deal not only failed to end the Depression but came under attack by the Court and those political opponents to its Left. The election victory gave him the courage he needed to take on the Court.

The administration stated that they only wanted the bill in order to assist older justices with their work load. When a justice reached the age of 70.5 years a new younger justice with ten years experience was to be appointed. FDR knew he could count on the Democratic controlled Congress to pass his nominees but first he was going to have to get it by both the Congress and the American public.

The debate in Congress did not go well for Roosevelt. Many Democrats thought this to be a good idea; many thought it wasn't and it certainly was not liked by the Republicans. Meanwhile, those in the press looked on with a jaundiced eye on Roosevelt and questioned his motive. Some pointed out what it was, a grab for power and an attempt to intimidate the Supreme Court of the United States.

Things were not going well for him in the countryside. Public opinion polls showed FDR that the citizens were opposed to this law. Despite those polls, Roosevelt felt that he had them by his side.

On March 9, 1937, he gave his first fireside chat of his second term. In it he noted his true intentions--he wanted a Supreme Court that understood the modern era. Was this Progressive showing his true hand? Was he telling the folks that the centralization of power into the hands of the Executive Branch was the wave of the future.? I believe he was.

As things turned out there was a change in the bill. Support for FDR in the Congress began to slip after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. On June 14 that committee presented a report that stated that FDR's plan was stepping all over the principles found in the Constitution. To make matters worse the man Roosevelt selected to get the votes for him in the senate, majority leader Joseph Robinson, had a heart attack and died on the day when the roll call was to be taken. Vice President Garner was charged with the task of telling FDR he did not have the votes in the Senate thus the bill and the plan were dead.

At first glance this appears to be a loss for Roosevelt. However, the Senate did provide him with a revised bill that allowed him to appoint two new judges. He signed it into law on August 26, 1937. He also was going to have to deal with a bunch of conservative Democrats who had looked at the Court as their wall, the place where the New Deal would be stopped. In the end, however, all turned out well for Roosevelt. In his second term, FDR nominated and Congress confirmed five new justices to the Court thus cementing the New Deal into place.

Had the American people gained with this action? The answer is a resounding no. FDR used his position and his popularity to threaten the members of the Court. The Court is suppose to be a neutral branch rendering decisions on the constitutionality of laws and no more. This would open the door to put pressure on the Court and for the Judicial activism that we are seeing today.

FDR--A Four Term Progressive Part 3

In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt won the presidential election defeating Herbert Hoover handily with 57 percent of the vote and carrying all but 6 states. He was a charming man with a considerable base given his roots and popularity in New York state. He had the assistance of Al Smith and William Randolph Hearst as well as the support of Joseph Kennedy from Massachusetts and William McAdoo, Democratic leader in California. John Nance Garner came over to Roosevelt's side and brought Texas into FDR's column while picking up the Vice Presidential spot for himself.

In addition to his above mentioned supporters, Roosevelt was able to put together what came to be know as the New Deal coalition. The unions, the poor, Southern whites, ethnic minorities, and folks living in the cities of the nation were brought together by FDR .This coalition stayed together for over half a century.

It was during the campaign that FDR made his famous speech where he pledged a "new deal for the American people." Denouncing Hoover's failures and inability to stop the economic slide into the abyss of the depression, FDR campaigned on an immediate need to cut public expenditures, getting rid of useless offices and government commissions, and the consolidation of bureaus while supporting a strong currency that needed to be kept despite any hazards. Doesn't even sound like FDR does it? This was a very conservative platform given the fact that many believed that government needed to ride in and spend big bucks while redistributing the wealth.

This optimism on FDR's part disappeared almost overnight. On September 23, 1932, just a few weeks before the election, Roosevelt spoke from his Progressive heart. "Our industrial plant is built; the problem just now is whether under existing conditions it is not overbuilt. Our last frontier has since been reached."(Great Speeches by FDR) Golly shades of what was to come in the Carter and Clinton administrations. Now we know where they got it. Hoover, meanwhile, was furious with this admonishment. He called it a denial "'of the promise of American life'" (The Politics of Economic Growth in Postwar America).

Despite Hoover's response, there was no chance that the Republicans were going to win in 1932. When Hoover asked FDR after the election about forming a joint commission to end the downward spiral of the nation's economy, FDR turned him down. Probably a bad idea on FDR's part. With the election won, Roosevelt set about formatting and implementing his New Deal. He consolidated more power into the central government then had ever been amassed prior to his administration. It was not and is not a good thing.