American History: The Ultimate Box Set on American History by Hourly History

Author:Hourly History [History, Hourly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

The Depression and American Culture

“FDR had his role but so did Mickey Mouse.”

—Warren Susman, 1984

The Great Depression was the greatest economic hardship ever endured in the United States. Almost a third of all workers were unemployed. In the early years of the depression, very little relief was available. Even as the New Deal emerged, it wasn’t a solution for all workers. Many still remained unemployed, and many of those employed by programs only had temporary positions. After the particular job was finished, uncertainty returned. This almost constant stress took a toll on many Americans. Not being able to work caused feelings of anxiety, resentfulness, and humiliation. After the crash in 1929, suicides in the United States rose by 30% in 1930. People were in a desperate condition and were looking for ways to cope.

One of the major ways to find solace in such a harsh world was to join together with others who were in similar straights. As Roosevelt and the Democrats gained power, they promoted policies friendly to organized labor. This was a stark contrast to the policies of previous administrations, dating back to the turn of the twentieth century. By making collective bargaining legal and making it safe to join unions, membership in labor organization rose rapidly in the 1930s.

Generating this rise in union membership was a change in philosophy by many union organizers. Led by John L. Lewis, the United Mine Workers of America encouraged the American Federation of Labor (AFL) to support industrial unionism. As opposed to only being for skilled workers, industrial unionism organized workers based on the industry they were a part of, for instance the United Steelworkers, United Rubber Workers, and the United Auto Workers. At first, it was named the Committee for Industrial Organization, but when it was expelled from the AFL in 1937, the name changed to the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the CIO.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) saw the most significant gains in unionization, gaining admission to General Motors, the largest corporation in the world at the time, and Chrysler. But it did not come without a price. Thousands were arrested in Detroit and Flint, Michigan and thousands more injured as police and private security assaulted the striking workers. A battle outside of a Ford Motor Factory in Dearborn, Michigan in 1937, remembered as the Battle of the Overpass, highlighted the violence that union organizers faced, even in an era that was friendlier toward organized labor. Pictures from the event were widely circulated in the nation, causing Ford to lose a great deal of its positive public image.

Unions weren’t the only organizations that saw dramatic growth during the depression. Political organizations also grew during the decade, especially the Communist Party. There is a debate about how many members the party gained in the 1930s, but its influence was significant. A number of leading writers, intellectuals, and artists were either sympathetic to the Communist Party or became members. Ordinary workers did not necessarily flock to the Communist banner, but they were collectively more accepting of their politics than they had been prior to the Great Depression.

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