Conservative Backlash

Al Smith campaign for President 1928

Supreme Court by Eric Salomon in Fortune, 1932

Justice Sutherland by Thomas McAvoy in Life, 1937/10/25

O. W. Holmes Jr. and C. E. Hughes from Historic Beverly

Federal Theater "Triple A Plowed Under"

• The "Old Right" emerged in the 1930's in opposition to Roosevelt and the New Deal. The American Liberty League founded in August, 1934, as a bipartisan anti-FDR coalition of the rich and corporate oligarchy, led by the duPonts as the leading contributors - organizers were John J. Raskob, John Davis, Nathan Miller, Irenee duPont, James Wadsworth - supported by Al Smith who opposed the New Deal and declared in Nov. 1935 that he was going to "take a walk" - spent $1m 1934-36 to defeat FDR, especially with propaganda sent to newspapers - Postmaster General Jim Farley called it the "American Cellophane League" because it was a DuPont product you could see right through - but Liberty League financed lawsuits against the New Deal, especially the 1935 Wagner Act that required collective bargaining
  
• Supreme Court led by 4 conservatives (James McReynolds, Pierce Butler, Willis Van Devanter, George Sutherland) vs. 3 liberals (Louis Brandeis, Harlan Stone, Benjamin Cardozo) and 2 moderates (Charles Evans Hughes, Owen Roberts) - the moderates had joined with liberals in the early depression to allow states wide latitude in dealing with the crisis - but Court opposed FDR's unprecedented exercise of power and centralization of government in New Deal agencies - in Jan. 1935 "hot oil" case ruled that the President's power to prohibit interstate shipments of oil under NIRA, and in the May 27 Schechter "sick chicken" case overturned entire NIRA in a unanimous vote, with Chief Justice Hughes arguing that although the chickens had crossed state lines they came to "permanent rest" in New York and were no longer part of interstate commerce- in Jan. 1936 the Court overturned the AAA because agriculture was a local issue reserved to the states, but farmers protested the decision as did coal miners when the Court overturned the Guffey-Snyder Coal Conservation Act that guaranteed collective bargaining and established price and production controls by local boards - in Feb. 1936 the Court overturned NY's model state minimum wage law in the Tipaldo case, but states protested because the Court earlier had supported such laws; FDR said it was a "no-man's land" - after FDR won the 1936 election, he decided the problem was not the Court itself but the members of the Court - revealed his court-packing plan Feb. 5, 1937 - FDR's opponents now had a cause around which all could rally - in March, the Court changed its rulings (especially Owen Roberts) and upheld a series of New Deal and state laws.
• The March of Time issued the newsreel story "Supreme Court" on April 16, 1937, just after the Court upheld the Wagner Act, and featured the anti-Roosevelt remarks of Sen. Burton Wheeler. The Kansas State Censor Mae Clausen ordered the Wheeler remarks cut, but the Censorship Board reversed the ruling Apr. 21. This dispute publicized the changing Supreme Court. Van Devanter resigned in May; Joe Robinson died of heart attack in July; the Senate defeated the packing bill; FDR in his 2nd term appointed Hugo Black, Stanley Reed, Felix Frankfurter, Frank Murphy, William O. Douglas.
  
• 1937 recession seemed to prove that the New Deal was not working; FDR had become cautious and cut government spending; during 1937 he hesitated to take action and followed "watchful waiting" until April 1938 proposal for a $3.75b relief bill, but the recession had already done its damage with income dropping 12% and 4m jobs lost; gold reserves had been built up to $5.5b by 1937 and could have been used to expand credit and the money supply with inflationary programs, but bankers opposed inflation and FDR raised reserve requirements and tightened credit.
  
• 1937 sit-down strikes demonstrated labor's growing power and also caused increasing conservative opposition; FDR failed to call out troops to evict strikers in Flint, MI, in Jan.; 2/3 public opinion opposed the strikes
  
• 1937 Wagner Housing Act opposed by rural and southern congressmen led by Sen. Harry Byrd of VA; southerners also opposed 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act that sought to eliminate child labor that was widely used in the South and that established minimum wage and maximum hours for all workers, including blacks; southerners also killed the anti-lynching bill in 1938 with a 6-week filibuster
  
• FDR's Democratic majority coalition became divided; FDR is opposed by isolationist liberals such as Burton Wheeler of Montana
  
• Martin Dies of Texas established a committee in the House to investigate "un-American" activities in 1938, especially the WPA Federal Theater project that Dies claimed was "nothing but straight Communist propaganda"; yet the Federal Theater was popular, as seen in the March of Time newsreel story "An Uncle Sam Production," Nov. 27, 1936; anti-communist movements became more popular, such as Coughlin's Christian Front and Fritz Kuhn's German-American Bund
  
• Reorganization Bill defeated April 1938 when 100 Democrats deserted FDR - the Act would centralize more power in the Executive Office and create 2 new Cabinet positions for Welfare and Public Works - the Act was modified and passed in 1939
  
• 1938 purge attempt by FDR against conservatives Guy Gillette of Iowa, Walter George of GA, Millard Tydings of MD, Cotton Ed Smith of SC failed; the only success of FDR's purge was against John O'Conner of NY who had been chairman of the House Rules Committee and was defeated in 1938 by James Fay
  
• 1938 midterm election was a Republican victory, with 81 seats gained in the House and 8 in the Senate; FDR supporters Frank Murphy of MI, Jerry O'Connell of Montana, and Maury Maverick of Texas were defeated; for the first time, FDR could not form a majority without votes from southern or Republican conservatives; the new Congress cut off funds for the Federal Theater project, passed the Hatch Act; repealed the tax on undistributed profits, defeated the $3b relief bill and public housing increases
  
• The conservative backlash of the 1930s would be reinforced by isolationism and would contribute to the formation of the New Right that emerged after World War II.
• "The corporate counteroffensive reached full flower at the 1939 New York World's Fair, where scores of corporations advertised their vision of an abundant future under the guidance of giant conglomerates."