History Courses For Dr. Christopher C. Lovett
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History Courses For Dr. Christopher C. Lovett |
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Updated as of 2 October 05 Today in History: On October 2, 1780, Major John André, a British spy associated with Benedict Arnold, was executed on this day in history. Quote of the Day: "In my view we are much worse off now than when we went into Iraq. This is not a partisan position. I voted for these guys." A senior figure at a military-sponsored think tank as told to James Fallows in "Bush's Lost Year" in The Atlantic Monthly (Oct. 2004) Take the Ann Coulter Quiz Where are you politically? Take the Neocon Quiz and find out. "History is Far too Important to be left to History Professors" Teaching isn't such a novel idea
Bibliography:
History of Disease Contemporary Terrorist Organizations Map of Islamic Terrorist Cells in the U.S.A.
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The Great Depression in AmericaAge of Total WarFall 2007The Situation in the United States• The main cause was the unequal distribution of wealth between the upper classes and the working and middle class.• Especially when the new economy was consumer driven.• The need to purchase new items.• In order to maintain industrial growth.• The economic growth in the “Roaring Twenties” real.• Growing from $74.3 Billion in 1923 to $89 Billion in 1929.The Crisis• The “Coolidge Prosperity” did not apply to everyone.• The top 1% of the American public controlled more financial wealth than the bottom 42%.• The top 1% controlled 34% of all savings.• 80% of all Americans had no savings at all.• Henry Ford, the American icon, had a personal fortune of $14 million at a time when the average worker made $750 a year.• Disposal income increased 9% between 1921-29.• For those in the top 1%, it grew by 75%.The Cause of the Income Disparity• Gap between production power of the work force.• Productivity was up by 32% per worker.• While wages only increased by 8%.• The Andrew Mellow, Treasury Secretary, by the Revenue Act of 1926, reduced income taxes for multimillionaires from $600,000 a year to $200,000.• While the Supreme Court ruled in Adkins v. Children’s Hospital (1923) that minimum wage laws were unconstitutional.What Then Kept The Economy Afloat?• Credit Sales.• Luxury purchases from the wealthy.The Middle-Class and Working-Class Crisis• Three quarters of the American public spent 75% of their disposal income on consumer goods.• Like food, clothes, cars, radios, etc.• Their income was about $2,500 a year.• What happened if their was a crisis?The Farm Crisis• During World War I the government encouraged farm expansion.• They were also to modernize in order to produce more food.• When the war ended, they faced a crisis that continued throughout the 1920s.The Road to Black Thursday• Prices declined sharply in Sept.• But people were optimistic.• They rebounded.• But on Monday, Oct. 21, they dropped sharply.• The ticker was behind.• Investors not knowing what was happening panic.• But on Tuesday and Wednesday stocks recovered.• But the worst was yet to come.The American Economy in Trouble• Following the economic down turn of 1919-20, many Americans never thought there would be another economic crisis.• This was a result of the growth during the 1920s.• The felling was that Americans had entered a new phase of economic growth.• This accelerated a series of “get- rich-quick schemes.”Get-Rich-Quick Schemes• One was the Florida Land Boom.• Made possible by a the Coolidge prosperity and and the Henry Ford’s Model Ts.• The Van Sweringen Brothers Railroad empire.• As well as Samuel Insull.• And other who developed holding companies, trust companies…all designed to generate funds…but little else.The Insull Empire• He became the secretary to Thomas Edison.• Then vice president of Edison’s General Electric.• J.P Morgan sent him west in 1892 to take over the struggling Chicago Edison Company.• He then established the Edison Commonwealth Company.• He then established a holding company to run all of his power companies.Midland Utilities Company• In 1912, Insull formed the Middle West Utilities Co., a holding company which eventually acquired several electric railways and utilities in Indiana.• In 1924, the holding company became Midland Utilities Co• In 1929 became Midland United Co.• In addition, Insull continued to control Commonwealth Edison, and acquired three electric railways operating in Chicago and northern IllinoisThe Stock Market• Following the collapse of the Florida Land Boom.• The smart money returned to the Stock Market.• Stocks soared on rumors.• Mellon’s tax breaks found their way to the Street.• No checks on stock purchases.• Which were done on margin…10% down.• If buyer could not make his margin loans…he was out of luck.The Situation Before The Crash• Mass speculation took place in the 1920s.• In 1929 alone 1,124,800,410 shares were traded on the NYSE.• The Dow rose to 381 from 191.• Bankers made margin loans.• Stocks sky rocketed like RCA which went from 85 to 420 in 1928.• There were no controls…loans continued.• Buyers were found…• Sometimes there were inside machinations.Warning Signs• Home construction and car sales were catching up to demand.• Business inventories were on the upsurge.• Consumer spending slowed.• Most economic gauges were in marked decline by mid-1929.• Conservative financiers warned that something was in the offing.• And so did Hoover.Advice from Charles “Sunshine Charlie” Mitchell“I know of nothing fundamentally wrong with the stock market or the underlying business and credit structure.”Black Thursday• On Thursday, Oct. 24, the bottom fell out.• Some major investors already had gotten out.• But the small investors stayed in….and some large ones too.What Caused The Crash?• The Crash on Oct. 29, 1929, started the Depression.• Historical forces contributed to the crash – the Market rose 597% over the past 8 years [1921-29].• US Banking Policies.• Benjamin Strong’s decision to support Montague Norman, Gov. of the Bank of England, to restore the Gold Standard (1925).• U.S. Governmental polices.What Made the Depression So Severe?• The over-stimulated economy of the 1920s.• The draconian monetary policy pursued by the Federal Reserve Bank from 1930-1933.• The sudden rise of global protectionism leading to the collapse of world trade. The dramatic rise of income taxes in 1932 may have also prolonged the downturn.Hoover and the Crash• Hoover’s initial response was to keep employment up and salaries level.• Hoover understood the need to maintain purchasing power.• Encourage local government to expand building projects.• Protect business by the RFC.• And a campaign of limited government building projects.• But he was hampered by his view of rugged individualism.Andrew Mellon’s Recommendations• Mellon’s response was very simple.• “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate farmers, liquidate real estate.”• Doing so “would purge the rottenness out of the system.”• Hoover could not go that far.• But still he was limited by the prevailing hardened view of a government’s responsibility to the public.What The Country Needs Now…• Is confidence.• Hoover made efforts at public construction, but local/state governments more than offset that trend with cutbacks.• The Fed returned to an easier credit policy.• The Hawley-Smoot Tariff initially designed to help farmers, had the reverse effect.The Banking CrisisUnemploymentGNP 1929-1940The Protests• Farmers stopped foreclosures.• Farmers burned corn.• Dairy farmers dumped milk.• World War I vets organized the BEF and marched on Washington.• What they wanted was the immediate payment of their World War I bonus.• They set up a Hooverville in Anacostia Flats.• Kept Communists out.Hoover Sends MacArthur/FDR Sends His Wife• Hoover had Congress appropriate funds for rail tickets home.• But on July 28, 1932, Sec of War Patrick J. Hurley gave the order to move them out.• MacArthur had 700 men and with Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton with him.• The mood of the nation was somber…there was crisis in the air.• What would happen if Hoover was re-elect.Disease, Medicine, History, and Popular Culture• How can you link these into a course in American history?• How about looking at the famous smiling face of FDR.• Tell his story.• Could students understand it?• Do they even know what polio was all about?The Most Feared Disease• On April 13, 1921, he was stricken with Poliomyelitis.• He was only 39 years old.• What was going to happen to his career?• But what is polio?Polio• Contaminated food and water• Infected by fecal matter• Before public health many children had it and developed mild forms.• Once in the body the virus heads for the lymph nodes and then the small intestineSymptoms• Some infections are mild and others are severe.• Sore throat, headache, back pains, high fever, and intestinal upset.• Ten percent will develop severe symptoms, including death and total paralysis.How Could This Happen to Me?• Promising political career.• What was going to happen now?• What is polio?• When did it happen?• Would the nation elect a cripple to lead a crippled nation?• More important how did it influence his reforming spirit?Did FDR Experience Depression?• What was his family life like?• What impact did this have on Eleanor?• What course of action did he take?• Did he believe that he would ever walk again?• What was his release?A Conspiracy of Consent• One of five Americans never knew he had polio.• At the Roosevelt Library they have 40,000 pictures of FDR.• Only two in a wheelchair.• What was his great appeal?FDR and the Defeat of Polio• In 1937 established the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis with Basil O’Connor.• Birthday Balls were used to raise money.• Eddie Cantor came up with the “March of Dimes.”• O’Connor funded vaccine research.FDR Comes to the Rescue• The Country was in the doldrums.• Something had to be done.• The Depression was forcing Americans to lose hope.• Soup kitchens were opened in American cities.• The homeless slept in Hoovervilles.• Farmers were angry.• Communism grew.Who’s Franklin D…• Child of privilege and born in 1882.• Educated at Groton, Harvard, and Columbia.• Was handsome…very handsome.• Wanted to be like cousin Teddy.• Married Eleanor.• Served as Assistant SecNav.• Caught Polio.• Ran for governor of NY in 1928.The First Hundred Days• Closed the Banks.• Created the FDIC.• Established the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation.• Securities and Exchange Commission.• Civil Works Administration.• Public Works Administration.• Federal Emergence Relief Administration.• Civilian Conservation Corps.• WPA.• NRA• AAA• More important he did something.Thunder on the Left• There were people who did not think that FDR went far enough.• One was the King Fish, better known as Huey Long of Louisiana.• Who came up with “The Share the Wealth” program.• Another was Francis E.Townsed, who developed the Townsed Plan.• Who promised all the elderly a pension of $200 a month for all over 60.• Then there was Father Charles E. Coughlin and the National Union for Social Justice.How Precarious?• The Communist Party in the U.S. grew as a result of the Depression.• So did other extremist groups on the Far Right.• Including the German American Bund.• Also William Dudley Pelley’s Silver Shirts.• Which had about 15,000 members in 1934.• As a result HUAC was born.The Birth of the American Communist Party• Came as a split between the Socialist Party of America over recognition of the Russian Revolution.• The Socialists then expelled 20,000 members on May 24, 1919.• This included John Reed, William Z. Foster, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.• This worried the Wilson administration and led to the first Red Scare.• And the rise of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.The Party was Constantly Divided• James Cannon was the first chairman.• Then expelled for Trotskyism.• The Party had its own newspaper – The Daily Worker.• And by 1929 only had about 7,000 members.• But who were they?CP USA Membership• Attracted intellectuals.• Particularly those in the performing arts.• Including:• Howard Fast.• Ring Lardner, Jr.• Dalton Trumbo.• Erskine Caldwell.• John Dos Passos.• John Garfield.• Howard Da Silva.• Richard Wright.The Party’s Activities• The Party didn’t not make much headway until the Depression.• When the Party polled 102,000 votes for William Z. Foster in 1932.• The Party supported the Scottsboro Boys.• Involving a sexual assault case in 1931.• Supporting the homeless and eventually anti-fascism.The Secret Spilt• Recruited people for secret work.• By joining the underground organization.• The Roosevelt administration was not prepared for such an invasion.• Communist study cells were established.• Agents thought they were spying for the “COMINTERN” not the USSR.• They were very naïve.• And pay a high price in the 1950s.How Did They Do It?• Created Marxist Study groups.• Hired others into New Deal Agencies.• Then hired their friends.• Wrote for the New Masses.• Passed information to controls.• Who were selected or recruited by Earl Browder.• Hope Hale Davis describes this in her memoir, Great Day Coming.That All Depends Where You Stand on the Political Spectrum• The Left, like Alan Brinkley would argue in End of Reform that the FDR did not go far enough.• While the Right believes given time…Hoover would have pulled us out of the Depression.• Such as FDR’s Folly.• Or worse…FDR exacerbated the suffering.• The only way to answer that is to create a counterfactual argument.• What would have happened?
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