4-century
4
Century
part-4
------
1929-1936
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Part four of a 15-part series of documentaries produced by the American Broadcasting Company on the 20th century and the rise of the United States as a superpower.
The stock market crash of 1929 ushered in the greatest period of economic malaise in America's history. The Great Depression shaped the atmosphere for a decade; the most prosperous country on earth could not feed its own citizens. But even as Americans were trying to cope with poverty and hunger, the rumblings of a demagogue across the water became louder and louder. This episode examines the Great Depression and the decade of the 1930s, covering events such as the Bonus Army March, movies and radio, the Dust Bowl, FDR and the New Deal and the rise of Hitler in Germany.
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transcript
..
Oh [Music]
[Applause]
be self-evident [Applause]
mr. Goldman tear down this wall [Applause]
[Music]
The Bonus Army
it was May of 1932 practical unparalleled in the history of the
country and something was very wrong in the land of plenty a day of bloodshed and riot there were those of us who felt
that America was teetering on the brink of revolution for three years the Great
Depression had tormented Americans now 20,000 Army veterans and their families
came pouring in to Washington to find out what the government was going to do about it
bearded ragged they were desperate you
could see it in their eyes they'd been promised a bonus for their service in World War one but it was not
due to be paid until 1945 the desperate veterans wanted their money now they
recall the Bonus Army on July 28th the Bonus Army came to
blows with Washington police shots were fired President Herbert Hoover barricaded himself in the White House
and called out the troops soldiers have orders to burn down the unsanitary and
illegal camp and the roaring flames sound of death knell to the fantastic
bonus armor when the smoke cleared two
veterans and an infant were dead the absolutely shameful the sacrifice of
the young American boys left such an impression on me I have never forgotten
it they were just trying to feed their families millions of Americans could no
longer provide for their families with nowhere to turn for help they were angry
and they were approaching their breaking point three years into the depression the
American system was he in grave danger unless it could change and change quickly it might not survive bad times
The Great Depression
had arrived without warning after a decade of expanding prosperity almost overnight The Wall Street Crash of 1929
shattered America's confidence in its economy I was 11 years old but how well
I remember it it was like the skies had
grown dark thunder and all of the sudden faces were tragic
and people were walking around in the hallways of our building and in the streets with with inquiring eyes and
saying has it happened to you is it happened to us what is happening
two living telegrams at that time and pretty soon you could feel a horror
behind the door you was knockin when your knock on the door when the boys
come out ya know who is it who is it I say I have a telegram well slider on the door
silent or go away get away from me get away from me the collapse of the New
York Stock Exchange in 1929 was only the most visible sign of a massive economic crisis the crisis that spread quickly
from Wall Street to Main Street Miriam Johnson was living in California when
the Great Depression arrived at her house I was 11 when the crash came my
father at that time along with a father a few friends owned a small grocery
store one day he came home and and he
laid two dollars on the table in the kitchen and he said no more store
everything is gone that was the end for us it was the
[Music] every day produce more bankruptcies more
layoffs more people with less money in their pockets [Music]
even US Steel a symbol of American industrial might since the turn of the
century was brought to its knees in three years the entire full-time payroll
was laid off 225,000 workers
[Music] the Depression hit this country all it
hit the farm areas it hit the cities we're just they're out of work and out
of food and everybody was baffled you know nobody had ever had that
experience before I had been saving for
maybe five six years a piggy bank and money in a piggy bank nickels pennies
dimes the most it turns out that I was
the only one of the family that had any money because one day I came home and I
grabbed hold of my piggy bank just to give it a shake and there was nothing in
it my mother was looking at me and she said
your father borrowed the money he has to
go out to look for work and he needed money to go back home he came home and I
didn't say anything but my eyes were face was swollen with tears my eyes were
blinking with tears and my father took me in his arms and he said I'm sorry I
had to have money but it's alone I'll pay it back to you he never did he know
my family had exhausted all its credits with the local merchants and on one
The Crash
occasion my father came home and asked what was for dinner that night and my
mother said there's nothing how how could that be how could there be nothing
it was one of the few times in my life that I was fearful for myself
fearful of losing what little they had left people rushed to the banks to withdraw their savings but the banks -
were short of cash one year after the crash 800 of them had failed 9 million
savings accounts were wiped out there was a janitor called George Kelley's who
had $1,000 in the bank of the United States it had taken galleys 40 years to
save $1,000 after spending two nights in
two days in the pouring rain outside this shuttered locked back beating
literally beating on the walls with his hands in frustration he realized he was
never gonna see 10 cents of his money he
went back to the basement where he lived and he hanged himself in despair that's
what bank failures did they crushed tens of thousands maybe hundreds of thousands
of ordinary people like George Kelly's with their savings gone and layoffs
increasing people were forced to sell their cars their furniture their wedding
rings before long half the country's home mortgages were in default families
across America found themselves facing eviction mmm my brother and I and my mother just
couldn't stand to see it happen so we left my father there to face the auction
is then we came home that evening and we met my father who told us yes the house
was so it was gone and everything that we had had was no longer ours the land
was gone the house was gone and we had 30 days in which time to move out
[Music] and my mother sat on the side of the bed and cried was the first time I'd ever
seen her crying I'll never forget that moment that's where our family was
affected and we were not unique you know
what hurt me most about it was the look of pain on my mother's and father's face I couldn't bear to look at them to look
at this to look at their misery to look at their disgrace they felt they had
only themselves to blame this was a different generation this was a
generation that had grown up with the old faith the faith self realized the
people had to stand on their own two feet they said the government's has failed me
they said I'm to blame I failed in this
American system of ours it's my fault [Music]
one year after the crash 4 million American families were without any means
of support worse they didn't know how to ask for help and their government didn't
know how to provide it in 1930 the
American people had almost no sense of the national government there was the post office occasionally
you'd see a soldier on the street the national government had very little direct impact on the lives of ordinary
Americans [Music]
there were no no parachutes in those days there was no social security no
unemployment insurance no nothing [Music] or on your own
Radio
by 1931 hard times seemed to be everywhere but if you could still spare
a dime you could slip into a glamorous world where the Roaring Twenties had
never ended you could go to the Grand Lake Theatre I hear Horace Heidt and his orchestra
play for half an hour then they'd have the Movietone news and then they'd have
the feature story and then they would have Bugs Bunny or the equivalent comic and then that have the second feature by
that time the orchestra was getting ready to play again if you spend about 6 or 7 hours for 15 cents there was no
television there was only radio so this visual escape into a dark Theater you
could literally forget your troubles and get happy many people try to dance their
troubles away often to the carefree irresistible rhythms of a new generation of jazz music that was sweeping the
country swing wing it honey child Susie Q's go into town and hum
[Music]
[Applause] [Music] now meet Richard calmer as Boston
Blackie enemy to those who make him an enemy friend to those who have no friends many more were transfixed by the
gripping dramas of radio during the Depression the radio was the one appliance people could not live without
the watched event
there was a shadow what evil lurks in
the hearts of men shadow knows they're
off the lights we're gonna clean the moat today you didn't know that they were standing on a stage reading from scripts you just
thought they were doing it oh it's here well I liked most was to go into my room
and turn off all the lights I didn't want any interference and just listen to it I fought the thought I was a little
weird Nate always come in and turn the lights on and say what's wrong with you and I said nothing's wrong with me this
is really wonderful great way to listen to it [Music]
but sooner or later people had to turn the radio off they had to leave the
movie theater and when they did the depression was still there awaiting
he'd advanced upon the farmers of the South and Midwest in terrifying storms of dry dust it was one of the worst
droughts in American history the land itself was blowing away they looked like
a tornado coming big black clouds of dust coming across the desert there it
was terrible you couldn't breathe you'd put a something over your face a handkerchief and try to breathe through it you spit out mud phone
[Music] [Applause] [Music] 25,000 square miles of farmland became
known as the Dust Bowl for farmers who'd been suffering through their own
economic crisis since the 1920s it was the final blow leaving their farm houses
and barns to rot they fled westward for the promised land California
dust weary farmers joined millions of other panelist people who were wandering the country looking for a second chance
the transportation of choice was the freight train riding the rails was dangerous the trains were patrolled by
vicious guards but the price was right
when it's gonna leave they give you the high ball and that's two shorts and alone man you better get ready then
cause he's pulling out [Music]
[Music]
couple lives and sightless fools along the way I've taken sightless windows
stare the empty streets no love beckons me save that which I've forsaken the
anguish of my solitary [Music]
the actor Robert Mitchum wrote his poem in 1932 and he was just another teenager inserts a Salvation a time there were so
many people on the train that the train crew couldn't walk the tops
I met former bankers college professors all sorts of people riding the freight
trains a lot of them didn't really have a destination they were just trying to
get away from where they work but everywhere they got to seem just as
hopeless as the place they left behind
numbers of towns that would arrest those people who came there there was
particular concern about what we called the wild boys of the road President Hoover sent undercover agents to ride
the rails and assess the danger one of them was a young law student named
Melvin belli you saw part of America at that time that gave fear to everybody in
Washington there's something wrong with the country and it's so wrong that these people are going to want a revolution
strikes and protests were spreading becoming angry and more violent bill
wheeler was a 19 year old truck driver when he witnessed a demonstration in New York I swear was just filled with mobs
of people they were demonstrating it turned out for unemployment relief
unemployment benefits and the police and the firemen were mowing him down with
the fire hoses cops were beating him on the head it was unbelievable
radical movements like the Communist Party were gaining influence and converts President Hoover misread the
danger signals and still did nothing to ease the suffering we are convinced that we have overcome major financial crisis
a crisis in severity on for some the loss of faith was so profound that they
simply fled the country three years after Joseph Stalin had
predicted the death of capitalism a hundred thousand Americans moved to the Soviet Union to help build communism
there was work for anybody that wanted to work there was none of this going
around with you had to hand in tears in your eyes begging for a job it seemed to
be a land of great promise at that time [Music]
this was the only time in history that more people were leaving America than
coming to it
in time the Great Depression spread like a virus far beyond American borders
under watches signs of the political times play or blast on for the valley
that's super popular in Germany the situation was becoming dangerous the
depression only made worse the already harsh conditions brought on by Germany's loss he in World War one there was a few
puffs there was mass unemployment and because of this server protests marches
demonstrations street fighters they're
unemployed people they walk through the town and they shouted slogans give us
bread give us work by the Anki there was
so much unrest so much disorder
gasps - I know I know whew ah I needed a powerful leader a
powerful man to lead us out of it
[Music] the first time I saw the Nazi same arched around in town
they said brown shirts on their uniforms and they had music and they had flags
and I remember how it impressed me something military if you children
belong along them and tried to sing their songs the leader of the Nazi
movement knew instinctively that Germany suffering was his opportunity Adolf
Hitler told the demoralized German that he could cure what ailed them
[Music] [Applause]
his speeches so arousing he started all
this off quietly he died and he talked about ordinary
citizens and he worked himself up saying
something like our enemies say think we are the footmen also heard and I promise
you I will erase all that we demand our place in the Sun which is rightly ours
and I will eat you there I will eat you there I promise it I is analyzed under
the movie Valentine in 1932 Hitler's rapidly growing Nazi
Party took 37 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections though not a majority he had uphold all the other
parties Hitler used his new strength to seize the chancellorship of Germany and
destroy opposition to his rule On January 30th 1933 his followers
celebrated his ascension to power with a torchlight victory parade through Berlin
propelled by hard times the Nazi era had begun
the procession moved on smoothly built em Strasse Martian music could be heard
the torch lights Rev the gleaming and
there was such strange light in the state [Music]
enter versus atmosphere of a reality so
much black magic it doubles it to allows
a masses and such visit they forgot reason but he had charisma no doubt
about more and he promised the people that they would get work people we're
desperate you see people being desperate they will run
after the man like it it's proposed I've comet primary organ
for mr. Garland [Music] [Applause]
[Music] 19:32 was also a year a decision for
Americans Republican President Herbert
Roosevelt
Hoover campaigned for re-election only to find that everywhere he went his name
had become synonymous with failure
shantytowns of unemployed men were now called Hoovervilles newspapers were
Hoover blankets empty pockets Hoover Flags the very first task of this
country is to see that no man woman or child shall go home it was said of
Hoover that even dogs took an instinctive dislike to him and in the
1932 campaign one man wired him vote for Roosevelt and make a unanimous
California - 44 votes for Franklin dear
old now New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt was
the Democratic Party candidate he had been struck by polio in 1921 he
was known more for his charm and his accomplishments most people were not
sure what he meant when he promised a new deal to the American people neither
was he but Roosevelt appeared optimistic confident and he wasn't Herbert Hoover
stock campaign slogan physics happy baby ever again
good that's right Roosevelt won in the greatest electoral
landslide America had ever seen and he faced perhaps the greatest challenge
ever presented to an American leader the
four million unemployed of 1930 had turned into sixteen million by 1933
twenty-five percent of the American workforce I mean the American economy
was in freefall colonists disagree to some extent on this but we could have
lost everything in 1933 [Music] it was that bad
hi Franklin Delano Roosevelt on inauguration day nearly a hundred thousand people braved a cold March
morning to hear what the new president would do this great nation will endure as it has endured let me assert that
magnificent resonance coming out we have
nothing to fear but fear itself and everybody would look at each other they'd nod their head right and then
you'd say my friends everybody could feel he was talking to him that was one
of his friends that was one of his people and me a little black boy down in
Georgia hearing that voice over the radio you know I felt it it wasn't that
he told it to dad and daddy told it to me I told it to mama and man no he was talking to little Aussie sitting there
listening to him he could through the magic of his voice and radio reach out
and involve you in the great adventure of building making America work again
Roosevelt moved decisively to restore confidence in the country's financial system in one daring move he closed the
nation's banks and ordered the Treasury to rush them to billion dollars in new currency let me make it clear that the
reaction was to his cozy the bank thank God somebody has come in and had done
something when the banks reopened deposits easily exceeded withdrawals
rescuing the banks was only the beginning in his first hundred days in the White House
Roosevelt moved at a breathtaking pace regulating business helping farmers pumping new money into the economy
it was the most massive intervention in the lives of the American people the country had ever known Roosevelt put
people on the government payroll when private business didn't hire them fast enough the wild boys of the road became
part of the Civilian Conservation Corps planting trees and building roads across America they shipped us out to bottom of
Grand Canyon would build trails you know for people coming in sightseeing we got
$5 a month then they sent 25 home for your family live on his was the federal
government stepping in to help people
it may not have been enough in some cases it didn't help but somebody was
trying and one had that feeling that maybe it was going to work
San Francisco
[Music] millions of Americans had been helped in
the first year of the New Deal but for millions more the year 1933 ended in
frustration President Roosevelt had lifted their spirits but not their
circumstances after a time the haunting thought could not be put down that maybe
this Great Depression was never going to end but with the sense of rising
expectations people are stirred out of their lethargy and in 1934 there is the
most radical mood of any year of the Great Depression President Roosevelt had
contributed to that radical mood when he became the first American president to say that labor had a right to unionize
but businessman remained finally anti-union in the spring of 1934
emboldened dock workers closed ports all along the Pacific coast in San Francisco
there strike turned violent
[Music] we heard on the radio that all this
terrible stuff was going on with a waterphone and my husband was down there
and I remember my mother and I were frightened and very upset would would Harold make it it got so bad that two
men were killed they were killed by bullets ostensibly from the police
nobody really ever figured that one out totally
Harold was right on the corner where one was killed
shocked the city killings then used to shock people
[Music] the funeral for the two murdered strikers drew 50,000 people that funeral
so it's so shocked the city it was so
impressive that was enough to infuriate
the people of San Cisco so much they said we've had it every day we'll watch
these launch Robin and seamen getting beaten and clubbed we've had it up to my eyebrows by God whatever it takes to win
a strike we're gonna win it and they stopped all work even a barber says we
refuse to give a haircut to anybody until the strike is over was sympathize with the Union we sympathize with the
men and so they'd shut the port down shut the city down little stores closed
until our boys win the city was quiet as hell
nothing moved before solid days
[Applause] the longshoremen won virtually all their demands encouraging workers across the
country to move against management in 1934 there were more than 1800 strikes
for union recognition coal miners steel
worker well different people packing out
they set up a bunch of starving seamen and longshoremen whether the forum and
we could do it back in Pittsburgh what we could do in here we could do it there
labor unrest was only one of Roosevelt's problems in 1934 economic recovery had
stalled and critics complained that he'd gone too far the constitutionality of some New Deal programs were being
challenged in the courts and business leaders were warning that FDR had steered the country recklessly to the
left but Roosevelt knew that his program still hadn't reached millions of desperate Americans and he didn't know
how long they would wait discontent and frustration gave rise to any number of
demagogues including the charismatic radio priest father Charles Coughlin dr.
Francis Townsend self-proclaimed advocate for the elderly radical
Spellbinders who claimed the New Deal was dying during 1934 one of these would
be saviors developed a national following and presidential ambitions he
was called the kingfish senator and former Louisiana governor Huey Long
after we told you people that Hoover was a numbskull the best entertainment you had was when
Huey came to town to speak put it into plow a fella fired raw cotton everybody
went to hear him well did they were for him or against him he was marvelous the Lord has answered the prayer he is
called the barbecue he used such expressive language he said so one guess
had to listen five million and when people listened many discover they liked what they heard
what Huey Long was saying was that he was going to soak the rich and he was
going to give that money to the poor his plan was never really carefully worked out and in his own state in Louisiana he
fell notably short of redistributing the wealth but it had a kind of direct
appeal that the more complex programs of the New Deal lacked and also provided a
focus for the Animus against the rich that had been building
during the years of the Great Depression long-promised every American a house a
car a radio in return he wanted power absolute power you couldn't do anything
in Louisiana as he got his okay he was vicious he told him no he'd knock you
down he had built up a private police force he had shown his contempt for the
democratic processes and that created a great deal of worry in Washington not
just southerners but Midwestern farmers in New York factory workers were joining long share our wealth clubs by 1935
Franklin Roosevelt was privately calling Huey Long the most dangerous man in America they set up in cold gentle us
down here to take charge when you have food riots you have the makings of a
dictatorship don't think you wouldn't illa - you
might vote the wrong way if he rose on
votes thank you along with rising on a vote so painful to hear we long never got the
chance to run for president he was cut down by an assassin in September 1935 by
The Second Hundred Days
then President Roosevelt was hard at work on a populist agenda of his own pushing Congress to create the social
security programs welfare for the poor and jobs for 8 million people on public
projects of every description this was called the second hundred days and it
reshaped American life the legislation of the second hundred days gives an
underpinning to the economy that's not been there before there's now a system
of unemployment compensation of old-age pensions the United States for the first
time has a centralized banking system and by 1936 there are visible scenes of
recovery six years after he lost his
grocery store Miriam Johnson's father found a steady job with the Works Progress Administration he was so happy
to get up in the morning my father was so happy even though the work by this time he wasn't a kid it was pick a
travel work you know but he was so happy to have something to do and to get paid
for it to me the Roosevelt era revolutionized
the perception of what government owes the people and what its role is problems
that he put in were imperative of that period and I think it was a godsend that
we had him and we maintained the democracy that we had all cherished
campaigning for a second term in 1936 Roosevelt told a cheering crowd you look
happier today than you did four years ago and they were Franklin Delano
Roosevelt was reelected by the greatest margin in the history of American politics
in the four years since President Roosevelt had taken office America had experienced a revolution and it had been
led by the President himself [Music]
the New Deal programs of the Depression era transformed the country's landscape
one project alone the Tennessee Valley Authority built dams brought electricity
ended floods and lifted families out of poverty in seven states
but as he took office for his second term in January 1937 Roosevelt's New
Deal still had not completely overcome the depression in America by 1937 the
depression in Germany was over Adolf Hitler had kept his promise to give the
people work [Music] unemployed people disappeared
practically overnight we're no young healthy man standing at
the corners of Berlin and begging around for pennies he bled jobs we're happy the
secret of Germany's new prosperity was rearmament there were plenty of jobs
making powerful new weapons and building a highway system as much for tanks as
for cars [Music]
was also a kind of New Deal but he was preparing for war
the first step came in March of 1936 when German troops marched unopposed
into the Rhineland to reoccupy territory lost to France after the First World War
[Music] was leading us to the place of the Sun
and I sincerely and annas believed in
all [Music] my father argument started in another of
them said no fritz leaves that boy alone he can't help it took his so brainwashed
and I started again was my mother what do you mean by brainwashing now of
course I realize my hands were right but I it's all too late
[Music] now Adolf Hitler would try to keep
another promise to the German people to build a new German Empire one he said
that would last a thousand years [Music]
depression and desperation had unleashed a force that would alter the course of the 20th century we'll see that on the
next episode of the century America's time I'm Peter Jennings thank you for
joining us [Music]
you [Music]
The Century: America's TIme - 1929-1936: Stor
