American History Tellers - Encore: Political Parties | The New Deal Coalition | 5

Episode Date: October 7, 2020

The 1929 stock market crash saw 14 billion dollars vanish in a matter of hours — and with it, the Republican party’s decades-long grip on American politics. As Americans lost their livelihoods, they turned to President Herbert Hoover for relief. But the self-made man who had so successfully reversed his own fortunes seemed unable to do the same for his country. With discontent growing, Hoover turned on World War veterans demanding early bonus payouts to support their families. It would prove the last straw for many Americans.The landslide election of 1932 would mark a profound realignment in U.S. politics, bringing urban centers under Democratic control for the first time in the party’s history. And it would propel into the White House Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose sweeping New Deal would permanently transform the American political landscape.Support this show by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. This is a special encore presentation of our series on political parties in the United States. As we head into November and face a contentious and consequential election, it seems a ripe time to revisit how we got here in the first place. It wasn't always Democrats and Republicans. And if you'd like even more insight into our American political process, search for

and subscribe to another one of my podcasts, American Election's Wicked Game. It chronicles every single presidential election from 1789 to 2020. Both in this series and in that podcast, you'll find our current strife isn't so new, and certainly not any worse than it has been. Hopefully, that's a comfort. Imagine it's November 16th, 1929. You're a corporate lawyer in a small firm in New York City. It's Saturday morning, a cool day in late fall, and you're in your lawyer in a small firm in New York City. It's Saturday morning, a cool day in late fall, and you're in your seventh floor office in the Munson building on Wall Street. You've been spending a lot of time here lately, ever since the stock market

crashed three weeks ago. Businesses are suffering all over the city, but not yours. Demand for your firm's services is at an all-time high. Having just finished up with a client, you step out of your small office and into the firm's main room. Your secretary, Stella, looks up and smiles. Care for a cup of coffee, Mr. Hawthorne? I'm going to need a whole pot before this morning is through. Who's next on the list? As Stella opens your appointment book, you hear a commotion in the hallway leading to the front lobby. Hurried footsteps approach, and a well-dressed man strides into the room, followed by the receptionist. I tried to stop him, Mr. Hawthorne, but he insisted on seeing you. He says he's supposed to see Mr. Fox this morning. The man's suit is modern and well-cut, but he has a disheveled

look about him, as though he's been up all night. He's hatless and unshaven, and his face is pale like he's been sick. Can I help you? Mr. Cutler, George Cutler of Cutler Produce. We're down on Greenwich Street across from Washington Market. Look, I need to see Mr. Fox. It's urgent. I'm afraid Mr. Fox isn't here today. He was feeling ill after the long week. I'm sure he'll be back Monday morning. Cutler looks around himself in desperation. I can't wait till Monday morning. My business will be sunk by then. I had an appointment with Mr. Fox. Now, sir, as I said, he's not been feeling well, but I'm sure I can be of assistance in his absence. The man looks close to tears. Without answering, he walks over to a nearby window and looks out,

as though expecting to see Fox down on the street somewhere. He finally turns back and looks at you with an anguished expression. You don't understand. I've lost everything in this whole mess. I can't pay my suppliers. Without suppliers, I won't have any fresh produce to sell. It's not like anyone's extending credit right now. And how is Mr. Fox going to help you? We're old schoolmates. I was going to ask him for a loan. Personal loan. I'm grasping at straws. You're not sure what to say.

As you try to formulate a compassionate response, Cutler walks back over to the window. Calmly, he unlocks the window and lifts it. Then he begins to climb out. What are you doing? You rush to the window and grab his arm, yanking him back inside. The two of you fall to the ground, but he stands and lunges for the window again. You jump to your feet, throwing your arms around his waist to hold him back. You hear Stella calling for help behind you. Cutler turns and shoves you hard in the center of the chest. You lose your grip on him

and stagger back, tumbling onto your backside. He turns and climbs out the window, his coat flapping behind him in the wind. You scramble again to your feet and reach out, grabbing his coattails. But it is too late. He slid out of the coat and left it clutched in your fist. It's a hundred feet to the ground below. right now by joining Wondery Plus. From Wondery comes a new series about a lawyer who broke all the rules. Need to launder some money? Broker a deal with a drug cartel? Take out a witness?

Paul can do it. I'm your host, Brandon Jinks Jenkins. Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history. Your story. No image characterizes the tragic desperation of the 1929 stock market crash better than the distraught investor leaping to his death from a New York City high-rise. Though not as common in reality as in mythology, there were a number of unlucky souls who chose to end it this way, giving rise to an enduring image.

George Cutler was a 30-year veteran of the produce business in New York City and lost everything when the stock market crashed. As a prominent member of the business community, his suicide was reported in the New York Times and helped cement the image of the leaping investor in the public consciousness. The stock market crash and the subsequent Great Depression of the leaping investor in the public consciousness. The stock market crash and the subsequent Great Depression led to a realignment in American politics. The Republican Party's 70-year golden age came to an end, and a new era of dominance emerged for the Democratic Party. Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal changed the way people viewed government, and party ideology shifted leftward among both Democrats and Republicans, leading conservatives from both parties to band together in opposition to the

liberal tide. And in the middle of the century, the fight for civil rights captures the political discourse, leading to the formation of a new party intent on maintaining the status quo of white supremacy. In just four days, in late October 1929, American investors lost more money than the U.S. had spent in the entire First World War a decade earlier, about $30 billion. The crisis culminated on Black Tuesday, October 29th, when $14 billion was lost in a span of just five hours. That was nearly five times the entire federal budget for the whole year. Over the following months and years, matters only grew worse. By July of 1932, the stock market bottomed out at its lowest level of the century, having lost 90% of its pre-crash value. It would take 25 years to recover. The nation's economy was decimated. Millions of people lost everything in the stock market,

while millions more lost what little savings they had when the banks failed. Most banks at that time were small, local institutions with no regulation and no federal safeguards. When they failed, the money was just gone. Between 1929 and 1933, more than 9,000 banks went under, nearly 40% of the country's total. During that same period, manufacturing decreased dramatically while unemployment shot to 25%. And those who were employed frequently found themselves working only part-time jobs for lower wages.

With so many people out of work and their life savings gone, people bought fewer products. Poor sales hurt businesses. The few remaining banks were unwilling to provide loans for these struggling companies. And as a result, more than 100,000 businesses failed between 1929 and 1933, leading to further unemployment and poverty. Shanty towns of the unemployed and homeless sprang out all over the country. Democrats began calling them Hoovervilles after the president whom they blamed for the crisis. Republican President Herbert Hoover had only been in office for seven months when the stock market

crashed. During his campaign a year earlier, he had stated, We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. Those words would come back to haunt him. But at the time, the sentiment seemed to make sense. Republicans had held the White House for most of the past 70 years and had overseen an unprecedented age of prosperity. By the time Hoover took office, the nation's gross domestic product topped $100 million for the first time. That was a six-fold increase in just three decades.

Hoover represented the conservative Republican ideal of the self-made man. He was born into a modest family of Iowa Quakers. His father died, though, when Hoover was only six years old, and his mother followed three years later. Orphaned at the age of nine, he spent the remainder of his childhood living in Oregon with an uncle. But he overcame. He was in the first graduating class of Stanford University in 1895, earning a degree in geology. Afterward, he went to work in the mining business, where he quickly distinguished himself and began to earn significant income. By the start of World War I, he was among the wealthiest mining magnates in the world. During the war, Hoover began working

in the public sector, overseeing relief organizations in Europe. And once the U.S. became involved in the war directly, he was named by President Woodrow Wilson to head up the country's efforts to supply food to American and Allied soldiers. He became the Secretary of Commerce under Warren G. Harding in 1921 and held the position until his own election as president in 1928. Hoover espoused the Republican ideals of limited government and fiscal conservatism. He believed in self-reliance and rugged individualism. Arguing against government intervention during the Depression, he stated, every step in that direction poisons the very roots of liberalism. It poisons political

equality, free speech, free press, and equality of opportunity. It is a road not to more liberty, but to less liberty. And as the Great Depression worsened, Hoover only took limited action to relieve the suffering. Many of the policies he did support proved ineffective or even made matters worse. Most notable was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was authored by two Republicans and signed into law in 1930 by Hoover. It raised tariffs on imported goods in an effort to encourage Americans to buy American-made products. Protectionist tariffs had been a central plank of the Republican Party platform since its founding. It had also been a central focus of its two predecessors, the Whigs and the

National Republicans. But more than a thousand economists sponsored a petition encouraging the president not to sign it. Hoover, however, listening to pleas from conservative business interests, signed it anyway. Soon thereafter, American trading partners retaliated by raising their own tariffs on American goods, and the result was that U.S. exports dropped dramatically, harming the economy even further. By the time the presidential campaign of 1932 rolled around, there was very little cause for enthusiasm among Republicans. But what little hope the party might have had for Hoover's re-election came crashing down in July when the Bonus Army came to Washington. Imagine it's late in the evening on July 28, 1932.

You're a veteran of the World War, but you're camped out in a Hooverville near the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. You're here with your wife and your son, who have traveled with you from your home in Atlanta to demand an early payout of the bonuses you've been promised for your military service. Technically, they're not obligated to pay until 1945, but you haven't had a job in months, and at the rate things are going, your family won't make it through the winter.

You've fashioned a hut from several large pieces of rusted tin siding propped up with discarded pieces of lumber. It's been your family's home since May. Your son is asleep on a cot, while you and your wife sit together on a bench made from two paint cans and a piece of plywood. In May, you and nearly 20,000 other unemployed veterans came to Washington to demand payment on your bonuses. This afternoon, however, President Hoover called out the military to evict you. They sprayed tear gas on protesters and charged them with fixed bayonets. Your camp here

on the other side of the Anacostia has become a last refuge for what the newspapers have been calling the Bonus Army. Your wife looks scared, looking out at the armed men assembled across the river. Unlike your Bonus Army protesters, they have actual weapons. What do you think they're going to do to us? Will they make us leave? After what they did this afternoon, they're clearly trying to evict us. But they'll have to do worse than tear gas. Alice told me that she heard someone was shot by the police.

That was before the army got there. And it was two people, two veterans, who fought for their country, only to be gunned down in Washington, D.C. by their own government. One of them's already died, a fellow from St. Louis. I met him. Across the river, cavalrymen, soldiers, and even a few tanks begin to move, lining up to cross the river toward you. Soon the first of several cavalrymen gallop past, yelling for everyone to get their belongings and go. Your son wakes up from his cot and begins to cry. Your wife scrambles to gather your few possessions, and you pick up your son and try to soothe him. Everything's going to be okay. We're just going to get out of here.

But tanks rumble in the distance, and there is sporadic gunfire and screaming. Then you see flames. Oh God, go, go. Your family runs through the mud between the huts. Soldiers and horses are everywhere, rousting people from their tents and loontoes. More fires are burning, and the tanks are getting closer. The sounds of screaming and children crying are everywhere. A stray bullet pings off a can near your feet, and you clutch your son tightly as you race through the encampment. The night is lit by fires, throwing great orange flames into the night sky. Your wife is shaking, crying. They didn't even have the decency to give us one more night in camp. They've left us with nowhere to go in the middle of the night. It's a final insult. A last kick to let us one more night in camp. They've left us with nowhere to go. In the middle of the night.

It's a final insult. A last kick to let us know how much they appreciate what we've sacrificed for this country. You are hollowed out. You have scars on your back and thigh from wounds you suffered in service of this country. A country that just set tanks and rifles against you. Against your wife.

Your child. You have no idea what to do now or where to go. You suppose it'll be back to the bread lines and soup kitchens of Atlanta, right back to where you started. Back in 1924, Congress had passed a bill authorizing bonuses for war veterans. But it came with a catch. The bonuses were not payable until 1945. The concession was necessary to appease the fiscal conservatives in Congress who were worried about the cost of an immediate disbursement. For nearly a decade, the bill held up.

But when the Great Depression came, tens of thousands of unemployed veterans realized they could not wait. They marched on Washington in 1932 to demand an early payout. Democrats, holding a slight majority in the House of Representatives, passed a bill in June to pay the bonuses out immediately. They argued it would not only honor veterans, but it would also act as an effective economic stimulus. The Senate, though,

controlled by Republicans, disagreed and voted down the measure. Despite failing to get what they wanted, many thousands of veterans stayed in Washington through the summer and continued protesting. By the end of July, President Hoover asked the Washington police to disperse them. After police clashed with protesters in the morning and killed two veterans, Hoover called in the military. They were given orders to clear the marchers out of Washington, but not to cross the Anacostia River. General Douglas MacArthur, though, who led the expedition, ignored Hoover's orders and attacked the camp anyway. Hundreds were injured and hospitals overflowed. The Hoover administration's harsh

treatment of the Bonus Army only deepened many people's profound distrust of Hoover's ability to lead the country. But there was also another big issue that hurt Hoover in the run-up to the election—his tacit support for Prohibition. Enshrined into the Constitution by the 18th Amendment, Prohibition had never been popular among Democrats. Now calls for its repeal were gaining traction. Proponents of repeal saw the manufacture and sale of alcohol as a viable way to get people back to work and spending money. The Temperance Movement had been spearheaded by women and evangelical Protestant organizations,

both of whom tended to vote Republican. But by the end of Hoover's term, even many Republicans were calling for a repeal of the 18th Amendment. It didn't bode well for Hoover. In the fall of 1932, Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. The election marked a shift in the parties. Cities up to this time had typically been Republican strongholds as centers of business and commerce. But in 1932, though, with urban economies shattered by the Great Depression, Democrats took control of many cities for the first time in the party's hundred

years of existence. Roosevelt earned a higher percentage of the popular vote than any Democratic president before him, eclipsing even Andrew Jackson. He was only the third Democrat elected to the presidency since before the Civil War. The Republican Party's 70-year domination of Washington politics was over. It would be 20 years before another Republican would win the White House. The era of the New Deal had begun. And while America would return to prosperity, partisan battles of the following decades would transform American politics forever. and we fight just like you'd want your own children defended. Whether you're facing a drug charge, caught up on a murder rap, accused of committing war crimes,

look no further than Paul Bergeron. All the big guys go to Bergeron because he gets everybody off. You name it, Paul can do it. Need to launder some money? Broker a deal with a drug cartel? Take out a witness? From Wondery, the makers of Dr. Death and Over My Dead Body, comes a new series about a lawyer who broke all the rules.

Isn't it funny how witnesses disappear or how evidence doesn't show up or somebody doesn't testify correctly? In order to win at all costs. If Paul asked you to do something, it wasn't a request. It was an order. I'm your host, Brandon James Jenkins. Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Criminal Attorney early and ad-free right now

by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. In November 1991, media tycoon Robert Maxwell mysteriously vanished from his luxury yacht in the Canary Islands. But it wasn't just his body that would come to the surface in the days that followed. It soon emerged that Robert's business was on the brink of collapse, and behind his facade of wealth and success was a litany of bad investments, mounting debt, and multi-million dollar fraud. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show Business Movers. We tell the true stories of business leaders who risked it all, the critical moments that define their journey, and the ideas that transform the way we live our leaders who risked it all, the critical moments that define their journey,

and the ideas that transform the way we live our lives. In our latest series, a young refugee fleeing the Nazis arrives in Britain determined to make something of his life. Taking the name Robert Maxwell, he builds a publishing and newspaper empire that spans the globe. But ambition eventually curdles into desperation, and Robert's determination to succeed turns into a willingness to do anything to get ahead.

Follow Business Movers wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. When Franklin Roosevelt took the oath of office on March 4th, 1933, the most immediate issue facing the nation was the collapse of the banking system. With more than 13 million Americans unemployed, an anxious public began hoarding cash, withdrawing all they could from banks. And with their vaults empty, those banks began to fail. States stepped in to staunch the bleeding. On February 3, 1933, the Louisiana governor announced a new state holiday manufactured solely to allow banks time to bring in more

currency. Two weeks later, on February 14, the state of Michigan announced an eight-day holiday. Other states followed suit, announcing their own bank closures. On the day of Roosevelt's inauguration, March 4, 1933, Delaware became the 48th state to close its banks or restrict withdrawals. Two days later, Roosevelt himself called for a federal bank holiday, closing banks across the country. A few days later, he called the new Congress into a special early session. They immediately passed a bill authorizing the Federal Reserve to pour cash into the banks, providing a much-needed boost of confidence in the stability of the banking system. When the banks reopened eight days later,

people stood in line to deposit the cash they'd been hoarding for months and years. Deposits finally began to outpace withdrawals. And almost overnight, the bank panic was over. When the New York Stock Exchange opened the next day, stock prices shot up in a frenzy of buying. The market increased by more than 15% that day, the biggest single-day jump in history. In a mere 10 days, Franklin Roosevelt had achieved more to slow the progress of the Great Depression than anyone had managed to accomplish in four years before he took office. Much of his success was due to the charisma and engaging presence of the man himself.

Unlike Hoover before him, Roosevelt had been born into an old American family of wealth and privilege. He was still a teenager when his fifth cousin, Theodore Roosevelt, became president in 1901. Soon after, Franklin began dating Theodore's niece, Eleanor Roosevelt, and they married in 1905. After a brief stint as a lawyer, Roosevelt entered New York politics to follow in his cousin's footsteps. Though Theodore was a Republican and Franklin an avowed Democrat, young Franklin idolized his cousin and sought to emulate his dynamic leadership style. He served briefly in the New York legislature before being named Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913. He held that role throughout World War I before running for Vice President on the

Democratic ticket in 1920. Together with Ohio Governor James Cox, Roosevelt lost that election in a landslide to Republican Warren G. Harding. A year later, Roosevelt came down with a paralyzing illness that was ultimately diagnosed as polio. He would remain in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Though the illness put his political career on hold for several years, he eventually returned to politics, becoming governor of New York in 1929. His fame quickly rose from there, culminating with his victory over Hoover in 1932. Like Andrew Jackson a century earlier, Roosevelt was a champion of the common man, though he expanded the democratic vision to include African Americans

as well as whites. As governor of New York, he used emergency relief funds for public works programs to help New Yorkers during the Depression, the first program of its kind in the nation. He also called for aid to farmers, old-age pensions, and unemployment insurance. He believed government assistance to the unemployed was a civic obligation, stating, to these unfortunate citizens, aid must be extended by the government, not as a matter of charity, but as a matter of social duty. After becoming president, Roosevelt packaged much of his political philosophy into a series of bills known as the New Deal. He pitched and sold these ideas to the American people through his popular fireside chats, regular radio addresses made directly to the American people. In time, the New

Deal would change the entire face of American politics. The government would begin taking a firmer role in economic regulation and back stronger social welfare programs. The original conservative ideal of a nation run hands-off by a small federal government, uninhibited by large-scale policy or legislation, was fading. Presidents from this time forward, from both parties, would be more centrally involved in the legislative process, laying bold agendas before Congress and working to shepherd them through. The executive office would grow stronger,

and the federal government in general would begin to take on more power and influence. Politics in America would never be the same. After the initial measures taken to protect the banking industry, Roosevelt and the Democrats set out to further shore up the economy and get people back to work. As part of the New Deal, they built the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, which offered a federal guarantee to any funds deposited in FDIC-insured banks. Bank runs would never again be necessary. People could trust that their money was safe, even if the bank failed. The New Deal also established the Social Security Administration to assist people after retirement.

It also set out to fight both rural and urban poverty, creating the first food stamp program in U.S. history. New Deal laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act strengthened the rights of labor unions and workers. It established a 44-hour work week, a federal minimum wage, and established the notion of time and a half for any overtime worked. Finally, the New Deal established the Works Progress Administration. The WPA pumped billions of dollars into public works projects and infrastructure, and in the process, it provided millions of jobs to the unemployed, building roads, bridges, and public buildings throughout the United States. The New Deal was such an ambitious and influential program that it essentially reshaped the entire political landscape. Prior to this time, a liberal was

someone who supported economic policies generally championed by Republicans, small government, and free markets. It was a policy that focused on the producers in society, with a belief that strengthening their wealth would help everyone. The New Deal changed American liberalism's focus from producers to consumers. Now, a liberal was anyone who supported the notion of a powerful central government, stronger market regulations, and a fair distribution of wealth. A conservative, on the other hand, was anyone who opposed the New Deal. Conservatives looked to return the nation and its government

back to its heyday before the Great Depression. Outside of the South, the Democratic Party became dominated by these new liberals. Even Republicans moved leftward from their pre-Depression conservatism, though traditional conservatives continued to control a large faction within the party. Coalitions ultimately formed around these two perspectives. The so-called New Deal coalition included labor unions, minorities, farmers, intellectuals, urban dwellers, and moderate Republicans. Meanwhile, the conservative coalition that opposed the New Deal included conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats, Wall Street elites,

and many white Protestants. The leader of the conservative coalition was Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft. Like the Roosevelts, the Taft family was one of the most prominent political families in America. Robert's father was former President William Howard Taft, who had later served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. His grandfather, Alfonso, had been Secretary of War under Ulysses S. Grant, and one of his uncles had served in Congress in the 1890s. Much like Herbert Hoover, Robert Taft was a conservative Republican who was skeptical of government bureaucracy. He believed it was wasteful and inefficient. Instead, he preferred policies

to support free enterprise and individual responsibility. Though he supported public housing and social security, he denounced most welfare programs as inherently undemocratic and socialist in nature. He accepted that some early New Deal legislation had been necessary to stem the worst of the bleeding, but like many conservatives, he felt that Roosevelt and the liberals had gone too far in their efforts. In the process, Taft believed they had created a monster out of the federal government. Though Democrats continued to hold a majority in Congress after 1938, Taft's conservative coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats

was large enough to block further New Deal legislation and even end programs already in place which they felt had run their course. When World War II broke out, Taft and the conservatives supported much of Roosevelt's war efforts. But the war brought full employment to the economy, and Congress allowed a number of New Deal programs, including the WPA, to expire. Roosevelt died in office in 1945, just before the end of the war. He was replaced by his vice president, Harry Truman. Truman oversaw the end of the war and reorganization of post-war Europe,

and was largely supported by both conservatives and liberals in his foreign policy. But on the home front, things were growing restless. Controversy over labor unions had brewed in the background of American politics since the late 19th century. Parties such as the People's Party and the Socialist Party had championed the causes of labor around the turn of the century. Many of their values had been adopted into the progressive movement, where they eventually made their way into the platform of the Democratic Party. Republicans, on the other hand, saw labor unions as agitators who threatened the nation's economic stability. Under Roosevelt and the New Deal, labor unions had enjoyed the passage of several favorable laws,

but Republicans had long vowed to see those laws undone. The stage was set for a confrontation. Imagine it's October 5th, 1945. It's about 9 o'clock in the morning, but already unseasonably warm. You're a carpenter in Los Angeles, working primarily building sets for Hollywood movie studios. But today, you're not working. You're part of a picket line outside the gates of Warner Brothers Studios. You and your fellow union workers have been on strike for about six months now, seeking a new contract with the production companies.

The whole process has been dragging on for two years, and you're still not getting paid what you deserve. You're tired of being taken advantage of, while well-fed businessmen sit in their conference rooms arguing jurisdiction and procedure and whatever else. With an old air raid helmet on your head and a billy club in your hand, you're crouched behind an overturned car with your friend and fellow carpenter, Frank Haywood. A line of bottles and rocks sit near at hand, ready to be thrown. The acrid smell of tear gas is in the air. Frank points up to the roof of one of the studio buildings. Studio security is up there, moving around. See him? Yeah, that must be where the tear gas came from.

A few minutes ago, a group of you overturned the car of a scab trying to break through the line. As the man fled in terror, someone threw the tear gas. But no one was sure where it came from. But now you know. Several hundred yards away from you is a large group of strikebreakers, goons hired by the studios to cross the picket line. They're armed with everything from brass knuckles and metal pipes to hammers and chains. With them are a gathering group of police officers.

Even the fire department is here. You can see them unrolling hoses from their trucks. As you watch, you see a group of the strikebreakers begin to advance. Frank grabs two bottles, hands one to you. Get ready. Here they come. The strike breakers are moving quicker now, heading right for the middle of the picket line, which is spread out to your left and right. Frank stands up and hurls the bottle with all his might at the group of scabs. It hits one of the approaching men right

in the chest. Your fellow strikers let out a cheer. And more where that came from, you bastards. More strikers begin to throw rocks and bottles and anything else they can get their hands on. You take aim at a man carrying a sledgehammer and throw your bottle, but it misses. Instead, it hits the ground, shattering glass in all directions. But instead of scaring them away, the projectiles spur the strikebreakers into a frenzy, and they begin to charge forward. Hold the line! Hold the line! A man scrambles over the car in front of you, swinging a heavy chain. You lower your head and plow into him, knocking him back against the car. He lashes the chain, and you swing your club in self-defense. With your back turned, another man leaps onto you

from the top of the car. As the two of you crash to the ground, a stinging blast of water hits you both and flings you apart. You tumble, head over heels, your head spinning and blood gushing from your nose. You try to crawl further away from the terrible hoses, but they keep finding you and keep knocking you to the ground. You finally collapse against a wall, bruised and bleeding, looking around amid the shouts and smoke, searching for Frank. He's still standing and still calling out to hold the line. A wave of labor unrest followed the end of World War II. With Depression-era price controls largely removed from consumer goods, prices began to rise and union workers began demanding better pay to pay for them. Fearing

labor strikes might negatively affect the war effort, Roosevelt's National War Labor Board bargained with the labor unions. In exchange for limiting strikes, unions would get greater ability to create closed shops, workplaces where an employer can only hire union members. The bargaining served its purpose during the war, and labor unrest remained at a minimum. But with the war over and economic stress high, unions made up for lost time. One of the first in a series of strikes

was the 1945 walkout of Hollywood set builders. It culminated in Bloody Friday, where armed strikebreakers, police, and fire crews dispersed a crowd of strikers attempting to stop replacement workers from entering Warner Brothers Studios. Despite numerous injuries, the strike continued for another six months before the builders finally went back to work. Between 1945 and 1946, America saw some of the biggest strikes in its history. Strikes hit the steel industry, automobile industry, and the railroads, which was especially problematic as it disrupted the nation's main transportation system. Never friends of organized

labor, Robert Taft and the conservative coalition in Congress responded to the year-long wave of labor strikes with the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which put limits on how and when a labor union could strike. It outlawed closed shops entirely, giving employers sole discretion in hiring. It also permitted states to pass right-to-work laws, which prevented employees in a union shop from being forced to join the union. Though most congressional Democrats supported the Taft-Hartley Act, President Truman vetoed it, calling it a slave labor bill. Guided by Robert Taft, Congress overrode the veto, and the bill was enshrined into law. Unions would never again

enjoy the sort of wide-ranging power they once had. But while Truman was fighting with the conservative coalition in Congress, he also had a presidential election to think about. In 1948, he faced a difficult road to keep his office, as his popularity had plummeted after the war. A break with his own party didn't help matters. Southern Democrats had long sided in Congress with Republicans on issues like labor unions and urban development. But they had continued to support traditional democratic positions such as help for farmers,

social security, and minimum wage laws. But when Truman began pushing for civil rights for African Americans, it was all the Southern Democrats could take. They had no intention of letting the rest of the country dictate to them on segregation and the treatment of African Americans in the South. They had their own voice, and at the 1948 Democratic National Convention, they'd use it. Dracula, the ancient vampire who terrorizes Victorian London. Blood and garlic, bats and crucifixes. Even if you haven't read the book, you think you know the story. One of the incredible things about Dracula is that not only

is it this wonderful snapshot of the 19th century, but it also has so much resonance today. The vampire doesn't cast a reflection in a mirror. So when we look in the mirror, the only thing we see is our own monstrous abilities. sex, science, and religion, and how even today we remain enthralled to his strange creatures of the night. You can binge all episodes of The Real History of Dracula exclusively with Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus and The Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. For more than two centuries, the White House has been the stage for some of the most dramatic scenes in American history. Inspired by the hit podcast American History Tellers, Wondery and William Morrow present the new book,

The Hidden History of the White House. Each chapter will bring you inside the fierce power struggles, the world-altering decisions, and shocking scandals that have shaped our nation. You'll be there when the very foundations of the White House are laid in 1792, and you'll watch as the British burn it down in 1814. Then you'll hear the intimate conversations between FDR and Winston Churchill as they make plans to defeat Nazi forces in 1941.

And you'll be in the Situation Room when President Barack Obama approves the raid to bring down the most infamous terrorist in American history. Order The Hidden History of the White House now in hardcover or digital edition, wherever you get your books. Imagine it's July 14th, 1948. You're attending the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. You're a member of the Minnesota delegation, and your leader, Hubert Humphrey, is speaking to the gathered throng. Humphrey is the liberal mayor of Minneapolis, and he's a rising star in national politics. He's currently running for a seat in the U.S. Senate, but today he's here to talk to the convention about the party's platform. As his voice steadily grows stronger, you lean towards

your fellow delegate, Russell Hayes. Well, he's really going now. He'll be airborne before it's done. I don't think the gentleman from Alabama liked it very much. He points to the delegation sitting to your left. While most of the crowd is eagerly soaking in Humphrey's words, the group from Alabama looks grumpy. Lots of folded arms and scowls. One man is darkly smirking and shaking his head. Forget about them. They're not the future of the party. You point to Humphrey. That man is the future of the party.

Humphrey and the rest of the liberals have suggested an alternative to the moderate platform that is currently being considered. It is far more explicit and straight to the point on civil rights. The South, of course, hates it. But Humphrey is making an impassioned plea. We can be proud of the fact that our great and beloved immortal leader, Franklin Roosevelt, gave us guidance. We can be proud of the fact that Harry Truman had the courage to give the people of America the new Emancipation Proclamation. You and Russell and the rest of your state's delegates rise to your feet and cheer.

Humphrey is referring to the comprehensive civil rights package Truman has recently set before Congress. It represents the hope and future of race relations in the country. My friends, to those who say we are rushing the issue of civil rights, I say to them, we are 172 years late. To those who say that this civil rights program is an infringement on states' rights, I say this. The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forth rightly into the bright sunshine of human rights. You're on your feet, cheering wildly. But you notice that the delegates from Alabama are still in their seats, looking ever more angry.

Humphrey finally finishes his impassioned speech, and a vote is called on the proposed civil rights plank. After a long process of collecting votes, the convention chairman takes the podium to read the results. The results of the roll call vote have been tallied. 651 have voted in favor, against 582 opposed. The plank of Mr. Humphrey is adopted. Everyone is on their feet, cheering. But the leader of the Alabama delegation, Handy Ellis, is making his way through the crowd to the podium. Please, please, ma'am, your attention, please.

People of the South repudiate this platform as an aggression against states' rights. The delegates of Alabama bid you goodbye. Pandemonium erupts. You see the Alabama delegates begin to file out of the convention, escorted by police officers. The delegates from Mississippi are close behind them, marching out to loud boos from the crowd. This doesn't bode well. Truman can't win the general election if he can't carry the South. A split in the party could be catastrophic.

By the 1940s, most Southern states still had laws on the books designed to keep poor people, and especially African Americans, from voting. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and onerous registration requirements suppressed voter turnout. In 1944, only 18% of eligible voters in poll tax states voted in the presidential election. In the rest of the country, it was 68%. Recognizing these problems, in 1946, President Truman commissioned a civil rights committee to investigate abuses and make recommendations. A year later, they returned a report recommending a permanent civil rights commission, stronger laws against police brutality and lynching, and an abolition of poll taxes. The report also called for an end to segregation, calling it a moral wrong.

Southern Democrats were incensed. When the party then adopted a strongly worded civil rights plank at the 1948 National Convention, Southerners staged a walkout. These Dixiecrats immediately convened on their own and established the States' Rights Democratic Party. Their platform endorsed segregation and accused the Truman administration of totalitarianism. They sought to place, instead of Truman, South Carolina Democrat Strom Thurmond on the ballot as the main Democratic candidate in the South. But they were only able to succeed in four states,

Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina. Everywhere else in the South, Thurman was listed as a third-party candidate for the state's rights party. The Dixiecrats were under no delusions that they could win the election outright. They weren't even on the ballot outside of the South, except in North Dakota. Like many third parties before them, they simply hoped to win enough electoral votes to force a runoff in the House of Representatives between Truman and his Republican opponent, Thomas Dewey.

In a runoff, neither candidate could win without the support from Southern Democrats, forcing candidates to make concessions on civil rights. Even if Republican Dewey won the election outright, it would demonstrate the power of the Southern faction. Democrats couldn't win without them. The Dixiecrats, though, weren't Truman's only problem. A faction of liberal Democrats also split from the party, disagreeing with Truman's treatment of the Soviet Union and the brewing Cold War.

Recalling Theodore Roosevelt's old party, they called themselves the Progressive Party. Now, with the Democratic vote split three ways, everyone expected the moderate Republican Thomas Dewey to win the election, and easily. When the results came in, Thurmond and the Dixiecrats won all four Southern states where they were listed on the ballot as the main Democratic Party. Together with the Progressive Party, they took 5% of the popular vote from Truman. But it wasn't enough to give Dewey the election. Truman eked out a shocking victory. He was famously photographed gleefully holding up a morning edition of the Chicago Tribune,

which wrongly declared Dewey the victor. No one had seen it coming. In the years following Truman's surprise 1948 victory, the Democratic Party healed its divisions, though the Southern Democrats remained staunch opponents to civil rights reforms. With the help of Southern Republicans, they blocked virtually all of Truman's efforts to pass civil rights measures. Despite that, Democrats managed to maintain control in Washington for most of the ensuing years, though Republicans made some brief headway in the 1950s. Moderate Republican Dwight Eisenhower out-dueled conservative Robert Taft for the Republican nomination in 1952,

helping to ensure that the moderates retained control over the party. He went on to win the general election against liberal Democrat Adlai Stevenson and won re-election over Stevenson again four years later. But Democrats held on to Congress for most of Eisenhower's time in office. They took the presidency back in 1960 under the charismatic John F. Kennedy, and after his assassination in 1963, his vice president, Democrat Lyndon Johnson, took over. Backed by a liberal coalition in Congress, Johnson passed a series of laws that picked up where the New Deal had left off 25 years earlier. Called the Great Society, it included funds for rural development and assistance,

laws aimed at fighting poverty, and health care protection for the elderly and poor. It also established federal funds for public education and created the National Endowment for the Arts. Finally, it established a collection of laws aimed at environmental conservation and protection. In addition, Johnson also oversaw the passage of several landmark civil rights bills, most notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Both had strong bipartisan support,

but were widely opposed by Southern lawmakers from both parties. The Civil Rights Act banned discrimination in the workplace and public sector and ended segregation in schools and public places. The Voting Rights Act targeted racial discrimination in elections by outlawing literacy tests and regulating election laws. Poll taxes, which had disenfranchised so many Southerners in decades past, had been outlawed by the 24th Amendment, which was ratified in early 64. Yet despite these civil rights successes, the fight to preserve segregation for many Southerners was still very much alive. A new party would rise to give a platform to the South's most prominent segregationists.

Proclaiming segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever, Alabama Governor George Wallace would lead the new American Independent Party in 1968. That same year, Johnson's unpopular handling of the war in Vietnam will undermine his efforts for social change at home, and together with opposition from Southern Democrats, make for a difficult re-election campaign. The 1968 election season would prove to be one of America's most memorable and tumultuous. Before it was over, the liberal New Deal coalition, which had been in place for nearly 40 years, would finally reach its end, opening the door for a new era of conservatism and leaving one liberal candidate dead.

On the next episode of American History Tellers, the turbulent election of 1968 and the Vietnam War spells the end of Lyndon Johnson's great society. A new day dawns for conservatives under Ronald Reagan as Republicans take over the Democratic solid South and end 50 years of congressional control by the Democrats. But partisanship will rise again on both the left and the right as a new millennium dawns. From Wondery, this is American History Tellers. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Wondery.com, or wherever you're listening to this right now.

If you're listening on a smartphone, tap or swipe over the cover art of this podcast. You'll find the episode notes, including some details you may have missed. You'll also find some offers from our sponsors. Please support this show by supporting them. We'd also love to learn more about you. Please complete a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. That's wondery.com slash survey. You'll have an opportunity to tell us what you like about this show, what you'd love to hear in future episodes. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham for Airship. Sound design by Derek Behrens. This episode is written by B. Scott Christmas,

edited by Emma Cortland and Dorian Marina, edited and produced by Jenny Lauer, produced by George Lavender. Our executive producer is Marshall Louis, created by Hernán López for Wondery. If you like American History Tellers, Wondery.