VIII. Progressive New Deal Cycle of Radical Progressives [Along the Lines of the Socialists] (1933-1953)

VIII. Progressive New Deal Cycle of Radical Progressives 

[Along the Lines of the Socialists] 

[5 Terms]
Major Parties: Democrats, Republicans
Major 3rd Parties: Dixiecrats
Presidents: (D) Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman
Vice Presidents: (D) John Garner, Henry Wallace, Harry Truman, Alben Barkley

Dominant Issue: Size and Role of the Federal Government in the Economy

Events: New Deal, World War 2, Great Depression, Fireside Chats,
Television, Social Security, Detroit Race Riot of 1943, Death of FDR in office, Huey Long, Korean War, Atomic Energy Commission, Berlin Airlift, NATO, the "One World" Book and World Tour

***IF one looks at the Progressive Square Deal Cycle and the Progressive New Deal Cycle--Both were triggered by a Depression---both had a "Deal"......

---one the Square Deal along the lines of the Populist Party (regulation of Railroad prices, more anti-trust laws to bust up monopolies--or as Teddy Roosevelt said it--to curb the excesses of Capitalism in order to preserve Capitalism and cut the Socialists off at the knees--OSHA, Food & Drug Act and calls for a Minimum Wage,

40 hour work week, Workers Comp, Child Labor Laws, etc,) 

---the other had the New Deal which was more government control along the lines of the Socialists (such as the government taking your money for money for retirement via Social Security, working for the government like the TVA or FDR's attempt to collectivize all farms but that was struck down by the Supreme Court).

---Both had a Roosevelt as the main President--(R) Teddy Roosevelt and his distant cousin (D) Franklin Roosevelt.

---Both had a major national disaster---one the Spanish Flu Pandemic the other the Great Dust bowl.

---Both had a world war---WW1 and then WW2.

--Democrat Party Factions: New Deal Democrats (For BIG

GOVERNMENT intervention in the Economy), Socialist Democrats openly to the Left of the New Deal and Dixiecrats who embraced the New Deal in the hard hit Depression era South but were worried about FDR and Truman making inroads among blacks and thereby sending signals hostile towards Jim Crow.

--Republican Party Factions: Moderate New Deal Republicans who

Willkie Campaigning in his birthplace--Elwood, Indiana

favored the New Deal framework and concepts but wanted a scaled down version and less spending and lower taxes. And Anti-New Dealers who opposed all the BIG GOVERNMENT intervention in the Economy and their lives.

Truman

--3rd Parties: Dixiecrats were not a Party organized officially but rather a block of Democrats from the South who opposed any attempts to roll back segregation. They formed a failed major 3rd Party Presidential bid in 1948 to topple Truman. They got only 3% but flipped some states - Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina.

End of Cycle: Mild Recession, Time For A Change

1932:
Democrat Convention: Across the Midwest in Chicago, Illinois

Democrat Ticket: Roosevelt/Garner

Hoover

President: Governor and Former V,P, Candidate Franklin Roosevelt (New York) [distant cousin of (R) Teddy Roosevelt] Vice President: U.S. Congressman John Garner (Texas)
Republican Convention: Across the Midwest in Chicago, Illinois
Republican Ticket: Hoover/Curtis
President: President Herbert Hoover (California) Vice President:  Vice President Charles Curtis (Kansas)

1936:
Democrat Convention: Back East in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Democrat Ticket: Roosevelt/Garner

Landon - Knox

President: President Franklin Roosevelt (New York) Vice President: Vice President John Garner (Texas)
Republican Convention: Across the Midwest in Cleveland, Ohio
Republican Ticket: Landon/Knox
President: Governor Alf Landon (Kansas) Vice President: Newspaper Publisher and former Rough Rider with Teddy Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War Frank Knox (Illinois)

1940:
Democrat Convention: Across the Midwest in Chicago, Illinois

Willkie

Ticket: Roosevelt/Wallace
President: President Franklin Roosevelt (New York) Vice President: U.S. Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace (Iowa)
Republican Convention: Back East in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Republican Ticket: Willkie/McNary
President: Businessman Wendell Willkie (New York) Vice President: U.S. Senator Charles McNary (Oregon)

1944:
Democrat Convention: Across the Midwest in Chicago,

Roosevelt

Illinois

Democrat Ticket: Roosevelt/Truman
President: President Franklin Roosevelt (New York) Vice President: U.S. Senator Harry Truman (Missouri)

*Truman succeeded Roosevelt when he died of a stroke
Republican Convention: Across the Midwest in Chicago, Illinois
Republican Ticket: Dewey/Bricker
President: Governor Thomas Dewey (New York) Vice President: Governor John Bricker (Ohio)

1948:
Democrat Convention: Back East in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Democrat Ticket: Truman/Barkley
President: President Harry Truman (Missouri) Vice President: U.S. Senator Alben Barkley (Kentucky)

Dewey

Republican Convention: Back East in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Republican Ticket: Dewey/Warren
President: Governor and Former Presidential Nominee Thomas Dewey (New York) Vice President: Governor Earl Warren (California)

Dixiecrat Convention: Down South in Birmingham, Alabama

Dixiecrat Ticket: Thurmond/Wright

President: Democrat Governor Strom Thurmond (South Carolina) Vice President: Democrat Governor Fielding Wright (Mississippi)

Hotly Contested Election of Cycle:

1948:

In the county map above (R) Dewey is in Blueish, (D) Truman in Brownish and (Dx) Thurmond in Purplish.

Thurmond - Wright

In this election the Dixiecrats fielded a Presidential ticket to topple
Truman from office. They were fearful after Truman allowed blacks and whites to serve together in racially mixed units, and after his speech to the NAACP, that he would move to dismantle Jim Crow in the South.

They thought they could cost Truman enough electoral votes in the South thereby throwing the election into the G.O.P. controlled House that would elect Dewey. Then in 4 years the Dixiecrats would seize

control of the Democrat nomination and retake the White House for the Democrats.

This was also the election where Dewey led Truman in all the Polls  and the press even went as far as to print headlines as soon as the voting polls closed declaring Dewey won---where Truman the next day held it up for all to see.

-A Note of Interest--

The Dixiecrat Plan to Topple FDR in 1936--already bubbling up from the South were fears the Roosevelt, who was trying to woo blacks away from their Republican voting habit, might move to curtail Jim

Long

Crow. 

They planned to tun the corrupt (his political machine was infamous for stuffing the ballot box and bribes on par with Tammany Hall in NYC) socialistic Democrat U.S. Senator and Former Governor Huey Long of Louisiana against FDR in the Southern Primaries to build up his following. Long was know as the "Kingfish".

The "Kingfish"Huey Long

Then break off for the Fall election as an Independent. They were hoping he could win some Southern States on race and running to Roosevelt's Left on an even more Socialistic New Deal platform in the hard hit Depression era South. Then maybe peel off enough Northern States on the Economic side to tilt a few more than expected towards the Republicans. In 4 years they would come back and seize the Democrat Nomination and win back the Presidency for the Democrats.

Problem though---Long was assassinated by the son-in-law of a Judge he had ousted from office through legislation. The Dixiecrat coup to take over the Democrat Party would have to wait until 1948.