In 1929, the U.S. economy fell off the cliff it had been dancing along while the stock market roared in the 1920s. Almost 25% of workers were unemployed by 1933 (compared to 3.2% before the crash); banks lost people’s life savings; soup kitchens tried to feed endless lines of people; unemployed and homeless people congregated in tent camps called “Hoovervilles;” some businessmen took their lives rather than face their new, marginal status.
FDR won a landslide victory in 1932, offering a New Deal to rescue the American economy and workers. Elected four times (before the two-term limit), his proposals drew resistance from the upper-class, but helped bring millions of others back from the brink of disaster. One program, Social Security, offered some income for retired and disabled workers. It remains so popular that both parties consider any cuts or limitations to be the untouchable “third rail.”
Another program became, in my view, one of our greatest government accomplishments. From 1933 to 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) took 12 million unemployed people off the streets and paid them a subsistence wage (below market rates) to build and upgrade thousands of public works: e.g., the Greenfield Swimming Area and Look Park in Northampton; multiple airports; 125,000 public buildings; 650,000 miles of roads; public golf courses like San Diego’s Torrey Pines and Long Island’s Bethpage; etc. (https://livingnewdeal.org/maps-and sites/sites-by-state-and-city/ lists their projects). The U.S. government, through Roosevelt’s programs, literally provided lifesaving help across America. No wonder FDR portraits became common in homes at the time.
World War II soldiers returned to an unsettled society, but the U.S. delivered on its promises to care for veterans. The GI Bill offered low-interest loans so veterans could achieve the American dream of owning a home, and free or reduced college tuition so they could move up to higher-paying jobs. The government also completed history’s largest hospital building project, establishing up-to-date VA health care for millions at the time.
Blacks who fought against poorly funded segregated schools saw the Supreme Court push for equality with its 1954 decision. After segregated Arkansas used its National Guard to prevent court-ordered desegregation in 1957, President Eisenhower took over, ordering them to protect the children of the “Little Rock Nine” and follow federal court orders.
JFK and LBJ led a Democratic Congress in establishing Medicare, and passing the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts designed to break the barriers of Jim Crow laws which denied Black people access to jobs, public buildings, and services. LBJ also hoped to assist poor people through the War on Poverty, although its implementation never met expectations.
Opponents fought all of these actions, but those in need were grateful, and often led the way in giving back to a society that helped them in a time of trouble. How often is a heartwarming public-service story tied to a heroic person’s tale of getting some type of public assistance to overcome personal and institutional challenges and allow them to give back some of what they received?
Today, federal ICE agents and troops occupy many cities, not as the helpers they might be, but attackers who may arrest and charge innocent students, someone who throws a sandwich, law-abiding people working a job often done by immigrants, or patrol streets looking for confrontations to justify their deployment. Veterans suffer from poor health care and record rates of homelessness and suicide. Internationally, people of color are prevented from immigrating, but white Afrikaners are welcomed. Universities, law firms, and news media outlets have suffered from administration assaults. Government officials predict that 4-5 million won’t be able to afford health care insurance when the Trump- and Republican-backed tax cuts force subsidies for health care to be abandoned.
Trump used his penchant for cruelty and cadre of craven lawyers to sow fear and uncertainty in hungry families by refusing to release readily available funds for nutritional assistance for 42 million people already suffering from food insecurity. A few Democrats wilted under the Prince of Pain’s assault on the most vulnerable.
Our current government is no longer heroic and helpful, a proud and powerful friend who can provide assistance, but is instead an active foe that will do its best to make life harder and more expensive for those who have the least. It is continuing the class warfare that has shifted $50 trillion from the bottom 90% to the upper 1%. Trump’s reign guarantees continued suffering for the needy through reduced assistance, and is proud of its cruelty and complete lack of empathy.
Allen Woods is a freelance writer, author of the Revolutionary-era historical fiction novel “The Sword and Scabbard,” and Greenfield resident. His column appears regularly on a Saturday. Comments are welcome here or at awoods2846@gmail.com.