Voices of Freedom: Chapter 21, FDR vs. John Steinbeck Sara Logan HIST 311 T/Th 4-5:20pm Prof.

Stuart Graybill

Voices of Freedom, Ch. 21, The New Deal and Migrant Workers In the 1930s, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to redefine freedom for the American people. The Great Depression, an ironic ending to the decade of prosperity, left the country devastated, and Roosevelt had quite a mess to clean. Upon taking office in 1932, he began to take action towards getting the America back on its feet by creating The New Deal. The New deal was a monumental series of new laws, new legislation, and new executive power never seen in America. His aim was to help the everyman, while limiting corporate power and the freemarket economy which had led to the stock market crash and millions out of work, out of money, and literally starving to death. In his 1st New Deal, he dealt with those problems directly by putting regulations on the banking system, and creating initiatives which would prevent depressions from ever happening again. In 1936, when FDR was elected for a second term, he put into play, the 2nd New Deal, which was meant to create economic security for every American.(Foner 772) Through public work programs, and social security, The 2nd New Deal would enhance the lives of the working class. Unfortunately, not all of the working class

would benefit from Roosevelts grand plan. Many Americans, including women and minorities were not able to benefit from many of the New Deal programs. One of the largest of these groups was the migrant farm workers. The plight of the farmer would become one of the many faces of the Great Depression, and though they were a very large and very important part of the American population, they did not reap the benefits of President Roosevelts new idea of freedom. In his nomination acceptance speech to The Democratic Party, in 1936, he explains just what that new freedom is, and the old ways, for which a new definition was necessary.

Roosevelts definition of freedom, he said, was freedom from some restraining power. He spoke history repeating itself by referencing 1776 when the U.S. broke away from the grip of England. Then, the people were being restrained by the tyranny of a political autocracy. They governed without the consent of the governed. The people were not allowed a say in the laws of the land, the laws which affected them directly, and absolutely. Those in control were seeking, not the peace of the land, nor the prosperity of the people, but sought only to perpetuate their privilege. Just like the old threat, the new threat of the 1930s, was of a similar spirit-though it wore a different face. Roosevelt illustrates, Out of modern civilization economic royalists carved new dynasties. New kingdoms were built upon concentration of control over material things. The 19th century idea of liberalism; limited government and a free-market economy had allowed the world of big business, banking, and industry to grow too big. Roosevelts predecessor, Herbert Hoover had believed in that idea and held to it firmly. Foner writes that he condemned government regulation as an interference with the economic opportunities of ordinary Americans, but also insisted that self-interest should be subordinated to public service (748). Large corporations were taking control of the people and they had grown so large that it appeared they were aiming for government control, which Roosevelt called tyranny; they created a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of legal sanction. Corporations were getting fat on the backs of underpaid, overworked, and people, and within the existing laws, they could continue to control the people without legal consequences. Roosevelt believed people had a right to a decent life and a decent living. He also felt that that life was threatened and that throughout the Nation, opportunity was limited by monopoly, The opportunities of the working man were certainly limited, especially in the lives of

agricultural workers. Even FDR said, Those who tilled the soil no longer reaped the rewards which were their right. During his time as president, he passed much legislation to aid the unemployed. Unfortunately, those who tilled the soil were not those who benefited from Roosevelts economic plan. Author John Steinbeck followed the plight of the migrant farmworker and saw just how little they benefitted. In a newspaper article, written in 1938, just two years after Roosevelts inspiring speech, he discusses the new migrant farm worker and the country which shuns them, The migrants are needed, and they are hated. The migrants were also American citizens. Prior to the Great Depression, around the beginning of the century, migrant workers were made up of foreigners. Immigrants from China, Japan, Mexico, and The Philippines, would come to America with the promise of work, but were exploited for cheap labor and treated very poorly, These were foreigners, and as such, they were ostracized and segregated and herded about. In protest of such treatment the workers began to unite and, as a reaction to fear, the powers that be had them deported. There was now a need to find another source of cheap labor. That cheap labor would come from the millions of American farmers who were left homeless. The Depression sent many people from urban cities to rural areas. According to Foner, 33 million people lived on farms in 1935. A lack of work in the city left them with no money to purchase food, so they moved to farmland in hopes of growing their own. Soon, the farmers in the mid-west would experience a devastation which would deepen impact of the depression. The region experienced the centurys most severe drought. Top soil and native grasses, already ruined by new mechanized farm equipment, were completely blown away by the high winds. The area, which included parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado, came to be known as the Dust Bowl. Farmers in this region had no choice but to leave and find work elsewhere (Foner, 765).

Unlike the foreign migrant workers of earlier periods, who came from unemployment in their home countries, directly to migrant farming, the migrant workers of the Depression era came from people who were once owners of their own farms. Steinbeck described the Depression-era migrant worker as small farmers who have lost their farms, or farm hands who have lived with the family in the old American way.they have come from the little farm districts where democracy was not only possible, but inevitable. He described an image of Americanism where people worked on their own land, helped one another, and participated actively in the choices which governed their old American way. Steinbeck discussed the pride of the people in their responsibility to vote and be a part of democracy. According to him, that pride was taken by the very government which vowed to maintain it, because of the movement required to make a living, they are not allowed any vote whatever, but are rather considered a popularly unprivileged class. The migrant workers were indeed, unprivileged. They were homeless, hungry, and hated by the country they belonged to and worked for. Even worse than that, while a majority of Americans were receiving help from the government, and Roosevelts New Deal, the migrant farmers were not included in the changes. Two years after his claim, however, to restore to the people a wider freedom, many farmers were still experienced freedom which was quite narrow. The Agricultural Adjustment Act, passed in 1933, was a New Deal program which would allow the government to raise farm prices by intentionally reducing supply, and thereby increasing demand. The act succeeded, but only those who owned land were the beneficiaries of the rise in income. The decrease in production meant that many of the farmers who worked on that land were no longer needed and evicted from the property. By the time it was declared

unconstitutional in 1936, many farmers had already been displaced. Many migrated to cities, and others to farms in the west (Foner, 765). During the second New Deal, Roosevelt made more attempts at aiding the povertystricken and unemployed through programs like the Rural Electrification Agency, which provided 90% of the nations farms with electricity. The federal government promoted soil conservation, and encouraged more environmentally conscious agricultural techniques. Just like the AAA, however, the only people who benefitted were land owners. Sharecroppers, tenants, and migrants were still left to wander, in search of a life (Foner, 773). Roosevelt said liberty requires the opportunity to make a living and Im sure thats something that the migrants agreed with. Its obvious that their definition of freedom was a shared vision; however, something seemed to have gotten missed in the execution. Roosevelt thought he was doing all he could to help American farmers; however he was excluding millions of those who tilled the soil. While they struggled to make a living, traveling from place to place, growing food for the entire country, they themselves, were starving. They were clearly not enjoying Roosevelts American Way of life as he saw it. The country was definitely in need of a change; It was in need of a new definition of freedom. Roosevelt saw political autocracy as a huge threat to the freedom of the average man, and believed modern corporatism had become just that. He shared a vision of freedom with the common man, but that freedom was not extended to all. Millions of farmers, who were working to keep the population fed were starving and excluded from the programs which were meant to help all Americans. Even worse than that, they were shunned by their fellow Americans, especially their fellow farmers. In Steinbecks article, he quotes a little boy who describes their treatment from land-owners, When they need us, they call us migrants, and when weve picked

their crop, were bums and we got to get out. Migrant workers joined Black Americans, other minorities, women, and children as the excluded American class.