Related Articles

Some Sense of optimism could still, however, be felt by working people. Great technological and engineering feats were being accomplished at a hurried pace. Buildings pushed higher as Local 3, New York City, members finished wiring first the Chrysler then the Empire State Buildings, each the tallest building in the world when completed. The world’s biggest dam was taking shape along the Colorado River. And construction of what would then be the worlds’ longest span, that of the Golden Gate Bridge in California, was about to begin with, among many others Local 551, Santa Rosa, members. The marvels of radio were commonplace, and the promise of television was openly discussed.

And yet Hoovervilles appeared in more and more cities as the unemployed lost everything. Banks foreclosed on farm mortgages, houses were seized and families were forced to leave. They had no place to go. People were desperate; and with the exception of a few food handouts, very little was being done to help them.

The Brotherhood was going through some real changes in the early ‘30s. Salaried officers’ pay was cut in half’ as membership dropped to a 20-year low. Responding to a referendum sponsored by International President H.H. Broach and the International Executive Committee, the IBEW Constitution was rewritten into a more-concise document. And by 1933 members and officers mourned the loss of former International Secretary Charles P. Ford, while President Broach’s health had deteriorated to the point where he felt he had to step down. Many regarded Brother Broach as one of the most capable men to hold the office of International President. All were sorry to see him go. Vice President D.W. Tracy was chosen to take his place.

In 1933 a new president took an office of a different kind. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised in his inaugural speech to wage war on Unemployment and economic stagnation. He pledged a “New Deal” for the American people. And he didn’t waste any time in delivering it.

Within his first year as president, Roosevelt had created dozens of new programs and agencies. His New Deal policies met with considerable opposition, being stalled in Congress, not carried out in the business community and overturned in the Courts. But those programs which did get enacted changed the mission of government like nothing short of the writing of the Constitution had before.

More...>

Page 2 of 4
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4
1930-1939 Storm Clouds of Depression and War