0:00:01.876,0:00:07.112
[music playing]

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John F. Kennedy: Ask not what your country can do for you.

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Neil Armstrong: That's one small step for a man.

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Martin Luther King : Hold these truths to be self-evident,[br]

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[br]that all men are created equal.

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Ronald Reagan: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

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[music playing]

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Male narrator: It was May of 1932.

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Male reporter: It's a spectacle unparalleled in the history of the country.

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Narrator: And something was very wrong in the land of plenty.

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Reporter: A day of bloodshed, and riots.

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Collins: There were those of who felt that America was teetering

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on the brink of revolution.

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Narrator: For three years the Great Depression had tormented Americans.

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Now, 20 thousand army veterans and their families came pouring into Washington

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to find out what the government was going to do about it.

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Collins: They were bearded. They were ragged.

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They were desperate. You could see it in their eyes.

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Narrator: They'd been promised a bonus for their service in World War I,

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but it was not due to be paid until 1945.

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The desperate veterans wanted their money now.

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They were called The Bonus Army.

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On July 28th, the Bonus Army came to blows with Washington police.

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Shots were fired.

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President Herbert Hoover barricaded himself in the White House and called out the troops.

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Reporters: Soldiers have orders to burn down the unsanitary, and the illegal shants.

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And the roaring flames, sounds the death nell, to the fantastic Bonus Army.

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Narrator: When the smoked cleared, two veterans and an infant were dead.

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Darcy: Absolutely shameful.

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The sacrifice of the young American boys

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left such an impression on me, I have never forgotten it.

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They were just trying to feed their families.

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Narrator: Millions of Americans could no longer provide for their families.

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With no where to turn for help,

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they were angry and they were approaching their breaking point.

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Three years into the Depression, the American system was in grave danger.

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Unless it could change, and change quickly, it might not survive.

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Bad times had arrived without warning.

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After a decade of expanding prosperity, almost overnight,

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the Wall Street crash of 1929 shattered America's confidence in its economy.

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Hancox: I was 11 years old, but how well I remember it.

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It was like the skies had grown dark.

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Thunder!

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And, all of a sudden, faces were tragic, and people were walking around

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in the hallways of our building, and in the streets, with inquiring eyes,

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and saying, "Has it happened to you? Has it happened to us?

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What is happening?"

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Bailey: With delivering telegrams at that time,

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and pretty soon you could feel the horror

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behind the door you were knocking.

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When you knock on the door, when the voice comes out--

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"Yeah? Who is it? Who is it?"

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I say, "I have a telegram."

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"Well, slide it under the door,"

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or "Go away! Get away from me. Get away from me."

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Narrator: The collapse of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929

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was only the most visible sign of a massive economic crisis.

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The crisis that spread quickly from Wall Street to Main Street.

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Miriam Johnson was living in California

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when the Great Depression arrived at her house.

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Johnson: I was 11 when The Crash came.

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My father at that time, along with a few friends, owned a small grocery store.

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One day he came home,

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and he laid two dollars on the table in the kitchen,

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and he said "No more store. Everything is gone."

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And that was the end. For us it was the end.

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Narrator: Every day produced more bankruptcies, more layoffs,

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more people with less money in their pockets.

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Even U.S. Steel, a symbol of American industrial might

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since the turn of the century, was brought to its knees.

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In three years the entire full-time payroll was laid off--

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225,000 workers.

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: The Depression hit this country all over.

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It hit the farm areas, it hit the cities.

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You were just there, out of work, and out of food.

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And everyone was baffled. Nobody had ever had that experience before.

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: I had been saving for maybe 5-6 years, money in a piggy bank.

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Nickles, pennies, dimes the most.

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It turns out that I was the only one in the family that had any money,

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because one day I came home

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and I grabbed hold of my piggy bank, just to give it it a shake,

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and there was nothing in it.

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My mother was looking at me, and she said,

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"Your father borrowed the money.

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"He has to go out to look for work, and he needed money to go downtown."

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He came home, and I didn't say anything, but my eyes and face were swollen with tears.

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My eyes were blinking with tears.

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And my father took me in his arms and said,

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"I'm sorry. I had to have money.

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"But it's a loan.

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"I'll pay it back to you."

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He never did.

0:07:07.486,0:07:10.447
He never did.

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My family had exhausted all its credits with the local merchants.

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And, on one occasion, my father came home

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and asked what was for dinner that night,

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and my mother said "There's nothing."

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How could that be? How could there be nothing?

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It was one of the few times in my life that I was fearful for myself.

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Narrator: Fearful of losing what little they had left, people rushed to the banks

0:07:42.551,0:07:45.805
to withdraw their savings.

0:07:45.805,0:07:49.427
But the banks, too, were short of cash.

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One year after the crash, 800 of them had failed.

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Nine million savings accounts were wiped out.

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: There was a janitor called George Gillies who had a thousand dollars

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in the bank of the United States.

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It had taken Gillies 40 years to save a thousand dollars.

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After spending two nights and two days in the pouring rain outside this shuttered,

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locked bank,

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beating--literally--beating on the walls with his hands in frustration,

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he realized he was never going to see 10 cents of his money.

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He went back to the basement where he lived,

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and he hanged himself in despair.

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That's what bank failures did.

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They crushed tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands,

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of ordinary people, like George Gillies.

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Narrator: With their savings gone, and layoffs increasing, people were

0:08:56.581,0:09:01.524
forced to sell their cars, their furniture, their wedding rings.

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Before long half the country's home mortgages were in default.

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Families across America found themselves facing eviction.

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Collins: I remember my brother and I, and my mother,

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just couldn't stand to see it happen.

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So, we left my father there to face the auctioneers.

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Then we came home that evening and we met my father who told us,

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"Yes, the house was sold."

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It was gone.

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And everything that we had had was no longer ours.

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The land was gone, the house was gone.

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And we had 30 days in which time to move out.

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And my mother sat on the side of the bed and cried.

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It was the first time I'd ever seen her cry.

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I'll never forget that moment.

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That the way our family was affected, and we were not unique.

0:10:04.734,0:10:09.790
: You know what hurt me most about it was the look of pain on my mother's and father's face.

0:10:09.790,0:10:13.584
I couldn't bear to look at them.

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To look at their misery.

0:10:16.881,0:10:22.096
To look at their disgrace.

0:10:22.096,0:10:26.108
They felt they had only themselves to blame.

0:10:26.108,0:10:28.510
This was a different generation.

0:10:28.510,0:10:35.269
This was a generation that had grown up with the old faith.

0:10:35.269,0:10:37.405
The faith of self-reliance.

0:10:37.405,0:10:41.687
The people had to stand on their own two feet.

0:10:41.687,0:10:45.296
They didn't say the government's failed me.

0:10:45.296,0:10:55.288
They said "I'm to blame. I failed in this American system of ours. It's my fault."

0:10:57.306,0:11:01.151
Narrator: One year after the crash four million American families were

0:11:01.151,0:11:05.385
without any means of support.

0:11:05.385,0:11:08.580
Worse, they didn't know how to ask for help.

0:11:08.580,0:11:13.141
And their government didn't know how to provide it.

0:11:13.141,0:11:18.738
In 1930, the American people had almost no sense of the national government.

0:11:18.738,0:11:21.263
There was the post office.

0:11:21.263,0:11:24.455
Occasionally you'd see a soldier on the street.

0:11:24.455,0:11:32.546
The national government had very little direct impact on the lives of ordinary Americans.

0:11:35.514,0:11:40.202
There were no parachutes in those days, there was no social security,

0:11:40.202,0:11:46.172
no unemployment insurance, no nothing.

0:11:46.172,0:11:49.801
Just, you were on your own.

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[upbeat music]

0:11:56.409,0:12:00.308
Narrator: By 1931, hard times seemed to be everywhere.

0:12:00.308,0:12:04.546
But if you could still spare a dime, you could slip into a glamorous world

0:12:04.546,0:12:08.192
where the roaring 20's had never ended.

0:12:08.192,0:12:10.433
: If you go to the Grand Lake Theater,

0:12:10.433,0:12:16.216
I hear Horace Heidt and his orchestra play for half an hour.

0:12:16.216,0:12:21.949
Then you'd have the Movietone News, and then they'd have the feature story,

0:12:21.949,0:12:25.250
and then they would have Bugs Bunny, or the equivalent comic,

0:12:25.250,0:12:30.880
and then they'd have the second feature, and by that time the orchestra was getting ready to play again.

0:12:30.880,0:12:35.028
So you could stand about 6 to 7 hours for 15 cents.

0:12:35.028,0:12:39.101
: There was no television; there was only radio.

0:12:39.101,0:12:48.788
So this visual escape to a dark theater, you could literally forget your troubles and get happy.

0:12:48.788,0:12:54.340
Narrator: Many people tried to dance their troubles away, often to the carefree irresistible rhythms

0:12:54.340,0:12:59.147
of a new generation of Jazz music that was sweeping the country, Swing.

0:12:59.147,0:13:03.384
Reporter: Swing and Honey child, Suzie Q's going to town and how!

0:13:03.384,0:13:06.743
[Swing music playing in background]

0:13:13.526,0:13:21.792
[Radical Organ Music] Radio Host: Now I'll meet Richard Calmer as Boston Blackie.

0:13:21.792,0:13:23.463
Enemy to those who make him an enemy.

0:13:23.463,0:13:26.077
Friend to those who have no friend.

0:13:26.077,0:13:30.199
Narrator: Many more were transfixed by the gripping dramas of radio.

0:13:30.199,0:13:37.618
During the depression, the radio was the one appliance people could not live without.

0:13:37.618,0:13:39.651
Wilkinson: We used to watch the radio.

0:13:39.651,0:13:42.737
It was like watching television.

0:13:42.737,0:13:44.890
There was a shadow.

0:13:44.890,0:13:53.622
Radio: Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows [maniacal laughter].

0:13:53.622,0:13:55.793
Wilkinson: [Laughing to himself] Turn off the lights!

0:13:55.793,0:13:57.873
Radio Actor: We're going to clean them out, today.

0:13:57.873,0:14:00.906
Simon: You didn't know that they were standing on a stage reading from scripts.

0:14:00.906,0:14:03.369
You just thought they were doing it.

0:14:03.369,0:14:05.808
Radio Actor: All right boys, let's head out!

0:14:05.808,0:14:09.203
Simon: What I like most was to go into my room and turn off all the lights.

0:14:09.203,0:14:13.164
I didn't want any interference, and just listen to it.

0:14:13.164,0:14:17.052
My father thought I was a little weird and he'd always come in and turn the lights on

0:14:17.052,0:14:18.724
and say, "what's wrong with you?"

0:14:18.724,0:14:22.741
And I said, "nothing's wrong with me. This is really wonderf--a great way to listen to it."

0:14:22.741,0:14:25.375
[Explosion]

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[Wind storm]

0:14:30.098,0:14:36.432
Narrator: But sooner or later people had to turn the radio off. They had to leave the movie theater,

0:14:36.432,0:14:41.587
and when they did, the Depression was still there, awaiting.

0:14:45.742,0:14:51.803
It advanced upon the farmers in the South and Midwest in terrifying storms of dry dust.

0:14:51.803,0:14:55.428
It was one of the worst droughts in American History.

0:14:55.428,0:15:03.113
The land itself was blowing away.

0:15:03.113,0:15:10.939
Lackey: It looked like a tornado coming. Big black clouds of dust coming across the desert there.

0:15:10.939,0:15:15.031
It was terrible, you couldn't breathe. You'd put something over your face, a handkerchief,

0:15:15.031,0:15:22.620
and try to breathe through it and you'd spit out mud balls.

0:15:22.620,0:15:28.739
Narrator: 25,000 square miles of farm land became known as the Dust Bowl.

0:15:28.739,0:15:33.736
For farmers who'd been suffering through their own economic crisis since the 1920's,

0:15:33.736,0:15:36.486
it was the final blow.

0:15:36.486,0:15:45.149
Leaving their farmhouses and barns to rot, they fled westward for the promiseland, California.

0:15:45.149,0:15:49.374
[Car engine]

0:15:53.670,0:15:55.403
[Car horn]

0:15:59.760,0:16:03.543
[Train clacking on tracks]

0:16:03.543,0:16:08.722
Dust weary farmers joined millions other penniless people who were wondering the country

0:16:08.722,0:16:10.971
looking for a second chance.

0:16:10.971,0:16:15.440
The transportation of choice was the freight train. Riding the rails was dangerous,

0:16:15.440,0:16:22.908
the trains were patrolled by vicious guards. But the price was right.

0:16:22.908,0:16:27.827
: When it's gon' leave they give you the high volume, and that's two shorts and a long.

0:16:27.827,0:16:30.988
Man, you better get ready then 'cuz he's pulling out.

0:16:30.988,0:16:32.969
[Train horn]

0:16:35.400,0:16:42.823
[music playing]

0:16:49.992,0:16:54.441
Mitchum: Trouble lies in sightless cools along the way I've taken.

0:16:54.441,0:16:59.266
Sightless windows stare the empty streets.

0:16:59.266,0:17:03.333
No love beckoned me save that which I have forsaken,

0:17:03.333,0:17:09.835
the anguish of my solitude is sweet.

0:17:09.835,0:17:14.522
Narrator: The actor Robert Mitchum wrote his poem in 1932 when he was just another teenager

0:17:14.522,0:17:18.880
in search of salvation.

0:17:18.880,0:17:27.516
Mitchum: At the time there was so many people on the train that the train crew couldn't walk the tops.

0:17:27.516,0:17:35.240
I met former bankers, college professors, all sorts of people riding the freight trains.

0:17:35.240,0:17:41.973
A lot of them didn't really have a destination. They were just trying to get away from where they were.

0:17:41.973,0:17:51.682
Narrator: But everywhere they got to seemed just as hopeless as the place they'd left behind.

0:17:51.682,0:17:58.659
: Numbers of towns would arrest those people who came there.

0:17:58.659,0:18:03.261
There was particular concern about what were called, "The Wild Boys of the Road."

0:18:03.261,0:18:08.100
Narrator: President Hoover sent undercover agents to ride the rails and assess the danger.

0:18:08.100,0:18:12.434
One of them was a young law student named Melvin Belli.

0:18:12.434,0:18:18.936
Belli: You saw a part of America, at that time, that gave fear to everyone in Washington.

0:18:18.936,0:18:21.943
There's something wrong with the country, and it's so wrong that

0:18:21.943,0:18:26.484
these people are going to want a revolution.

0:18:26.484,0:18:33.345
Narrator: Strikes and protests were spreading, becoming angrier and more violent.

0:18:33.345,0:18:38.593
Bill Wheeler was a 19 year old truck driver when he witnessed a demonstration in New York.

0:18:38.593,0:18:44.014
Wheeler: I swear it was just filled with mobs of people. They were demonstrating, it turned out,

0:18:44.014,0:18:51.597
for unemployment relief, unemployment benefits, and the police and the firemen

0:18:51.597,0:18:55.698
were mowing them down with fire hoses, cops were beating them on the head.

0:18:55.698,0:19:00.436
It was unbelievable!

0:19:00.436,0:19:06.753
Narrator: Radical movements, like the Communist Party, were gaining influence and converts.

0:19:06.753,0:19:12.622
President Hoover misread the danger signals and still did nothing to ease the suffering.

0:19:12.622,0:19:20.425
Hoover: We are convinced that we have overcome major financial crisis. A crisis in--

0:19:20.425,0:19:28.694
Narrator: For some, the loss of faith was so profound that they simply fled the country.

0:19:28.694,0:19:33.260
Three years after Joseph Stalin had predicted the death of capitalism,

0:19:33.260,0:19:40.856
100,000 Americans moved to the Soviet Union to help build Communism.

0:19:40.856,0:19:45.608
Wheeler: There was work for anybody that wanted to work.

0:19:45.608,0:19:49.056
There was none of this going around with your hat in your hand and tears in your eyes

0:19:49.056,0:19:59.970
begging for a job. It seemed to be a land of great promise at that time.

0:19:59.970,0:20:09.887
Narrator: This was the only time in history that more people were leaving America than coming to it.

0:20:09.887,0:20:16.020
[bell ringing]

0:20:16.020,0:20:23.148
In time, the Great Depression spread like a virus far beyond American borders.

0:20:23.148,0:20:27.679
Reporter: Hunger marches, signs of the political time.

0:20:31.526,0:20:36.955
Narrator: In Germany the situation was becoming dangerous.

0:20:36.955,0:20:44.795
The depression only made worse the already harsh conditions brought on by Germany's loss in WWI.

0:20:44.795,0:20:51.495
Metelmann: There was real problems. There was mass unemployment, and because of this

0:20:51.495,0:20:57.349
there were protests, marches, demonstrations, street fightings.

0:20:57.349,0:21:02.454
The unemployed people, they walked through the town and they shouted slogans,

0:21:02.454,0:21:06.520
"Give us bread. Give us work."

0:21:09.859,0:21:16.862
Fischer: There is so much unrest, so much disorder.

0:21:20.016,0:21:32.080
We needed a powerful leader, a powerful man to lead us out of it.

0:21:32.080,0:21:37.036
: The first time I saw the Nazis, they marched around in town with their brown shirts on.

0:21:37.036,0:21:43.865
They had proper uniforms and they had music and they had flags.

0:21:43.865,0:21:52.943
And I remember how it impressed me, something military, and we children, we'd run along them and

0:21:52.943,0:21:56.844
try to sing their songs.

0:21:56.844,0:22:00.522
Narrator: The leader of the Nazi movement knew instinctively that Germany's suffering

0:22:00.522,0:22:03.423
was his opportunity.

0:22:03.423,0:22:08.509
Adolf Hitler told the demoralized Germans that he could cure what ailed them.

0:22:08.509,0:22:13.108
Adolf Hitler: [Speaking in German]

0:22:13.108,0:22:17.871
[Crowd shouting]

0:22:17.871,0:22:26.008
His speeches, they were arousing. He started always off quietly.

0:22:28.547,0:22:34.733
And he talked about ordinary things and then he worked himself up.

0:22:34.733,0:22:42.685
Saying something like, "Our enemies, they think we are the footmap of the world, and I promise you,

0:22:42.685,0:22:50.271
I will erase all that. We demand our place in the sun which is rightly ours, and I will lead you there.

0:22:50.271,0:22:54.930
I will lead you there, I promise it."

0:22:54.930,0:22:59.351
We had tears in our eyes.

0:23:01.767,0:23:08.969
Narrator: In 1932, Hitler's rapidly growing Nazi party took 37% of the vote in parliamentary elections.

0:23:08.969,0:23:14.138
Though not a majority, he had uphold all the other parties.

0:23:14.138,0:23:17.725
Hitler used his new strength to seize the Chancellorship of Germany

0:23:17.725,0:23:21.881
and destroy opposition to his rule.

0:23:21.881,0:23:26.980
On January 30th, 1933, his followers celebrated his ascension to power with a torchlight

0:23:26.980,0:23:30.378
victory parade through Berlin.

0:23:30.378,0:23:38.372
Propelled by hard times, the Nazi era had begun.

0:23:38.372,0:23:47.525
VonElbe: The procession moved on through Wilhelmstrasse. Marching music could be heard.

0:23:47.525,0:23:59.642
The torchlights were--were gleaming and there was a strange light in the street.

0:23:59.642,0:24:06.367
And there was this atmosphere of irreality, almost.

0:24:06.367,0:24:10.974
Almost black magic.

0:24:10.974,0:24:21.846
Hitler was able to arouse the masses in such a way that they forgot reason.

0:24:21.846,0:24:27.185
Pechel: Well he had charisma, no doubt about that, and he promised

0:24:27.185,0:24:35.977
the people that they would get work. People were desperate, you see.

0:24:35.977,0:24:42.770
People being desperate, they will run after a man like Hitler.

0:24:42.770,0:24:48.026
Adolf Hitler: [speaking in German]

0:24:48.026,0:24:52.218
[crowd cheering]

0:24:56.665,0:25:04.709
Narrator: 1932 was also a year of decision for Americans.

0:25:04.709,0:25:11.384
Republican president, Herbert Hoover, campaigned for reelection only to find that everywhere he went

0:25:11.384,0:25:17.996
his name had become synonymous with failure.

0:25:17.996,0:25:22.664
Shanty towns of unemployed men were now called, "Hoovervilles."

0:25:22.664,0:25:29.586
Newspapers were, "Hoover blankets." Empty pockets, "Hoover flags."

0:25:29.586,0:25:35.910
Hoover: The very first task of this country is to see that no man, woman, or child shall go hungry...

0:25:35.910,0:25:44.125
Leuchtenberg: It was said of Hoover that even dogs took an instinctive dislike to him,

0:25:44.125,0:25:53.503
and in that 1932 campaign, one man wired him, "Vote for Roosevelt, and make it unanimous."

0:25:53.503,0:26:02.067
Roosevelt: California! Cast 44 votes for Franklin D. Roosevelt. [Crowd cheering]

0:26:02.067,0:26:09.533
Narrator: New York governor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was the democratic party candidate.

0:26:09.533,0:26:14.119
He had been struck by polio in 1921.

0:26:14.119,0:26:19.330
He was known more for his charm than his accomplishments.

0:26:19.330,0:26:26.125
Most people were not sure what he meant when he promised a new deal to the American people.

0:26:26.125,0:26:33.822
Neither was he. But Roosevelt appeared optimistic, confident, and he wasn't Herbert Hoover.

0:26:33.822,0:26:36.990
Roosevelt: What's our campaign slogan Sissy?

0:26:36.990,0:26:38.224
Sissy: Happy days are here again.

0:26:38.224,0:26:41.346
Roosevelt: Good, that's right.

0:26:41.346,0:26:46.631
Narrator: Roosevelt won in the greatest electoral landslide America had ever seen.

0:26:46.631,0:26:51.934
And he faced, perhaps the greatest challenge ever presented to an American leader.

0:26:51.934,0:26:55.372
[Bell ringing]

0:26:55.372,0:27:02.214
The 4 million unemployed of 1930 had turned to 16 million by 1933.

0:27:02.214,0:27:06.257
25% of the American workforce.

0:27:06.257,0:27:12.340
Gordon: The American economy was in freefall. Economists disagree to some extent on this,

0:27:12.340,0:27:18.262
but we could have lost everything in 1933.

0:27:18.262,0:27:22.365
It was that bad.

0:27:24.273,0:27:29.121
Narrator: On inauguration day nearly 100,000 people braved a cold March morning to hear

0:27:29.121,0:27:31.620
what the new president would do.

0:27:31.620,0:27:37.621
Roosevelt: This great nation will endure as it has endured. Let me assert--

0:27:37.621,0:27:41.451
Belli: That magnificent resonance coming out.

0:27:41.451,0:27:45.628
Roosevelt: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

0:27:45.628,0:27:49.756
Belli: We have nothing to fear but fear itself, and everyone would look at each other.

0:27:49.756,0:27:57.944
They'd nod their head, and when he'd say, "my friends," everybody could feel he was talking to him.

0:27:57.944,0:28:03.146
That was one of his friends, that was one of his people.

0:28:03.146,0:28:05.863
And me, a little black boy,

0:28:05.863,0:28:07.862
down in Georgia,

0:28:07.862,0:28:12.289
hearing that voice over the radio, you know,

0:28:12.289,0:28:16.491
I felt it wasn't that he told it to dad and daddy told it to me,

0:28:16.491,0:28:18.232
or told it to mama.

0:28:18.232,0:28:22.784
No--he was talking to me, sitting there listening to him.

0:28:22.784,0:28:27.940
He could, through the magic of his voice and radio,

0:28:27.940,0:28:39.203
reach out and involve you in the great adventure of building, making America work again.

0:28:39.203,0:28:44.565
Narrator: Roosevelt moved decisively to restore confidence in the country's financial system.

0:28:44.565,0:28:47.203
In one daring move, he closed the nation's banks

0:28:47.203,0:28:52.379
and ordered the Treasury to rush them 2 billion dollars in new currency.

0:28:52.379,0:28:56.613
President Roosevelt: Let me make it clear that the banks will take care of all needs.

0:28:56.613,0:28:59.865
: The reaction was, to his closing the bank,

0:28:59.865,0:29:03.984
"Thank God, somebody had come in and done something."

0:29:03.984,0:29:11.416
Narrator: When the banks reopened, deposits easily exceeded withdrawals.

0:29:11.416,0:29:14.412
Rescuing the banks was only the beginning.

0:29:14.412,0:29:16.743
In his first 100 days in the White House

0:29:16.743,0:29:19.790
Roosevelt moved at a breath-taking pace,

0:29:19.790,0:29:21.435
from regulating business, helping farmers,

0:29:21.435,0:29:24.743
pumping new money into the economy.

0:29:24.743,0:29:32.243
It was the most massive intervention in the lives of the American people the country had ever known.

0:29:32.243,0:29:34.615
Roosevelt put people on the government payroll

0:29:34.615,0:29:37.909
when private business didn't hire them fast enough.

0:29:37.909,0:29:42.360
The Wild Boys of the road became part of the Civilian Conservation Corps,

0:29:42.360,0:29:45.914
planting trees and building roads across America.

0:29:45.914,0:29:49.875
: They shipped us out to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

0:29:49.875,0:29:54.961
We'd build trails, you know, for people to come in and sight-seeing.

0:29:54.961,0:30:02.114
We got five dollars a month and they sent $25 home for your family to live on.

0:30:02.114,0:30:09.183
: Here was the federal government stepping in to help

0:30:09.183,0:30:12.215
people And it may not have been enough.

0:30:12.215,0:30:18.207
In some cases it didn't help, but somebody was trying.

0:30:18.207,0:30:24.698
One had that feeling that maybe it was going to work.

0:30:24.698,0:30:28.002
[music]

0:30:36.665,0:30:41.072
Narrator: Millions of Americans had been helped in the first year of the New Deal.

0:30:41.072,0:30:46.456
But for millions more, the year 1933 ended in frustration.

0:30:46.456,0:30:51.569
President Roosevelt had lifted their spirits, but not their circumstances.

0:30:51.569,0:30:56.285
After a time their a haunting thought could not be put down

0:30:56.285,0:31:00.287
that maybe this Great Depression was never going to end.

0:31:00.287,0:31:04.072
But with the sense of rising expectations,

0:31:04.072,0:31:08.684
people are stirred out of their lethargy and in 1934,

0:31:08.684,0:31:15.850
there is a most radical mood out of any year of the Great Depression.

0:31:15.850,0:31:18.878
Narrator: President Roosevelt had contributed to that radical mood

0:31:18.878,0:31:24.681
when he became the first American president to say that labor had the right to unionize.

0:31:24.681,0:31:28.531
But businessmen remained defiantly anti-union.

0:31:28.531,0:31:35.616
In the spring of 1934, emboldened dock workers closed ports all along the Pacific coast.

0:31:35.616,0:31:39.527
In San Francisco, their strike turned violent.

0:31:39.527,0:31:40.874
[shouting]

0:31:40.874,0:31:43.020
[gun shots]

0:31:48.529,0:31:54.238
We heard on the radio that all of this terrible stuff was

0:31:54.238,0:31:56.721
going on And my husband was down there.

0:31:56.721,0:32:06.359
I remember my mother and I were frightened and very upset--would Harold make it?

0:32:06.359,0:32:13.196
It got so bad that two men were killed.

0:32:13.196,0:32:18.228
They were killed by bullets, ostensibly from the police.

0:32:18.228,0:32:24.009
Nobody really ever figured that one out totally.

0:32:24.009,0:32:29.420
Harold was right on the corner where one was killed.

0:32:29.420,0:32:32.065
Shocked the city.

0:32:32.065,0:32:36.618
Killings, then, used to shock people.

0:32:36.618,0:32:41.814
Narrator: The funeral for the two murdered strikers drew 50 thousand people.

0:32:41.814,0:32:44.894
The funeral saw--

0:32:44.894,0:32:48.560
[draws heavy breaths]

0:32:48.560,0:32:51.140
It so shocked the city.

0:32:51.140,0:32:56.228
It was so impressive.

0:32:56.228,0:33:00.222
That was enough to infuriate the people of San Francisco.

0:33:00.222,0:33:02.789
So much so they said, "We've had it."

0:33:02.789,0:33:06.901
Every day we'd watch people getting beaten and clubbed.

0:33:06.901,0:33:09.617
We'd had it up to our eye brows.

0:33:09.617,0:33:12.859
By God, whatever it takes to win this fight we're gonna win it.

0:33:12.859,0:33:15.529
And they stopped all work.

0:33:15.529,0:33:20.907
Even the barbers said, "We refuse to give a haircut to anybody," until the strike is over.

0:33:20.907,0:33:22.773
"We sympathize with the union."

0:33:22.773,0:33:24.563
"We sympathize with the men."

0:33:24.563,0:33:27.983
And they shut the port down, shut the city down.

0:33:27.983,0:33:35.153
Little stores: " Closed until our boys win."

0:33:35.153,0:33:39.353
The city was quiet as hell.

0:33:39.353,0:33:42.910
Nothing moved for four solid days.

0:33:42.910,0:33:47.587
[men shouting together]

0:33:47.587,0:33:50.264
Narrator: The longshoremen won virtually all their demands,

0:33:50.264,0:33:55.812
encouraging workers across the country to move against management.

0:33:55.812,0:34:04.600
In 1934, there were more than 1,800 strikes for union recognition.

0:34:04.600,0:34:06.121
Coal miners.

0:34:06.121,0:34:08.120
Steel workers. Warehouse

0:34:08.120,0:34:11.859
and different people, packing houses

0:34:11.859,0:34:17.804
They said "if a bunch of starving seamen and longshoremen can weather the storm.

0:34:17.804,0:34:20.859
We could do it back in Pittsburgh" or "we could do it here.

0:34:20.859,0:34:23.645
We could do it there."

0:34:23.645,0:34:26.607
[gun shots]

0:34:26.607,0:34:29.152
[shouting]

0:34:29.152,0:34:33.007
Narrator: Labor unrest was only one of Roosevelt's problems in 1934.

0:34:33.007,0:34:38.216
Economic recovery had stalled and critics had complained that he'd gone too far.

0:34:38.216,0:34:42.814
The constitutionality of some New Deal programs were being challenged in the courts.

0:34:42.814,0:34:46.917
And business leaders were warning that FDR had steered the country

0:34:46.917,0:34:49.733
recklessly to the left.

0:34:49.733,0:34:53.975
But Roosevelt knew that his programs still hadn't reached millions of desperate Americans

0:34:53.975,0:34:58.144
and he didn't know how long they would wait.

0:34:58.144,0:35:02.770
Discontent and frustration gave rise to any number of demigods

0:35:02.770,0:35:07.054
including the charismatic radio priest, Father Charles Coughlin.

0:35:07.054,0:35:09.562
Charles Coughlin: Shout it as children and shout it as men and women.

0:35:09.562,0:35:15.399
Narrator: Dr. Francis Townsend, self-proclaimed advocate for the elderly.

0:35:15.399,0:35:21.411
Radical, spell-binders who claimed the New Deal was dying.

0:35:21.411,0:35:25.838
During 1934, one of these would-be saviors developed a national following

0:35:25.838,0:35:28.118
and presidential ambitions.

0:35:28.118,0:35:30.440
Huey Long: Because Hoover wanted to plow up every--

0:35:30.440,0:35:32.281
Narrator: He was called the "Kingfish."

0:35:32.281,0:35:35.858
Senator and former Louisiana Governor Huey Long.

0:35:35.858,0:35:39.515
Huey Long: After we told you people that Hoover was a numbskull--

0:35:39.515,0:35:44.262
Carter: The best entertainment you had was when Huey came to town to speak.

0:35:44.262,0:35:46.682
Huey Long: Put it in to plow a better--

0:35:46.682,0:35:48.929
Everybody went to hear him,

0:35:48.929,0:35:51.215
whether they were for or against him.

0:35:51.215,0:35:52.849
He was marvelous.

0:35:52.849,0:35:54.729
Huey Long: The Lord has answered the prayer.

0:35:54.729,0:35:56.961
He has called the upon of you.

0:35:56.961,0:36:03.367
He'd use such expressive language. You just had to listen.

0:36:03.367,0:36:07.128
Narrator: And when people listened, many discovered they liked what they heard.

0:36:07.128,0:36:13.668
What Huey Long was saying was that he was going to soak the rich, and he

0:36:13.668,0:36:16.315
was going to give that money to the poor.

0:36:16.315,0:36:19.615
His plan was never really carefully worked out, and in his own

0:36:19.615,0:36:25.824
state of Louisiana, he fell notably short of redistributing the wealth.

0:36:25.824,0:36:34.916
But it had a kind of direct appeal that the more complex programs of the New Deal lacked, and

0:36:34.916,0:36:42.706
also provided a focus for the animus against the rich that had been

0:36:42.706,0:36:47.104
building during the years of the Great Depression.

0:36:47.104,0:36:51.461
Narrator: Long promised every American a house, a car, a radio.

0:36:51.461,0:36:54.911
In return, he wanted power.

0:36:54.911,0:36:57.584
Absolute power.

0:36:57.584,0:37:02.220
Percy: You couldn't do anything in Louisiana unless you got his okay.

0:37:02.220,0:37:05.030
He was vicious.

0:37:05.030,0:37:11.744
And if you told him no, he'd knock you down.

0:37:11.744,0:37:16.501
He had built up a private police force.

0:37:16.501,0:37:23.005
He had shown his contempt for the democratic processes and that created

0:37:23.005,0:37:27.010
a great deal of worry in Washington.

0:37:27.010,0:37:30.992
Narrator: Not just southerners, but midwestern farmers and New York factory workers

0:37:30.992,0:37:35.181
were joining Long's Share Our Wealth Clubs.

0:37:35.181,0:37:45.964
By 1935, Franklin Roosevelt was privately calling Huey Long the most dangerous man in America.

0:37:45.980,0:37:54.202
When you have food riots, you have the makings of a dictatorship.

0:37:54.202,0:38:01.032
Don't think you wouldn't do it too. You might vote the wrong way.

0:38:01.032,0:38:09.994
He rose on the votes of the people, and Huey Long was rising on the votes of the people too.

0:38:09.994,0:38:13.441
Narrator: Huey Long never got the chance to run for president.

0:38:13.441,0:38:20.943
He was cut down by an assassin in September, 1935.

0:38:20.943,0:38:25.988
By then, President Roosevelt was hard at work on a populist agenda of his own, pushing

0:38:25.988,0:38:31.655
Congress to create the Social Security programs, welfare for the poor, and jobs

0:38:31.655,0:38:36.728
for 8 million people on public projects of every description.

0:38:36.728,0:38:43.414
This was called The Second Hundred Days, and it reshaped American life.

0:38:43.414,0:38:48.407
The legislation of the Second Hundred Days gives an underpinning to the

0:38:48.407,0:38:51.486
economy that's not been there before.

0:38:51.486,0:38:58.434
There's now a system of unemployment compensation, of old age pensions.

0:38:58.434,0:39:04.664
The United States, for the first time, has a centralized banking system.

0:39:04.664,0:39:12.327
And by 1936, there are visible scenes of recovery.

0:39:12.327,0:39:16.902
Narrator: Six years after he lost his grocery store, Miriam Johnson's father found

0:39:16.902,0:39:20.641
a steady job with the Works Progress Administration.

0:39:20.641,0:39:23.019
He was so happy to get up in the morning.

0:39:23.019,0:39:27.032
My father was so happy, even though the work - by this time he wasn't a kid - and it was

0:39:27.032,0:39:29.238
pick and shovel work, you know?

0:39:29.238,0:39:35.395
But he was so happy to have something to do and to get paid for it.

0:39:37.795,0:39:47.164
To me, the Roosevelt era revolutionized the perception of what government owes

0:39:47.164,0:39:50.786
the people and what it's role is.

0:39:50.786,0:40:00.528
Roosevelt: We are fighting. Fighting to save a great and precious form of government.

0:40:00.528,0:40:05.476
The programs that he put in were imperative for that period.

0:40:05.476,0:40:10.769
And I think it was a godsend that we had him and we maintained

0:40:10.769,0:40:17.327
a democracy that we had all cherished.

0:40:17.327,0:40:23.226
Narrator: Campaigning for a second term in 1936, Roosevelt told a cheering crowd "You look

0:40:23.226,0:40:26.173
happier today than you did four years ago."

0:40:26.173,0:40:29.577
And they were.

0:40:29.577,0:40:33.398
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was reelected by the greatest margin in the

0:40:33.398,0:40:37.733
history of American politics.

0:40:41.257,0:40:44.992
In the four years since President Roosevelt had taken office, America

0:40:44.992,0:40:51.819
had experience a revolution, and it had been led by the President himself.

0:40:51.819,0:40:55.978
[explosions]

0:41:00.610,0:41:05.352
The New Deal programs of the Depression Era transformed the countries landscape.

0:41:05.352,0:41:11.310
One project alone, the Tennessee Valley Authority, built dams, brought electricity, ended

0:41:11.310,0:41:18.191
floods, and lifted families out of poverty in seven states.

0:41:18.191,0:41:24.045
But as he took office for his second term in January, 1937, Roosevelt's New Deal still

0:41:24.045,0:41:29.769
had not completely overcome the Depression in America.

0:41:29.769,0:41:34.196
By 1937 the depression in Germany was over.

0:41:34.196,0:41:42.399
Adolf Hitler had kept his promise to give the people work.

0:41:42.399,0:41:49.525
Peter: Unemployed people disappeared practically over night.

0:41:49.525,0:42:01.159
There were no young, healthy men standing at the corners of Berlin and begging around for pennies.

0:42:01.159,0:42:04.526
People had jobs. They were happy.

0:42:04.526,0:42:09.279
Narrator: The secret of Germany's prosperity was rearmament.

0:42:09.279,0:42:14.930
There were plenty of jobs making powerful, new weapons, and building a highway system

0:42:14.930,0:42:22.235
as much for tanks as for cars.

0:42:22.235,0:42:28.880
It was also a kind of New Deal, but he was preparing for war.

0:42:28.880,0:42:33.647
Narrator: The first step came in March of 1936 when German troops marched unopposed

0:42:33.647,0:42:44.224
into the Rhineland's to reoccupy territory lost to France after the first World War.

0:42:44.224,0:42:54.998
He was leading us to the place in the sun, and I sincerely, and honestly believed in all that.

0:42:54.998,0:42:58.599
When I came home and told my father, arguments started.

0:42:58.599,0:43:00.854
My mother always said no.

0:43:00.854,0:43:05.599
"Leave that boy alone. He can't help it that he's so brainwashed."

0:43:05.599,0:43:10.150
And it started again with my mother "What do you mean by brainwashed them?"

0:43:10.150,0:43:20.354
Now, of course, I realize my parents were right, but it's all too late.

0:43:20.354,0:43:25.937
Narrator: Now Adolf Hitler would try to keep another promise to the German people.

0:43:25.937,0:43:29.972
To build a new German empire.

0:43:29.972,0:43:35.321
One, he said, that would last 1000 years.

0:43:44.184,0:43:48.367
Depression and desperation had unleashed a force that would alter the course

0:43:48.367,0:43:50.365
of the 20th century.

0:43:50.365,0:43:54.708
We'll see that on the next episode of The Century: America's Time.

0:43:54.708,0:43:56.249
I'm Peter Jennings.

0:43:56.249,0:43:59.168
Thank you for joining us.

0:43:59.168,0:44:02.922
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