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| | Roosevelt's [[New Deal]] created an Alphabet soup of government programs. They imposed strong regulations on the banking and financial system, transportation, communications, stock markets, labor-management relations and housing. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) imposed restrictive covenants on mortgage underwriters to discourage government-backed home loans in areas "infiltrated" by "inharmonious racial or nationality groups."<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-new-deal-as-raw-deal-for-blacks-in-segregated-communities/2017/05/25/07416bba-080a-11e7-a15f-a58d4a988474_story.html The New Deal as raw deal for blacks in segregated communities], Charles Lane, ''[[Washington Post]]'', May 25, 2017.</ref> Restrictive covenants were legal documents to ensure that blacks could not buy homes in white neighborhoods. These covenants forbade the owners and their heirs from selling their property to blacks and other racial and ethnic minorities. Because of these covenants, if the owners sold to a minority, the neighborhood property association had the right to sue in court to ensure that property and homes did not change hands and became the property of minorities. | | Roosevelt's [[New Deal]] created an Alphabet soup of government programs. They imposed strong regulations on the banking and financial system, transportation, communications, stock markets, labor-management relations and housing. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) imposed restrictive covenants on mortgage underwriters to discourage government-backed home loans in areas "infiltrated" by "inharmonious racial or nationality groups."<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-new-deal-as-raw-deal-for-blacks-in-segregated-communities/2017/05/25/07416bba-080a-11e7-a15f-a58d4a988474_story.html The New Deal as raw deal for blacks in segregated communities], Charles Lane, ''[[Washington Post]]'', May 25, 2017.</ref> Restrictive covenants were legal documents to ensure that blacks could not buy homes in white neighborhoods. These covenants forbade the owners and their heirs from selling their property to blacks and other racial and ethnic minorities. Because of these covenants, if the owners sold to a minority, the neighborhood property association had the right to sue in court to ensure that property and homes did not change hands and became the property of minorities. |
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| − | Roosevelt built up the "[[New Deal Coalition]]", a diverse coalition of voters and special interest groups with often with conflicting interests. Key components included corrupt big city political machines and labor unions. Key voter groups included traditional white segregationists, Southerners, Catholics, Jews, and liberals, as well as some Northern blacks. Southern New Dealers did not allow Blacks to vote. The big-city machines, largely controlled by immigrant leaders and unions, as well as blacks, were all tied to the party whose existence was maintained by a venomously, anti-Catholic, anti-labor and racist power center - the Southern [[Bourbon Democrats]]. The other keystone of the alliance was the [[Communist Party]] and other leftists, who played a crucial role in allying with Roosevelt and the Democrats to ensure that workers did not transcend trade unionism into political action independent of the Democratic Party. This voter base allowed Democrats to be elected to Congress and the presidency for much of the next 30 years. | + | Roosevelt built up the "[[New Deal Coalition]]", a diverse coalition of voters and special interest groups often with conflicting interests. Key components included corrupt big city political machines and labor unions. Key voter groups included traditional white segregationists, Southerners, Catholics, Jews, and liberals, as well as some Northern blacks. Southern New Dealers did not allow Blacks to vote. The big-city machines, largely controlled by immigrant leaders and unions, as well as blacks, were all tied to the party whose existence was maintained by a venomously, anti-Catholic, anti-labor and racist power center - the Southern [[Bourbon Democrats]]. The other keystone of the alliance was the [[Communist Party]] and other leftists, who played a crucial role in allying with Roosevelt and the Democrats to ensure that workers did not transcend trade unionism into political action independent of the Democratic Party. This voter base allowed Democrats to be elected to Congress and the presidency for much of the next 30 years. |
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| | After a sweeping landslide reelection in 1936—losing only Maine and Vermont—Roosevelt stunned the nation, and his party, by calling for legislation to enlarge the Supreme Court by five new members after the court found illegal and unconstitutional many of Roosevelt's first term programs. A firestorm of opposition erupted, led by his own vice president [[John Nance Garner]]. Roosevelt was defeated by an alliance of Republicans and conservative Democrats, who formed a coalition that managed to block nearly all socialist planning. (Only a minimum wage law got through.) Angry with dissenters in his own party, Roosevelt tried to destroy them. In 1938, he actively campaigned against five incumbent conservative Democratic senators; all five senators won re-election. In 1940, after rejecting DNC chair James Farley as his successor because Farley was [[Catholic]],<ref>John Flynn, ''The Roosevelt Myth'', 1948, p. 179.</ref> Roosevelt broke with tradition and sought a third term as President. The decision was controversial - Democrat Governor [[Strom Thurmond]] supported his third term while his own vice president John Nance Garner quit over the matter while.<ref>https://www.americanheritage.com/content/what-trent-meant</ref> | | After a sweeping landslide reelection in 1936—losing only Maine and Vermont—Roosevelt stunned the nation, and his party, by calling for legislation to enlarge the Supreme Court by five new members after the court found illegal and unconstitutional many of Roosevelt's first term programs. A firestorm of opposition erupted, led by his own vice president [[John Nance Garner]]. Roosevelt was defeated by an alliance of Republicans and conservative Democrats, who formed a coalition that managed to block nearly all socialist planning. (Only a minimum wage law got through.) Angry with dissenters in his own party, Roosevelt tried to destroy them. In 1938, he actively campaigned against five incumbent conservative Democratic senators; all five senators won re-election. In 1940, after rejecting DNC chair James Farley as his successor because Farley was [[Catholic]],<ref>John Flynn, ''The Roosevelt Myth'', 1948, p. 179.</ref> Roosevelt broke with tradition and sought a third term as President. The decision was controversial - Democrat Governor [[Strom Thurmond]] supported his third term while his own vice president John Nance Garner quit over the matter while.<ref>https://www.americanheritage.com/content/what-trent-meant</ref> |