Individual Opposition to the New Deal

1
Individual Opposition to the New Deal

• Huey Long and Father Charles Coughlin

2
Who was Huey Long?

• Long was Governor of Louisiana in the 1920s, and
  Senator for the state from 1932 1935.
• Although Long supported Roosevelt in the 1932
  election, he grew to believe that he had not done
  enough to help Americans.

3
Longs Beliefs

• Long believed that the true cause of poverty in
  America was unequal distribution of wealth. He
  disliked banks and business owners holding the
  majority of the nations wealth.
• He wanted more equality, but claimed this wasnt
  Socialism as his moral guide was the Bible, not
  Karl Marx.

4
The Share Our Wealth Movement

• Long proposed that any income over a million
  dollars would be taxed.
• Any income over 8 million would be taxed 100.
• Every working class family would then get a
  handout of 5,000. Any worker would be guaranteed
  an income of 2,000 a year.

5
How big an impact did he have?

• By 1935 there were almost 5 million members of
  the Share Our Wealth organization.
• However, many experts criticized Longs ideas. If
  a mans wealth was in land or goods, how could it
  be taxed?
• Long was assassinated in 1935, one year before
  running for President.

6
Who was Charles Coughlin?

• Charles Coughlin was a Priest from Detroit, the
  same city as Henry Ford.
• He was one of the first religious radio show
  presenters in the U.S.A.
• He was considered an expert on Communism an
  idea he criticised often.

7
Coughlins Beliefs

• Coughlin wanted Roosevelt to go further to help
  American cities.
• He wanted Roosevelt to take full control of the
  nations banking movement.
• He also wanted money paid to veterans of WW1.

8
How big an impact did he have?

• It was claimed, in the early 1930s, that Coughlin
  was the second most important man in America. His
  radio show attracted an audience of 30 million
  people.
• However, his preferred candidate in the 1936
  election got less than 1 million votes. After
  this, he went back to criticising Communism.

9
Individual Opposition to the New Deal