Student Notes on the GREAT DEPRESSION and the NEW DEAL
Shortly before Hoover became president he said in a campaign speech:
“We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than
ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing
from among us.”
Great Depression
October 29, 1929—The day the stock market crashed (AKA Black Tuesday)
December 7, 1941—The day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entered WWII.
THIS SECTION IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. STUDY THIS SECTION WELL. CAUSES OF THE DEPRESSION
1) Lack of diversification—The economic prosperity in the 1920s depended heavily on only a few basic industries, most notably construction and cars. Both of these industries declined in the late 1920s and there were no other significant industries to take up the slack.
2) Uneven distribution of wealth— There were a great number of very rich people and a great number of very poor. The poor could not stimulate the economy because they did not have enough income to buy anything. The rich had the income, but they often used it for such non-productive purposes as stock speculation (buying and selling stocks).
3) Falling crop prices—farmers were in debt, their land was mortgaged and they couldn’t make enough money on their crops to turn a profit. Technology produced bumper crops. While millions starved, many farmers destroyed their own crops (lowering supply) in an effort to get prices up. Their effort was too little, too late. 1/3 or all farmers lost their land.
4) Overuse of Credit--In the late 1920s, approximately 70% of purchases were made on the installment plan. Many had put no money in the bank to fall back on in hard times.
5) International debt—After WWI European countries borrowed from U.S. government to rebuild. Europe was unable to pay back the debts unless Germany paid the demanded war reparations. Germany couldn’t pay the reparations, therefore the other European countries couldn’t pay us back. U.S. government refused to forgive or reduce the debts, so U.S. banks gave loans to Germany countries to pay back their debts. This simply created new debt in place of old.
6) America’s position on trade – Hawley-Smoot Tariff
7) Over speculation on stock
8) Overproduction and undercomsumption EFFECTS Bank failures – umemployment – loss of savings – farm failures – stock market crash Repossessions – bankruptcies – business closures – homelessness – little money in circulation BANKS FAIL Over 9000 American banks either went bankrupt or closed their doors to avoid bankruptcy between 1930 and 1933. Millions of depositors lost their life savings. Bank runs were common. Partly as a result of the bank closures, the nation’s money supply greatly decreased. The total money supply fell by more than a third between 1930 and 1933. The declining money supply meant a decline in purchasing power. Prices were reduced, production cut back, and workers were laid off. UNEMPLOYMENT Nationwide 25% of the American work force was unemployed, with some areas experiencing rates of unemployment as high as 80%. Up to another 1/3 of the work force was underemployed, experiencing major reductions in wages, hours or both. Unemployed workers walked through the streets day after day looking for jobs that did not exist. Families turned to public relief systems, like soup kitchens and bread lines, just to be able to eat. Those systems, primarily operated by churches or other charitable organizations, were totally unequipped to handle the new demands placed on them. With tax revenue declining, states were not in a position to provide any relief or assistance. DUST BOWL The Great Plains was suffering from a catastrophic natural disaster: one of the worst droughts in the history of the nation. Beginning in 1930, the region, which became known as the “Dust Bowl” and which stretched from Texas to the Dakotas, experienced a steady decline in rainfall, accompanied by an increase in heat. The drought continued for ten years, turning once fertile farms into deserts. Hundreds of thousands of families from the Dust Bowl (often known as Okies) traveled to California and other states looking to start over. COPING WITH THE DEPRESSION 7. In the 1930s with money scarce, people did what they could to make their lives happy. Below are a few 1930s notables. The list of accomplishments and events and people could fill an entire book. Popular Sports: Baseball--Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio first night game in 1935, Cincinnati Popular Games: Monopoly Popular Authors: John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Wright Popular Books: Grapes of Wrath, Dr. Seuss Popular Music: Big Bands, Broadway Hits, Folk Songs, Swing Popular Musicians: Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Cole Porter, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly Popular Radio Shows: Fibber McGee & Molly, Amos & Andy, Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, The Shadow, FDR’s Fireside Chats Hollywood Stars: Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, W.C. Fields, Shirley Temple, Errol Flynn, Hit Movies: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, King Kong, Wizard of Oz, It Happened One Night. Unusual Pastimes: Marathon Dancing and Flagpole Sitting (anything to break a record) In 1931 the Empire State Building was completed In 1931 The Star Spangled Banner became our country’s national anthem. SCOTTSBORO BOYS In March 1931, nine black teenagers were taken off a freight train in northern Alabama and arrested for vagrancy and disorder. Two white women who had been riding the train accused them of rape. Evidence, both medical and otherwise, proved that the women had not been raped at all - but an all-white jury in Alabama convicted all nine of the “Scottsboro boys” and sentenced eight of them to death. The Supreme Court overturned their convictions in 1932, and a series of new trials continued through the 1930s. All were found guilty once again by white Southern juries. Eventually all of them gained their freedom—four because charges were dropped, four because of early paroles, and one because he escaped from prison. The last of the Scottsboro defendants did not leave prison until 1950. ZOOT SUIT RIOTS Patterns of discrimination confronted many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. The Hispanic population grew steadily, largely in California, through massive immigration from Mexico, which was excluded from the immigration restriction laws. Chicanos (Mexican-Americans) filled many of the same menial jobs that the blacks had filled in other regions. Some became migrant farm workers, moving from region to region harvesting fruits and vegetables. Approximately one-half million Mexican-Americans were forced to leave the country in the first years of the Depression. Those who remained faced persistent discrimination. Harsh repression by local growers and public authorities drove Hispanics to migrate to large cities, like Los Angeles, in search of work. Most were forced to live in poverty. WOMEN AND FAMILIES From 1932-37 it was illegal for more than one member of a family to hold a federal civil service job. By the end of the Depression 25% more women were working than had been doing so at the beginning. Unemployed men began moving into traditionally female positions such as teaching and social work, taking away the few professional opportunities available to women. Families were often split apart, sending children to live with other relatives or fen for themselves when there were too many mouths to feed. Divorce rates, marriage rates, and birth rates all declined for the first time since the early nineteenth century. Many became train-hopping hobos in search of a better place, traveling like nomads, living off the land and the kindness of others. BONUS ARMY/HOOVERVILLES In 1924 Congress had approved the payment of a $1000 bonus to all those who had served in WWI, the money to be paid beginning in 1945. In 1932, veterans were demanding that it be paid immediately. Hoover, concerned about the federal budget, refused to comply. In June 1932, more than 20,000 veterans, who called themselves the “Bonus Army” marched into Washington and set up camps around the city, promising to stay until Congress agreed to pay the bonus. In mid-July, the veterans still camped out, Hoover ordered police to clear the marchers out. A few marchers threw rocks at the police, and the police opened fire, killing two veterans. Still, Hoover insisted that the veterans be removed. General Douglas MacArthur, the army chief of staff, carried out the mission; however, he exceeded the president’s orders, using machine guns and tanks to remove the veterans. MacArthur followed them out of the city and ordered the soldiers to burn their tent city to the ground. More than 100 veterans were injured and one baby died. The incident served as a final blow to Hoover’s already battered political standing. FDR TAKES OVER Hoover lost in the election of 1932, by a substantial margin—Democrat FDR got 472 electoral votes to Republican Hoover’s 59. Democrats also won majorities in both houses. FDR’s administration constructed a series of programs that permanently altered the federal government. The New Deal created many of the broad outlines of the political world we know today. It constructed the beginnings of a welfare system, established many new federal regulations, made the government a major force in the agricultural economy, developed new legislation to manage the banking industry, and presided over the birth of the modern labor movement. One of Roosevelt’s first tasks was to stop the panic. He was able to do that through the use of radio and his weekly “Fireside Chats.” The public responded; FDR received as many as 50,000 letters per day from people across the U.S. Roosevelt’s advisors included: A) The Brain Trust—a group of Columbia University professors who became advisors to FDR. B) The Black Cabinet—a group of African-Americans appointed by FDR to high-level federal offices, acting as advisors to the president on matters involving African-Americans. Leader of this group was Mary McLeod Bethune C) Eleanor Roosevelt—FDR was limited by his paralysis and Eleanor, his wife, became one of his closest advisers. FDR described her as his “eyes and ears.” She once said, “I am my husband’s legs.” In FDR’s first year in office Eleanor traveled the U.S. extensively, reporting to FDR her findings and offering her suggestions for solutions to the many problems. D) Cabinet members—FDR’s cabinet represented a variety of viewpoints and ideas. It contained Northerners and Southerners, liberals and conservatives, and for the first time ever male and female. FDR appointed Mrs. Frances Perkins to be the Secretary of Labor, making her the first woman ever to serve in the president’s cabinet FIRST HUNDRED DAYS FDR passed an unprecedented 15 major bills in FDR’s “First Hundred Days” in office. Most passed with little or no debate; Franklin asked and Congress obliged. The passage of Roosevelt’s New Deal Acts, as they came to be known, served three purposes: 1) Providing relief for victims of the Great Depression 2) Advancing the nation’s recovery from the Great Depression. 3) Establishing preventative measures to avoid future depressions. Collectively these became known as his Alphabet Soup programs, because most were known by their acronyms. DOROTHEA LANGE A photographer whose name is synonymous with the Great Depression is Dorothea Lange. Dorothea Lange’s photographs document the ways that individuals reacted to the Depression. Lange teamed up with an economics professor from the University of California to document the plight of the migrant workers in California. Her most famous photograph is entitled Migrant Mother. HUEY LONG One of the most outspoken citics of FDR was the flamboyant senator from Louisiana, Huey P. Long, nicknamed the Kingfish. A charismatic speaker who appealed to everyone, particularly the poor, touted his Robin Hood style plan, “Share-Our-Wealth,” which involved taking money and property from the rich and giving it to the poor. Long suggested that the government could end the Depression easily by using the tax system to confiscate the surplus riches of the wealthiest men and women in America, whose fortunes were, he claimed, so bloated that not enough wealth remained to satisfy the needs of the great mass of citizens. That surplus wealth would allow the government to guarantee every family a home worth $5000 and an annual wage of $2500. Roosevelt knew as he approached his reelection, that he had not accomplished all he needed to recover from the Depression. So, he proposed a Second New Deal. This group of legislation primarily attacked corporations, labeled by some as a “soak-the-rich” scheme, it was designed to offset Long’s appeal to the public. It also included tax increases that raised taxes to the highest level in peacetime history —75% on income, 70% on inheritance. UNIONS Lewis of the United Mine Workers and his followers broke away from the AFL in 1935 and formed the Committee for Industrial Organization (cio), which crucially aided the emerging unions in auto, rubber, steel, and other basic industries. In 1938 the cio was formally established as the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Later the AFL and CIO would merge. By the end of World War II, more than 12 million workers belonged to unions, and collective bargaining had taken hold throughout the industrial economy. SECOND NEW DEAL LEGISLATION Two of the more important acts of the Second New Deal were: 1) Social Security Act—Established a pension plan for all workers. Provided financial assistance to the destitute, in particular for the disabled, widows and children. Assisted states in providing unemployment compensation for the jobless. Though it was designed to be an “insurance” program, it turned out to be more of a “welfare” program. Many believe it to be the single most important social welfare legislation in American history. 2) Wagner Act—aka the National Labor Relations Act. This act provided workers with more federal protection, forced companies to recognize and bargain with legitimate labor unions. Passage of this law stimulated union activity, which led to more strikes, which led to more industrial conflicts, including riots. COURT PACKING SCHEME Passage of the New Deal Acts came swiftly, and the Supreme Court began to examine these hastily passed new laws, declaring a number of them unconstitutional. In an effort to eliminate the court’s opposition to legislation he had passed, FDR proposed new legislation which would allow him to appoint a new justice to the Supreme Court for every current justice over 70 years of age, up to a total of six new justices. Roosevelt argued that the “old men” on the court were “overworked” and needed additional assistance from younger blood to enable them to cope with their increasing burdens. This came to known as the “court-packing” bill. This was not supported. 20th AMENDMENT During FDR’s presidency the 20th Amendment, regarding the effective date for presidential inaugurations, was also passed. The effective date for a new President's inauguration became January 20th instead of March 4th. The 20th Amendment shortened the interval between a November election and the time a president's term. By moving the date proponents of the 20th Amendment hoped to put an end to the "lame duck" syndrome. There was also concern that defeated incumbents might engage in foolish actions before leaving office. The briefer interval was also a compromise between the desire to reduce the length of the awkward state of seeming to have two presidents – the out-going one still in office and the incoming president-elect -- yet still allow time for an orderly transition period between administrations.
THIS SECTION IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. STUDY THIS SECTION WELL. CAUSES OF THE DEPRESSION
1) Lack of diversification—The economic prosperity in the 1920s depended heavily on only a few basic industries, most notably construction and cars. Both of these industries declined in the late 1920s and there were no other significant industries to take up the slack.
2) Uneven distribution of wealth— There were a great number of very rich people and a great number of very poor. The poor could not stimulate the economy because they did not have enough income to buy anything. The rich had the income, but they often used it for such non-productive purposes as stock speculation (buying and selling stocks).
3) Falling crop prices—farmers were in debt, their land was mortgaged and they couldn’t make enough money on their crops to turn a profit. Technology produced bumper crops. While millions starved, many farmers destroyed their own crops (lowering supply) in an effort to get prices up. Their effort was too little, too late. 1/3 or all farmers lost their land.
4) Overuse of Credit--In the late 1920s, approximately 70% of purchases were made on the installment plan. Many had put no money in the bank to fall back on in hard times.
5) International debt—After WWI European countries borrowed from U.S. government to rebuild. Europe was unable to pay back the debts unless Germany paid the demanded war reparations. Germany couldn’t pay the reparations, therefore the other European countries couldn’t pay us back. U.S. government refused to forgive or reduce the debts, so U.S. banks gave loans to Germany countries to pay back their debts. This simply created new debt in place of old.
6) America’s position on trade – Hawley-Smoot Tariff
7) Over speculation on stock
8) Overproduction and undercomsumption EFFECTS Bank failures – umemployment – loss of savings – farm failures – stock market crash Repossessions – bankruptcies – business closures – homelessness – little money in circulation BANKS FAIL Over 9000 American banks either went bankrupt or closed their doors to avoid bankruptcy between 1930 and 1933. Millions of depositors lost their life savings. Bank runs were common. Partly as a result of the bank closures, the nation’s money supply greatly decreased. The total money supply fell by more than a third between 1930 and 1933. The declining money supply meant a decline in purchasing power. Prices were reduced, production cut back, and workers were laid off. UNEMPLOYMENT Nationwide 25% of the American work force was unemployed, with some areas experiencing rates of unemployment as high as 80%. Up to another 1/3 of the work force was underemployed, experiencing major reductions in wages, hours or both. Unemployed workers walked through the streets day after day looking for jobs that did not exist. Families turned to public relief systems, like soup kitchens and bread lines, just to be able to eat. Those systems, primarily operated by churches or other charitable organizations, were totally unequipped to handle the new demands placed on them. With tax revenue declining, states were not in a position to provide any relief or assistance. DUST BOWL The Great Plains was suffering from a catastrophic natural disaster: one of the worst droughts in the history of the nation. Beginning in 1930, the region, which became known as the “Dust Bowl” and which stretched from Texas to the Dakotas, experienced a steady decline in rainfall, accompanied by an increase in heat. The drought continued for ten years, turning once fertile farms into deserts. Hundreds of thousands of families from the Dust Bowl (often known as Okies) traveled to California and other states looking to start over. COPING WITH THE DEPRESSION 7. In the 1930s with money scarce, people did what they could to make their lives happy. Below are a few 1930s notables. The list of accomplishments and events and people could fill an entire book. Popular Sports: Baseball--Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio first night game in 1935, Cincinnati Popular Games: Monopoly Popular Authors: John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Wright Popular Books: Grapes of Wrath, Dr. Seuss Popular Music: Big Bands, Broadway Hits, Folk Songs, Swing Popular Musicians: Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Cole Porter, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly Popular Radio Shows: Fibber McGee & Molly, Amos & Andy, Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, The Shadow, FDR’s Fireside Chats Hollywood Stars: Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, W.C. Fields, Shirley Temple, Errol Flynn, Hit Movies: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, King Kong, Wizard of Oz, It Happened One Night. Unusual Pastimes: Marathon Dancing and Flagpole Sitting (anything to break a record) In 1931 the Empire State Building was completed In 1931 The Star Spangled Banner became our country’s national anthem. SCOTTSBORO BOYS In March 1931, nine black teenagers were taken off a freight train in northern Alabama and arrested for vagrancy and disorder. Two white women who had been riding the train accused them of rape. Evidence, both medical and otherwise, proved that the women had not been raped at all - but an all-white jury in Alabama convicted all nine of the “Scottsboro boys” and sentenced eight of them to death. The Supreme Court overturned their convictions in 1932, and a series of new trials continued through the 1930s. All were found guilty once again by white Southern juries. Eventually all of them gained their freedom—four because charges were dropped, four because of early paroles, and one because he escaped from prison. The last of the Scottsboro defendants did not leave prison until 1950. ZOOT SUIT RIOTS Patterns of discrimination confronted many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. The Hispanic population grew steadily, largely in California, through massive immigration from Mexico, which was excluded from the immigration restriction laws. Chicanos (Mexican-Americans) filled many of the same menial jobs that the blacks had filled in other regions. Some became migrant farm workers, moving from region to region harvesting fruits and vegetables. Approximately one-half million Mexican-Americans were forced to leave the country in the first years of the Depression. Those who remained faced persistent discrimination. Harsh repression by local growers and public authorities drove Hispanics to migrate to large cities, like Los Angeles, in search of work. Most were forced to live in poverty. WOMEN AND FAMILIES From 1932-37 it was illegal for more than one member of a family to hold a federal civil service job. By the end of the Depression 25% more women were working than had been doing so at the beginning. Unemployed men began moving into traditionally female positions such as teaching and social work, taking away the few professional opportunities available to women. Families were often split apart, sending children to live with other relatives or fen for themselves when there were too many mouths to feed. Divorce rates, marriage rates, and birth rates all declined for the first time since the early nineteenth century. Many became train-hopping hobos in search of a better place, traveling like nomads, living off the land and the kindness of others. BONUS ARMY/HOOVERVILLES In 1924 Congress had approved the payment of a $1000 bonus to all those who had served in WWI, the money to be paid beginning in 1945. In 1932, veterans were demanding that it be paid immediately. Hoover, concerned about the federal budget, refused to comply. In June 1932, more than 20,000 veterans, who called themselves the “Bonus Army” marched into Washington and set up camps around the city, promising to stay until Congress agreed to pay the bonus. In mid-July, the veterans still camped out, Hoover ordered police to clear the marchers out. A few marchers threw rocks at the police, and the police opened fire, killing two veterans. Still, Hoover insisted that the veterans be removed. General Douglas MacArthur, the army chief of staff, carried out the mission; however, he exceeded the president’s orders, using machine guns and tanks to remove the veterans. MacArthur followed them out of the city and ordered the soldiers to burn their tent city to the ground. More than 100 veterans were injured and one baby died. The incident served as a final blow to Hoover’s already battered political standing. FDR TAKES OVER Hoover lost in the election of 1932, by a substantial margin—Democrat FDR got 472 electoral votes to Republican Hoover’s 59. Democrats also won majorities in both houses. FDR’s administration constructed a series of programs that permanently altered the federal government. The New Deal created many of the broad outlines of the political world we know today. It constructed the beginnings of a welfare system, established many new federal regulations, made the government a major force in the agricultural economy, developed new legislation to manage the banking industry, and presided over the birth of the modern labor movement. One of Roosevelt’s first tasks was to stop the panic. He was able to do that through the use of radio and his weekly “Fireside Chats.” The public responded; FDR received as many as 50,000 letters per day from people across the U.S. Roosevelt’s advisors included: A) The Brain Trust—a group of Columbia University professors who became advisors to FDR. B) The Black Cabinet—a group of African-Americans appointed by FDR to high-level federal offices, acting as advisors to the president on matters involving African-Americans. Leader of this group was Mary McLeod Bethune C) Eleanor Roosevelt—FDR was limited by his paralysis and Eleanor, his wife, became one of his closest advisers. FDR described her as his “eyes and ears.” She once said, “I am my husband’s legs.” In FDR’s first year in office Eleanor traveled the U.S. extensively, reporting to FDR her findings and offering her suggestions for solutions to the many problems. D) Cabinet members—FDR’s cabinet represented a variety of viewpoints and ideas. It contained Northerners and Southerners, liberals and conservatives, and for the first time ever male and female. FDR appointed Mrs. Frances Perkins to be the Secretary of Labor, making her the first woman ever to serve in the president’s cabinet FIRST HUNDRED DAYS FDR passed an unprecedented 15 major bills in FDR’s “First Hundred Days” in office. Most passed with little or no debate; Franklin asked and Congress obliged. The passage of Roosevelt’s New Deal Acts, as they came to be known, served three purposes: 1) Providing relief for victims of the Great Depression 2) Advancing the nation’s recovery from the Great Depression. 3) Establishing preventative measures to avoid future depressions. Collectively these became known as his Alphabet Soup programs, because most were known by their acronyms. DOROTHEA LANGE A photographer whose name is synonymous with the Great Depression is Dorothea Lange. Dorothea Lange’s photographs document the ways that individuals reacted to the Depression. Lange teamed up with an economics professor from the University of California to document the plight of the migrant workers in California. Her most famous photograph is entitled Migrant Mother. HUEY LONG One of the most outspoken citics of FDR was the flamboyant senator from Louisiana, Huey P. Long, nicknamed the Kingfish. A charismatic speaker who appealed to everyone, particularly the poor, touted his Robin Hood style plan, “Share-Our-Wealth,” which involved taking money and property from the rich and giving it to the poor. Long suggested that the government could end the Depression easily by using the tax system to confiscate the surplus riches of the wealthiest men and women in America, whose fortunes were, he claimed, so bloated that not enough wealth remained to satisfy the needs of the great mass of citizens. That surplus wealth would allow the government to guarantee every family a home worth $5000 and an annual wage of $2500. Roosevelt knew as he approached his reelection, that he had not accomplished all he needed to recover from the Depression. So, he proposed a Second New Deal. This group of legislation primarily attacked corporations, labeled by some as a “soak-the-rich” scheme, it was designed to offset Long’s appeal to the public. It also included tax increases that raised taxes to the highest level in peacetime history —75% on income, 70% on inheritance. UNIONS Lewis of the United Mine Workers and his followers broke away from the AFL in 1935 and formed the Committee for Industrial Organization (cio), which crucially aided the emerging unions in auto, rubber, steel, and other basic industries. In 1938 the cio was formally established as the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Later the AFL and CIO would merge. By the end of World War II, more than 12 million workers belonged to unions, and collective bargaining had taken hold throughout the industrial economy. SECOND NEW DEAL LEGISLATION Two of the more important acts of the Second New Deal were: 1) Social Security Act—Established a pension plan for all workers. Provided financial assistance to the destitute, in particular for the disabled, widows and children. Assisted states in providing unemployment compensation for the jobless. Though it was designed to be an “insurance” program, it turned out to be more of a “welfare” program. Many believe it to be the single most important social welfare legislation in American history. 2) Wagner Act—aka the National Labor Relations Act. This act provided workers with more federal protection, forced companies to recognize and bargain with legitimate labor unions. Passage of this law stimulated union activity, which led to more strikes, which led to more industrial conflicts, including riots. COURT PACKING SCHEME Passage of the New Deal Acts came swiftly, and the Supreme Court began to examine these hastily passed new laws, declaring a number of them unconstitutional. In an effort to eliminate the court’s opposition to legislation he had passed, FDR proposed new legislation which would allow him to appoint a new justice to the Supreme Court for every current justice over 70 years of age, up to a total of six new justices. Roosevelt argued that the “old men” on the court were “overworked” and needed additional assistance from younger blood to enable them to cope with their increasing burdens. This came to known as the “court-packing” bill. This was not supported. 20th AMENDMENT During FDR’s presidency the 20th Amendment, regarding the effective date for presidential inaugurations, was also passed. The effective date for a new President's inauguration became January 20th instead of March 4th. The 20th Amendment shortened the interval between a November election and the time a president's term. By moving the date proponents of the 20th Amendment hoped to put an end to the "lame duck" syndrome. There was also concern that defeated incumbents might engage in foolish actions before leaving office. The briefer interval was also a compromise between the desire to reduce the length of the awkward state of seeming to have two presidents – the out-going one still in office and the incoming president-elect -- yet still allow time for an orderly transition period between administrations.
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