1929  Only the Beginning

President: Hoover (R); Senate: Watson (R-IN); House: Longworth (R-OH).

 1930  The Slump Deepens

President: Hoover (R); Senate: Watson (R-IN); House: Longworth (R-OH).

In the 1930 US Senate Elections the Democrats gained 8 seats from the Republicans. In the 1930 US House Elections the Democrats gained 52 seats. In the 72nd Congress the Republicans controlled the Senate with 48-47 seats, and the Democrats controlled the House with 217-217 seats.

 1931  Down and Down

President: Hoover (R); Senate: Watson (R-IN); House: Garner (D-TX).

 1932  Will It Never End?

President: Hoover (R); Senate: Watson (R-IN); House: Garner (D-TX).

In the November presidential election campaign, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York criticized the incumbent President Hoover for increasing government spending, blocking trade, and putting millions of Americans on the dole. Governor Roosevelt won the election in a landslide of 42 states to 6 and a popular vote of 57 to 40 percent over President Hoover. In the Senate elections the Democrats picked up 12 seats, and in the House elections an additional 97 seats. In the new 73rd Congress the Democrats controlled the Senate with 59-36 seats, and in the House with 313-117 seats.

 1933  The New Deal

President: Roosevelt (D); Senate: Robinson (D-AR); House: Rainey (D-IL).

In the famous First 100 Days that followed, Roosevelt rammed through Congress an Emergency Banking Relief Act to take the United States off the Gold Standard and reopen the banks, a Civilian Conservation Corps to give jobs to the unemployed, an Agricultural Adjustment Act to subsidize farmers, a Tennessee Valley Authority Act to build federal dams and electric generating plants, a Securities Act to establish the Securities and Exchange Commission, a Home Owners' Loan Corporation, the Glass-Steagall Act to separate deposit banking and investment banking, and a National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) that established a National Recovery Administration to promote economic recovery through price fixing, detailed business regulation, and labor regulation. The NIRA included $3.3 billion of spending stimulus through the Public Works Administration. Congress also repealed Prohibition, the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution.

 1934  Sue the Bastards

President: Roosevelt (D); Senate: Robinson (D-AR); House: Rainey (D-IL).

But the New Deal zealots also found more humble folk in their sights, the Schechter brothers, who operated a kosher live poultry business in Brooklyn. The New Dealers found them in violation of the business codes of the National Industrial Recovery Act and took them to court. A year later the US Supreme Court overruled the government and found for the Schechters.

In the November Senate elections the Democrats gained 9 seats over the Republicans. In the House elections the Democrats gained 9 seats, the Republicans lost 14 seats, and the new Progressive Party gained representation in the House with 7 seats. In the 74th Congress the Democrats achieved a 69-25 majority, and in the House a 322-103 majority over the Republicans.

 1935  Labor and Social Security

President: Roosevelt (D); Senate: Robinson (D-AR); House: Byrns (D-TN).

The Social Security Act inaugurated a government pension system funded by a 2 percent tax on the first $3,000 of payroll income to begin in 1937. The act also included unemployment insurance, aid to the states for health and welfare programs, and the Aid to Dependent Children program.

 1936  Buy the Election

President: Roosevelt (D); Senate: Robinson (D-AR); House: Byrns (D-TN).

In the presidential election campaign, President Roosevelt swept the election in a landslide of 46 states to 2 and a popular vote of 61 to 37 percent over Kansas Governor Alf Landon. In the Senate elections the Democrats picked up 5 net seats, and in the House elections an additional 12 seats. In the new 75th Congress the Democrats reached a high water mark, controlling the Senate with 76-16 seats, and in the House with 334-88 seats.

 1937  Back into the Abyss

President: Roosevelt (D); Senate: Barkley (D-KY); House: Bankhead (D-AL).

 1938  Turning Away from FDR

President: Roosevelt (D); Senate: Barkley (D-KY); House: Bankhead (D-AL).

In the off-year elections of the Roosevelt second term the president's party suffered its first losses since 1928. In the Senate elections the Democrats lost 6 seats to the Republicans. In the House elections the Democrats lost 72 seats, the Republicans gained 81 seats, and the Progressive Party lost 6 seats. In the 76th Congress the Democrats maintained a commanding 68-23 majority in the Senate and a substantial 262-169 majority in the House.

 1939  Economy Revives

President: Roosevelt (D); Senate: Barkley (D-KY); House: Bankhead (D-AL).

Meanwhile, after the Republican surge of 1938 it was time for payback, and Congress passed the Hatch Act which forbade federal employees from engaging in political activities. The bill was sponsored by Senator Carl Hatch (D-NM) after disclosures about employees of the Works Progress Administration using their positions to win Democratic votes.

With isolationism a political factor Congress passed a Neutrality Act requiring all belligerents in the World War to pay cash for munitions (i.e., "cash and carry"). In practice this policy favored Britain and France since they had control of the oceans.