-
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
Congress passes the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, steeply raising import duties in an attempt to protect American manufactures from foreign competition. The tariff increase has little impact on the American economy, but plunges Europe farther into crisis. -
Major Bank Collapse
New York's Bank of the United States collapses in the largest bank failure to date in American history. $200 million in deposits disappear, and the bank's customers are left holding the bag. -
Roosevelt Elected
Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Republican President Herbert Hoover to win the presidency. -
Townsend proposes Pension Plan
Dr. Francis Townsend sends a letter to the Long Beach Press-Telegram proposing state-funded pensions for the elderly to boost consumption and employment. -
Share our Wealth Society founded
Huey Long founds the Share Our Wealth society, advocating outright seizure of the "excess fortunes" of the rich to redistribute to the poor. -
Longshoremen Strike
A West Coast longshoremen's strike, conducted with significant aid from the Communist Party, paralyzes shipping and trade in California, Oregon, and Washington. The strike ends with a victory for the longshoremen's union; cooperation between the longshoremen and West Coast Communists represent a first successful venture of the so-called "Popular Front" between Communists and liberals, which won't officially be authorized by the Comintern in Moscow until 1935. -
Charles Coughlin est National Union for Social Justice
Father Charles Coughlin, "The Radio Priest," establishes the National Union for Social Justice. -
Huey Long assassinated
Huey Long is assassinated inside the Louisiana Capitol Building. -
Roosevelt re-elected
Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to a second term as president, winning in a landslide over Republican Alf Landon. Roosevelt wins every state but Maine and Vermont -
Nazi rally in NYC
The German-American Bund stages a huge rally of fascist sympathizers supporting what they call "True Americanism" in Madison Square Garden in New York. Anti-Semitic Hitler admirer and Bund leader Fritz Kuhn calls Franklin Roosevelt "Frank Rosenfeld," the New Deal "The Jew Deal."
