LIFE IN THE THIRTIES

[Music] a rendezvous with destiny the day's begin pretty much as they always have in American towns and cities for most life in the 30s follows its familiar routines and the changes that come alter the climate of living without much disturbing the old accustomed ways [Music] the atmosphere has changed sure there's still a good deal of unemployment around but now many who are working have the five-day week and more important the feeling of imminent disaster the fear of economic collapse is gone [Music] there's always plenty to talk about in the 30s and not all of it economic or political by any means some stories even push the depression off the front pages [Music] they're queueing up by the hundreds at the courthouse in Flemington New Jersey where the all-american hero of the 1920s has become the tragic figure of the 30s Charles a Lindbergh The Lone Eagle lucky Lindy his wife Ann and the kidnapped killer of their son Bruno Hauptmann once a German machine gunner and now on trial for his life in a drama whose unfolding has shocked and fascinated America and the world the crime of the century [Music] now all the fame of Lindbergh solo flight to Paris and all the glory that had brought him has turned to ashes now all that is left of his child is some tattered clothing exhibited to convict the child's killer his name was Charles Augustus Lindbergh jr. to escape publicity and curiosity seekers his parents had moved to an isolated estate and Hopewell New Jersey but the Marauder came by night with a homemade ladder and stole the child away weeks later after fifty thousand dollars in ransom had been paid in vain the baby was found dead one of the greatest American manhunt ended when Bruno Hauptmann was caught passing the ransom money and the crime of the century became the triumph of the century the death house at Trenton April 1936 the National Broadcasting Company presents a special bulletin from the press radio news Trenton New Jersey Bruno Richard Hauptmann was electrocuted at 8:47 tonight for the murder of the Lindbergh baby news comedy music the Golden Age of Radio if it's Auto the trained seal throw him a fish and tell him I'm busy oh wait a minute Fred if you'll just take your nose that one you used to talk through out of that microphone you'll see that it's me Oh jack Jack Benny well I'm sure wait a minute there's the reception goes in there [Applause] here another concert with the NBC Symphony officer under a celebrated conductor Arturo Toscanini [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] on a regular passenger flight from Frankfurt Germany the dirigible Hindenburg approaches its destination Lakehurst New Jersey there's no doubt bustling with activity sweeping the orders of thousands through the passenger father's lining the winner is looking down a field ahead of Hillary getting their sense of the morning man it's practically standing still now they've Duff grossed out of the nose of the gift and has been taking a holdup down on the field by a number of men it's starting to rain again as the van has to slacked up a little bit they back motor holding it get it started get this got it [Music] or 500 feet into the sky être if the terrific beyblade is silver the spoke of its slaves now and the flavours crashing to the ground not quite to the mooring mast and torpor humana need all the senses [Music] a time of tragedies a time of changes big ones and small the birth rate has fallen and women's skirts are lowered too they're selling a lot more cars these days and now the word is recovery [Music] noon time is still lunch time but Americans absorbed in what is happening in their own country to their own lives begin to catch distant rumbles from beyond their borders the world begins to press in on them as they go there for many ways say that's some story coming out of England in England to crisis and change the legendary Prince of Wales who became Edward the eighth has abdicated the crown that custom and tradition forced him to reject for the love of a twice-divorced American woman is passing to his younger brother the Duke of York now there is a new king the Empire shaken and split by the abdication closes ranks behind George the six long live the king their Majesties Queen Elizabeth then King George were their daughters Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret [Music] a month later at a villa in France Edward now Juke of Windsor marries Wallace Warfield Simpson of Baltimore in his abdication speech he said I have found it impossible to discharge my duties as King as I should wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love what the American journalist HL Mencken calls the greatest story since the resurrection is over at home the neighborhood news is more humdrum a letter from a son at a CCC camp perhaps to usual births deaths and marriages in the local paper the weekly meeting of the afternoon discussion group on current events these days goodness knows there is much to discuss Europe it seems isn't all royal romance and new crowned kings only force rules the dictator Hitler is telling the German people force is the first law defying the Treaty of Versailles he sends his Nazi troops into the demilitarized Rhineland before the 30s are half over all major international treaties are broken according to Hitler in eternal peace mankind perishes but when dictators begin to march it is peace that begins to perish we have buried the putrid corpse of liberty the dictator Mussolini tells the Italian people and he says war alone puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to face it for the imperial glory of fascism he has begun his own little war by sending his troops to conquer defenseless Ethiopia [Applause] - Geneva comes the Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia his country overrun his people bombed and gassed to address the League of Nations I come to bear witness against the crime perpetrated against my people and to give Europe warning of the doom that awaits it if it should bow before the accomplished fact Italian aggression and gas have set human humanity fails the Spanish agony begins the civil war that ravages Spain divides the West as well some see in general Franco's revolt of crusade against godless communism others see in it only the spread of fascism and dictatorship on Franco side Nazi bombers and Italian troops on the Republican side red volunteers and Soviet support in between the Spanish people no communist no fascist is Emperor Hirohito of Japan but his faith is Bushido the way of the warrior and it too means aggression his troops flood into Manchuria and China ignoring treaties and American protests says President Roosevelt the peace the freedom and the security of 90% of the world is being jeopardized by the remaining 10% a United States gunboat the pond eye is attacked without cause or warning while on patrol on the Yangtze River a sneak attack from the air two American sailors died and more a wounded but the Japanese apologized and stateside reaction to the incident is mild what was it that Philadelphia newspapers said when Japanese aggression began the American people don't give a hoot in a rain barrel who controls North China here's how isn't this a lovely party I finally finished Gone with the Wind you seen the headlines maybe the Communists are right at that at least they want a united front against aggression yes all we do is compromise and retreat that's because Roosevelt is a fascist nonsense he's a read what's going to happen next you don't know we can't say we're wondering oh well the world would keep until tomorrow it's suppertime it is an increasingly urbanized and mechanized America with quickening pace and tempo and city life in American living it's a fast buck try anything time and millions give the Irish sweepstakes a twirl and if you don't hit is always Bank night at the movies nobody hits as big in the 30s as champion Joe Louis the brown bomber even if the German Max Schmeling did beat him once Lewis may not know it's a shilling of their return bout but deep down inside he's afraid of me Lewis replies in round one [Music] a new sound in the night a new kind of jazz something called swing and Benny Goodman is the king of it it starts in the dance joints jams the theaters even raises the roof at classical Carnegie Hall and with it comes a new breed of flaming youth the jitterbug [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the general upheaval of the times even the Social Register succumbs to new phenomenon Cafe Society the glamour girl the candid camera those who have it spend it now that the panic seems to be past and a little boom seems to be on there saying you can't take it with you so wake up and live no vulgar jitterbugging here no Big Apple no susie-q but any evening any day you'll find us all doing in the Lambeth walk and in the ballroom of the Mayflower Hotel in Washington another party the dignitaries of the New Deal gather for the traditional victory dinner that celebrates their triumph at the presidential polls if Franklin Roosevelt's first term began at a time of crisis for the country his second begins at a time of crisis for the New Deal if his first four years were marked by controversy and contention his second four start with a political bombshell that divides the nation and splits his own party he attacks the Supreme Court the opinions concerning the triple-a the railroad retirement Act the National Recovery Act the Guffey coal act and the New York minimum wage law and tell us exactly what if anything we can do for the industrial worker in this section of the Congress with any reasonable certainty that what we do will not be nullified as unconstitutional if we would keep pace faced with those who had faith in us if we would make democracy succeed I say we must act now the president calls on Congress to support his fight against what he terms the horse and buggy decisions of the Supreme Court he asks that the court be liberalized by adding more and younger justices calling his program court reform but opponents denounced it as court packing and Roosevelt suffers a jolting setback when his plan is decisively rejected the New Deal honeymoon is over [Music] but another major New Deal measure sponsored by Senator Robert Wagner of New York is unexpectedly approved by the Supreme Court and new life is given to the American labor movement now backed by the provisions of the Wagner Labor Relations Act using it as their Magna Carta the unions recruit millions of members in a nationwide drive for collective bargaining the closed shop higher wages better working conditions strikes everywhere in steel oil textiles a surge of strikes [Music] and a new kind of strike as well workers refused to leave your automobile plants and hold them like fortresses chanting when the boss won't talk don't take a walk sit down sit down [Music] [Applause] [Music] a kind of Civil War resistance by management against the rising tide of organizing defiance of court injunctions by labor violence by pickets and police a kind of Civil War [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the end a victory for union recognition and collective bargaining Congress puts a ceiling over ours and the floor under wages this does not abate the acute economic recession that the country now experiences but the last great domestic conflict of the decade is over other parades in the 30s American columns keeping cadence with a European counterparts here in the United States the German American Bund openly imitates the struttin slogans of the Nazi storm troops in the march of the totalitarians in a spread of fascism and manure of communism some Americans see the wave of the future [Music] it happens here in Madison Square Garden a public demonstration of how dictatorships deal with anyone who dares rise up and protest [Music] if there are those who would destroy democracy there are also those who will defend it for the first time in history the king and queen of England visit the United States and Secretary of State Cordell Hull greets them in Washington their visit is an act of anglo-american friendship and goodwill is growing scarce in the world friendships are rare Germany is overrun Austria and Czechoslovakia Italy has invaded Albania Japan is extending her aggression in China the year is 1939 the month is June there is still time for a brief moment of joyous pomp and pageantry in a sullen world girding for war [Music] but the day's grow short when you reach September trial on and Paris fear bravely symbolized the theme of the New York World's Fair the world of tomorrow but now in the world of today war has come and Europe is already dark the 30s are ending another era is passing through the fun and fantasy of the fair something whispers it is later than you think [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the president has said many voices are heard as we face a great decision Comfort says Terry of Y opportunism says this is a good spot timidity asks how difficult is the road ahead shall we pause now and turn our back upon the road that lies ahead shall we call this the promised land or shall we continue on our way for each age is a dream that is dying or one that is coming to burn [Music]