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Andrew Mellon,

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the Pittsburgh multimillionaire
and aluminium magnate,

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believed that all
the state had to do

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to tackle tax fraud
was to lower taxes.

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In 1921, he was named
Secretary of the Treasury,

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putting him in charge of taxes.

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A case of the fox
being let into the henhouse.

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For ten years

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Andrew Mellon slashed
taxes for the wealthiest

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and big businesses.

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A policy which he justified

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using the trickle-down theory.

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TRICKLE-DOWN THEORY

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If the rich are allowed
to get as rich as possible,

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then their wealth
will eventually trickle down

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to the rest of society.

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ROCKEFELLER JUNIOR
AND HIS FIVE SONS

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Business dynasties

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would not relinquish their place
at the top of the social ladder.

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J. P. MORGAN JR
JUNIUS MORGAN

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Believing that what was good
for them was good for America,

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they were proud to have made it
the richest country in the world.

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As they waited
for the wealth to trickle down,

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Americans went about
their daily grind.

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24 October 1929

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saw a stock market crash
of unprecedented severity.

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America had never known such
levels of mass unemployment.

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Things were so bad that those
lucky enough to find work

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were willing
to accept lower salaries.

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Forced to tighten their belts,

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Americans were buying less and less.

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And the companies that were
unable to sell their goods

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had no choice but to lay off staff.

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But given the mystery

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which surrounded an
industrial economy at the time,

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no one had a proper grasp

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of this vicious cycle.

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Some believed that ignoring
the crisis was the best option.

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"Instead of complaining, Americans
should be rolling up their sleeves.

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There's plenty of work
for those who want to work."

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Henry Ford March 1931.

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A few weeks later
Ford laid off 75,000 workers.

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The elites saw the laws of
the market as an unstoppable force,

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and believed that the economy
would eventually right itself.

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Convinced that looking
after their own interests

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could only speed up the recovery,
they were gifted

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further tax cuts by Andrew Mellon.

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This will be the fifth
reduction in taxes

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which the federal
government has made

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within less than nine years.

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But after four years of depression,

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things still hadn't picked up.

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Demonstrations by angry workers

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were still quashed by the army.

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But members of the ruling class
began wondering

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if simply cutting taxes
was the only solution.

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One of them, a Harvard graduate

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and the wealthy descendant of
one of New York's oldest families,

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was the Democrat governor
of New York, Franklin Roosevelt.

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A wily politician and poker player,

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he belonged to the progressive
wing of the Democrat party,

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which had always condemned
the stranglehold of the super-rich

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over American democracy.

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He firmly believed that capitalism

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was the best system in the world,

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but was critical of its excesses,
hated tax cheats

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and condemned
the irresponsible greed

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of his own social class.

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Like his contemporaries, he did
not fully understand the crisis,

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but he did not believe that the
economy obeyed supernatural laws.

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For Roosevelt, the economy
was a human creation,

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meaning it could be controlled.

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CHICAGO 2 JULY 1932

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This was the crux of his campaign

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for the presidency in 1932.

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I pledge myself

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to a new deal for
the American people.

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23 million voters
in favour of the New Deal.

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Roosevelt wins in 42 states.

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The New York Times 13 November 1932.

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This great nation will endure

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as it has endured,

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will revive and will prosper.

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Yes, the money changers have fled

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from their high seats in the
temple of our civilisation.

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We may now restore that temple

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to the ancient truths.

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Like Jesus chasing the
money changers out of the temple,

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Roosevelt promised to
clean up the world of finance,

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which was universally hated
after the stock market crash.

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But his priority was
to heal America's suffering.

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This nation is asking for action

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and action now!

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A Roosevelt victory would depend

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on the support of the industries
which drove the economy:

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oil and petrochemicals,

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steel, electricity,

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and the automobile manufacturers
Ford and General Motors.

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These were private concerns
controlled by the industrial elite,

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which had as its spokesperson

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the old steel
magnate Charles Schwab.

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I believe

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that all of the important
business people of this country

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are in hearty
sympathy and cooperation

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with the president to
bring about better conditions.

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The first measures of the New Deal
enjoyed unanimous support.

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To tackle unemployment

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the government began
a mass recruitment campaign

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and launched a range
of public projects.

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One example was the
Tennessee Valley Authority,

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a giant, federally-owned corporation

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that was active across the eight
states of the Mississippi Basin.

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The company built 29 dams

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for the production of cheap
and plentiful electricity.

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Thanks to this public programme,
General Electric and Westinghouse,

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the largest private
companies in the sector,

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were able to return to business.

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It was also a New Deal
programme which financed

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the construction of the world's
longest suspension bridge,

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the Golden Gate Bridge,
which opened up San Francisco

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and stimulated business.

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This 2 km long bridge required
75,000 tonnes of steel,

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thereby supporting

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steel mills in New Jersey,
Maryland and Pennsylvania.

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But the measure which best
summed up the spirit of the New Deal

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was the creation of
the National Recovery Administration

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or NRA.

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Through the NRA, the government
was able, for the first time,

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to encourage businesses
and their employees

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to reach agreements on wages,

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ensuring a fairer
redistribution of profits

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and making sure all workers
were able to earn a decent living.

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But the NRA wasn't
able to enforce anything.

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Those employers who signed up to it

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simply put a blue eagle
on their products

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to let consumers know that their
companies were part of the New Deal.

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This programme was supported
by the biggest employers,

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including the most influential
man in US industry,

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Alfred Sloan of General Motors.

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An engineer from
an ordinary background,

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Sloan was typical of
a new generation of bosses

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whose skills had taken them

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all the way to the top.

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When General Motors' shareholders
turned to him in 1923,

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he found a company
on the verge of bankruptcy,

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with a confusing mix of car brands

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bought without any clear strategy,

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and engaged in fierce competition.

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Alfred Sloan allocated each model

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to a specific type of consumer,

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using a pricing structure which
he called 'the ladder of success'.

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Beginning with a Chevrolet,

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young customers could now access
the American dream on the cheap.

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As their spending power increased,

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they would let their neighbours
know by upgrading to a Pontiac,

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before moving on to an Oldsmobile

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and then a Buick.

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Meanwhile, they could dream

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of one day owning
GM's most expensive car,

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a Cadillac.

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Through its visionary marketing
strategy, General Motors' cars

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now shaped the imaginations
of American consumers.

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Sloan was also behind

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the introduction of
annual changes in style,

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which kept consumers
coming back for more

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and wore out his competitors.

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And so, in just seven years,
Alfred Sloan turned General Motors

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into the world's second biggest
automobile manufacturer,

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just behind Ford.

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Keen for solvent customers

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in order to keep the pace with Ford,

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Alfred Sloan supported Roosevelt

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and the wage increases
put forward by the NRA.

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Personalities of the day,

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John D. Rockefeller, enjoying his
94th year with three holes of golf.

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He left business and his
multimillion dollar philanthropies

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to younger hands.

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Senate investigations
were making headlines.

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It was J. P. Morgan on
the grill, telling senators

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his banking house had a quarter
of a billion dollars in the till,

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and that he had not paid
income tax in the last two years.

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Morgan Junior,
America's most famous banker,

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was forced to appear before
a Senate inquiry for the first time.

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Americans wanted to shed some light

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on the 1929 stock market crash,

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and the press raged
against the financiers,

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which they dubbed 'banksters',

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a portmanteau of
bankers and gangsters.

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Accustomed to hiding
behind business secrecy,

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Roosevelt's 'money changers
in the temple'

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were staggered at having
to answer to anyone.

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The inquiry revealed
that small shareholders

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had been treated like mugs,
paying over the odds for shares

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that the wealthiest
got for a knockdown price.

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These predatory methods benefited
the upper echelons of the elite,

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including former
president Calvin Coolidge,

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and the Honorable Owen J. Roberts,

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a US Supreme Court Judge.

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Following the inquiry, Congress
put an end to bankers' impunity

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by forming
the Securities Exchange Commission,

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a markets watchdog

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overseen by businessman
and loyal supporter of Roosevelt,

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Joseph Kennedy,

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whose dynasty was
beginning its ascent

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within American society.

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00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:25,080
Sensing a shift in public opinion,

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Congress launched a further
inquiry on the enormous profits

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made by American industry
during the First World War.

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Roosevelt, fearful of losing
the support of the industrial world,

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believed this was ill-timed.

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But DuPont, the country's leading
petrochemicals company,

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was also ordered
to submit to the inquiry,

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00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:54,480
sending shock waves
throughout the country.

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The Du Ponts were one of
America's most powerful

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00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:00,360
and most secretive families.

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00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:03,560
The Du Ponts specialised

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00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:07,280
in the myriad ways of making
money out of petrochemicals,

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00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:09,960
using this to build
a sprawling empire.

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00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:13,880
They were behind Nylon,

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an invention which revolutionised
the textile industry,

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00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:20,880
while DuPont cellophane

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00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:23,400
was used for food packaging
in supermarkets.

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00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:29,240
The entire automobile industry
used DuPont paints,

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which were what gave
American cars their sheen.

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00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:39,360
DuPont was also responsible
for adding lead to petrol,

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the sole purpose of which

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was to generate
a new source of profit.

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KING KONG
BY EDGAR WALLACE AND MERIAN COOPER

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DuPont cellulose

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was used to produce camera film.

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This same cellulose was
also used to make explosives,

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which enabled the firm

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to increase its profits
by 400% during the war.

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00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:15,080
Uncovered by the inquiry,

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00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,720
this money was stained
with the blood of American soldiers.

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Now hated by the public,

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00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,600
the brothers Irénée, Lammot
and Pierre Du Pont

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00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:28,200
retorted that

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00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,720
America needed more
patriots like them,

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00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:37,000
and that they had also
reinvested their war profits

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to help save General Motors
from bankruptcy,

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00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,600
before putting the talented
Alfred Sloan in charge,

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00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:45,600
which as we saw was a huge success.

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00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,640
But for the Du Ponts
the damage had been done.

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Their carefully curated brand image

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was destroyed for years.

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00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:01,520
A tired and irritated Morgan Junior,
who was also accused

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00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,840
of war profiteering,
spoke out against what he called

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00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:07,760
a scandalous and degrading attack.

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00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:12,720
"How is it possible in America",
lamented one industrialist,

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00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:14,920
"That people could aim

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00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:17,520
so much mud and vitriol
at our businessmen?"

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00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:28,480
This public humiliation was being
felt throughout the upper class.

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00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,400
And they held Roosevelt responsible.

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00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,440
For many of them he had become

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00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:46,040
"that man",

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00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:50,240
a traitor whose name
must never be spoken.

258
00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:56,920
This was the beginning of the split
between industry and Roosevelt,

259
00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:01,920
which the NRA,
the cornerstone of the New Deal,

260
00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:04,000
would help to speed up.

261
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,240
The wage negotiations
recommended by the NRA

262
00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:14,440
were blocked in
most major industries.

263
00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:19,200
In Minneapolis

264
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,520
the teamsters' strike
effectively paralyses the city,

265
00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:25,920
and class war threatens as
the Yale Club of Minneapolis

266
00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:27,800
leads an anti-labour march

267
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:30,160
in which two strikers are killed.

268
00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:33,480
The situation got ugly

269
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:36,040
outside General Motors factories.

270
00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,600
The company refused
to recognise as a negotiator

271
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:45,360
a union from
the American Federation of Labor,

272
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:47,280
the country's biggest federation.

273
00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:54,360
Alfred Sloan, with other
industrialists following suit,

274
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,280
would only deal with company unions,
which were far more docile.

275
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:04,400
Meanwhile, industrialists
spoke out angrily

276
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:08,160
against the labelling of products
with the NRA's blue eagle.

277
00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:15,640
Intended as a way
of telling consumers

278
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,120
that companies were
doing the right thing,

279
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:21,760
they saw it as a covert way

280
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:24,240
for the unions to get
to impose their will.

281
00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:29,720
They felt that the New Deal

282
00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,880
was going beyond its legitimate
remit as an emergency intervention,

283
00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:37,680
and that what
Roosevelt really wanted

284
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,920
was long-term control
over American capitalism.

285
00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:46,400
And that was
no longer progressivism.

286
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:48,960
That was socialism.

287
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,240
Ogden Mills, former
secretary of the treasury,

288
00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:57,600
told elected Republicans

289
00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:01,640
that the New Deal was a cover for
implementing a planned economy,

290
00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:03,640
state control over industry

291
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:05,920
and subjugating the American people.

292
00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:10,280
He concluded by saying that
the New Deal will lead to tyranny.

293
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,800
The New York Times 20 May 1934.

294
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,760
The Liberty League is set up
to oversee the New Deal.

295
00:22:21,360 --> 00:22:25,000
The New York Times 23 August 1934.

296
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,920
The Liberty League was
made up of 36 businessmen

297
00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:33,280
who wanted
to oppose the New Deal.

298
00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:39,200
The White House immediately
dubbed the organisation

299
00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:41,440
'the millionaires' union'.

300
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,840
It was financed by the creme
de la creme of American business,

301
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:49,400
including Pierre Du Pont,

302
00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:51,120
under investigation for tax fraud,

303
00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,840
and who felt he was being
persecuted by Roosevelt,

304
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:59,160
and Alfred Sloan who, after
withdrawing his support for FDR,

305
00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:01,400
lectured him on economics.

306
00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:06,600
Our improvement may be
accelerated or retarded

307
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,360
by injecting into the picture
abnormal influences.

308
00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:12,880
In other words,
the government and the unions.

309
00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,640
But the general trend
will not be affected

310
00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,480
for the reason that
an industrial recovery,

311
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:20,360
like an industrial depression,

312
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:24,800
is, in the practical sense
of the word, an irresistible force.

313
00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:29,080
Sloan believed the New Deal
was slowing down the recovery

314
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:31,920
by violating the natural
laws of the market.

315
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:38,440
Not only was it an aberration,
it was a conspiracy against freedom.

316
00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:46,080
The Liberty League produced
pamphlets and radio programmes

317
00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:51,440
to speak out against what they saw
as a threat to freedom in America.

318
00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:56,000
Roosevelt's reply was that
there can be no freedom

319
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:57,920
when people are starving to death,

320
00:23:58,120 --> 00:24:01,360
and that he was the only
true guardian of liberty.

321
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:04,960
Supporters of the New Deal

322
00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:07,960
started referring to
themselves as 'liberals',

323
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:13,240
and liberalism became synonymous
with state intervention in the USA.

324
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:18,560
Those who believed that
the freedom to accumulate wealth

325
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,240
was America's most important value

326
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:23,800
became known as 'conservatives'.

327
00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,160
In one of the most important
decisions of the decade

328
00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:39,840
the Supreme Court of the
United States has unanimously ruled

329
00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,480
that the NRA Act
and all of its codes are void.

330
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,400
The Supreme Court's decision
to put an end to the NRA

331
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:52,240
marked the beginning of the conflict
between liberals and conservatives

332
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,880
over what form capitalism
should take in America,

333
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,160
and it was first blood
to the conservatives.

334
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:06,520
I propose to discuss with you
the cost of the New Deal.

335
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,600
The New Deal was expensive,
and the secretary of the treasury,

336
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:13,680
Henry Morgenthau, desperately
needed to find money,

337
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:16,200
but he was hemmed in by tax law.

338
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:20,280
Only the 5% richest Americans

339
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:22,880
were liable to pay income tax.

340
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:26,560
Extending income tax
to ordinary Americans

341
00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:28,600
would be beyond the pale.

342
00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:34,080
Soaking the rich

343
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,520
became the White House's new target.

344
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,400
Roosevelt, who enjoyed
an enormous majority in Congress,

345
00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:44,720
had no difficulty raising
taxes on the rich,

346
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:49,920
with the top rate rising
from 25% to 79%.

347
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:52,880
The liberals had equalised.

348
00:25:55,120 --> 00:25:57,920
And two more points
were coming their way.

349
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:01,920
On 6 July 1935

350
00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:04,520
Roosevelt passed the Wagner Act,

351
00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:08,760
which forced companies
to negotiate with unions

352
00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:11,200
chosen by employees.

353
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:15,840
On 14 August 1935

354
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,160
he introduced America's
first social security system,

355
00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:21,760
partly funded by employers.

356
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,640
The next step,
within a reasonable time,

357
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,680
you will receive a card
from the Social Security Board.

358
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,640
This card certifies that an account
number has been opened for you,

359
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:36,560
and shows the
number of this account.

360
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:44,320
For the industrialists,

361
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:49,400
social security was the straw
that broke the camel's back.

362
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:55,160
For a long time, most of them had
been granting employees privileges

363
00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:59,640
as a means of buying social peace
and ensuring their loyalty.

364
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:02,880
They couldn't tolerate the idea

365
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,600
of the government meddling
in their affairs and giving these

366
00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,560
disproportionate,
mandatory advantages

367
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:11,520
with merit playing no part.

368
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:18,400
To their alarm, communist ideas were
gaining traction among liberals,

369
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:21,800
and they were even persuaded that
America's most beloved artist

370
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:23,480
was an agent for Moscow.

371
00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:31,400
MODERN TIMES
BY CHARLIE CHAPLIN (1936)

372
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:24,840
As 1936 went on

373
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:28,120
there were encouraging signs
of an economic recovery,

374
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:32,440
and Americans began to hope

375
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:35,400
that the worst of
the depression was behind them.

376
00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:44,800
In an election year, conservatives
did everything they could

377
00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:47,400
to prevent Roosevelt
from being re-elected.

378
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,400
New agencies, new departments,
new bureaus,

379
00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:53,680
more and more job
holders to run these agencies.

380
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:56,000
The number of civil employees
of the federal government

381
00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:59,240
has increased by almost 400,000,

382
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,000
and many of them
receiving salaries far above

383
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:04,880
that paid to the average
man and woman in this country.

384
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,280
You are taxed to pay the salaries
of men like this bureaucrat,

385
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:14,280
symbolic of the mailed
fist of centralised bureaucracy

386
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:16,600
that knocks at democracy's doors.

387
00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:22,840
We forget that the waste
of this administration

388
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,240
is waste of the people's money,

389
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:27,120
our money.

390
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:29,000
To beat Roosevelt

391
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,560
the Republican Party chose
the governor of Kansas,

392
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:34,240
Al Landon.

393
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:38,080
A candidate whose lack of charisma
was a concern to industrialists.

394
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,960
The New York Times
10 September 1936.

395
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:44,840
A group of wealthy men

396
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:47,760
led by the Du Pont brothers,
the Rockefellers,

397
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,120
J. P. Morgan and Alfred Sloan

398
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,840
is generously funding
Senator Landon's campaign.

399
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,240
Following a strategy
that had always worked in the past,

400
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:01,520
the leading industrialists
organised the rallies

401
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:03,080
for the Republican candidate

402
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,080
and kept up a stream of money.

403
00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:12,080
When questioned about this
support, Alfred Sloan was evasive:

404
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:14,480
"General Motors doesn't do politics.

405
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:18,200
As for me, I won't even
tell you who I'm going to vote for.

406
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,880
But I'm sure you can guess."

407
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,560
The largest victory in history.

408
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,640
Roosevelt is re-elected
with the biggest popular majority

409
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,200
since the United States was founded,

410
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:39,840
receiving 11 million more votes

411
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:44,160
and winning 523 out of 531
seats in the electoral college.

412
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,680
The New York Times 5 November 1936.

413
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,080
And things were
to get worse for the industrialists.

414
00:30:57,080 --> 00:30:59,200
Roosevelt's landslide victory

415
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:00,960
persuaded the unions

416
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,600
that the time had come
to take the fight to Alfred Sloan,

417
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,120
having identified a weak link:

418
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:12,400
the Chevrolet plant
in Flint, Michigan,

419
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,280
where the moulds used to produce

420
00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,160
all of the different
General Motors models were kept.

421
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:27,520
The trade unionists managed
to barricade themselves inside,

422
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:32,640
and forced all 40 of the company's
plants to shut down production.

423
00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:38,680
Alfred Sloan refuses to negotiate
with workplace dictators.

424
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:43,080
General Motors boss says
his company will never give in

425
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:44,880
to trade union blackmail.

426
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:49,360
The New York Times 5 January 1937.

427
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,120
General Motors was soon losing

428
00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:56,360
millions of dollars a day.

429
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,400
Fearing he might damage
the precious moulds,

430
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:03,640
which were unique and irreplaceable,

431
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:06,760
Alfred Sloan ruled out
any violent intervention

432
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:08,720
to dislodge the occupants.

433
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:12,720
All they could do was wait.

434
00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:20,720
After 44 days Sloan
had no choice but to give in

435
00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:23,480
and agree to deal exclusively

436
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,080
with United Auto Workers.

437
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:32,240
Sent by Roosevelt
to oversee the agreement,

438
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,080
Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins

439
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,840
accused Sloan of,

440
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:41,840
"having behaved like
a neurotic teenager."

441
00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:45,560
"You can't talk like
that to me!", he replied,

442
00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:48,200
"I'm worth 70 million dollars,

443
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:49,720
you're nothing."

444
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:55,560
Following Sloan's capitulation,
it was only a matter of weeks

445
00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:59,120
before other industrialists
followed suit.

446
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:09,600
The industrial elites realised

447
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:13,360
to what extent they had
lost control over the country.

448
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:18,680
The Liberty League
had been a fiasco,

449
00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:22,400
and the Republican Party,
embarrassed at the last election,

450
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:24,320
were no longer of any use to them.

451
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:29,240
With unions now
calling the shots in America,

452
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:33,080
they decided
to form their own union,

453
00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:37,920
made up of the country's
5,000 biggest manufacturers:

454
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,280
the National Association
of Manufacturers or NAM.

455
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:49,440
The NAM, which had never expressed
any political opinion before,

456
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,120
set red lines for
the Roosevelt administration

457
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:54,640
on behalf of industry as a whole.

458
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:56,400
Private enterprise

459
00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:59,440
and the preservation
of the American system

460
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:03,880
are dependent on
four primary policies, namely,

461
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:08,080
one: the maintenance
of constitutional guarantees.

462
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:11,720
Two: the preservation
of freedom of enterprise.

463
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:15,640
Three: the seeking of security
through economic progress.

464
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:20,360
Four: the maintenance of
sound tax and financial policy.

465
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:24,040
The NAM launched
an advertising campaign

466
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:26,600
across the country
presenting capitalism

467
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,200
as the bedrock of
American democracy.

468
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,360
Selling capitalism was the same
as selling any other product.

469
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:03,600
You had to sell a dream.

470
00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:11,320
And hammer the message home.

471
00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:22,600
Without ever explicitly
criticising the New Deal,

472
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:25,520
the NAM deployed the most
effective counterpropaganda

473
00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:28,440
that had been seen since
Roosevelt came to power.

474
00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:32,640
The association also
produced many films

475
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:34,880
to remind people
that enterprising spirit

476
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:37,960
had always been
fundamental to America.

477
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:42,120
You are descendants of pioneers,

478
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:44,280
but you are also pioneers.

479
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,360
Opportunities still rise
from every smoke stack,

480
00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:49,760
every test tube, every laboratory,

481
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:51,520
every workshop in the land.

482
00:35:51,720 --> 00:35:55,240
You have come a long way from
the drudgery of the blacksmith shop

483
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,200
and the hand labour of that day.

484
00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:00,360
But your journey
forward has just started

485
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:02,960
because this is America!

486
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:05,200
Where do we go from here?

487
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:07,240
Straight ahead and don't
spare the horses.

488
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:09,240
Horses? Your grandfather!

489
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:11,240
There aren't any more horses.

490
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:12,960
My grandfather...

491
00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:15,080
I wonder what our grandparents

492
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,160
would say if they could
see the world as it is now.

493
00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:20,680
"Great work, kids, carry on."

494
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:21,800
Carry on what?

495
00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:24,640
The heritage they handed us:

496
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,720
freedom, individual initiative,

497
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:30,440
opportunity.

498
00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:33,400
Let's go, America!

499
00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:42,920
Tax increases weren't
bringing enough money in,

500
00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:47,640
and Roosevelt had to slash
New Deal expenditure.

501
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,160
America was struck once again
by an economic depression.

502
00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,160
Millions of Americans were
forced back into poverty.

503
00:37:08,720 --> 00:37:11,040
The White House accused
the big industrialists

504
00:37:11,240 --> 00:37:13,560
of deliberately
torpedoing the New Deal

505
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:15,680
by threatening to pull investment.

506
00:37:18,720 --> 00:37:20,880
Meanwhile, the industrialists argued

507
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:23,240
that Roosevelt was playing God,

508
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:25,040
but was surrounded by incompetents.

509
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:36,600
Miss Ethel Du Pont
marries Franklin Roosevelt Junior,

510
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:38,880
watched on by the president's family

511
00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:40,640
and the Du Pont family.

512
00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:44,760
The New York Times 24 May 1937

513
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:51,440
Roosevelt stayed
true to his upbringing

514
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:53,800
and buried the hatchet
with the Du Ponts

515
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:56,600
for long enough to celebrate
the marriage of the eldest son

516
00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:58,920
of America's most
powerful politician

517
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:00,600
and one of its wealthiest heirs.

518
00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:08,680
Roosevelt enjoyed
overwhelming popular legitimacy,

519
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:11,920
controlling all the levers
of American democracy,

520
00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:14,960
but he was powerless
against his own social class,

521
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:18,400
which retained control over
all the levers of the economy.

522
00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:33,800
The New York Times 30 June 1937.

523
00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:38,440
Rockefeller dies aged 97.

524
00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:41,440
The founder of
the giant Standard Oil,

525
00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:44,720
and once dubbed
'the richest man in the world',

526
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,760
Mr Rockefeller earned
the right to be called

527
00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:50,120
'the greatest
philanthropist in the world.'

528
00:38:53,240 --> 00:38:55,720
A ruthless and ferocious
businessman,

529
00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:59,440
Rockefeller was seen as
an icon by the wealthiest

530
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:03,800
for so cleverly exploiting the lack
of any laws in his 'glory days',

531
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:09,480
and then for having forced
his own will on the government

532
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:12,800
by making sure philanthropic
endeavours were exempt from tax,

533
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,120
to the great benefit of
America's upper class.

534
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,200
Philanthropy index up.

535
00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:26,960
A record 148 million
dollars in donations

536
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:28,800
in 1937.

537
00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:32,960
The New York Times 31 December 1937.

538
00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:39,000
By raising taxes on the wealthy,

539
00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:41,560
all the Roosevelt
administration had done

540
00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:43,440
was to supply
their favourite tax niche,

541
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:45,800
without bringing any extra money

542
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:48,200
into the government's coffers.

543
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:51,880
The rich could not be soaked.

544
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:06,720
Oh, Ellen, darling,
we're all so proud of you!

545
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:08,360
This is a great day for me,

546
00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:10,560
having my daughter
graduate an honour student.

547
00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:11,720
Oh, Daddy!

548
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:14,240
Ellen, just a moment.
Look over here.

549
00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:18,480
Well, how do you like it?

550
00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:20,760
You don't mean Daddy
that it's really mine?

551
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:22,680
It's all yours,
and here are the keys.

552
00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:25,880
Oh, Daddy!

553
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:30,360
Come on, girls,
let's go for a ride! Here, mother.

554
00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:33,200
Oh, a new Ford!

555
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:35,160
And what a lovely colour!

556
00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:37,480
And such a roomy seat!

557
00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:40,120
Ten years after the crash,

558
00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:44,000
the economy still hadn't
returned to its 1929 levels,

559
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:48,120
and only a tiny minority
of Americans could buy a new Ford.

560
00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:56,160
In May 1940, the Secretary of
the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau

561
00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:59,080
accepted that
the New Deal had failed.

562
00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:05,000
I want to see
this country prosperous.

563
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:07,440
I want to see people get a job.

564
00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:10,040
We have tried everything
and it doesn't work.

565
00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:13,720
We have never begun to tax
the people in this country

566
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:15,400
the way they should be.

567
00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:18,440
I don't pay what I should.

568
00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:23,360
People in my class don't.
People who have it should pay.

569
00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:37,840
PEARL HARBOR 7 DECEMBER 1941

570
00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:43,400
On 7 December 1941

571
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:45,960
the Japanese air force
launched a surprise attack

572
00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:47,720
on the US base at Pearl Harbor.

573
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:03,720
I ask

574
00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:06,640
that the Congress declare

575
00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:13,200
that since the unprovoked
and dastardly attack

576
00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:15,040
by Japan

577
00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:20,960
on Sunday December 7th, 1941,

578
00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:23,920
a state of war

579
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:29,600
has existed between
the United States

580
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:32,120
and the Japanese Empire.

581
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:45,160
Three days later Nazi Germany
also declared war on the USA,

582
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:49,480
sucking the Americans
into the Second World War

583
00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:52,960
across a front which stretched
from the Pacific to Europe.

584
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:57,800
This was a human, material
and logistical challenge

585
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,880
on a scale that the US economy
was in no position to finance.

586
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:08,040
And so the historic
decision was taken

587
00:43:08,240 --> 00:43:11,080
to extend income tax

588
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:13,920
to the entire US population.

589
00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:20,200
From now on 133 million Americans

590
00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:23,240
would need to pay this tax
in accordance with their means.

591
00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,040
The rate of tax ranged
from 19% for the poorest off

592
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:32,080
to 88% for the very wealthiest.

593
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:39,440
This tax revolution, approved by
all as a patriotic responsibility,

594
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:43,680
funded the US military
for the duration of the war.

595
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:48,160
The man put in charge
of War Production Management

596
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:52,200
was Donald Nelson,
a cold and methodical businessman

597
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:54,360
with a background
in department stores.

598
00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:58,480
Our hardest battle
trials are still to come.

599
00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:00,400
When they come

600
00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:04,240
our armies must advance
behind an avalanche of steel.

601
00:44:10,720 --> 00:44:13,520
The biggest conversion task
confronts the automotive industries.

602
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:16,880
Even while they're replacing
machinery which only two months ago

603
00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:18,640
was assembling automobiles,

604
00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:21,680
other workmen turn out
tanks, guns, airplanes.

605
00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:24,960
750 leading manufacturers
of automobiles

606
00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:28,640
and parts are pledged to help
keep war production in high gear.

607
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:31,280
It's the biggest industrial
programme in the world,

608
00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:33,720
the productive might
of a nation unified

609
00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:35,400
for freedom's battle.

610
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:40,320
Within eight weeks
all of civil industry

611
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:42,680
was turned over to war production.

612
00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:48,720
The super profits which had
tarnished the First World War

613
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:50,640
were strictly prohibited.

614
00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:57,840
For each military contract there
was a standard low rate of profit,

615
00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:02,480
and federal agents were ruthless
in their pursuit of fraudsters,

616
00:45:04,720 --> 00:45:07,280
who were liable for gigantic fines

617
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:09,720
and immediate nationalisation.

618
00:45:12,520 --> 00:45:16,120
Factories were running
day and night, seven days a week.

619
00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:19,120
But it still wasn't enough.

620
00:45:19,320 --> 00:45:22,680
America's entire production
capacity was only enough to cover

621
00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:24,880
one quarter of military orders.

622
00:45:27,720 --> 00:45:31,080
And so the federal government
financed the construction

623
00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:33,080
of hundreds of new factories,

624
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:36,160
which were entrusted
to manufacturers,

625
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:38,680
in order to make up
the remaining three quarters.

626
00:45:44,720 --> 00:45:46,640
In 1943

627
00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:48,960
America's defence
budget was responsible

628
00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:52,880
for 90% of the country's
gross domestic product,

629
00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:57,240
with factories producing:
26,000 tanks,

630
00:45:57,960 --> 00:45:59,600
400,000 trucks,

631
00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:02,360
and 85,000 planes.

632
00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:07,440
Even aircraft carriers
were mass produced.

633
00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:14,720
San Francisco Bay became
the world's largest shipyard,

634
00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:20,360
and its 300,000 workers produced
an aircraft carrier every five days.

635
00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:32,800
Unemployment
was a thing of the past.

636
00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:36,040
All Americans were now
paid a decent wage

637
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:38,120
and could feed themselves.

638
00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:43,160
We're the dollars
of the nation on parade.

639
00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:46,960
We're the biggest
batch of dollars ever made.

640
00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:49,160
For we used to march by millions,

641
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:51,120
but now we march by billions,

642
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:54,600
and maybe we'll be
trillions before you're dead.

643
00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:58,520
We're the dollars
of the nation on parade.

644
00:46:58,720 --> 00:47:02,400
We're the money
all of you are getting paid.

645
00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:04,400
In the fiscal year before us

646
00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:08,120
there'll be 194 billion more of us,
dollars of the nation

647
00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:12,360
marching on parade.

648
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:16,440
Yes, America's national
income gets bigger and bigger.

649
00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:20,480
In 1943, it was 142 billion dollars.

650
00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:23,080
That was double the 1939 figure,

651
00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:25,600
triple the figure for 1933.

652
00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:28,960
America entering
the Second World War

653
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:32,120
brought about the biggest
economic recovery of all time.

654
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:35,960
We're going to pay taxes.

655
00:47:36,160 --> 00:47:38,040
We're about 15% of the total.

656
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:42,320
We're what people normally save,

657
00:47:42,520 --> 00:47:45,640
put into life insurance,
savings accounts and the like.

658
00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:49,960
Hey, wait a minute,
where do you think you're all going?

659
00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:52,960
Where do you think?
We're going to get spent.

660
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:55,080
What else is money for?

661
00:47:56,720 --> 00:47:58,160
Government propaganda

662
00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:01,040
was full of praise
for the patriotism of workers,

663
00:48:02,720 --> 00:48:05,320
particularly female workers,

664
00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:07,880
who were doing
a significant amount of the work.

665
00:48:13,040 --> 00:48:17,160
But industrialists were annoyed
that the government never mentioned

666
00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:19,480
their own patriotism.

667
00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:25,040
They were also concerned by
the fact that trade union membership

668
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:29,000
had risen from 5 to 14 million
since the start of the war.

669
00:48:30,680 --> 00:48:33,560
At this rate, bosses would no
longer be the ones in charge

670
00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:35,280
once peace returned.

671
00:48:39,080 --> 00:48:41,440
And amidst the sprawling machinery

672
00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:43,440
that war production had become,

673
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:46,720
something else was
worrying them even more.

674
00:48:50,520 --> 00:48:52,040
No economy in the world

675
00:48:52,240 --> 00:48:55,480
was more effectively
financed, planned,

676
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:59,040
run and coordinated
by federal government

677
00:48:59,240 --> 00:49:01,280
than America's war economy.

678
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:08,480
Overwhelmed by public spending,

679
00:49:08,680 --> 00:49:12,360
private industry had completely
lost control of the economy,

680
00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:14,920
and it looked as though
it might never get it back.

681
00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:21,880
According to a survey carried out
in 1943 by Forbes magazine,

682
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:24,040
three quarters of bosses believed

683
00:49:24,240 --> 00:49:26,160
that the government
was exploiting the war

684
00:49:26,360 --> 00:49:29,480
to create a vast
public industrial sector.

685
00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:36,320
"If, after the war, the government
decides to take on private industry"

686
00:49:36,520 --> 00:49:38,120
said Alfred Sloan,

687
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:40,280
"then we're finished."

688
00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:47,360
To prevent this, they had to win
back the hearts of Americans

689
00:49:47,560 --> 00:49:50,320
and rally them
to the cause of the private sector.

690
00:49:53,040 --> 00:49:55,560
"This war is
an historic opportunity",

691
00:49:55,760 --> 00:49:59,280
declared Charles Wilson,
the boss of General Electric,

692
00:49:59,720 --> 00:50:02,280
"and now let us
glorify free enterprise

693
00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:03,880
as much as we can."

694
00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:10,120
We are American industry.

695
00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:11,520
We are in the Navy too.

696
00:50:12,520 --> 00:50:15,680
They asked us to perform miracles
and that's what we've done.

697
00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:21,200
'Miracle' was the word
that featured most often

698
00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:24,440
in the propaganda pumped out
by the big industrialists.

699
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:28,760
But what they didn't mention

700
00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:31,720
was that this miracle
was 100% financed

701
00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:33,800
by American taxes.

702
00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:44,520
But the advantage of a miracle
is that it needs no explanation.

703
00:50:44,720 --> 00:50:46,400
Just watch and marvel at it.

704
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:48,040
Such a task was a challenge

705
00:50:48,240 --> 00:50:50,600
to the men who, over the years,
had been spurred on

706
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:52,600
by our competitive American system

707
00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:54,520
of incentive and initiative

708
00:50:54,720 --> 00:50:57,640
to invent, to build, to achieve,

709
00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:00,480
to compete in producing
better products.

710
00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:04,520
These and many other
Chrysler corporation activities

711
00:51:04,720 --> 00:51:08,240
are examples of how the wheels
of the automobile industry,

712
00:51:08,440 --> 00:51:11,520
symbolic of all private
competitive enterprise,

713
00:51:11,720 --> 00:51:15,520
turn together in unison
to supply the nation's requirements.

714
00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:26,280
Behind locked doors

715
00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:29,320
at almost 100 General Motors
plants throughout the country

716
00:51:29,560 --> 00:51:30,960
lie thousands of secrets.

717
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:36,040
Missouri Senator Harry Truman

718
00:51:36,240 --> 00:51:38,840
was furious at this
shameless appropriation

719
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:41,360
of the collective
efforts of Americans.

720
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:47,040
A devoted New Dealer, he had become
the scourge of the industrialists

721
00:51:47,240 --> 00:51:50,600
for his ruthless pursuit
of those making illegal profits.

722
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:54,640
But come 1944,

723
00:51:54,840 --> 00:51:57,160
he found himself
being inundated with letters

724
00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:00,520
demanding that he stop
harassing the industrialists.

725
00:52:04,200 --> 00:52:05,760
Truman realised to what extent

726
00:52:05,960 --> 00:52:09,000
their advertising bombardment
had shifted opinion,

727
00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:12,080
with people now convinced
that free enterprise

728
00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:14,720
had singlehandedly saved democracy.

729
00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:20,040
He was then given
a promotion by the president,

730
00:52:20,240 --> 00:52:24,240
who won another comfortable
election victory in November 1944.

731
00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:29,160
Truman was now vice-president

732
00:52:29,360 --> 00:52:31,560
at a time when Roosevelt
was consumed by the war,

733
00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:35,120
and had no time for
big business and their scheming.

734
00:52:39,320 --> 00:52:42,680
The New York Times 13 April 1945.

735
00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:46,840
President Roosevelt is dead.

736
00:52:47,240 --> 00:52:49,200
Loved by millions,

737
00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:53,440
hated, admired and feared
by countless adversaries,

738
00:52:53,640 --> 00:52:55,040
he did more than anyone

739
00:52:55,240 --> 00:52:57,720
to shape the future
of the nation he ruled

740
00:52:57,920 --> 00:53:00,040
and the world in which he lived.

741
00:53:01,720 --> 00:53:04,360
Nazi Germany would
capitulate in a few days' time,

742
00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:09,440
but victory over Japan was
not expected until late 1946.

743
00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:14,520
Not long after being sworn in,

744
00:53:14,720 --> 00:53:18,200
Harry Truman learned that America
had secretly been manufacturing

745
00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:20,840
the world's first ever atomic bomb.

746
00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:25,960
Launched at the beginning of the
war, this technological endeavour

747
00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:28,880
involved some of the country's
leading manufacturers.

748
00:53:30,800 --> 00:53:33,440
At Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
at Hanford, Washington,

749
00:53:33,640 --> 00:53:35,000
mammoth plants were built

750
00:53:35,200 --> 00:53:38,440
for the production of fissionable
materials and atomic bombs.

751
00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:41,720
The Hanford site, run by DuPont,

752
00:53:41,920 --> 00:53:46,080
produced plutonium for
the 'Fat Man' atomic bomb.

753
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:52,400
Keen for their brand image
not to be tarnished again,

754
00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:56,240
the three brothers included a clause
in the money-spinning contract

755
00:53:56,440 --> 00:54:00,040
that their company would not make
any profit out of the operation.

756
00:54:03,880 --> 00:54:05,920
At Oak Ridge two production sites -

757
00:54:06,120 --> 00:54:08,920
one run by Union Carbide
and the other by Kodak -

758
00:54:09,120 --> 00:54:12,120
produced the enriched uranium
needed to produce 'Little Boy',

759
00:54:12,320 --> 00:54:13,760
a second type of bomb.

760
00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:27,880
Within a few months a town was built

761
00:54:28,080 --> 00:54:30,840
to house the scientists and
the civil and military personnel,

762
00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:32,800
as well as their families.

763
00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:39,200
The town had everything,

764
00:54:39,520 --> 00:54:42,560
from its own schools to cinemas
and shopping centres.

765
00:54:46,080 --> 00:54:49,480
In secret the federal government
took out unlimited credit,

766
00:54:49,680 --> 00:54:52,440
and in addition to
Union Carbide, Kodak and Dupont,

767
00:54:52,640 --> 00:54:55,840
the project involved 900 private
companies of all shapes and sizes.

768
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:01,640
More than cooperation,
this was a case of symbiosis -

769
00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:03,680
coordinated by the government -

770
00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:06,760
between scientists,
the military and manufacturers.

771
00:55:12,360 --> 00:55:13,880
This unprecedented grouping

772
00:55:14,200 --> 00:55:18,040
enabled technological innovations
to be made in record time.

773
00:55:28,280 --> 00:55:29,880
On 6 August 1945

774
00:55:30,080 --> 00:55:33,320
a Little Boy bomb obliterated
the city of Hiroshima,

775
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:36,200
instantly killing 70,000 people.

776
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:42,320
Tens of thousands more would die
from their injuries or radiation.

777
00:55:42,880 --> 00:55:43,800
With this bomb,

778
00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:48,240
we have now added a new
and revolutionary increase

779
00:55:48,600 --> 00:55:49,880
in destruction.

780
00:55:50,400 --> 00:55:51,840
In their present form

781
00:55:52,200 --> 00:55:54,840
these bombs are now in production

782
00:55:55,040 --> 00:55:58,760
and even more powerful
forms are in development.

783
00:55:59,680 --> 00:56:02,840
Few Americans realised the awful
implications of the event.

784
00:56:03,040 --> 00:56:04,680
They were mostly just relieved

785
00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:06,800
that the war would soon be over.

786
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:12,720
As for the industrialists, they had
discovered the awesome potential

787
00:56:12,920 --> 00:56:17,160
of close collaboration between the
government and the private sector.

788
00:56:18,520 --> 00:56:21,520
We have spent more
than 2 billion dollars

789
00:56:21,720 --> 00:56:25,000
on the greatest
scientific gamble in history

790
00:56:25,200 --> 00:56:26,880
and we have won.

791
00:56:27,640 --> 00:56:28,800
Three days later

792
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:31,920
a Fat Man bomb destroyed Nagasaki.

793
00:56:32,440 --> 00:56:36,320
Japan surrendered, putting an end
to the Second World War.

794
00:56:42,120 --> 00:56:44,000
The entire population felt

795
00:56:44,320 --> 00:56:46,960
they had come through
a transcendent ordeal together,

796
00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:49,560
and that things would
never be the same again.

797
00:56:51,720 --> 00:56:55,400
With a contagious sense
of energy and optimism,

798
00:56:56,480 --> 00:57:00,440
Americans believed that they were
now masters of their own destiny.

799
00:57:08,640 --> 00:57:10,880
But the industrialists
had not planned

800
00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:12,880
for the war to be over so soon,

801
00:57:13,080 --> 00:57:17,040
and were caught off guard by
the sudden halt to military orders.

802
00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:23,520
To finance the shift back,

803
00:57:23,840 --> 00:57:26,920
they got the government to agree
to pay generous compensation

804
00:57:27,120 --> 00:57:28,720
for all cancelled orders.

805
00:57:34,160 --> 00:57:37,000
As for the hundreds of factories
owned by the government,

806
00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:40,560
they were divided up among
the 40 biggest industrialists.

807
00:57:46,160 --> 00:57:48,760
In return, regular wage increases

808
00:57:48,960 --> 00:57:51,640
and paying a 50% tax on profits

809
00:57:51,840 --> 00:57:54,800
were concessions
they had no problem taking.

810
00:58:00,360 --> 00:58:02,360
By the end of the 1940s,

811
00:58:02,560 --> 00:58:06,080
America was producing more than
half of the world's wealth.

812
00:58:08,280 --> 00:58:10,600
Now an increasingly
powerful machine,

813
00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:13,400
the federal government
opened up foreign markets,

814
00:58:13,600 --> 00:58:15,600
delivered economic stability

815
00:58:15,800 --> 00:58:16,800
and each year

816
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:20,440
placed billions of dollars' worth of
orders with private companies.

817
00:58:24,440 --> 00:58:26,520
The cake had become so huge

818
00:58:26,720 --> 00:58:28,760
that the top rate of income tax,

819
00:58:28,960 --> 00:58:32,080
which had risen to 91%,

820
00:58:32,280 --> 00:58:33,840
didn't have much of an effect.

821
00:58:37,800 --> 00:58:40,680
The industrial elite had lost
its absolute power,

822
00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:43,480
and the reign
of the uber-rich was over.

823
00:58:48,520 --> 00:58:51,320
But the conservatives
weren't finished yet.

824
00:58:55,960 --> 00:58:58,440
END OF PART TWO

825
00:59:31,640 --> 00:59:34,240
SUBTITLES BY PAUL MULLANEY