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» Depression and World War II
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DEPRESSION AND WORLD WAR II
In the three years after the stock market crashed in 1929, fifty Philadelphia banks closed. Of those only two were large, Albert Greenfield's Bankers Trust Company and the Franklin Trust Company. Savings and loan associations also faced trouble with mortgages of 19,000 properties being foreclosed in 1932 alone. By 1934, 1,600 of 3,400 savings and loan associations had shut down. Hospitals were reporting definite cases of starvation as early as 1931 and unemployment peaked in 1933 when 11.5 percent of whites, 16.2 percent of African Americans, and 19.1 percent of foreign-born whites were out of work. Mayor J. Hampton Moore blamed people's economic woes, not on the Depression, but on laziness and wastefulness, and claimed there was no starvation in the city. Soon after Moore's observations, he fired 3,500 city workers, instituted pay cuts, forced unpaid vacation and reduced the number of contracts the city awarded. This saved Philadelphia millions of dollars, and the efforts kept the city from defaulting on its debts, but were unpopular among the unemployed. The city relied on state money to fund relief efforts, and when Moore's successor, S. David Wilson, became mayor he instituted numerous programs financed by the New Deal's Works Progress Administration despite condemning the program during his mayoral campaign. At its peak in 1936, 40,000 Philadelphians were working in WPA financed jobs.
Encouragement from the state and the creation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations turned Philadelphia into a union city. Dissatisfaction with working conditions caused numerous strikes in the already existing textile unions and the creation of the CIO led to the organization of labor unions in other industries and more strikes. Another significant change during the 1930s was the rise of the Democratic Party in Philadelphia. With the newly organized Independent Democratic Committee, Philadelphia's Democrats organized and expanded. In 1936, the Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia and the majority of Philadelphians reelected Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt as President and put Democrats in Congress and the Pennsylvania Assembly. City government remained Republican, but Republicans increasingly were elected by small margins.
The beginning of World War II in Europe and the threat of the U.S. becoming involved helped bring Philadelphia out of the Depression as new jobs appeared in defense-related industries. After the U.S. became involved in the war in 1941 the city mobilized. Philadelphia consistently met war bond quotas and when the war ended in 1945 there were 183,850 Philadelphians in the U.S. armed forces. With many Philadelphians in the military there was a labor shortage and businesses turned to women and workers from outside the city. This caused problems in 1944 when African Americans were promoted to motormen and conductors on Philadelphia Transportation Company's public transportation vehicles. Other PTC worker's protested the move and began a strike that nearly immobilized the city. President Roosevelt sent troops to replace the workers. After an ultimatum the workers returned after six days of striking.
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