7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7(WPA), and the Wagner Act (officially the National Labor
Relations Act), which created the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB). In addition to these hallmark measures,
Congress also passed a major tax revision—labeled by its
opponents as a “soak-the-rich” tax—that raised tax rates
for persons with large incomes and for large corporations.
The Second Term
Roosevelt was reelected in 1936 with the firm support of
farmers, labourers, and the poor. He faced the equally firm
opposition of conservatives. After his victory, Roosevelt
was determined to push forward with further New Deal
reforms. With large Democratic majorities in both houses
of Congress, there remained only one obstacle to his
objectives: the Supreme Court. To solve legal challenges to
the New Deal, he proposed enlarging the Supreme Court
by appointing six new justices (giving the court a liberal
majority), but his court-packing plan aroused strong oppo-
sition and had to be abandoned.
By 1939 foreign policy was overshadowing domestic pol-
icy. When World War II broke out in Europe in September
1939, Roosevelt called Congress into special session to per-
mit belligerents such as Britain and France to buy American
arms on a “cash-and-carry” basis. When France fell to the
Germans in the spring and early summer of 1940 and Britain
was left alone to face the Nazi war machine, Roosevelt con-
vinced Congress to intensify defense preparations and to
support Britain with “all aid short of war.”
The Third and Fourth Terms
In 1940 the Democrats had nominated Roosevelt for a third
term, which he won. In March 1941, after a bitter debate in