The Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II 231retary of the Interior Harold Ickes responded by calling Dies “the
outstanding zany of American political history.”
The hearings of the Dies Committee began in the summer of 1938
and concentrated on communist infiltration into the country, com-
pletely neglecting any threat of fascism. Witnesses made many unsub-
stantiated accusations, and the accused rarely had the right of rebuttal.
During the first few days of the hearings something like 640 organiza-
tions, 483 newspapers, and 280 labor unions were cited as having com-
munist connections. At first this committee was limited to eight
months’ duration, but ever-increasing concern around the country
about the communist menace caused representatives to extend the
committee each year until 1945 , when it was renamed the House Com-
mittee on Un-American Activities.
By the winter and spring of 1938 – 1939 Congress began to halt the
further expansion of the New Deal by cutting the administration’s re-
quests for additional relief appropriations, defeating a housing bill, and
abolishing a profits tax. “For God’s sake,” several congressmen told the
President’s press secretary, “don’t send us any more controversial legis-
lation.” And since FDR was not expected to run for a third term in
1940 , congressmen no longer feared that he could harm them at the
polls or command their loyalty through control of patronage. So rather
than remain silent as they had done in the past, they now challenged
him when they opposed his requests.
The New Deal was also affected by developments in Europe. Chan-
cellor Hitler denounced the Treaty of Versailles, and in violation of
that treaty began to rearm Germany. Great Britain and France did
nothing to stop him. He then sent troops into the demilitarized Ger-
man Rhineland and concluded a military alliance with Italy and Japan.
Furthermore, he invaded and occupied Austria, and signed a
Nazi- Soviet Pact with Stalin. This pact allotted western Poland to
Germany, and Russia gained Estonia, Latvia, eastern Poland, Bessara-
bia, and later Lithuania. Then Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslo-
vakia if it did not surrender the Sudetenland, which had more than 3
million inhabitants of German ancestry. No doubt encouraged by the
criminal actions of his German ally, Benito Mussolini invaded Alba-
nia. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain and Premier
Edouard Daladier of France met with Hitler and Mussolini in Munich