out the programs that tried to feed and employ the people, the business community might have collapsed. In the 1934 congressional election the Democrats scored overwhelming victories, swelling their majorities in both the House and the Senate. This landslide for the Democrats could only be interpreted as a ringing endorsement for the policies of FDR (Nash, 118). Still, some insisted that the president had moved to fast with his programs -that change was too rapid, that the business world was being disrupted and dominated. Others said that he was not moving fast enough in alleviating the problems of the poor. As criticism for not doing enough to help those at the bottom of the economic ladder increased, FDR moved resolutely for more reform. In 1935, the Social Security Act was passed. For the first time, the federal government, using employer and employee contributions, made payments for pensions to the aged and the ill. Unemployment insurance began and workers who lost their jobs could now collect payment while looking for new work. In the same year Congress passed the Wagner Act. This legislation guaranteed collective bargaining and prohibited employer interference with union -organizing activities. It also provided that representative's of the majority of the employees and any factory could be the exclusive bargaining representative's for all the employees in contract negotiations. Workers were no longer negotiating alone, but in mass. Indeed, the Wagner Act caused an enormous expansion of unions with ensuing bloody conflicts between employees and employers (Goodwin, 97).In an effort to prevent union organization, General Motors spent almost $1 million on "goon squads" to harass workers through intimidation. Virtual warfare took place as unions attempted to organize the automobile and steel industries. Despite the antagonism of big business, organized labor continued to grow.On the other hand, the U.S. Supreme Court beg...
