institutions will be widely known and resisted. In contrast,
such freedom is impossible under extractive political
institutions, under absolutism, or under dictatorships, which
helps extractive regimes to prevent serious opposition from
forming in the first place. The information that the free
media provided was clearly key during the first half of the
twentieth century in the United States. Without this
information, the U.S. public would not have known the true
extent of the power and abuses of the Robber Barons and
would not have mobilized against their trusts.
P ACKING THE C OURT
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democratic Party candidate and
cousin of Teddy Roosevelt, was elected president in 1932
in the midst of the Great Depression. He came to power
with a popular mandate to implement an ambitious set of
policies for combating the Great Depression. At the time of
his inauguration in early 1933, one-quarter of the labor
force was unemployed, with many thrown into poverty.
Industrial production had fallen by over half since the
Depression hit in 1929, and investment had collapsed. The
policies Roosevelt proposed to counteract this situation
were collectively known as the New Deal. Roosevelt had
won a solid victory, with 57 percent of the popular vote, and
the Democratic Party had majorities in both the Congress
and Senate, enough to pass New Deal legislation.
However, some of the legislation raised constitutional
issues and ended up in the Supreme Court, where
Roosevelt’s electoral mandate cut much less ice.
One of the key pillars of the New Deal was the National
Industrial Recovery Act. Title I focused on industrial
recovery. President Roosevelt and his team believed that
restraining industrial competition, giving workers greater
rights to form trade unions, and regulating working
standards were crucial to the recovery effort. Title II
established the Public Works Administration, whose
infrastructure projects include such landmarks as the
Thirtieth Street railroad station in Philadelphia, the
Triborough Bridge, the Grand Coulee Dam, and the
Overseas Highway connecting Key West, Florida, with the
mainland. President Roosevelt signed the bill into law on