The national commander’s position made McNutt a national figure. He “continued to extol the virtues of America, the nobility of military service, and the need to fight pacifists and to fund a strong national defense.” This put him at odds with President Hoover — particularly with regard to the particulars surrounding Hoover’s decisions to reduce naval construction. “Hoover, a small-government Republican and a Quaker, believed that more arms would lead neither to security nor peace but to “burdensome expenditure” at home and “suspicion, ill will and misunderstanding” abroad.”
McNutt also sought federal action with respect to caring for veterans and their widows and dependents, urging Congress to build more veteran’s hospitals and to be more expansive in treatment of veterans. This support for expanded military expenditures and federal care for veterans was a precursor to McNutt’s support of FDR and the welfare state.
McNutt’s experience in the Legion was critical to his success when he decided to run for the governor’s office in 1932. The GOP had held the governor’s office since 1917 and during that time seen its share of scandals. Its response to the Depression was seen as anemic, and the party was ready for a fall. McNutt’s organizational acumen, honed through the Legion, served him well. He won the Democratic nomination and went on to route his opponent, Raymond Springer, by over 10% of the vote. The national landslide in favor of FDR was felt in Indiana. Democrats captured 91 out of 100 state house seats and 43 of the 50 Senate seats. They also captured all 12 of Indiana’s Congressional seats. One of those Congressional seats was won by Virginia Jenckes, Indiana’s first female member of Congress. McNutt was an organized politician with a huge majority to work with. Indiana government was going to see some changes.
On his way to the governor’s mansion, McNutt made a political move that would not serve him well. Having secured the state nomination for governor, McNutt was already eyeing the White House. Franklin D. Roosevelt was leading the delegate count at the convention but he had not yet reached the two-thirds necessary to get him over the top. Hoping to perhaps replicate some of his success in his battles for Legion positions, McNutt held the Indiana delegates back. Perhaps FDR’s delegate count would peak and stall, and then perhaps McNutt could emerge as a compromise candidate.
Unfortunately for the McNutt forces, the Democratic National Convention was a larger and more complex affair-bringing together wily, veteran politicos-than a Legion gathering of young, politically minded veterans. On the fourth ballot, the Texas and California delegations switched their support to Roosevelt, nullifying Indiana’s resistance and handing FDR the presidential nomination. After the convention, James A. Farley, Roosevelt’s convention manager and chair of the party’s national committee during FDR’s first two terms in the White House, never forgot the disloyalty of McNutt, whom he assailed as “the ‘platinum blond’ S. O. B. from Indiana.”
When he took office in 1933, McNutt hit the ground running. Historian James Madison says, “no governor since Oliver P. Morton held such power or so forcefully directed state government and his party.” McNutt believed that government could be a great instrument of human progress. First on the agenda was relief for the unemployed. The local organizations and government were not up to the task. McNutt extended and centralized the existing relief efforts and worked in conjunction with FDR’s federal government to provide more. This led to the Indiana Department of Public Welfare and the creation of a state old age pension. Another initiative of the McNutt administration was the Office of the Consumer Advocate — initially led by future Supreme Court Justice Sherman Minton.
Republicans thought McNutt’s efforts were a precursor to communism and that it encouraged sloth at the expense of hard working taxpayers. Township trustees likely also resisted the diminishment of their power. Home rule and state’s rights were infringed upon in favor of a powerful state government working hand-in-hand with the federal government.
Another successful initiative by the McNutt administration was the creation of an Indiana State Police force. Paul Musgrave has a fascinating article entitled “A Primitive Method of Enforcing the Law: Vigilantism as a Response to Bank Crimes in Indiana, 1925-1933.” In the 20s and 30s, bank robberies were an increasing problem. Law enforcement was still designed for the era of travel on horseback. The automobile and good roads had given robbers considerably more mobility. Media often painted robbers as celebrities. John Dillinger committed his bank robberies in 1933 and 1934.
From his first banked robbed in June 1933, it took John Dillinger just under a year to reach public enemy number one. Dillinger was a notorious criminal active from 1933-1934. In that time, Dillinger robbed over a dozen banks, police stations, and escaped from police custody at least three times. The charismatic robber would capture the hearts of the everyday man and woman with his exploits and his criminal nature.
Joe Uhl (linked above) states that the media coverage was more or less straightforward, covering him as a dangerous criminal. But, due to the bad reputation banks had, ordinary citizens viewed them as Robin Hoods. If bank failures were erasing life savings anyway, what were a few bank robberies more or less? “The daring daytime robberies and skillful getaways were glamorous and exciting, especially if the robbers were handsome, polite and photogenic.”
So, bankers were not sympathetic victims. The increase in robberies was driving up insurance costs significantly. So, for a time, bankers took matters into their own hands with extralegal vigilante organizations. However, they also advocated for an Indiana State Police force that could help them deal with the problem more effectively. During the twenties they did not make much headway. Governor Leslie helped with some study of the subject. But, it was McNutt with his near total control of the General Assembly who successfully had the organization created. The bankers abandoned their vigilante organizations and lobbied for funding of a state police radio network. A state police organization with a state radio network resulted in a significant decrease in successful robberies. “[T]he Hoosier Banker announced a twenty-percent decrease in bank insurance rates.” Musgrave notes the shift at approximately this time of public opinion of vigilante organizations.
Within a few years, Indiana’s political culture shifted from sanctioning the private apprehension and even the informal execution of criminals (albeit under minimal government supervision) to using a public and bureaucratic approach to fight crime. The change reflected a broader evolution of popular political beliefs. The nineteenth-century idea of a privileged democratic and legal status for vigilantes, who often operated without the oversight of local or state government, had given way to the assumption that vigilantes needed the approval of the local authorities. That idea was, in turn, replaced by a belief in the priority of the state government over local institutions.
Next time: Tax reform!
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