Editing New Deal coalition (section)

===Formation===
The [[Great Depression in the United States]] began in 1929 and was often blamed on Republicans and their big business allies. Republican president [[Herbert Hoover]] opposed federal relief efforts as unwarranted, believing that market actors and local governments were better suited to address the situation.<ref name="History Hoover">{{Cite web |date=June 7, 2019 |title=Herbert Hoover |url=https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/herbert-hoover |access-date=February 9, 2021 |website=History.com}}</ref> As the depression worsened, voters became increasingly dissatisfied with this approach and came to view President Hoover as indifferent to their economic struggles.<ref name="History Hoover" /> [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] won a landslide in [[1932 United States presidential election|1932]] and spent his time in office building a powerful nationwide coalition and keeping his partners from squabbling with each other.<ref>Sean J. Savage, ''Roosevelt: The Party Leader, 1932–1945.'' (University Press of Kentucky), 2014.</ref>

Over the course of the 1930s, Roosevelt forged a coalition of [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberals]], labor unions, Northern religious and ethnic minorities (Catholic, Jewish, and Black), and Southern Whites. These voting blocs together formed a majority of voters and handed the Democratic Party seven victories out of nine presidential elections (1932–1948, 1960, 1964), as well as control of both houses of Congress during all but four years between the years 1932–1980 (Republicans won small majorities in 1946 and 1952). Political scientists describe this realignment as the "[[Fifth Party System]]", in contrast to the [[Fourth Party System]] of the 1896–1932 era that proceeded it.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Richard J. |last1=Jensen|chapter=The Last Party System: Decay of Consensus, 1932–1980|title=The Evolution of American Electoral Systems|editor-first1=Paul|editor-last1=Kleppner|display-editors=etal|year=1981|pages=219–225}}</ref><ref>Everett Carll Ladd, Jr., with Charles D. Hadley. ''Transformations of the American Party System: Political Coalitions from the New Deal to the 1970s'' 2nd ed. (1978).</ref>

City machines had major roles to play. Most important, the New Deal coalition had to carry entire states, not just cities. The largest possible landslide was needed, and the city machines came through in 1940, 1944, and 1948. They kept the voters by providing federal jobs aimed at the unemployed—the [[Civil Works Administration]], the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] (where the boys' wages went to the unemployed father), the [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]], and especially the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA). A representative transition came in [[History of Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh]], which had long been a Republican stronghold with a promise of prosperity. The worsening depression enabled the Democrats to convince some Republicans to switch parties while mobilizing large numbers of ethnics who had not voted before. Democrats capitalized on Roosevelt's popularity to win the 1933 mayoral race. The WPA then played a critical role in the consolidation of the Democratic machine. By 1936 the Democrats had a majority in the registration rolls for the first time since the Civil War. That November FDR won 70% of the Pittsburgh vote.<ref>Stave 1966. Pp 467, 470.</ref>