Carter Glass: The Democratic Conscience of the New Deal Era

Born on January 4, 1858, Carter Glass was one of Virginia's most important and influential politicians in its history. Growing up during the Civil War and Reconstruction, Glass was resolutely unreconstructed and remained so for life. In his youth, he was a newspaperman and had gotten involved in state politics, being elected to the Virginia Senate in 1898. In one of his least conscionable actions as a politician, he was one of the foremost advocates of the disenfranchisement of as many blacks as possible at the Virginia constitutional convention. As he stated himself: "Discrimination! Why that is exactly what we propose. To remove every negro voter who can be gotten ridden of, legally, without impairing the numerical strength of the white electorate." His view ultimately prevailed and most blacks were disenfranchised in the 1901-02 Virginia constitutional convention through poll taxes and discriminatory literacy tests. In 1902, he was elected to Congress and in 1913 became the Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee. He sponsored the Federal Reserve Act that was ultimately signed into law by Woodrow Wilson and created the Federal Reserve. In 1918, Wilson appointed Glass as William McAdoo's replacement for Secretary of the Treasury, and he served until 1920, when he was appointed to the Senate after Sen. Thomas Martin died.

In 1932, Glass supported FDR in his bid for the presidency and actually got out of his sickbed to defend him against Herbert Hoover's attacks. Thankful for the elder statesman's support, FDR offered Glass the position of Secretary of the Treasury. By this time, Glass was 74 years old and in generally poor health, so he declined. In 1933, Glass sponsored the Glass-Steagall Banking Act, but much of the content including the separation of investment and depository banks was the brainchild of Rep. Henry Steagall (D-Ala.), and Glass was said to have regretted the extent to which the act went. The Glass-Steagall Law was ultimately repealed in 1999. Glass was a strong proponent of the Economy Act, which sought to cut $500 million out of the budget by cutting the salaries of public employees and reducing veterans benefits by 50%. This measure ultimately cut $243 million and was overshadowed by massive New Deal spending. However, Glass found little he liked about the New Deal. He opposed the repeal of Prohibition, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the National Industrial Recovery Act, and Social Security. He even voted against regional interests by opposing the Reciprocal Trade Act in 1934. His greatest act of conscience perhaps came out of his opposing the bill making enforcing gold clauses in contracts unenforceable, referring to the measure as an act of "dishonor". He would also be the only Democrat in the Senate to oppose confiscating gold (and giving back paper currency unredeemable in gold) from its private owners and raising the price afterwards to induce inflation, making those who held the gold before poorer. In 1938, he opposed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established a minimum wage. Glass supported only a few New Deal measures, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority Act and the Securities and Exchange Act. He also frequently voted to uphold FDR's vetoes, including on veterans benefits. Glass also opposed anti-lynching legislation on states' rights grounds as did nearly all Southern Democrats of the time.

Although a strong opponent of FDR's tax and spend policies, he supported the President's foreign policy. In 1942, Glass's health took a plunge and he was unable to attend a Senate session for the rest of his career and seldom bothered to announce his stances on legislation after 1944. During this time of non-voting, he backed legislation to curb the power of unions and opposed GOP proposals to cut taxes. He finally died on May 28, 1946, of congestive heart failure at the ripe old age of 88.