Historical Context
The Great Depression
America experienced a time of great economic prosperity in the 1920s; World War
I, from 1914 to 1918, decimated European manufacturing facilities and
reorganized much of the Western world in such a way that America was in a
position of unusual stability when it was over. Throughout the twenties,
unemployment and inflation were both low, which meant that people had money,
lived comfortably, and were able to invest. Many invested in speculative
ventures, which continued to raise profits through sales to other investors
even when they were not connected to any actual products. The phrase ‘‘Roaring
Twenties’’ was coined to capture the sense of excitement and fun that
characterized the decade.
The fun stopped on October 29, 1929, one of the most significant dates in American history. This was the date of the stock market crash. In that one day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had been slowly losing its momentum, dropped sharply, creating a rush to sell off stocks quickly, at a loss. By the end of the year, the United States economy had lost fifteen billion dollars, a number that eventually rose to fifty billion—about the entire cost of World War I.
People who had started the year with secure investment portfolios ended it looking for any lowwage jobs that became available. The sudden loss of investment capital had a rippling effect throughout the economy. People could not repay loans, and banks closed; companies could not borrow from banks and went out of business; when businesses closed, they left their workers without any incomes, and when workers could not pay the mortgages on their houses, it hurt the banks that had survived the first wave of the Depression.
The president at the time was Herbert Hoover, who had come into office in April of 1929, when the economy was strong. After the crash, he resisted calls to use federal funds to ease unemployment, insisting that the situation would correct itself. He eventually used money to aid endangered banks, but his refusal to create new jobs made him immensely unpopular. In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took over the presidency. His economic program, dubbed the ‘‘New Deal,’’ included billions of dollars to provide jobs for Americans through such agencies as the Tennessee Valley Authority, re sponsible for, among other things, building and managing Wilson Dam; the Civilian Conservation Corps, which employed about three million young men to tend the nation’s resources; and the Works Progress Administration, which employed unskilled laborers as well as talented artists. Unemployed Americans who did not pay taxes—that is, the vast majority—appreciated Roosevelt’s efforts and did not mind the huge expenditures from the treasury. Roosevelt was the only American president to be elected to four terms.
Literary Style
Irony
Although the word ‘‘irony’’ is used often in ordinary conversation, it is not
always used correctly. Irony is a literary technique in which an author uses
language in such a way that it conveys the opposite of its literal meaning.
Several times during Both Your Houses , Anderson has Sol Fitzmaurice give ironic speeches. Audiences know that Sol is corrupt; from his very first scene, he is drinking in the office and taking enjoyment from flouting the rules. His behavior is particularly corrupt in light of the fact that he is a lawmaker during Prohibition, the time in American history when drinking alcohol was illegal. ‘‘On my soul, I haven’t touched liquor since before breakfast,’’ Sol says, in a sentence that is formulated as if he were taking a pledge of virtue. When he is concerned about his thinly disguised bid for public money, he expresses...
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his concern like a naughty boy pouting: ‘‘Everyone in Washington has tacked something onto the bill except yours truly,’’ he whines, ‘‘and I’m the one man that deserves it.’’ The item he wants ‘‘tacked on’’ is the diversion of the navy so that its ships dock at the town where he owns real estate and speakeasies, because this will raise the value of his investments.
When Sol talks to Alan, his words are especially convincing. Taken out of context, his explanations of how the system made him corrupt could seem almost remorseful, provided that audiences fail to remember who is talking and the character traits that Sol has presented previously. Similarly, when he tells Alan that he has to be involved with dirty politics because ‘‘you can’t compete . . . without being a viper,’’ his speech is almost believable if one ignores the corruption in which Sol has already been involved. Anderson does not give stage directions that tell the actor who plays Sol whether the character is being insincere when he speaks dejectedly and humbly about his own part in political corruption, but he does indicate Sol’s insincerity by making his words contradict his behavior.
Verisimilitude
Verisimilitude is a literary technique in which an author creates situations
that are so lifelike that the audience believes they are factual. Anderson
achieves verisimilitude by peppering his dialogue with political jargon that
one might hear in a congressional office. In addition, he keeps the pace of the
drama moving briskly, imitating the pandemonium that might go on around the
Appropriations Committee before a major bill is brought to a vote. He also
convinces his audience of the reality of the situation by including unexpected
touches of realism. For instance, when Eddie enlists Marjorie to help his new
secretary, he offers her anything she wants, and her response is that she will
do it for a cigarette. While women smoking tobacco was not unheard of in 1933,
still many audience members would have been unprepared to see the modern office
woman being so casual about a traditionally male vice. This would lead them to
feel that the play was teaching them about the way the world really works. The
same effect holds true for Miss McMurty’s request for an appropriation for
birth control and contraceptives, a controversial issue that was not discussed
as publicly in 1933 as it is today. At the time, federal obscenity laws were
used to prosecute physicians who prescribed birth control, although strong
opposition from women’s health advocates served to change the law by the end of
the decade. Audiences may have been aware of the issues, but those familiar
with the debate about birth control would probably not have thought that their
elected representatives would dismiss the matter so lightly.
Didactic
Didactic works are produced to teach some moral, spiritual, or practical
lesson. While all works have a moral perspective, didactic ones put teaching a
lesson to the front, making it the main goal. This is often done at the expense
of artistry, which is why the word ‘‘didactic’’ is usually applied negatively.
Such works can be unsuccessful because audiences tune out their messages once
they realize that the writer is preaching to them.
The charge of didacticism could be leveled against Both Your Houses. Maxwell Anderson clearly has a political agenda that he wants audiences to agree with. The question of whether the play is merely a way to broadcast his political views depends on whether he has broken rules of reality in order to control his audience’s thoughts. For instance: Could Congress start out with a forty-million- dollar appropriations bill and end up with one more than ten times that? Could a major economic force like the steel industry have the Appropriations Committee chairman investigated and use what it learns to have a senseless, fifteen-million dollar appropriation added to the budget? If audiences feel that Anderson is stretching reality too far in order to make them agree with his position, then he is guilty of didacticism. On the other hand, if such things are possible, however unlikely, then the play is simply exercising creative license with its material. The basic issue is one of fairness: it would be unfair for a writer to win audiences to his point of view by warning them about a situation that does not actually exist.
Compare and Contrast
1933: The workings of Congress take place behind closed doors. Newspapers cover important stories when they can get information from members.
Today: There are cable television stations devoted to covering Congress. Although some meetings still occur in secret, there are many more educated reporters examining the fine details of bills as well as many more congressional staffers and lobbyists willing to provide background information.
1933: America is in the midst of the Great Depression. The year that Both Your Houses is first performed, the Roosevelt administration passes the Federal Emergency Relief Act, granting $500 million to the states in order to help ease unemployment.
Today: The economy is fine-tuned, to a degree, by the Federal Reserve Board, which uses its power to raise and lower interest rates to try to keep the economy growing and stable.
1933: Steel is one of America’s most powerful industries, and people are concerned that the steel companies have unfair influence with the government.
Today: Many of America’s steel companies have closed their U.S. plants, as production has shifted to cheaper overseas locations. Energy and telecommunications are the industries that spend the most lobbying for government influence.
1933: There have only been two women in the Senate and four in the House of Representatives, three of whom have taken office within the past year.
Today: Thirty-one women have served in the Senate, with thirteen of these serving currently. One hundred and eighty-four women have served in the House of Representatives.
Bibliography and Further Reading
Sources
Anderson, Maxwell, Off Broadway, William Sloane Associates, Inc., 1947,
pp. 24–25.
Bailey, Mabel Driscoll, Maxwell Anderson: The Playwright as Prophet, Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1957, pp. 60–61.
Clark, Barrett H., Maxwell Anderson: The Man and His Plays, Samuel French, Inc., 1933, p. 28.
Meister, Charles W., Dramatic Criticism, McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 1985, p. 182.
Shivers, Alfred S., Maxwell Anderson, Twayne Publishers, 1978, pp. 98–99.
Wilson, Edmund, The Triple Thinkers: Twelve Essays on Literary Subjects, Fararr, Straus & Giroux, 1938, pp. 26–27.
Further Reading
Clawson, Dan, Alan Neustadtl, and Denise Scott, Money Talks: Corporate PACs
and Political Influence, Basic Books, 1992. This book outlines the
structure and political influence of Political Action Committees.
Gassner, John, ‘‘Introduction,’’ in 20 Best Plays of the Modern American Theatre, 1930–1939, Crown Publishers, 1939, pp. vii–xxii. Gassner was a respected theater scholar who headed the Theater Guild’s play department at the height of its glory. His summary of this decade in theater gives modern readers a fair sense of the excitement of New York theater in the thirties.
Lewis, Charles, and the Center for Public Integrity, The Buying of Congress: How Special Interests Have Stolen Your Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, Avon Books, 1998. Lewis and his investigative team take a cynical look at the political process, writing with a sense of moral outrage that Maxwell Anderson would have appreciated.
Smith, Hedrick, ‘‘The Coalition Game: The Heart of Governing,’’ in The Power Game: How Washington Works, Random House, 1988, pp. 451–508. Smith, who at that time had been reporting on Washington throughout six Presidential administrations, shows that the basic rules of behavior Anderson attributed to his characters still dominate the American government.