Introducing 

Prezi AI.

Your new presentation assistant.

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.

Loading…
Transcript

Its Intro

The Hatch Act 0f 1939

The Hatch Act of 1939 was introduced to legislation by Carl A. Hatch, who was a senator of New Mexico at the time. Prior to being a senator, Hatch was an assistant attorney general of New Mexico from 1917 to 1918, a collector of internal revenue from 1919 to 1922, a district judge of the ninth judicial district of New Mexico from 1923 to 1929, a member of a State board of bar examiners from 1930 to 1933, and was appointed on October 10, 1933, as a Democrat to the United States.

Provisions

Results

"The 1939 Act forbids the intimidation or bribery of voters and restricts political campaign activities by federal employees. It prohibits using any public funds designated for relief or public works for electoral purposes. It forbids officials paid with federal funds from using promises of jobs, promotion, financial assistance, contracts, or any other benefit to coerce campaign contributions or political support. It provides that persons below the policy-making level in the executive branch of the federal government must not only refrain from political practices that would be illegal for any citizen, but must abstain from "any active part" in political campaigns, using this language to specify those who are exempt:[6]

(i) an employee paid from an appropriation for the Executive Office of the President; or

(ii) an employee appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose position is located within the United States, who determines policies to be pursued by the United States in the nationwide administration of Federal laws." - Wikipedia

Its Purpose

The Hatch Act of 1939

After stating his position on the scandalous acts of the politicians, Hatch introduced his idea (the Hatch Act) to legislation. Federal officials and workers are prevented from using their political positions to interfere with elections.

The Senate accepted Hatch's measure in April of 1939 and the House followed in July Although President Roosevelt did not agree with the Section 9 agreement, he reluctantly signed the bill into a law on August 2nd.

Many citizens believed that politicians (mainly Democratic politicians) were "cheating" their political votes in their congressional elections. WPA officials were helping politicians win more votes by bribery and etc. Because of this, the Hatch Act was passed to ensure that political authorities could not engage in majority of the political activities.

Why Was it Passed?

During the congressional elections of 1938, it was believed by majority that Democratic politicians were using employees of the WPA for beneficial gains, which resulted in immediate passage of the Hatch Act. States such as Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Maryland gained much spotlight for standing out when it came to politicians "cheating" for their benefit of the election. Many newspaper articles exposed WPA patronage in 1938.

The Hatch Act of 1939

add logo here

Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi