Floyd Olson said:
We are assembled during the most critical period in the history of the Nation. An army of unemployed; some 5 million homeless and wandering boys; millions of abandoned farms; an ever-increasing number of mortgage foreclosures; and tens of million of people in want and poverty are evidences not only of an economic depression but of the failure of government and our social system to function in the interests of the common happiness of the people. Just beyond the horizon of this scene is rampant lawlessness and possible revolution. Only remedial social legislation, national and state, can prevent its appearance.
Floyd Olson walked the entire length of the inaugural parade. His advisors recommended that he not due so, due to the risk of assassination; indeed, two men, both members of the Silver Legion, were arrested during the inauguration for plotting to assassinate the President-elect. However, Olson wanted to be with the people, and wanted to send a message that he was not an elite like the previous presidents. He gave his radical speech, to the cheers of the crowd below and the horror of Wall Street, and set about creating his administration. Most of Olson's left-wing cabinet nominations were approved by the Senate; Max Hayes as the nominee for Secretary of Labor provoked a fight, but in the end, once it became clear that Olson would not compromise, the moderate Progressives fell in line and nominated him. He even gave the Socialists and Commonwealthers a few low-level, not cabinet appointments as a show of support for the coalition (Olson declined to give any position to the opposition).
The first decision of the Olson Administration was where to draw the "Red line". While it was clear that the House majority was large enough that they would have no trouble there, the Senate majority was narrow enough that a few moderate Progressives could block the whole agenda. Some on the far left counseled that Olson declare that his mandate dictated that the entire Radical Platform be implemented immediately, and any obstruction would be met with martial law. However, Vice President La Guardia convinced Olson that abusing martial law would ultimately fail. He reasoned that there were two parts of the Radical Agenda: the immediate economic relief, and the more radical long-term improvements to American society. The Vice President convinced Olson that martial law should not be used to implement the radical long-term agenda, and that it should only be used to ram through immediate economic relief.
Most of the immediate economic relief was not that controversial. The Republicans agreed that a massive public works project was necessary; they thought that the 20 billion dollar budget of the American Employment Agency was too high. Most of the most vicious opposition came due to Olson's refusal to allow any government jobs project to segregate its workers, but possessing a large enough majority to ignore the South, Olson did so, much to the displeasure of the Southern Progressives. The GOP wanted a dramatically more limited Agricultural Relief Act, but decided not to block the Progressives' plan to bail out farmers, and buy the surplus crops (which were distributed to the poor, stored, or burned). The Republicans had already given up on the Gold Standard, and let Olson's treasury department move the United States to a fiat currency. They allowed a massive reduction to tariffs The Republicans had in fact adopted a matching plan to the Progressives: they figured that obstructing everything would just provoke martial law, so they decided to give the Progressives the issues which would result in the greatest public support for martial law, and fight them on the more radical, less popular issues.
There was one issue in the immediate economic recovery that the Republicans and Moderate Progressives refused to compromise on: the financial recovery. Olson called for the nationalization of the entire financial system by the United States government, a move that barely gained a majority of the Progressive Senators in support. The President was infuriated, and threatened to declare martial law. Huey Long shouted at his fellow Senators that "a mob is coming here in six months to hang you damned scoundrels, and I'm undecided whether to stick here with you or go out and lead them". Afraid either of Olson or the people, Congress did pass a series of wide-ranging banking regulations. This satisfied the President enough to not nationalize the financial system yet (he was confident that after the midterms, he would be able to get a Radical majority in the Senate and get it through with the rest of the Radical agenda)
Many Republicans hoped that cooperation could allow them to influence Olson; they suggested that they would back his tax increases if he also cut government spending by slashing the pay of government workers and pensions. However, Olson refused to do so. He publicly declared that he did not care about deficits or the rising national debt, and he in fact endorse Keynesian levels of spending, meeting with the famous British economist. He rammed through even higher tax increases on the rich, over Republican opposition. The Republicans were infuriated by these actions. They had not filibustered the immediate economic relief, they had compromised on banking regulations and taxes and public works programs, they had allowed Olson to appoint avowed Socialists to his cabinet, and they were met with a purely partisan, non-compromising response. The Republicans met, and decided that they had compromised enough. The American people would see the Republicans efforts, and they would see Olson's stubborn radicalism. From May 9th, the Republican Party decided to go scorched-earth and obstruct the entire Radical agenda to the best of their ability.
