Democratic Party (United States)

==== 1930s–1960s and the rise of the New Deal coalition ====
[[File:RooseveltTruman1944poster.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, the 32nd and 33rd presidents of the United States (1933–1945; 1945–1953), featured on a campaign poster for the [[1944 United States presidential election|1944 presidential election]]; note the rooster logo of the Democratic Party (see [[#Name_and_symbols|Names and Symbols]] below)]]
The [[Great Depression]] in 1929 that began under Republican President [[Herbert Hoover]] and the Republican Congress set the stage for a more liberal government as the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives nearly uninterrupted from 1930 until 1994, the Senate for 44 of 48 years from 1930, and won most presidential elections until 1968. [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], elected to the presidency in 1932, came forth with federal government programs called the [[New Deal]]. New Deal liberalism meant the regulation of business (especially finance and banking) and the promotion of labor unions as well as federal spending to aid the unemployed, help distressed farmers and undertake large-scale public works projects. It marked the start of the American welfare state.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ellen Russell|title=New Deal Banking Reforms and Keynesian Welfare State Capitalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzOUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA4|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|pages=3–4|isbn=9781135910655|access-date=April 28, 2020|archive-date=October 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002180941/https://books.google.com/books?id=qzOUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA4&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref> The opponents, who stressed opposition to unions, support for business and low taxes, started calling themselves "conservatives".<ref>Rutland, ''The Democrats: From Jefferson to Clinton'' (1995) ch. 7.</ref>

Until the 1980s, the Democratic Party was a coalition of two parties divided by the Mason–Dixon line: liberal Democrats in the North and culturally conservative voters in the South, who though benefitting from many of the New Deal public works projects, opposed increasing [[Civil and political rights|civil rights]] initiatives advocated by northeastern liberals. The polarization grew stronger after Roosevelt died. Southern Democrats formed a key part of the bipartisan [[conservative coalition]] in an alliance with most of the Midwestern Republicans. The economically activist philosophy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which has strongly influenced [[Liberalism in the United States|American liberalism]], shaped much of the party's economic agenda after 1932.<ref>David M. Kennedy, ''Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945'' (2001).</ref> From the 1930s to the mid-1960s, the liberal [[New Deal coalition]] usually controlled the presidency while the conservative coalition usually controlled Congress.<ref>Paul Finkelman and Peter Wallenstein, eds. ''The Encyclopedia Of American Political History'' (CQ Press, 2001) pp. 124–126.</ref>