The President, flush with his sweeping electoral success in
1936, was embolded to confront the Supreme Court. The Court was
the only branch of government still dominated by conservative
Republicans, but the justices were using their power to
virtually dismantle the New Deal. The President sent Congress a
bill designed to reorganize the Federal judiciary. The impact of
the effort badly damaged the President politically. This
weakened his habd in the fight with the Isolationists. The fight
over the Ludlow Amendment in Congress illustrated a dramatic
shift in the political situation. Many of the progressive forces
in Congress with isolationist and pacifist sentiments had
abandones the President to vote with the President. The
Administrations victory in defeating the Ludlow Amendment was
achieved by holding the largely pro-national security Southern
Democrats. The fact that the New Deal failed to act on issues
like lynching and emmigration has to be seen with this political
dynamic in mind. The President after hi