The Great Depression Test Questions – Flashcards
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What did the Emergency Banking Act result from? Explain.
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FDR's four day "bank holiday;" when FDR took office, the nation's banking system was on brink of collapse. this holiday closed banks to give gov't the opportunity to create a plan.
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What did the Emergency Banking Act do?
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gave the Secretary of Treasury the power to decide which banks could be safely reopened, released funds from Reconstruction Finance Corporation to bolster banks' assets
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What did the Emergency Banking Act create? What did this do? What Act, specifically, created this?
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Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, guaranteed bank customers that the federal gov't would reimburse them for deposits if the banks failed / insured deposits up to $5000; due to Glass-Steagall Act
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What was the outcome of the Emergency Banking Act?
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reestablished Americans' faith in banks; after reopening, deposits exceeded withdrawals
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What was the most popular work relief program of the New Deal?
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Civilian Conservation Corps
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What did the Civilian Conservation Corps do?
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offered unemployed young men a chance to earn wages while working to conserve natural resources - maintaining and restoring forests, beaches, parks
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What group was initially excluded from working in the CCC? How did this change?
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women until Eleanor demanded that a token number of young women be hired
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What was the outcome of the CCC?
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taught men and women of America how to live independently, increasing self-esteem
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What did the Public Works Association/Administration do? Be specific.
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built large-scale public works like the Grand Coulee Dam, bridges, hospitals, and schools
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What Act created the PWA?
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National Industrial Recovery Act
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What was one of the best parts of the NIRA?
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PWA
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What did the Securities Exchange Commission do?
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required full disclosure of info on stocks being sold, regulated the stock market
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What was the outcome of the SEC?
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critical for long-term success for businesses
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What did the Agricultural Adjustment Association do? How did they try to accomplish this?
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tried to raise farm prices by reducing production - used proceeds from a new tax to pay farmers not to raise specific crops and animals
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What was the outcome of the AAA?
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farmers killed off certain animals and crops as instructed by the federal gov't --> many were outraged b/c so many people were starving, later declared unconstitutional
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What was the most ambitious and controversial natural resources development project?
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TVA
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What did the Tennessee Valley Authority do?
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helped farmers and created jobs in one of America's least modernized areas, built dams along the Tennessee River
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What was the outcome of the TVA?
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dams along the Tennessee River supplied impoverished rural communities with cheap electricity, controlled flooding, and provided recreational opportunities
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What did the Wagner Act do?
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authorized the federal gov't to intervene in labor disputes and supervise the organization of labor unions, guaranteed industrial workers the right to unionize
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What was the Wagner Act aka?
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National Labor Relations Act
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What did the Wagner Act create, and what did this do?
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National Labor Relations Board to sponsor and oversee elections for union representation
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What nickname was given to the Wagner Act?
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"Magna Carta for labor"
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What was the outcome of the Wagner Act?
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guaranteed industrial workers the right to unionize
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What was the single most important feature of the New Deal's emerging welfare state?
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Social Security Act
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What did the Social Securities Act do? Be specific.
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provided: modest income to relieve the poverty of the elderly, pensions for workers, survivor benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers/children/blind/physically disabled
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What group was initially excluded from the benefits of the Social Securities Act?
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domestic and agricultural workers
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What was the outcome of the Social Security Act?
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helped millions of Americans feel more secure that they were taken care of in event of accident or in old age
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Who were the Bonus Marchers?
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WWI veterans who gathered in D.C. to lobby for immediate payment of the pension they had been promised in 1924 that would convert to cash in 1945
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Another name for Bonus Marchers
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Bonus Army
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Who finally gave the Bonus Marchers their bonus?
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Works Progress Administration
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Who was the General involved with the Bonus Marchers?
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Douglas MacArthur
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What order was MacArthur given, and how did he respond to this?
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told to evict the Bonus Marchers from the city but not to invade their camp - disobeyed and led an attack force of five tanks with 500 armed soldiers who torched the veterans' dwellings
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What American political term refers to the alignment of interest groups and voting blocs that supported the New Deal and voted for Democratic presidential candidates?
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New Deal coalition
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What were the first months of Roosevelt's administration known as?
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"Hundred Days"
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What did FDR do during the first months of his administration?
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fulfilled his promise of "direct, vigorous action" confronting "a stricken Nation in the midst of a stricken world" AND launched the New Deal
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Who did FDR appoint as the advisor of many New Deal programs?
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Harry Hopkins
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Who was served as one of FDR's most loyal confidants and was one of the most influential people in FDR's administration?
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Harry Hopkins
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Hopkins was the leader of...
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Federal Emergency Relief Administration
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Who was the first woman Cabinet member in American history? What was her position?
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Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor
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Where did Perkins work before she became Secretary of Labor?
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Jame Addams's Hull House
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What investigation was Perkins involved in?
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direct NY's investigation of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
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Name of Eleanor Roosevelt's daily syndicated newspaper column
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My Day
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Who was FDR's unofficial advisor?
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Eleanor Roosevelt
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Explain FDR's fireside chats.
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spoke in a friendly, informal manner to address millions of Americans on the first New Deal initiatives, forging a direct and intimate connection
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What was the Dust Bowl?
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the name given to the Great Plains region devastated by drought in 1930s depression-ridden America
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Who were Okies?
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people who streamed out of the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado where chronic drought and harmful agricultural practices blasted crops and hopes
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Where did Okies migrate, and why?
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to the lush fields and orchards of California in labor camps, hoping to find work and a future
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How was Upton Sinclair involved in gov't?
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ran for governor of California
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What was Sinclair's campaign slogan for governor?
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"End Poverty in California"
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Who was Charles Coughlin?
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Father (Catholic priest) who gave weekly radio broadcasts expressing outrage at the suffering and inequities that he blamed on Communists, bankers, and "predatory capitalists" who he claimed were mostly Jews
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How did Coughlin feel about the New Deal?
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initially praised it as "Christ's deal" then turned against it when FDR refused to grant him influence
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Coughlin founded what? What did this do?
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the National Union for Social Justice; challenged FDR in the 1936 presidential election and called for an expanded money supply backed by silver so that the poor could be rescued from the "international bankers responsible for the depression"
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What was Francis Townsend's main issue with FDR, and what solution did he pose?
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angry that many of his retired patients lived in misery, proposed the Old Age Revolving Pension
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What would the Old Age Revolving Pension do? What would recipients have to do to receive this?
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would pay citizens over age 60 a pension of $200 a month; recipients had to agree to spend it within 30 days to stimulate the economy
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What did FDR do to halt the growth of Townsend's Old Age Revolving Pension?
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formed the Social Security Act
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What did Huey Long do? Why?
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introduced a sweeping "soak the rich" tax bill to outlaw personal incomes of more than $1 million and inheritances of more than $5 million- b/c he championed the poor over the rich
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What was the name of Huey Long's plan?
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"Share Our Wealth"
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Coughlin created what to challenge FDR in the 1936 presidential election?
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National Union for Social Justice (Union Party)
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What was the Works Progress Administration created for?
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to give unemployed Americans gov't-funded jobs on public work projects - putting millions of jobless citizens to work on roads, bridges, parks, public buildings, etc
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Robert Wagner sponsored what Act?
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Wagner Act / National Labor Relations Act
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What were sit-down strikes?
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culmination of a wave of strikes in 35 cities and 14 states - people sat down in places are part of a strike
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Sit-down strikes became most popular after what happened?
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after General Motors, the world's largest industrial corporation, cut employment and wages in half
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What did unemployment insurance to?
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provided modest benefits for workers who lost their jobs as a result of Social Security
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Who was the first black woman to head a federal agency? What agency did she head?
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Mary McLeod Bethune, Division of Negro Affairs
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What was the "Black Cabinet"?
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the nickname for men and women who composed the first sizable representation of black people in white-collar posts in the federal gov't
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Who was John Collier? What did he do?
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New Deal's commissioner of Indian affairs, caused the New Deal's Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 to largely reverse policy of assimilation
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What did the Indian Reorganization Act do, and why?
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1. provided little economic aid to Native Americans b/c Collier said they did not expect anything and would still be happy 2. restored right to own land communally, to have greater control over own affairs, and vote on whether they should live under the IRA
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What was the "Popular Front"?
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the association of Communists and non-Communist progressives who joined together to advance the fortunes of the working class
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What did the Popular Front result from?
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the Soviet Union, worried about the threat of fascism in Europe, instructed this "front" to occur
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Who was Alfred (Alf) Landon, and what did he propose?
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governor of Kansas selected as Republican nominee for election of 1936, said old-fashioned neighborliness should ease the perils of illness and old age rather than gov't bureaucracies like Social Security
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Who represented each political party in the election of 1936?
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Rep = Alf Landon Dem = FDR
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Who wrote The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money?
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John Maynard Keynes
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What was Keynes's view on the Great Depression? What solution did he pose?
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declared that the depression illustrated that a nation's economic activity could become stalled at a level far short of its true potential, said only gov't intervention could pump enough money into the economy to restore prosperity when that happened
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What were Keynesian economics?
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theory developed that guided U.S. economic policy from New Deal to 1970's, said the federal gov't has a duty to stimulate and manage the economy by spending money on public works projects only gov't intervention could pump enough money into the economy to restore prosperity when that happened
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What did the Administrative Reorganization Act do?
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gave FDR and future presidents new influence over the bureaucracy
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What did FDR do to remove obstacles for New Deal reforms?
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court packing
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Explain FDR's court packing.
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FDR added 1 new justice for each justice over the age of 70; this could allow him to pack the court with up to 6 New Dealers who could outvote the elderly, conservative justices
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What made the federal government take an active role in providing decent urban housing for the first time?
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National Housing Act
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FDR personality
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charismatic, self-confidence that reassured many Americans that he could handle and fix the economic crisis
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FDR ability to benefit from experience
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governor of NY, populous and diverse state. VP candidate to James. M Cox, gained invaluable experience.
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FDR ability to take advice and delegate responsibility
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willing to try different approaches, sought advice from academia to agriculture, appointed Harry Hopkins as advisor of New Deal programs
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FDR ability to solve problems
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two New Deals, had polio but able to overcome challenges, in first Hundred Days had "bank holiday"
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FDR ability to communicate
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"the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," deep and rich voice, fireside chats
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FDR ability to select qualified subordinates
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Frances Perkins = Secretary of Labor Eleanor to U.N. three groups (1. supported gov't cooperation with big business, 2. distrusted big business and wanted gov't to run key parts of economy, 3. supported trust-busting)
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qualities that made FDR a good leader
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1. personality 2. ability to benefit from experience 3. ability to take advice and delegate responsibility 4. ability to solve problems 5. ability to communicate 6. ability to select qualified subordinates
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What was the Brains Trust?
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small group of university professors from Columbia University who advised FDR when he was governor of NY and continued to advise the new president about the problems faced by the nation and how to deal with them
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first New Deal v. second New Deal
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first: improved economy; relief, recovery, reform second: more political; gov't regulation of labor, housing, and farms
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AAA
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AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT- subsidies to farmers to decrease production and thus increase prices
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TVA
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TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY- hydroelectric power to river valley; brought social and economic development to very poor area
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CCC
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CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS- employed young jobless men with government projects on work relief and environment
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FERA
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FEDERAL EMERGENCY RELIEF ADMINISTRATION provided more funds to state and local relief efforts
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PWA
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PUBLIC WORKS ADMINISTRATION put people to work on large-scale public works
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FDIC
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FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION insured deposits < $5000, reassured American public of the worth of banks
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SSA
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SOCIAL SECURITY ACT used withheld money from payrolls to provide aid to the unemployed, industrial accident victims, and young mothers; principle of government responsibility for social welfare
