1890-1945 (10-17%) Flashcards
What was the Zimmerman Telegram?
The Zimmerman Telegram was a secret communication between Germany and Mexico in which Germany wanted a military alliance with Mexico in exchange for Mexico reclaiming Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Why did the U.S. refuse to join the League of Nations that THEY PROPOSED after WWI?
Isolationists in the US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles because of the League of Nations. They wanted to return to an isolationist foreign policy where the US did not have peacetime alliances.
What was the Anti-Saloon League?
Saloons and the heavy drinking culture they fostered were associated with immigrants and members of the working class, and were seen as detrimental to the values of a Christian society. The Anti-Saloon League, with strong support from Protestants and other Christian denominations, spearheaded the drive for nationwide prohibition. In fact, the Anti-Saloon League was the most powerful political pressure group in US history—no other organization had ever managed to alter the nation’s Constitution.
What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
The Kellogg-Briand Pact, negotiated by Coolidge, was an agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy, and Germany to renounce war as an instrument of national policy. Though the pact did not stave off a second world war, it did constitute one of the enduring principles of international law in the postwar period.
What was the Good-Neighbor Policy?
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office determined to improve relations with the nations of Central and South America. Under his leadership the United States emphasized cooperation and trade rather than military force to maintain stability in the hemisphere.
What was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff?
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff raised tariffs on thousands of imported goods and initiated a trade war between the United States and Europe, thereby exacerbating the global economic downturn (The Depression).
What was the New Deal?
The New Deal was a set of domestic policies enacted under President Franklin D. Roosevelt that dramatically expanded the federal government’s role in the economy in response to the Great Depression.
The New Deal created a broad range of federal government programs that sought to offer economic relief to the suffering, regulate private industry, and grow the economy. The New Deal is often summed up by the “Three Rs”: relief (for the unemployed), recovery (of the economy through federal spending and job creation), and reform (of capitalism, by means of regulatory legislation and the creation of new social welfare programs).
What were some of the federal agencies set in place by the New Deal?
First New Deal:
- The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), which boosted agricultural prices by offering government subsidies to farmers to reduce output.
- The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which employed young, single men at federally funded jobs on government lands.
- The Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA), which gave federal grants to states that funded salaries for government workers as well as local soup kitchens and other direct-aid to the poor programs.
- The National Recovery Act (NRA), which sought to boost businesses’ profits and workers’ wages by establishing industry-by-industry codes that set prices and wages, as well as guaranteeing workers the right to organize into unions.
- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which guaranteed individuals that money they deposited in a bank would be repaid to them by the federal government in the event that their bank went out of business.
- In 1934, Roosevelt supported the passage of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which brought important federal government oversight and regulation to the stock market.
The Second New Deal (1935-1938):
- The second phase of the New Deal focused on increasing worker protections and building long-lasting financial security for Americans. Four of the most notable pieces of legislation included:
- The Works Progress Administration (WPA), which employed millions of Americans in public works projects, from constructing bridges and roads to painting murals and writing plays.
- The Wagner Labor Relations Act, which guaranteed workers the right to form unions and bargain collectively.
- The Social Security Act, which required workers and employers to contribute—through a payroll tax—to the Social Security trust fund. That fund, in turn, makes monthly payments to retirees over the age of 65, as well as to the long-term disabled.
- The Fair Labor Standards Act, which mandated a 40-hour work week (with time-and-a-half for overtime), set an hourly minimum wage, and restricted child labor.
Describe the legacy of the New Deal.
The New Deal was only partially successful. The Supreme Court ruled against several New Deal initiatives in 1935, leading a frustrated Roosevelt to suggest expanding the Supreme Court to as many as fifteen Justices (a political misstep that would haunt him for the rest of his career).
Despite the New Deal’s lofty dreams, the United States only fully recovered from the Great Depression due to massive military spending brought on by the Second World War.
