America 1918-1941 Flashcards
What were the alphabet agencies?
Bodies of government set up by congress/FDR to deal with problems caused by the Great Depression
What was the AAA?
(Agricultural adjustment administration)
-Set up in may 1933
-payed farmers to produce less food, meaning the price of food would increase (brings down supply increasing demand and price)
-not good for people in cities-but good for farmers (their profits doubled 1933-39)
-also helped farmers modernise leading to machinery becoming more common, this had an adverse affect on people who worked in agriculture (tenants and sharecroppers) put out of work by machines
What was the CCC (civilian concentration core)?
-set up in April 1933
-gave jobs to single men under the age of 25 who were unemployed
-these jobs ment you lived in a government camp (usually in a national park) & did work clearing land, planting trees (manual labour)
-given food, clothing, shelter and a sense of purpose
-wages $1 a day (a lot of people previously unemployed able to send money back to family)
-nearly 3 million men signed up between 1933-42
-many learned useful skills they could use later on to get jobs
what was the CWA (civilian works administration)?
-set up in November 1933
-Specific short term scheme to give manual jobs to as many people as possible (until it was shut down in march 1934)
-the sheer volume of people the CWA gave jobs to can’t be dismissed as insignificant
-gave jobs to 4 million people in the winter of November 1933-March 1934
What was NIRA?
-act passed in June 1933
-national industrial recovery act
-law not an alphabet agency
-NIRA was the legislation set up by the two alphabet agencies of the NRA & PWA
What was the PWA (public works administration)
-set up in June 1933 by NIRA
-intended to build lasting and valuable projects in America (e.g. schools, roads, Dams, bridges, airports & hospitals
-created millions of jobs and employed skilled workers
-something the CWA couldn’t do
-between 1933-39 the PWA built 70% of schools & 35% of hospitals in America
-had a huge lasting impact on the U.S.A. because it left significant projects
-Spent $7 billion on the employment of those who built theses projects
What was the NRA (national recovery administration)?
-set up in June 1933 by NIRA
-two major intentions:
- increase workers wages& price of factory goods
- to improve working conditions within industry
- industrially focused
-creased a voluntary code of practice buissuises could sign up to so not imposed upon all buissuiises just those who signed labour
- this voluntary code improved working conditions & banned child
- fixed prices of industrial goods
- limited working hours
- set minimum wages
- business could use the blue eagle, the sign of the NRA, this showed the business abided by the voluntary code of practice
-this symbol was publisised by the government & businesses as having presidential approval (so there would be an element of pride )
- more then 2 million employers joined the code of conduct so it was very significant across America
What was the FCA (farm credit administration )?
- Set up in march 1933
- gave coast farmers so they were able to keep there farms
-20% of all farmers benefited
What was the FERA (farm credit administration)?
- Set up in may 1933
- gave $500 million to those most in need
- funded: soup kitchens, clothing & bedding, nurseries,schools, fairly limited work schemes
What was the HOLC (nome owners loan cooperation)?
- Set up in June 1933
- gave loans to over 7 million people to stop them loosing their nomes
(The more urban version of the FCA)
What was the TVA and when was it set up?
-setup in may 1933
-tenesse valley authority
What was the aim of the TVA?
- Area of jurisdiction was the Tennessee valley of the Tennessee river covering 7 states
-this area was very poverty stricken particularly badly hit by the Great Depression due to the climate & geography (very prone to soil erosion & flooding)
-making many jobs difficult (especially farming)
-the main project of the TVA was building 33 dams to control the Tennessee river
What was the effect of the TVA?
- Building the dams produced cheap electricity
- this bought industry to the area
- these new factories created thousands of jobs
- not only was the TVA able to help deal with geographical issues but also with unemployment
- created jobs through projects to improve the quality of the soil
Did everyone agree with the TVA? >@<
- This alphabet agency was very successful
- was not always popular
- the republicans did not like the idea of the government getting involved in the economy believing the market will sort itself out (laissez faire)
- the TVA still exists today
Why was the second new deal concocted?
- By May 1935 Roosevelt was facing criticism/backlash concerning his new deal which had not been working as he had hoped
- on Tuesday 14th of May 1935 Roosevelt met with close advisors & senators to discuss what should happen next
- a month inter Roosevelt presented congress with a huge collection of laws (the second new deal)
What was the Wagner act?
- Made employers allow trade unions in their companies to negotiate pays & conditions
- made it illegal to five workers for being part of a union
The social security act?
- Provided state pensions for elderly & widowers
- allowed state governments to work with federal government providing help for sick & disabled
- set up a scheme for unemployment insurance
The works progress administration (wpa)?
- Brought together all organisations whose aim was to create jobs
- created jobs anywhere from office workers to unemployed actors
The resettlement administration (RA)?
- Helped small holders &. Tennant farmers who had not been helped by the AAA
Moved over 500000 families to better quality land and housing
Farm security administration (FSA)?
-Replaced the RA in 1937 gave special loans to buy their land
-built camps to provide living conditions for migrant workers
