Chapter 24: The Great Depression and the New Deal 1929-1939 Flashcards
Black Tuesday
October 29, 1929: When the bottom fell out of the stock market
~Millions of panicky investors ordered their brokers to sell when there were no buyers to be found
“Buying on Margin”
Allowed people to borrow most of the cost of the stock
~Made down payments as low as 10%
Gross National Product
The value of all the goods and services produced by the nation in one year
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
Set tax increases ranging from 31-49% on foreign imports
~Meant to satisfy U.S. business leaders
~European countries retaliated by putting higher tariffs on U.S. exports
Federal Farm Board
Authorized to help farmers stabilize prices by temporarily holding surplus grain and cotton in storage
~The program was much too modest to handle the continued overproduction of farm goods
~Actually created in 1929 prior to the stock market crash
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
Funded by Congress as a means to prop up faltering railroads, banks, life insurance companies, and other financial institutions
~President reasoned that emergency loans from the corporation would help to stabilize these key businesses
~The benefits would “trickle down” to smaller businesses and ultimately bring recovery
Bonus March Army
A thousand unemployed WWI veterans marched to Washington D.C. to demand immediate payment of the bonuses promised them at a later date
~Camped outside/near the Capitol
~Congress failed to secure the bonus they sought
~The encampment was broken up
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic nominee for president in the Election of 1932
~Pledged a “new deal”
~Expanded the size of the federal government altered its scope of operations and greatly expanded the power of the presidency
20th Amendment
Shortened the period between presidential election and inauguration
~Set a new date, Jan. 20 for the start of the president’s term in office
~Known as the “lame duck” amendment
Eleanor Roosevelt
FDR’s wife and Theodore Roosevelt’s niece
~The most active first lady in history
~Wrote a newspaper column, gave speeches, and traveled the country
~Influenced FDR to support minorities and the less fortunate
Brain Trusts
A group of university professors who Roosevelt turned to for advice on economic matters
~Included Rexford Tugwell, Raymond Moley, and Adolph A. Berle Jr.
Frances Perkins
Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor in his cabinet
~First woman ever to serve on a presidential cabinet
The First Hundred Days
Where Roosevelt called Congress to an immediate, special, 100 day session within a few weeks of being sworn into office
~During this, Congress passed into law every request of Roosevelt
Bank Holiday
Where Roosevelt went on the radio and closed all banks until further notice
~Explained that the banks would be reopened after allowing enough time for the government to reorganize them on a sound basis
21st Amendment
Repealed the 18th Amendment and ended Prohibition
Fireside Chats
Announcements to the American people telling them what was going on
Emergency Banking Relief Act
Authorized the government to examine the finances of banks closed during the bank holiday and reopen those judged to be sound
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Guaranteed individual bank deposits up to $5000
Homeowners Loan Corporation (HOLC)
Provided refinancing of small homes to prevent forclosures
Farm Credit Administration
Provided low-interest farm loans and mortgages to prevent foreclosures on the property of indebted farmers
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
Offered outright grants of federal money to states and local governments that were operating soup kitchens and other forms of relief for the jobless and homeless
~The director was Harry Hopkins, one of the president’s closet friends and advisors
Public Works Administration (PWA)
Allotted money to state and local governments for building roads, bridges, dams, and other public works
~Such projects were a source of thousands of jobs
~Directed by Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickles
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Employed young men on projects on federal lands and paid their families small monthly sums
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
A huge experiment in regional development and public planning
~Hired thousands of people in one of the nation’s poorest regions: the Tennessee Valley
~Paid to build dams, operate electric power plants, control flooding and erosion and manufacture fertilizer
~Sold electricity to residents of the region at rates that were well below those charged by the previous owners
National Recovery Administration (NRA)
An attempt to guarantee reasonable profits for business and fair wages and hours for labor
~Helped each industry set codes for wages, hours of work, levels of production, and prices of finished goods
~Gave workers the right to organize and bargain collectively
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
Encouraged farmers to reduce production by offering to pay government subsidies for every acre they plowed under
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Was added to the PWA and other New Deal programs for creating jobs
~Hired laborers for temporary construction projects sponsored by the federal government
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Was created to regulate the stock market and to place strict limits on the kind of speculative practices that had led to the stock market crash in 1929
Federal Housing Authority (FHA)
Gave both the construction industry and homeowners a boost by insuring bank loans for building new houses and repairing old ones
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Spent billions of dollars between 1935 and 1940 to provide people with jobs
~Paid workers double the relief rate but less than the going wage for regular workers
Resettlement Administration (RA)
Provided loans to sharecroppers, tenants, and small farmers
~Established federal camps where migrant workers could find decent housing
~Headed by Rexford Tugwell, one of the Brain Trustees
National Labor Relations Act (1935)
Guaranteed a worker’s right to join a union and a union’s right to bargain collectively
~Outlawed business practices that were unfair to labor
Social Security Act
Created a federal insurance program based upon the automatic collection of taxes from employees and employers throughout people’s working careers
~Used to make monthly payments to retired workers over the age of 65
~Workers without a job received payment as well as the disabled and the dependent
Alf Landon
Challenged Roosevelt for the Republican nominee
~A Progressive that minded governor from Kansas
~Criticized Democrats for large spending but overall accepted the New Deal
American Liberty League
An Anti New Deal organization headed by leading Republicans
~Avowed purpose to stop the New Deal from “subverting” the U.S. economic and political system
Father Charles Coughlin
A Catholic priest and demagogue of the era broadcasted in the early 1930s
~Founded the National Union for Social Justice which called for the issuing of an inflated currency and nationalizing all banks
~His attacks on the New Deal became anti Semitic and fascist
~Superiors in the Catholic Church ordered him to stop
~Proposed simplistic schemes for ending the “evil conspiracies”
Dr. Frances E. Townsend
A retired physician from Long Beach, California a demagogue
~Proposed a simple plan for guaranteeing a secure income for senior citizens
~Proposed that the federal government put aside 2% sales tax into a special fund in which senior citizens would receive $200 a month
~They would then spend the money and stimulate the economy
~Roosevelt responded with the Social Security Act
Huey Long
The most dangerous demagogue, the “Kingfish” Senator from Louisiana
~Proposed a “Share Our Wealth” program that promised a minimum of $5000 annual income for every family
~This was to be paid by taxing the wealthy
~Challenged Roosevelt’s leadership by announcing his candidacy for president in 1935
~Was killed by an assassin before the election
“Court Packing”
A bill proposed by Roosevelt, a judicial reorganization bill to appoint to the Supreme Court an additional justice for each justice over the age of 70.5
~Would have allowed Roosevelt to add 6 additional justice
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
The industrial unions combined into one big union
~Concentrated on organizing unskilled workers in the automobile, steel, and southern textile industries
United Auto Workers (UAW)
The union of automobile workers
~Strikers of General Motors were yielded after the company recognized the union
Fair Labor Standards Act
The last major reform in the New Deal that provided a host of regulations on business in interstate commerce
~Established:
1. A minimum wage (initially fixed at 40 cents/hour)
2. A maximum work week of 40 hours
3. Child labor restrictions on those under 16
Keynesian Economics
Where deficit spending would be like “priming the pump” to increase investment and create jobs
~Federal spending on public works
Dust Bowl
A severe drought in the early 1930s which ruined crops in the Great Plains
~Poor farming practices coupled with high winds blew away millions of tons of dried topsoil
~Thousands of “Okies” migrated to California
~John Steinbeck wrote about their hardship/heartbreak in “The Grapes of Wrath” (1939)
Fair Employment Practices Committee
A committee to assist minorities in gaining jobs in the defense industry
Indian Reorganization (Wheeler-Howard) Act (1934)
Repealed the Dawes Act of 1887
~Returned lands to the control of tribes and supported the preservation of Native American cultures
Fair Employment Practices Committee
A committee to assist minorities in gaining jobs in the defense industry
Indian Reorganization (Wheeler-Howard) Act (1934)
Repealed the Dawes Act of 1887
~Returned lands to the control of tribes and supported the preservation of Native American cultures
