Economic Downturn and Recovery Flashcards
3 branches of US Government
Judicial (evaluate laws)
Executive (carry out laws)
Legislative (make laws)
Thinks judicial judge laws
2 American parties that make up government
Republicans
Democrats
3 Alphabet agencies in new deal
NRA- fair prices, wages and working conditions, blue eagle symbol
FERA- $500 million emergency relief for unemployed
CCC- jobs for men aged 18-25 including planting trees
True or false, Hoover was president when the Wall Street crash happened
True
What year was the Wall Street crash
1929
True or false, Hoover did lots to help solve the Great Depression
False, he did very little (apart from a few things in 1932 when it was approaching the Presidential elections)
How many were unemployed 1932
13 million
What was the suicide rate at its peak in 1932
17.4/ 1000
3 branches of US government
Judicial (evaluate laws)
Executive (carry out laws)
Legislative (make laws)
True or false, the President is in charge of the executive body
True- it’s the President’s responsibility to enforce laws
2 American parties that make up government
Democrats
Republicans
True or false, African Americans were worst affected by the Great Depression than white Americans
True
1933- 20% whites unemployed, 50% blacks unemployed
Black people were first to lose jobs and last to get them back
What did 12,000 Veterans do in 1932
Bonus march
Marched to Washington DC to try and get early payment of war bonuses due 1945 but were refused
(It would’ve been too expensive to give them the payment as the money would be better spent on helping the whole of the population and not just veterans
Why did many farmers become bankrupt
Unable to sell their produce as people couldn’t afford it
Dust storms also made soil turn to dust creating a ‘dust bowl’ leading to poor harvests withe farmers having nothing to sell
What is a hobo (in 1932 there were 2 million of them)
Unemployed wanderer searching for work
Give 2 Republican policies that Hoover implemented when dealing with the Great Depression
Laissez- Faire
Rugged Individualism
What is meant by Rugged Individualism
Individuals rise and fall by own actions
What is meant by Laissez- Faire
Government shouldn’t interfere in economy (e.g in Great Depression)
What was the Hawley- Smoot Tariff Act 1930
Increases import tax on foreign goods (less people buy from abroad because it’s more expensive so more people buy from USA)
It caused other nations to retaliate and also impose tariffs on imported foreign goods meaning other nations weren’t investing in American goods and products which worsened the economy further
What was the Act in 1930 that meant people spent more on goods from America than abroad as they were cheaper
Hawley- Smoot Tariff Act
By 1932 Hoover introduced a few acts because he realised that he wasn’t doing anything to help the Great Depression and it was about to be the Presidential Elections.
List one Act introduced
Emergency Relief Act
$300 million given to state governments for unemployed
Why was Hoover unpopular in 1932 (and therefore didn’t win the Presidential election)
Had failed to get Americans out of Depression
13 million were unemployed
Didn’t offer any new solutions
Any schemes/ policies offered were too small or too late to have an effect
Who won the 1932 Presidential election election (and therefore starting serving as President Jan 1933)
Roosevelt (FDR)
What did Roosevelt introduce to try and help with the Great Depression
The New Deal
What did FDR’s New Deal Consist of
Fireside chats
Alphabet Agencies
(Everything was based off the 3Rs- relief, recover, reform)
What were the purpose of Fireside chats as part of New Deal
Radio broadcasts from FDR to Nation bringing optimism and acting as propaganda to build trust and confidence in FDR
3 examples of Alphabet Agencies
CCC- men aged 18-25 work e.g planting trees
NIRA- fair wages, working conditions and prices, blue eagle symbol
FERA- $500 million emergency relief given to unemployed
What was the CCC alphabet agency
Men aged 18-25 given work e.g planting trees
What was the FERA alphabet agency
$500 million emergency relief given to unemployed
What was the NRA alphabet agency
Set up fair wages, working conditions and prices
Blue eagle symbol
Why did Roosevelt introduce a second New Deal in 1935
To help deal with more of the long term effects of the Depression (root causes) instead of only helping it on the surface and not in the long term
(1934 11.3 million are still unemployed)
True or false, the Second New Deal focused more on helping the economy and relieving the effects of the Great Depression in the long term (compared to first New Deal)
True
What did the Social Security Act do as part of the Second New Deal
National system to help those in poverty, especially the elderly who he provided pensions to and the disabled who he provided aid to
Set up pensions and some medical care
Why did Republicans oppose the New Deal
Believed Government were doing too much to help (going against Republican beliefs like rugged- individualism as FDR was Democrat)
Believed FDR was changing accepted role of US government
True or false, the New Deal gave equal opportunities for white and black people
False
The Alphabet Agencies discriminated against black people e.g lower wages
3 individuals who opposed the New Deal
Father Charles Coughlin (not enough done to help those in need)
Dr Frances Townsend (not enough done to help old people)
Huey Long (wealth not shared fairly)
True or false, Hoover spend more on public works than in last 30 yrs during Great Depression
True
E.g building Boulder Dam/ San Francisco Bay Bridge
What were 2 court cases with Supreme Court in 1935 and 1936
Sick chickens case (1935)- NRA declared unconstitutional
Us vs Butler (1936)- AAA declared unconstitutional
It was claimed that Roosevelt had used Federal powers to create the alphabet agency which went outside the rules of the constitution
What did Roosevelt do with banks
He closed all banks for 10 days in order to stop them all from entirely collapsing if they hadn’t already and only banks with enough money to operate are allowed to stay open
(Ensure banking crisis doesn’t worsen further as people owe lots of money to the banks which they simply don’t have)
Used fireside chats to explain his actions to bring confidence and optimism in Americans and put faith in him
