Final Exam Flashcards
What were some of the policies and practices of Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression?
Hoover got congress to pass the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) to supply loans to banks, railroads and insurance companies. The RFC had $1.5 Billion but was too conservative in spending the money which was supposed to be passed on through public works projects. Hoover cut taxes and was also against direct relief payments (welfare). Many people lost their homes and lived in make shift housing called Hoovervilles.
What problems did African Americans and other minorities face during the depression?
As prices fell, landowners forced sharecroppers off of land and this led to further economic pain for them. African Americans also worked in the lowest paying jobs. African Americans earned $200 a year which was about ¼ of the average wage of white factory workers of $800 per year. They were the last hired and the first fired. As FDR excluded African Americans from New Deal welfare programs like Social Security. Some New Deal programs promoted segregation. The Scottsboro Nine (African American youth ages 12-20) were falsely charged and convicted of rape, were sentenced to death. Their convictions were later overturned but some spent close to 2 decades in prison. Native Americans experienced extreme poverty of $50 per year. Latinos and Asians were hit harder economically and many were forced to return to their homeland (500,000 Latinos were forcibly deported too). Filipinos immigration was restricted. Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 which established a minimum wage of 40 cents per hour and the 40 hour work week.
What major New Deal programs were implemented by Congress and FDR and what was their purpose? Who were some of the critics of the New Deal?
Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act. Reorganized the banking system & provided federal assistance. Glass-Steagall Act in June 1933 which created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), insured accounts & separated commercial banks from investment banks. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) which regulated the stock market and corporations. Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) aimed at raising prices by giving farmers subsidies to produce less. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933 brought low cost electric power to rural areas and implemented flood control projects. National Recovery Administration (NRA) which regulated prices, wages, hours and collective bargaining. Public Works Administration (PWA) built dams &buildings. Civil Works Administration (CWA) built roads, schools & funded teachers, playgroundsand airports. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) gave young men 18-25 a two year job caring for parks & building bridges and dams. the Soil Erosion Service and then the Soil Conservation Service within the Department of Agriculture to prevent future Dust Storms. Federal EmergencyRelief Administration (FERA) which provided cash grants to help banks from going bankrupt. Works Progress Administration (WPA) employed 8.5 million workers over 8 years and constructed and repaired buildings, bridges and roads. The New Deal had many critics such as Charles E. Coughlin organized the National Union for Social Justice which supported monetary inflation. New Deal Critic Huey Pierce Long of Louisiana who was a governor and U.S. senator from Louisiana founded the Share Our Wealth society promising families with a $5,000 homestead a guaranteed in come of $2,000 through an income and inheritance tax on the wealthy.
What were the short term and long term outcomes of the New Deal?
The New Deal sparked Labor unrest (For example, the CIO which won major rights for workersin Flint Michigan). The New Deal did not end the Great Depression (unemployment was 17% in 1939). Instead, World War II ended the Great Depression. FDR stayed in office longer than any president and tried to pack the Supreme Court to protect the Wagner Act (giving workers the right to organize unions and engage in collective bargaining) and Social Security. The success of the New Deal was in its long term programs like the Wagner Act and Social Security. Roosevelt made steps by establishing a Civil Rights Division but also supported racist policies like excluding African American domestic and Agricultural workers from welfare.
What mistakes did Europeans make with appeasement of Hitler? What resulted from this?
Hitler argued for more living space for the Germanic people and expanded into Eastern Europe. Eventually this lead to Hitler taking country after country. Benito Mussolini the leader of Hitler invaded Ethiopia, killed 30,000 Ethiopians with weapons of mass destruction and deposed Emperor Haile Selassie. Unfortunately, appeasement of Hitler only resulted in the development of concentration camps, the internment of Jews and others, the genocide of 6 million Jews and further strengthening of his regime.
What were the 3 main positions that America took during World War 2?
Position 1: Neutrality during the War: Congress passed Neutrality Acts in 1935 and 1937 these allowed Britain to purchase supplies under a cash and carry policy, Position 2: Supporting the War: In March 1941 Roosevelt and Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act which allowed Britain to borrow equipment without paying for it up front. Russia also received arms, Position. America entered the war: On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii Congress voted shortly after to go to war with Japan and Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
Where were some of the major battles fought by United States Troops during World War 2?
Roosevelt initially focused upon fighting Germans and Italians on the periphery of Europe. Major campaigns were fought in North Africa (Egypt, Algeria and Morocco) and the Germans lost. Russia fought a German invasion of the Soviet Union. On D-Day on June 6, 1944, more than 1.5 million American, British and Canadian troops crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy France under the leadership of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. On D-Day on June 6,1944, more than 1.5 million American, British and Canadian troops crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy France under the leadership of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. On the Pacific front General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz were successful in the Battle of Coral Sea off the northwest coast of Australia, the Battle of Midway Island, northwest of Hawaii, the Solomon Islands, the Mariana Islands north of Guam and the Marshall Islands, east of the Philippines, the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa where the Japanese fought until they only had a few troops left. While not a battle: Atomic Bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing 225,000 Japanese
What were some of the outcomes of the War effort in the United States?
World War II ended the Great Depression. It created the military-industrial complex which was apartnership between private defense contractors and government. The industrial areas of the Northeast and Midwest boomed with automobile factories which started building tanks and other military vehicles. Industry did very well for example: Steel and rubber factories made parts for the vehicles and for weapons. 15 million people migrated to new areas of the country (about 11% of the American population). Goods were rationed to American consumers.
How were Women treated in the War?
Between 1940 and 1944 the number of women employed rose more than 50% to 6 million. Prior to the war, women worked in poorly paid clerical, sales and service jobs but women in manufacturing increased 141% during the war. Gender stereotypes dominated the workforce for example: One piece of literature suggested that an overhead crane operated “just like a gigantic clothes wringer”
How did African Americans, Mexicans, German Americans, ItalianAmericans and Japanese experience the War in America?
African Americans began to establish new Civil Rights efforts. For example, In 1944 the NAACP won a victory in a Texas case Smith v. Allwright which outlawed all white Democratic primary elections in the one-party south. A. Philip Randolph advocated for a march on Washington. In 1942 Civil Rights activists founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and engaged in “sit ins” to protest segregated facilities. Mexican Americans such as Ignacio Lutero Lopez publisher of the newspaper called El Espectador (The Spectator) fought against segregation On June 4, 1943 squads of sailors stationed in Long Beach invaded Mexican American in Los Angeles and attacked them for wearing Zoot suits. German and Italian Americans were detained. Japanese Americans were held in mass and interned in concentration camps. They lost their property.
What is the international, legal definition of genocide?
The Genocide convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide of 1948 defined Genocide as: Article 2 “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. “Article 3 establishes a definition for punishable crimes under the convention:”(a) Genocide; (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; (d) Attempt to commit genocide; (e) Complicity in genocide. “Article 4 “Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.”
What was the origin of the Cold War?
The wartime partnership between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) was an alliance of necessity to combat Nazi aggression. After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union entered into a struggle for political, economic and military superiority known as the Cold War. The Soviet Union wanted the United States to destroy the atomic arsenal but was secretly building its own nuclear weapons. March 15, 1946 Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister arguing that “An iron curtain has descended across the Continent” of Europe. President Truman agreed with Churchill’s position.
What was the Truman Doctrine?
On March 12, 1947 Turman gave an exaggerated speech to a joint session of Congress and interpreted the Civil War in Greece as struggle between freedom and totalitarianism. Congress approved $400 million for military intervention in Greece and Turkey. The Truman Doctrine pledged to contain the expansion of communismand dominated American policy throughout the Cold War. The National Security Act was passed in 1947 which created the Department of Defense as a cabinet agency and this replaced the Department of War. The Department of Defense consolidated control of the Joint Chiefs of Staff made up of the army, navy, air force and marines. The National Security Act set up the National Security Council (NSC) to advise the president and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as part of the executive branch to gather information abroad and to conduct espionage abroad against Soviet actions.
What was the Marshall plan?
Secretary of State George Marshall recognized that if the United States did not offer help to Europe that European nations would economically and socially deteriorate. Marshall feared that this would lead to a global Great Depression. Congress approved $13 Billion for the Marshall plan to rebuild 16 European nations after World War 2.
What were some of the features of the Korean War and anti-communist sentiments?
Like Germany, Korea was divided by the United States and Soviet Union. Above the 38th parallel the Communist Soviet backed´leader Kim Il Sung ruled North Korea. Below the 38th parallel the anti-Communist USA backed leader Syngman Rhee governed South Korea. On June 25, 1950 Kim Il Sung sent troops to invade South Korea. Truman argued that this aggression was similar to Nazi aggression before World War II and that it had to be stopped. The mostly USA troops were lead by General Douglas MacArthur who reported to Truman. General Douglas MacArthur dispatched land and sea forces to capture Inchon, northwest of Pusan to cut off North Korean supply lines. Then General MacArthur chased the army northward and they retreated across the 38th parallel. Truman gave General MacArthur permission to invade North Korea and they reached the Yalu River on the border of China in 3 weeks. China threatened to send in troops if General MacArthur crossed the Yalu River. General MacArthur crossed the Yalu River and China sent 300,000 troops into North Korea and this led to Communist troops gaining control of North Korea. On January 4, 1951 the South Korean capital of Seoul fell to the Chinese and North Korean troops. By Spring 1951 United Nations forces recaptured Seoul and drove troops to the 38th parallel. În July 1953 anarmistice was reached, the war cost 54,000 US troops and $54 Billion. During the 1950s McCarthy used his position as head of the Permanent Investigation Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations to harass current and former government officials and employees.
What were some features of the Boom Years?
During this period there was both an economic boom and a baby boom. The Gross NationalProduct (GNP) soared 250% between 1945 and 1960. Per capita income (total income divided bythe population) grew 35%. Between 1940 and 1960 the number of Americans who went tocollege more than doubled and this mean entry into he middle class. TVs and cars became morea part of American life. Families migrated out of cities and by 1960 about 60 million people lived in suburbs. People migrated to California and Texas, The Federal Housing Administration was created in the 1930s to provide long term mortgages to home buyers but Loans were biased based on race and did not allow whites to resell homes to non-whites (Hispanics, Blacks and Jews). People left cities as Blacks and Puerto Ricans moved into them.
What were some of the aspects of the culture of the 1950s?
Popular culture developed with television and rock ‘n’ roll developing during the 1950s. There were 23 networks Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the National BroadcastingCompany (NBC) and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Popular shows and movies became part of American life. Many women did not want a life in the home but bias forcedmany of them into this role. More women went to work (from 15% in 1940 to 30% in 1960 of married women). Women also participated in political organizations like the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Poets, writers, intellectuals, musicians andartists attacked mainstream politics and culture. These people were know as Beats from “beaten down” and attacked white middle class society. LGBTQ communities formed in San Francisco and Los Angeles which spread to the East Coast and public displays of affection were a crime.
What took place during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s?
The NAACP led an assault on school segregation starting under its had lawyerCharles Hamilton Houston in the 1930s and fater Thurgood Marshall with some victories. The NAACP filed lawsuits to try to overturn Plessy Vs. Ferguson. Blackswanted to attend white schools with more resources. On May 17, 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Supreme Court overturned Plessy Vs. Ferguson-They outlawed segregation in public education. In 1955 in Montgomery Alabama the Women’s Political Council a group of middle class black women petitioned the city commission to improve the bus service for black passengers. On December 1,1955 Rosa Parks, a NAACP activist refused to give up her seat. This led to the Montgomery Improvement Association bus boycott which was supported by Dr. King. Governor of Arkansas Orval Faubus set the state National Guard to keep out 9 black students who had been selected to attend Central High and President Eisenhower placed the sent the 101st Airborne Division to restore order after a mob blocked theLittle Rock Nine students from entering the school. The Kul Klux Klan grew and The White Citizens’ Council (WCC) consisting of professionals fired blacks and denied credit. This hostile environment led to the killing of people like Emmett Till. In 1959 theCongress of Racial Equality (CORE) organized a sit-in in Miami. In February 1960 4 students at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, North Carolina organized asit-in at a whites-only lunch counter in Woolworth department stores. Some of the sit-inparticipants organized the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
What were some of the polices and practices of the Eisenhower administration?
President Eisenhower was nominated by the Republican Party in 1952 and served 2 terms from 1953-1961. Modern Republicanism tried to fit Republican party ideals of individualism and fiscal restraint within the framework of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Eisenhower raised Social Security benefits to include coverage of more workers, increased the minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 per hour, added the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to the cabinet in 1953 and signed the National Defense Education Act. Eisenhower continued Truman’s containment doctrine and implemented Massive Retaliation. Eisenhower entered intotreaties to establish regional defense pacts. Eisenhower implemented the New Look strategy which placed a higher priority on building a nuclear arsenal and delivery system than on deploying armed forces throughout the worlds.
What areas did the United States intervene in and were these intervention sin support of democracy?
The United States tried intervened in several countries and set up anti-democratic dictatorships. Many ofthese invasions were based upon USA desire for resources (Iran, Guatemala and the Congo) Iranian primeminister Mohammed Mossadegh nationalized foreign oil corporations in 1953 and the CIĂ engineered assuccessful coup installing pro-American Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and gave American oil companiesaccess to oil. In 1954 the elected socialist leader Jacobo Arbenz Guzman of Guatemala took 225,000 acers ofland held by the American United Fruit Company. Eisenhower & the CIA supported a coup and installedright-wing military regime in Guatemala. In 1959 in Cuba, Fidel Castro came to power after overthrowingAmerican backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. In 1960 President Eisenhower authorized the CIA to overthrow Castro but he left office before an invasion could occur. Great Britain, France and Israel invaded Egypt on October 29, 1956. Eventually, Eisenhower cooperated with the United Nations in negotiating a ceasefire in Egypt. On January 17, 1961 the CIA launched an invasion of the Congo that culminated in the execution of democratically elected leader Patrice Lumumba. France and Vietnam agreed to divide Vietnam at the 17th parallel and hold elections in 1956. Eisenhower worried that if Vietnam became communist that the rest of Southeast Asia and Japan would become Communist. The USA installed the dictator anti-Communist Ngo Dinh Diem to lead South Vietnam.
What were some of the polices of President Kennedy’s administration?
Kennedy implemented new liberal policies based upon economic growth and prosperity but also had a Cold War policy Under President Eisenhower, the CIA established a plan to get rid of Communist dictatorship in Cuba and Kennedy approved of the plan. This plan involved an invasion of Cuba on April 17, 1961 by more than 1,400Cuban exiles who were trained by the CIA. They landed at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba’s Southwest coast. Kennedy asked Congress to increase the defense budget, to dispatch troops to Europe and to bolster civil defense. In August, 1961 the Soviets responded by building a wall through Berlin making it harder for people to flee from East Berlin to West Berlin. During the Cuban Missile Crisis–Khrushchev and Kennedy came to an agreement-the Soviets removed missiles from Cuba and Kennedy removed missiles from Turkey. Kennedy also inherited the problem of containing communism in Europe. The United States supported Ngo Dinh Diem as President of South Vietnam in 1955 and spent $1 Billion on to establish a stable government. Diem spend the money on building the military and personal security forces to suppress political opposition. In 1961 Kennedy sent military advisers to South Vietnam to fight the communist threat from HoChi Minh’s North Vietnamese forces.
What were some of the policies of President Lyndon Johnson in Vietnam?
Johnson asked Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964 which allowed thepresident to repel armed attacks and to prevent further aggression (which meant to go to war inVietnam). In March 1965 North Vietnamese troops moved in South Vietnam and Johnson instituted Operation Rolling Thunder which was a massive bombing campaign over North Vietnam. For 3 years American planes dropped more bombs on North Vietnam than were used during World War II. This bombing was unsuccessful because Vietnam was an agricultural country and the North Vietnamese were able to easily reconstruct bridges and roads. One may argue that America lost the war. The Vietcong often blended with the residents and the United States under General William C. Westmoreland separated the population from the Vietcong into hamlets. This policy of relocating people into zones and then searching for the Vietcong to destroy them turned the population against the United States. To add to this, American military referred to the Vietnamese using racist terms and U.S. military leaders burned their homes and towns to the ground which killed civilians.
What were the practices of the Civil Rights movement?
In 1960 the Supreme Court outlawed segregated bust and train stations serving passengers who weretraveling interstate. On May 4, 1961 the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) mounted racially integrated Freedom Rides to see if facilities from Virginia to Louisiana, Klan dominated mobs attacked the buses and their riders in Anniston, Alabama and Birmingham, Alabama. The Student NonviolentCoordinating Committee (SNCC) rushed to Birmingham to continue the rides. Bus riders reached Montgomery, Alabama on May 20, 1964 and were assaulted by a mob. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. held arally at a Montgomery church to support the rides. King and the Freedom riders were faced with other potential attacks and President Kennedy sent federal marshals and convinced the governor to call out the National Guard. When Freedom Riders encountered opposition in Albany Georgia in the Fall 1961, SNCC workers worked to organize residence against segregation and other forms of discrimìnation. This was called the Albany Movement (A desegregation and voters rights coalition in Albany Georgia led bySNCC and the NAACP). The Mississippi Freedom Democrat Party (MFDP) was created because the state Democratic party excluded blacks Four years later an integrated delegation which included FannieLou Hamer represented Mississippi at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago ll.
What was the government’s position toward Civil Rights?
In September 1962 Mississippi governor Ross Barnett tried to stop James Meredith from registering at the University of Mississippi. Governor Barnett supported a riot on campus in which2 people were killed and President Kennedy sent in army troops and federalized the Mississippi National Guard. In 1963 Dr. King and the SCLC joined Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth’s freedom movement in Birmingham, Alabama in fighting against employment discrimination, segregation in public accommodations and police bruụtality. White Supremacist Eugene “Bull” Connor was in charge of law enforcement and on children ages 6-16, he used police dogs and water hoses which could knock bark off of trees. Bull Connor arrested Dr. King and others and Dr. King wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which he justified nonviolent direct action. President Kennedy sent an emissary in early May 1963 to negotiate a peaceful solution to negotiate a peaceful solution. On Sunday, September 15, 1963 the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was bombed by the Klan with Dynamite in Birmingham killing 4 black girls. On June 11, 1963President Kennedy spoke after he negotiated the Birmingham agreement. President Kennedy acknowledged that black people weren’t free and proposed congressional legislation to end segregation in public accommodations, increase federal power to promote school desegregation and broaden the right to vote. On thạt same day, (June 11, 1963) Alabama Governor George C. Wallaceblocked the entrance of two black undergraduates at the University of Alabama. Kennedy deployedthe National Guard to allow the students to enter the college. On that same day (June 11, 1963) the head of the NAACP, Medgar Evers was killed in the driveway of his Jackson home by the white supremacist Byron de la Beck with who remaiņed free until 1994 when he was tried on new evidence and convicted. On August 28, 1963 civil rights leaders held the March on Washington where 250,000 people attended. John Lewis the chairman of SNCC expressed the frustration of militant blacks and Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Later, Dr. King moved his movement to the North after winning victories in the South. Dr. King planed to hold a Poor People’s March on Washington.
