Franklin D. Roosevelt Flashcards
Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (1936)
(Brinkley 685)
- An Act which permitted the government to pay farmers to reduce production to “coserve soil” and the enviroment.
- Court struck down prior provisions of Agricultural Adjustment, but the court did not interfere with these new laws.
Holding Company Act
( Brinkley 690)
- Act proposed by Roosevelt designed to break up the great utility holding companies.
- Roosevelt now willing to attack cooporate interests openly.
- Furious lobbying by the utlities led to amendments that sharply limited the effects of the act
National Labor Relations Board
(Brinkley 690 and 691)
- A group of progressives in Congress led by Senator Robert E. Wagner of New York.
- Introduced National Labor Relations Act of 1935, popularly known as the Wagner Act, which provided workers with a crucial enforcement mechanism missing from the 1933 law: the National Labor Relations Board which would have power to compel employers to recognize and bargain with legitimate unions.
Social Security
(Princeton Review 158 and 159 and Brinkley 693)
- Roosevelt gave public support to Social Security Act which was passed by Congress and provided assistence and pension programs to the elderly
- Created a system of unenployment insurance, which employers alone would finance.
- Made it possible for laid-off workers to recieve government assistance.
American Liberty League
(Brinkley 689)
- A group formed of the most feverent and wealthiest Roosevelt opponents designed specifically to arouse public opposition to the New Deal’s “dictorial” policies and its supposed attacks on free enterprise.
- Never able to expand its constituency much beyond the northern industrialists who had founded it.
Initial Intervention
Brinkley pg. 719-721
American foreign policy regarding world war two shifted from one of isolationism to a more active one in September of 1939 when FDR asked conress to revise the previously passed Neutrality Acts, though Roosevelt wanted the arms embargo lifted, he was forced to accept a weaker revision.
Congress’s ruling still prohibited the entry of American ships in to war zones but it did allow for the purchase of war materials by countries involved in the war on the cash- and-carry basis. Eventually, Roosevelt increased his aid to the allies, for instance, Roosevelt bypassed the cash-and-carry provisions of the Neutrality Acts by trading 50 American Destroyers and selling plains to England in exchange for the American right to build military bases on English territory. This was an important act because it marked a more active and less neutral position that many in the United States had begun to support as the US began to turn away from its isolationist policies in favor of more interventionalist ones, as to protect itself from the dangers of axis aggression.
Lend Lease Act
Brinkley 722
The Lend Lease Act was passed in 1940 when Englad was nearly bankrupt and in extreme need of military and financial aid. The US Passed the Lend Lease Act as a response to this critical situation, which allowed for the lending or leasing of any war material to any nation who was a vital part of defending the United States, with that nation paying the US back after the war. The US not only aided Britan using the Lend Lease Act but Russia as well. The Lend Lease Act was a significant step up from the Neutrality Acts and the Cash and Carry plan, as it allowed for increased US aid to its allies. Roosevelt was allowed to install this act due to a great change in American public opinion in favor of the war rather then isolationism
Naval War in the Atlantic
Brinkley 723
The Naval War in the Atlantic was naval conflict between America and Germany PRIOR to the official entrance of USA in to WWII. The Naval War was spurred by the German’s firing upon an American destroyer, and later the sinking of the American destroyer the Reuben James. American’s responded by arming their merchant vessels and firing upon German submarines. The significance of the naval war in the atlantic was that it was armed conflict between the US and Germany BEFORE the US’s entry in to the war, and this conflict created tension between the two nations as the American supplied war materials to enemies of Germany, which antagonized the Germans. This escalated after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as Germany declared war on the US.
Tripartie Act
Brinkley 723-724
The Tripartie Act was a loose defensive Alliance betwen Italy Germany and Japan in September 1940. Though the Act was agreed upon, there was never a strong relationship between Japan and the European Axis powers. The tripartie alliance was significant because it helped escalate the war in to a truly world wide conflict as alliances led the two sides, the allies and the axis powers, to declare war on any enemy of the other countries, For example, after Pearl Harbor the US declared war on Japan, and as a reaction Germany and Italy declared war on the US.
Pearl Harbor
Brinkley pg. 723 and 724
Pearl Harbor was an American Naval Base in Hawaii which was suprise attacked by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. Americans suffered extremely high losses but luckily no American Air Craft Carriers were stationed at Pearl Harbor during the attack and thus were unharmed. The signifigance of the Pearl Harbor attack was that it united the American people in favor of intervention in to WWII and was the main cause of America joining the war. The US declared war on Japan shortly after the attack and Germany and Italy declared war on the US as a result, this made the was a truly world wide conflict.
Pacific Theater
Brinkley 730, 748 and 749
The Pacific Theater refers to the American Campaign in the Pacific during World War Two where America’s greatest enemy was Japan. Signifigant battles included Coral Sea, Guadalcanal and Midway in 1942, which were all vitories for the US, and later the battles of Leyte Gulf in 1944, and the battles of Okinawa and Iwo Jima in 1945. The campaign in the pacific consisted of both large naval engagementd and island hopping invasions by US forces in an attempt to take islands closer and closer to the Japanese home islands. Americans suffered signifigant casulties in the Pacific Theater due to Kamikaze (suicide) attacks on US ships as well fierce resistance from Japanese forces in land engagements. The Pacific Theater was signifigant as it outlasted the European Theater, due to the fierce Japanese resistance that faced Americans. The Pacific Theater saw some of the most costly battles of the war and culminated in the dropping of two nuclear bombs on Japan, both to save American lives and likely to intimidate the Russians on the eve of the Cold War.
European Theater
Brinkley 730, 746-748
The European Theater refers to the American involvement on the European front during WWII. Signifigant battles were Stalingrad, where Russian forces reppeled the German advance in to Russia aided by the freezing winbter weather (no American involvement), the Allied invasion and eventually conquering of Italy in 1944 with the capture of Rome. A huge Allied invasion located at Normandy, France (D-Day invasion) took place in June of 1944 and evetually led to the liberation of France from Nazi rule in August of 1944. One of the last major engagements in Europe during WWII was the Battle of the Bulge, where American forces defeated Germans in the Ardennes Forrest, this battle ended serious German resistance in the West. The European campaign culminated with the capture of Berlin and a German surrender to the allies in May of 1945. The end of the European Theater and the division of Germany laid the framework for some of the Cold War tensions as it allowed for the Russians to spread communisim in to many of the small, and formerly German controlled countries, and even East Germany, which was divided by the Berlin Wall. This antagonized the US and helped to expand the implications of the Cold War.
War Time Diplomacy
Brinkley 723, 732, 758 and 759
In 1941 FDR met with Churchill to produce and eventually release the Atlantic Charter which was basically a list of commonly shared war aims between the USA and Britan. War time relations were not as smooth between the Us and the USSR as they were between the Us and England, as the USSR demanded a cross channel invasion of Western Europe by England and America in order to make the German commit to fighting a war on two fronts. However, America and England did not act as quickly as the Russians had hoped for and this embittered them against the US as the believed the rest of the Allies were stalling in order to allow Russia to do most of the figthing. This also allowed Russia to seize many of the smaller formerly-Nazi controlled countries of Eastern Europe. The Yalta meeting occured after the end of WWII between FDR Stalin and Chrchill in order to discuss plans on a number of issues, and though the Big Three reached agrrements, there was a good deal of violation of what was decided at the conference, for instance Russia installed a pro-communist government in Poland where as the USA had hoped to install a Democratic one. This led to a good deal of discord between the USA and USSR, which helped cause the Cold War, and created tension between the USSR and the US.
FDR’s fourth term and death in office
Brinkley 746 and 759
FDR won the 1944 Presidential Election against Republican Thomas Dewey of New York. The main issues of the election were domestic and economic ones, it was signifigant that Roosevelt ran for not just three but four terms, where as presidents before had only served for two terms traditionaly. While on vacation, FDR suffered a massive strike and died while still president in April of 1945. President Harry Truman became president. Truman was much less compromising with Soviets than FDR likely would have been as FDR still was seeking resolution to the disputes with Soviets following the Yalta conference. This was signifigant because as a result of Truman’s less compromising nature, USSR and US relations deteriorated which expanded the Cold War and led the US to become physically and financially involved in the containment of communism throughout the world.
Works Progress Administration
- p. 693-694
- federally-established system of work relief for the unemployed
- though similar to previous administrations, much larger and more heavily funded
- directed by Harry Hopkins, the Administration largely expanded the traditional work relief system, from expanding existing ideas of work relief to extending relief to nontraditional fields such as writing, art, film, and performing to providing cash assistance to women (primarily single mothers) (in contrast with the work assistance provided to men)
- was hugely successful, keeping an average of over 2 million people employed per year through its existance
