Great depression - Sheet1 Flashcards
Elm Farm Ollie
The first cow to fly in an airplane in 1930.
Clyde Tombaugh
The American who discovered Pluto in 1930.
Clarence Birdseye
Invented Bird’s Eye Frozen Vegetables in 1930, father of the frozen food industry.
Motion Picture Production Code
AKA the Hays Code, it was created in 1930 to tame motion pictures now that they had gotten a bit too risqué. It’s a continued point of controversy, regarding how it has stifled American filmmaking when compared to the films of other countries.
Chrysler Building
An Art Deco New York skyscraper. Tallest building in the world for less than a year in 1930, usurped by the Empire State Building.
Sergei Eisenstein
A Soviet Russian film theorist and director, his abstract concepts proved too on-the-fringe for American audiences.
Charlie Chaplin
A “silent comedian,” this movie star continued to lengthen the silent film style and offer an alternative to the sound film with his trademark tattered suit, derby hat, and cane, playing the “little tramp” who made audiences laugh with his silent jokes.
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
1930- U.S. legislation that raised import duties by as much as 50%, adding considerable strain to the worldwide economic climate of the Great Depression. Hoover signed the act with the intention of protecting farmers. It contributed to the early loss of confidence on Wall Street and signaled U.S. isolationism. Other countries retaliated with similarly high protective tariffs, and overseas banks began to collapse. In 1934, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Trade Agreements Act, which reduced such tariffs.
The Shadow
A popular radio serial during the 1930s.
Joseph Force Crater
In 1930, this New York City judge disappeared never to be heard from again. This incident added to public disquiet about corruption in city government and was a factor in the downfall of the Tammany Hall political machine.
Betty Boop
A highly sexualized cartoon character, whose creation inspired several lawsuits including some filed under the Hays Act.
Helen Kane
This singer was the inspiration for Betty Boop, she sued the Boop animators but lost her case when it was revealed that Kane, in turn, had stolen her style from a black singer.
Clara Bow
The It Girl, a leading sex symbol of the Roaring Twenties, she was a silent film actress who retired in 1931.
Baby Esther
An African-American Cotton Club singer, her style was stolen by Helen Kane, and then stolen once more and used to create the character of Betty Boop.
Scotch Tape
An important American invention, introduced in 1930 by 3M.
jake leg
A disease caused by abuse of an extract found it bootlegged liquor, an outbreak of it occurred in the year 1930.
He Dog
A close associate of Crazy Horse, and leader of the Lakota during the Great Sioux War of 1876-1877.
Ernest Lawrence
An American scientist known for his work on the cyclotron and on the Manhattan Project.
Scottsboro Boys
Nine black boys falsely convicted of rape by an all-White jury in 1931.
Castellammarese War
A bloody 1931 power struggle over control of the Italian-American mafia which resulted in the creation of the Five Families.
Salvatore Maranzano
Instigated the Castellammarese War and briefly ruled over the entire Italian-American mafia before being taken out by a younger faction in 1931, leading to the creation of the Five Families.
The Five Families
The five ruling Italian-American mob families since the Castellammarese war
Empire State Building
Built in 1931 it took the title of tallest building in the world from the Chrysler Building.
Hoover Moratorium
Hoover’s ineffective 1931 public statement pleading for an indefinite holding on the paying back of war debts to stave off the impending financial collapse, went ignored.
John Haven Emerson
Greatly improved the Iron Lung in 1931 just in time for a huge polio outbreak.
Bible Student movement
A Millenialist Restorationist Christian movement during the 1930s from which Jehovah’s Witnesses were born.
George Washington Bridge
Connects Manhattan to New Jersey and built during the architectural boom of the 30s.
Phi Iota Alpha
First Latino fraternity since 1931.
Harold Urey
An American chemist who did pioneering work on isotopes in the 30s and discovered the deuterium.
Hattie Caraway
An Arkansas Democrat, the first woman elected to serve a full term as a Senator in 1932.
The RFC
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was started by Hoover in 1932 and gave loans to banks, railroads and other businesses, and aid to struggling local and state governments.
Lindbergh kidnapping
Charles Lindbergh’s son was kidnapped and murdered in 1932, the story was a sensation that lead to federal anti-kidnapping legislation.
Bonus Army
A 1932 assemblage of some 43,000 marchers who wanted fair payment for their service in World War I were driven out by Hoover’s administration with tanks and firehoses.
Revenue Act of 1932
Under Hoover, the Estate Tax was doubled and for the first time a tax was placed on gas.
Vic and Sade
An influential radio program that aired during the 1930s.
Flowers and Trees
A short 1932 Disney cartoon, the first film to be released in full Technicolor.
Strange Interlude
An experimental and controversial four-hour long New York City play performed in 1928 and written by Eugene O’Neill.
Fred Allen
An American humorist whose absurdist and topical jokes made him among the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the Golden Age of American radio
United States presidential election, 1932
Roosevelt crushed Hoover by avoiding all divisive cultural issues on the campaign and running with Southern conservative Dem. John N. Garner.
Palace Theatre
A New York City theater. In 1932 it stopped Vaudeville shows, which is seen as the death knell of that form of entertainment.
Dust Bowl
An increase in cultivation lead to soil erosion, in this natural disaster which crippled the midwest during the 1930s.
Golden Gate Bridge
A suspension bridge connecting San Francisco to Marin County, built during the 1930s architectural craze.
20th Amendment
1933- Moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the President and Vice President from March 4 to January 20, and of members of Congress from March 4 to January 3. Passed so the new president can deal with grave issues more expeditiously, (like Roosevelt and the Great Depression).
Lone Ranger
A masked former Texas Ranger who fights evil in the Wild West with his Indian friend Tonto. An American cultural icon with a radio show.
Anton Cermak
Served as mayor of Chicago until he was assassinated by Giuseppe Zangara in 1933, whose intended target was FDR.
Giuseppe Zangara
It’s believed this assassin intended to kill FDR in 1933 when he accidentally shot, like, five other people that were standing next to him.
Blaine Act
Repealed Prohibition laws in 1933, but not made official until the 21st Amendment.
King Kong
An iconic 1933 American film.
Fay Wray
A successful American actress most identified with her culturally iconic role in the film King Kong.
Frances Perkins
The first women in the cabinet. She was secretary of labor and treated very harshly by the press, but was successful in pulling the labor unions into the New Deal.
Bank holiday
A public holiday in which the banks are closed, FDR declared one which lasted eight days shortly after his inauguration.
First inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt
The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.
Fireside chats
A series of thirty evening radio addresses given by FDR during his presidency. His cheery voice and disposition allowed him to become one of the most popular presidents ever and hide the ravaging side effects of his polio.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
A sculpture carved into granite. It remains unfinished because of the Great Depression.
William A. Moffett
An American admiral who was a big supporter of the use of airships until he was killed in 1933 when the airship USS Akron exploded.
Executive Order 6102
FDR’s 1933 executive order which criminalized the possession of gold. He claimed possessing gold was worsening the Depression. Shortly after, America moved off the Gold Standard.
Sacred Cod
A large effigy of a cod fish hanging in the Massachusetts State House. In 1933, editors of the Harvard Lampoon briefly “cod-napped” it.
Karl Guthe Jansky
First discovered radio waves emanating from the Milky Way in 1933. Father of radio astronomy.
The AAA
1933- The Agricultural Adjustment Act was a New Deal law, it reduced agricultural production by paying farmers subsidies not to plant on part of their land and to kill off excess livestock. Its purpose was to reduce crop surplus and therefore effectively raise the value of crops. The money for these subsidies was generated through an exclusive tax on companies which processed farm products. The Act created a new agency, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, to oversee the distribution of the subsidies.
The TVA
1933- The Tennessee Valley Authority was a New Deal program whose purpose was to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley.
Securities Act of 1933
This New Deal law was the first federal act to regulate the trade and seal of securities.
Kansas City massacre
The 1933 shootout and murder of four law enforcement officers and a criminal fugitive.
Charles F. Urschel
A Texas oilman kidnapped by Machine Gun Kelly in 1933.
Tillamook Burn
A series of 1933 forest fires in Northern Oregon that destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of old growth timber.
1933 United Airlines Boeing 247 mid-air explosion
The bombing of this small plane is the first known act of air terrorism.
The CWA
The Civil Works Administration, this New Deal program created many short lived construction jobs which helped many survive the tough winter of 1933-34.
The FERA
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration. This program gave grants and loans to states to give jobs to citizens. Active from 1933-1935.
The CCC
1933- The Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal work relief program which gave millions of young men the opportunity to work outside.
21st Amendment
1933- Repealed the 18th Amendment, and in turn repealing Prohibition.
