Peacetime FDR

Question 1

Where did many of the homeless go during the Great Depression?

Answer 1

Hoovervilles

Question 2

What is a Hooverville?

Answer 2

Hoovervilles were camps where homeless people stayed. The camps were dirty, had no running water, no bathrooms, and when it rained, the water would leak into their small houses.

Question 3

Why were they called Hoovervilles?

Answer 3

They were named after President Hoover, who many blamed for the Great Depression.

Question 4

What’s one of the things that Hoover did while he was President?

Answer 4

He got Congress to pass the Smoot-Hawley Tariff

Question 5

What did the Smoot Hawley Tariff do?

Answer 5

It raised tariffs. Tariffs are taxes on stuff that comes from outside of the USA.

Question 6

Whenever the USA (or any country) raises tariffs, what’s the effect on the economy?

Answer 6

The economy will lose jobs and suffer. Remember, a tariff is a tax! So if you raise tariffs, you are raising the prices on everything, which makes things more expensive.

Whenever a country raises tariffs, other countries will also raise tariffs. This means countries will trade with each other less.

International Trade (trade that countries do with each other) dropped by 65% because of the Smoot Hawley tariff

Question 7

What are these people lining up to go do?

Answer 7

Waiting in line for bread.

Back then there were no food stamps so if you didn’t have food, you just didn’t eat. Since many people didn’t have money, they had to wait in long lines like this one to eat.

Question 8

What happened from 1930 to 1936 that made it hard to grow food?

Answer 8

The Dust Bowl

Question 9

What was the Dust Bowl?

Answer 9

Because of intense droughts (long periods of time with no rain) the top layer of fertile dirt got blown up into the air, which created Dust.

This happened over thousands of miles, and all of the dust got together to form large Dust storms.

Question 10

Did people die of dust during the Dust Bowl?

Answer 10

Yes, especially if you had allergies. This is because the dust particles were so small, even if you had a normal house, the dust would still get into your house under the door and in the cracks of the windows.

Question 11

What does this picture show?

Answer 11

Drought

Question 12

What does this picture show?

Answer 12

It shows a Dust Storm that is part of the Dust Bowl

Question 13

Besides passing the Smoot Hawley Tariff, what else did Hoover get Congress to pass?

Answer 13

During his last year as President, Hoover changes his mind about laissez-faire, and encouraged Congress to pass the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

Question 14

What did the Reconstruction Finance Corporation do?

Answer 14

It lent money to bankers and rich businessmen who lost a lot of money during the Great Depression so that those rich people could create more jobs.

Question 15

Who did Hoover lose to during the 1932 Presidential Election?

Answer 15

Franklin Delano Roosevelt ( F.D.R )

Question 16

What was FDR’s solution to the Great Depression?

Answer 16

The New Deal

Also known as “Alphabet Soup”

Question 17

What was the purpose of the FDIC?

Answer 17

To keep everyday people’s money safe in the Banks

Rich people aren’t as protected, since FDIC only insured up to 250,000 dollars

(yeah, I know I said 100,000 in class, LOL, my bad)

Question 18

What was the purpose of the Bank Holiday?

Answer 18

FDR shut down all of the Banks for 3 days in what is called a “Bank Holiday”. This was to stop Banks from failing (dying)

Question 19

What was the purpose of the Emergency Banking Relief Act?

Answer 19

It checked the amount of money in each of the Banks in the USA, loaned money to Banks that needed it.

Question 20

What were “fireside chats”?

Answer 20

These were the talks that FDR had with the people over the radio, and since most people had their radios in their living rooms (where most had a fireplace) it was called “Fireside Chats”.

(note: Central Heaters were not widely used back then, so fireplaces were used as a source of warmth)

Question 21

What did the 21st amendment do?

Answer 21

Canceled the 18th amendment, which allowed for people to sell alcohol again.

This was done during the 1st year of FDR’s Presidency

Question 22

What did the CCC do?

Answer 22

CCC stands for Civilian Conservation Corps.

They placed unemployed **young men** to work in the forests and parks, to rebuild them, build new ones.

Question 23

What did the AAA do?

Answer 23

AAA stands for Agricultural Adjustment Act

The government told farmers and ranchers how much food to grow and what price to sell it at.

Since this violates the idea of a “Free-Market” the Supreme Court ruled it as unconstituional

Question 24

What did the TVA do?

Answer 24

The Tennessee Valley Authority provided flood control, as well as power through their hydro-electric dam to the entire Tennessee Valley

Question 25

What did the PWA do?

Answer 25

PWA stands for Public Works Adminstration.

During FDR’s time as President, the PWA built lots of roads, bridges, and government buildings that are still used to this day.

Question 26

What did the SEC do?

Answer 26

It was supposed to prevent fraud in the Stock Market, as well as excessive gambling

SEC stands for Securities and Exchange Commission

Question 27

What did the WPA do?

Answer 27

WPA stands for Works Progress Administration

What made this different was this it helped writers and artists during the Great Depression

Question 28

What are 3 major components of FDR’s New Deal?

Answer 28

Relief: Help people in need RIGHT NOW

Recovery: Help people in the long term

Reform: Prevent another Great Depression from happening ever again

Question 29

What was the purpose of the Glass Steagall Act?

Answer 29

Made it illegal for Banks to use the money in people’s savings accounts to gamble in the stock market.

Question 30

What was Court Packing Scandal?

Answer 30

Because the Supreme Court didn’t think parts of FDR’s New Deal were constitutional, FDR wanted to add more people to the Supreme Court, so that the Supreme Court would be more friendly towards FDR’s New Deal.

FDR’s own political party, the Democrats, refused to add more Supreme Court justices, and it made FDR look like a dictator

Question 31

What is this political cartoon about?

Answer 31

FDR’s Court Packing Scandal

Question 32

What was Huey Long’s “Share Our Wealth” proposal?

Answer 32

Huey Long was a dude who claimed that FDR did not go far enough in helping the people. He believed that the government should give poor people money directly, rather than through FDR’s government programs.

He was increasing in popularity until he was shot and killed

Question 33

Who inspired FDR and the Democrats to create the SSA (Social Security Administration)?

Answer 33

Huey Long

Question 34

What did the SSA do?

Answer 34

The Social Security Adminstration provided money to orphans (people without parents) and widows (people who had husbands die).

Eventually, this would be expanded to include ALL citizens, age 62 and above, as well as people who are physically disabled

Question 35

What do programs like the New Deal all have in common?

Answer 35

It’s the government providing economic ($$) benefits to its citizens