Prohibition

Question 1

How did the US try to enforce the prohibition law?

Answer 1

• the volstead act: implement punishments for breaking new law
• religious acts supported by the government claimed that alcohol was the work of the devil and that it disobeyed Christianity

Question 2

Why did Prohibition fail? (7)

Answer 2

• rum runners smuggled alcohol into the USA from Mexico
• gangsters sold alcohol illegally
• illegal drinking bars
• there was corruption as gangsters bribed police officers, judges and politicians to turn a blind eye
• there were not enough agents and they were on low salaries and easy to bribe
• it was impossible to persuade drinkers to change a habit of a lifetime

Question 3

What were the hundred days?

Answer 3

Hundred Days, in U.S. history, the early period of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency (March 9–June 16, 1933), during which a major portion of New Deal legislation was enacted. See New Deal.

Question 4

Why did people support the New Deal?

Answer 4

• stabilised the economy and provided jobs and relief to those who were suffering.
• it addressed all the main problems of the depression: overproduction
• promising reconstructions, agencies (AAA), (PWA), (TVA)
• stablished and recovered the crisis banking system
• people needed hope

Question 5

In what ways did prosperity show in the USA 1920’s?

Answer 5

• industrial growth doubled
• introduction of electricity triggered a huge explosion in the electrical industry
• demand for new factories and new office buildings for banking etc..
• car industry

Question 6

Why did the Agriculture not share the prosperities?

Answer 6

• OVERPRODUCTION
• as farming techniques improved, farmers started producing too much food
• there was less demand from European for food from America because they could grow their own crops
• abundance of crops = falling prices
• having to sell farms, unemployment

Question 7

Describe the work of two alphabet agencies

Answer 7

AAA: aimed at reducing farm production and boosting farm prices
PWA: constructed schools, hospitals and other public buildings (eg: roads)

Question 8

Why did Roosevelt meet with his opposition to the New Deal?

Answer 8

• conservative opponents said Roosevelt had spent too much government money in something that didn’t look as it would bring prosperity
• they argued that by increasing taxation and encouraging the development of the trade union, Roosevelt had betrayed his own class
  Opponents: Huey Long, Frances Townsend and Father Charles

Question 9

What advances did Ford make?

Answer 9

• he produced affordable cars
• he had groups of men working for him
• he produced more and more cars, he could reduce his prices
• employed more workers, jobs
• roads were built, petrol stations created
• many Americans had cars (no matter social class)
• entire economy was given a substantial boost due to the car industry

Question 10

What was the Ku Klux Klan?

Answer 10

• was a racist group established by people who believed that white people were better and wanted to see black people remaining slaves
• grew up to 5 million members
• killed black people by hanging without trial
• even police took part in the killings
• politicians scared to loose votes

Question 11

Social consequences of the Wall Street Crash

Answer 11

• banking collapsed: financial ruin
• loss of confidence in businesses
• massive unemployment
• homelessness
• low wages and long hours of the employed

Question 12

Why did the Wall Street Crash happen?

Answer 12

• overproduction and underconsumption
• decline in traditional industries
• protectionism: Europe wouldn’t buy its goods
• laissez faire: banks were not regulated
• debt increasing: hire purchase, on credit companies: the businesses went into financial difficulties when people failed to pay their debts

Question 13

Why was the New Deal opposed by the republicans?

Answer 13

• The New Deal was opposed by businessmen, the Republican Party
• They did not want government interference or assistance in people’s lives.
• that it wasn’t strong enough and did not provide enough assistance.

Question 14

Changing attitudes towards women

Answer 14

• during the war, women started to be employed in different types of jobs
• factory work, replacing the men who had gone to fight in the war in Europe
• as women had contributed so much to the war effort, it was difficult to refuse their demands for political equality
• woman started to smoke in public
• became acceptable for women to drive cars and took part in energetic sports

Question 15

National Recovery Administration

Answer 15

• this agency negotiated with the major industries to create fair prices, wages and working hours

Question 16

Why was it important for Roosevelt to deal with the banking crisis?

Answer 16

• the financial sector was not very tightly regulated
• there were no large banks, but rather many small banks
• these banks did not have the financial resources to cope with the demand of savings
• a number of banks had to close leaving thousands of customers with no money at all
• loss of confidence, so people didn’t believe in putting their savings back into the banks
• a lot of Americans bought goods on hire purchase
• as a result, they owed money to shops and credit companies
• many of these businesses went into financial difficulties when people failed to pay their debts
• people took their money out of banks, fearing banks would close
• so banks went bankrupt

Question 17

Causes of the prosperity

Answer 17

• systems of hire-purchase and credit were introduced (pay monthly basis)
• Henry Ford: mass-production (a lot of cars for low prices)
• electricity improved: everything was mechanised
• development of factories
• it had an essential supply of natural resources : timber, iron, coal