SHHS - History - GCSE Year 11 Unit 2 : Depression And The New Deal: the USA, 1929-41

Question 1

Who was defeated in the U.S. Presidential Election of November, 1932, losing in 42 of the 48 states?

Answer 1

Herbert Hoover (Republican) who had been President from 1929-32.

Question 2

Approximately how many U.S. Companies went bankrupt between 1929 and 1933?

Answer 2

Over 100,000.

Question 3

Who won the U.S. Presidential Election of November, 1932, by a landslide (42 of the 48 states)?

Answer 3

FDR. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (Democratic candidate)

Question 4

How many shares were sold on Wall Street on ‘Black Thursday’, 24th October, 1929?

Answer 4

Over 1.3 million shares were sold on this, the first day of the Wall Street Crash. Investors and dealers panicked, and looked to sell shares for anything they could get, as prices continued to fall.

Question 5

Why did so many banks fail following the Wall Street Crash?

Answer 5

Because many American banks had participated in financially unsafe practices, allowing many investors to ‘buy on the margin’ and speculating in shares with money which people had invested in the banks. As the bottom fell out of the share market, investors could not pay their loans back to banks and the banks, themselves, failed. This then contributed to the spiral of Depression as fewer and fewer banks were able to loan money to industry and businesses after 1929.

Question 6

How many Americans were unemployed in 1932?

Answer 6

12 million

Question 7

How much did farm incomes fall by, between 1929 and 1933?

Answer 7

Farm incomes fell by about 60% between 1929 and 1933.

Question 8

What percentage of the American workforce were unemployed by 1932?

Answer 8

Approximately 25% of the workforce were unemployed by 1932.

Question 9

What was the ‘Dustbowl’ and how did it affect farmers?

Answer 9

The ‘Dustbowl’ refers to severe dust storms in the agricultural Mid-West of America, caused by drought and sustained over-farming. This, on top of the difficulties already caused by over-production and low prices in the 20s, forced many farmers to sell up and move West in search of work. Over-farming had led the soil to become infertile and farmers could not afford to pay their mortgages.

Question 10

What name was given to shanty towns built by the unemployed and homeless, on the edge of American towns and cities, during the Depression and why?

Answer 10

Hoovervilles. They were called this, because the unemployed who lived there blamed President Hoover, and his government’s inaction, for their plight.

Question 11

In what ways was Hoover NOT a ‘do nothing’ president?

Answer 11

He held conferences with business leaders in late 1929, to get agreements that they would maintain production and employment levels. He offered over $4000 million for major building projects, eg, the Hoover Dam in Colorado. He cut taxes to encourage spending. The government tried to buy up surplus agricultural produce, and the Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 put average duties of 40% on agricultural and industrial imports.
Hoover also tried to coordinate the voluntary agencies to help the poor, but he stuck to the idea that relief should come mainly from local government, not recognising that many cities were nearly bankrupt from the strain of providing relief. In 1932, Hoover was forced to approve the Emergency Relief Act which provided $300 million to the unemployed. He also set up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which provided $1500 million to businesses - even this was ‘too little, too late’.

Question 12

Who were the Bonus Army and how did their treatment affected the 1932 Presidential Election?

Answer 12

They were U.S veterans of World War One, who marched to Washington in June 1932, to request their war bonuses (an extra war pension for those who had fought and suffered disabilities, which the government had agreed to pay in 1945) early, in order to ease their suffering during the Depression. About 2000 of veterans and their families camped outside Washington DC. When the Senate refused to pay them, the marchers moved their camp closer to Capitol Hill. Hoover, fearing violence, gave General MacArthur the job of dispersing the marchers. MacArthur regarded the marchers as dangerous revolutionaries and used tanks, infantry and tear gas to destroy the camps. Many marchers were injured and 2 babies died from breathing in the gas. This apparent cruelty, against men who had fought for their country, lost Hoover a great deal of public support in the run up to the election

Question 13

Who said, in 1932: ‘ I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. This is more than a political campaign. Give me your help, not to win votes alone, but to aim in this crusade to restore America to its people.’

Answer 13

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Question 14

Describe the election campaign run by Roosevelt and the Democrats in 1932.

Answer 14

It was an energetic and wide-ranging campaign, making the most of Roosevelt’s charisma and skill as an orator. Roosevelt used the radio to great effect, and made many speeches, on whistle-stop tours of the country, promising the American people a ‘new deal’. He promised to take definite and sustained government action, without ever specifying exact details of what would be done to solve the Depression.

Question 15

What were ‘Hoover blankets’?

Answer 15

This is what residents of Hoovervilles, often desperate and unemployed, called newspapers. This was because newspapers were often the only things they had to shelter under for warmth.

Question 16

What was ‘The Hundred Days’?

Answer 16

Roosevelt’s first, and very hectic, hundred days in office (ie. as President) in 1933. He put in place the first raft of laws of the New Deal.

Question 17

What were Roosevelt’s fireside chats?

Answer 17

Roosevelt’s addresses to the American people, which were broadcast to millions of Americans on the radio. He sat in front of a fire in his office for these talks and personalised them, telling listeners about not just the plans of the New Deal, but also his family life and pets. These broadcasts assured Americans that the President understood and sympathised with their needs, and were an important factor in Roosevelt’s continued popularity.

Question 18

When was Roosevelt’s first ‘fireside chat’?

Answer 18

12th March, 1933

Question 19

What were Roosevelt’s first actions within the New Deal?

Answer 19

Closing the banks from 5th-9th March, 1933 in the Emergency Banking Act. This allowed officials to check bank finances and only the trustworthy and stable ones were allowed to reopen. 5000 were allowed to reopen.
He also brought in the Securities Exchange Commission which set up rules to stop banks from recklessly speculating in shares.

Question 20

Which New Deal agency spent $500 million on soup kitchens, blankets, employment schemes and nursery schools to help the poor.

Answer 20

FERA - Federal Emergency Relief Administration

Question 21

What was the CCC?

Answer 21

Civilian Conservation Corps. A New Deal work scheme which targeted young unemployed men. They signed on to do 6 month stints of environmental work at CCC camps, often in national parks, and could renew this if they could not find work at the end of the 6 months. 2.5 million young men were helped by the CCC.

Question 22

How did the AAA help farmers?

Answer 22

Set quotas to reduce farm production (excess livestock and crops were destroyed). This addressed the problem of over-production which had lowered the price of agricultural goods so much that farmers could not make a profit from their farms. AAA also helped farmers to modernise and could assist with farming mortgage payments.

Question 23

What did the PWA do?

Answer 23

Public Works Administration used government money to build schools, roads, dams and bridges etc, ie, infrastructure projects to create work and benefit the U.S. economy and people.

Question 24

What was the symbol of the NRA, and what did it mean if a company displayed this symbol?

Answer 24

The blue eagle. If a company displayed this symbol it meant that they had presidential approval of the working conditions that they had for employees.

Question 25

Who did the HOLC help?

Answer 25

Many middle-income Americans who were struggling to pay their mortgages.

Question 26

What as the TVA?

Answer 26

The Tennessee Valley Authority. It built a series of 20 dams on the Tennessee River which made it possible to irrigate the land and provide jobs and hydro-electricity for this underdeveloped area.

Question 27

What did the Wagner Act do?

Answer 27

It forced businesses to allow their workers to be in trade unions.

Question 28

Why was the Social Security Act important?

Answer 28

It provided state pensions for the elderly and widows, and it set up, for the first time in USA a government scheme of unemployment insurance.

Question 29

What was the WPA and what did it do?

Answer 29

Works Progress Administration. It brought together all the New Deal work agencies. It extended work projects beyond construction to create jobs for office and service workers, and those involved in the Arts, like actors, photographers and artists eg, photographer Dorothea Lange and artist Howard Cook.

Question 30

What was the Resettlement Administration replaced by in 1937?

Answer 30

Farm Security Administration.

Question 31

Why did Senator Huey Long oppose the New Deal?

Answer 31

He felt it wasn’t doing enough to help the poor. Long believed big corporations should be taxed heavily to build more roads, schools and hospitals. As Governor of Louisiana he relentlessly taxed businesses for this purpose, and employed black Americans on the same basis as whites. Long proposed up a ‘Share Our Wealth’ scheme, where personal fortunes would be reduced to a $3million maximum, and maximum income in a year would be $1million. He also wanted pensions for all over 60s and free washing machines and radios.

Question 32

Which Catholic priest had a radio show which frequently criticised Roosevelt and the New Deal for ‘not doing enough’?

Answer 32

Father Coughlin

Question 33

What arguments did the Republicans use to criticise the New Deal?

Answer 33

They argued it was far too expensive and ‘did too much’. They believed the money into the job creation schemes was wasted because the jobs were not permanent or self-sustaining. The New Deal philosophy of government help contradicted Republican beliefs in Rugged Individualism and Laissez-faire. They argued would result in a dependant and unproductive America, which would not be able to properly recover from the Depression.

Question 34

What was the Schechter Poultry Corporation accused of doing in 1935?

Answer 34

Breaking NRA regulations by selling diseased chickens, filing false sales claims, exploiting workers and threatening government inspectors.

Question 35

How and why did the Supreme Court oppose the New Deal in 1935?

Answer 35

They said that the government had no right to prosecute the Schechter Poultry Corporation because the NRA was unconstitutional. They argued that NRA and New Deal had gone beyond the legal limits of government interference in the business of individual states in America. This had the potential to destroy the New Deal. Most of the judges on the Supreme Court were Republicans.

Question 36

What did Roosevelt do to tackle Supreme Court opposition to the New Deal?

Answer 36

He threatened to pack the court with Democrat judges so that the Court would no longer object to government powers through agencies like the NRA.

Question 37

How did World War Two help USA emerge from the Depression?

Answer 37

It stimulated the American economy, firstly through assistance to Britain in the Lend Lease Act, and then through direct American participation in the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Dec, 1941. The war ended mass unemployment in America. Many more women were employed. Before the war there were 12 million women in the workforce. During the war, 300 000 women joined the armed forces and another 7 million joined the workforce. The army in 1941 had
1,600 000 men, in 1945 there were 12 million.

Question 38

How did unemployment figures between 1937 and 1938 demonstrate that the New Deal had not resulted in full economic recovery from the Great Depression?

Answer 38

Roosevelt cut spending on the New Deal, in 1937, when unemployment was still relatively high at 6 million. He was concerned at the extent of government debt. By the winter of 1937-38, unemployment had shot back up to 10 million. This suggested that the was some validity to the Republican claims that the jobs created by the New Deal were not ‘real’ or permanent and that, in fact, government money was being wasted, with people being propped up by the schemes, not put permanently back into work

Question 39

What did FDR mean by ‘priming the pump’?

Answer 39

He meant government money and effort was needed to get the economy ‘flowing’ again. He believed job creation schemes would put money back in people’s pockets and the resulting spending would create demand for goods, in turns his demand for goods would result in businesses expanding, creating wealth and jobs.

Question 40

How many states, out of the possible 48, did FDR win in the 1936 presidential election?

Answer 40

46. It was an even bigger landslide than 1932 for Roosevelt. His Republican opponent, Alfred Landon, only won 2 states. Roosevelt took this as an affirmation of his New Deal and looked to extend his schemes to bring in measures like social security and job creation schemes for artists.he said ‘Everyone’s against me, except the voters!’