The Effectiveness of the New Deal on different groups in Society

Question 1

What were ‘The Hundred Days’

Answer 1

It was when Roosevelt persuaded Congress to give him Emergency Powers from 9th March 1933 to 16th June 1933.

Question 2

What did the Emergency Banking Act do?

Answer 2

It closed the banks for four days so that the government could check if they were financially stable, and when they reopened, they responded with the backing of the Federal Reserve.

Question 3

What did the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 do?

Answer 3

Banks were banned from using savers money to speculate on the Stock Market and allowed the US Federal Reserve to set the interest rates.

Question 4

How did Roosevelt tell the public of his plans?

Answer 4

He sat beside a fireplace in a chair and tell the public his plans over the radio - he explained why America was in a Depression and what he was doing to fix it.

Question 5

What did Roosevelt establish during his first 100 days in office?

Answer 5

The Alphabet Agencies

Question 6

What was the CCC?

Answer 6

The CCC was the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Question 7

What did the CCC do?

Answer 7

This was where Roosevelt put young people to work to help conserve the countryside. Young men were given 6 months’ work and they lived in work camps on schemes like digging ditches, building dams and planting trees to stop soil erosion

Question 8

How did the CCC affect the unemployed?

Answer 8

It found work for over 300,000 people.

By 1941, 2.5 million had taken part.

Question 9

What was the CWA?

Answer 9

The CWA was the Civil Works Administration

Question 10

What did the CWA do?

Answer 10

It was led by Harry Hopkins and built 32’000km of sewers, 40’000 schools, 40’000 playgrounds and built/ improved 1’000 airports, built 400’000km of roads and gave 50’000 teachers jobs.

Question 11

How did the CWA help people?

Answer 11

It provided emergency relief during the winter of 1933-1934 and provided public projects for 4 million people.

Question 12

What was the FERA and what did it do?

Answer 12

The FERA was the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and they gave money to states to help them provide better relief for the poor.

Question 13

What was the NRA?

Answer 13

The NRA was the National Recovery Administration.

Question 14

What did the NRA do?

Answer 14

They banned child labour and set up a maximum 36-hour week for industrial workers and a 40-hour week for clerical workers.
Businessmen wore a blue eagle symbol to demonstrate their commitment to cutting production and paying good wages when joining a ‘Roll of Honour’.

Question 15

How did the NRA help unemployment?

Answer 15

2.5 million firms that employed 22 million people joined the scheme.

Question 16

What was the PWA?

Answer 16

The PWA was the Public Works Administration

Question 17

What did the PWA do?

Answer 17

It provided employment for skilled workers as it built 70% of American schools, 35% of American hospitals, electrified the New York Washington railway, built 50 military airports, 2 aircraft carriers, 4 cruisers and destroyers for the US Navy and a new sewage system in Chicago.

Question 18

What was the WPA?

Answer 18

The WPA was the Works Progress Administration

Question 19

What did the WPA do?

Answer 19

They ran projects that provided work for the unemployed by building airports, schools, hospitals, bridges etc.
It built 11’000 schools, 70’000km of roads and the La Guardia airport in New York.

Question 20

What else did the WPA do other than construction?

Answer 20

• It employed photographers to make a record of the Depression
• It paid people to pick up leaves in parks
• It paid unemployed actors to give free shows
• Hired 100 people to scare pigeons away with balloons from public buildings in Washington D.C.

Question 21

How much employment did the WPA provide?

Answer 21

It provided jobs to 2 million people per year.

Question 22

What was the AAA?

Answer 22

It was the Agricultural Adjustment Administration

Question 23

What did the AAA do?

Answer 23

It provided $120 million worth of subsidies to farmers in exchange for cutting the amount of crops they produced or destroying it.

• 10 million acres of land was taken out of growing cotton
• 8 million acres were taken out of growing wheat
• Tobacco harvest was cut by about 1/3

Question 24

How did the AAA’s efforts help farmers?

Answer 24

They pushed up prices because there was less produce and so demand increased which drove the value up too

Question 25

What was the FCA and what did it do?

Answer 25

The FCA was the Farm Credit Administration.

They provided new loans of $100 million to farmers at low rates of interest.

Question 26

What was the FSA and what did it do?

Answer 26

The FSA was the Federal Security Administration.

They gave grants at low rates of interests to enable many thousands of farmers to buy their farms.

Question 27

What was the TVA?

Answer 27

The TVA was the Tennesse Valley Authority

Question 28

What did the TVA do?

Answer 28

It bought, built, and ran 33 dams for electrical power and irrigation - this electricity was sold cheaply to surrounding farms, homes, and factories.
It also aimed to stop soil erosion by planting huge areas of forest up to 150km wide, stretching from Texas to the borders of Canada.

Question 29

What did farmers do with the electricity provided by the TVA?

Answer 29

They made cheap fertiliser that helped to stop soil erosion.

Question 30

Who was Huey Long?

Answer 30

He was one of Roosevelt’s main opponents in the Democratic Party who wanted to go much further than Roosevelt in using the state’s power to end the Depression.

Question 31

What did Huey Long promise?

Answer 31

He promised that he would introduce food subsidies and confiscate all private fortunes over $3 million; giving $5’000 of the money to every family in America.

Question 32

What happened to Huey Long in 1935?

Answer 32

He was assassinated.

Question 33

What did Republicans think about the New Deal?

Answer 33

That the government should not be spending such huge amounts of money on something which wasn’t ending the Depression.
They also disagreed with how the Federal Government was involving itself in business affairs.

Question 34

Why did some people oppose the New Deal?

Answer 34

• Some people thought it wasn’t doing enough

- Some people thought it was doing the wrong things

Question 35

What can the US Supreme Court declare?

Answer 35

It can declare any action of the President or Law passed by Congress as unconstitutional.

Question 36

What kind of judges was the court filled with when Roosevelt came into office?

Answer 36

Republican Judges - they found most parts of the New Deak unconstitutional.

Question 37

How many times did the Court rule against the Alphabet Agencies?

Answer 37

11 times

Question 38

What was ‘Packing The Court’?

Answer 38

Roosevelt became annoyed with the rulings and threatened to fill the Supreme Court with 6 Democratic judges after his 1936 election victory to create a Democratic majority.

Question 39

What did ‘Packing The Court’ do to Roosevelts reputation?

Answer 39

It made him very unpopular with Americans, however, both he and the Supreme Court backed down and the Court didn’t block any other New Deal laws or agencies.