The Great Depression Flashcards
Warren G. Hardin
He was the 29th president of the US, serving from 1921-1923(death). A member of the Republican Party. “Return to normalcy” was a campaign slogan used by him in the 1920 US presidential election. He would go on to win the election with 60.4% of the popular vote.
Calvin Coolidge
He was the president who was known for being very silent and was known as the “Silent Call” (presidency during 1923 - 1929)
Herbert Hoover
president of the united states when the great depression struck, he did not handle the situation accordingly and was out of presidency by a tremendous amount.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
president of the United States who was elected during the great depression and created the New Deal. He also pushed for more judges to be put in court and was accused of trying to become a dictatorship
Eleanor Roosevelt
President FDR’s wife and the first first woman to actually be involved and became popular with the people (sorta like a celeb)
Huey Long
former governor of Lousiana who criticized the New Deal
Charles Coughlin
He was a radio actor who played movie sound effects for people to listen to in radios during the great depression
Agricultural Adjustment Administration
Gave farmer’s a subsidy (government pay) to grow fewer crops; have a smaller supply of crops on the
market to increase the demand and increase prices which helps the farmers earn money.
Social Security Administration
Take a percentage of your salary that is given back to you as a monthly payment after you are 65+ and/or retired. This was created to make sure senior citizens don’t go homeless in their last days.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
It helped with the bank failures. Helped individuals keep money safe in banks through government
insurance and have trust in the banks once again.
Securities & Exchange Commission
Overseas securities exchanges, securities brokers and dealers, investment advisors, and mutual funds
in an effort to promote fair dealing, the disclosure of important market information, and to prevent
fraud.
Civilian Conservation Corps
An organization that provided unemployed men with jobs related to the conservation of nature like
forests, parks, fields.
Tennessee Valley Authority
A program put in place to supervise the construction of dams to control flooding, improve navigation, and create cheap electric power
Works Progress Administration
Made jobs for many unemployed citizens to work on many projects such as creating parks, and building roads, bridges, schools, and other public structures.
Civil Works Administration
A temporary organization to provide regular jobs on public works for the nearly four million
unemployed men and women through the 1933-34 winter season
Which of the programs above still exist today?
SSA, TVA
Teapot Dome
a federal land owned in Wyoming; government scandal in 1921 where President Harding’s Secretary accepted bribes in return for oil.
laissez-faire
“allow to do”; companies can conduct business without government interference or approval.
Fireside chats
Made by FDR as if he’s “talking” to each of his citizens to give them motivation and understand their problems.
Hundred Days
The first 3 months of FDR’s presidency, he created 15 acts called the New Deal during these 100 days.
Dust Bowl
Severe storms where strong winds pick up dust from fields and blow them. These storms ruined plantations and killed people and livestock, making it harder to live and farm in these areas.
Hoovervilles
Areas in industrial areas that were overcrowded with poor people who lost everything due to the Depression
Public works programs
Programs which help to build roads, highways, schools funded by the government.
Black Tuesday
The stock market for many stable and unstable companies severely crashed, and this was the start of the Great Depression (October 29, 1929)
New Deal
a legislation made by FDR to establish new programs funded by the government to help fix the Great Depression
Sometimes called alphabet soup; a plan to get America out of the Depression made by FDR; many different government agencies to help.
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
A high tariff law contributed to the global economic downtown in the 1930s. Raised the cost of imported goods for American consumers, so they would purchase the cheaper American goods rather than these imported goods. This led to a major decrease in global trade.
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
It was a program that provided 2 billion dollars from the government to help struggling banks and other businesses during the Great Depression.
voluntary aid
civilians willing to help poor and sick people during the GDP. Assistance.
Bonus Army
gathering of probably 10,000 to 25,000 World War I veterans (estimates vary widely) who, with their wives and children, converged on Washington, D.C., in 1932, demanding immediate bonus payment for wartime services to alleviate the economic hardship of the Great Depression.
Fair Labor Standards Act
1938; the act to have the right to minimum wage, time and a half overtime pay if people work overtime. Minimum working age of 16 were allowed to work.
Red Scare
widespread fear of communism. Many people were scared about communism affecting the government. “Red” symbolizes the soviet union flag, “Scare” symbolizes people’s fear of communism.
KKK
an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are minority groups
immigration acts
These acts did not allow people from foreign countries to enter the U.S.
nativism
When the citizens of a country are favored more than immigrants. prejudice against immigrants
Palmer Raids/A. Mitchell Palmer
an attorney general in the United states from 1920 - 1921. He was in charge of the “Palmer raids” during the 1920’s. The Palmer Raids were raids held to capture people suspected of being a foreign communist, anarchist(wanted to destroy the government) were arrested.
Louis Armstrong
He was a big leader in the Harlem Renaissance and spread his culture and jazz music to many individuals. He was a very influential music artist
Harlem Renaissance
A time period when African - Americans were able to express their culture through music and art
Great Migration
Many African Americans migrated to the north to find better opportunities and a new start to life
Langston Hughes
He was a writer who wrote many poems and stories to create an equal society throughout his career.
W.E.B DuBois
an activist supporting african americans rights.
Jazz music
“Sweet Georgia Brown”, “Dinah” and “Bye Bye Blackbird”. Songs by Louis Armstrong & other artists during the 1920s.
flappers
women that smoked in public, drank alcohol, danced at jazz clubs and practiced sexual freedom, wore very explicit clothing
women’s rights
They got their voting rights during the 1920’s and people began to notice women’s hard work. But later on they weren’t able to work after WW1 due to people not needing them anymore. Flappers were dancers who expressed traditional ideas of proper dress and behavior.
women’s gains in government & education
Many women were given job opportunities during WW1 because men were at war. They were nurses, sales people, and teachers.
Nellie Tayloe Ross
first woman governor of Wyoming, sm about 4 yrs
buy on margin
buying stocks with loans from brokers(stock owners).
credit buying
borrowing money from banks to purchase something and then paying them back later with interest.
wealth inequality
an unequal distribution of assets among residents of the United States
What were the problems with the ‘20s economy that led to the Depression?
The stock market crash of 1929; the collapse of world trade due to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff; government policies; bank failures and panics; and the collapse of the money supply.
How did Hoover’s campaign slogans and promises to the American people end up backfiring?
He made an act called the reconstruction finance corporation and this backfired because this only helped businesses but many other problems only kept getting worse.
Describe the events of October 29, 1929.
This was known as Black Tuesday, and stock markets crashed, and people rushed to sell their products by lowering prices but it got so bad to the point where people were panicking. Many nervous investors are selling stocks. Many banks joined together to buy stocks which stopped the panic for a while but came back again. Investors dumped more than 16 million shares of stocks.
What were the impacts of the Depression? Think of families, businesses, banks, farmers, etc. Describe the problems that occurred, with details/stats where appropriate.
The impact of the Depression was that many stock brokers lost money, and businesses collapsed trendamously, and farmers also lost their jobs due to their crops not selling, families were not getting enough essentials and had to send away their kids to ensure money.
What were the differences between Hoover and FDR when it came to how to fix the country’s economic problems? How did the US react to Hoover vs. FDR?
The difference between them was that Hoover didn’t try to do anything about the crisis and even if he did, it only helped one portion of the problem and it backfired. On the other hand, FDR tried his best since the moment he was president and created programs that could help with all aspects of the GDP. The U.S mainly loved FDR because at least he was trying and willing to help but some did not like him because they thought he was against the bill of rights, leading to dictatorship, and that the New Deal gave him too much power.
Briefly describe the outcome of the 1932 through 1940 elections.
The outcomes of the 1932 elections were so great that all states voted for him other than 6. This led to one of the biggest victories during elections. Democrats gained 90 seats in the House of Rep while 13 seats in the senate. The 1940 elections also showed that FDR won by a lot more states but this time a lot of the middle-row states did not vote for them.
What was the famous line from FDR’s 1933 inaugural? What does this mean?
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. This means that fearing the problem is far more dangerous and worse than the problem itself. He is giving reassurance to the citizens and giving them hope.
What was the court-packing plan? Why did FDR propose it? Did he go through with it?
An idea is to add justices to the Supreme Court or lower courts to shift the balance in a liberal, conservative or other direction; this did go through cause it was ruled as a no
