The New Deal

Question 1

When did Roosevelt come to power?

Answer 1

March 1933

Question 2

What was the significance of the “Hundred Days”?

Answer 2

The first 100 days of FDR’s presidency - more action was taken in these days than in the past 3 whole years

Question 3

How many banks had shut since 1930?

Answer 3

5000

Question 4

What was the Emergency Banking Act?

Answer 4

Closed all banks for a 4 day banking holiday to be inspected. Only well-run, honest banks were allowed to reopen.

Question 5

When was the Emergency Banking Act passed?

Answer 5

1933

Question 6

What was the impact of the Emergency Banking Act?

Answer 6

People reassured, $1 billion in total put into accounts when banks reopened, banks could now grow the economy

Question 7

What was the Economy Act?

Answer 7

Cut the wages of government workers and the armed forces by 15%

Question 8

What was the impact of the Economy Act?

Answer 8

Saved nearly $1 billion -> used to help unemployed people

Question 9

What was the Beer Act?

Answer 9

Legalised alcohol again

Question 10

What was the impact of the Beer Act?

Answer 10

Many gangsters were put out of business, the government could make more money by taxing alcohol sales

Question 11

What were Alphabet Agencies?

Answer 11

New federal organisations to help deal with different problems caused by the Depression

Question 12

Name and explain 2 Alphabet Agencies.

Answer 12

1. CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) - employed 3 million young men aged 18-25 on conservation projects
2. NRA (National Recovery Administration) - set fair wages, prices, working conditions for workers. Around 22 million workers were affacted positively by this
   Etc.

Question 13

Name 3 groups who opposed the New Deal.

Answer 13

1. The rich
2. Businesspeople
3. Republicans
4. Radicals
5. The Supreme Court

Question 14

How did the rich oppose the New Deal?

Answer 14

FDR increased taxes on the rich to provide for Alphabet Agencies - they thought it was a waste of their money.

Question 15

How did businesspeople oppose the New Deal?

Answer 15

NRA set minimum wages, forced employers to improve working conditions and put quotas on the allowed number of work hours. Many saw this as the government negatively affecting/interfering with their freedom to make money

Question 16

Give an example of how radicals opposed the New Deal.

Answer 16

Huey Long believed the New Deal didn’t go far enough - argued all private fortunes over $5 million should be confiscated by the government and shared out.

Question 17

Name a positive impact of the New Deal on unemployment.

Answer 17

Created jobs - e.g: 2.5 million working for CCC

Question 18

Name a negative impact of the New Deal on unemployment.

Answer 18

Unemployment did not fall below 10% and began to rise again after 1937

Question 19

Name a positive impact of the New Deal on women.

Answer 19

Many found work with the Alphabet Agencies, were helped by the SSA (Social Security Act)

Question 20

Name a negative impact of the New Deal on women.

Answer 20

Women still faced discrimination - e.g: NRA set wages for women lower than for men

Question 21

Name a positive impact of the New Deal on farmers.

Answer 21

Measures introduced rose the price of crops, made loans available -> many saved from eviction

Question 22

Name a negative impact of the New Deal on farmers.

Answer 22

Most help went to large farms - the Dust Bowl was not helped, and severe poverty remained a problem in rural areas

Question 23

Name a positive impact of the New Deal on Indigenous Americans.

Answer 23

Government loans helped Indigenous Americans buy more - e.g: Indian Reservation Act gave them the right to manage their own affairs

Question 24

When was the Indian Reservation Act passed?

Answer 24

1934

Question 25

Name a negative impact of the New Deal on Indigenous Americans.

Answer 25

Most Indigenous people still lived in poverty and experienced great discrimination

Question 26

Name a positive impact of the New Deal on bank closures.

Answer 26

The number of bank failures fell dramatically during FDR’s presidency - remained low

Question 27

Name a positive impact of the New Deal on poverty.

Answer 27

1935 - FDR introduced new laws to help the poorest, known as “Second New Deal” - e.g: SSA

Question 28

What was the SSA?

Answer 28

Social Security Act - set up national system of pensions/payments for the elderly, widowed, disabled, sick and unemployed

Question 29

Name a negative impact of the New Deal on poverty.

Answer 29

Throughout the 30s, millions of Americans still continued to live in poverty

Question 30

Name a positive impact of the New Deal on African-Americans.

Answer 30

200,000 African-Americans were employed under the CCC

Question 31

Name a negative impact of the New Deal on African-Americans.

Answer 31

The New Deal did not end severe discrimination. FDR feared that attempts to end discrimination would lose him votes in the South.

Question 32

How was racism still prevalent in Alphabet Agencies?

Answer 32

CCC campsites were segregated, AAs specifically prohibited from living in newly-built Tennessee Valley of Norris

Question 33

What happened in 1936?

Answer 33

The election campaign - FDR easily won again

Question 34

What did FDR do to Alphabet Agencies in his second presidency?

Answer 34

He was worried by the cost of them - cut the amount spent on New Deal programmes. This caused unemployment to jump by 3 million.

Question 35

What was happening by 1938?

Answer 35

Many thought America was sliding downhill toward Depression again.

Question 36

When was the WPA set up?

Answer 36

1935

Question 37

What is the WPA?

Answer 37

Works Progress Administration - set up to provide work for unemployed artists - e.g: actors hired to put on shows, painters commissioned to create art for public areas

Question 38

What happens in 1937?

Answer 38

Disney’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ is released. It was the first full-length animated feature film.

Question 39

How did the Depression impact literature?

Answer 39

Suffering created some of the most iconic books - e.g: John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ tells the story of a family fleeing the Dust Bowl is published in 1939.

Question 40

How many people were going to the cinema weekly in the 1930s?

Answer 40

60 million

Question 41

Why did popular culture boom in the 1930s?

Answer 41

People wanted to escape the suffering of the Depression.

Question 42

Who became one of the biggest cinema stars of the 1930s?

Answer 42

Judy Garland