The Roosevelt Era (1933-1945) Flashcards

1
Q

What personal challenges did Franklin Roosevelt face before becoming President?

A

FDR was diagnosed with polio, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

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2
Q

How did FDR’s personal challenges impact the way he approached the Great Depression?

A
  • FDR believed it was important to use the government to help Americans overcome the challenges of the Great Depression.
  • FDR did not view any problem as too big to overcome and was very encouraging.
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3
Q

What was the New Deal?

A

FDR’s massive package of programs and policies that responded to the challenges facing Americans during the Great Depression.

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4
Q

How did FDR address the challenges facing American banks and other financial institutions?

A
  • FDR created a bank holiday; allowing the government time to inspect the practices of American banks.
  • FDR created the EBRA, FDIC, and SEC.
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5
Q

What did the EBRA do?

A
  • Government policy passed during FDR’s bank holiday that required banks to pass inspection before they could reopen.
  • One of FDR’s first tasks as President; topic of his first fireside chat.
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6
Q

What did the FDIC do?

A
  • Provided federal government insurance for bank deposits up to $5,000 in response to failures of member banks ($250,000 today).
  • Still exists to protect bank customers from the risks associated with bank failures.
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7
Q

What did the SEC do?

A
  • Monitors consumer and
    business behavior in the stock market and works to eliminate dishonest practices.
  • Still exists to monitor business behavior in the stock market.
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8
Q

How did FDR work to alleviate high unemployment?

A
  • FDR created many programs to create government public works projects and employed Americans to work those projects.
  • FDR created the WPA
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9
Q

What did the WPA do?

A
  • Provided government jobs in a wide-range of public works projects, including many building projects. Also employed writers and artists.
  • Employed more Americans than any other New Deal program.
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10
Q

How did FDR respond to the challenges of American farmers?

A

FDR provided federal government support to American farmers by creating the AAA.

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11
Q

What did the AAA do?

A
  • Government agency that
    AAA developed production limits for American farmers in hopes of encouraging price increases and land recovery.
  • Controversial program that was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court.
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12
Q

How did FDR attempt to help those who could not work (elderly, disabled, orphaned children)?

A
  • FDR provided federal government assistance to support those who were not able to take advantage of the government jobs available in his public works programs.
  • FDR created Social Security.
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13
Q

What did the SSA do?

A
  • Created to provide government assistance to those unable to work, including retired Americans, Americans with disabilities, and orphaned children.
  • Still exists to provide benefits for millions of Americans.
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14
Q

How did Frances Perkins contribute to the New Deal?

A

First American woman to serve in the US cabinet. As Secretary of Labor, her most important contribution was the establishment of the Social Security Administration.

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15
Q

How did John Collier contribute to the New Deal?

A

American government official who led the Bureau of Indian Affairs and encouraged new policies in the Indian New Dealto help Native Americans.

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16
Q

How did Mary McLeod Bethune contribute to the New Deal?

A

African American woman who helped encourage FDR to establish programs that would benefit racial minorities, as well as creating the “black cabinet”

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17
Q

How did Eleanor Roosevelt contribute to the New Deal?

A
  • American First Lady who traveled the country on behalf of her husband to observe the challenges facing suffering Americans.
  • Supported the interests of Black Americans and women during the Great Depression and worked with her husband find ways to help these groups.
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18
Q

What were two major reasons people were critical of the New Deal?

A
  • They believed it was too expensive- resulted in deficit spending.
  • They believed FDR’s actions were unconstitutional- and went beyond the powers of the presidency.
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19
Q

What is deficit spending?

A

When the government spends more money than it is bringing in- growing the size of the national debt.

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20
Q

What controversy emerged between FDR and the Supreme Court?

A

The Supreme Court began to overturn and eliminate many of FDR’s New Deal programs because they viewed them as unconstitutional.

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21
Q

What was FDR’s court-packing plan?

A
  • To prevent the Supreme Court from voting down his policies, FDR proposed to expand the size of the court, so he could appoint friendly justices.
  • This plan angered many Americans (including his supporters); and never became law.
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22
Q

How effective was the New Deal at responding the Great Depression?

A
  • The New Deal was able to lower unemployment, provide helpful benefits, slow bank failures.
  • The New Deal DID NOT end the Great Depression.
  • The New Deal made Americans feel better about the direction of the country.
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23
Q

Where are the following dictators from that emerged during WWII: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo?

A
  • Hitler: Germany
  • Stalin: Soviet Union
  • Mussolini: Italy
  • Tojo: Japan
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24
Q

What factors helped Adolf Hitler come to power during the Interwar Period?

A
  • The Treaty of Versailles put heavy reparations on Germany, leading to severed economic issues.
  • Hitler attempted to overthrow the government, and was arrested.
  • Hitler wrote a book, titled Mein Kampf, highlighting German complaints about the Versailles Treaty and his anti-Semitic beliefs
  • The start of the Great Depression contributed to further economic challenges in Germany.
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25
Q

What factors helped Joseph Stalin come to power during the Interwar Period?

A
  • The first communist leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, died; Stalin used his funeral to put himself in line to come to power.
  • Stalin rids himself of his political enemies using violence and by turning the media against them.
  • Stalin promises to help the Soviet Union to rebuild using 5 year plans.
  • When people oppose him, he has them sent to his Gulag prison camps.
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26
Q

What factors helped Benito Mussolini come to power during the Interwar Period?

A
  • Italy is frustrated by the lack of benefits they gain from the Treaty of Versailles.
  • After WWI, Italy faces an array of economic and political issues, including severe unemployment.
  • Mussolini uses powerful speeches, promising to restore Italian national pride.
  • Mussolini creates the Black Shirts, a secret police committed to eliminate anyone who opposes him.
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27
Q

What factors helped Hideki Tojo come to power during the Interwar Period?

A
  • Despite being on the winning side during WWI, Japan feels frustrated by the Treaty of Versailles.
  • To gain more land the Japanese invade Manchuria and China to expand Japanese power.
  • Tojo returns to Japan a military hero and is granted political powers.
  • Tojo’s popularity as a war hero and his promises of fulfilling Japanese success leads him to secure total decision-making power in the government.
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28
Q

What is anti-Semitism?

A

Hostility and discrimination towards Jews.

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29
Q

What is genocide?

A

The deliberate and planned mass killing of a group of people; as happened during the Holocaust.

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30
Q

How did Nazi hatred and aggression intensify over time?

A
  • Much of Europe was already anti-Semitic; Hitler played into these feelings in his book Mein Kampf.
  • Once in power Hitler introduced the Nuremberg Laws.
  • Eventually Hitler expanded his network of concentration camps to imprison Jews and other groups.
  • Later, Hitler created extermination, of death, camps to see through the mass murder of the Jewish population.
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31
Q

How did anti-Semitism spread in Nazi Germany?

A
  • Hitler used Mein Kampf to suggest that German Jews were to blame for the struggles in Germany after WWI.
  • Hitler used propaganda- posters, speeches, and radio- to deepen hatred of Jews.
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32
Q

What examples exist of Nazi hatred and aggression during the Holocaust?

A
  • Creation of Nuremberg Laws
  • Creation of concentration camps.
  • Kristallnacht
  • Creation of extermination camps.
33
Q

What were the Nuremberg Laws?

A

Set of laws adopted by Adolf Hitler designed to strip Jews of fundamental rights in German society. This included the right to vote, own businesses, attend school, and eliminated Jewish citizenship.

34
Q

What was Kristallnacht?

A

“Night of Broken Glass”; Nazi pogrom (organized massacre of a specific group) during which Jewish businesses were destroyed, synagogues were burned, and many Jewish people were killed or sent to camps; Considered one of the events that started the Holocaust.

35
Q

What was Auschwitz?

A

Massive complex of Nazi concentration and extermination camps constructed in Poland. An estimated 1.4 million people were killed at Auschwitz- more than any other camp during the Holocaust.

36
Q

What events contributed to the start of World War II between 1936 and 1939?

A
  • Hitler moving troops into the demilitarized Rhineland (1936).
  • Hitler annexing Austria (1938).
  • Hitler’s seizure of the Sudetenland (1938)
  • Hitler’s seizure of the rest of Czechoslovakia (1939)
  • Hitler’s invasion of Poland (1939)
37
Q

What was the Munich Conference?

A
  • Meeting held between Allied leaders and Hitler in Munich, Germany BEFORE the start of World War II.
  • Britain and France agreed to allow Hitler to take the Sudetenland- as long as he promised to not take any additional land.
  • The Allies wanted to avoid war– and fell for Hitler’s dishonesty.
38
Q

What was the Non-Aggression Pact?

A
  • Agreement made between Hitler and Stalin in August 1939 to not go to war for 10 years and divide Poland evenly between them.
  • Empowered Hitler to invade Poland without the fear of a Soviet attack- directly leading to the start of WWII.
39
Q

Why did the US stay neutral between 1939 and 1941?

A

Most Americans believed that the Great Depression was a more important issue for the United States to address. They didn’t believe the US would be attacked.

40
Q

How did the United States contribute to the Allied war cause BEFORE officially entering the war?

A

The US government created the Cash and Carry System and Lend-Lease Agreement to support the Allies.

41
Q

What is the Cash and Carry System?

A
  • Allowed American businesses to sell goods to warring nations as long as:
    1. The buyer paid cash for the materials at time of purchase.
    2. The buyer carried the item home on their own
    ships.
42
Q

What was the Lend-Lease Agreement?

A
  • Allowed countries to borrow assistance (food, oil, war materials) for free, if the assistance was deemed beneficial for US safety.
  • Developed to alleviate the strain of British payments as they were nearing bankruptcy during the Battle of Britain.
43
Q

What happened on December 7, 1941?

A

The Japanese military carried out a large-scale organized attack against Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii. Killing over 2400 Americans and devastating the Pacific fleet; Prompted American entry in World War II.

44
Q

How did the United States mobilize economically for WWII?

A
  • Women began taking on factory jobs, building supplies for the war.
  • Many companies shifted production to create war supplies (Ford, JEEP)
  • American unemployment dropped dramatically; helping end the Great Depression.
45
Q

How did the United States mobilize technologically for WWII?

A
  • The government created the OSRD to fund and promote wartime technology.
  • The OSRD improved sonar and radar technology.
  • Penicillin became an important antibiotic to save lives during the war.
  • The OSRD formed the Manhattan Project.
46
Q

What was the Manhattan Project?

A

The government program to research and develop the atomic bomb. Employed thousands of Americans during the war. Led by Robert Oppenheimer.

47
Q

How did the United States mobilize militarily for WWII?

A
  • Before declaring war, FDR created the Selective Service and Training Act- forming the first peacetime draft.
  • After entering the war, the US expanded the Selective Service System and draft.
  • Many patriotic Americans volunteered for the military after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
  • The military created non-combat units for American women.
48
Q

How did American women contribute on the homefront during WWII?

A
  • Women worked in factories.
  • Women worked in many jobs typically reserved for men: doctors, chemists, lawyers, mechanics, engineers, and more.
  • Women managed responsibilities at home- such as rationing and caring for their family.
49
Q

How did American women contribute abroad during WWII?

A
  • Each branch of the military had special non-combat units for women
  • Women helped as nurses, medics, transport pilots, translators, telephone communications/ operators.
50
Q

How did Black Americans contribute during WWII?

A
  • Many Black Americans joined the military, such as the Tuskegee Airmen.
  • Black Americans believed if they could helped fight discrimination overseas, it would benefit them at home.
51
Q

Who were the Tuskegee Airmen?

A

Group of Black pilots who served in a segregated unit during WWI; decorated group of pilots who were incredibly successful and heroic during the war.

52
Q

What was the Double V Campaign?

A

Black American campaign (started by a Pittsburgh Newspaper) arguing for “Double Victory”; Victory over Nazi fascism and Victory over racism in America.; Helped inspire the Civil Rights Movement.

53
Q

How did Native Americans contribute during WWII?

A

Native Americans helped develop a code language used in military communications during WWII; such as the Navajo Codetalkers.

54
Q

How did Japanese Americans contribute during WWII?

A

Many Japanese Americans served overseas in battles as well as in translation and military intelligence.

55
Q

How did Mexican Americans contribute during WWII?

A
  • Many Mexican Americans joined the American military serving overseas; Others helped as translators in the Pacific Theater.
  • Many Mexican immigrants joined the Bracero program to work in farming and construction during WWII.
56
Q

How did Japanese Americans experience discrimination during WWII?

A
  • FDR created Executive Order 9066, allowing the military to exclude Japanese Americans from living along the West coast.
  • The Military Relocation Board forced Japanese American to move to Internment Camps.
  • The Supreme Court approved of Japanese internment camps.
57
Q

What were internment camps?

A
  • Prison camps established for Japanese Americans during WWII.
  • Some historians refer to the camps as “concentration camps”
58
Q

What was decided in the case Korematsu v. the United States?

A

The Supreme Court decided that internment camps, such as the one Fred Korematsu was supposed to be sent to, were allowed to continue.

59
Q

How did other minority groups experience discrimination during WWII?

A
  • The US military was segregated during WWII.
  • Some minorities were not allowed to serve in combat.
  • The US Navy did not allow Black combat members.
  • During the Zoot Suit Riot hundreds of Mexican Americans were brutally beaten and arrested for their style of dress.
60
Q

How did the US impact the War in North Africa?

A
  • First American ground fighting in WWII (after the successful Battle of the Atlantic)
  • Helped secure oil from the Allies- taking it away from the Axis powers.
  • Forced Hitler to focus on a third front of war; straining their manpower and resources.
61
Q

How did the US impact the War in Southern Europe?

A
  • After winning in North Africa the Americans crossed the Mediterranean- first attacking Sicily, then Italy.
  • Fighting was very difficult due to the narrow peninsula and mountainous terrain.
  • Eventually Allied success led the Italian people overthrowing Mussolini.
62
Q

What challenges did the US Navy face in the Pacific Theater after the attack on Pearl Harbor?

A
  • Much of the US Pacific fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines in December 1941.
  • American and Filipino soldiers were captured and led on the Bataan Death March.
  • During the first 6 months of the War in the Pacific the Allies lost EVERY battle to the Japanese.
63
Q

What was the Bataan Death March?

A

When the Philippines was seized by the Japanese, thousands of American and Filipino soldiers were captured and marched 65 miles to a prison camp; thousands died along the way; thousands more died in the prison camp during the war.

64
Q

How did the strategy of island- hopping impact the war effort?

A

*Under this strategy the Pacific naval fleet focused on winning small, less-defended islands, to work their way across the Pacific Ocean to Japan.
* This strategy worked well because of the limited resources in the US Navy after the attacks on Pearl Harbor and other naval bases in the Pacific.

65
Q

What was the importance of the Battle of Midway?

A

It was the first major victory for the Allies in the Pacific; proved to be a turning point in the Pacific; the Japanese were turned back for the first time in WWII.

66
Q

Who was Dwight D. Eisenhower?

A

American General who led the mission to invade North Africa and Northern Europe. Became the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during WWII.

67
Q

Who was George S. Patton?

A

American general who led a successful tank unit during WWII; helped contribute to the American victory during the Battle of the Bulge.

68
Q

Who was Douglas MacArthur?

A

American general who led in the Philippines before it fell under Japanese control; helped lead the campaign to regain the Philippines late in the war.

69
Q

What happened on June 6, 1944?

A

On this date the Allied forces led their invasion of Northern Europe, better known as D-Day; The Allies crossed the English Channel onto the beaches of Nazi-controlled France in Normandy; major Allied success.

70
Q

How did the German war cause decline following the D-Day invasion?

A

After D-Day the Allies had significant success against Nazi Germany; the Allies managed to free Paris and France soon after; The Allies won the Battle of the Bulge, forcing Germany to retreat back to their homeland in the final months of the war.

71
Q

What is VE Day?

A

“Victory in Europe” Day; May 1945, marked the end of fighting in Europe after the German surrender in the days following Hitler’s suicide.

72
Q

What was the importance of the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa?

A
  • Iwo Jima and Okinawa were small islands located near Japan; both battles were incredibly violent and deadly, including many kamikaze attacks.
  • Military officials considered these battles when decided whether an invasion of Japan would be a good idea.
73
Q

What was a kamikaze?

A

Japanese pilots that purposefully crashed their planes into Allied ships in an effort to inflict as much damage as possible; these suicide missions were considered an honorable way to defend Japan; occurred frequently as the Allies neared Japan

74
Q

What did the US government consider before using the atomic bomb?

A

The Americans considered 4 options: 1. carrying out a land invasion of Japan; 2. Continue dropping firebombs on strategic targets in Japan; 3. Dropping an atomic bomb on an uninhabited island to scare Japan; 4. Dropping the atomic bomb on a strategic target in Japan.

75
Q

Why did President Truman decide to use the atomic bomb against Japan?

A
  • He worried that a land invasion of Japan would kill many Americans and Japanese- lengthening the war; He didn’t believe the Japanese would surrender if we continued firebombing or attacked an uninhabited island.
  • He believed that the most likely way to force and unconditional surrender was dropping the atomic bomb on Japan.
76
Q

What is the significance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

A

Two Japanese cities that were attacked with the atomic bomb at the end of WWII; caused massive physical destruction, hundreds of thousands of deaths, and caused many long-term health problems for those who survived. These attacks started the atomic age.

77
Q

What was the Yalta Conference?

A

Meeting held among the Allied powers weeks before VE Day; Stalin was becoming increasingly determined to take over Eastern Europe; FDR suggested and they all agreed to create the United Nations.

78
Q

What was the Potsdam Conference?

A

Meeting held among the Allied powers shortly after VE Day; Truman tried to get Stalin to help in the invasion of Japan– Stalin was angry since he was aware Truman had access to the atomic bomb (as of one day earlier).

79
Q

How did the series of conferences at the end of WWII solve some problems and create new challenges?

A

Solved problems: Created a new peace organization (the United Nations); agreed to the division of Germany to work towards rebuilding after the war; the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trial were held to put war criminals before International Courts.

New Challenges: Stalin distrusted Truman who he felt was secretive about the atom bomb; Stalin was becoming very aggressive in Eastern Europe and East Germany; After the US gained the atom bomb- Stalin became committed to get one too.