Unit Three Flashcards
What occurred in 1929?
Stock market crash exposed weaknesses, damaged economy, Oct. 1929; Great Depression.
What was the state of agriculture during the 1930s?
Agricultural crisis.
What occurred to the older industries in the 1930s? Which specific industries (4)?
Decline in older industries:
coal, cotton mills, railroad, lumber.
What occurred on a wide scale to companies and the different classes in the 1930s?
Corporate consolidation and unequal distribution of wealth.
What occurred to consumer industries in the 1930s?
Consumer industries near saturation point.
What occurred to wages in the 1930s?
Inequitable wage increases.
What occurred to the general stock market in the 1930s?
Market speculation- stocks were overvalued
“margin buying”- buying stocks on credit became a problem
What occurred to general confidence in the 1930s?
Declining business and consumer confidence.
What happened to business and bank in the 1930s?
Bank and business failures.
What occurred to employment rates in the 1930s?
Unprecedented unemployment.
What was the underling cause for the problem in the 1930s?
Overproduction – underconsumption.
We could mass produce but not mass consume
What is a Hooverville?
Makeshift homes, of cardboard/ plywood, that those who became homeless created.
What was Herbert Hoover’s initial response to the Great Depression?
Have Faith in America’s economy.
What did Herbert Hoover to deal with the Great Depression?
Volunteerism.
- asking companies to do the right thing for society
- companies initially complied then didn’t
What did Herbert Hoover not initially allow for?
Rejection of federal relief efforts, called them un-American
What occurred when Herbert Hoover created small programs?
Small programs were too little too late.
What were (3) wrong measures that Herbert Hoover implemented?
Wrong measures:
Hawley-Smoot Tariff (raised tariff-international trade at a standstill)
balanced budget (government didn’t spend more than what’s coming in)
tax increases
What event concerned veterans?
What occurred?
What did Herbert Hoover do?
Bonus Army, 1932.
WWI veterans demanded gov. bonus early.
20,000 in Washington, D.C., forced out by military, under Hoover’s orders
What occurred in the next presidential election?
Landslide victory for FDR.
What occurred in the 1930s to the majority of people (3)?
Unprecedented suffering
Starvation
Increased crime
What two services were provided more?
Bread lines
Soup Kitchens
What three social statistics changed?
Increased suicide rates
Declining marriage rates
Declining birth rates
What two mentalities changed?
Self hate- individuals believed themselves at fault
Lack of hope for future
What two factors allowed for FDRoosevelt to unite the democrats?
The Great Depression caused problems hat affected everyone, therefore uniting them, despite their differences.
FDR was very charming and persuasive.
What did FDR do (general) to help fix the Depression?
New Deals
What act of the First New Deal concerned banking?
Emergency Banking Act, 1933. Lend money to banks, restore confidence.
What program of the First New Deal was a highly successful regional program?
Tennessee Valley Authority, TVA, 1933. Built dams, hydroelectric power plants.
What act of the First New Deal concerned industry?
National Recovery Administration. NRA 1933. Create industrial recovery, stabilize prices, production.
What act of the First New Deal concerned agriculture?
Agricultural Adjustment Act, AAA, 1933. Stabilize prices, limit production, pay subsidies (to keep them from producing to much), destroy crops that are in excess
What act of the First New Deal concerned the general cause of the Depression? Led by? Did?
Federal Emergency Relief Act, FERA, 1933.
led by Harry Hopkins, federal welfare, relief payments.
What important program of the First New Deal concerned unemployment?
Civilian Conservation Corps, CCC, 1933.
Jobs for youth, promote conservation
(for parks and forests, fixed them)
What did many work administrations do?
Work to counteract unemployment
What program of the Second New Deal concerned unemployment? What was special about it?
Works Progress Administration, WPA, 1935. Develop infrastructure,
promote American culture- hired artists, actors, painters; created federal theater project- to give plays and make murals; basically gave them jobs
What act of the Second New Deal helped fund other acts?
Wealth Tax Act, 1935.
What was the first act of the Second New Deal that was more permeant?
Social Security Act, 1935. Old-age pensions, disability payments, unemployment compensation.
What other two acts of the Second New Deal were more permeant?
National Labor Relations Act, 1935. Established right of unionization and collective bargaining.
Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938. Established minimum wage, maximum hours.
What two organizations were very different, but both critics of the new deal?
CPUSA. Dreams of revolution were disappointed, communists Liberty League.
The “millionaire’s club” considered the New Deal un-American.
What was a major threat to FDR’s new deal?
Demagogues were threatening to FDR.
Who were the three major Demagogues that threatened FDR?
Father Charles Coughlin
- Detroit radio priest.
- Founder of National Union for Social Justice.
- said New Deal didn’t do enough
- eventually compared to Hitler (due to his fascism and anti-semitism)
Dr. Francis Townsend -pension guy
- Two hundred dollars per month for the elderly.
- required they must spend it
- put pressure on FDR
Huey Long
- Louisiana governor and senator.
- Share-Our-Wealth Society.
- wanted to tax rich heavily, and give it to the poor
- Assassinated, 1935.
How did the New Deal affect the Depression?
New Deal did not end Depression, but helped Americans survive.
How did the New Deal affect the presidency?
It strengthened presidency and federal government.
How did the New Deal affect capitalism?
FDR saved and reformed American capitalism.
How did the New Deal affect democracy?
Democracy survived in United States.
What occurred to minorities during the Depression?
Little progress for minority rights: feminism declined and racial prejudice intensified (people believed that blacks shouldn’t have jobs until all whites do).
How did the programs effect African Americans?
African Americans benefitted from some New Deal programs.
What was one famous case of discrimination during the 1930s?
“Scottsboro boys”- black boys accused of rape by white women The accusation was fabricated, but it took a while for the boys to be released from prison
Who was an active civil rights activist during the 1930s?
Eleanor Roosevelt was eloquent champion of civil rights and women’s rights.
What eventually occurred concerning minorities and federal jobs? What is one important example?
High level positions in federal government. Frances Perkins was the first home secretary of something (labor) in the federal government, she was appointed by FDR.
What occurred concerning labor when FDR took the presidency?
Strikes and labor unrest became more numerous.
How were labor unions effected by the new deal?
Labor unions benefited from New Deal.
What new union emerged and grew during the 1930s? Who did they unionize(4)? What (3) things did they promote?
John Lewis formed Congress of Industrial Organizations, CIO, 1936.
Auto, steel, textile, electrical workers unionized.
CIO promoted economic freedom, industrial democracy, and cultural pluralism (pensions, public housing, welfare, safety net, diversity)
What strike was successful?
Sit-down Strike at GM, 1937 -sat down and refused to work -prevented worker replacement -demanded union recognition
What strike was unsuccessful, and ended tragically?
Memorial Day Massacre at Republic Steel Company -police shot into workers that were walking to factory - workers wanted union recognition
What did FDR and the court fight over?
FDR’s “court-packing plan.”
- Proposal to add more justices failed.
- He had wanted new justices because the old ones were rejecting his bills
Who stopped further reform?
Southern Democrats and Republicans stopped further reform.
What weakened Roosevelt’s rule?
Roosevelt recession
-Reduction in government spending (because of fear of debt) led to spike in unemployment, then started spending again and the unemployment went back down
Who gained power in congress?
Republican gains in Congressional elections
What environmental occurence stengtened the effect of the Depression?
What happened?
The Dust Bowl
Overfarming and a massive drought hurt the soil, turning it, essentailly into dust. Windstorms kicked up the dust, destoyed farms, and people moved away.
During the 1920s what type of forign policy did the US undertake in?
U.S. promoted trade, peace, but refused to play leadership role.
During the 1920s what was the US Foreign Policy called?
Meaning?
Independent internationalism.
We had freindly relations, but no allies.
What treaty occured as a result of WWI and US forign policy?
What did it do?
Kellogg-Briand Treaty, 1928.
Attempt to outlaw war.
What caused a change in US policy in the Western Hemisphere?
Declining European threat in western hemisphere.
What specifically changed about US policy in the Western Hemisphere? The name,a nd what it was?
What was the Latin American repsonse?
Clark Memorandum
U.S. renounced Roosevelt Corollary: tried to dominate but did so economically not militarly
US-Latin American relations improved
What was the new US policy in the Western Hemisphere called?
What did we pledge to do?
FDR’s “good neighbor” policy.
Pledge of nonintervention, 1933.
What inspired US isolationism?
Great Depression and WW I experience strengthened desire for noninvolvement.
What was found about the arms industry? What was assumed?
They were profitable during the war.
They were believed to have forced the US into war.
What did the three Neutrality Act outline (in order)?
Neutrality Act, 1935, no U.S. arms sales to belligerents.
Neutrality Act, 1936, banned loans to belligerents.
Neutrality Act, 1937, cash and carry regulations for non-military items (must pay in cash and transport themselves).
Who were the three aggressor nations, and who ruled them at the time?
Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler.
Fascist Italy with Benito Mussolini.
Imperial Japan under Emperor Hirohito, premier Hideki Tojo.
What was considered a WWII “dress rehersal”?
Spanish Civil War, 1936-39.
What were the three aggressor nations called, and what did they sign?
Axis powers signed Tripartite Pact.
What two things did Hitler do to begin the war in Europe?
Hitler annexed Austria
Nazis threatened Czechoslovakia, demanding Sudetenland
What occured when Hitler threatened Sudetenland?
What was decided?
Munich Conference, Sept. 1938.
Britain backed down: “appeasement” policy, Hitler got Sudetenland if he promised not to annex any other lands.
What two things did Hitler do after the Munich Conference?
What was the date and result of teh second event?
Hitler occupied Czechoslovakia
Hitler attacked Poland, 1939, start of WWI
After Hitler attacked Poland what did the other major European powers do?
Britain, France declared war on Germany.
What was Japan doing, before the war even started?
Japan occupied Manchuria and attacked coastal regions of China.