USA 1930s/1940s Crash Flashcards
1
Q
What year did the building industry start to fail?
A
1926
2
Q
What had Europe done in response to raised American tariffs?
A
Raised their own tariffs
3
Q
Why couldn’t America sell abroad?
A
Europeans wouldn’t pay expensive prices
4
Q
What did the Laissez faire do, meaning people couldn’t afford goods?
A
Keep wages low
5
Q
How much did most Americans earn?
A
Less than $2000 a year
6
Q
How much of the top of the country owned what?
A
top 5% of the country owned 33% of wealth
7
Q
By October 1929, shares cost..?
A
more than they were worth
8
Q
How much money did the banks lend in 1929?
A
$9 billion
9
Q
How many people were speculating by 1929?
A
20 million
10
Q
Buying on margin increased meaning what?
A
Investors only had to pay 10% while banks would lend 90% which would be repaid from share profits
11
Q
What % of shares were owned by women in the Pennsylvania Railroad?
A
50%
Nickname: Petticoat Line
12
Q
What happened on the 5th Sept 1929?
A
The Babson Break: Roger Babson says “sooner or later a crash is coming and it may be terrific”
13
Q
What happened on 21st Oct 1929?
A
Busy - so busy the ticker fell behind by 90 mins
Ticker = tells people of changes in prices
14
Q
What happened on 24th Oct 1929?
A
Busiest trading yet - big falls - banks intervene - confidence returns - prices stabalise
15
Q
What happened on 29th Oct 1929?
A
Massive fall - people sell for whatever they can get
16
Q
Could farmers afford their mortgages in the depression?
A
No - adding more debt to the pile
17
Q
What happened to highways and why in the depression?
A
Barricaded off to protect farmers
18
Q
How many farmers were evicted?
A
1 in 20
19
Q
What were farmers that left Oklahoma nicknamed?
A
Okies
20
Q
Where did most farmers go once they packed up?
A
To California down Route 66
21
Q
What happened to over farmed land?
A
Turned to dustbowls, became infertile and useless
22
Q
Why did farmers have to slaughter livestock?
A
the price for the animals was lower than the cost of transporting them
23
Q
What did farm income fall from and to?
A
$13 billion to $5 billion
24
Q
How much money did Rockefella lose?
A
$160 million
25
How much money did Winston Churchill lose?
$500,000
26
How much money did Groucho and Harpo Marx lose?
$240,000 each
27
What did President Hoover do to try to stimulate buying?
Cut taxes
28
How much did industrial and farm production fall by?
40%
29
How much did wages fall by?
60%
30
How many people were being made unemployed a day?
12,000
31
What did some men deliberately do to gain work?
Set fires to forests to get paid as firefighters
32
How many workers were unemployed at the steel centre in Cleveland and Toledo in what year?
In 1932
Cleveland = 50% unemployed
Toledo = 80%
33
What were Hoovervilles?
shanty towns where people were forced to live
34
In 1932, how many people were admitted to hospital suffering from malnutrition/starvation, and how many died?
238 people - 45 of them died
35
When did the Bank of USA in New York fail with how many investors?
December 1930 with 400,000 investors
36
How many banks in total shut over the depression?
10,000
37
How much money was withdrawn and kept at home as people didn't trust the bank?
$1 billion
38
How many companies went bankrupt?
100,000 companies
39
What did US international trade fall from and to?
$10 billion to $3 billion
40
How many people committed suicide in one year in the depression?
23,000 people
41
What did Hoover believe would happen if the govt intervened too much?
destroy American individual strength and make people lazy
42
Hoover refused to fund welfare programs because....
he thought it would reduce the incentive to work
43
What was Hoover nicknamed?
the 'do nothing' President
44
What happened in June 1932?
The Bonus March - servicemen who had fought in WW1 marched on Washington asking for their war bonuses to be paid early. Hoover refused and appointed General MacArthur to deal with them
45
What did General MacArthur do once Hoover told him to deal with the Bonus March?
MacArthur convinced himself they were communist agitators, and used tear gas and burned the marcher's camps
46
What and when was Hoover's Mexican Repatriation programme?
1929 - forced migration of 500,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans to Mexico
47
How many Mexicans forced to Mexico in Hoover's Mexican Repatriation programme were US citizens?
60%
48
What and when did Hoover's Smoot-Hawley Tariff do?
1930 raised the tariff on thousands of imported items as a failed attempt to encourage the purchase of American goods
49
How much did international trade decline by due to Hoover's Smoot-Hawley Tariff?
declined to about 20% of its earlier levels in just a few years
50
What did protesting farmers in Iowa chant?
"In Hoover we trusted, and now we are busted"
51
What act gave loans to farmers and businessmen to help prevent them from going bankrupt? Hoover
Agricultural Marketing Act (1929)
👎 it was expected to be paid back :(
52
What did Hoover set up for the unemployment?
Committee for Unemployment Relief
53
When did Hoover set up the ERA and what did it do?
Emergency Relief Act - 1932 - set aside $300 million to provide unemployment pay
54
What was the NCC supported by Hoover?
National Credit Corporation was a voluntary association of big banks that loaned to smaller banks about to collapse
55
How much money did Hoover give to state govts and when, to set up schemes of work?
$4 billion in 1931
56
What did the US Congress establish and charter in 1932?
Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which provided $2 billion in aid to state govts and loans to banks
57
Which of Hoover's acts encouraged firms to maintain high wages by requiring union supported wages on Federal Construction contracts?
the Davis-Bacon Act
58
Hoover's Weaknesses
What was wrong with Laissez faire?
created poor income distribution between the rich and poor
59
Hoover's Weaknesses
What did he believe about cycles of prosperity?
the economy went in cycles of boom and bust, and soon good times would return
60
Hoover's Weaknesses
What did the tariffs he introduced do?
Strangled trade and made the depression worse
61
Hoover's Weaknesses
What act did he block which would have provided what to create jobs?
Wagner-Garner Relief Bill - would have provided $2.1 billion
62
Hoover's Weaknesses
What were his campaigns like?
Dull, offered no solution to the depression, unsympathetic
63
FDR's Strengths
What did he overcome and how did this help him?`
Overcame polio which showed his strength and will to fight
64
FDR's Strengths
When and where was he a governor ?
1928, Governor of New York
65
FDR's Strengths
What did he do as Governor of New York?
spent $20 million on home and work relief AND set up a committee of prevention of unemployment
66
FDR's Strengths
How was he described as a character?
Cheerful, optimistic, level-headed, prepared to ask for advice, believed in an active govt
67
FDR's Strengths
How many major speeches did he make, and how many on his train?
16 major speeches and 60 more on the back of his train
68
FDR's Strengths
What did he urge from 1928?
a pension scheme and an unemployment insurance scheme to help vulnerable workers
69
FDR's Strengths
How many km did he travel on his train during his grand tour visiting voters?
20,800km on his train - helped him win as it showed he related an cared to the public that were suffering
70
Who believe the New deal is not doing enough?
Huey Long, Dr. Francis Townsend, Father Coughlin
71
What did Huey Long want?
A “share our wealth” scheme:
Personal fortunes = $3 million
Income = $1 million
72
What did Townsend want?
$200 pensions per month
73
What did Coughlin do?
Used his radio broadcast to attack FDR - he set up the National Union for Social Justice
74
Who believed the new deal was interfering too much?
Businessmen and republicans
75
What did Ford stop supporting?
The NRA, and he cut wages
76
What New Deal agencies did the Supreme Court shut down?
AAA, NRA, PWA
77
In 1935, the NRA found what corporation guilty of selling poor food, treating workers badly?
Schechter Poultry
78
What did the Supreme Court do during the Schechter Poultry scandal?
Said they could remain open and said that the NRA couldn’t interfere with state laws
79
How many new judges did FDR threaten to create who would support his policies?
6 new judges
80
List 2 actors
Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow
81
List 2 famous films of the 1930s
Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz
82
When was the academy awards (Oscars) first broadcasted
1930 on the radio
83
What did The Grapes of Wrath show?
The fate of Okies who had been evicted from their homes during the depression
84
How many radios were there by 1939
28 million
85
Give two new comics that appeared after the depression?
Superman and Batman
86
What is the name of a baseball team that became famous even outside of the US?
The Harlem Globetrotters
87
What organisation provided money to help Native Americans buy and improve land?
The Indian Reorganisation Act 1934
88
What did the Indian Reservation Act 1934 do?
Helped native Americans to preserve and practise their culture, traditions and laws
89
How many black Americans were employed by the CCC?
200,000
90
Did FDR ever pass a law to stop lynching?
No
91
Out of how many WPA supervisors in the South, how many were black?
Out of 10,000, only 11 were black
92
By 1935 how many people were unemployed?
10.6 million
93
How many people were unemployed by 1941?
6 millio
94
Who was the first female Secretary for Labour?
Frances Perkins
95
How many corrupt officials did Frances Perkins remove from her department?
59
96
Who was the black woman who headed the National Youth Administration?
Mary Bethune
97
How many women did the WPA employ?
460,000
98
How many women were employed by the CCC?
8000
99
What does CIO stand for and when was it set up?
Committee for Industrial Organisation in 1935
100
In 1937, how many strikes were there, and what % settled in the workers favour?
4700 - 80%
101
What were weekly wages in 1929 and then 1939?
```
1929 = $25
1939 = $23
```
102
What was FDR accused of being?
Communist / dictator
103
How much did the US states spend on welfare payments in 1930?
$9 million
104
How much did the US states spend on welfare payments in 1940?
$479 million
105
First New Deal
Who did the CCC aim their jobs at?
Unmarried 18-25 men who signed up for 6 months at a time for most environmental projects in National Parks
106
First New Deal
How many people did the CCC employ?
2.5 million
107
First New Deal
Who didn’t like the CCC?
Republicans thought it gave too much help to the people and was very costly for tax payers
108
First New Deal
Why were a series of dams built on the Tennessee River?
To irrigate land, control water flow and provide building jobs, hydroelectricity eg. Fontana Dam
109
First New Deal
Why was the TVA unpopular?
Unpopular with small electricity companies as it put them out of business as TVA were strong
110
First New Deal
What did the EBA do?
Close down all banks and open 5000 trustworthy banks
111
First New Deal
What did the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) do in the EBA?
FDIC insured deposits up to $5000
112
First New Deal
What did the PWA do and how much did they spend?
Built schools, dams, bridges, airports, spending $3 billion and providing short term jobs
113
First New Deal
What did the AAA do?
Set quotas on agricultural produce to help reduce overproduction and raise prices
114
First New Deal
What did the NRA do?
Improved working conditions, outlawed child labour, fixed wages, sensible production levels
115
First New Deal
How many employers joined the Blue Eagle Badge Scheme?
2 million
116
Second New Deal
How much did the FSA loan farmers and why?
Over $1 billion to farmers helping them during the depression and set up camps for migrant workers
117
Second New Deal
What project of the FSA’s took how many photos of farm land?
The Farm Security Administration Photographic Project - 80,000 pictures
118
Second New Deal
How many jobs did the WPA create in how many years?
8 million jobs in 8 years
119
Second New Deal
What did the SSA do?
Gave financial help to the sick and disabled, provided pensions for the elderly and widows, set up unemployment schemes
120
Second New Deal
What does SSA stand for?
Social security Acts
121
Second New Deal
What is the National Labour Relations Act also known as? And what did it replace?
Wagner Act replaced NRA
122
Second New Deal
What did the Wagner Act do?
Employers must allow staff to join unions, unions were allowed to negotiate better pay and conditions
