The Great Depression and the New Deal (1929-1942)

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the economic crash, social conditions, and First and Second New Deal programs of the Great Depression era.

Herbert Hoover

The Republican candidate who won the presidency in $1928$, having previously gained popularity for assisting Belgians during WWI, heading the FDA, and serving as Secretary of Commerce.

Black Tuesday

The day on October 29, $1929$, when over $16\text{ million}$ shares were sold off, triggering the stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression.

Haawley-Smoot Tariff

A protective tariff signed into law by Herbert Hoover intended to keep Americans investing domestically, which instead drove item prices high and caused consumers to buy fewer products.

Hoovervilles

The name given to shantytowns and areas where newly homeless Americans resided, sleeping on park benches and in empty railcars during the early 1930s.

Tenant farming

An agricultural system where impoverished farmers stayed on their land to work it after selling the farm to big businesses.

The Dust Bowl

An environmental disaster in the Great Plains caused by severe wind erosion that choked off rivers, killed livestock, and destroyed farmland.

"Okies"

A derogatory term applied by Californians to migrant families who fled Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas to seek work in California.

Repatriation

A process advocated by nativists in the South calling for immigrants to be returned to their homeland during the depression.

Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937

A proposal by FDR to expand the Supreme Court from $9$ to $13$ justices after the conservative court repeatedly blocked and struck down New Deal legislation.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

An agency created during FDR's first $100$ days that insured individual bank deposits for up to $\$5{,}000$ to prevent runs and bank failures.

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

A First New Deal program created to reform agricultural practices by ending overproduction and raising crop prices.

National Recovery Administration (NRA)

A New Deal administration that collaborated with businesses and labor to promote fair competition, establish the minimum wage, and stabilize prices before being ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

A Second New Deal agency established in $1935$ that constructed most of America's highways and supported programs for the arts.

John Maynard Keynes

A British economist whose ideas FDR utilized, arguing that sustained government deficit spending would revive faith in the market and alleviate the depression.

Social Security Act

Legislation passed to assist older Americans with retirement pensions and provide unemployment insurance.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

A major labor organization that expanded during the Great Depression as workers mobilized against unfair business practices.

John Lewis

The President of the United Mine Workers who worked with FDR on New Deal initiatives designed to aid union workers.

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

An organized labor federation that partnered with the United Auto Workers to expand union employment opportunities for American workers.