Final Review- Depression/New Deal

Flashcards covering the key terms, causes, and programs of the Great Depression and the New Deal based on lecture notes.

Speculation & Buying on Margin

Buying stocks to invest in companies in the hope they make a profit; involves putting down $5\%$ of the stock price and borrowing the rest from a stock broker at $20\%$ interest.

Market crash (causes)

Caused by decreasing prices which led to panic; brokers demanded more money from borrowers (margin calls), resulting in millions of shares being sold and billions of dollars lost.

Bank failure

A major cause of the Depression caused by bank runs, where people rushed to withdraw their money simultaneously.

International trade decline

A cause of the Depression where tariffs raised in the U.S. influenced other countries to do the same, shrinking the money supply and showing a lack of government control.

Dust Bowl

A major drought in the Southwest (Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, New Mex.) causing violent windstorms that killed livestock and caused breathing problems.

Oakies & Arkies

Dust Bowl migrants (approximately $2$ million) who fled west to California; they were not welcome and lived in shacks and cars.

Years of Depression

The period spanning from $1928$ to $1941$.

Women helping family cope

Women provided for the family by making food from scratch (using canned veggies) and searching for jobs while men searched for job opportunities.

Okies

A discriminatory abbreviation for Dust Bowl migrants specifically from Oklahoma.

Hoover Blankets

Newspapers used as blankets by impoverished and homeless Americans; the name was a criticism of President Herbert Hoover's inaction during the economic crisis.

Depression

A severe worldwide economic downturn in $1929$ beginning with the U.S. Stock Market crash, characterized by mass unemployment, bank failures, decline in international trade, and poverty.

Overproduction

A cause of unemployment where businesses produced more than people could buy, forcing cutbacks and layoffs.

Repatriation

When someone is forced or pressured to return to their home country.

Hoover Flags

A sarcastic term for empty pockets turned inside out, symbolizing poverty and unemployment.

Sharecropping

A system where poor or formerly enslaved farmers rent land from a landowner and pay with a share of their crops instead of money; often lead to debt due to high prices charged by landowners.

Foreclosure

When a bank or lender takes back a home or farm because the owner cannot keep up with mortgage payments.

Recession

A period when the economy slows down and businesses make less money; this is how the Great Depression began.

Migration

The movement of people from one place to another to find jobs, better living conditions, or safety (e.g., Dust Bowl migrants).

Hoovervilles

Makeshift shantytowns built by homeless and unemployed people; they were made of scraps and had no sanitation.

Tenant Farmers

Farmers who rent land from a landowner and pay rent with cash or crops (distinct from sharecroppers who pay specifically with a share of the harvest).

Stock Market

A place where shares of companies are bought and sold.

Margin Call

A demand from a broker for an investor to add more money or pay back a loan used to buy stocks; during the Depression, these forced quick sales that worsened the market crash.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

A $1930$ Act that raised taxes on imported goods to a level where foreign goods could not compete in the American market.

Black Tuesday

October $29$, $1929$, the day when stock prices fell sharply in the Great Crash.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

A government agency created in $1932$ by Herbert Hoover to loan money to banks, railroads, and many businesses; Americans felt its impact was limited as it mainly helped big institutions.

Herbert Hoover's belief on govt. role

He believed the government should play a little role, limit spending, avoid direct relief, and rely on voluntary action and aid to businesses.

Fireside Chats

Radio speeches given by FDR to explain government programs simply, which restored public confidence in banks and made Americans feel seen.

AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act)

Paid farmers to reduce production in order to raise crop prices.

CCC (Civilian Conservation Camps)

Gave young men jobs on environmental projects.

TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)

Built dams to provide electricity, jobs, and flood control.

NRA (National Recovery Administration)

Set rules for wages, prices, and working conditions.

FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Administration)

Gave direct aid to the unemployed.

SSA (Social Security Act)

Provided pensions for the elderly and aid for the disabled and unemployed.

WPA (Works Progress Administration)

Created millions of jobs building roads, schools, and bridges.

Wagner Act

Protected workers' rights to form unions and bargain.

Wealth Tax Act

Increased taxes on the rich to reduce inequality.

Hundred Days

The first three months of FDR's presidency in $1933$, during which he and Congress passed many New Deal laws quickly for relief, recovery, and reform.

Sick Chicken Case

Schechter Poultry Corp. v. U.S.; the court ruled the federal government overreached its power, weakening the First New Deal and forcing FDR to rethink programs.

Huey Long

A powerful populist politician in the $1930s$ who criticized the New Deal for not doing enough to help the poor; he argued wealth should be redistributed and poverty ended.

Eleanor Roosevelt

The first politically active First Lady; she advocated for the poor, women, African Americans, and youth, and traveled to see conditions firsthand for FDR.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)

The $32nd$ President of the US, serving $4$ terms ($1933-1945$); he created the New Deal and expanded the federal government's economic role.

Court Packing

FDR's failed plan to add more Supreme Court Justices to stop the court from striking down New Deal programs.

Federal government's role shift

The relationship shifted from the government being a passive observer of the economy to being an active regulator and manager of its stability.