APUSH Ch. 23 Terms

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover (R) was the 31st president of the United States. He served one term, from 1929 to 1933 (first part of the Great Depression).

Smoot-Hawley Tariff

The Smoot-Hawley Tariff, also known as the Tariff Act of 1930, was a US law that significantly increased tariffs on imported goods, primarily aimed at protecting American farmers, but ultimately worsened the Great Depression by triggering retaliatory tariffs from other countries, severely impacting global trade; it is widely considered a negative example of protectionist trade policy.

RFC

The Reconstruction Finance Corp. (RFC) was an agency authorized by the U.S. government to loan money to assist the nation's ailing banks after the stock market crash of 1929 and during the Great Depression that followed.

Hoovervilles/Hoover blankets

Urban shantytowns were dubbed Hoovervilles. Newspapers used by the destitute as bundling for warmth became known as Hoover blankets. Pockets turned inside out were called Hoover flags. Somebody had to be blamed, and many Americans blamed their President.

Bonus Army

The Bonus Army of the Great Depression refers to World War I veterans who marched in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1932. The Bonus Army was demanding payment of bonuses they were to receive for fighting in World War I early, rather than in 1945 as they were promised.

Franklin Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D) (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), commonly known by his initials FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States (during the Great Depression), serving from 1933 until his death in 1945.

20^th amendment

The 20th Amendment to the US Constitution, often called the "Lame Duck Amendment," changed the start date for presidential and congressional terms, moving them from March 4 to January 20 for the President and Vice President, and January 3 for members of Congress, essentially shortening the period between an election and the start of a new term, reducing the "lame duck" period when outgoing officials served after losing re-election.

fireside chats

The fireside chats were a series of evening radio addresses given by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, between 1933 and 1944.

Hundred Days

Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933. He immediately summoned the United States Congress into a three-month (nearly 100-day) special session, during which he presented and was able to rapidly get passed a series of 15 major bills designed to counter the effects of the Great Depression.

Emergency Banking Act

The Emergency Banking Act of 1933 was legislation intended to restore the nation's confidence in its financial system after banks had been shut down for a week (the famous "bank holiday") to prevent any more runs by depositors.

Glass-Steagall Act/FDIC

The Glass-Steagall Act effectively separated commercial banking from investment banking and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, among other things. It was one of the most widely debated legislative initiatives before being signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in June 1933.

Agricultural Adjustment Act

The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was a federal law passed in 1933 as part of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. The law offered farmers subsidies in exchange for limiting their production of certain crops. The subsidies were meant to limit overproduction so that crop prices could increase.

National Recovery Administration

The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a government agency created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 to help revive the economy during the Great Depression. The NRA established industry-wide codes that set standards for production, prices, and wages. The codes were intended to be voluntary, but companies that complied could display a Blue Eagle emblem in their windows.

Federal Emergency Relief Administration

the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), was funded with $500 million to provide direct relief for the needy. Half of the money was given to the states as direct grants-in-aid to help furnish food and clothing to the unemployed, the aged, and the ill.

PWA/CWA/Harry Hopkins

PWA stands for Public Works Administration, CWA stands for Civil Works Administration, and Harry Hopkins was a New Deal relief program director and US secretary of commerce. The Public Works Administration was a New Deal agency that created jobs by hiring the unemployed to build public works projects like roads, bridges, and subways. Harold Ickes Sr. led the PWA. The Civil Works Administration was a New Deal agency that created temporary jobs for millions of unemployed workers during the Great Depression. Harry Hopkins led the CWA. 

Civilian Conservation Corps

Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. The CCC or C's as it was sometimes known, allowed single men between the ages of 18 and 25 to enlist in work programs to improve America's public lands, forests, and parks.

HOLC/Federal Housing Administration

The Home Owner's Loan Corporation (HOLC) was created in 1933 to provide mortgage relief to home owners at risk of losing their homes through foreclosure. The HOLC also developed a comprehensive housing plan that served as the basis for the National Housing Act of 1934. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a government agency, established by the National Housing Act of 1934, to regulate interest rates and mortgage terms after the banking crisis of the 1930s.

Securities and Exchange Commission

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the U.S. government oversight agency responsible for regulating the securities markets and protecting investors. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 established the SEC, mainly in response to the stock market crash of 1929 in the leadup to the Great Depression.

Liberty League

The American Liberty League was an American political organization formed in 1934. Its membership consisted primarily of wealthy business elites and prominent political figures (mostly conservative Dems.), who were for the most part conservatives opposed to the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

National Association of Manufacturers

The National Association of Manufacturers was influential in establishing public relations as a permanent fixture in American corporate life. The Association took up the use of public relations in the depths of the. depression, promoted its use strongly, and increased its stature.

Schechter v. United States

Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States was a 1935 Supreme Court case that struck down a provision of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) as unconstitutional.

Townsend Plan

The basic idea of the Townsend Plan was that the government would provide a pension of $200 per month to every citizen age 60 and older. The pensions would be funded by a 2% national sales tax (more precisely, a "transactions tax").

Father Charles Coughlin

Father Charles Coughlin was a Catholic priest and radio broadcaster who offered hope to Americans during the Great Depression by promoting economic and social reform. His radio show, The Hour of Power, was second in popularity only to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "fireside chats". Coughlin's message was based on his theory of "social justice" and his belief that monetary reform was necessary. Coughlin later fell out with Roosevelt, accusing him of being too friendly to bankers.

Huey Long

Huey Long (1893-1935) was a controversial, left-wing populist politician and Louisiana governor and U.S. senator during the Great Depression. A Democrat who championed the poor against the rich and corporate interests. He was a critic of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, which he believed was not radical enough. 

welfare state

The welfare state is a political system where the government plays a key role in providing economic and social security for its citizens. The Great Depression led to a change in attitudes towards the role of government in providing for the well-being of its citizens.

Wagner Act/NLRB

The Wagner Bill proposed to create a new independent agency—the National Labor Relations Board, made up of three members appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate-to enforce employee rights rather than to mediate disputes.

Social Security Act

An act to provide for the general welfare by establishing a system of Federal old-age benefits, and by enabling the several States to make more adequate provision for aged persons, blind persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment.

classical liberalism

Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, economic freedom, political freedom and freedom of speech. Classical liberalism, contrary to liberal branches like social liberalism, looks more negatively on social policies, taxation and the state involvement in the lives of individuals, and it advocates deregulation.

Works Progress Administration

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a groundbreaking job program designed to provide unemployed Americans with work and income during a time when many were “on the dole” and struggling to make ends meet.

“pack” the court

Franklin D. Roosevelt's "court-packing" plan was a proposal to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court in order to get more favorable rulings for his New Deal legislation.

Roosevelt recession

Federal expenditure was cut in June 1937 to meet Roosevelt's long-held belief in a balanced budget. He hoped that business had by this time recovered sufficiently to fill in the gaps caused by government cutbacks. However the cutbacks instead led to what has become known as the Roosevelt Recession. The Roosevelt Recession (1937-1938) was a severe economic downturn.

Keynesian economics

Keynesian economics is a macroeconomic theory of total spending in the economy and its effects on output, employment, and inflation. It was developed by British economist John Maynard Keynes during the 1930s in an attempt to deal with the effects of the Great Depression.

CIO

The CIO was founded in 1935 by John L. Lewis, a leader of the United Mine Workers (UMW), as a committee within the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The CIO's purpose was to encourage the AFL to organize workers in mass production industries. 

Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the fourth United States Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of the Democratic Party, Perkins was the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms as president. She advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees. Following her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt remained active in politics for the remaining 17 years of her life.

“black cabinet”

The Black Cabinet was an informal advisory group of African American civil servants who lobbied for African Americans to receive equal access to federal benefits and employment and job training programs associated with President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.

Mary McLeod Bethune

Mary McLeod Bethune was a passionate educator and presidential advisor. In her long career of public service, she became one of the earliest black female activists that helped lay the foundation to the modern civil rights movement.

Scotsboro Boys

That drama revolved around nine Black youths charged with raping two white girls on a freight train in Alabama. The youths became known as the Scottsboro Boys, and the case became a window into the South's unremittingly brutal system of justice.

John Collier/Indian Reorganization Act

As the centerpiece of the “Indian New Deal,” the IRA focused on protecting tribal land, reestablishing tribal governments, and spurring economic development among Indigenous nations. Spearheaded by John Collier, commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) under President Franklin D.

NYA

The National Youth Administration (NYA) was a New Deal program that helped millions of young people during the Great Depression by providing jobs, education, and other opportunities. Helped Mexican-Americans.

MAM

The youth organization, the Mexican-American Movement, gained funding from the New Deal and helped the Mexican youth.

Tydings-McDuffie Act

The Tydings-McDuffie Act, officially the Philippine Independence Act (Pub. L. 73-127, 48 Stat. 456, enacted March 24, 1934), is a United States federal law that established the process for the Philippines, then an American colony, to become an independent country after a ten-year transition period.

“dust bowl”

The Dust Bowl was a period of drought and high winds that caused severe dust storms in the southern plains of the United States. The term refers to both the region affected and the event itself.

“Okies”

"Okie" has been historically defined as "a migrant agricultural worker; esp: such a worker from Oklahoma" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary). The term became derogatory in the 1930s when massive migration westward occurred.

Tennessee Valley Authority

President Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act on May 18, 1933, creating the TVA as a federal corporation. The new agency was asked to tackle important problems facing the valley, such as flooding, providing electricity to homes and businesses, and replanting forests.

Rural Electrification Administration

In the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 7037 on May 11, 1935 establishing the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), a temporary agency tasked with deciding how to fund rural electric systems.

Grand Coulee Dam

The Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in Washington State that was a key part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs.

Federal Writer’s Project

WPA Federal Writers' Project, a program established in the United States in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as part of the New Deal struggle against the Great Depression. It provided jobs for unemployed writers, editors, and research workers.