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Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929 crash of the US stock market. Marked the beginning of the Great Depression, but not its root cause.

Great Depression

Worldwide economic collapse caused by overproduction and financial speculation. Affected the US from October 1929 to the start of WWII in 1939.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

Government corporation endorsed by Herbert Hoover and created by Congress. It provided federal support through loans to troubled banks, railraods, and insurance companies.

Dust Bowl

Name for the southern plains of the US during the Great Depression when the region experienced massive dust storms due to soil erosion caused by poor farming practices (not planting trees/grass) and drought.

Scottsboro Nine

9 African American youths convicted of raping two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama in 1931. Communists defended them.

Bonus Army

WWI veterans who marched on Washington D.C in 1932 to demand immediate payment of their service bonuses

Herbert Hoover

31st president of the US who served during the Great Depression. Republican party.

Douglas MacArthur

General of the Bonus Army. Did not obey Hoovers orders and used excessive force to disperse the veterans and their families.

New Deal

Polices and programs that Franklin Roosevelt initiated to combat the Great Depression. Represented the dramatic expansion of the role of government in American society.

Emergency Banking Act

1933 New Deal executive order that shut down banks for several days to calm widespread panic during the Great Depression.

Glass-Steagall Act

1933 New Deal legislation that allowed solvent banks to reopen and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Twenty First Amendment

1933 Amendment repealing prohibition and the 18th amendment.

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

New Deal act in 1933 that raised prices for farm produce by paying farmers subsidies to reduce production. Many benefits but declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1936.

Public Works Administration (PWA)

1933 New Deal administration created to oversee rebuilding of America’s infrastructure, such as roads, schools, and libraries.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

New Deal work program that hired young, unmarried men to work on conservation projects. Employed about 2.5 million men and lasted until 1942.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

New Deal agency established in 1935 to put unemployed Americans to work on public projects ranging from construction to the arts.

Social Security Act

Landmark 1935 act that created retirement pensions for most Americans, as well as unemployment insurance.

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)

Also known as the Wagner Act. 1935 act that created the National Labor Relations Board, which protected workers rights to organize labor unions without owner interference.

Fair Labor Relations Act

1938 law that provided a minimum wage of 40 cents an hour and a 40 hour workweek for employees engaged in interstate commerce.

Court- Packing Plan

1937 proposal by Roosevelt to increase the size of the Supreme Court and reduce its opposition to New Deal legislation. Congress failed to pass the measure, and the scheme undermined Roosevelt’s popular support.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)

32nd president of the US who created the New Deal. He served 4 terms (1933-1945)

Eleanor Roosevelt

Franklin Roosevelt’s wife

Frances Perkins

First woman to head a cabinet agency- the Department of Labor

Harry Hopkins

Chief of New Yorks relief agency who headed the Emergency Relief Administration

Frances Townsend

Retired California physician who proposed a “Cure for Depressions.” Formed the Old-Age Revolving Pensions Corporations.

Charles Coughlin

Priest from the Detroit area who attracted Catholics and a lower middle-class following. Used radio broadcasts to discuss political and economic issues.

Huey Long

From Louisiana and proposed the greatest political threat to Roosevelt. Established the Share Our Wealth society promising to make “every man a king.” Was a Demagogue, someone who uses fears of people to gain power.

John L. Lewis

United Mine worker who proposed to incorporate industrial workers in the AFL. Defected and formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations which would recruit a wide variety of workers without respect to race, gender, or religion.