Untitled Flashcards Set

New Deal

Phrase used to describe all of Franklin Roosevelt’s policies and programs to combat the Great Depression.

Brain Trust

FDR’s reform-minded intellectual advisers, who conceived much of the New Deal legislation.

Hundred Days

Popular term for the special session of Congress in early 1933 that rapidly passed vast quantities of Roosevelt-initiated legislation and handed the president sweeping power.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Early New Deal agency that worked to solve the problems of unemployment and conservation by employing youth in reforestation and other beneficial tasks.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Large federal employment program, established in 1935 under Harry Hopkins, that provided jobs in areas from road building to art.

Blue Eagle

Widely displayed symbol of the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which attempted to reorganize and reform U.S. industry.

Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)

New Deal farm agency that attempted to raise prices by paying farmers to reduce their production of crops and animals.

Dust Bowl

The drought-stricken plains areas from which hundreds of thousands of Okies and Arkies were driven during the Great Depression.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

New Deal agency that produced low-cost electrical power while providing full employment, soil conservation, and low-cost housing to an entire region.

Social Security Act

New Deal program that financed old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and other forms of income assistance.

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

The new union group that organized large numbers of unskilled workers with the help of the Wagner Act and the National Labor Relations Board.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

New Deal agency established to provide a public watchdog against deception and fraud in stock trading.

American Liberty League

Organization of wealthy Republicans and conservative Democrats whose attacks on the New Deal caused Roosevelt to denounce them as economic royalists.

Court-Packing Plan

Roosevelt’s criticized scheme for gaining Supreme Court approval of New Deal legislation.

Keynesian Economics

Economic theory holding that governments should run deliberate deficits to aid the economy in times of depression.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Former New York governor who mobilized the nation against the depression with his appeal to the 'forgotten man'.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Presidential wife who became an effective lobbyist for the poor during the New Deal.

Francis E. Townsend

Leader of the senior citizen movement calling for the federal government to pay $200 a month to everyone over sixty.

Harry Hopkins

Influential FDR adviser and head of several New Deal agencies.

Father Coughlin

‘Microphone messiah’ whose mass radio appeals turned anti-New Deal and anti-Semitic.

Huey ‘Kingfish’ Long

Louisiana senator who promised to make 'every man a king' at the expense of the wealthy.

George W. Norris

Progressive senator from Nebraska whose advocacy helped bring about the TVA.

Harold Ickes

Former progressive who oversaw public building projects while preventing waste.

John Steinbeck

Writer whose novel depicted the suffering of Dust Bowl Okies.

John L. Lewis

Boss of the mine workers’ union who launched the CIO.

Frances Perkins

Roosevelt's secretary of labor; first female cabinet member.

Alfred M. Landon

Republican who lost the 1936 election against FDR.

Ruth Benedict

Social scientist who argued that each culture produces its own type of personality.

John Maynard Keynes

British economist whose theories justified New Deal deficit spending.

Mary McLeod Bethune

Director of Minority Affairs for the National Youth Administration; highest Black official in Roosevelt's administration.

Ohio Gang

Poker-playing cronies from Harding's state who contributed to corruption in his administration.

Adkins v. Children’s Hospital

Supreme Court ruling that removed women’s workplace protection.

American Legion

World War I veterans’ group promoting patriotism and economic benefits for servicemen.

Five-Power Naval Treaty

Agreement that reduced naval strength among major naval powers.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

International agreement pledging nations to outlaw war.

Teapot Dome

Naval oil reserve implicated in a major Harding administration scandal.

McNary-Haugen Bill

Farm proposal passed by Congress but vetoed by the president.

Dawes Plan

Arrangement for rescheduling German reparations payments to facilitate American bank loans to Germany.

Hoovercrats

Southern Democrats who voted for Republicans in the 1928 election.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

High tariff bill that exacerbated the Great Depression.

Black Tuesday

The day of the Wall Street stock market crash in October 1929.

Hoovervilles

Depression-era shantytowns named after President Hoover.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

Federal agency providing loans to banks and businesses during the Great Depression.

Bonus Army

Camp of unemployed veterans driven out of Washington in 1932.

Manchuria

Chinese province invaded by the Japanese army in 1932.

Warren G. Harding

President whose administration was marked by widespread corruption.

Charles Evans Hughes

Cabinet leader who initiated major naval agreements.

Andrew Mellon

Wealthy industrialist and conservative treasury secretary in the 1920s.

Henry Sinclair

Oilman implicated in the Teapot Dome scandal.

John Davis

Weak Democratic candidate in the 1924 election.

Albert B. Fall

Harding's interior secretary convicted of taking bribes.

Harry Daugherty

U.S. attorney general involved in Harding's Ohio Gang.

Calvin Coolidge

President known for his frugality and pro-business policies.

Robert La Follette

Leader of a liberal third-party movement.

Herbert Hoover

Secretary of Commerce whose reputation suffered during the Great Depression.

Al Smith

‘Happy Warrior’ who lost votes in the South despite urban support.

Black Tuesday

Worst single event of the 1929 stock market crash.

Charles Dawes

Vice president after 1925 who negotiated the rescheduling of reparations.

Douglas MacArthur

General who ousted the Bonus Army from Washington.

Henry Stimson

Secretary of State seeking sanctions against Japan for aggression.

Red Scare

Public panic in 1919–1920 due to fear of Bolshevism.

Ku Klux Klan

Group promoting Anglo-Saxon and Protestant values against immigrants.

Immigration Act of 1924

Legislation reducing immigrant numbers and discriminating against southern and eastern Europeans.

Cultural Pluralism

Theory advocating the retention of immigrant traditions in America.

Prohibition

Policy resulting from the Eighteenth Amendment, leading to organized crime.

Scopes Trial

Trial that debated the teaching of evolution in schools.

Model T

Henry Ford's affordable and mass-produced automobile.

The Birth of a Nation

D. W. Griffith’s controversial 1915 film about Reconstruction.

Radio

New consumer product that encouraged families to stay home.

Birth Control Movement

Movement led by Margaret Sanger advocating for women's reproductive rights.

Jazz

Syncopated music style popularized by African Americans in the 1920s.

Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

Marcus Garvey’s organization promoting black empowerment.

The American Mercury

H. L. Mencken’s magazine challenging traditional values.

This Side of Paradise

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel celebrating youth and setting the tone for the Jazz Age.

Harlem Renaissance

Cultural explosion in New York highlighting African American art and literature.

A. Mitchell Palmer

Attorney General who conducted raids against alleged Bolsheviks.

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti

Italian American anarchists whose trial and execution sparked protests.

Al Capone

Infamous gangster of the 1920s convicted on tax evasion charges.

John Dewey

Philosopher who supported progressive education.

William Jennings Bryan

Political leader who opposed evolution in the Scopes Trial.

Henry Ford

Automotive pioneer known for mass production techniques.

Bruce Barton

Leader in the advertising industry who wrote a book on Jesus.

Langston Hughes

Poet of the Harlem Renaissance known for his impactful verses.

Charles A. Lindbergh

Aviation pioneer celebrated for his historic flight.

Marcus Garvey

Leader enhancing African American pride and advocating for resettlement plans.

Randolph Bourne

Intellectual promoting cultural pluralism.

H. L. Mencken

Writer critiquing American societal values.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Author whose works resonated with 1920s youth.

Ernest Hemingway

Writer who expressed disillusionment post-World War I.

Gertrude Stein

Writer known for her avant-garde literature and salons.