great depression test (multiple choice content)

herbert hoover

* promoted higher tariffs as a way of encouraging domestic consumption
* believed in voluntaryism: american’s were expected to pitch in + donate to charities + volunteer (POUR)
* associationalism: assumed american’s could maintain volunteer organizations for economic assistance
* RFC - reconstruction finance corporation: provided emergency loans to banks (didn’t work)

FDR

new deal, second new deal, won against Hoover cuz hoover wasn’t very popular (not saying much !!)

Douglas MacArthur, John J. Pershing, Jack Pershing

military generals

* suppressed bonus army
* worked together to violently kick out bonus army veteran protestors

Dorothea Lange

photographer + photojournalist

depression-era work on Farm Security Administration

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

novel written in 1939

* Focuses on a family of farmers fleeing Oklahoma, going to California to escape the Dust Bowl and to find jobs

Huey Long, “The Kingfish” (aka “Robinhood”)

* controversial Louisiana governor


* wanted to distribute everyone’s money so everybody is at the same level
* if you have too much money you’d have it taken away and given to people with too little money

Joe Kennedy

* treasurer; controversial
* head of securities and exchange commission; bootlegger; ambassador to Great Britain from Boston
* NEPOTISM!! also JFKs dad

smoot-Hawley tariff act

* hoover raised tariffs on goods coming to america; other countries raised tariffs on american goods so the economy ended up slowing down
* passed in 1930
* triggered a global trade war

hooverville

term for homeless people during great depression cuz of hoover

voluntaryism

* Hoover’s belief that the government shouldn’t help people, the people should help each other in the American way –so no government intervention

Black Thursday/Black Tuesday

* stock prices plummeted
* october 1929
* at the time most people didn’t actually own stocks, but people started to lose confidence in the economy which then led to people withdrawing all their savings at once

NYSE (the NY stock exchange)

related to Black Tuesday and the stock market crash

Wall St.

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* A street in NYC that is known for the stock exchange and business deals 

Speculation

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* When you borrow and invest in the market because you think you can make a quick buck/easy money
* risks too much money, didn’t work in great depression

“Margin” purchase of stock

* when investors borrow money from their broker to purchase stocks


* broker: someone who arranges transactions between buyer and seller

panic

economic panic on wall street/financial markets

* Some kind of bad news, or particular event that triggers people to want to get their money out of the stock market/or bank
* triggers domino effect

banking crisis

when multiple banks across the country have a debt greater than their equity

* great depression had worst systemic banking crisis of the 20th century

Role of Germany / WWI settlement in US economic collapse

* US removed funding meant for Germany → German economy collapses
* treaty of Versailles forced Germany to pay debt after WW1

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself”

FDR quote

* how he addressed the great depression

fireside chats

radio podcast w/ FDR to informally reassure Americans

first new deal

FDR

* policies made to combat great depression
* included programs such as:
* Civilian Conservation Corps: provided jobs for young men
* Social Security Act: provided safety net for elderly + disabled Americans
* alphabet agencies

Second New Deal

also FDR

* additional programs including WPA, NLRA + Social Security Act,

the new deals:

* they were successful actually, it restored the economy

“court packing”

* roosevelt (FDR)
* adding justices to the supreme court to shift the balance of parties
* not approved by congress → saw through FDR and how he was trying to get more liberal votes for his favor
* he did this cuz the Supreme Court kept rejecting FDR’s new Deal programs cuz they thought it was unconstitutional

“Relief, Recovery, Reform”

* FDR’s policy about relief aid
* sums up New Deal

Social Security Act

* social insurance program to pay retired workers through taxes
* excluded many groups of people (African Americans, women, domestic workers, farm workers)
* old age insurance: retirement benefits for eligible workers age 65+
* unemployment insurance: temporary financial assistance to unemployed people where it wasn’t their fault
* aid to dependent children: financial assistance to children in poverty/parents can’t support them
* maternal + child welfare: funding for prenatal care, maternal health, + child welfare programs
* disability insurance: benefits for disabled workers
* public health services: funding for public health initiatives (research, education, disease prevention)

alphabet agencies

* AAA: Agricultural Adjustment Administration → farm credit act
* NIRA: National Industry Recovery Act →
* NRA: National Recovery Administration
* TVA: Tennessee Valley Authority
* gov authority to oversee construction of dams in Tennessee Valley
* WPA: Works Progress Administration
* one of second new deal programs
* most famous, employed 8.5 mil+ people
* program for unemployed to participate in public work projects
* PWA: Public Works Administration
* part of new deal 1933
* public works construction agency
* created by NIRA to combat great depression
* failed to raise industry profits; FDR decided to fund military efforts instead of PWA cuz of WW2
* FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Agency)
* established in 1933
* distribute federal aid to states for relief
* built on Emergency Relief and Construction Act
* Emergency Banking Act and Economy Act
* march 1933
* Allowed the twelve Federal Reserve Banks to issue additional currency on good assets 
* economy act:
* 1932, permitted federal government agencies to buy goods/services from other fed gov agencies
* 1933; cut federal payments for veterans + payroll for federal employees

federal writers project

provided jobs for unemployed writers

civilian conservation corps

allowed single men between ages 18-25 to enlist in public work programs

securities and exchange commission

* congress created in 1934; peak year of great depression
* securities act (1933): transparency in financial statements of corporations
* securities exchange act (1934): regulate secondary financial markets to make everything transparent for investors
* wanted to have investors have greater faith in investments
* securities: important information from the company

Pearl Harbor

* dec 7 1941: japanese attack struck US navy base in Hawaii
* reason for attack: the US cut off oil exports to Japan so they wanted revenge; also wanted to remove colonial possessions in Asia
* the US joined WW2 and declared war on Japan; later declared on Italy + Germany