History- Boom and Bust Study Guide

1920s Economy

A period of significant economic growth and prosperity in the United States characterized by increased consumer spending, innovation, and stock market expansion, ultimately leading to the Great Depression.

Consumerism

A cultural focus to indulge with goods that aren’t of subsistence, New age of advertising pioneered by wartime propaganda. Advertised to encourage the public to identify products with lifestyles.

1920s Women Culture ( 2 pathways)

Being traditional women or Flapper girl

Lost generation

Refers to young people who after fighting in the war felt like a waste of life with no purpose. Criticize American greed and consumer culture.

Harlem Renaissance

A cultural movement in the 1920s centered in Harlem, showcasing African American art, literature, music, and social progress, emphasizing black identity and creativity. (Jazz was popularized)

Prohibition

The legal ban on the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States from 1920 to 1933, mandated by the 18th Amendment, caused by a religious group believing that the ban of alcohol will decrease the amount of alcoholics and domestic abuse cases.

Speakeasies

Secret underground illegal bars.

Bootleggers

People who smuggled alcohol illegally.

Moonshiner

people who made alcohol illegally.

Immigration Act of 1924

a US federal law that significantly restricted immigration, particularly from Asia and Eastern and Southern Europe.

Scopes Trail

a highly publicized legal case in 1925 that centered on the teaching of evolution in public schools. John T. Scopes, a high school teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was charged with violating the Butler Act, a Tennessee law that prohibited teaching human evolution in state-funded schools. The trial became a national event, sparking debate about science, religion, and freedom of thought. 

Causes of the Great Depression

the stock market crash of 1929, bank failures, a decline in consumer demand, and a drought known as the Dust Bow

Stock Market Crash of 1929

a sudden and severe decline in stock prices in the United States that began on Black Thursday (October 24) and peaked on Black Tuesday (October 29), 1929.

Dust Bowl ( Cause/ Significance)

Cause: Poor farming practice which caused grass to die only led to losing dirt to be flown around from the wind.

Significance: Caused farmers to be in poverty and forced to return to the city with families being torn apart.

Bonus Army ( Cause/ Significance)

Cause: Before the war soldiers were promised a payment for fighting in the war. And due to the depression verterns want their payment but the government pushed their payment day further back, so they rioted.

Significance:

It highlighted the plight of veterans during the Depression and the government's failure to adequately address their needs. 

• It helped pave the way for the GI Bill, which provided benefits to World War II veterans, including education and home loans. 

• It was a major factor in President Hoover's loss of the 1932 election to Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

• It demonstrated the power of collective action and the importance of veterans' rights. 

Nativism

The rooted belief that the presence of immigrants threatens the cultural, economic, or political fabric of American society.

KKK Goals and Actions during the 1920s

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in the 1920s expanded its targets beyond African Americans to include immigrants, Catholics, and Jews,

Families and the Great Depression

widespread poverty, unemployment, and social upheaval. Many families struggled to maintain their homes and livelihoods, leading to a decline in marriage and birth rates, and a rise in abandonment and separation.

African-Americans and the Depression

• Kicked out of farming in the south 

• Unemployed whites began to take positions as janitors, street cleaners & domestic servants, displacing African- Americans in those occupation

• Over half unemployed with no access to relief aid

Mexican-Americans and the Depression

• Unemployment worse than whites: discrimination 

• Were rejected from hospitals, schools, & relief programs.

• Forced to leave & deported to mexico. Over a million leave U.S. 

Asian-Americans and the Depression

• Educated & manual labor jobs were excluded: discrimination 

• 20% of Asian-Americans worked on family fruit stands

• Japanese American Citizen League created to promote assimilation & protect against discrimination

Women and The Depression

• Married women pressured to leave work & return home. Instead 20% increase in workforce. 

•  Lose some work fields to men: Teaching & social work

• White women had advantage with access to relief programs & holding non professional female jobs

• Black women suffered most with half losing their jobs

Rugged individualism

•  was a term Hoover used often during his presidency to explain the idea that individuals should be able to help themselves without government involvement in personal economic affairs or national economics in general.

Bank Holiday

• Emergency Banking Act provided treasury department inspection of all banks before they were allowed to reopen.

Fireside chat

• A radio series that made FDR the first president that use social media to communicate directly with citizens. 

Alphabet Soup

Nickname of a New Deal program for acronoms of the government programs meant to help Americans recover from economic depression

New Deal and the 3 R’s

Relief: Immediate and temporary. Provided emergency relief for unemployed Americans.

Recovery: Long-Term but not permanent. Meant to get industry and agriculture back on its feet and keep Americans from losing homes.

Reform: Permanent changes made to solve some of the issues that created the Depression.  These programs still exist today.

New Deal Relief Programs

• Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC): Allowed 250,000 young men to attend camps to perform reforestation and conservation work such as building parks, reservoirs, irrigation canals & Planting trees

• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): Abandon 1920s project brought back in operation. Provided jobs building a dam in the Tennessee Valley that would also provide hydroelectric power, resulting in cheap electricity. Also resolved regional environment issues.  

• Civil Works Administration(CWA): Provided temporary public works jobs for cities like repairing roads, fixing parks, & building schools at $15 a week to four million workers. 

• Works Progress Administration(WPA): Employed 8.5 million workers in the arts and in construction. Responsible for building and renovating 110,000 public buildings (schools, post offices, government office buildings), 600 airports, 100,000 bridges & 500,000 miles of roads. 

New Deal Recovery Programs

• National Recovery Administration (NRA): Every business establishment in the nation had to accept a temporary “blanket code”: minimum wage between 30-40 cents an hour, maximum work week of 35-40 hours, allow unions and abolishment of child labor. Consider unsuccessful.

• Agricultural Adjustment Administration(AAA): Protected farmers from price drops by providing crop subsidies to reduce production.

• Home Owners Loan Corporation(HOLC): Loaned money at a low interest rate to homeowners who could not make their mortgage payments. By 1936, had refinanced the mortgages of more than 1 million householders.

• Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO):  Organized unskilled and skilled workers in industrial unions in the United States. It was more receptive of women & blacks than AFL unions. Introducing unionism into the previously unorganized steel, rubber, and automobile industries, reaching agreements with such large corporations as U.S. Steel and General Motors

New Deal Reform Programs

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC): Allowed the government to insure bank deposits to prevent bank failures. Examines and supervises financial institutions for safety, soundness, and consumer protection.The FDIC handled 370 bank failures from 1934 through 1941. Still in operation today.

• Social Security Administration(SSA): Provided pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to blind, deaf and disabled people, and dependent children. Excluded low level labor position often held by women & minorities. Still in operation & consider nations most important social program  

• Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC): Regulated the stock market and restricted margin buying.  Also tried to eliminate dishonesty by requiring companies to publish facts about their business. Criminal trials held for wall street figures for corruption & fraud. Still in operation. 

• Glass-Steagall Act:  Through legislation, early New Deal increased federal authority over previously unregulated or weakly regulated areas of economy. By June 1933, this act gave government authority to curb irresponsible speculation by banks. Established a wall between commercial banking & investment banking. 

African-Americans and the New Deal 

• New Deal did relatively little to assist Black community. The administration was not hostile to Blacks, in parts was sympathetic with Eleanor Roosevelt influence, but it did not challenge existing patterns of discrimination, due to fear of losing southern democratic backing.

Women in the New Deal

• Same as African-American, It was not hostile to women but it did not help advancement wide scale. 

• Feminist approach diverge from staying in the workforce or returning to family duties. ADC encouraged women to refocus efforts in the name of economic benefits.

• First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt pushed for more female appointed in government and democratic political parties

Difference between Hoover and FDR

Roosevelt emphasized working collectively through an expanded federal government to confront the economic crisis, a contrast to Hoover's emphasis on individualism. During the campaign, Roosevelt ran on many of the programs that would later become part of the New Deal during his presidency.

Aftermath of the New Deal

Most dramatic effect of the New Deal was on the structure and behavior of American government. 

• FDR helped enhance the power of the federal government. 

• Roosevelt established the presidency as the center of authority within the federal government.

• Changed how American people defined themselves politically. Increased expectations of governments role in the state of society.

  The New Deal and the National Economy 

  While the New deal helped out greatly, did it achieve its goal?

  • - Did not end the depression crisis, the spark of WWII did

  • - Did small impact of the distribution of power within American Capitalism 

  • + elevated new groups of worker, farmers, and etc to challenge the power of corporation.

  • + contributed to economic and community development.

  • + Basis of the Federal welfare systems: Social security, FDIC, SEC. 

Describe a cultural conflict that occurred in the 1920s from your precis short

The Scopes Trial, also known as the "Scopes Monkey Trial," was a major cultural clash in the 1920s, highlighting the tension between scientific thought and traditional religious beliefs in the United States. The trial revolved around a Tennessee law, the Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in public schools. It became a national spectacle, representing the broader ideological conflict between fundamentalist Christianity and emerging secularism. 

Explain the New deal and the 3 R’s. provide a government agency example per “R” long

The New deal was government programs set up by Franklin D Roosevelt to provide American citizens relief, recovery, and reform from the great depression. In the relief programs only provided temporary relief, so it want long term; programs such as “Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)” helped unemployed young men to receive jobs to do acts of reforestations, building parks, canals, and planting trees. Recovery Programs were long term but not permeant and were meant to bring back the industry and agricultural in bisnuss, as well helping Americans not losing their homes so programs like the Home Owners Loan Corps (HOLA) which loaned money at low interest to homeowners that could not pay their mortgage. Lastly the Reform programs provided permeate changes to solve problems that caused the depression, such as Social Security Adminstion (SSA) which provided pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to blind, deaf and disabled people, and dependent children.

Describe in detail the impact of the Great Depression on two different groups ( Familes, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Women) Short

For families, the impact of the great depression caused many to be in poverty, marriage, birth rates, and standard of living declined dramatically due to the main belief of individualism, believing that everyone is responsible for their own lives. So when people were in poverty or unemployment they felt like a failure casing the split between families. For the impact of Mexican Americans during the depression they had the worst unemployment compared to whites due to discrimination. They were rejected from hospitals, schools, and relief programs as well being forced to leave with over a million leave the U.S.

Tulsa Massacre Cause and Significance Long

The cause of the Tulsa Massacre started from a dispute encounter between a young black man and a white elevator operator, we don’t know what exactly happened but it caused the wanted aresst of the young man causing the rally of an angry white mob infornt of the courthouse to lynch them. So in the middle of their hate they targeted GreenWood, a prosperous Black community, known as “Black wall Street as their source of resentment. Buildings were burned, bombed, and destryod and a few people were killed. the ultimate signifigant as it is the reflection of racial violence and white supremacy during American history that serves as a reminder of the supperssion and erasure of history.