Albright DE - Chapter 33 Review

1. Which of the following represents a specific promise made by Franklin Roosevelt in the presidential campaign of 1932, concerning how he would attack the Great Depression?

D) Roosevelt promised to experiment with bold new government programs for economic and social reform while balancing the federal budget.

2. Which of the following best describes President Roosevelt's first Hundred Days in office?

A) A flood of social and economic relief, recovery, and reform New Deal legislation passed by a highly supportive Congress eager to assist the new president

3. President Roosevelt responded to the public uncertainty and grave concerns about the soundness of the American financial system by doing all of the following EXCEPT...

D) nationalizing several major banks tottering on the brink of failure and bringing them under the management of the Federal Reserve Board.

4. Which controversial New Deal program prompted critics to brand it as a dangerous example of government control of industry and creeping socialism?

A) The Tennessee Valley Authority

5. What demagogic promise did Senator Huey P. Long make to gain a large national following in the early to mid 1930s?

B) Senator Long promised to "share our wealth" by raising taxes on the rich and giving every family $5,000.

6. What was the primary reason for the failure of the National Recovery Administration (NRA) to spark a significant industrial recovery?

B) the fair competition wages and maximum hours labor codes required too much self sacrifice on the part of industry, labor, and the public.

7. How did the first Agricultural Adjustment Act propose to solve the farm problem?

A) By reducing agricultural production through government payments to reduce crop acreage

8. What was the purpose of the Federal Securities Act and the Securities Exchange Commission?

D) To provide full disclosure of information and prevent insider trading and other fraudulent practices

9. What was the most important difference between the American Social Security system established by the New Deal and most European social welfare systems?

E) As opposed to most European social welfare systems, American workers had to be employed to obtain social security benefits

10. The Wagner or National Labor Relations Act of 1935 accomplished all of the following EXCEPT...

B) ushering a decade of peace and stability in organized labor-business relations.

11. All of the following characterized President Roosevelt's Supreme Court-packing scheme in 1937 EXCEPT that...

E) it raised the political ire and fierce opposition of only Republicans

12. Which of the following represents the consensus assessment of the historical legacy of Roosevelt's New Deal by most historians?

B) The New Deal provided moderate social and economic reform to millions of Americans and probably staved off the rise of socialism or reactionary fascism in the US

13. In which of the following pairs is the New Deal program properly categorized?

A) Social Security Act; Reform

14. In addition to improving people's economic circumstances, Franklin Roosevelt attempted to increase certain groups' stature in the US by...

A) establishing the "Black Cabinet", ensuring blacks' participation in the New Deal.

Brain Trust

Group of expert policy advisers who worked with FDR in the 1930s to end the great depression

New Deal

A series of reforms enacted by the Franklin Roosevelt administration between 1933 and 1942 with the goal of ending the Great Depression.

Hundred Days

The brief period during 1815 when Napoleon made his last bid for power, deposing the French King and again becoming Emperor of France

Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act

A law creating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insured individual bank deposits and ended a century-long tradition of unstable banking that had reached a crisis in the Great Depression.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

New Deal program that hired unemployed men to work on natural conservation projects

National Recovery Administration (NRA)

New Deal agency that promoted economic recovery by regulating production, prices, and wages

Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)

A New Deal program designed to raise agricultural prices by paying farmers not to farm. It was based on the assumption that higher prices would increase farmers' purchasing power and thereby help alleviate the Great Depression.

Dust Bowl

A drought in the 1930s that turned the Great Planes very dry.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

A relief, recovery, and reform effort that gave 2.5 million poor citizens jobs and land. It brought cheap electric power, low-cost housing, cheap nitrates, and the restoration of eroded soil.

Social Security Act

(FDR) 1935, guaranteed retirement payments for enrolled workers beginning at age 65; set up federal-state system of unemployment insurance and care for dependent mothers and children, the handicapped, and public health

Wagner Act

1935, also National Labor Relations Act; granted rights to unions; allowed collective bargaining

Fair Labor Standards Act

1938 act which provided for a minimum wage and restricted shipments of goods produced with child labor

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

a labor organization composed of industrial unions founded in 1938, it merged with the AFL in 1955

Court-Packing Plan

President FDR's failed 1937 attempt to increase the number of US Supreme Court Justices from 9 to 15 in order to save his 2nd New Deal programs from constitutional challenges

Keynesianism

the belief the government must manage the economy by spending more money when in a recession and cutting spending when there is inflation

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Democratic president who created the New Deal to counter the effects of the Great Depression

Eleanor Roosevelt

FDR's Wife and New Deal supporter. Was a great supporter of civil rights and opposed the Jim Crow laws. She also worked for birth control and better conditions for working women

Harry L. Hopkins

This man led the FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Administration) which replaced Hoover's RFC by giving grants to the states to promote civil work projects, but the states preferred just to give the money to the men instead of creating jobs. He would also run the CWA and the WPA

Father Charles Coughlin

A Catholic priest from Michigan who was critical of FDR on his radio show. His radio show morphed into being severely against Jews during WWII and he was eventually kicked off the air, however before his fascist rants, he was wildly popular among those who opposed FDR's New Deal.

Francis E. Townshend

created a large following among senior citizens by creating the Old Age Revolving Pension Plan; called for payments of $200 a month to all people over sixty, provided that the money was spent within thirty days; pensions would be financed by a national 2 percent tax on all commercial transactions

Huey P. ("Kingfish") Long

Louisiana governor, later senator, whose anti-New Deal "Share Our Wealth" program promised to make "Every Man a King"-that is, until he was gunned down in 1935.

Frances Perkins

U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman ever appointed to the cabinet.

Mary McLeod Bethune

United States educator who worked to improve race relations and educational opportunities for Black Americans (1875-1955)

Robert F. Wagner

A Democratic senator from New York State from 1927-1949, he was responsible for the passage of some of the most important legislation enacted through the New Deal. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 was popularly known as the Wagner Act in honor of the senator. He also played a major role in the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act of 1937.