Topic 6 The Great Depression and New Deal

Speculation Boom

One who buys property, goods, or financial instruments not primarily for use but in anticipation of profitable resale after a general rise in value.

buying on margin

the purchasing of stocks by paying only a small percentage of the price and borrowing the rest

economic boom

during this time period, people buy more, invest in business, and industries / businesses grow

Dust Bowl

A nickname for the Great Plains regions hit by drought and dust storms in the early 1930s

Gross National Product (GNP)

The total value of all goods and services produced by a country's economy in a given year. It includes all goods and services produced by corporations and individuals of a country, whether or not they are located within the country.

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929; the day the stock market crashed. Lead to the Panic of 1929

Great Depression

the economic crisis beginning with the stock market crash in 1929 and continuing through the 1930s

Smoot-Hawley Tariff

A high tariff enacted in 1930 during the Great Depression. By taxing imported goods, Congress hoped to stimulate American manufacturing, but the tariff triggered retaliatory tariffs in other countries, which further hindered global trade and led to greater economic contraction.

Bonus Expeditionary Force

thousands of WWI veterans, who insisted on immediate payment of their bonus certificates, they marched on Washington in 1932, violence ensured when President Hoover ordered their ten villages cleared

Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)

Party: Republican

Major Events: Great Depression strikes; Promoted attitude of rugged individualism

Franklin D. Roosevelt

President of the United States during most of the Depression and most of World War II.

Eleanor Roosevelt

wife of Franklin Roosevelt and a strong advocate of human rights (1884-1962)

New Deal

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

Bank Holiday 1933

FDR declared that all banks were to be closed on March 6, 1933. A few days later he allowed the reopening of economically sound banks.

3 R's of the New Deal

relief, recovery, reform (in that order)

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

a law enacted in 1933 to raise crop prices by paying farmers to leave a certain amount of their land unplanted, thus lowering production

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

an agency, established as part of the New Deal, that put young unemployed men to work building roads, developing parks, planting trees, and helping in erosion-control and flood-control projects.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

an agency created in 1933 to insure individuals' bank accounts, protecting people against losses due to bank failures

National Recovery Act

provided money to states to create jobs chiefly in the construction of schools and other community buildings

National Recovery Administration (NRA)

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

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

a federal corporation established in 1933 to construct dams and power plants in the Tennessee Valley region to generate electricity as well as to prevent floods

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

New Deal agency that helped create jobs for those that needed them. It created around 9 million jobs working on bridges, roads, and buildings.

Social Security

(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

sit-down strike

Work stoppage in which workers shut down all machines and refuse to leave a factory until their demands are met.

business cycle

Alternating periods of economic expansion and economic recession

Hoover Dam

A dam built in the 1930s, with funding from the federal government, to control the Colorado River.

Hoovervilles

Depression shantytowns, named after the president whom many blamed for their financial distress

Fireside Chats

informal talks given by FDR over the radio; sat by White House fireplace; gained the confidence of the people

Localism

policy relied on by President Hoover in the early years of the Great Depression whereby local and state governments act as primary agents of economic relief

Volunteerism

the use or involvement of volunteer labor, especially in community services.

welfare state

a state that assumes primary responsibility for the social welfare of its citizens

Huey Long

"Kingfish" Rep. senator of LA; pushed "Share Our Wealth" program and make "Every Man a King' at the expense of the wealthy; assassinated

Court Packing

Where FDR tried to add more members to the Supreme Court to pass his programs.

Wagner Act (1935)

(National Labor Relations Act) gives workers the right to organize a union and bargain with management

Black Cabinet

an informal network of black officeholders in the federal government; led by Mary McLeod Bethune, William Hastie, and Robert Weaver, they pushed for economic and political opportunities for African Americans in the 1930s and 1940s.

John Steinbeck

American novelist who wrote "The Grapes of Wrath". (1939) A story of Dustbowl victims who travel to California to look for a better life.

Gone with the Wind

a 1939 movie dealing with the life of Southern plantation owners during the Civil War - one of the most popular films of all time

The Wizard of Oz

A 1939 movie that was an instant hit during the Depression because it allowed people to forget their troubles and focus on musicals and the characters in an entirely different world.