US HISTORY : the great depression

New forms of transportation

Trucks, buses, and private automobiles made the railroad industry lose business causing workers to be laid off or reducing workers hours

New forms of energy

Hydroelectric power, fuel oil, and natural gas replaced coal energy

deflation

Decrease in the general price level of goods and services

McNary-Haugen Bill

Called for federal price supports for key products such as wheat, corn, cotton, and tobacco; gov would buy surplus crops at guaranteed prices and sell; pres coolidge vetoed the bill twice (thought farmers have never made money)

credit

An arrangement in which consumers agreed to buy now and pay later for purchases; often in the form of an installment plan and included interest

Alfred E Smith

Democrat presidential candidate vs Hoover in 1928 election; served 4 terms as governor of NY; Hoover won

Dow Jones Industrial Average

The most widely used barometer of the stock market's health; measure based on the stock prices of 30 representative large firms on the NY stock exchange

"Bull market"

Period of rising stock prices

speculation

Buy stocks and bonds on the chance of a quick profit, while ignoring the risks

Fed

Nickname of the federal reserve system; created in 1913 to serve as the nation's central bank

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929; number of shares dumped onto the market was a record 16.4 million; by mid-november investors had lost about $30 billion

Great depression

Period from 1929 through the 1930s in which the economy plummeted and unemployment skyrocketed

Gross national product

The nation's total output of goods and services; nearly cut in half between 1929 and 1932

Joseph p kennedy

Father of john f kennedy; sold his stocks before the crash and made money

Hawley-smoot tariff act

Passed by congress in 1930; established the highest protective tariff in US history; designed to protect american farmers and manufacturers from foreign competition; had the opposite effect

Causes of the great depression

Tariffs and war debt policies that reduced the foreign market for american goods; a crisis in the farm sector; the availability of easy credit; unequal distribution of income

buying on margin

paying a small percentage of a stock's price as a down payment and borrowing the rest

Shantytowns

Little towns consisting of shacks; also called "Hoovervilles" bc they blamed Hoover for the Depression

Soup kitchens/ bread lines

Lines or people waiting to receive food provided by charitable organizations of public agencies

Herman Shumlin

A Broadway theatrical producer, described the men he saw around him in NYC

Dust Bowl

Region that was hit the hardest by the dust storm (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado)

Okies

Migrants that went to the west (on route 66); originally referred to Oklahomans but came to be used negatively for all migrants

Monopoly

Board game invented in 1933; families entertained themselves

Since Yesterday

Frederick Lewis Allen

hoboes

Men who left their families behind and hit the road; also called transients

Direct relief

Cash payments or food the government provides to the poor

Jeane Westin

Author of Making Do: How Women Survived the '30s

Eugene Williams

Age 13; was one of the desperate teens to ease the pressure on their families

"Wild boys"

Teenagers looking for a way out of the suffering or to ease the pressure on their family

"Hoover tourists"

Aka "wild boys"; sons of poor farmers; out-of-work miners, and wealthy parents who had lost everything; eager to tour america for free

George Phillips

Age 11-17; rode the rails, first catching freights out of his hometown (princeton, missouri)

"bulls"

Armed freight yard patrolmen

herbert hoover

after stock market crash in oct 1929, he tried to reassure americans that the nation's economy was on a sound footing; important thing was for americans to remain optimistic; was an engineer and is humanitarian; born to a quaker family in iowa; went to stanford

"rugged individualism"

what hoover praised during his campaign; the idea that people should succeed through their own efforts; should take care of themselves and families rather than depending on the gov

boulder dam

hoover authorized it and it would be the world's tallest dam and the second largest; later called hoover dam; provides electricity and flood control, regular water supply, and provides water for cities such as LA and vegas

"farm holiday"

farmers burned their corn and wheat and dumped their milk on highways rather than selling it at a loss; it was when they refused to work their fields

"hoovervilles"

what shantytowns were referred to as

"hoover blankets"

what homeless people called the newspapers they wrapped themselves in

"hoover flags"

empty pockets turned inside out

federal farm board

an organization of farm cooperatives; intended to raise crop prices by helping members buy crops and keep them off the market until prices rose

bonus army

10k-20k WWI veterans and their families arrived in Washington DC from various parts of the country; aka bonus expeditionary force; led by walter waters; came to support a bill under debate in congress

disbanding the bonus army

hoover thought they should be disbanded bc he thought they could become violent; led by general macarthur and major eisenhower; infantry gassed more than 1,000 people including an 11 month baby (died) and an 8 year old boy (partially blinded)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

democratic nomination for president; known as FDR; 2 term governor of NY and distant cousin of theodore roosevelt; possessed a "can-do" attitude; won
had polio which paralyzed him from the waist down but could stand with braces

20th amendment

moved presidential inaugurations to january; passed in feb 1933

"brain trust"

(picked advisers) a select group of professors, lawyers, and journalists

new deal

roosevelt's new set of policies for his new administration; designed to alleviate the problems of the great depression; goals : relief for the needy, economic recovery, and financial reform

hundred days

period of intense activity launched by the roosevelt administration; march 9 - june 16, 1933; congress passed more than 15 major pieces of new deal legislation

emergency banking relief act

authorized the treasury department to inspect the country's banks on march 5 (declared a bank holiday by roosevelt and closed all banks to prevent further withdrawals); those that were sound could reopen and those insolvent (unable to pay their debts) remained closed

fireside chats

Roosevelt's radio talks about issues of public concern, explaining in clear, simple language is New Deal measures

21st amendment

repealed prohibition

Gardiner Means

economist who tried to justify the NRA by stating the goal of industrial planning

deficit spending

spending more money that it receives in revenue

american liberty league

opposed new deal measures bc it believed that it violated respect for the rights of individuals and property

people who opposed the new deal

francis townsend

huey long

charles coughlin

dorothea lange

photographer who documented american life during the great depression and the new deal; subjects were destitute migrant workers; had a limp from child polio; photograph "migrant mother"

farm security administration

federal agency which established to alleviate rural property; funded much of lange's works which helped draw attention to the desperate conditions in rural

second new deal or second hundred days

pres roosevelt's second burst of activity; he called on congress to provide more extensive relief for both farmers and workers

Eleanor Roosevelt

first lady; social reformer who combined her deep humanitarian impulses with political skills; use influence in democratic national committee to urge admin to appoint women to get gov prepositions; made sure new deal included relief programs for women and men

rexford tugwell

one of the president's top advisers

1936 election

republican alfred landon (kansas) vs democrat roosevelt; roosevelt won the presidency and large majorities in both houses; marked the first time most african americans had voted democratic over republican; marked first time that labor unions gave untied support to a presidential candidate

carl mydans

photographer hired by the FSA who captured a farmer working his land in granger homestead, iowa

marian anderson

one of the most admired singers in the world and one of the top box office draws in the country; invited to perform in washington, dc but wasn't allowed to perform at constitutional hall bc of her race (african american); eleanor roosevelt and the NAACP arranged for her to sing at the lincoln memorial on easter sunday

walter white

an official of the NAACP; hoped that they would get a new deal instead of a raw deal

frances perkins

america's first female cabinet member; secretary of labor

philip randolph

organized the country;s first all-black trade union (the brotherhood of sleeping car porters); his work and other laid the groundwork for what would become the civil rights movement

mary mcleod bethune

an educator who dedicated herself to promoting opportunities for young african americans; hired by the president to head the division of negro affairs of the national youth admin

"black cabinet"

organized by bethune; consisted of influential african americans to advise the roosevelt administration on racial issues; included william hastie and robert weaver (appointees to roosevelt's department of the interior)

southern tenant farmers union

sought to protect the rights of tenant farmers and sharecroppers, both white & black

john collier

commissioner of indian affairs; helped create the indian reorganization act

indian reorganization act

marked a change in gov policy; helped to restore some reservation lands to tribal ownership; mandate change economically, culturally, and politically

new deal coalition

an alignment of diverse groups dedicated to supporting the democratic party; included southern whites, various urban groups, african americans, and unionized industrial workers

congress of industrial organizations (CIO)

included john lewis (united mine workers of america) and david dubinsky (international ladies garment workers); rapidly signed up unskilled and semiskilled workers; previously known as the committee for industrial organization but it was expelled

memorial day massacre

clash at the republic steel plant in chicago on memorial day; police attacked striking steelworkers outside the plant; 10 people killed and 84 wounded

new hollywood stars

clark gable, marlene dietrick, and james cagney (film industry)
→ helped launch a new era of glamor and sophistication in hollywood

gone with the wind

one of the most famous films of the era and one of the post popular of all time
actors : clark gable and vivien leigh
about life among southern plantation owners during the civil war

flying down to rio

light romantic comedy featuring fred astaire and ginger rogers

disney movies

wizard of oz (1939) and snow white and the seven dwarfs (1937)

comedy movies

monkey business (1931) and duck soup (1931)

starred the zany marx brothers

gangster films

little caesar (1930) and the public enemy (1931)

film that presented new deal positively

mr. deeds goes to town
director frank capra
portrayed honest, kindhearted ppl

orson welles

actor, director, producer, and writer who told the story of the war of the worlds (a novel) on the radio and people who listened thought it was real
directed movies such as citizen kane and touch of evil

comedians

bob hope, jack benny, and the duo burns and allen but moved onto tv and movies

soap opera

homemakers

children programs

the lone ranger
generally aired later in the afternoon when children home from school

hindenburg

what one of the first worldwide radio broadcasts was about

a german zeppelin in new jersey crashed

head of WPA

harry hopkins

federal art project

FAP; branch of the WPA

paid artists a living wage to produce public art; aimed to increase public appreciation of art and promote positive images of american society

grant wood

american painter showed familiar subjects in realistic ways (sister and dentist as models for a farmer and daughter)

american painters

edward hopper, thomas hart benton, jackson pollock, grant wood

WPA's federal theater project

hired actors to perform plays
hired artists to provide stage sets and props
subsidized the work of important american playwrights (clifford odets → waiting for lefty)

woody guthrie

used music to capture the hardships of america
forced to seek a better life somewhere else bc of dust bowl
"dust bowl ballads" told of devastation from dust storms
had his own radio show (first in LA then NYC)
notable song : this land is your land

WPA's federal writers' project

gave writers jobs such as...
saul bellow (won pulitzer and nobel prize)
richard wright (african american author who completed his novel native son - about a young man trying to survive in a racist world)
zora neale hurston (wrote their eye were watching god

john steinbeck

one of this country;s most famous authors who received assistance from the federal writers' project
novel : the grapes of wrath

james farrell

wrote studs lonigan trilogy which provides a bleak picture of working-class life in an irish neighborhood of chicago

jack conroy

wrote the disinherited which portrays the violence and poverty of the missouri coalfields (where his father and brother died in a mine disaster)

marjorie kinnan rawlings

wrote the yearling which depicted the tough life of a family in florida

james agee and walker evans

writer and photographer who collaborated on a book let us praise famous men

thornton wilder

wrote play our town which captures the beauty of small-town life in new england

SEC

securities and exchange commission

created in 1934 which continues to monitor the stock market
also enforce laws regarding the sale of stocks and bonds

wagner act and fair labor standards act

set standards for wages and hours, banned child labor, and ensured the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively