Topic 1: Changing Political environment

What are democrats and what do they believe in?

Left government(like labour) and they favour equality and believe you should share wealth by raising taxes to benefit the poor. Plus support workers

What are republicans and what do they believe in?

Right government; heavily based on religion and don't want to improve civil rights. Favor employers and see minorities as collectives rather than individuals

What are the orders of the USA presidents?

Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921,
Warren G.Harding 1921-1923,
Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929,
Herbert Hoover 1929-1933,
FDR 1933-1945,
Harry S.Truman 1945-1953
Eisenhower 1953-1961
JFK 1961-1963
LBJ 1963-1969
Nixon 1969-1974
Gerald Ford 1974-1977
Jimmy Carter - 1977-1981
Ronald Reagan - 1981-1989
George Bush - 1989-1993
Bill Clinton 1993-2001

What is the American Dream?

the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.But it changed throughout the years as the American dream was dependent on the amount of stuff you had in order to qualify and be living it

Who had access to the American dream before 1945?

White upper/middle class people. "Wasps" As minorities had a long hard fight for legislation to make rights clear so

When was Woodrow Wilson elected and what was he?

1913-1921 DEMOCRAT

Why was Woodrow Wilson elected?

He kept America out of the war due to isolation, since it didn't concern them. But managed to take advantage of the situation by boosting the US economy by selling supplies to other countries involved in the war

What was domestic policies that Woodrow Wilson passed?

Female sufferage 1920 act; Women's right to vote in elections

Prohibition ; Illegal to make or drink alcohol 18 amendment

What was the foreign policies that Woodrow Wilson passed?

14 points; his attempt to end all wars through international co-operation and disarmament. Led to the creation of LON that he was very keen to join.

What was Woodrow Wilson style/ personality?

He was caring, keen on helping ordinary people and gaining them equality. Only president to have a PHD most academic.

Before the days of the media, so most people didn't know how he looked like and was fairly relaxed

What was Woodrow Wilson relationship with the public?

It was good at first but then went bad as he was obessed with the LON and wanted to get involved even though the American public preferred isolatism.

How did Wilson initially keep the USA out of the war?

By not getting involved since they preferred isolatism since there was no sense of threat towards the US and it didn't concern them. So instead they made money from it by selling things to other countries

Why did the USA join the war and when?

April 1917, and was due to the Zimmermann Telegram crisis or Feb 1917, that the British intercepted and convinced the American public that Germany threatened the national security of the USA. Took a while to get approved from congress and was the same time the Tsar war was overthrown, so fight for democracy.

Why did the public loose faith in Wilson after the end of the war?

He became too obsessed with LON since he wanted the USA to get involved with more international affairs, but Americans as a whole preferred isolationism and felt their involvement was a mistake

Had a really bad stroke and his wife had to run the country and is why they voted for a republican president in 1920.

When was the first red scare and what were the main causes?

1919-1920, 1917, after Russian revolution USA afraid of the spread of communism as people saw it as a better way of life.It was an internal threat and USA was scared 2 be an isolated country in a world stage.1919 35k workers went on strike January 60k workers of strike. This was an issue as the revolution in Russia was triggered by industrial workers and was anti capitalist as no money was being made.

What did the first red scare lead too?

Red hunting people accusing each other of being "commie". 1920 fbi arrested 10k suspected of being a commi.

Fbi reports to congress this was unamerican goes against the first amendment of being unconstitutional.

Palmer raids named after attorney general A.Mitchell to crack down any suspected communists.
This was evidence of the extremes in which the government went to stop communism spreading in the country since it attracted alot of the working class.
Only led to riots and protests but just resulted in the gov starting 2 respond with more agressive action.

Examples of radical east European ideology in the first red scare

Nicola Sacco and Bartolommeo Vanzetti convicted of murdering a guard and a paymaster.They both admitted to being anarchists but denied murder executed by electric chair seven yes later.

It fuelled the great anti-immigrant feelings in the USA

Why did the first red scare dissipate?

Propaganda towards it but it only fueld the fear of communism and it was used to to eradicate any communism

When was warren G Harding president and what is he?

1921-1923 republican. Died in office 1923

Why was warren G Harding elected?

Promised the public a return to normalcy on how things would return back to normal like they was before the war. As two years of economic depression followed the end of the war, unemployment rose from 950k to 5mill in 1921.

What was the domestic policies that warren Harding passed?

1) Balance deficit and reduce taxation,which was good for businesses/gov spending as it made them more rich

3) agreed to carry out prohibition

4) entered a period of isolatism; showed more interest on america 1st then international welfare, reason why they kicked out Woodrow Wilson

What was the foreign policies that warren Harding passed?

1) Introduced tariffs by taxing on imports; Promotors American business industries and economy to protect the trade and industry. But also encouraged people to buy American too.

2) Harding's emergency quota act of May 1921; 1st time American seriously questions immigrants and put limits for the first time in history.

What was the style/personality of Warren Harding?

He vaulted "traditionalism" which was unusual policies for a republican but necessary under these circumstances.

As he made a department of public welfare to direct state efforts towards helping the poor and under privileged

What was Warren Harding relations with the media?

Used newspapers so a lot of people didn't know what he looked like

What was warren Harding's relations with the public?

He was very popular till scandals were revealed.

When was Calvin Coolidge elected and what was he?

1923-1929, republican

Why was Calvin Coolidge elected/reflected?

"Keep cool with Coolidge" intent to change nothing as republicans had gripped the nation, followed what Warren G.Harding did as he died in office.

Declined to stand for re-election in 1928 and avoided the forthcoming economic disaster that he arguably caused.

What was Calvin Coolidge domestic polciies

Kept things how they were but introduced the radio license

What was Calvin Coolidge style/personality?

Cool and didn't introduce no foreign policies either.

When was herbet hoover elected and what was he?

1929-1933, republican

Why was herbet hoover elected?

Believed in rugged individualism and this encouraged equal opportunities but led to economic inequalities and sufferings.

He also promised normalcy by keeping things the same as he continued Laissez fairs,nationalism and immigration restrictions.

Only served four years, celebrated a landslide victory in the election a popular majority of 21.3m votes to 15m confirms that ppl really wanted this man as president

What was herbet hoovers domestic policies

"Less government in business and more business in government "

Smoot Hawley act; he raised tariffs to the highest level in US history,therefore hindering international trade with American businesses. Meaning the lost money and connections also

What was herbet hoover foreign policies

He made foreign goods more expensive so people bought American.

What was herbet hoovers style/personality?

Alooth and not welcoming
.
Had a bad rhetoric and didn't know what to say to the camera

Multimillionaire business tycoon, good businessmen but not a politician

What was herbet hoover relations with the media

At first it was very good very popular, but when the stock market crashed during the first year of his presidency it got bad he got blamed with it.

What was herbet hoover relations with the public

Not hugely popular after the walk street crash.

What were the main causes for the Wall Street crash on the 29th october 1929

1) Rapid growth in bank+credit+loans, people had a "buy now pay later mentality"

2) Bull market encouraged people to buy shares only paying 10-20% and borrowing the rest.Most significant as people had to borrow money loans from the bank and is why the money on loans was more than the entire amount of currency circulating in the USA at the time. Why banks went bankrupt too

3) Smoot hawley act raised tariffs to the highest level in American history hindering American businesses

4) over production due to mass production led to falling profits for many firms, agricultural recession led also to a drop in farmers profits.

5)USA had over 30k small banks and some went bankrupt due to agricultural recession

What was the Wall Street Crash of 1929?

The worst economic depression in US history, due to the fact the boom of 1920 had flourished in republican Laissez fairy attitudes and American first principles.

The boom had also largely been funded on credit and with too many ppl investing money in shares and not realising the risks led to the stock market crashing and having a huge significant impact.

10 million men were unemployed

What intervention did hoover implement after the Wall Street crash?

Wanted to do the same things that past presidents did little to help, but these policies were built on republican values and continued Laissez faire etc

Created the president emergency's committee for unemployed to help men find work- but didn't help people directly

2)federal farm board \= help farmers who found it hard to sell their goods only in special cases

Even tried more federal intervention but these were rejected by the republican dominated congress; "little too late" but shows he did try atleast.

What was the bonus March?

When 200,000 veterans marched to Washington and ask for early payment.He didn't have any money so he called troops to tear it up.

The way it was handled led to Herbert loosing a significant amount of popularity because of this.

What positives did Herbet hoover bring to the nation?

He created "Hooverville" on 1931 to temporarily house the homeless yet remained there for 10 years.He housed over 1000 residents

Shows that he did indeed try to intervene and shows the significance Hooverville had for remaining there for 10 yrs

When was FDr Elected and what was he?

1933-1945 and a Democrat

He was the only president in history to be president for 12 years and died in his fourth term

Why was FDR elected?

He offered the new deal which was for everyone and to save the country from disaster

Democrats stood for distribution of wealth and equality,and is what was needed at the time

This is due to the fact individualism showed to fail in the Wall Street crash 1929, the 12 years of his presidency showed how much he was favoured and loved by the public.

What was FDR domestic policies?

He was given special powers by congress to deal with the economic crisis '100 days'

Introduced 'fireside' chats his way of explaining politics to ordinary people, and it was popular as millions of people listened and it was calm and soothing. Like he was in their living room

The NEW DEAL

What was the importance of FDR?

That in 1924 democrats where the unelectable party but 12 years later it became the republicans.
This was because they were associated with the klux klux klan

That even in 1932 minorities voted democrats since new deal was colourblind and was supposedly for everyone

Over 40 million polled to vote which is the largest number of people ever recorded in US history at that point.

What was FDR style/personality

Democrat values of believing in helping every1

Relatable compassionate and photogenic

Well presented And goood rhetoric, as he had the right messages in political speeches

Best orator

Political experience, his father was president and the best president in the 20th century

What was FDR relations with the media?

Very good, he was disabled but nobody knew as media wouldn't portray him in the wheelchair just like he wanted. Since he didn't want people to see his weaknesses but for who he really was

What did the new deal do?

It stressed the importance of rapid national action as it saved the country from disaster and resulted in FDR being given special powers by congress to deal with it

What was some of the aalaphbet agencies called?

National recovery administration,
federal emergency relief administration
and works progress administration.
Abolished prohibition

What did the alaphbet agencies do?

WPA; provides jobs for some 8 million ppl through construction of 650k miles of roads and 35k schools

FERA; provides direct aid for the unemployed had 500 million dollars available but didn't work as well as other measures so replaced with WPA

NPA; enforce codes for businesses of including fixed working hours and min wage, public were encouraged to support businesses that displayed the NRA symbol as not every business did

Abolished prohibition; Stopped the humiliation of the government laws being openly ignored and increased government revenues

What criticisms did FDR FACE?

Acting like a dictator as he had to evoke the clause in the constitution that dealt with "temporary emergency measures"
This led to accusations that he acted unconstitutionally and some even deemed him as a dictator as he was now even telling ppl what to do in states and was president for 12 yrs

What Critcisms did New deal face?

11/14 of the AA were banned by the Supreme Court as they were seen as unconstitutional

The fact that he asked for special powers from congress

But even faced opposition from father coughlin,Francis Townsend and most significantly Huey Long

As some criticised him for doing too much,whilst others said he wasn't doing enough

Also got significant oppositions from republicans but he used this as an advantage as they were spending the majority of their time complaining rather than proposing their own legislatiure and thinking.

The significance of the new deal

It was a safety net and due to the short term planning and not having long term security cracks began to appear in 1936

Gov spending on new deal was unsustainable and it took the SWW to actually transform the economy.

Why was a second new deal needed?

1935 new deal was still hugely popular but main opposition came from the Supreme Court which ruled the NRA UNCONSTITUTIONAL because it took away the rights of states to run their own affairs.

So new alphabet agencies were needed to meet up with these demands.

What were the key elements of the second new deal?

Social security act 1935; It was Americans first system of social welfare and established a national system of old age pensions.
Help people with physical disabilities and created unemployment insurance

Fair loan our standards act 1938; set hours of conditions of work and fixed the minimum wagr

Why did the second new deal run into problems?

As many of the programs ended in WW2 because unemployment was no longer apparently.

What was another opposition towards FDR?

That FDR HAD introduced higher taxes for the rich so his own social class was horrified by his actions. Rich thought he had betrayed his social class and was expelled from the social club\#