Great Depression & New Deals

Roosevelt’s campaign called for a New Deal, attacking Hoover and promising to balance the budget.

True

Eleanor Roosevelt did have experience with social reform and women’s issues before FDR’s presidency.

False (She did have that experience.)

Congress passed many early New Deal programs giving large emergency powers to FDR.

True

Roosevelt and his advisers did draw on some European ideas.

False (They actually did draw on European ideas.)

CCC and PWA focused on employment/public works, not reforming business practices.

True

The NRA and AAA were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

True

Most Americans did not support dictatorship during the Depression.

True

The New Deal expanded government jobs and social opportunities.

True

TVA aimed to conserve water and soil in eroded areas.

True

The CIO used New Deal laws to unionize unskilled workers.

True

Roosevelt’s coalition included lower-income groups, African Americans, Jews, Catholics, and southerners.

True

After the Court-packing plan failed, the Court became more favorable to New Deal laws.

False (Actually became more favorable afterward.)

European nations already had more advanced welfare systems at that time.

False (They did have more advanced welfare systems.)

New Deal more than doubled the national debt.

True

By 1939, unemployment remained high; the Depression wasn’t fully solved.

False (Actually True — unemployment was still high.)

FDR’s 1932 campaign

Promised to aid the “forgotten man” by balancing the budget and ending deficits.

Eleanor Roosevelt’s political base

Came from women and the poorer classes.

One group that shifted to the Democrats under FDR

African Americans

Roosevelt’s first major action as president

Closed all banks and declared a national bank holiday.

Purpose of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)

Provided jobs and experience for unemployed young people.

Two vocal critics of the New Deal

Father Coughlin and Huey Long.

What happened to the NRA (National Recovery Administration)?

Declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Main goal of the AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration)

Raised prices by paying farmers not to grow crops and to slaughter animals.

Cause of the Dust Bowl

Excessive dry-farming and mechanization on overused land.

Purpose of the Indian Reorganization Act

Restored local tribal self-government and Native culture.

Main river affected by the TVA

Tennessee River.

Social Security Act benefits

Pensions for the elderly, blind, and unemployment insurance.

CIO stands for

Committee for Industrial Organization.

FDR’s voter coalition

African Americans, southerners, and Catholics.

New Deal

FDR’s plan of programs and reforms to fight the Great Depression through relief, recovery, and reform.

Brain Trust

Group of expert advisers who helped FDR develop New Deal policies.

Hundred Days

The first 100 days of FDR’s presidency when Congress passed major New Deal laws.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Hired young men for conservation and public works projects.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Created millions of jobs building public projects like roads, bridges, and art programs.

Blue Eagle

Symbol of the NRA showing businesses that followed fair-practice codes.

Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)

Paid farmers to reduce crop production to raise prices.

Dust Bowl

Severe drought and soil erosion in the 1930s Great Plains that forced many farmers to move west.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Built dams and power plants to improve the Tennessee River Valley.

Social Security Act

Established pensions for the elderly and unemployed insurance for workers.

Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO)

Union group that organized unskilled industrial workers.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Regulated the stock market to prevent fraud.

American Liberty League

Conservative group that opposed the New Deal as too socialist.

Court-Packing Plan

FDR’s failed proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court to support New Deal programs.

Keynesian Economics (John Maynard Keynes)

Theory that government should spend more during recessions to boost demand and end depressions.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

New York governor and president who inspired the nation with his “forgotten man” appeal.

Eleanor Roosevelt

First Lady who advocated for the poor and women’s rights during the New Deal.

Francis E. Townsend

Advocate for senior citizens; proposed $200-per-month federal pensions.

Harry Hopkins

FDR adviser and head of the WPA and other New Deal agencies.

Father Charles Coughlin

Radio priest who criticized the New Deal and spread anti-Semitic ideas.

Huey “Kingfish” Long

Senator from Louisiana who promoted the “Share Our Wealth” program.

George W. Norris

Progressive senator who helped create the TVA.

Harold Ickes

Secretary of the Interior and head of the PWA (Public Works Administration).

John Steinbeck

Author of The Grapes of Wrath, a novel about Dust Bowl migrants.

John L. Lewis

Labor leader who created the CIO to organize industrial workers.

Frances Perkins

FDR’s Secretary of Labor; first woman in the U.S. Cabinet.

Alfred M. Landon

Republican candidate who lost to FDR in the 1936 election.

Ruth Benedict

Social scientist who argued each culture develops its own “personality.”

John Maynard Keynes

British economist whose ideas supported government deficit spending to fight depressions.

Mary McLeod Bethune

Director of Minority Affairs for the NYA and top Black woman in FDR’s administration.