Studied by 4 people
Brain Trust
Young university professors of law, economics, and welfare who were reform minded and ghostwrote FDR’s speeches and New Deal legislation
New Deal
1930s policies which gave assistance to the unemployed and launched efforts to stimulate economic recovery to solve the Great Depression
1932 Election
Democrat Franklin Roosevelt defeats Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover, 472-59, and wins the popular vote by over 7 million ballots, Hoover only won six states, black voters in cities migrate to the Democratic party
Hundred Days
Period of time immediately following Roosevelt’s inauguration which lasted from March 9th-June 16th, 1933 in which the Democrat-controlled Congress passed many reform, recover, and relief bills during a special session
Three R’s
Relief, Recovery, Reform - Roosevelt’s plan for the country and a simple summary of the intent for New Deal policies
Emergency Banking Relief Act
1933 law giving the President power to regulate banking transactions, foreign exchanges, and to reopen banks
Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act
1933 law creating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insured individual deposits up to $5000, helped protect against bank failures
Fireside Chats
Thirty reassuring addresses given to the nation by FDR over the radio
Civillian Conservation Corps
Government agency which hired 3 million unemployed young men to work on environmental projects, workers had to send most of their money home
Federal Emergency Relief Administration
Federal agency created by the Federal Emergency Relief Act which granted money to states who would in turn give it to unemployed workers or for workers on government projects
Agricultural Adjustment Act
1933 law which gave money to struggling farmers to help them pay off mortgages
Home Owners’ Loan Corporation
Federal agency which helped non-farmer homeowners refinance their mortgages, assisted about a million households in its existence
Civil Works Administration
Branch of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration which gave temporary jobs like leaf raking and other “boondoggling” tasks to tens of thousands of unemployed men during the winter of 1933
Harry L. Hopkins
Zealous social worker who was chosen to lead the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, became one of Roosevelt’s most influential advisors
Father Charles Coughlin
Catholic priest from Michigan known as the “Microphone Messiah” who broadcasted anti New Deal speeches, eventually became anti-Semitic and fascist
Huey Long
Louisiana governor and senator who promoted the “Share the Wealth” program which promised $5000 to each American family at the expense of the rich, assassinated in 1935, feared as a potential facscist dictator
Gerald L.K. Smith
Assistant to Huey Long who was a fierce orator, called a “champion boob-bumper” by HL Mencken
Works Progress Administration
Federal agency created in 1935 which spent $11 billion to build buildings, bridges, and paved roads, and to commission thousands of paintings and murals
Federal Art Project
Project undertaken by the Works Progress Administration which commissioned thousands of public murals and paintings, many of which remain today
Frances Perkins
Secretary of Labor under FDR who was the first female member of the presidential cabinet
Mary McLeod Bethune
Director of the National Youth Administration’s Office of Minority Affairs, the highest ranking African-American in the Roosevelt Administration
Agricultural Adjustment Administration
New Deal program which paid farmers to decrease their acreage and production, helping farmers
Dust Bowl
Nickname for the Great Plains during its extreme drought in 1933-34
Indian Reorganization Act
1934 law which reinstated tribal sovereignty and aimed to protect tribal lands and culture, resulted in the creation of over 200 tribal self-governments
Public Utility Holding Company Act
1935 law allowing the SEC to regulate and break up public utility holding companies
Tennessee Valley Authority
New Deal program which built dams on the Tennessee River, allowing for cheap hydroelectric power, jobs, low-cost housing, flood control, reforestation, and economic growth
Federal Housing Administration
New Deal program designed to stimulate the construction industry by giving small loans to homeowners for improvements and new construction, lasted past the Great Depression
United States Housing Authority
Federal agency designed to give loans to states to fund low-cost housing, helped shrink slums despite opposition and failures
Social Security Act
1935 law allowing payments for the disabled and certain types of retirees, funded by payroll taxes, opposed by the GOP, excluded the poor
National Labor Relations Act
1935 law also known as the Wagner Act which stipulated that unions must be independent from the company and have leadership elected by its members, established the NLRB to police illegal labor activities
Committee for Industrial Organization
Unskilled labor union created within the ranks of the American Federation of Labor by John L. Lewis, became sole negotiating agent at many companies in the late 1930s
Congress of Industrial Organizations
Labor union which splintered from the AFL in 1938, included unskilled workers including blacks, had many feud with the AFL, led by John T. Lewis, known as the “new CIO”
Fair Labor Standards Act
1938 law requiring industries engaging in interstate commerce to adhere to minimum wage and maximum hour protections, banned child labor, excluded agricultural and service workers
1936 Election
FDR (D-NY) defeats Alfred Landon (R-KS), 532-8, losing only Maine and Vermont, wins 27.7 million popular votes to Landon’s 16.6 million, Democrats get a supermajority in both houses
20th Amendment
Constitutional amendment passed in 1933 which got rid of the “lame duck” session of Congress and moved inaugurations to 6 weeks after the election
Court Packing Plan
FDR’s idea to have Congress pass a law which allowed him to appoint a new Supreme Court justice for every member over 70, expanding the maximum capacity to 15 members
Owen J. Roberts
Supreme Court Justice who switched his voting patterns and was the deciding vote in the 1937 female minimum wage case, upheld Social Security Act and NLRA
Keynesianism
Economic theory which advocated for deficit spending, tax policies, and rate changes to increase purchasing power and overall prosperity, implemented in 1937
Reorganization Act
1939 law creating the Executive Office of the President, allowing the president to hire staff and structure his office
Hatch Act
1939 law banning non-policy making federal administrative officials from actively campaigning and soliciting
1938 Midterms
Republicans cut into Democrats’ congressional majority, threatening new policies
Patterns of Culture
Ruth Benedict’s 1940 book detailing cultures as collective personalities
Pearl Buck
Chinese-American novelist who wrote The Good Earth, the first mainstream depiction of Chinese Poverty and garnered support for the peasants in China
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Flashcard (91)