APUSH Chapter 24 terms

Buying on margin

Buying on margin was the act of buying stock for just 10% of the price promising to later pay the rest of it. On top of that, investors often times borrowed money to pay this small percentage. This was a leading contributor to the Great Depression. ECONOMIC.

Father Charles Coughlin

Father Charles Coughlin was a priest who was regularly broadcasted over the radio. Coughlin had originally supported the New Deal but, upon Roosevelt's refusal to nationalize the banking system and expand the money supply, he turned against it. Coughlin then organized the Nation Union for Social Justice. POLITICAL.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the next president after Herbert Hoover. FDR worked on pulling the USA out of the Great Depression. Roosevelt took advantage of new technologies such as radios to more easily address the nation as a whole and to develop a stronger relationship. FDR helped make the executive branch larger. POLITICAL.

Harry Hopkins

Harry Hopkins was in charge of the Works Progress Administration. Hopkins allowed the WPA to have a large influence on the recovery of the United States. ECONOMIC.

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover was elected to office in 1928. Hoover aimed to eliminate poverty during his presidency, however, was unable to prevent the Great Depression. POLITICAL.

Huey Long

Huey Long was a senator from Louisiana who achieved popularity by lowering utility bills, increasing taxes on corporations, and building new highways, bridges, hospitals, and schools. Long created the "Share our Wealth Society," which claimed that the depression was a result of under consumption. He planned to oust FDR but was later assassinated. POLITICAL.

John L. Lewis

John L. Lewis was a miner known for creating the United Mine Workers. Lewis helped found the CIO and was responsible for the Fair Labor Standards Act. CULTURAL.

John Maynard Keynes

John Maynard Keynes was an English economist who advocated the use of deficit spending (funds obtained by borrowing rather than through taxation) to stimulate the economy when private spending proved insufficient. Keynesians economics won wider acceptance during the Second World War. ECONOMIC.

Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929)

On October 29th, 1929, the stock market boom came to an end as millions of panicked investors frantically traded shares with one another. As a result, stock prices rapidly collapsed, leading to the Great Depression. ECONOMIC.

Repeal of Prohibition

Prohibition was officially repealed in December of 1933 when the 21st amendment was signed. Prohibition was completely ignored and unenforceable. The government figured that, if people will drink anyway, they might as well make it legal in order to better control it and tax it. CULTURAL & POLITICAL.

Fireside Chats

Roosevelt utilized the radio to reach out to the nation as whole. By talking to the nation over the radio Roosevelt was establishing a more "personal" connection. Fireside chats were Roosevelt's various radio addresses that people could listen to in the comfort of their own homes. CULTURAL & POLITICAL.

Drought / Dust Bowl / Okies

Severe drought ruined crops in the Great Plains. This region became known as the dust bowl, named after the dust that constantly flew around and smothered everything. As the horrid conditions in the Dust Bowl coupled with poor farming practice, 350,000 farmers whose crops had been ruined migrated to California. These ex-farmers became known as Okies. CULTURAL.

Bonus March (1932)

The Bonus March of 1932 was a protest by several WWI veterans who, in response to the quickly worsening economy, wanted their bonuses early that had been promised to them. Hoover greeted them with a small army that used force to stop the protests. This army was led by Douglas MacArthur. ECONOMIC.

Civilian Conservation Corps

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a New Deal program created by the Unemployment Relief Act. It provided employment in government camps for 3 million men. The work they were involved in included reforestation, fire fighting, flood control, and swamp drainage. ECONOMIC & POLITICAL.

Fair Employment Practices Committee

The Fair Employment Practices Committee aimed to insure morale and maximum use of labor force by preventing employer discrimination against workers because of race or religion. The efforts of this committee laid the foundation for the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's. CULTURAL.

Farm Board

The Farm Board was an organization formed in 1929 whose primary goal was to help farmers during the Great Depression. This board was established by the Agricultural Marketing Act. Hoover created this board in attempts to revitalize the economy and retaliate against the Great Depression. ECONOMIC.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was established by Roosevelt in the Glass-Steagall Act. This Act insured deposits up to $2500 and reduced the number of bank closings in 1934. ECONOMIC.

Federal Housing Administration

The Federal Housing Administration was a federal agency established in 1943 to increase home ownership by providing an insurance program to safeguard the lender against the risk of nonpayment. The FHA allowed for home ownership to rise greatly. ECONOMIC.

First 100 Days

The First 100 days refers to the first 100 hundred days of FDR's presidency in which he enacted 15 major bills. These bills focused on unemployment, the economy, agriculture, businesses, etc. This was the start of his New Deal. Some of his bills were even labeled "unconstitutional" by the Supreme Court and expunged. POLITICAL.

First New Deal

The First New Deal was a collection of programs created in the early 1930s that aimed to improve the economic situation in America. POLITICAL & ECONOMIC.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930)

The Hawley-Smoot Tariff wast enacted in 1930. This treaty raised tariffs on many imported goods. Many American trading partners retaliated in response to this tariff. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff might have even worsened the Great Depression. ECONOMIC.

National Recovery Administration

The National Recovery Administration was a government agency created during the New Deal that dealt with the industrial sector of the economy. The NRA allowed industries to create fair competition which were intended to reduce destructive competition and to help workers by setting minimum wages and maximum weekly hours. POLITICAL.

Public Works Administration

The Public Works Administration was an organization formed by Congress in 1933 to reduce unemployment through the construction of highways and public buildings. The PWA costed 3.3 billion dollars. This administration was not very effective because it was hesitant to approve public works projects. ECONOMIC.

Second New Deal

The Second New Deal was a set of new programs put into place from 1934 to 1936. These included additional banking reforms, new tax laws, and new relief programs. The primary goal of the Second New Deal was to take a crack at "money classes" and use the tax dollars of the rich to help the country. ECONOMIC & POLITICAL.

Securities and Exchange Commission

The Securities and Exchange Commission was a government agency that had a primary responsibility of enforcing the Federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry. This agency protected investors, listened to complaints, issued licenses, and penalized fraud. ECONOMIC.

Social Security Act (1935)

The Social Security Act provided old-age pensions for most privately employed workers. This act did not include farm workers and domestic servants due to wide opposition from southern Democrats. The act was not funded by general taxes but by mandatory contributions paid by workers and their employers. POLITICAL.

Supreme Court Reorganization Plan

The Supreme Court Recognition Plan was Roosevelt's attempt to put an extra justice on the Supreme Court for every justice over 70 years old who wouldn't retire. These justices would be supporters of Roosevelt and there would be a maximum of 15 judges. This plan failed be Congress, and many citizens, would not accept this. POLITICAL.

Tennessee Valley Authority

The Tennessee Valley Authority was a New Deal agency created to generate electric power and control floods in a seven state region around the Tennessee River Valley. The TVA created many dams that provided electricity as well as jobs. POLITICAL.

Twentieth Amendment ("lame-duck")

The Twentieth Amendment was ratified on January 23 1933 and set the terms for the president and vice-president, made Congress assemble annually, and set other terms for the presidency and processes in the case that a congressman would die. POLITICAL.

Wagner Act (1935)

The Wagner Act upheld the right of industrial workers to join unions but did not include farmers due to opposition from southern Democrats. This act outlawed practices used by employers to stop unions and established the National Labor Relations Board. POLITICAL.

Wheeler-Howard Act (1934)

The Wheeler-Howard Act (1934) was set into motion in 1934. This act granted rights to Native Americans and allowed Native Americans to open themselves and manage their land. The Act set requirements if the tribes wanted to make a constitution. CULTURAL.

Works Progress Administration

The Works Progress Administration was a New Deal agency that helped create jobs under federal payroll for the unemployed. It created around 9 million jobs working on bridges, roads, and buildings. It only helped about 1/3 of the unemployed and paid very little. ECONOMIC.

Bank Holiday

The very day after Franklin D. Roosevelt's inauguration, on March 5th, Roosevelt called for a national "bank holiday." All banks were to close while Congress met to discuss the bank situation. After four days, Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act which allowed banks to reopen only if the Treasury Department inspected and testified that the bank had sufficient tax reserves. ECONOMIC.