InQuizitive - Chapter 21: The New Deal, 1932–1940
A central element of the Popular Front public culture was its mobilization for civil liberties, especially the right of labor to unionize. Identify the accomplishments of the following individuals and courts. Options: - Attorney General Frank Murphy - Robert M. La Follette Jr. - Supreme Court
Attorney General Frank Murphy - established the Civil Liberties Unit in the Department of Justice Robert M. La Follette Jr. - headed a Senate subcommittee that exposed the methods that employers used to combat unionization, including spies, private police forces, and violence Supreme Court - insisted that constitutional guarantees of free thought and expression were essential to "nearly every form of freedom" and therefore deserved special protection
Franklin D. Roosevelt believed regional economic development would promote economic growth, ease the domestic and working lives of ordinary Americans, and keep control of key natural resources in public rather than private hands. The Roosevelt administration spent far more money on building roads, dams, airports, bridges, and housing than on any other activity. Using the following map of the American Pacific Northwest, identify the status of each dam as of 1949. - Chief Joseph Dam - Libby Dam - Rock Island Dam
Chief Joseph Dam - Building Libby Dam - Proposed Rock Island Dam - Finished
Select on the map the western state where the Grand Coulee Dam was one of many dams built to provide abundant cheap power for homes and factories.
Click on Washington
Until the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, bank loan officers often relied on a discriminatory color-coding system to identify neighborhoods based on their perceived credit risks. These color-coded areas took into account local amenities and home prices, but they were also based on the racial make-up of the communities. Using the map of Philadelphia provided by the text, select the neighborhoods that federal agencies and mortgage lenders considered "desirable."
Click the Blue and Green areas
Economic justice was not a mainstream concept before the Great Depression. The predominant economic theory advocated a laissez-faire market philosophy in which markets would fix themselves through unregulated cycles. With the development of industrialization, business cycles became more and more extreme with dire consequences for ordinary people. With the Great Depression, some began to advocate for a change in philosophy. Match the following advocates with the policy for which they advocated. - Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) - John Maynard Keynes - Upton Sinclair - Huey Long
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) - federal social and economic security system John Maynard Keynes - large-scale government spending Upton Sinclair - cooperative ventures Huey Long - Share Our Wealth movement
The Scottsboro case gained both national and international attention for highlighting the racism prevalent in the American South. Identify the statements that describe the Scottsboro case
Correct Answers: - As a result of the case, the Supreme Court greatly expanded the definition of civil liberties, ensuring that defendants have access to a jury of their peers. - The case revolved around nine young Black men arrested for the rape of two white women in Alabama in 1931. Incorrect Answers: - All the men were released in 1937 on a technicality. - The Communist Party stayed clear of the Scottsboro case and deemed it unimportant in its cause
In the excerpt from The Harvest Gypsies, John Steinbeck describes the experiences of previous and current migrant farm laborers in California. Select the passages that describe how migrants were treated.
Correct Answers: - As one little boy in a squatter's camp said, "When they need us they call us migrants, and when we've picked their crop, we're bums and we got to get out." - Chinese in the early period, then Filipinos, Japanese and Mexicans. These were foreigners, and as such they were ostracized and segregated and herded about. . . . But in recent years the foreign migrants have begun to organize, and at this danger they have been deported in great numbers
The Hundred Days were Roosevelt's and Congress's efforts to provide relief and recovery for the majority of Americans from the lingering effects of the Great Depression by the quickest means possible. Which of the following items were part of the flurry of legislation known as the Hundred Days?
Correct Answers: - Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) - National Recovery Administration (NRA) - abolishing prohibition Incorrect Answers: - Social Security Act - FDR's "court packing" effort - the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
Identify the statements that describe Mexican Americans' experiences during the Depression.
Correct Answers: - Mexican American leaders sought greater rights for Mexican Americans by claiming to be white Americans in order to avoid discrimination similar to African Americans. Incorrect Answers: - Mexican-American politicians developed a unified strategy for their people. - Low-paid immigrants from Mexico were encouraged into the United States during the Depression. - Working conditions and living conditions for Mexicans and Mexican Americans improved dramatically.
According to the map, which states were affected by every year of wind erosion depicted?
Correct Answers: - Oklahoma - Texas - Colorado - Kansas Incorrect Answers: - Arkansas - New Mexico - Nebraska
What were the effects of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation's distribution of maps like the one shown, labeling their perception of a neighborhood's real-estate prospects?
Correct Answers: - Racial segregation was strongly reinforced - Banks could more easily discriminate against blue-collar workers. Incorrect Answers: - City and county agencies were better able to provide public services - Low-income families were better able to find affordable neighborhoods
Read the following passage from Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Fireside Chat" (1934). I believe with Abraham Lincoln, that "the legitimate object of Government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all or cannot do so well for themselves in their separate and individual capacities." I am not for a return to that definition of liberty under which for many years a free people were being gradually regimented into the service of the privileged few. I prefer and I am sure you prefer that broader definition of liberty under which we are moving forward to greater freedom, to greater security for the average man than he has ever known before in the history of America. What does Roosevelt mean by the difference between the definition of liberty that has existed in the past and his own "broader definition of liberty"?
Correct Answers: - Roosevelt felt that his New Deal walked a fine line between too much government and too little. - Roosevelt equated freedom with economic security and independence, and rejected the liberty of contract, which served the interests of "the privileged few." Incorrect Answers: - Roosevelt disagreed with Abraham Lincoln and felt that government should do nothing to interfere in the lives of its citizens beyond national defense. - Roosevelt believed that the definition of liberty that prevailed in the past had led free people to be controlled by the power of the government. He wanted to avoid this.
Public assistance programs established by Social Security for dependent children, the poor and the elderly, were systematically denied from many employed Black workers. Identify the ways in which Blacks were prevented from benefiting from these types of assistance programs.
Correct Answers: - States set benefit levels extremely low and set eligibility standards that discriminated against Blacks. - Blacks represented the majority of domestic servant jobs, which did not pay Social Security taxes; therefore, most were eligible only for direct public assistance that came with a stigma of depending on "government handouts." Incorrect Answers: - Many employers hired Black employees over white employees during the Depression, easing their unemployment numbers so they did not have as high a need for public assistance programs. - States were allowed to apply "moral" standards of eligibility, offering a window of opportunity for Black southerners to gain assistance.
The era of the New Deal as a far-reaching social reform was coming to an end by 1941. Why did southern Democrats turn away from Roosevelt?
Correct Answers: - The "Report on the Economic Conditions in the South" revealed that the South lagged behind the rest of the nation in industrialization, health, and education. - Roosevelt encouraged voters to elect liberal politicians to replace conservative politicians in the region in 1938. Incorrect Answers: - Roosevelt went too far and attempted to abolish the NAACP and the ACLU as "un-American." - Roosevelt used the Justice Department and the U.S. army to crack down on radical white and union activists in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) came out of the Hundred Days. Identify the statements that describe the TVA and its mission.
Correct Answers: - The TVA was a series of dams designed to control the flooding on the Tennessee River and its tributaries. - The TVA would provide cheap and easy access to electricity for homes and industry in seven southern states. - The TVA is an example of government-planned economic transformation that also brought economic relief to Americans living in the region. Incorrect Answers: - The TVA was instrumental in building a system of dams on the Mohawk River in upstate New York
Identify the statements that describe the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
Correct Answers: - The WPA hired artists and writers for projects including painting murals, writing guidebooks, and authoring histories of the United States - The WPA constructed thousands of public buildings and bridges, more than 500,000 miles of roads, and 600 airports Incorrect Answers: - The WPA failed to take young people into account for any of its programs. - Like previous work relief programs, the WPA focused solely on industry- and construction-related programs to relieve the economic hardships facing blue-collar workers
The New Deal had contradictory effects on Native Americans. While aspects of the New Deal, such as the Indian Reorganization Act, brought improvements to some Native Americans' lives, other federal policies brought new injustices. Which of the following are examples of the ways the New Deal was detrimental to Native Americans?
Correct Answers: - federal conservation efforts with the Navajo nation - the Columbia River Project Incorrect Answers: - the Indian New Deal's introduction of day schools to replace Indian boarding schools - the Indian Reorganization Act's abolition of the policies introduced by the Dawes Act
Read the section of the textbook on the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, and analyze the following map. What were the negative consequences of the dams built along the Columbia River?
Correct Answers: - Environmental Damage Incorrect Answers: - Loss of jobs in the region - newfound energy for irrigation projects - the production of abundant, cheap power in the region
After the initial Emergency Banking Act was passed on March 9, 1933, what other acts were designed by the Roosevelt administration to shore up the American finance system?
Correct Answers: - Glass-Steagal Act - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Incorrect Answers: - Gold Standard Retention Act - Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Huey Long was one of the more vocal and controversial political figures of the 1930s. Identify the statements that describe Long and his Share the Wealth movement.
Correct Answers: - Long wanted to confiscate most of the wealth of the richest Americans. - Long dominated Louisiana state politics even from Washington, D.C., after his election to the Senate. Incorrect Answers: - Long served for only one term as president of the United States in 1936. - Long used his power as governor and senator to amass an enormous personal fortune at the expense of Louisiana taxpayers
What does it reveal about the Dust Bowl from 1935 to 1940?
Correct Answers: - Of the six states that experienced the Dust Bowl between 1935 and 1940, Nebraska was the state that suffered the least severe impact from wind erosion during the Dust Bowl. - Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma were all impacted by the most severe wind erosion during the Dust Bowl. - In 1938, almost half of the state of Kansas was impacted by severe wind erosion. Incorrect Answers: - New Mexico was not impacted by wind erosion at the beginning of the Dust Bowl.
FDR made a serious political miscalculation regarding the Supreme Court. Identify the statements that describe the Court fight.
Correct Answers: - The Court fight started because Roosevelt was worried that a court almost wholly appointed by Republicans would invalidate much of his New Deal. - FDR's attempt to pack the Court—or add additional justices—raised cries that he was an aspiring dictator. Incorrect Answers: - The Court fight caused a harsh reaction by the Supreme Court that led to nearly complete opposition to FDR's Second New Deal measures. - Justice John Maynard Keynes viciously opposed FDR's plans to stimulate the economy through public spending.
In the mid-1930s, for the first time in American history, the left—an umbrella term for socialists, communists, labor radicals, and many New Deal liberals—enjoyed a shaping influence on the nation's politics and culture. Identify the statements that specifically describe the communist movement in America.
Correct Answers: - The Popular Front and its focus on civil liberties brought the Communist Party respectability, helping to create a more pluralistic understanding of Americanism. - The Communist Party sought to ally themselves with socialists and New Dealers during the time of the Popular Front Incorrect Answers: - The Communist Party was exclusively white in America and sought to replace American ideals through revolution if necessary. - Despite their moment of influence in redrawing the boundaries of American freedom, the Communist Party experienced a sharp decline in party membership
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) was a key piece of legislation of the Second New Deal. Identify the statements that describe the REA.
Correct Answers: - The REA complemented other soil conservation and farm education programs, improving living standards for farmers - The goal of the REA was to bring electricity to farms. Incorrect Answers: - The REA was one of the least successful programs of the Second New Deal. - The REA failed to bring electricity to the majority of rural areas of the United States.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) was the first union to unionize an entire industry successfully. Identify the statements that describe the UAW.
Correct Answers: - The UAW used sit-down strike tactics to force concessions from management. - The UAW's membership swelled to 400,000 by 1937. - The Ford Motor Company was the final holdout against the UAW. Incorrect Answers: - In May of 1937, company guards and Chicago police fired on striking UAW workers, killing ten. It took another five years until the company, Republic, signed a labor contract with them.
How did the events of the 1930s transform ideas about freedom in the United States?
Correct Answers: - The decade discredited the idea that social progress depended on the unrestrained pursuit of wealth and that poverty was self-inflicted - The New Deal made public guarantees of economic security central to the idea of freedom Incorrect Answers: - Social and political activism superseded the labor movement, and the decade's primary goal became expanding access to political engagement - The New Deal radically expanded freedom's historical boundaries by bringing many benefits to rural tenant farmers, Blacks, Native Americans, and women
During the Depression, there were widespread calls for women to remove themselves from the labor market to make room for unemployed men. Identify the statements that describe women during the Depression.
Correct Answers: - The profile of women was raised during the era by Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who both advised the president - Millions of female domestic servants were excluded from Social Security, excluding them from age-old pensions and unemployment benefits. - The federal government prohibited both members of a married couple from holding federal jobs, which led to the dismissal of numerous female employees of the federal government Incorrect Answers: - The proportion of women in the workforce decreased dramatically during the Depression
Labor unions became more prominent in American life during the period of the New Deal. Identify the statements that describe labor unions during the New Deal and World War II
Correct Answers: - Unions had become so powerful that U.S. Steel negotiated with its 200,000 workers and the Steel Workers Organization Committee in order to avoid a strike. - Union membership doubled between 1930 and 1940. - Unions ultimately helped to raise the standard of living of their workers. Incorrect Answers: - The CIO fought to raise the hourly rate that workers were paid, but it did not negotiate the amount of work employees were expected to accomplish in an hour
Read the textbook section titled "The New Deal and Agriculture," and analyze the following map. Why was the Midwestern drought of the mid-1930s so catastrophic for farmers?
Corrects Answers: - Mechanized farming made topsoil vulnerable to wind erosion. - The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression led to a rural exodus from America's heartland to the cities and farms of the West Coast. The drought and dust storms displaced more than one million farmers. - The drought devastated not only crops but also livestock. Incorrect Answers: - None of Roosevelt's Hundred Days initiatives were designed to address the plight of the American farmer.
In 1942, the National Resources Planning Board found that Blacks were enjoying an improved standard of living throughout the United States due to higher employment opportunities and a substantial increase in the value of aid distributed in New Deal programs they were eligible for.
False
The Wagner Act enlisted efforts to break up unions in favor of employers.
False
Identify the contributions of the following individuals to the Popular Front. - Earl Browder - Dorothea Lange - Martha Graham
Martha Graham - dancer whose choreography included multicultural features of America's past Dorothea Lange - photographer who captured everyday life of migrant workers and sharecroppers Earl Browder - leader of the Communist Party who attempted to ally with socialists and New Dealers to institute social change
The ideas of the New Deal extended much longer than the actual period in which the New Deal operated. In fact, New Deal legacies continue to be felt to this day. According to this video entitled "Significance of the New Deal," which of the following were political legacies brought about by the New Deal?
Political Legacies of the New Deal - enhanced the power of the national government - created a permanent administrative state - made the Democratic Party the majority party for the next forty years Not Political Legacies of the New Deal - ended the Great Depression
With the help of the following map, identify whether each dam is located in Tennessee or in Alabama.
Tennessee: - Cherokee - Center Hill - Pickwick Landing Alabama: - Wheeler - Wilson
For years, many Native Americans had pressed for a return of their lands and viewed self-determination as foundational to freedom. The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) acknowledged these goals but in a limited way. Which of the following policies included in the IRA is an example of a limitation on the benefits it gave to Native Americans?
The law required tribes to adopt constitutions that complied with the expectations of U.S. government officials
In 1938, Roosevelt put Keynesian economic theory to work by increasing the U.S. budget deficit, requesting billions of dollars for work relief and farm aid in an attempt to sustain the purchasing power of individual Americans and stimulate the economy.
True
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was created in 1935 to organize workers by industry rather than by craft, which was the American Federation of Labor's (AFL) traditional policy.
True
Identify the missions of the following unions and organizations. - United Auto Workers (UAW) - American Federation of Labor (AFL) - Congress of Industrial Workers (CIO)
United Auto Workers (UAW) - This organization used the sit-down strike as an effective tactic to halt production and force negotiations. American Federation of Labor (AFL) - This organization wanted to secure "economic freedom and industrial democracy" for American workers. Congress of Industrial Workers (CIO) - This union was organized based on the craft of a worker, and not by the industry in which the worker worked.
Not all voices of protest during this period came from the unions. Identify the political agendas of the following individuals. Options: - Upton Sinclair - Huey Long - Dr. Francis Townsend
Upton Sinclair - He called for the state to use inactive factories, farms, and homes to create cooperative ventures to provide jobs for the unemployed Huey Long - He called for a restructuring of the American economy in which wealth of the richest Americans would be confiscated and redistributed to provide $5,000 grants and guaranteed jobs with annual salaries. Dr. Francis Townsend - He won wide support for a plan that would issue $200 to older Americans with the requirement they immediately spend it to boost the economy.
What can be inferred about the presidential election of 1932 given the information on the map?
Voters - not happy with how Hoover handles the Great Depression - were desperite for new leadership
