Chapter 24
Civilian Conservation Corps
a public work relief program for unemployed men so they have jobs. the men worked on jobs related to conservation and development of natural resources
dust bowls
..., farmed too much so the soil became dry and then drought
Frances Perkins
(born Fanny Coralie Perkins, lived April 10, 1882 - May 14, 1965) was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman ever appointed to the cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition
Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and Glenn Miller
..., A US clarinetist who, in 1934, formed a big band (black and white) and introduced a kind of jazz that was known as swing. They were the first swing band to perform in Carnegie.
Agricultural Adjustment Acts, 1933, 1938
..., (FDR) 1933 and 1938 , Helped farmers meet mortgages. Unconstitutional because the government was paying the farmers to waste 1/3 of there products. Created by Congress in 1933 as part of the New Deal this agency attempted to restrict agricultural production by paying farmers subsidies to take land out of production.
Social Security Act
..., (FDR) 1935, guaranteed retirement payments for enrolled workers beginning at age 65; set up federal-state system of unemployment insurance and care for dependent mothers and children, the handicapped, and public health
Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Federal Arts Projects
..., ..., May 6, 1935- Began under Hoover and continued under Roosevelt but was headed by Harry L. Hopkins. Provided jobs and income to the unemplyed but couldn't work more than 30 hours a week. It built many public buildings and roads, and as well operated a large arts project.
Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938
..., 1938 act which provided for a minimum wage and restricted shipments of goods produced with child labor
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
..., 1939 - Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was about "Okies" from Oklahoma migrating from the Dust Bowl to California in the midst of the Depression.
Richard Wright
..., 20th century writer best known for his novels dealing with the black experience in the United States. Two of his best known works are Black Boy and Native Son. The first African American writer to win a broad response from the reading public.
National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act
..., A 1935 law, also known as the Wagner Act, that guarantees workers the right of collective bargaining sets down rules to protect unions and organizers, and created the National Labor Relations Board to regulate labor-managment relations.
Marx Brothers
..., A family of American film comedians who flourished in the 1930s; Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera are two of their films. The brothers included the wisecracking, cigar-smoking Groucho; the harp-playing, woman-chasing Harpo, who never spoke but beeped a bicycle horn instead; and the piano-playing, Italian-accented Chico. A fourth brother, Zeppo, appeared in a few films, but a fifth brother, Gummo, did not appear in any.
Tennessee Valley Authority
..., A relief, recovery, and reform effort that gave 2.5 million poor citizens jobs and land. It brought cheap electric power, low-cost housing, cheap nitrates, and the restoration of eroded soil.
Federal Securities Act and the Securities and Exchange Commission
..., AKA "Truth in Securities Act", this act was created to protect the public against fraud.Before securities could be offered for sale they had to be accompanied by full and true information. Misleading information or the absence of pertinent information could result in prosecution.
Popular Front
..., An alliance between the Communists, the Socialists, and the Radicals formed for the May 1936 French elections. It was largely successful, increasing the Communists in parliament from 10 to 72, and the Socials up to 146, making them the largest party in France.
Walter Reuther, the United Automobile Workers (UAW) and the sit-downs
..., An american labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic party in the mid 20th century. Sit downs were a were workers remained in the workplace but refused to work until a settlement is reached.
Mary McLeod Bethune and the "black cabinet"
..., Bethune worked for FDR and became a member of the black cabinent, liason between black communities and the government. She was able to have an influential position because of her friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor changed the laws so that they could sit together at a conference. They distributed funds to organizations which would help blacks. Perkins was the first women appointed to the US cabinant. Her main contribution was with social security. She advocated against child labor and resisted having women drafted.
Charles E. Coughlin, Francis E. Townsend, and Huey Long
..., Demagogic extremists, attacked the new deal and proposing instead various panaceas for ending the depression
National Recovery Administration
..., Government agency that was part of the New Deal and dealt with the industrial sector of the economy. It 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.
John Collier and the Indian Reorganization Act, 1934
..., John Collier appointed as commissioner of Indian affairs and helped organize Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which supported Indian autonomy and restoration of native lands economically, culturally, and politically
John L. Lewis, Sidney Hillman, and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
..., John L. Lewis of the United MIne workers, and Sidney Hillman of the Amalgamated clothing workers established this in 1935. This 2 million-member group welcomed all autoworkers, steelworkers and electrical workers.
Fascism and Nazism
..., Nazism have all the characteristics of Fascism. But Nazism included in the characteristics: racial superiority, the state must take control of industries and combat communism.
Scottsboro boys
..., Nine young black men between the ages of 13 to 19 were accused of of raping two white women by the names of Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. All of the young men were charged and convicted of rape by white juries, despite the weak and contradictory testimonies of the witnesses
Harold Ickes and the Public Works Administration
..., Secretary of the Interior headed this ambitious public-works program; enacted by the National Industrial Recovery Act.
William Faulkner
..., United States novelist (originally Falkner) who wrote about people in the southern United States (1897-1962), "A Rose for Emily"
James Agee and Walker Evans, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
..., Writing and photography projects were undertaken during the depression/dustbowl era. Main thing to remember is that although their projects were meant to report on what was going on as much as it was to capture it for historic use.
John Maynard Keynes and Keynesian economics
..., a British economist who published "General Theory of Employment, Interest, and money in 1936 and believes in deficit spending
Rural Electrification Administration
..., affordable electricity would improve the standard of living and the economic competitiveness of the family farm; created to bring electricity to rural areas like the Tennessee Valley; many opposed
Revenue Act of 1935 ("Soak the Rich" law)
..., raised United States taxes on higher income levels, gifts, estates and corporations, by introducing the "Wealth Tax". It was a new graduated tax that took up to 75 percent of the highest incomes in taxes,[1] starting at incomes above $50,000.
What caused the huge stock market boom in 1928-1929 and its subsequent crash in October 1929? How did the practice of buying on margin contribute to both boom and bust?
...Buying on margin affected the boom because people weren't actually using their own money to buy the stock. Instead they were borrowing money in order to buy an intangible, and hoping that at some point the stock would go up and when they sold it the could pay back the loan. However, once the market started going down, people were unable to sell the stocks for as much as they bought them for. Thus they were unable to pay back the loans which they took out to buy the stock. This caused the banks to start failing because they were not making money. Which caused a run on the banks, forcing even more to fail because they had insufficient capital with which to lend, and if banks cant lend they cant make money.
Who were the opponents of the New Deal (Conservatives, Leftists, Supreme Court, demagogues) and what were their arguments?
...For all the credit Roosevelt has been given for the success (or otherwise) of the New Deal, there was opposition in America to both what he was doing with regards to his economic policies to combat unemployment and to the beliefs he was perceived to have held. Though Roosevelt had enormous success in the elections of 1936, 1940 and 1944, this success is somewhat disguised by the structure of America's elections whereby a presidential candidate can win a state with the bare majority of votes but win all of what are called Electoral College seats for that state. Once a presidential candidate has a majority of Electoral College seats for the states that have announced their election result, they win the election and any state that has yet to announce its results does so to go through formalities.
Describe Roosevelt's court-packing plan. Why did he propose it? Did he win or lose the fight to remake the Supreme Court? Why?
...Roosevelt wanted Congress to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court. He wanted to do this so that he could push New Deal legislation through the government because prior, the Supreme Court had begun striking down all New Deal legislation as unconstitutional. If Congress added more justices, Roosevelt would be able to appoint justices who agreed with his plan and get a majority of the court. Roosevelt didn't succeed in his plan. Congress didn't add more justices and there are still 9 on the court.
Zora Neal Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
...Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 novel and the best known work by African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston. The novel narrates main character Janie Crawford's "ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own destiny."[1] Set in central and southern Florida in the early 20th century, the novel was initially poorly received for its rejection of racial uplift literary prescriptions. Today, it has come to be regarded as a seminal work in both African-American literature and women's literature.[2] TIME included the novel in its 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923.[3]
What brought about the end of the New Deal in 1939?
...World War 2 - with the War in Europe imminent and the Japanese War looming - Rooseveldt had to abandon domestic concerns in favour of pursuing the urgent foreign policy which was threatening global security. The recession of 1937 was also a factor and the loss of control following the 38 elections put paid to any further reform.
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Agency established in 1932 to provide emergency relief to large businesses, insurance companies, and banks (2 billion)
Bank holiday, Emergency Banking Act, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
FDR closed all American banks for four days (Congress met to discuss legislation) and created a great sense of relief for the public. Generally conservative bill-treasury department inspections of all banks before reopening. Federal assistance to troubled institutions through reorganization.
Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to a republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned to blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia. Hemingway biographer Jeffrey Meyers writes that the novel is regarded as one of Hemingway's best works, along with The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man and the Sea, and A Farewell to Arms.[1]
brain trust
Group of expert policy advisers who worked with FDR in the 1930s to end the great depression
Harry Hopkins
Harry Lloyd Hopkins (August 17, 1890 - January 29, 1946) was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country. In World War II he was Roosevelt's chief diplomatic advisor and troubleshooter and was a key policy maker in the $50 billion Lend-Lease program that sent aid to the Allies.
the Hundred Days
Known as the period between Napoleon Bonaparte's return to Paris (20 March 1815) from his exile on Elba, and the restoration of the Bourbon Dynasty under King Louis XVIII (8 July 1815). This period is also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, and includes the Waterloo Campaign and the Neapolitan War.
First New Deal, Second New Deal
The "First New Deal" of 1933 was aimed at short-term recovery programs for all groups. The Roosevelt administration promoted or implemented banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, agricultural programs, and industrial reform (the NRA), a federal welfare state, as well as the end of the gold standard and prohibition. A "Second New Deal" (1935-1936) included labor union support, the WPA relief program, the Social Security Act, and programs to aid farmers, including tenant farmers and migrant workers.
Federal Emergency Relief Act
The Act was the first direct-relief operation under the New Deal, and was headed by Harry L. Hopkins, a New York social worker who was one of Franklin D. Roosevelt's most influential advisers *, law provided money for food and other necessities for the unemployed *Affected the people in trying to aid people feeling the effects of the depression, still in effect today
Francisco Franco, Spanish Loyalists, and the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War (Spanish: Guerra Civil Española)[nb 2] was fought from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939 between the Republicans, who were loyal to the established Spanish Republic, and the Nationalists, a rebel group led by General Francisco Franco. The Nationalists prevailed, and Franco ruled Spain for the next 36 years, from 1939 until his death in 1975.
"Okies"
unflattering name given to Oklahomans and others from the rural Midwest, especially those who left the Dust Bowl looking for better lives during the 1930s
bonus marchers
veterans who went to Washington demanding promised payment 2) moved into a Hooverville in Washington 3) Hoover cleared them out => two veterans were shot => diminished view of Hoover
