The Depression & the New Deal Flashcards
All 48 cards in this deck
What were 'Hoovervilles'?
Camps of shacks where homeless people lived during the Depression, nicknamed after Hoover to criticise him for not doing enough to help.
What was the Dust Bowl?
Large areas of American farmland turned to dust and made impossible to farm, ruining farmers already hit by low prices.
Give one way the Depression affected farmers in America.
They could not sell their produce at a profit, so many lost their farms and farmworkers were sacked.
Who was the 'Bonus Army' and what did Hoover do about it?
First World War veterans who camped in Washington demanding early payment of their bonus; Hoover set the army on them, making him more unpopular.
True or false? The Depression only affected poor, unskilled Americans.
False. It affected all levels of society – rich and professional people lost jobs and had homes reclaimed by banks, and managers suffered from business failures.
What was 'rugged individualism', the idea Hoover was blamed for relying on?
The belief that people should help themselves rather than depend on government, and that the economy would recover by itself.
What was Roosevelt's campaign promise and theme tune in the 1932 election?
He promised ordinary people he would end the Depression; his theme tune was 'Happy Days are here again'.
What were the three aims of Roosevelt's New Deal?
Relief, recovery and reform.
What were the 'Alphabet Agencies'?
Government-funded organisations set up under the New Deal, known by their initials, which provided relief and created jobs.
What did the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) do?
Gave work to about 2.5 million unemployed young men on environmental projects such as planting trees.
What did the TVA and PWA do for employment?
They began public building projects that created jobs for a wide range of people – architects and researchers as well as builders.
Give one limitation of the New Deal for African Americans.
They still suffered racial discrimination, including from some Alphabet Agencies, so white Americans benefited more widely.
On what grounds did the Supreme Court rule some Alphabet Agencies illegal?
That the federal government was infringing on the rights of individual states.
Give one reason Republicans and businessmen opposed the New Deal.
They believed in laissez-faire and resented higher taxes, trade unions, minimum wages and maximum hours that cut company profits.
What were Roosevelt's 'fireside chats'?
Radio broadcasts in which Roosevelt spoke directly to the whole nation, creating a sense of hope and confidence.
What happened to unemployment when Roosevelt cut New Deal spending in 1937?
It rose again in the 1937–38 recession, showing recovery still depended on government spending.
What was Lend Lease?
A programme by which America supplied war materials to its allies, creating demand for American armament industries.
What was the Cash and Carry plan?
A 1939 policy letting Britain and France buy American weapons if they paid cash and carried them in their own ships – a first step away from isolationism.
What did the War Production Board do after Pearl Harbor?
Converted peacetime industries to war work, creating jobs for men and women in weapons factories.
Give one reason unemployment fell in America during the Second World War.
Men joined the armed forces, while new industries and war contracts created jobs in factories making weapons.
How did the Second World War affect American farmers?
It brought them prosperity, as America exported food to its allies.
What was the Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC)?
A wartime body that brought attention to racial discrimination in employment, contributing to the growth of the Civil Rights movement in later decades.
True or false? American women took on traditional male roles during the Second World War.
True. Women worked in jobs such as weapons factories that men had previously done.
True or false? Hoover took no action at all in response to the Depression.
False. He cut taxes and set up building programmes to create jobs, but was blamed for not doing enough and expecting people to be 'rugged individuals'.
What happened in the Wall Street Crash of October 1929?
Panic selling made share prices collapse, wiping billions of dollars off share values. The worst days were 'Black Thursday' (24 October) and 'Black Tuesday' (29 October).
Give one long-term cause of the Wall Street Crash.
Overproduction: by the late 1920s factories and farms were producing more than Americans could afford or wanted to buy, so profits began to fall and shareholders lost confidence.
Why did many American banks go bankrupt after the Crash?
They had lent heavily to share buyers who could no longer repay, and panicking savers rushed to withdraw their money; 659 banks failed in 1929 alone, and thousands more in the early 1930s, wiping out people's savings.
How high did unemployment rise in the USA by 1932–33?
To around 12–13 million people, about a quarter of the workforce.
Give one way the Depression affected businessmen.
With customers spending far less, sales collapsed: many firms went bankrupt and the rest laid off workers. Industrial output fell by almost half between 1929 and 1932.
What was the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (1932)?
Hoover's agency that lent federal money to banks, railways and businesses in trouble, to try to save jobs.
How did the Hawley–Smoot Tariff (1930) make the Depression worse?
It raised import duties to protect American producers, but other countries retaliated with duties on American goods, so US trade shrank and more firms and farmers lost markets.
Who won the 1932 presidential election, and by how much?
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democrat, who beat Hoover by a landslide, winning 42 of the 48 states.
What did the Emergency Banking Act (1933) do?
Roosevelt closed all banks for inspection; only sound ones reopened, with government support, which restored people's confidence in the banking system.
What did the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) do?
It paid farmers to grow and raise less so that prices and farm incomes rose; critics attacked it for ploughing up crops and slaughtering animals while many Americans were hungry.
What was the National Recovery Administration (NRA)?
A 1933 agency under which industries drew up codes on fair prices, wages and hours, with workers given the right to join unions. Taking part was voluntary, and the Supreme Court struck it down in 1935.
What did the Social Security Act (1935) do?
It created America's first national welfare system: old-age pensions and unemployment insurance funded by taxes on workers and employers, plus help for the disabled and for poor families with children.
What did the Wagner Act (1935) do?
It gave workers the legal right to join a trade union and bargain with employers, replacing the union rights lost when the Supreme Court struck down the NRA.
Who was Huey Long?
A Louisiana senator who said the New Deal did too little for the poor and proposed 'Share Our Wealth': heavily taxing the richest to guarantee every family a basic income and a home. He was assassinated in 1935.
How did the Works Progress Administration (WPA) affect 1930s culture?
Its arts projects paid unemployed painters, writers, actors and musicians, producing public murals, theatre, concerts and writing about American life; critics called it a waste of taxpayers' money.
Why was the cinema so popular in 1930s America?
It was cheap escapism from the Depression: tens of millions went every week to see musicals, comedies, horror films and Disney cartoons, with hits such as Snow White (1937) and Gone with the Wind (1939).
Give one limitation of the New Deal for women.
Many NRA codes allowed women to be paid lower wage rates than men, and relief jobs went mainly to men as family breadwinners; very few schemes were aimed at women.
What did the Indian Reorganization Act (1934) do for American Indians?
It let tribes run more of their own affairs and provided loans to buy land and equipment, though most American Indians stayed very poor.
What was Roosevelt's 'court-packing' plan (1937)?
After the Supreme Court struck down key New Deal laws, Roosevelt proposed adding up to six new judges who would support him. Congress rejected it and critics accused him of acting like a dictator, though the Court then began upholding New Deal laws.
What was isolationism?
The US policy, strong between the world wars, of avoiding alliances and involvement in other countries' conflicts, especially in Europe.
What brought the USA into the Second World War?
Japan's surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941. The USA declared war on Japan, and Germany and Italy then declared war on the USA.
How far did US unemployment fall during the Second World War?
From about 9.5 million in 1939 to about 670,000 by 1944.
How did the number of women working change during the Second World War?
It rose by over 6 million, from about 12 million in 1940 to around 18–19 million by 1945, when women held roughly a third of all jobs.
How were African Americans treated in the US armed forces in the Second World War?
About a million served, but in segregated units, often in support roles. Black pilots such as the Tuskegee Airmen proved themselves in combat, but still flew in all-black squadrons.