CHAPTER 33 - THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL

1. CHAPTER 33 - THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL

2. FDR: A POLITICIAN IN A WHEELCHAIR In 1932, voters still had not seen any economic improvement, and they wanted a new president. President Herbert Hoover was nominated again without much vigor andtrue enthusiasm, and he campaigned saying that his policies preventedthe Great Depression from being worse than it was.

3. FDR: A POLITICIAN IN A WHEELCHAIR • The Democrats nominated Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a tall, handsomeman who was the fifth cousin of famous Theodore Roosevelt and hadfollowed in his footsteps. • FDR was suave and conciliatory while TR was pugnacious and confrontational. • FDR had been stricken with polio in 1921, and during this time, his wife, Eleanor, became his political partner. • Franklin also lost a friend in 1932 when he and Al Smith both sought the Democratic nomination. • Eleanor was to become the most active First Lady ever

4. Question 1 • Franklin Roosevelt's ____ contributed the most to his development of compassion and strength of will. • a. education • b. domestic conflicts with Eleanor Roosevelt • c. family ties with Teddy Roosevelt • d. affliction with infantile paralysis • e. service in World War I

5. PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS OF 1932 In the campaign, Roosevelt seized the opportunity to prove that hewas not an invalid, and his campaign also featured an attack on Hoover’s spending (ironically, he would spend even more duringhis term). The Democrats found expression in the airy tune “Happy DaysAre Here Again,” and clearly, the Democrats had the advantage inthis race.

6. Question 2 • In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt campaigned on the promise that as president he would attack the Great Depression by a. nationalizing all banks and major industries. b. mobilizing America's youth as in wartime. c. returning to the traditional policies of laissez-faire capitalism. d. continuing the policies already undertaken by President Hoover. e. experimenting with bold new programs for economic and social reform.

7. Question 3 • The Democratic party platform on which Franklin Roosevelt campaigned for the presidency in 1932 called for a. extensive social reforms and a balanced budget. b. deficit spending and a higher military budget. c. higher tariffs and support for American manufacturers. d. nationalization of key industries. e. breaking up monopolistic corporations and supporting small business.

8. HOOVER'S HUMILIATION IN 1932 • Hoover had been swept into the presidential office in 1928, but in1932, he was swept out with equal force, as he was defeated 472 to 59. • Noteworthy was the transition of the Black vote from the Republican to the Democratic Party. • During the lame-duck period, Hoover tried to initiate some ofRoosevelt’s plans, but was met by stubbornness and resistance • an anti-inflationary policy that would have made much of the New Deal impossible • Hooverites would later accuse FDR of letting the depression worsen so that he could emerge as an even more shining savior.

9. Question 4 • One striking new feature of the 1932 presidential election results was that a. the South had shifted to the Republican party. b. Democrats made gains in the normally Republican Midwest. c. urban Americans finally cast more votes than rural Americans. d. a clear gender gap opened up in which more women favored the Democrats. e. African Americans shifted from their Republican allegiance and became a vital element in the Democratic party.

10. FDR AND THE THREE R’S: RELIEF, RECOVERY, AND REFORM • On Inauguration Day, FDR asserted, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” • He called for a nationwide bank holiday to eliminate paranoid bank withdrawals, and then he commenced with his Three R’s. • The Democratic-controlled Congress was willing to do as FDR said, and the first Hundred Days of FDR’s administration were filled with more legislative activity than ever before. • Many of the New Deal Reforms had been adopted by European nations a decade before. He also borrowed ideas from war time agencies which took a direct role in the economy.

11. Question 5 • The phrase Hundred Days refers to the a. worst months of the Great Depression. b. time it took for Congress to begin acting on President Roosevelt's plans for combating the Great Depression. c. flood of legislation passed by Congress in the first months of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency. d. "lame-duck" period between Franklin Roosevelt's election and his inauguration. e. time that all banks were closed by FDR.

12. Question 6 The early New Deal experiments borrowed rather freely and randomly from a. the American labor movement and European socialism. b. early twentieth-century economists and social theorists Thorstein Veblen and John Dewey. c. Mussolini's fascism and Hitler's Nazism. d. U.S. wartime and pre-war agencies and European social reform models. e. the late nineteenth-century utopian literature of Henry George, Edward Bellamy, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

13. ROOSEVELT MANAGES THE MONEY The Emergency Banking Relief Act of 1933 was passed first. FDR declared a one week “bank holiday” just so everyone wouldcalm down and stop running on the banks. Then, Rooseveltsettled down for the first of his thirty famous “Fireside Chats” with America.

14. ROOSEVELT MANAGES THE MONEY • The “Hundred Days Congress” passed the Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act, that provided the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which insured individual deposits up to $5000, thereby eliminating the epidemic of bank failure and restoring faith to banks. • FDR then took the nation off of the gold standard and achieved controlled inflation by ordering Congress to buy gold at increasingly higher prices. • In February 1934, he announced that the U.S. would pay foreign gold at a rate of one ounce of gold per every $35 due.

15. ROOSEVELT MANAGES THE MONEY • The Emergency Banking Relief Act gave FDR the authority to manage banks. • FDR then went on the radio “fireside” and reassured people it was safer to put money in the bank than hidden in their houses. • The Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act was passed. • This provided for the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) to insure the money in the bank. • FDR wanted to stop people from hoarding gold. • He urged people to turn in gold for paper money and took the U.S. off the gold standard. • He wanted inflation, to make debt payment easier, and urged the Treasury to buy gold with paper money.

16. Question 7 The most immediate emergency facing Franklin Roosevelt when he became president in March 1933 was a. the collapse of nearly the entire banking system. b. runaway inflation. c. the growing power of demagogues such as Huey Long and Father Coughlin. d. the near collapse of international trade. e. riots by unemployed workers and farmers unable to sell their goods.

17. Question 8 Immediately after taking office, President Roosevelt responded to the banking crisis by a. restoring the gold standard to guarantee the soundness of American currency. b. reassuring Americans that all their banking deposits were safe. c. providing major federal loans to the largest and soundest banks. d. establishing a new Bank of the United States to guarantee deposits. e. closing all American banks for a week, while reorganizing them on a sounder basis.

18. Question 9 The Glass-Steagall Act a. took the United States off the gold standard. b. empowered President Roosevelt to close all banks temporarily. c. created the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the stock exchange. d. permitted commercial banks to engage in Wall Street financial dealings. e. created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure individual bank deposits.

19. Question 10 Franklin Roosevelt took America off the gold standard and adopted a managed currency policy designed to a. stimulate inflation. b. reduce the price of gold. c. restore confidence in banks. d. reduce the amount of money in circulation. e. shake up the Federal Reserve Board.

20. A DAY FOR EVERY DEMAGOGUE • Roosevelt had no qualms about using federal money to assist the unemployed, so he created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), whichprovided employment in fresh-air government camps for about 3 million uniformed young men. • They reforested areas, fought fires, drained swamps, controlled floods, etc. • One of the most popular of his programs • However, critics accused FDR of militarizing the youths and acting as dictator.

21. Question 11 The single most popular New Deal program was probably the a. Works Progress Administration. b. Agricultural Adjustment Act. c. National Recovery Administration.\ d. Civilian Conservation Corps. e. Tennessee Valley Authority.

22. Question 12 All of the following are true statements about the men who joined the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) except a. there were about three million men in the program. b. the men were mostly young, hired to work in fresh-air camps. c. many of the men had had criminal records. d. they worked on reforestation, flood control and swamp drainage projects. e. CCC workers helped families by sending most of their paychecks home.

23. A DAY FOR EVERY DEMAGOGUE • The Federal Emergency Relief Act looked for immediate relief rather than long-term alleviation, and its Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was headed by the zealous Harry L. Hopkins. • The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) made available many millions of dollars to help farmers meet their mortgages. • The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) refinanced mortgages on non-farm homes and bolted down the loyalties of middle class, Democratic homeowners. • The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was established late in 1933, and it was designed to provide purely temporary jobs during the winter emergency. • Many of its tasks were rather frivolous (called “boondoggling”) and were designed for the sole purpose of making jobs.

24. A DAY FOR EVERY DEMAGOGUE • The New Deal had its commentators. • One FDR spokesperson was Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest in Michigan who at first was with FDR then disliked the New Deal andvoiced his opinions on radio.

25. A DAY FOR EVERY DEMAGOGUE • Senator Huey P. Long of Louisiana was popular for his “Share the Wealth” program. Proposing “every man a king,” each family was to receive $5000, allegedly from the rich. The math of the plan was ludicrous. • His chief lieutenant was former clergyman Gerald L. K. Smith. • He was later shot by a deranged medical doctor in 1935.

26. A DAY FOR EVERY DEMAGOGUE • Dr. Francis E. Townsend of California attracted the trusting support of perhaps 5 million “senior citizens” with his fantastic plan of each senior receiving $200 month, provided that allof it would be spent within the month. Also, this was a mathematicallysilly plan.

27. Question 13 Match each New Deal critic below with the cause or slogan that he promoted. A.Father Coughlin 1."social justice“ B.Huey Long 2."every man a king“ C.Francis Townsend 3."a holy crusade for liberty“ D.Herbert Hoover 4."$200 a month for everyone over 60" a. A-l, B-2, C-4, D-3 b. A-2, B-1, C-3, D-4 c. A-3, B-4, C-2, D-1 d. A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2 e. A-1, B-4, C-3, D-2

28. Question 14 Senator Huey P. Long of Louisiana gained a large national following by promising to a. nationalize all banks and public utility companies. b. make Jews pay for causing the Great Depression. c. help farmers and workers organize to resist the power of corporations. d. provide the unemployed and elderly a $200-a-month social security payment. e. "share our wealth" by raising taxes on the rich and giving every family $5,000.

29. A DAY FOR EVERY DEMAGOGUE • Congress also authorized the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935, which put $11 million on thousands of public buildings, bridges, and hard-surfaced roads and gave 9 million people jobs in its eight years of existence. • It also found part-time jobs for needy high school and college students and for actors, musicians, and writers. • John Steinbeck counted dogs (boondoggled) in his California home of Salinas county. • Boondoggled-An unnecessary or wasteful project or activity

30. NEW VISIBILITY FOR WOMEN • Ballots newly in hand, women struck up new roles. • First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was the most visible, but other ladies shone as well: Sec. of Labor Frances Perkins was the first female cabinet member and Mary McLeod Bethune headed the Office of Minority Affairs in the NYA, the “Black Cabinet”, and founded a Florida college. • Bethune-Cookman (Pitt hoops played them in 2012)

31. NEW VISIBILITY FOR WOMEN AnthropologistRuth Benedict helped develop the “culture and personality movement” and her student Margaret Mead reached even greater heights with Coming of Age in Samoa. Pearl S. Buck wrote a beautiful and timeless novel, The Good Earth, about a simple Chinese farmer which earned her the Nobel Prize forliterature in 1938.

32. Question 15 Prominent female social scientists of the 1930s, like Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead, brought widespread contributions to the field of a. economics. b. political science. c. psychology. d. sociology. e. anthropology.

33. HELPING INDUSTRY AND LABOR • The National Recovery Administration (NRA), by far the most complicated of the programs, was designed to assist industry, labor, and the unemployed. • There were maximum hours of labor, minimum wages, and more rights for labor union members, including the right to choose their ownrepresentatives in bargaining. • Largely failed because it required too much self-sacrifice on the part of industry, labor, and the public.

34. HELPING INDUSTRY AND LABOR • (NRA) • The Philadelphia Eagles were named after this act, which received much support and patriotism, but eventually, it was shot down by the Supreme Court. • One of the Hundred Days Congress’s earliest acts was to legalize light wine and beer with an alcoholic content of 3.2% or less and also levied a $5 tax on every barrel manufactured. • He could possibly raise revenue and create jobs • Prohibition was repealed with 21st Amendment • Besides too much was expected of labor, industry, and the public. • The Public Works Administration (PWA) also intended both for industrial recovery and for unemployment relief. • Headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, it aimed at long-range recovery by spending over $4 billion on some 34,000 projects that included public buildings, highways, and parkways (i.e. the Grand Coulee Dam of the Columbia River).

35. Question 16 The most complex and ambitious New Deal effort to achieve recovery and reform the entire American economy was the a. Public Works Administration. b. National Recovery Administration. c. Tennessee Valley Authority. d. National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act). e. Social Security Administration.

36. Question 17 The National Recovery Administration (NRA) failed largely because a. businesses resisted regulation by the agency. b. it required too much self-sacrifice on the part of industry, labor, and the public. c. Harold Ickes, the head of the agency, proved to be an incompetent administrator. d. it did not provide enough protection for labor to bargain with management. e. the agency did not have enough power to control business.

37. Question 18 Roosevelt supported the repeal of prohibition because a. he thought it was unconstitutional. b. he believed the problem of drunkenness could be solved by restricting alcohol content to 3.2 percent by weight. c. he thought that it afforded the opportunity to raise needed federal revenue and provide jobs. d. he needed support from the repeal movement to gain reelection. e. drys - those who opposed alcohol - were an increasingly small segment of the population.

38. PAYING FARMERS NOT TO FARM • To help the farmers, which had been suffering from deflation ever since the end of World War I, Congress established the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, which paid farmers to reduce their crop acreage and would eliminate price-depressing surpluses. • However, it got off to a rocky start when it killed lots of pigsfor no good reason, and paying farmers not to farm actually increased unemployment. • The Supreme Court killed it in 1936. • The New Deal Congress also passed the Soil Conservation and domestic Allotment Act of 1936, which paid farmers to plant soil-conserving plants like soybeans or to let their land lie fallow. • The Second Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 was a more comprehensive substitute that continued conservation payments but was accepted by the Supreme Court.

39. Question 19 The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) proposed to solve the farm problem by a. reducing agricultural production. b. subsidizing American farm exports overseas. c. encouraging farmers to switch to industrial employment. d. helping farmers to pay their mortgages. e. creating farm cooperatives.

40. DUST BOWLS AND BLACK BLIZZARDS • After the drought of 1933, furious winds whipped up dust into the air, turning parts of Missouri, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma into the Dust Bowl and forcing many farmers to migrate west to California and inspired Steinbeck’s classic The Grapes of Wrath. • The dust was very hazardous to the health and to living, creating further misery. • Caused by soil erosion, over cultivation on marginal Great Plains farm land, and a severe drought

41. DUST BOWLS AND BLACK BLIZZARDS The Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act, passed in 1934, made possible a suspension of mortgage foreclosure for five years, but it was voided in 1935 by the Supreme Court. In 1935, FDR set up the Resettlement Administration, charged with the task of removing near-farmless farmers to better land. • Commissioner of Indian Affairs was headed by John Collier who sought to reverse the forced-assimilation policies in place since the Dawes Act of 1887. • He promoted the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (the Indian“New Deal”), which encouraged tribes to preserve their culture and traditions. • Not all Indians liked it though, saying if they followed this “back-to-the-blanket” plan, they’d just become museumexhibits. 77 tribes refused to organize under its provisions (200 did).

42. Question 20 All of the following contributed to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s except a. dry-farming techniques. b. drought. c. farmers' failure to use steam tractors and other modern equipment. d. the cultivation of marginal farmlands on the Great Plains. e. soil erosion.

43. Question 21 In 1935, President Roosevelt set up the Resettlement Administration to a. help farmers migrate from Oklahoma to California. b. place unemployed industrial workers in areas where their labor was needed. c. move Indians from land that could be farmed by victims of the Dust Bowl. d. find jobs for farmers in industry. e. help farmers who were victims of the Dust Bowl move to better land.

44. Question 22 Most Dust Bowl migrants headed to a. Oklahoma. b. Arizona. c. Nevada. d. Oregon. e. California.

45. Question 23 The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 attempted to a. reverse the forced assimilation of Native Americans into white society by establishing tribal self-government. b. encourage Native Americans to give up their land claims. c. reinforce the Dawes Act of 1887. d. pressure Native Americans to renounce self-government. e. define clearly which tribes were federally recognized.

46. Question 24 Native Americans responded to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 a. with some thrilled by its efforts to stop the loss of Indian lands. b. with many Indians rejecting its provisions to organize tribes and tribal governments. c. by denouncing it as a "back to the blanket" measure. d. All of these e. None of these

47. BATTLING BANKERS AND BIG BUSINESS The Federal Securities Act (“Truth in Securities Act”) required promoters to transmit to the investor sworn information regarding the soundness of their stocks and bonds. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was designed as a stock watchdog administrative agency, and stock markets henceforth were to operate more as trading marts than as casinos. In 1932, Chicagoan Samuel Insull’s multi-billion dollar financial empire had crashed, and such cases as his resulted in the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935.

48. Question 25 The Federal Securities Act and the Securities Exchange Commission aimed to a. halt the sale of stocks on margin (i.e. with borrowed funds). b. force stockbrokers to register with the federal government. c. prevent interlocking directorates and business pyramiding schemes. d. provide full disclosure of information and prevent insider trading and other fraudulent practices. e. enable the Chicago Board of Trade to compete with the New York Stock Exchange.

49. THE TVA HARNESSES THE TENNESSEE RIVER • The sprawling electric-power industry attracted the fire of New Deal reformers. • New Dealers accused it of gouging the public with excessive rates. • Thus, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (1933) sought to discover exactly how much money it took to produce electricity and then keep rates reasonable. • It constructed dams on the Tennessee River and helped the 2.5 million extremely poor citizens of the area improve their lives andtheir conditions. • Hydroelectric power of Tennessee would give rise to that of the West.

50. Question 26 The federally-owned Tennessee Valley Authority was seen as a particular threat to a. the entire capitalist system. b. the Republican party. c. the automobile industry. d. the private electrical utility industry. e. white southern racial practices.