Chapter 24

• Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929


  The nickname and date (yes, the actual date) of the worst stock-market crash in American history and beginning of the Great Depression.
• Hawley-Smoot Tariff


  this tax on imports was passed in 1930, and while the intent was to preserve American jobs and industry at the first stages of the depression, we all know how that worked out.
• Buying on the margin


  What is it called when stocks are purchased with borrowed money in hopes of making enough money to pay off the loan. Many people did this leading up the stock market crash. This turned out very poorly for those that now held worthless stock, and owed money for that worthless stock.
• Gross National Product


  The total value of goods and services, produced by the residents of a country within a specific time period, usually one year. This dropped from 104 billion to 56 billion in four years during the Great Depression.
• Federal Farm Board


  Created in 1929, made to help farmers stabilize prices by temporarily holding surplus grain and cotton in storage
• Business Cycle


  Hoover believed the economy would quickly recover from the depression because he thought it was just another regular upswing and downturn of the economy, otherwise known as the _________________.
• Reconstruction Finance Corporation


  Federally funded, government-owned corporation funded by Congress in 1932. Intended to prop up faltering rairoads, banks, life insurance companies, and other financial institutions. In theory, the benefits would then "trickle down" to smaller businesses and ultimately bring recovery
• Bonus Army


  When WWI veterans marched on Washington to demand early payment of "bonuses" they had been promised.
• 20th amendment


  It became an issue because between the time Roosevelt was elected and took office, Hoover didn't do very much. Since communication was a little faster than back when horses were the fastest mode of transportation, the cabinet This amendment shortened the time period between the election and when the new President takes office. Also called the "lame duck" amendment.
• Brain Trust


  Nickname given to the group of advisors to Roosevelt comprised of experts in given fields as opposed to strictly politicians.
• Hundred Days


  Immediately after being sworn into office, Roosevelt called Congress into a special session. Congress passed into law every request of President Roosevelt, enacting more major legislation than any previous Congress in such a short time.
• Bank Holiday


  This is when they closed all financial institutions to figure out which ones were solvent and could reopen. The idea was to bring back faith in these institutions.
• Fireside Chats


  Roosevelt went on the radio on to talk to the American people. The idea was to communicate directly with the people and cause them to have faith in the government once more.
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

  Created during the New Deal to insure money deposited into banks. It still exists today.
• Public Works Administration and Works Progress Administration

  These agencies allotted money for the building of roads, bridges, dams, and other construction projects. They were not the one for youth or the one for a specific state.
• Civilian Conservation Corporation

  This agency was created by hiring young people for projects on federal lands. Their families were given the money. This one did not allow girls.
• Tennessee Valley Authority

  This was created in 1933 in order to provide flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development, and create jobs in a region/state particularly impacted by the Great Depression
• National Recovery Administration

  With anti-trust laws suspended, this administration was created to guarantee fair profits and reasonable wages and hours. It gave workers the right to collectively bargain, but was eventually declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
• Agricultural Adjustment Administration

  This encouraged farmers to reduce production (and thereby boost prices) by offering government subsidies for every acre they plowed under. It was declared unconstitutional in a 1935 Supreme Court decision.
• Schechter v. U.S


  In this case, the Supreme Court ruled the National Recovery Administration of the New Deal was unconstitutional because it violated the commerce clause of the Constitution.
• Security Exchange Commission

  This was created to regulate the stock market and to place strict limits on the kind of speculative practices that had led to the stock market crash.
• Federal Housing Administration

  This gave both the construction industry and homeowners a boost by insuring bank loans for building new houses and repairing old ones.
• National Youth Administration

  This agency was created by hiring young people for projects on federal lands. Their families were given the money. This one allowed girls.
• Wagner Act

  This guaranteed a worker's right to join a union and a union rights to collectively baegain, as well as outlawed business practices that were unfair to workers.
• Social Security Act

  This guaranteed retirement payments for enrolled workers beginning at age 65.
• Francis Townsend


  He proposed a retirement plan that would give $200 per month to the elderly, provided that the person spend the money each month in order to receive their next payment; the object of his plan was to help retired workers as well as stimulate spending.
• Huey Long


  A member of the Senate that advocated taking from the rich and giving to the poor in the Share the Wealth program. Considered a viable contender for president, alas, he was assassinated.
• Supreme Court Reorganization Plan


  This was a "court-packing" bill; proposed that the president be authorized to appoint the Supreme Court an additional justice for each current justice who was older than a certain age (1937). Really it was to get more judges that support Roosevelt. It did not go over well, you know, trying to manipulate the balance of the Supreme Court.
• Fair Labor Standard Act

  It established a minimum wage, a maximum workweek, and child labor restrictions (1938)
• John Maynard Keynes


  According to his theory, deficit spending (or "priming the pump") was acceptable because in difficult times the government needed to spend well above its tax revenues in order to initiate economic growth. The idea was that putting more money into the economy would create jobs and increase investments.
• Okies


  A severe drought in the early 1930s ruined crops in the Great Plains. This region became a dust bowl, as poor farming practices coupled with high winds blew away millions of tons of dried topsoil. With their farms turned to dust, thousands of ___________ migrated westward to California in search of farm or factory work that often could not be found
• John Steinbeck


  Author of the Grapes of Wrath
• Indian Reorganization Act


  This 1934 gave Indian Tribes the right to own land collectively, effectively reversing the Dawes Severalty Act.
• Federal Emergency Relief


  Gave federal money to states and local governments that were operating soup kitchens and other forms of relief for the jobless and homeless.
• Francis Perkins


  The first woman ever appointed to the cabinet as Secretary of Labor and a loyal supporter of her friend Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 21st Amendment


  This made it so alcohol was legal again, just in time for the height of the Great Depression.
• Father Charles Coughlin


  This Catholic priest drew a large radio audience criticizing the New Deal, but became less popular when his comments became increasingly anti-Semitic and Facist. Oh, brother...or Father?
• Relief, Recovery, Reform


  The three phases of the New Deal.