Great Depression/New Deal Quick Guide
Okies - farmers from the Great Plains and Oklahoma that were forced to give up
working their land because of the Dustbowl.
Repatriation – Returning a person to their place of origin.
Black Tuesday - (Stock Market Crash – October 29, 1929)
Dust Bowl – A severe period in which dust storms originating in the mid-west and
Great Plains states devastated America’s farms. The storms were caused because of drought and farming practices that did not rotate crops and practice methods to eliminate wind erosion
New Deal programs - FDR’s plan to provide relief and recovery from the G.D.
FDR - Democrat elected President in 1932
Fireside chats – FDR used radio to communicate directly with the American
people explaining his plans and educating Americans about ways
he planned to address the issues during his Presidency.
Bank holiday - Banks shut down for multiple days to help alleviate the “run on
the banks” and people’s panic over the banking system)
Hoovervilles – make-shift tent/shanty towns set up by the people left poor by the
Great Depression. Hoovervilles typically were set up in public
parks (ex. Central Park in New York City). The towns were named
after the President of the time (Herbert Hoover) for the failing to
resolve the Great Depression.
Huey Long – Sponsor of “Share Our Wealth Program.” He was a Populist.
Governor of Louisiana. Ran for President (1935) but was
Assassinated in 1935.
Share Our Wealth – Long’s plan to redistribute wealth in the United States. He
promoted a tax system that would provide a decent standard of living for all Americans by redistributing the nation’s wealth through a system of taxation. For example, Long proposed to cap personal fortunes at $50 million, anything beyond $50 million would be used for things like free higher education, government paying jobs, old-age pensions, and veterans care programs.
Court packing- F.D.R, frustrated with the Supreme Court declaring his New Deal Programs unconstitutional, wanted to shift the balance of political power on the Supreme Court to Democrat rather than Republican Justices in the majority. F.D.R. believed that if the majority of Justices on the Supreme Court were Democrats they would uphold his New Deal Programs as Constitutional. F.D.R. planned to do this by creating more Supreme Court Justices (which he would then appoint, thus shifting the balance of the court from a majority of Republican Justices that were anti-New Deal to a majority of Democrat Justices that were pro-New Deal). F.D.R’s “Court Packing Scheme” failed and as a result F.D.R’s actions appeared as though he was trying to manipulate the system of checks and balances.
Bonus Army – Army of WWI Veterans that had earned a bonus check from the
government for fighting in World War I. This bonus was to be paid in the 1940’s but when the Great Depression hit the “Bonus Army,” as they became called, marched on Washington D.C. as protestors demanding their bonus immediately. Government troops were used to break-up the Bonus Army’s protests.
THE NEW DEAL
(F.D.R’s plan to provide relief and recovery during the Great Depression)
New Deal Program/Reform / DescriptionCivilian Conservation Corps (CCC) / Provided jobs for mostly young men working to replant the nation’s forests, build irrigation ditches, and fight forest fires amongst other things.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) / Insured bank deposits (back then up to $5,000 – much more today)
National Recovery Administration (NRA) / Business and labor leaders joined together and developed codes of fair competition, a minimum wage, and minimum prices for goods that businesses sold. The goal: increase workers wages so that they could buy goods.
PWA / Created jobs for men building roads, bridges, dams (and other infrastructure)
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) / Built dams in the Tennessee River Valley to prevent floods and brought infrastructure improvements to the region.
Emergency Banking Act/ Bank Holiday / Closed banks for four days and allowed banks to get their accounts in order
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) / Regulates the Stock Market
Agriculture Adjustment Act (AAA) / End over production by farmers and raise crop prices
Works Progress Administration (WPA) / Improved/build the nation’s highways,; dredged rivers/harbors; promoted soil and water conservation.
Social Security Act / Created a pension system for retirees and provided unemployment insurance for workers that lost their job.
Rural Electrification Administration (REA) / Loaned government money to electric companies to bring electricity to rural parts of the U.S.
National Labor Relations Act
(Wagner Act) / Outlawed unfair labor practices; granted workers the right to organize into unions and bargain collectively; created the National Labor Relations Board.
National Youth Administration
(NYA) / Provided counseling and training to unemployed youth between the ages of 16-25.
United States Housing Authority (USHA) / Subsidized construction of low-cost public housing by providing federal loans.
Fair Labor Standards Act / Banned Child Labor; Established minimum hourly wage; established 44 hour workweek
Food Drug and Cosmetic Act / Prohibited the mislabeling of food, drugs, and cosmetics and ensured the safety and purity of those products.