Deck 25: The Great Depression and the New Deal, 1929-1939

Question 1

The popular political personality known as the "radio priest" was

A) Archbishop Sheen.
B) Father Brown.
C) Father Coughlin.
D) Father O'Malley.
E) Father Smith.

Answer 1

Father Coughlin.

Question 2

The organizer of the "Share the Wealth" societies was

A) Francis Townshend.
B) Upton Sinclair.
C) Father Charles Coughlin.
D) Huey Long.
E) Eleanor Roosevelt.

Answer 2

Huey Long.

Question 3

President Roosevelt's first order of business was to

A) help the unemployed.
B) help poor farmers.
C) save the nation's financial system.
D) implement a system of social security.
E) bail out the railroads.

Answer 3

save the nation's financial system.

Question 4

Makeshift towns built around the United States as shelters for the homeless were known as

A) "Shantytowns."
B) "Hoovervilles."
C) "Cardboard villages."
D) "Hobovilles."
E) "Roosevelt villages."

Question 5

One of the major demands of women reformers during the New Deal years was for

A) equal rights.
B) equal pay.
C) "protective legislation."
D) greater sexual freedom.
E) the right to vote.

Question 6

The reform movement spearheaded by Roosevelt, known as liberalism, can best be described as

A) unlimited government spending and restrictive social policies.
B) interventionist in economic matters and libertarian on questions of personal behavior.
C) promoting free enterprise in economic matters but social regulation of personal behavior.
D) limited government spending and no stance on personal liberties.
E) expanding government ownership of businesses and government regulation of personal behavior.

Question 7

From 1929 to 1932, industrial production fell by

A) 10 percent.
B) 25 percent.
C) 50 percent.
D) 75 percent.
E) 90 percent.

Question 8

The largest and most violent strike of the 1930s occurred among ____ workers.

A) farm
B) electrical
C) auto
D) textile
E) coal

Question 9

Which of the following was not a goal of the National Industrial Recovery Act?

A) setting a standard of minimum wages
B) setting a standard of maximum hours
C) regulating corporations on what they could produce
D) reducing the quantity of goods any business could produce
E) drawing up codes of fair competition

Question 10

The right of every worker to join a union was guaranteed in

A) the National Labor Relations Act.
B) the Federal Emergency Relief Act.
C) the Works Progress Administration.
D) the Public Works Administration.
E) the Social Security Administration.

Question 11

The government program that employed some two million young men planting trees and improving the environment in 1933 was the

A) Public Works Administration.
B) Civilian Conservation Corps.
C) Works Progress Administration.
D) Tennessee Valley Authority.
E) Social Security Administration

Question 12

The women's movement during the Great Depression

A) gained momentum.
B) declined as a result of male hostility during the depression.
C) took on new issues of sexual freedom.
D) put forward issues of equality more frequently.
E) saw more success.

Question 13

Each of the following was part of the First New Deal (1935-1937) except the

A) Public Works Administration.
B) Civilian Conservation Corps.
C) Works Progress Administration.
D) Tennessee Valley Authority.
E) National Industrial Recovery Act.

Question 14

All of the following are reasons why the Great Depression occurred except

A) the stock market crashed.
B) there was too much government spending for poor workers.
C) there was poor decision making by the Federal Reserve.
D) the government was unable to step in and solve economic problems.
E) wealth and income were unequally distributed.

Question 15

The Roosevelt proposal of 1937 that aroused tremendous public resistance was the

A) cancellation of the WPA.
B) plan to increase the size of the Supreme Court.
C) refusal to make lynching a federal crime.
D) plan to nationalize federal industries.
E) plan to enter the war in Europe.

Question 16

Probably the most formative experience in the life of Franklin Roosevelt was his

A) early privileged childhood.
B) marriage to Eleanor.
C) years at Harvard.
D) paralysis from polio.
E) early poverty.

Question 17

The commanding military officer who attacked the bonus marchers in Washington was

A) Dwight D.Eisenhower.
B) John G.Pershing.
C) Douglas Mac Arthur.
D) William Westmoreland.
E) William Grant.

Question 18

Herbert Hoover's response to the Great Depression was to

A) do virtually nothing-he let market problems resolve themselves.
B) expand the government's role in managing the economy.
C) limit the government's role in managing the economy.
D) solve problems through private organizations.
E) nationalize most businesses.

Question 19

The twentieth-century president who best represented the "self-made" man was

A) Woodrow Wilson.
B) Herbert Hoover.
C) Franklin D.Roosevelt.
D) Warren Harding.
E) Teddy Roosevelt.

Question 20

Which of the following does not describe Franklin D.Roosevelt?

A) He owed his political ascent to the famous name from his older cousin Theodore.
B) He was well educated.
C) He was popular among his associates in the New York Democratic Party.
D) He was charming, gregarious and enjoyed a good time.
E) He was faithful to his wife Eleanor.

Question 21

Popular novels celebrated all of the following except

A) honesty.
B) wealth.
C) decency.
D) small town values.
E) patriotism.

Question 22

The Federal Reserve board intensified the severity of the stock market crash by

A) ignoring the crisis.
B) borrowing heavily from European banks.
C) inflating the currency and making credit more available.
D) prohibiting banks from participating in stock purchases.
E) raising interest rates and reducing the amount of money in circulation.

Question 23

Franklin Roosevelt considered the most important legislation of his Hundred Days to be the

A) Emergency Banking Act and the Economy Act.
B) Agricultural Adjustment Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act.
C) Securities Exchange Act.
D) Tennessee Valley Authority Act.
E) Social Security Act.

Question 24

In 1932, the so-called Bonus Army

A) campaigned for the reelection of Herbert Hoover.
B) rioted and threatened to attack the White House.
C) petitioned Congress for early payment of their World War I veteran benefits.
D) was recommissioned as a special unit: the U.S.Army.
E) failed to make any impact on public opinion.

Question 25

Herbert Hoover's position on the question of relief was that

A) it was the responsibility of the federal government to provide economic security for U.S.citizens.
B) the unemployed should be drafted into the military.
C) individual citizens were responsible for their own survival and welfare.
D) the homeless should be deported.
E) only the urban unemployed should receive relief.

Question 26

The repatriation policy

A) was established during the Second New Deal.
B) drove hundreds of thousands of Mexican immigrants out of the United States.
C) was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
D) encouraged immigrants to demonstrate their patriotism by applying for citizenship.
E) brought Mexican workers to the U.S.in large numbers.

Question 27

Congress responded to the Supreme Court decision declaring the AAA unconstitutional by

A) repassing the Agricultural Adjustment Act.
B) blaming the Court for the continued farm crisis.
C) impeaching the Chief Justice.
D) passing the Aid to Agriculture Act.
E) passing the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act.

Question 28

Under the New Deal, African Americans

A) were completely ignored.
B) were appointed to high-level positions including cabinet posts.
C) received the same pay and job opportunities as whites.
D) continued to face discrimination and disfranchisement.
E) returned to their southern farms.

Question 29

The people who organized and directed the New Deal programs were mostly

A) well-educated, male, technocrats and bankers.
B) members of ethnic and religious minority groups.
C) working-class urbanites with little or no advanced education.
D) university professors eager to put their theories into action.
E) immigrants who brought radical ideas from abroad.

Question 30

The union formed to organize the millions of nonunion employees into effective workers was the

A) Knights of Labor.
B) American Federation of Labor.
C) "wobblies."
D) National Labor Union.
E) Congress of Industrial Organization.

Question 31

All of the following statements regarding Herbert Hoover are false except he

A) had an international reputation for successfully feeding millions of European soldiers and civilians.
B) served two terms in the U.S.Senate before being elected president.
C) motto was "the buck stops here."
D) was the only Democrat elected president during the 1920s.
E) had personally never known what it was like to be poor.

Question 32

Edmund Wilson studied which of the following in San Diego for his writings?

A) homicides
B) marriages
C) suicides and hopelessness
D) birth and pregnancy
E) divorce

Question 33

The popularity of the Superman comics reflected

A) public acceptance of the role of aggressive working women in U.S.society.
B) the growth of the new sport of body building.
C) anxiety over the threat of foreign invasion.
D) a decline in public intelligence and reading skills.
E) working-class male anxiety over threats posed by insensitive employers.

Question 34

The black opera singer who sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 in a symbolic concert against racism was

A) Marian Anderson.
B) Kathleen Battle.
C) Beverly Sills.
D) Jessye Norman.
E) Ella Fitzgerald.

Question 35

Of the following groups, which benefited the least from New Deal policies?

A) middle-class consumers
B) European ethnics
C) northern factory workers
D) southern industrial workers and farm laborers
E) the elderly

Question 36

The Neal Deal program closest to socialism was which of the following?

A) CCC
B) TVA
C) AAA
D) NRA
E) WPA

Question 37

Franklin Roosevelt's policy toward Latin America

A) was designed to improve relations and stimulate trade between the United States and Latin America.
B) was a continuation of the interventionist policies initiated by Theodore Roosevelt.
C) restricted U.S.investments in the area.
D) spread the Depression to all the nations of the Western Hemisphere.
E) dispatched troops whenever U.S.interests were threatened.

Question 38

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

A) outlawed Indian religious practices and handicrafts.
B) was supported by the Navajos and seventy-six other tribes.
C) restored tribal ownership of land and provided federal economic-development funds.
D) allowed Protestant missionaries to control reservation schools.
E) encouraged Indians to leave the reservations to work in cities.

Question 39

Herbert Hoover served as Calvin Coolidge's

A) secretary of commerce.
B) vice president.
C) secretary of state.
D) secretary of the treasury.
E) personal secretary.

Question 40

Most popular critics of the New Deal focused on

A) the lack of support for ordinary people.
B) the discrimination of minorities.
C) the plight of Native Americans.
D) the socialist nature of the programs.
E) the rise in income taxes for the wealthy.

Question 41

The "fireside chats" were

A) discussions concerning New Deal policy held among President Roosevelt's cabinet.
B) Eleanor Roosevelt's newspaper columns.
C) press conferences held on a regular basis by President Roosevelt.
D) Huey Long's speeches in support of his "Share the Wealth" program.
E) President Roosevelt's radio addresses that directly engaged the American public.

Question 42

Most worker demands in the early 1930s were very radical.

Question 43

The Emergency Banking Act and the Economy Act were

A) radical measures that Herbert Hoover would never have supported.
B) irresponsible and dangerous measures.
C) total and complete failures.
D) fiscally conservative measures.
E) vetoed by Roosevelt.

Question 44

What the economy needed in 1931 was an expanded money supply, lower interest rates, and easier credit.

Question 45

Eleanor Roosevelt was

A) an opponent of civil rights.
B) a first lady who played no active role in Washington politics.
C) estranged from her husband, President Roosevelt.
D) an active political partner of her husband and a key proponent of New Deal liberalism.
E) always in agreement with her husband, Franklin Roosevelt.

Question 46

The Reconstruction Finance Corporation created in 1932

A) offered relief payments to the unemployed.
B) gave significant relief to American farmers.
C) offered government loans to banks and corporations.
D) offered low interest loans to home buyers.
E) was later abolished by the Roosevelt administration.

Question 47

The court-packing plan was formulated with the best interests of the justices in mind.

Question 48

The Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup

A) reinforced the public's faith in their political and military institutions.
B) reinforced the public's political pessimism concerning the failure of American political institutions.
C) angered animal rights activists because of its cruelty to ducks.
D) supported New Deal liberalism.
E) was never allowed to be shown.

Question 49

The first response of President Herbert Hoover to the Depression was to establish "associations" of business leaders and farmers that would regulate their own industries.

Question 50

Buying on "margin" meant that

A) stocks could be purchased by paying a percent of the price and borrowing the rest.
B) consumer products could be purchased and paid for on the installment plan.
C) European nations could borrow needed capital from U.S.banks so that their citizens could buy U.S.products.
D) the government could use deficit spending to solve the problems of the depression.
E) farmers could use government loans to finance enterprises.

Question 51

The New Deal policy toward Indians could be described best as promoting assimilation.

Question 52

Herbert Hoover was anxious to engage the government in providing relief to the poor.

Question 53

The Social Security system excluded many of the female-dominated occupations from coverage.

Question 54

One of President Roosevelt's first acts in office was to close all of the nation's banks.

Question 55

The protagonist of the Studs Lonigan trilogy, written by James T.Ferrell,

A) rises above the circumstances of his poverty to achieve wealth and fame.
B) becomes a political revolutionary.
C) is a serial killer.
D) becomes a military hero.
E) dies poor and alone, overcome by the harshness of his environment.

Question 56

The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act of 1930

A) lowered U.S.tariff rates to provide markets for European goods.
B) raised tariff rates and contributed positively to economic recovery worldwide.
C) encouraged European nations to lower their tariff rates to enable U.S.companies to sell their goods abroad.
D) did not pass.
E) raised U.S.tariff rates, causing European nations to raise their rates and thus weaken international trade.

Question 57

Between 1918 and 1929

A) the share of national income that went to the wealthiest Americans rose, while the share that went the poorest fell.
B) the share of national income that went to the poorest Americans rose, while the share that went to the wealthy fell.
C) the wealthy spent a higher portion of their income on consumption than wage earners did.
D) income distribution did not have a significant effect on the economy.
E) government policy ensured an equitable distribution of income.

Question 58

Franklin D.Roosevelt was the only person to serve more than two terms as president of the United States.

Question 59

President Hoover's response to the Bonus Army

A) received widespread public support.
B) ensured support from the veterans' lobby.
C) made him even more unpopular with the American public.
D) received the support of Franklin Roosevelt.
E) never became a campaign issue.

Question 60

As first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt was shy, inarticulate, passive, and awkward.

Question 61

Organized labor grew in size and stature during the New Deal.

Question 62

The New Deal did more to reproduce patterns of racial discrimination than to advance the cause of racial equality.

Question 63

The Emergency Banking Act and Economy Act were originally proposed by Herbert Hoover.

Question 64

The Roosevelt administration tried to reinstate the National Recovery Administration after the Supreme Court declared its codes unconstitutional.

Question 65

The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the AAA.

Question 66

Share the Wealth Club members came exclusively from the middle class.

Question 67

Eleanor Roosevelt was an outspoken supporter of African Americans.

Question 68

The Bureau of Reclamation constructed the Boulder Dam and the Grand Coulee Dam.

Question 69

Franklin Roosevelt consistently backed legislation to make lynching a federal crime.

Question 70

In the court-packing plan, FDR asked Congress to authorize an increase in the number of Supreme Court justices.

Question 71

The Great Depression came as a complete surprise.

Question 72

Radical critics of the New Deal were silenced after 1934.

Question 73

The midterm elections of 1934 resulted in stronger Democratic control over both houses of Congress.

Question 74

The Hawley-Smoot Tariff affected only manufactured products.

Question 75

Bureau of Indian Affairs Commissioner John Collier ran into significant opposition in trying to protect Native American identity.

Question 76

The New Deal restored prosperity to America.

Question 77

The AAA focused specifically of the plight of sharecroppers.

Question 78

Franklin Roosevelt was the first president to confer diplomatic recognition on the Soviet Union.

Question 79

For the farmers of the Great Plains, the New Deal programs offered little, as their major problem was ecological.

Question 80

Jewish and Catholic Americans voted for Franklin Roosevelt in large numbers.