Deck 31: The Politics of Boom and Bust 1920-1932

Question 1

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Al Smith

Answer 1

Student answers will vary.

Question 2

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Washington Disarmament Conference

Answer 2

Student answers will vary.

Question 3

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Calvin Coolidge

Answer 3

Student answers will vary.

Question 4

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
"Ohio Gang"

Question 5

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Frank B. Kellogg

Question 6

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Henry L. Stimson

Question 7

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Warren G. Harding

Question 8

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Douglas MacArthur

Question 9

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
steel strike of 1919

Question 10

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Albert B. Fall

Question 11

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
John W. Davis

Question 12

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Charles Dawes

Question 13

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Adkins v. Children's Hospital ​(1923)

Question 14

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Andrew Mellon

Question 15

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Robert La Follette

Question 16

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Herbert Hoover

Question 17

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
American Legion

Question 18

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Charles R. Forbes

Question 19

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Charles Evans Hughes

Question 20

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Harry M. Daugherty

Question 21

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Bonus Army

Question 22

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Four-Power Treaty

Question 23

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Muscle Shoals Bill

Question 24

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Dawes Plan

Question 25

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Kellogg-Briand Pact

Question 26

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Question 27

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Teapot Dome

Question 28

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Question 29

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Nine-Power Treaty

Question 30

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
​Manchuria

Question 31

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Dawes Plan

Question 32

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
​Agricultural Marketing Act

Question 33

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Stimson doctrine

Question 34

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Progressive party

Question 35

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Black Tuesday

Question 36

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
"Hoovercrats"

Question 37

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Norris-La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act

Question 38

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Fordney-McCumber Tariff

Question 39

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
McNary-Haugen Bill

Question 40

Identify and state the historical significance of the following:
Good Neighbor Policy

Question 41

Warren G. Harding's weaknesses as president included all of the following except a(n)

A)lack of political experience.
B)mediocre mind.
C)inability to detect moral weaknesses in his associates.
D)unwillingness to hurt people's feelings by saying no.
E)administrative weakness.

Question 42

In Adkins v. Children's Hospital (1923), the Supreme Court ruled that

A)federal child labor laws were unconstitutional.
B)women had the right to sue for equal pay for equal work.
C)anti-union "right to work" laws were constitutional.
D)women could no longer receive special health, safety, or minimum wage protections from such progressive state laws governing the workplace because they now had the vote under the terms of the Nineteenth Amendment.
E)federal maternity benefits designed for women did not constitute unequal treatment.

Question 43

Which of the following descriptive attributes is least characteristic of President Coolidge?

A)Honesty
B)Frugality
C)Industrious
D)Wordiness
E)Cautious

Question 44

The Teapot Dome scandal was centered around corrupt deals and bribes involving

A)naval oil reserves.
B)veterans' hospitals.
C)the illegal leasing of American Indian reservation land for oil, gas, and mineral exploration by corporations.
D)European war debts.
E)World War I veterans' benefits.

Question 45

One exception to President Warren G. Harding's policy of isolationism involved the Middle East, where the United States sought to

A)support a homeland for Jews in Israel.
B)prevent the League of Nations from establishing British and French protectorates in the region.
C)stop the Soviet Union from dominating the area.
D)secure oil-drilling concessions for American companies.
E)curb the rise of Arab nationalism.

Question 46

Veterans' organizations like the American Legion successfully lobbied Congress to give them

A)higher pay for service in military reserve or national guard units.
B)special payments for those suffering the effects of shell shock or poison gas.
C)financial support for college education or job training.
D)guaranteed medical care in modern, efficient veterans' hospitals.
E)a bonus insurance policy to compensate them for lost wages during their military service.

Question 47

Republican economic policies under Warren G. Harding

A)sought to follow strictly the traditional Old Guard Republican business doctrine of laissez-faire without any active involvement by the federal government to advance corporations' bottom-line goal of progressively increasing profits each year.
B)hoped to encourage the government actively to assist business along the path to profits.
C)sought to regulate the policies of large corporations.
D)aimed at supporting increased competition in business.
E)aided small business at the expense of big business.

Question 48

The Teapot Dome political scandal of President Harding's administration resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of his secretary of

A)the treasury.
B)state.
C)the navy.
D)commerce.
E)the interior.

Question 49

During Coolidge's presidency, government policy was set largely by the interests and values of

A)farmers and wage earners.
B)the business community.
C)racial and ethnic minorities.
D)progressive reformers.
E)conservative New Englanders.

Question 50

____ was/were adversely affected by the dismantling of government regulations and the withdrawal of government assistance by the federal government at the end of World War I.

A)The steel industry
B)The railroad industry
C)The shipping industry
D)Veterans
E)Organized labor

Question 51

The pivotal event that essentially crippled organized labor throughout the 1920s was

A)the Supreme Court's ruling against the union closed shop in the Adkins case.
B)the deportation of the most effective labor organizers to the Communist Soviet Union.
C)the split within the American labor movement between the American Federation of Labor and the Socialists.
D)the federal government's antilabor intervention that broke the 1919 steel strike.
E)repeal of the Clayton Act guaranteeing unions the right to organize.

Question 52

The 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact

A)formally ended World War I for the United States, which had refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles.
B)set a schedule for German payment of war reparations.
C)established a battleship ratio for the leading naval powers.
D)condemned Japan for its unprovoked attack on Manchuria.
E)ostensibly and naively attempted to outlaw war as a legitimate means to resolve armed conflict arising from geopolitical rivalries between and among nations.

Question 53

Which of the following was not a consequence of the American policy of raising tariffs sky-high in the 1920s?

A)European nations raised their own tariffs.
B)The postwar chaos in Europe was prolonged.
C)International economic distress deepened.
D)American foreign trade declined.
E)The American economy slipped into recession.

Question 54

After the initial shock of the initial Harding administration scandals, many Americans reacted to the acquittals of two wealthy businessmen connected to the Teapot Dome scandal by

A)demanding that these two businessmen have their assets seized and be prosecuted civilly.
B)demonstrating a cynical acceptance of the easy ability of wealthy and politically connected Americans to manipulate the courts to their legal advantage.
C)demanding the impeachment of the president.
D)suggesting that Harding resign the presidency so that Calvin Coolidge could take control.
E)calling for a thorough Congressional investigation.

Question 55

During the 1920s, the Supreme Court

A)often ruled against progressive legislation such as state child labor and minimum wage laws for women.
B)rigorously upheld the antitrust laws.
C)generally promoted government regulation of the economy.
D)staunchly defended the rights of organized labor.
E)consistently upheld progressive state laws under a broad reading of the Tenth Amendment.

Question 56

The nonbusiness group that realized the most significant, lasting gains from World War I was

A)labor.
B)blacks.
C)unions.
D)women.
E)veterans.

Question 57

Which one of the following members of President Harding's cabinet proved to be incompetent and corrupt?

A)Herbert Hoover
B)Calvin Coolidge
C)Andrew Mellon
D)Charles Evans Hughes
E)Albert Fall

Question 58

The primary reason that President Warren G. Harding was willing to seize the initiative on the issue of international disarmament was that

A)he feared renewed war in Europe.
B)he did not believe a strong and modern navy was necessary for the defense and security of the United States.
C)businesspeople were unwilling to help pay for a larger United States Navy.
D)he did not want the League of Nations to take the lead on this problem.
E)American public opinion overwhelming supported shrinking the U.S.Navy to prewar levels.

Question 59

The Fordney-McCumber and Hawley-Smoot Tariff laws had the long-term effect of

A)bringing American farmers out of the agricultural depression of the early 1920s.
B)encouraging the United States to turn more to Asia than to Europe for imports.
C)shrinking international trade and making it impossible for Europe to repay American war loans.
D)lowering the prices Americans paid for domestic manufactured goods.
E)pressuring the Europeans to lower their own tariff rates in order to retain American trade.

Question 60

One of the major problems facing farmers in the 1920s was

A)overproduction.
B)the inability to purchase modern farm equipment.
C)passage of the McNary-Haugen Bill.
D)the prosecution of cooperatives under antitrust laws.
E)drought and insects like the boll weevil.

Question 61

President Herbert Hoover believed that the Great Depression could be ended by doing all of the following except

A)providing direct aid to the people.
B)directly assisting businesses and banks.
C)keeping faith in the efficiency of the industrial system.
D)continuing to rely on the American tradition of rugged individualism.
E)lending federal funds to feed farm livestock.

Question 62

As a result of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930

A)American industry grew more secure.
B)duties on agricultural products decreased.
C)American economic isolationism ended.
D)Europe was able to lift itself out of economic depression for several years in the early mid-1930s.
E)the worldwide economic depression deepened considerably.

Question 63

Which of the following represented political divisions that divided the Democratic party in the presidential election of 1924?

A)"Wets" versus "drys"
B)Immigrants versus old-stock Protestant Americans
C)Northern liberals versus southern conservatives.
D)Fundamentalists versus modernists
E)All of these choices are correct.

Question 64

America's European allies argued that they should not have to repay loans that the United States made to them during World War I because

A)the United States had owed them about $4 billion before the war.
B)the amount of money involved was not significant.
C)they had paid a much heavier price in lost lives, so it was only fair for the United States to write off the debt.
D)the United States was making so much money from Mexican and Middle Eastern oil that it did not need extra dollars.
E)

Question 65

The impact of the Great Depression on American resulted in all of the following except

A)jobless husbands felt guilt and shame for their families' hardships.
B)thousands of banks collapsed, taking with them people's life savings.
C)breadlines and soup kitchens emerged to feed the hungry.
D)thousands of people lost their homes to foreclosure.
E)salaries for those who held on to their jobs rose slightly.

Question 66

In the early 1920s, one glaring exception to America's general indifference to the outside world was its

A)decision to participate in the World Court of the League of Nations.
B)unilateral military intervention in Mexico to protect American oil interests threatened by actions by the Mexican government.
C)involvement in the League of Nations' humanitarian operations.
D)decision to participate in a League of Nations military intervention in Abyssinia.
E)continuing attempt to oust the Communists from power in the Soviet Union.

Question 67

When elected to the presidency in 1928, Herbert Hoover

A)was militantly antiunion and against big government.
B)brought little administrative talent or experience to the job.
C)understood that his major challenge was to find a solution to the Great Depression.
D)combined small-town values with wide experience in modern corporate America.
E)had been a successful governor of California.

Question 68

In America, the onset of the Great Depression in 1930 caused

A)people to blame, at first, the economic system, not their own personal failings for their catastrophic economic and social problems.
B)a decade-long decline in the birthrate.
C)an increase of foreign investment because prices were so low.
D)a shift from Wall Street investment to investment in small, local businesses.
E)a growing acceptance by business and Wall Street of the need for federal regulation of financial markets and business practices.

Question 69

As a result of America's insistence that its Allies' war debts be repaid in full, the

A)French and British demanded enormous reparations payments from Germany.
B)German government decided to deflate its currency substantially making savings and investments by Germans economically unfeasible.
C)Allies borrowed money from Switzerland to repay the loans.
D)Allies imposed enormously high new taxes on their citizens.
E)Allies demanded that the United States lower its tariffs.

Question 70

The Federal Farm Board, created by the Agricultural Marketing Act, lent money to farmers primarily to help them to

A)organize producers' cooperatives.
B)learn a new and more profitable trade.
C)open new land to cultivation.
D)purchase expensive new farm machinery.
E)take land out of production.

Question 71

The advent of the gasoline-powered tractor in the 1920s meant that

A)productivity went way up but so did debt.
B)farmers did not need to plow as much land to make the same profit.
C)farmers would have to spend time training hands on new equipment.
D)bigger crops could be grown on smaller areas.
E)None of these

Question 72

One of Herbert Hoover's chief strengths as a presidential candidate was his ​

A)adaptability to the give-and-take of political accommodation.
B)considerable experience in running for political office.
C)personal charm and charisma.
D)ability to face criticism.
E)acumen for administration and his management skills.

Question 73

The McNary-Haugen Bill passed by Congress and twice vetoed by President Coolidge was aimed to assist American farmers by

A)providing federal farm subsidies and federal price supports for agricultural products and commodities to solve the problem of overproduction on America's farms.
B)having the federal government buy farm surpluses and sell them abroad.
C)providing federal support for farm co-operatives as a way of eliminating middle men.
D)providing federal loans for agricultural equipment and seeds.
E)making the importation of cheaper agricultural commodities from Europe and Latin America economically unfeasible by doubling and tripling the tariff on nearly all agricultural commodities from these regions.

Question 74

In 1924, the Democratic party convention defeated by only one vote a resolution condemning

A)the Ku Klux Klan.
B)immigration restrictions.
C)prohibition.
D)modern art.
E)Margaret Sanger's efforts to advance birth control for women.

Question 75

Senator Robert La Follette's Progressive party advocated all of the following except

A)government ownership of railroads.
B)relief for farmers.
C)opposition to antilabor injunctions.
D)opposition to monopolies.
E)increased power for the Supreme Court.

Question 76

President Hoover's approach to the Great Depression was to

A)leave the economy alone to work itself out of trouble.
B)nationalize major industries.
C)encourage the states to stimulate spending.
D)work for the breakup of business monopolies.
E)offer federal assistance to businesses and banks but not individuals.

Question 77

America's major foreign-policy problem in the 1920s was addressed by the Dawes Plan, which

A)ended the big-stick policy of armed intervention in Central America and the Caribbean.
B)established a ratio of allowable naval strength between the United States, Britain, and Japan.
C)condemned the Japanese aggression against Manchuria.
D)aimed to prevent German rearmament and Germany's imperial desire to recapture the Alsace-Lorraine region from France.
E)offered a solution to the tangle of war-debt and war-reparations payments that relied on the continual flow of loose or "easy" American credit through the 1920s and early 1930s in order to succeed.

Question 78

The economic mood in the United States just before the stock market crashed in 1929 could best be described as

A)anxious.
B)supremely confident and optimistic.
C)pessimistic.
D)fearful.
E)deeply ambivalent.

Question 79

The Progressive party did not do well in the 1924 election because

A)it could not win the farm vote.
B)too many people shared in the general prosperity of the time to care about reform.
C)it was too caught up in internal discord.
D)the liberal vote was split between it and the Democratic party.
E)La Follette could not win the Socialists' endorsement.

Question 80

All of the following were political liabilities for Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith in 1928 except his

A)Catholic religion.
B)support for the repeal of prohibition.
C)lack of executive political experience.
D)hostility of Fundamentalist Democrats to his political campaign.
E)radio speaking skill.