Deck 33: The Great Depression and the New Deal

Question 1

Match each New Deal critic below with the "cause" or slogan that he promoted.

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

Answer 1

A-l, B-2, C-4, D-3

Question 2

The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) attempted to solve the "farm problem" by

A) paying farmers to reduce their production and thus raise prices.
B) providing federal loans based on crops held in storage.
C) offering incentives for farmers to switch to more lucrative crops.
D) encouraging poorer farmers to migrate to California and the West.
E) creating farm marketing cooperatives.

Answer 2

paying farmers to reduce their production and thus raise prices.

Question 3

In 1932 Franklin Roosevelt campaigned on the promise that his administration would demonstrate particular concern for

A) organized labor.
B) African Americans and other minorities.
C) small businesspeople and entrepreneurs.
D) the middle class.
E) the forgotten man.

Answer 3

the forgotten man.

Question 4

When Franklin Roosevelt assumed the presidency in March 1933,

A) Congress was suspicious of his ambitious plans.
B) he knew exactly what he wanted to do.
C) he received unprecedented congressional support.
D) he faced strong opposition from Republicans and conservative Democrats.
E) he began by proposing a few cautious relief measures.

Question 5

The strongest "champion of the dispossessed"-that is, the poor and minorities-within the Roosevelt New Deal was

A) Harold Ickes.
B) Henry A. Wallace.
C) Eleanor Roosevelt.
D) Frances Perkins.
E) Harry Hopkins.

Question 6

Senator Huey P. Long of Louisiana gained national popularity by

A) advocating social justice for all.
B) blaming Jews for the Depression.
C) making Louisiana a model of democratic government for ordinary citizens.
D) supporting a $200-a-month old-age pension.
E) promising to give every family $5,000.

Question 7

President Roosevelt's principal advisor and administrator of massive New Deal relief programs was

A) George Norris.
B) John L. Lewis.
C) Mary McLeod Bethune.
D) Harold Ickes.
E) Harry Hopkins.

Question 8

In the depths of the Depression, when Franklin Roosevelt took office, the unemployment rate in the United States was

A) 5 percent.
B) 10 percent.
C) 15 percent.
D) 25 percent.
E) 40 percent.

Question 9

During the lame duck period of 1932-1933, Herbert Hoover tried to bind President-elect Franklin Roosevelt to

A) maintaining a bipartisan foreign policy in East Asia.
B) maintaining the gold standard for U.S. currency.
C) an anti-inflationary policy that would make much of the New Deal impossible.
D) maintaining a balanced budget that would prevent deficit spending.
E) a policy of forbidding the federal government from providing direct assistance to American citizens.

Question 10

One striking feature of the 1932 presidential election was that

A) the South began shifting 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 "gender gap" showed that more women than men voted Democratic.
E) African Americans shifted from the Republican to the Democratic party.

Question 11

The essential goal of Franklin Roosevelt's "managed currency" financial policy was to

A) stimulate inflation.
B) take the United States off the gold standard.
C) restore confidence in banks.
D) raise the dollar's value against the British pound and German mark.
E) force the Federal Reserve Board to lower interest rates.

Question 12

Franklin Roosevelt's ____ contributed the most to his development of compassion and strength of will.

A) Ivy League education
B) domestic conflicts with Eleanor Roosevelt
C) family ties with Teddy Roosevelt
D) affliction with infantile paralysis
E) service in World War I

Question 13

The ____ was probably the most popular New Deal program; the ____ was one of the most complex; and the ____ was the most radical.

A) Works Progress Administration; Agricultural Adjustment Act; Civilian Conservation Corps
B) Agricultural Adjustment Administration; Public Works Administration; Tennessee Valley Authority
C) National Recovery Act; Tennessee Valley Authority; Social Security Act
D) Civilian Conservation Corps; National Recovery Administration; Tennessee Valley Authority
E) Social Security Act; Civilian Conservation Corps; Works Progress Administration

Question 14

Match each prominent figure of FDR's New Deal with the cause or program with which he or she was closely identified.

A) A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4
B) A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1
C) A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2
D) A-4, B-3, C-1, D-2
E) A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3

Question 15

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.

Question 16

The National Recovery Administration (NRA) began to fail because

A) it failed to enforce the restraints on wages, hours, and working conditions.
B) it required too much self-denial on the part of industry, labor, and the public.
C) NRA chief Harold Ickes proved unable to administer its massive building programs.
D) it did not provide enough protection for labor to bargain with management.
E) there was not enough publicity to make the public aware of its goals.

Question 17

The most bold and dramatic action that Franklin Roosevelt took immediately upon assuming the presidency was to

A) close all American banks for a week.
B) draft thousands of young men into a new Civilian Conservation Corps.
C) open federally-funded soup kitchens and homeless shelters.
D) take the United States off the gold standard.
E) order the indictment and arrest of corrupt business leaders.

Question 18

Franklin Roosevelt's 1932 Democratic campaign called for

A) a balanced federal budget.
B) deficit spending to stimulate the economy.
C) lower tariffs and expanded international trade.
D) a massive program of unemployment relief and social security.
E) breaking up monopolistic corporations.

Question 19

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) aimed to do all of the following except

A) provide loans and jobs for high school and college students.
B) quiet the groundswell of protest produced by Huey Long and Dr. Francis Townsend.
C) provide employment on useful projects.
D) produce works of theater, music, and art for the public.
E) provide unemployment compensation to those who lost their jobs.

Question 20

The phrase "Hundred Days" refers to

A) the worst months of the Great Depression.
B) the time between Franklin Roosevelt's inaugural address and his submission of legislation to Congress.
C) the first months of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency when Congress passed numerous important laws.
D) the lame-duck period between Franklin Roosevelt's election and his inauguration.
E) the time that all banks were closed by FDR.

Question 21

Roosevelt administration programs for struggling farmers during the Depression included all of the following except

A) planting trees on the Great Plains to control wind erosion.
B) suspending mortgage foreclosures on farms.
C) assisting farmers in moving to better land.
D) setting up camps for displaced migrant farmers in California.
E) finding jobs for farmers in industry.

Question 22

During the 1930s,

A) the New Deal effectively solved the unemployment problem.
B) the states regained influence over the economy.
C) businesspeople eventually came to admire President Roosevelt's New Deal programs.
D) the New Deal developed the federal government as a lean, efficient machine for managing the economy.
E) the national debt doubled.

Question 23

Most "Okies" in California finally escaped the deprivation and uncertainty of seasonal farm labor when they

A) acquired farms in the San Joaquin Valley.
B) found work in the canning industry.
C) found jobs in defense industries during World War II.
D) joined the armed forces in World War II.
E) formed evangelical religious communes.

Question 24

The Wagner Act of 1935 proved to be a significant, milestone law that

A) gave labor the right to bargain collectively.
B) enabled business associations to control wages and prices.
C) established the Social Security system.
D) established federal minimum wages and maximum hours for work.
E) guaranteed housing loans to workers.

Question 25

The 1930s Dust Bowl was centered in the states of

A) Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, Colorado.
B) Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama.
C) Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota.
D) Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota.
E) California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico.

Question 26

The 1936 campaign and election was notable for

A) the support for the New Deal offered by the American Liberty League.
B) its focus on a bitter class warfare between the poor and the rich.
C) the large number of blacks who still voted Republican out of gratitude to Abraham Lincoln.
D) the strong Socialist party campaign of Norman Thomas.
E) the strong race run by Kansas Governor Alfred M. Landon.

Question 27

The Tennessee Valley Authority was most revolutionary of all the New Deal schemes in its apparent efforts to bring about

A) a planned economy.
B) flood control.
C) soil conservation.
D) reforestation.
E) competition for private utilities.

Question 28

The Social Security Act of 1935 provided all of the following except

A) unemployment insurance.
B) old-age pensions.
C) aid for certain categories of dependent children.
D) support for the blind and physically handicapped.
E) health care for the poor.

Question 29

The goal of President Roosevelt's "Court-packing" scheme was to make the Supreme Court

A) adhere more closely to the "original intent" of the Constitution.
B) more independent of Congress.
C) more sympathetic to New Deal programs.
D) work load less burdensome for each individual Justice.
E) more equal to the other two branches of the federal government.

Question 30

Of the following, the one least related to the other four is

A) the Securities and Exchange Commission.
B) the Tennessee Valley Authority.
C) George W. Norris.
D) Muscle Shoals.
E) hydroelectric power.

Question 31

New Deal plans to duplicate the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in the Columbia, Colorado, and Missouri River valleys floundered because

A) environmentalists criticized the damming of free-flowing rivers.
B) the promotion of integration in the TVA aroused racial fears elsewhere.
C) the other areas were not as much in need of water and electrical power.
D) the TVA failed to achieve its most important goals.
E) the TVA aroused strong fears of creeping socialism.

Question 32

The primary concern of the Congress of Industrial Organizations was

A) the effective enforcement of "yellow dog" contracts.
B) the organization of trade unions.
C) the support of "closed shop" industries.
D) the organization of all workers within an industry.
E) maintaining existing wage levels.

Question 33

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 attempted to

A) reverse the forced assimilation of Native Americans into white society.
B) encourage Indians to move out of drought-stricken Oklahoma.
C) de-emphasize tribal identity in favor of American Indian identity.
D) reorganize federal relief efforts through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
E) enable Indians to move from reservations to the cities.

Question 34

The Federal Securities Act

A) created the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate speculation in grain and other products.
B) created the Social Security Administration to provide disability and old age insurance.
C) broke up public utility holding companies and monopolies.
D) created the Securities and Exchange Commission to require accurate public information about stocks and bonds.
E) outlawed insider trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Question 35

The National Labor Relations Act proved most beneficial to

A) minorities.
B) skilled workers.
C) the unemployed.
D) trade associations.
E) unskilled workers.

Question 36

After Franklin Roosevelt's failed attempt to "pack" the Supreme Court,

A) Roosevelt was unable to get any of his Supreme Court nominees approved by the Senate.
B) the Democrats lost the presidential election in 1940.
C) Congress permanently set the number of justices at nine.
D) more New Deal legislation was ruled unconstitutional.
E) the Court began to rule New Deal programs constitutional.

Question 37

Which of the following was not among the goals of the Tennessee Valley Authority?

A) providing electrical power to a poor region
B) check and reform the electrical power monopolies
C) provide jobs for the unemployed
D) bring business, labor, and agriculture under direct federal control
E) provide for soil conservation, flood control, and reforestation

Question 38

The classic novel that sympathetically portrayed the plight of the Depression "Dust Bowl" farmers was

A) All the King's Men.
B) The Good Earth.
C) The Grapes of Wrath.
D) Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
E) Gone With the Wind.

Question 39

Both ratified in the 1930s, the Twentieth Amendment ____; the Twenty-first Amendment ____.

A) shortened the time between presidential election and inauguration; ended prohibition
B) limited a president to two complete terms in office; repealed the Eighteenth Amendment
C) gave women the right to vote; limited a president to two complete terms in office
D) ended prohibition; shortened the time between presidential election and inauguration
E) expanded the size of the Supreme Court; ended prohibition

Question 40

As a result of the 1937 "Roosevelt recession,"

A) Roosevelt backed away from further economic experiments.
B) the Social Security Act was expanded to include the unemployed.
C) Republicans gained control of the Senate in 1938.
D) Roosevelt adopted Keynesian (planned deficit spending) economics.
E) Roosevelt launched even more massive public works programs.

Question 41

During President Franklin Roosevelt's second term,

A) Roosevelt's Court-packing scheme failed.
B) Congress grew more conservative.
C) the New Deal finally solved the unemployment problem.
D) the Supreme Court declared both the Social Security Act and the National Labor Relations Act unconstitutional.
E) the New Deal turned against deficit spending.

Question 42

The greatest achievement of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was to

A) create jobs and reduce unemployment as much as possible.
B) show how the American economy could be stabilized without economic growth.
C) curb the excesses and corruption of big business.
D) preserve American democracy during a Depression that led many nations into dictatorship.
E) establish class consciousness and class conflict as a legitimate basis for American politics.

Question 43

Many economists believe that the New Deal could have done more to cure the ills of the Depression by

A) engaging in greater deficit spending.
B) engaging in more systematic economic planning.
C) lowering tariffs and encouraging international trade.
D) allowing the private sector to solve the problems.
E) taking U.S. currency completely off the gold standard.

Question 44

As a presidential leader, Franklin Roosevelt was

A) indecisive.
B) a poor public speaker.
C) optimistic.
D) bold and decisive.
E) willing to experiment.

Question 45

The National Recovery Administration

A) formally guaranteed labor's right to organize and bargain collectively.
B) outlawed "yellow dog" contracts.
C) was declared unconstitutional in the Schechter case.
D) was immensely popular throughout the 1930s.
E) provided for maximum hours and minimum wages.

Question 46

Before he was elected president in 1932, Franklin Roosevelt had at one time been

A) governor of New York.
B) a Democratic vice presidential candidate.
C) assistant secretary of the navy.
D) a successful lawyer.
E) United States Senator from New York.

Question 47

The enduring "New Deal Democratic coalition" that emerged most dramatically in the 1936 election consisted of

A) blacks.
B) the small-town Midwest.
C) Jews.
D) the urban working class.
E) Catholics.