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

Question 1

The chapter introduction tells the story of federal investigator Lorena Hickok to make the point that

A) the decade of the Depression and the New Deal was also the decade of gangsters, environmental abuse, and underground radical movements.
B) while New Deal programs helped many Americans, a closer look revealed inefficiency, corruption, and waste.
C) Franklin Roosevelt not only had to lead the nation out of Depression, he also had to cope with entrenched opposition to his reforms within the federal government itself.
D) Depression-bound Americans found hope in liberal social welfare programs of an activist federal government.

Answer 1

Depression-bound Americans found hope in liberal social welfare programs of an activist federal government.

Question 2

Most Depression movies, like much of popular culture, tended to

A) critique the status quo.
B) provide dark images of horror or tragedy that played to the emotional despair of a suffering nation.
C) uphold the basic social and economic values of America.
D) push the limits of sex and violence in a time of social upheaval and discontent.

Answer 2

uphold the basic social and economic values of America.

Question 3

The dust storms that devastated the plains resulted from

A) logging of the region's trees.
B) intensive agriculture.
C) undergrazing.
D) intense rains.

Answer 3

intensive agriculture.

Question 4

One result of the "Dust Bowl was that

A) California became the most populous state in the union.
B) several million people on the plains abandoned their farms and moved west.
C) Mexican Americans and African Americans took advantage of the opportunity to settle abandoned land.
D) big industrial agricultural cooperatives broke up into smaller units.

Question 5

During the Depression, the federal government began to deport

A) anarchists.
B) Japanese.
C) Mexicans.
D) Jews.

Question 6

The story of the Scottsboro boys illustrates the point that the Depression

A) increased the number of homeless, vagrant males.
B) caused a return of old-fashioned outlaws in the West.
C) inflamed racial prejudice.
D) was especially devastating for young children of unemployed fathers.

Question 7

As Herbert Hoover entered the presidency in 1929, he

A) was a self-made millionaire.
B) was a self-preoccupied investment banker.
C) had headed a successful publishing firm.
D) enjoyed a reputation as a hunter.

Question 8

Herbert Hoover's response to the Great Depression can best be summarized as

A) no sympathy for individuals, and only verbal encouragement to business to build public confidence.
B) a series of attempts to lay the blame on speculators or international conditions to deflect political attacks.
C) a stoic decision to do little but reduce federal spending and await the eventual cyclical recovery.
D) initially, a voluntarist approach to both recovery and relief, but then an unprecedented series of active government measures.

Question 9

Which of the following was NOT a failed measure of Hoover's in attempting to try to alleviate the Depression?

A) rallied business leaders to maintain employment, wages, and prices
B) introduced a tax cut in 1930 to increase the purchasing power of consumers
C) created an agency to provide direct emergency relief to the jobless
D) endorsed a tariff to protect the United States from cheap foreign goods

Question 10

Which one of the following best describes President Herbert Hoover's initial approach to the Great Depression, as your text portrays it?

A) a commitment to direct federal relief payments to the unemployed
B) total inactivity as, isolated in the White House, he had no compassion for the poor
C) rhetoric about a "new deal" for the American people, but no concrete and specific proposals
D) efforts to promote the same kind of relationship between government and business that he'd advocated during his term as secretary of Commerce

Question 11

At first, President Hoover tried to stimulate the economy

A) indirectly, by encouraging cooperative private initiative.
B) indirectly, by lowering tariffs.
C) directly, by promoting deficit spending.
D) directly, by forcing Europeans to repay American war debts.

Question 12

The "Bonus Army"was

A) a group of veterans who came to Washington to get bonuses promised them for service in World War I.
B) a social organization composed of men who had fought in France in 1917.
C) a group of farmers demanding a bonus to compensate them for their eviction by large landowners.
D) a group of unemployed scientists and explorers who participated in a federal survey project.

Question 13

Besides the defeat of the discredited Hoover, what else did the election of 1932 accomplish?

A) It returned the popular Roosevelt to the White House.
B) It solidified the shift to a Democratic Party majority.
C) It brought to the presidency a man with a coherent philosophy and program for ending the Depression.
D) It proved that in times of crisis, a presidential election will be a very close race.

Question 14

Franklin Roosevelt's new Democratic coalition

A) united Democrats in the South with the rising middle class of the far West.
B) united Democrats in the South with citizens in industrial cities.
C) united newer white-collar Democrats with southern "rednecks."
D) split the Republican alliance of the business class and "TR progressives."

Question 15

Which statement about the New Deal is true?

A) Because he grew up in poverty, President Roosevelt had a special sympathy for the suffering of poor people during the 1930s.
B) The New Deal agency that had the most direct and dramatic impact on women's lives was the Civilian Conservation Corps.
C) The mandatory NRA productions requirements failed to spark recovery.
D) President Roosevelt had objections to the Glass-Steagall Banking Act and how it penalized strong banks.

Question 16

FDR not only strengthened the office of the presidency, he tried to dominate the other branches of government. He was relatively successful during his first administration in ________, but unsuccessful during his second in ________.

A) getting Congress to pass his legislative proposals; reshaping the Supreme Court
B) appointing sympathetic judges to the lower courts; getting Congress to sustain his vetoes
C) Supreme Court rulings on the constitutionality of the New Deal; trying to purge Democrats who had begun opposing him
D) building up the federal bureaucracy; reducing the power of the states

Question 17

During her years as First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt

A) was a passionate spokeswoman for the underdog and the disadvantaged.
B) quietly directed her attention to private philanthropic charities.
C) remained largely a supportive wife who managed White House social events.
D) developed a campaign staff in preparation for a race for political office.

Question 18

The New Deal's first step to achieve recovery dealt with

A) unemployment.
B) public works.
C) banking.
D) the trusts.

Question 19

What New Deal agency put young, single men to work planting trees, building parks, and fighting soil erosion?

A) Reconstruction Finance Corporation
B) Tennessee Valley Authority
C) Civilian Conservation Corps
D) Agricultural Adjustment Administration

Question 20

One of the most important achievements of the New Deal in the area of banking was included in a 1933 act. This key reform was

A) the uniting of investment and commercial banking so that bankers could more readily transfer depositors' money.
B) the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, so that the government would guarantee bank deposits.
C) in allowing weak banks to default on corporate loans so that they could meet their obligation to individual depositors.
D) the creation of the Federal Reserve System to regulate the banking industry.

Question 21

Under the National Recovery Administration, industry was encouraged to adopt "codes of fair practice"that would

A) keep wages set at minimums and hours set at maximums.
B) free prices from monopolistic constraints.
C) outlaw child labor and sweatshops.
D) ban union organization.

Question 22

The National Recovery Administration and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration shared what strategy to stimulate the economy?

A) a bimetallic standard to increase the money supply
B) government-guaranteed loans to "bail out" banks, big businesses, and large farms that faced probable bankruptcy
C) a voluntary, private sector-government partnership to limit production and raise prices
D) minimum wage and maximum price rules to raise consumer purchasing power

Question 23

Which of the following did the Supreme Court declare wholly or partly unconstitutional?

A) Tennessee Valley Authority and Civilian Conservation Corps
B) National Recovery Act and Agricultural Adjustment Act
C) Civil Works Administration and Works Progress Administration
D) National Labor Relations Act and Social Security

Question 24

In the "Second New Deal,"Roosevelt

A) moved right-center politically.
B) stressed more sweeping reforms to initiate the welfare state.
C) embraced the concept of women at work.
D) established full economic recovery.

Question 25

Which program was enacted during the Second New Deal?

A) an outdoor work program for unemployed young men
B) an insurance program for the elderly
C) a program to stabilize and regulate banking
D) a flood-control project for the Tennessee River

Question 26

With the election of 1936, your text points out,

A) class replaced region as the dominant element in American politics.
B) race replaced religion as the main predictor of loyalty to the Democrats.
C) a pattern of fairly close presidential elections was established.
D) minority voters went to the polls in declining numbers.

Question 27

Roosevelt's administration, under the prodding of Eleanor Roosevelt and Harold Ickes,

A) began to support racial integration and banned discrimination in certain programs.
B) gave assistance to Mexican Americans but offered little support to Indians.
C) was passionate in its devotion to complete racial integration.
D) supported an anti-lynching bill.

Question 28

What best describes the character of the post office murals painted during the Depression?

A) They showed common folk from the region doing common, traditional tasks.
B) They glorified the worker, subtly criticizing big business.
C) They featured patriotic symbols to inculcate loyalty to the federal government.
D) They tended to idealize a better future, rather than sound themes from the past.

Question 29

The New Deal, according to the assessment in your text, offered a legacy in

A) bringing recovery from the Great Depression.
B) preserving and even strengthening socialism.
C) modernizing and personalizing the American presidency.
D) deactivating the government.

Question 30

A natural disaster with origins in human mismanagement, the ________ was created by windstorms that swept the Great Plains.

Question 31

With popular programs such as soap operas and the comedy of George Burns and Gracie Allen, ________ became the entertainment of choice for many Americans during the Depression.

Question 32

Long-distance refugees from the devastating Dust Bowl usually headed to ________.

Question 33

In Wisconsin, dairy farmers dumped milk onto highways in a desperate attempt to raise milk ________.

Question 34

Personally leading U.S. Army troops against the encampment of the Bonus Army was Chief of Staff General ________.

Question 35

New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt defeated President Herbert Hoover in the decisive election of the year ________.

Question 36

What effect did the Great Depression have on national morale? On individual morale? On family life?

Question 37

List three factors that contributed to the creation of the Dust Bowl. Explain the human and environmental consequences of the Dust Bowl.

Question 38

What were the responses of private charities and local and state governments to unemployment? How effective were they?

Question 39

What was Herbert Hoover's Great Depression program? On what assumptions was it based?

Question 40

What was the Bonus Army, and how did Hoover's response to it help undermine his presidency?

Question 41

The late nineteenth century was characterized by a boom-and-bust business cycle of precipitous declines, followed by slow but steady recoveries. Why did the Great Depression of the 1930s fail to follow this pattern?

Question 42

How did popular culture-whether in the form of best-selling novels, games, films, or radio programs-reflect and respond to the ravages of the Great Depression?

Question 43

Compare and contrast the Great Depression experiences of Mexican Americans and African Americans. In your opinion, which group fared better?

Question 44

Consider this statement: "Hoover was an American Nero who ineffectually fretted rather than fiddled while the nation rusted rather than burned."Do you agree or disagree? Explain.

Question 45

The election of 1932, said Herbert Hoover, was "a contest between two philosophies of government."Describe the competing philosophies of government offered by Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt in the election of 1932. What was Roosevelt's campaign strategy, and why did he win?