Deck 22: A Great Depression and a New Deal, 1929-1940

Question 1

What role did Herbert Hoover play in the Great Depression?

Answer 1

He was president when the stock market crashed, and he proved he was incapable of dealing with the magnitude of the problem.

Question 2

_________ was not only a name for the period but also the name for the series of legislative acts designed to reverse the effects of the Great Depression.

Answer 2

New Deal

Question 3

___________ was designed as part of the New Deal's attack on older Americans' lack of retirement income.

Answer 3

Social Security

Question 4

__________ revolutionized the thinking of economists about the role of government in regulating the economy.

Question 5

Who were the Bonus Marchers?

Question 6

President Roosevelt's wife, who worked tirelessly to help Americans, especially minorities, was _________.

Question 7

________ was a New Deal program that employed predominantly young men in conservation and reforestation activities.

Question 8

October 29, 1929, the day the New York Stock Exchange crashed, is known as __________.

Question 9

___________ promised insurance to families with dependent children and guaranteed pensions to elderly Americans.

Question 10

Following the first New Deal, the second New Deal focused on __________ programs.

Question 11

October 29, 1929, also known as "Black Tuesday," was the day

A) The New York Stock Exchange collapsed.
B) Remembered as the worst dust storm in the history of the Midwest.
C) Of the mass suicide of American stockbrokers in New York.
D) None of the above.

Question 12

The crash of the stock market in October 1929

A) Caused the Great Depression.
B) Was the fault of the Federal Reserve Bank.
C) Resulted from a Ponzi scheme gone wrong.
D) Exposed underlying economic weaknesses.

Question 13

Which of the following was a cause of the Great Depression?

A) The absence of trade barriers.
B) The new innovations introduced in the banking industry.
C) Americans' cautious attitude about spending and credit.
D) Structural flaws in national and international economies.

Question 14

By 1930, the newer industries that fueled the economy of the United States included all of the following except

A) Automobiles.
B) Coal.
C) Radios.
D) Processed foods.

Question 15

Why did banks fail by the hundreds even during good times in the 1920s?

A) Rural banks suffered from the bankruptcy of farmers.
B) Excessive regulation killed profit margins for city banks.
C) Foreign speculations jeopardized the assets of big banks.
D) Too many banks relied on the growing values of real estate.

Question 16

Between 1929 and 1933, the combined incomes of American workers

A) Fell by more than 40 percent.
B) Increased by a healthy 10 percent.
C) Topped $100 billion for the first time.
D) Were not directly affected by the decline in gross national product.

Question 17

By 1932 many Americans were

A) Hungry.
B) Homeless.
C) Unemployed.
D) Each statement is accurate.

Question 18

Before the crash of the stock market, American farmers

A) Suffered from a potato blight that threatened American agricultural production.
B) Enjoyed cheap bank loans and high prices for agricultural produce.
C) Had suffered falling agricultural prices for about a decade.
D) All of the above.

Question 19

The severity of the Great Depression was caused by the extent and duration of

A) The failure of the New York Stock Exchange to pull out of its slump.
B) Unemployment.
C) President Hoover's and Congress's lack of compassion and unwillingness to help the people.
D) The economic collapse in Europe, America's trading partner.

Question 20

President Hoover was true to his Republican values, believing that the federal government

A) Should use its power to encourage cooperation between businessmen.
B) Should use its power to collect information valuable to businessmen.
C) Should not interfere with the economy.
D) All of the above.

Question 21

The Federal Farm Board

A) Was one of Hoover's most glaring failures.
B) Was designed to raise farm incomes.
C) Was designed to rationalize farm production.
D) Established farm cooperatives for purchasing and distributing surplus crops.

Question 22

The Hawley-Smoot Tariff is generally believed to have prevented

A) Additional bank failures after 1930.
B) International trade from lifting the economy out of depression.
C) Deficit spending during the depression.
D) Worrisome increases in unemployment.

Question 23

The "Bonus Marchers"

A) Wanted the "bonus" Congress had promised them that was not due until 1945.
B) Marched to Washington, D. C., to protest Congress's actions in investigating the Veterans Administration.
C) Expected the government to buy them bus tickets back home after their march was over.
D) Marched in support of President Hoover and his policies.

Question 24

By 1932,

A) Unemployment in the United States was almost 24 percent.
B) President Hoover was sullen and withdrawn.
C) The army had dispersed the Bonus Marchers, veterans of World War I, using tanks and mounted cavalry.
D) All of the above.

Question 25

Which of the following was not one of the great assets of Franklin D. Roosevelt?

A) He was utterly loyal to his wife, Eleanor.
B) He had tremendous personal charm.
C) He was a tireless campaigner.
D) He enjoyed tremendous name recognition.

Question 26

Which of the following did Franklin D. Roosevelt promise during his election campaigns in 1932?

A) A new trade treaty with England.
B) The abolition of the gold standard.
C) A cut in government spending.
D) A massive investment in the nation's public infrastructure.

Question 27

According to the rationale of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Brains Trust," the maldistribution of wealth led to

A) Overconsumption.
B) Inflation.
C) Deflation.
D) Underconsumption.

Question 28

To secure the soundness of the banking system, Roosevelt did all of the following except

A) Reassure the nation through his "fireside chats."
B) Veto the Glass-Steagall Act.
C) Insure the bank accounts of individual depositors.
D) Authorize a national bank holiday.

Question 29

The Civil Works Administration

A) Sent 250,000 young men to do reforestation and conservation work.
B) Built the Tennessee Valley Authority.
C) Displaced as many as 200,000 black tenant farmers from their land.
D) Employed 4 million young men and women to build or renovate roads in the United States.

Question 30

President Roosevelt believed that farmers

A) Failed to accept their own mismanagement as a cause of the problems.
B) Saw an imbalance between city and country as a cause of the Depression.
C) Faced the same problems as urban Americans.
D) Needed help, but he really did not know what to do because he had been raised in the city.

Question 31

Which of the following was not true about the Tennessee Valley Authority?

A) Its region spanned nine states.
B) It combined the mission of a corporation with the power of government.
C) It sought to change the region's environment, economy, and way of life.
D) It failed miserably and became the embarrassment of the New Deal.

Question 32

All things considered, __________ were minimally helped by the New Deal programs.

A) The rural poor
B) Immigrants in the inner city
C) Veterans of the Spanish-American War and World War I
D) Farmers in California

Question 33

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

A) Gave Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier dictatorial powers in dealing with nonreservation Indians.
B) Empowered tribes to adopt democratic constitutions and embrace self-determination.
C) Continued the same policies that previous commissioners had followed.
D) Gave the commissioner the power to eliminate the federal bureaucracy that dealt with Indian affairs.

Question 34

The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)

A) Reversed decades of antitrust legislation.
B) Outlawed labor unions.
C) Focused primarily on small, independently owned businesses.
D) Was symbolized by the "Blue Eagle," which represented a businessman's opposition to the NIRA.

Question 35

In retrospect, bankers concluded that the New Deal

A) Destroyed the nation's banking system.
B) Had made a bad situation only worse.
C) Did not touch the nation's banking sector in the slightest.
D) Saved the nation's financial system.

Question 36

In their opposition to the National Industrial Recovery Act's provisions on labor, employers did all of the following to try to prevent workers from organizing except

A) Spying, blacklisting, and armed assault.
B) Forming company unions.
C) Embracing worker unions and working with their employees.
D) Challenging the legislation in court.

Question 37

The Supreme Court's decision in Schechter Poultry Corporation v US (1935)

A) Ruled in favor of the United States.
B) Made FDR and his supporters happy.
C) Made it difficult for Congress to regulate the national economy.
D) Strengthened the Agriculture Adjustment Act.

Question 38

William Randolph Hearst did not like the New Deal because it was

A) Not doing enough.
B) Becoming too radical.
C) Creating too much power in the judicial branch.
D) Increasing his income taxes.

Question 39

Some Americans joined the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in the 1930s because it

A) Defended the Scottsboro Boys.
B) Had skillfully organized and infiltrated certain labor unions.
C) Supported FDR and the New Deal.
D) Represented the positive aspects of life in the Soviet Union.

Question 40

Senator Huey Pierce Long Jr. of Louisiana supported

A) The redistribution of wealth in the United States.
B) Protection of the poor from taxation.
C) "Law and order" policies designed to imprison more black offenders.
D) Legal protections for petroleum businesses and certain tax exemptions.

Question 41

The Social Security Act in 1935 originally provided for

A) Unemployment compensation.
B) Aid to childless families.
C) Medical care.
D) Pensions to the elderly.

Question 42

In addition to old-age pensions, the Social Security Act also provided for

A) Unemployment compensation.
B) Medicare.
C) National health insurance.
D) All of the above.

Question 43

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) did which of the following?

A) Built municipal buildings.
B) Employed American artists and writers.
C) Employed historians.
D) All of the above.

Question 44

Implementation of the New Deal programs, particularly its nationalized social welfare and economic security programs, was

A) Weakest in the South.
B) Strongest among American Indians.
C) Strong for women and African Americans.
D) All but nonexistent in the Northwest.

Question 45

The National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act,

A) Provided for the prohibition of unions.
B) Guaranteed workers' rights to organize unions and bargain collectively.
C) Prohibited employers from firing workers.
D) Provided for the inhibition of unions.

Question 46

By the late 1930s an alliance between __________ and the Democrat Party had been forged.

A) The Congress of Industrial Organizers
B) Big business
C) Nonunionized workers
D) Labor

Question 47

How does the Second New Deal compare with the first one?

A) The second one was far more haphazard.
B) The second New Deal was fare more radical in its opposition to capitalism.
C) The second New Deal relied more heavily on the support of the Republican Party.
D) The Second New Deal left a far more enduring legacy.

Question 48

Which group in the new coalition that made up the Democrats in the 1930s limited the party's progressivism?

A) Immigrant workers in Northeastern cities.
B) African Americans in the Midwest.
C) Southern rural whites.
D) Young urban professionals.

Question 49

The most prominent woman reformer during the period was

A) Eleanor Roosevelt.
B) Molly Dewson.
C) Frances Perkins.
D) Oveta Culp Hobby.

Question 50

By the election of 1936, the nation's economy

A) Was completely recovered.
B) Saw unemployment at higher levels than in the previous six years.
C) Was recovering.
D) Was still stagnant.

Question 51

Following the election of 1936

A) The House and Senate were predominantly Republican.
B) The Democrats controlled the House and the Republicans controlled the Senate.
C) The Democrats had won control of the federal courts.
D) The Democrats controlled both houses of Congress.

Question 52

President Roosevelt's basic problem with the justices on the Supreme Court was

A) That they did not like Roosevelt.
B) Their decisions declaring certain New Deal legislation unconstitutional.
C) That they did not like Mrs. Roosevelt.
D) Their opposition to his civil rights programs.

Question 53

The effects of the crash of the New York Stock Exchange

A) Were limited to the Western Hemisphere, particularly the United States and Canada.
B) Triggered a global depression.
C) Were not obvious in Mexico's economic development.
D) Caused World War II.

Question 54

The United States exported its financial disaster to the world because

A) It flooded the market with cheap exports.
B) The United States was the world's leading creditor, producer, and consumer.
C) An earthquake in Japan upset shipping routes.
D) Each statement is accurate.

Question 55

The Dust Bowl was in

A) The southern plains.
B) California.
C) The northeast.
D) The Pacific Northwest.

Question 56

The English economist John Maynard Keynes argued that

A) Deficit spending was necessary to stimulate the nation's economy.
B) England needed to retract its American investments and protect her own economy.
C) The European Union needed to enact higher tariffs to protect its manufacturers.
D) The goal of fiscal policy was to encourage production.

Question 57

The New Deal

A) Ended the Depression.
B) Did not end the Depression.
C) Sealed FDR's fate as a failed president.
D) Ruined the power of the Supreme Court.

Question 58

The New Deal

A) Made the U.S. financial system more stable.
B) Did not end the Depression.
C) Improved the lives of working Americans.
D) All of the above.

Question 59

The New Deal touched

A) Almost all facets of Americans' lives.
B) The lives and employment conditions of farmers, workers, the old, blacks, and women.
C) The lives of American Indians.
D) All of the above.

Question 60

How did the New Deal transform American agriculture?

Question 61

Discuss the role of charisma or personality in FDR's presidency.

Question 62

How did the New Deal transform American labor?

Question 63

Did the New Deal trying to overcome capitalism or save it? Discuss.