Term
What caused the Great Crash of 1929? |
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Definition
Stocks were overpriced. New York Stock Exchange prices were up in 1927.
Credit to purchase stocks was too easy.
There was too much fraud in business. Phony stock pools, pyramiding, and short selling stocks were common. The government failed to regulate the stock market or business.
The Republican tax cut put more money in the hands of investors and helped fuel an already overheated stock market. It led to investment in speculative rather than productive businesses. |
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Term
What caused the ensuing Depression of the 1930s |
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Definition
-uneven distribution of wealth existed in the United States. Supply now exceeded demand, increased only slightly in the 1920s workers no longer had money or credit available. led to layoffs, reduced production, more people with no money to purchase items.
-agriculture: increased mechanization caused overproduction and unemployment. overproduction of wheat in Canada and the United States forced down its price in Europe, North and South America, and rest of the world. Agriculture=25 percent of all workers in 1929, but average income was one-third (1/3) that of workers in other occupations.
-Increased tariffs were another cause. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.
-Because of the imbalance in foreign trade in which the United States was both the world’s industrial supplier and the world’s banker collecting funds, the European banking and currency system collapsed by autumn 1931.
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Term
What happened to the economy during this period |
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Definition
The Depression significantly reduced the size of the economy. So did the national income, including labor and farm income.
Banks were playing loosely in the stock market. There was no separation of commercial banking from investment banking.
Unemployment rose. In a single day, Mississippi auctioned one quarter of its farm acreage for non-payment of debts.
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Term
What was Herbert Hoover's response to the Depression |
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Definition
Hoovervilles, which were clusters of wooden or tar paper shacks, and a chicken in every garage became a part of Hoover’s legacy. Hoover had to have a balanced budget. He wanted no deficit spending, no socialism or federal relief programs.
Hoover believed that government should assist but not regulate business. He accepted the trickle down theory, and he established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to make low cost loans available to business. Hoover hoped this would stimulate an economic recovery. Voluntary cooperation would lead to recovery. These were the principles of the New Era.
The economy was national, and Hoover planned to keep it healthy but with little action or intervention. He came across as largely unconcerned with the plight of the unemployed and starving. Monopoly-Charles B. Darrow. Dale Carnegie’s-How to Win Friends and Influence People. |
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Term
THE ELECTION OF 1932: FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AND THE FIRST NEW DEAL 1933-34, THE EMPHASIS WAS ON INDUSTRIAL RECOVERY |
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Definition
FDR came from wealth, graduated from Harvard and Columbia Law School, served as assistant secretary of the navy, and ran unsuccessfully for the vice-presidency in 1920.
Roosevelt-governor of New York in 1928 and won reelection in 1930. defeated Hoover in the 1932 presidential election. survived an assassination attempt.
Roosevelt’s victory in 1932 was not a continuation of the New Era, instead Roosevelt offered the American people a New Deal |
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Term
How Roosevelt differed from his predecessor |
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Definition
Roosevelt surrounded himself with an effective cabinet. They were known as his brain trust.
Roosevelt demonstrated a willingness to experiment with new approaches and programs in order to end the Depression.
The English economist John Maynard Keynes influenced Roosevelt. In earlier articles and in his book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Keynes advocated a government policy of deficit spending in times of depression. This would stimulate the economy by providing government-sponsored jobs for the unemployed and other projects aimed at promoting economic recovery. |
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Term
Roosevelt's major legislation: he wanted business to organize industry by industry, and agriculture, commodity by commodity |
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Definition
Industry: Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) in 1933. It had two major divisions.
The Public Works Administration (PWA) was a public works program that carried out road, bridge, and public housing construction and improvement or repair.
The National Recovery Act (NRA) promoted cooperation between industry and government. It established business codes and employment policies on wages, prices, and hours of employment. It supervised the process of recovery by businesses.
Agriculture: Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1933 led to price supports to achieve parity with the pre-World War I prices. The Act provided for government purchases, subsidies, and loans to farmers. paid farmers to slaughter their livestock and plow under their crops in order to increase farm prices, despite widespread hunger in the country.
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Term
Roosevelt's finance plans |
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Definition
Finance: Glass-Steagall Act: separated commercial banking from investment banking, strongly limited banks from underwriting stocks and bonds which banks were doing and charging abnormally high fees. repealed in 1999.
-Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to insure the safety of a depositor’s money in banks.
-Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to police the stock market, outlawed paper holding companies that existed only to sell their own stock=end to fraudulent pyramiding schemes and stock pools.
Public relief to aid the unemployed- Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) employed city youths 18-25 years of age and paid them $30 per month for work on reforestation, preventing soil erosion, flood control, building wildlife shelters, and stocking rivers and lakes with fish.
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Term
THE NEW DEAL AT THE CROSSROADS 1935-36: THE SECOND NEW DEAL, THE EMPHASIS WAS ON PEOPLE PROGRAMS
Roosevelt's opposition |
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Definition
Huey Long: Share our Wealth program would tax away incomes over $1 million, inheritances over $5 million, and give everyone a $5,000 homestead and an annual income of $2,500. Carl Weiss assassinated Long.
Charles Coughlin began preaching on the radio in 1926. His plan called for nationalizing the banks and putting more money in circulation. He and other Roosevelt critics formed the Union Party in 1936. The Catholic Church stopped his political activism because of Coughlin’s Nazi sympathies.
Francis Townsend proposed his Townsend Plan: provide old age payments of $200 a month to everyone over 60. Recipients had to spend the money within 30 days. A federal tax on commercial transactions would pay for the plan. He claimed 5 million supporters.
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Term
Roosevelt’s new legislation |
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Definition
-Works Progress Administration (WPA) had a $5 billion budget for public works and included musicians, writers, and artists as recipients, awarded $ to San Antonio, Texas, to develop the Riverwalk, helped 9 million people before it ended in 1943.
-Wagner Act or National Labor Relations Act: supported the formation of unions as legal bargaining agents for workers in their employee relations with their employers. first time that the federal government committed itself to protecting the rights of workers.
-Social Security Act: employers and workers beginning in 1938 paid a tax of 1 percent called Old Age Survivors Insurance. |
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Term
Consequences of New Deal legislation |
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Definition
-led to feelings of hope for workers and others at the bottom of the economic ladder. also led to visions of horror for wealthy conservatives and those at the top of the economic ladder who detested Roosevelt.
-American Liberty League and other conservatives, such as Ford and the DuPonts, led attacks on Roosevelt. said he was a traitor to his class promoting socialistic measures.
-illness was the result of syphilis not polio, the result of his affair that began with Lucy Mercer, his wife’s social secretary.
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Term
The New Deal and the division of government's authority |
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Definition
Democratic Party was becoming a broad coalition and difficult to hold together b/c of opposing cultures and outlooks, particularly b/t north and south Democrats.
To deal with this potentially divisive situation, the Democrats devised a strategy of establishing a broad economic policy at the national level while allowing local control over the more sensitive social and cultural issues. This was evident in the New Deal’s passage of the Twenty-first Amendment that ended Prohibition (the Eighteenth Amendment of 1919) and in its handling of racial issues.
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Term
Roosevelt's reelection was a ratification of the new deal's policy |
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Definition
-1936 election was the test of the New Deal: Roosevelt faced Landon and won every state except Maine and New Hampshire.
-followers of Long, Townsend, and Coughlin formed Union Party and received about 2 percent of the popular vote.
-The Democrats maintained control of Congress.
-Congress would establish broad economic policy from Washington, while allowing local control over the more sensitive social and cultural issues. |
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Term
THE NEW DEAL LOSES ITS WAY
-failure of supreme cts reorganization and labor movements |
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Definition
Roosevelt’s attempt at packing the Supreme Court with justices sympathetic to the New Deal legislation was a failure. wanted to increase number of judges from 9-15 because five justices regularly attacked things he wanted. These five judges wanted to dismantle the New Deal. A Democratic Congress did not support Roosevelt’s plan, but because of a rapid sequence of retirements Roosevelt appointed eight Supreme Court justices.
Labor movement:struggles between the AFL and CIO. John L. Lewis organized the CIO, consisted of unskilled workers and was the AFL’s main rival. first major victory at the General Motors Corporation (GMC) in Detroit after a 44-day strike, United Auto Workers, a union within the CIO, settled with GMC in February 1937. two victories= CIO gained acceptance as a major workers’ union.
Union membership in the AFL and CIO increased. |
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Term
Further New Deal legislation |
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Definition
-Farm Tenancy Act:provided credit to tenant farmers so they could purchase farmland and farms and become owners rather than tenants.
-Fair Labor Standards Act: set the minimum wage at 25¢ an hour, established the 40-hour week, time-and-a-half overtime pay, and abolished child labor
-New Deal began to drift for several reasons: Roosevelt didn't trust big businesses or unions, Conservative opposition continued in Congress, A conservative Supreme Court was still trying to dismantle the New Deal, Roosevelt delayed announcing his decision to run for an unprecedented third term in 1940. |
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Term
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Definition
-War had broken out in Europe
-Roosevelt defeated the Republican candidate Wendell Willkie The Democrats lost seats in Congress but still retained control of the House and the Senate.
-New Deal’s lasting contributions included the Wagner Act, Social Security, TVA, FDIC, SEC, and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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Term
INTERNATIONAL POWERs in WWII |
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Definition
-A new international order-United States wanted world stability with limited diplomatic involvement and military investment. War debts and reparations were a central issue. European countries owed the United States. The defeated European nations had to pay reparations from World War I.
-Dawes Plan-provided loans to assist Germany with its financial problems and to promote industrial recovery. The 1930s Depression, however, ended the cycle of payments.
-Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact (Paris Peace Pact)-called for the elimination of war, renouncing war as an instrument of national policy. Sixty-four nations signed it.
-Fear of Communism (Bolshevism) arose in Europe after Russia’s 1917 revolution.
-In Asia, Japan emerged as a world power.
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Term
International disintegration 1930-41
Problems in Asia: the consequences of the Depression |
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Definition
-solve economic problem-Japan sought expansion into Asia to acquire the raw materials it believed it needed to revitalize its economy. The Japanese army invaded the rest of Manchuria and ended the Open Door Policy.
-withdrew from the League of Nations in 1933, occupation of China’s major cities and coastal region began
-Chinese leaders:Koumintang Nationalist Chiang Kai-Shek and the Communist Mao-Tse-Tung ceased fighting each other and opposed the Japanese invasion.
-Japanese advanced into southeast Asia, into Indochina to acquire rice, coal, tin, and zinc, and into the East Indies to acquire oil and rubber.
-General Hideki Tojo-prime minister of Japan, replaced Prince Fumimaro Konoye
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Term
Problems in Europe: the consequences of the Depression |
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Definition
-Benito Mussolini: prime minister of Italy, established a Fascist government. Italy withdrew from the League of Nations because members of the League criticized its invasion of Ethiopia.
-Munich Conference-Chamberlain and Daladier agreed to a German takeover of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland region. Mussolini also signed the Munich Pact. No Czechoslovakian representative attended, and it took place under Hitler’s threat of war. Germany annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1939.
-During the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39 Hitler and Mussolini assisted Francisco Franco enabling him to win the Spanish Civil War for the Spanish Nationalists against the Republicans. |
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Term
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Definition
-After WWI ended, Germany became a republic with its capital in Weimar. Social Democratic Party leaders elected 17 governments, but not one of its governments provided strong leadership. The Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or Nazi party grew to become the biggest political party in the Weimar Republic.
-Adolf Hitler, Nazi leader, emerged as Germany’s political leader and became its chancellor. This ended the Weimar Republic and was the beginning of Hitler’s dictatorship.
-Hitler pulled Germany out of the League of Nations and in violation of the Treaty of Versailles began a massive rearmament program-helped revitalize Germany’s economy. |
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Term
The United States’ alternatives to the events occurring in Europe and Asia |
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Definition
-two Neutrality Laws passed-embargoed arms and munitions to all belligerents, prevented use of American ships to transport goods to them, and granted belligerents no credit-to prevent a repeat of events that drew the United States into World War I.
-American position toward Germany and Japan began to change with news of German and Japanese abuses, included reports of Nazi concentration camps, refugees fleeing Germany, Japanese firebombing of Chinese cities, and rape of Nanking in 1937-38.
-Martin Niemöller-has famous quote about passivism of countries to Nazis-reflected world’s attitude to events in Europe and Asia. |
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Term
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Definition
Two events were major causes of the war:
-Depression of the 1930s led to massive global unemployment,1932-30 mil unemployed, most ever
-A scarcity of natural resources existed for some countries. Italy, Germany, and Japan lacked vital natural resources such as oil. adopted a policy of territorial expansionism, believing they would achieve economic growth and independence as a result of acquiring these natural resources. |
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Term
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Definition
British policy in Europe was always to oppose unification of Europe under a single authority. Historically Britain intervened in European events only to block the development of European threats to its security. When Germany became the threat in the 1930s Britain made an alliance with France and guaranteed the security of Belgium and the Netherlands. It interested itself in Czechoslovakia and Poland only to check German power.
192 HIST106_Chap 12_WW II_11A
British intelligence broke Germany’s code (Ultra) on 12 August 1939. Enigma was the German coding machine. Alan Turing (1912-54), an English physicist, was mainly responsible for the code breaking. After the war Turing then at Manchester committed suicide by eating an apple poisoned with cyanide. |
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Term
Germany wanted control of Europe, Japan wanted control of East Asia: |
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Definition
-British policy in Europe was always to oppose unification of Europe under a single authority. Historically Britain intervened in European events only to block the development of European threats to its security. Germany became the threat-Britain made an alliance with France and guaranteed security of Belgium and Netherlands. interested itself in Czechoslovakia and Poland only to check German power.
-British intelligence broke Germany’s code (Ultra), Enigma was the German coding machine. Alan Turing was responsible for the code breaking. |
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Term
THE UNITED STATES AND WORLD WAR II 1941-45
The European Campaign |
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Definition
General Eisenhower became Supreme Allied commander. The Allied strategy was to achieve victory in Europe first, then win in Asia against Japan, which the Allies considered a weaker foe. An Allied victory in Europe depended on controlling the continent, whereas victory in the Pacific depended on controlling the seas. victories in North Africa and at Stalingrad=turning point for allies. |
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Term
Stalin wanted a second front established in Western Europe, the Allies instead gave Stalin several reasons for their delay |
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Definition
-had to fight the war with Japan in the Pacific, defeat Rommel in North Africa and protect the Persian (Iranian) oilfields, experiencing huge shipping losses because of German submarine attacks, already had sent the Soviets large amounts of equipment under the Lend-Lease agreement of 1941.
-Allies landed in Sicily: not the second front that Stalin wanted. came next year with the D-Day landing (Operation Overlord) at Normandy, France
-Italians ousted Mussolini and Italian communist partisans shot him and his mistress. Italy joined Allies.
-last major offensive of the war-Battle of the Bulge:Allies defeated the Germans.
-Soviets captured Berlin. Hitler and his mistress committed suicide. Allies victory in Europe-may 1945
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Term
The aftermath of the European war |
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Definition
-Holocaust: Allies liberated the German concentration camps. Polish, Hungarian, and Russian laborers, both Jews and non-Jews, were coerced.
-The Nuremberg Trials: War Tribunal indicted Germans and Austrians.
-Germany made several significant technological developments during the war:built jet aircraft and V-2 missiles, Synthetic fuels supplemented Germany’s lack of natural petroleum, German U-boats
A wartime execution: Private Eddie Slovik executed for destertion. The military executed about 70 for murder and rape
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Term
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Definition
-United States wanted complete Japanese withdrawal from Asian mainland. Unlike the European campaign, the United States fought almost alone in the Pacific, imposed a trade embargo on Japan and froze Japan’s assets in the United States hoping that this would force Japan off the Asian mainland.
-United States retaliated with a two-pronged attack on Japan, by sea and by land. Admiral Nimitz led naval war; General MacArthur commanded the land invasions.
A series of US naval victories resulted in the balance of sea power shifting back to US.
-Coral Sea victory secured Australia.
-navy defeated the Japanese at the Midway Islands, won the battle at the Solomon Islands, and controlled the Pacific Ocean by summer 1944.
-US land victories under MacArthur’s command followed: invaded the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and bombed Tokyo |
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