February 8-12

[1Nicole]

Monday: No school

Tuesday: Took notes

Wednesday: Took notes

Thursday: Took notes

Friday: Took the group test

1.-Causes of the Great Depression

1)Overproduction of goods

• Making more than they were selling
• Had to lay people off or close

2)Under consumption of goods by consumers

• Low profits for companies

3)Agricultural slump in the 1920's due to overproduction

• In WWI there was a high demand for food 
• After the war we didn't need that much
• Bad drought and weather conditions

4)High protective tariff policies of the 1920's

• Practically forced Americans to buy American made products
• People weren't buying goods - didn't matter if there was foreign competition
• Couldn't sell to foreign countries because they had high tariffs as well.. World trade cut

5)Taxes benefiting the rich-rich got richer, poor got poorer

• The income gap got wider 
• Added the problem of not buying things

6)Stock market crash

• People and banks lost money
• Businesses failed, unemployment
• Sped things up for the great depression

7)Banks closing

• When banks close, people's money is gone

*The vicious cycle of the Great Depression

• Companies lost $$ so they lay people off
• Unemployment rate goes up and less people buy goods
• Companies profits fall so they have to lay more people off or close
• Cycle repeats itself

2.-Impact the Great Depression had on people and our country

*Hoovervilles

• Many people lost their homes
• They would build shacks out of raw materials
• They would form small communities with shacks

*Unemployment rate was 25%, 50% for African Americans and minors

*Soup kitchens $ bread lines

• People would give out free food for the unemployed

*Kids

• A lot dropped out of school
• Felt like they were a burden for their parents, would leave home
• Hopped freight trains and traveled from town to town

*Selling apples

• People would buy apples cheap and sell them at work places for a few more cents
• Living for the day

*Dust bowl

• Midwest and Great Plains
• The way they farmed, farmers were told to plow up their grasslands 
• This area became extremely dry - called the great American dessert
• Dust storms were common 

*Okies

• Left the dust bowl states because they lost everything
• They gave up their farms and tried to find jobs out west

3.-President Hoover’s attempt(or lack thereof) to help solve Great Depression

• Had a philosophy to not spend more money than we took in
• He was viewed as uncaring and as a president who did very little to help with the Great Depression (This wasn't true)
• Hoover did more than previous presidents to get involved
• Republican philosophies hurt him, people needed help

*1928 Republican campaign promise

• A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage
• Everything will continue to be great, shouldn't change anything

*Hoover's fight against great depression

• Encouraged people to be patient, stay positive and volunteer to help each other
• Federal Farm board - stabilize prices and promote sales of agricultural products
• Norris-La Guardia Act - strengthened labor unions
• Hoover Moratorium - Once year halt on German war payments to France, one year halt on war payments from Great Britain and France to US
• Mexican Repatriation - Mexican immigrants were encouraged/forced to go back to Mexico
• Revenue Act of 1932 - Increased taxes so US gov't had $$
• Hawly-Smoot Tarrif - Raised tariffs to record levels

*Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

• Gave loans to banks, state and local governments, and business's to create projects/jobs for people
• Gave states loans for emergency relief needs
• Started under Hoover, not as successful as he had hoped
• Ended after WWII

*Hoover (Boulder) Dam

• Boulder Dam is located near Las Vegas
• The Hoover dam project including the dam, the All-American Canal, the town of Boulder City, highways, railroads and various other works, cost $165 million to build
• This and other dam projects led to more jobs, government sold energy and made money from it

4.-1932/1936 Presidential elections

*1932 election

• Roosevelt swept up Hoover

5.-Bonus Army

*Promised pension

• The government was going to give WWI veterans pension checks for fighting 
• Weren't giving it to them until 1945
• Army wanted to pass an early pension act because they needed money

*Government didn't pass

• They were angry and dissapointed
• Some stayed in the city and caused problems 
• The government used aggressive tactics to remove them

*MacArthur, Eisenhower, and Patton

• Were very aggressive with former soldiers
• Didn't have permission to do that from Hoover
• They stopped the rebellion
• Made Hoover look very uncaring (He ended up supporting MacArthur)

6.-Entertainment, sports, music, radio, movies and fads

• Jazz music swing music and dancing
• Sports 
• Radio
• 1936 olympics

7.-Franklin Roosevelt’s background and accomplishments-Focus on New Deal

• Good background and resume
• Only president to ever be elected 4 times
• Ran for vice president in 1920
• Was seen as an up comer
• Only president to be handicapped (polio)
• Then worked really hard to fight back against his disease

8.-The Three R’s

*Roosevelt's plan to get us out of the great depression

• Relief for the needy
• Economic recovery
• Financial reform

9.-The difference between the First New Deal and Second New Deal

*New Deal

• Restore nation's hope
• Help banks and stock market
• Provide jobs and relief for poor
• Plan and regulate the economy

*2nd New Deal

• Pass new labor laws
• Create and expand new deal agencies
• Establish social security for older people and unemployed

10.-Fireside chats

• Radio messages he gave to the people
• People would be next to their fireplaces listening
• Made people feel like he was talking to them, made it personal

11.-The Hundred Days

• The first 100 days of Roosevelt's presidency
• Wanted to get as many things done as he could so people saw him as a good president

12.-Deficit spending and “priming the pump”

*Deficit spending

• Starting to spend more money than they take in 

*Priming the pump

• Putting money into programs 
• A lot of wasted money spent
• Trying to jump start the economy

13.-FDR vs the US Supreme Court-Court Packing issue

• Roosevelt was frustrated that the older men that were saying certain new deal programs were unconstitutional
• Roosevelt said that for every person over 70 he could put on new men
• Roosevelt wanted to put on democrats so they would vote for his new deal
• The court packing didn't happen

14.-Critics and failings of the New Deal-Long, Caughlin, Townshend

*Reasons the new deal was challenged

• Created a very powerful president that led Congress, this was a violation of checks and balances
• It was a radical departure from Laissez Faire ideals. Created "big government"
• Some acts appeared interfering and at worst unconstitutional
• Heavy debt burden - the United States was engaged in deficit spending and this was unhealthy for the economy in the long run
• Was viewed as too socialistic - giving the people too much
• Was doing just the right amount if people are complaining from both sides

*Senator Huey Long

• Was going to run for president in 1936
• Was assassinated by Carl Weiss
• Thought Roosevelt should do more - had communist beliefs
• Gathered wide support because of the hard times

 

Alphabet Soup Organizations:

 

Hoover’s Measures:

Reconstruction Finance Corporation(RFC)

• Construction projects

 

Employment Projects:

Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC)

• Passed in 1933 during "Hundred Days"
• Was limited to young men ages 18-25 whose fathers were on relief
• Members worked 40 hours a week and were paid $30 a month, with the requirement that $25 of that be sent home to the family
• Members lived in camps, wore uniforms, and lived under military discipline
• Operated by U.S. Army
• Did a lot of work for the environment, helped construct military bases in WWII
• "We can take it!"
• Funding stopped in 1942

Federal Emergency Relief Act/Administration(FERA)

• Enacted in 1933 
• Distributed more than 20 million dollars in direct aid to the unemployed
• This in turn would help the unemployed to find new jobs
• Objectives: 1) direct relief measures 2) provide work for employable people 3) provide many different types of relief programs

Public Works Administration(PWA)

• Created as many jobs as possible in many different varieties 
• Example of FDR's "priming the pump" 
• Funded a lot of construction projects (airports, dams, bridges)
• Responsible for 70% of new schools and 33% of hospitals between 1933-1939

Civil Works Administration(CWA)

• Creates jobs for millions
• Created construction jobs
• Was very expensive, lasted about a year, too costly
• Was concerned with paying high wages

Works Progress Administration(WPA)

• Largest new deal program
• was a "make work" program that provided jobs and income
• Employed unskilled workers in construction projects across the nation
• Focused on people who weren't necessarily construction workers (musicians, artists, writers)

 Tennessee Valley Authority(TVA)

• Created to generate electric power and control floods in a seven state region around the Tennessee River Valley
• Still exists and has grown to become America's largest public power company
• Some criticized it for only helping a specific region not the whole country

Young People

Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC)

• Passed in 1933 during "Hundred Days"
• Was limited to young men ages 18-25 whose fathers were on relief
• Members worked 40 hours a week and were paid $30 a month, with the requirement that $25 of that be sent home to the family
• Members lived in camps, wore uniforms, and lived under military discipline
• Operated by U.S. Army

National Youth Administration(NYA)

• Established in 1935
• Pushed heavily by Eleanor Roosevelt
• Served 327,000 high school and college youth, who were paid $6 to $40 a month for "work study" projects at their schools
• It allowed thousands of young people to stay in school
• Another 155,000 boys and girls from relief families were paid for part-time work that included job training
• They usually lived at home and worked on construction and repair projects

Business/Bank Assistance and Reform:

Emergency Banking Relief Act(Bank Holiday)(EBRA)

• Passed in response to the thousands of banks that closed down
• Would close down the bank, reorganize it, and then reopen the bank when it was stable
• Most people put their money back into the banks when it reopened
• Generally ended the bank runs

Federal Securities Act(FSA)

• Made the stock market a safer place for people to put their money
• Goals: 1) investors required to receive significant information regarding securities being offered for public sale 2) prohibited deceit, and fraud in the sale of securities to the public

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC)

• Insured people's money in banks up to $1,000 (a lot higher today)
• Passed in response to the bank failures
• Insures money in savings and checking accounts, money market accounts and CD's

Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC)

• Still around today
• Regulates the stock market
• Makes it more secure and safe for people's money

Farm Relief and Rural Development:

Agricultural Adjustment Act(1st and 2nd)(AAA)

• Restricted production by paying farmers to reduce the amount of crops planted
• purpose was to reduce crop surplus so prices would go up
• Were paid by the government to leave some land un-tilled
• Oversaw a large-scale destruction of existing crops and livestock
• Tons of pigs were slaughtered 
• Many people saw the AAA as cruel 
• While people in the cities were starving, the government was destroying food
• Farm prices more than doubled
• Was called unconstitutional

Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act

• Allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production so as to "conserve the soil" and prevent erosion
• Educated farmers on how to use their lands without damaging them
• Took immediate action to contain the dust bowl's effects by planting trees and native grass
• 3 years later soil erosion dropped 65%

Rural Electrification Administration(REA)

• Provided farms with inexpensive electric lighting and power and eventually telephone services
• Brought all the electrical appliances that the cities had since the 1920's
• the REA made long-term loans to state and local governments to organizations to do the work

Farm Security Administration(FSA)

• Granted small farmers and tenant farmers money to purchase farms
• The Dust Bowl forced a lot of farmers off their farms
• Provided relief to tenant farmers who were forced off their land by machinery 

Housing:

Home Owners’s Loan Corporation(HOLC)

• People couldn't afford their homes, and when they bought their houses the banks required 50% down payment, had to be paid off in 5-7 years with high interest
• Extended loans from shorter, expensive payments to lower payments and a longer time to pay them
• Saved people from losing their homes

Federal Housing Administration(FHA)

• Improved housing standards and conditions and provides an adequate home financing system
• Making sure that standards were better for lower and middle class homes (built better) 
• Help build affordable homes

United States Housing Authority(USHA)

• Lend money to the states or communities for low-cost home construction
• Homes were designed for low-income and homeless people

 

Labor Relations:

National Labor Relations Act(Wagner Act)(NLRB)

• Conducts elections for unions
• Stressed collective bargaining
• Investigates and fixes unfair labor practices
• Members are appointed by the president

Fair Labor Standards Act(FLSA)

• Established minimum wage 
• Established the 40 hr. work week 
• Guaranteed time and a half for overtime in certain jobs
• Prohibited most child labor
• Still exists today

Consumers

 National Recovery Administration(NRA)/National Industrial Recovery Act(NIRA)

• Established "codes of fair competition"  aimed at supporting prices and wages 
• Tried to make voluntary agreements with businesses dealing with hours of work, rates of pay, and fixing of prices (codes of fair competition) 
• Could put the blue eagle in their window
• Also helped create jobs, guaranteed the workers the right to unionize
• Was declared unconstitutional in 1935

Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

• Mandated a review of the safety of all new drugs before going to market
• Making sure things we use are safe
• Authorized factory inspections
• Set new regulatory standards for food and cosmetics
• Gave the FDA power to regulate these industries

Retirement:

Social Security Administration(Glass-Steagall Act)(SSA)

•  Provides retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits
• To qualify for these benefits, most American workers pay Social Security taxes on their earnings
• Future benefits are based on employees' contributions
• Each person is given a social security number

Native Americans:

Indian Reorganization Act(IRA)

• Abolished the Dawes Act and allowed Native Americans to govern themselves on a tribal basis
• Allowed them to keep their own land
• Included provisions to help create job opportunities on Indian reservations
• Still around today