Causes of the Great Depression
What does it mean when someone is speculating on the market?
The purchase of an asset with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly.
What were the three goals of the New Deal?
Relief, Recovery, Reform
This policy gave president power to expand the gov’t & limit liberties (censorship)
War Powers Act
What was the significance of Pearl Harbor?
It was an attack on an America territory and brought the United States into the war.
What two superpowers were left at the end of World War II?
USA & USSR
What caused the banks to fail?
Run on the banks/mass withdrawal of personal funds left many banks out of money.
What was the purpose of the Agricultural Adjustment Act?
Provide monthly payments to farmers to limit their production to help raise the price of crops.
What did the War Productions Board do?
directed factories to produce war supplies making US industrial production greatest among all its Allies
What was the purpose of terror bombing, most notably seen in Tokyo, Japan and
To demoralize the public.
Name 3 key differences between WWI & WWII.
1) More African American soldiers fought; Great Migration WEST
2) Japanese internment camps
3) Fighting in Europe AND the Pacific
4) Trench warfare vs. blitzkrieg
5) Atomic bombs used
6) 6 million women JOINED the workforce
7) 1st peacetime draft
8) United Nations replaced the L of Nations
What caused the stock market to crash?
Speculation and buying stocks on margin (buying stocks on credit).
What has Roosevelt's fist action within his first 100 days?
Declaring a 4-day bank holiday and requiring government endorsement to reopen.
What was the purpose of the Neutrality Acts?
Outlaw weapons sales to nations at war & required trade during wartime to be done on foreign ships
What battle served as the initial invasion of western Europe by allied air, naval, and ground forces?
D-Day June 6, 1944 (Normandy/Operation Overlord)
1) Total war: Draft, rationing, war bonds, victory gardens, government direction of the wartime economy (WIB vs WPB), limitations on liberties
2) Women work doing “men’s jobs” in factories
3) Segregated units for African American soldiers; Great Migration
4) League of Nations was in existence
What caused depressed farming?
1) Decline in demand for agricultural products,
2) Overproduction of food led to a 40% drop in price
3) Farmers could not pay back loans & many had their farms foreclosed,
4) Some rural banks failed.
Which New Deal programs had the most impact long-term on U.S. life?
Social Security Administration
What did America amend the Neutrality Acts with "Cash-and-Carry?"
- To help Britain & France defeat Germany, Congress passed the “cash-and-carry” provision:
– Amended the Neutrality Acts to allow arms sales to the Allies
– But Allied nations had to agree to pay in cash & transport supplies on their own ships
What was the strategy of island hopping?
What did the Yalta Conference discuss?
–The Axis Powers must unconditionally surrender
–The League of Nations should be replaced by a United Nations to keep the peace after the war
–Germany would be divided into occupied zones to help rebuild
–Eastern European nations have the right to choose to be democratic or communist
What program was part of Hoover's response to the Great Depression? What famous project did it see built?
Reconstruction Finance Corps and the Hoover Dam
How was the Agricultural Adjustment Act supposed to improve conditions during the Depression?
By paying farmers not to produce, the government hoped to increase crop prices.
send war supplies to Allied nations & transport goods to Europe on armed U.S. ships
Why was the American victory at the Battle of Midway important?
1) Boosted the moral of the American armed forces and public.
2) Allowed the American navy to destroy multiple Japanese carriers weakening their air power in the Pacific Theater.
What was the outcome of the Potsdam Conference?
Stalin would break his word and force communism over Eastern Europe.
Truman would threaten "prompt and utter destruction" if Japan did not unconditionally surrender.
Germany and Berlin would be divided into four military zones (USA, Britain, France, & USSR).