World War I
Was the US was prepared to enter the war?
No
What was Popular Culture and the Jazz Age?
Prohibition and organized crime
Sports
Literature
Harlem Renaissance
Leisure and thrills
What is significant about Herbert Hoover?
The Bonus Army & Hoovervilles
Who won the election of 1936?
FDR resoundingly
Who were the Allied Powers?
UK, France, Russia, and (later) US
What was the Committee on Public Information (CPI)?
Thousands of people were enlisted to publicize war effort, journalist agreed to self censorship.
What were aspects of consumerism?
Electrical industry
Radio and film
What occured in FDR's iconic First Hundred Days?
Emergency Banking Act
Alphabet soup programs
“Fireside chats”
Economy Act
End of Prohibition
Liberalism as distinct from progressivism
What is the significance of The New Deal and Minorities?
African-Americans
Suffered the most during the great depression
36% of blacks were unemployed
“Last hired, first fired”
Who were the Axis Powers?
Germany, Italy, and Japan
What was the Sedition Act? What was the Trading with the Enemies Act? What was the Espionage Act of 1917?
Imposed harsh penalties on those using disloyal, profane, abusive speech about the government, flag, or armed services;Allowed government to censor the foreign language press;A part of the laws meant to stamp out descent and 20 years imprisonment of those aiding the enemy, obstructing military recruitment, or encouraging disloyalty
Mass production and uniformity
What were the CCC, FERA, TVA, PWA, Fair Labor Standards Act, WPA, FPA, and what did they stand for?
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): Put 250,000 men to work in parks building bridges, and controlling flood control
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA); Provided 500M dollars in direct assistance to the states. The states would use the money as they saw fit to provide jobs
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): Generated and distributed power to the rural South; Brough FDR popularity to the South; Provided health and educational services to the South
Public Works Administration (PWA): Provided money for putting pppl to work with dams, bridges, and other structures
Set a 40 cent minimum wage and a 40 hour work week
Works Progress Administration (WPA): Put men to work building schools, hospitals, and air fields
Federal Writers’ Project (FPA): Employed historians and authors; Also recorded slave narratives, VERY IMPORTANT
What was the Conservative Coalition and “Conservative Manifesto”?
Informal coalition between southern democrats and northwest republicans
What were the main sentiments during the Road to World War II?
Isolationist and pacifist sentiment
From isolationism to internationalism
What was Woodrow Wilsons' 14 Point in "The Fourteen Points"?
What was the 'new woman'?
The Flapper” wore undergarments, see through panty hoes, drank liquor, smoked, cut hair short, put on cosmetics
What was the Glass-Steagall Banking Act, Farm Credit Administration, NRA, AAA, FMP, CWA, and what did they stand for?
Glass-Steagall Banking Act
Separated commercial banking from investment banking
Farm Credit Administration
Provided credit for farmers
National Recovery Administration (NRA)
Attempt at planning cooperation between government, business, and labor
Set minimum wages and maximum hours
700 codes that were enacted
Eventually became a bureaucratic nightmare
Issues (below)
Codes favored big business over small competitors
Minimum wages were often near starvation level
Each commpna that took part in NRA could display blue eagle and stamp symbol on products
Brief upsurge in 1933 but then sagged in 34
Ppl called the agency the “national run-around”
Supreme court struck it down in 1935 on constitutional grounds for being unconstitutional
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
Intended to correct the problem of overproduction
Farmers did better under this
Government would set production limits for wheat cotton corn and other crops
AAA was created by congress and allocated anchorage and took land out of production
Farmers were paid to slaughter 6M piglets and MANY other crops
Most of gain in farm income came from subsidy payments themselves rather than higher farmer market
Federal Music Program (FMP)
Employed 50,000 musicians
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Put kids to work to build sewers, outhouses, etc
What were the 3 aspects to the Social Security Act of 1935?
1) Age old pensions
3) provided direct federal grant to the states for welfare payments for the blind handicapped and needy elderly and families with dependent children where states administer
What was the Nye Committee and “Merchants of Death”?
Nye Committee was a special committee in 1934 to investigate the sale of munitions in World War I
Nye argued that bakers and munition makers were solely responsible for US involvement in WWI
What was the legacy of WWI?
Disillusionment and the end of Progressivism
What did the Roaring 20s represent? What were the factors of change involved?
Emergence of distinctively modern America
Era of transition and change
Clash between old vs new ways and rural vs urban values
Paradoxical decade: liberal in many respects; conservative in others
Conservatism
The automobile industry and car culture
What were the causes of the Great Depression?
Stock market crash
Banks curtail landing
Production dropped off
People lacked money for purchasing
Unemployment: 25.2% in 1932
Nearly 50% unemployment in Chicago and Detroit
Who were FDR's challengers? What did they stand for?
Upton Sinclair: “End Poverty in California”
Huey P. Long: “Share Our Wealth”
What were the 3 Neutrality Acts and what did they do?
Neutrality Act of 1935
Prohibited US ships from carrying arms to belligerent nations (any nation being aggressive too)
Neutrality Act of 1937: “Cash and Carry”
Cash and carry, US Citizens could by non belligerent weapons, transport them immediately, and then transport them onto ships
Neutrality Act of 1939
Allowed America to sell munitions to Britain and France