Alphabet Soup
Helped farmers meet mortgages. Found unconstitutional because the government was paying the farmers to waste 1/3 of their products. Created by Congress in 1933 as part of the New Deal, this agency attempted to restrict agricultural production by paying farmers subsidies to take land out of production
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
FDR's eyes and ears on the nation, this person was a huge asset to him and worked very closely with him. Was a great supporter of civil rights and opposed the Jim Crow laws. Also worked for birth control and better conditions for working women.
Elenore Roosevelt
informal talks given by FDR over the radio; sat by White House fireplace; gained the confidence of the people
Fireside Chats
A series of reforms enacted by the Franklin Roosevelt administration between 1933 and 1942 with the goal of ending the Great Depression.
The New Deal
He started his presidency off with the First Hundred Days, which was the beginning of the New Deal. During this period, he and congress passed hundreds of bills that promoted social welfare and initiated programs coined alphabet soup programs.
FDR
Provided affordable electricity which would improve the standard of living and the economic competitiveness of the family farm; created to bring electricity to agrarian communities.
Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
This disease left FDR wheelchair bound for the rest of his life
Polio
All the banks were ordered to close until new laws could be passed. An emergency banking law was rushed through Congress.
Bank Holiday
Parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas that were hit hard by dry topsoil and high winds that created blinding dust storms; this area of the Great Plains became called that because winds blew away crops and farms, and blew dust from Oklahoma to Albany, New York.
Dust Bowl
1928; Republican; approach to economy known as voluntarism (avoid destroying individuality/self-reliance by government coercion of business); of course, in 1929 the stock market crashed; tried to fix it through creating the Emergency Relief and Construction Act and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (didn't really work).
Hebert Hoover
The Act was the first direct-relief operation under the New Deal and was headed by Harry L. Hopkins, a New York social worker who was one of Franklin D. Roosevelt's most influential advisers. The law provided money for food and other necessities for the unemployed. Affected the people in trying to aid people feeling the effects of the depression.
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
Many people believed FDR believed in this kind of political/economic system
Socialism
Amendment which ended the Prohibition of alcohol in the US, repealing the 18th amendment.
21st Amendment
a new set of programs in the spring of 1935 including additional banking reforms, new tax laws, new relief programs. Reorganized fed program for jobless relief. Assistance to rural poor, Support for org labor, social welfare benefits for elder, stricter business regulation, heavier taxes on wealthy.
Second New Deal
The "radio priest." A critic of the New Deal; created the National Union for Social Justice; wanted monetary inflation and the nationalization of the banking system.
Father Charles Coughlin
Provided employment to young men by sending them to camps in national parks and forests - plant trees, build reservoirs, etc.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
FDR was very distant cousins with this other historical figure
Theodore Roosevelt
Government practice of spending more than is taken in from taxes.
Deficit Spending
In economics, this term is used to describe situations where the prices of all goods and services rise uncontrollably over a defined time period. Happened in Germany during 1930's.
Hyperinflation
New Deal critic; focused on the needs of older Americans; ideas for a pension plan for retirees contributed to formation of Social Security
Dr. Frances Townsend
Government agency that was part of the New Deal and dealt with the industrial sector of the economy. It allowed industries to create fair competition, which were intended to reduce destructive competition and to help workers by setting minimum wages and maximum weekly hours.
National Recovery Administration (NRA)
This group of intellectuals assisted heavily with creating the New Deal. Some even speculated that they had more power/influence than FDR's cabinet.
The Brain Trust
Economic downturn in 1937 which happened when FDR tried to reduce government spending on relief and job programs
Roosevelt Recession
American novelist who wrote "The Grapes of Wrath" (1939). A story of Dust Bowl victims who travel to California to look for a better life.
John Steinbeck
As senator in 1932 of Washington preached his "Share Our Wealth" programs. It was a 100% tax on all annual incomes over $1 million and appropriation of all fortunes in excess of $5 million. With this money Long proposed to give every American family a comfortable income, etc. Known as the "King Fish."
Huey Long