Download Study Guide Unit 12

Study Guide Unit 12
Normalcy-Coined by Warren G. Harding in an address before the Home Market Club on
May 14,1920 in Boston, this term came to symbolize, to powerful businessmen, the
immediate abandonment of the foreign and domestic policies of Wilson. This meant a return
to high protective tariffs and a reduction in taxes.
William Green- United States labor leader who was president of the American Federation
of Labor from 1924 to 1952 and former president of the united mine workers. he led the
struggle with the congress of industrial organizations (1873-1952). he watched over the AFL
Pink Collar Jobs- jobs that offer few benefits, often have low prestige; working class jobs
traditionally held by women (clerical, secretary, maid, waitress, cook, beautician)
American Plan- a business-oriented approach to worker relations popular among firms in
the 1920s to defeat unionization. managers sought to strengthen their communication with
workers and to offer benefits like pensions and insurance. they insisted on an "open shop"
in contrast to the mandatory union membership through the "closed shop" that many labor
activists had demanded in the strike after world war I
The Jazz Singer- The Jazz Singer was a movie, made in 1927, that started a demand for
dancers who could fulfill the expectations of the 1920s. Fred Astaire was involved with the
choreography in the movie along with other famous dancers such as Berkeley, Balanchine,
and De Mille.
H.L. Mencken- Mencken founded the magazine The American Mercury in 1924. Mencken
remained the editor until 1933. He targeted his work at the shortcomings of democracy and
the middle-class American culture.
Eugene O’Neill- became leading dramatist; realistic and expressionistic. dealing with
psychological truths. playwright who won 4 Pulitzer prizes for his tragic live-like dramas
Sinclair Lewis- Main Street was written in 1920 and is where Lewis first developed the
theme of the monotony, emotional frustration, and lack of values in American middle-class
life. Babbitt, written in 1922, comments on how people conform blindly to the standards of
their environment.
Harlem Renaissance- was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s
Langston Hughes- a jazz legend known for his ability to play the trumpet and his subtle
sense of improvision
Gertrude Stein- American writer of experimental novels, poetry, essays, operas, and plays.
in Paris during the 1920s she was a central member of a group of American expatriates that
included Ernest Hemingway. her works include three lives (1908), tender buttons (1914),
and the autobiography of Alice b. Toklas (1933)
The Birth of a Nation- A film that came out in 1915. it inspired the formation of the second
KKK and it was shown to recruit new members. it depicted the original KKK clan as being
noble and saving the south from blacks taking it over in the civil war
Ohio Gang- A group of poker-playing, men that were friends of President Warren Harding.
Harding appointed them to offices and they used their power to gain money for themselves.
They were involved in scandals that ruined Harding's reputation even though he wasn't
involved.
Dust Bowl- Windy topsoil that triggers massive Dust clouds which turn into Dust Bowl in the
midwest area
Okies- unflattering name given to Oklahomans and others from the rural Midwest,
especially those who left the dust bowl looking for better lives during the 1930s in the west,
especially those heading towards California
Scottsboro Case- 1931 nine black youths were indicted at Scottsboro, Ala., on charges of
having raped two white women in a freight car passing through Alabama
Richard Wright- (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960) was an African-American
author of sometimes controversial novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his
literature concerns racial themes, especially those involving the plight of African-Americans
during the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. His work helped redefine discussions of race
relations in America in the mid-20th century.
Ernest Hemingway-A Farewell to Arms: In Hemingway’s novels, he usually depicted the
lives of two types of people: men and women deprived of faith in their values by World War
I, and men of simple character and primitive emotions. This was Hemingway’s second most
important novel next to The Sun Also Rises (1926).
John Steinbeck-author of The Grape of Wrath about the dust bowl and a family of Okies
Popular Front- A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often
made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and
liberal (or "bourgeois") forces as well as socialist and communist ("working-class") groups.
Popular fronts are larger in scope than united fronts, which contain only working-class
groups.
Norman Thomas- was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential
candidate for the Socialist Party of America.
Hawley-Smoot Tariff- Began as a protective measure to assist farmers, but turned out to
be the highest protective tariff in the nation's peace time history. It raised the duty on goods
from 38.5 percent to 60 percent in 1930.
Hoovervilles-" Hooverville" was the name given to any shanty town that manifested itself
during the period when Herbert Hoover was president. The name was termed due to the
cold, unfriendly disposition that Hoover took on the policy of helping out the poor. Hoover
believed that giving economic aid to the poor would stifle the economy.
Reconstruction Finance Association(RFC)- Created under the presidency of Herbert
Hoover, the RFC was designed to give out loans to banks, railroads, and monopolistic
companies in order to pump money back into the economy during the years of the
Depression.
Farm Holiday Association-In 1931 farmers from the Midwest got together to discuss the
methods they would use in order to stop the policies that devastated the agricultural
economy. Out of the meeting came the decision to withhold grain and livestock from the
economy.
Brains Trust-The term brain trust refers to the individual people outside the Franklin
Roosevelt appointed presidential cabinet that helped in the decision making process of the
president. The men most known are: Raymond Moley, Rexford Tugwell, and Adolph A.
Berle. Moley was conservative while Tugwell and Berle were interested in reform.
Boondoggling- a term for a project that wastes time and money, first appeared during the
great depression in the 1930s, referring to the millions of jobs given to unemployed men
and women to try to get the economy moving again, as part of the new deal For example:
Jobs at leaf raking and other make work tasks
Frances Perkins-Secretary of Labor: Being the first woman to be appointed to a Cabinet
position (1933-1945), Perkins was also a social reformer. During her term, Perkins
strengthened the Department of Labor, pushed for a limit on employment age, and
developed the CCC, the Social Security Act, and Fair Labor Standards Act (1938).
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): Senator Norris: Pushed for by Senator George Norris,
the TVA was a governmental agency which ruled several federal programs of building
dams, the construction of hydroelectric dams, and controlling floods. Created in 1933, the
TVA was eventually curtailed in 1980 when nuclear plants were introduced.
National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act- guaranteed labor the right to organize and
to bargain collectively.
Alf Landon- Governor of Kansas. ran against FDR in the 1936 election. he was weak on
the radio and weaker in personal campaigning, and while he criticized FDR's spending, he
also favored enough of FDR's new deal to be ridiculed by the democrats as an unsure idiot.
Republic Steel Company- site of the Memorial Day massacre, police fired upon picketers
and workers leaving people dead and wounded
U.S. v Butler- FDR declared Agriculture Adjustment Act unconstitutional, illegal to tax the
processors and not the farmers
Schechter v U.S. -This case took place in May 1935 when a New York company was
charged with a violation of an NRA poultry code; these charges resulted in the Supreme
Court declaring the NRA unconstitutional by stating that the NRA was regulating interstate
commerce a violation of federal regulation.
John Maynard Keynes- British economist who advocated the use of government monetary
and fiscal policy to maintain full employment without inflation (1883-1946)