Download 139 Hoovervilles - Taconic Hills Central School District

139 Hoovervilles:
Definition:Is the popular name for shanty town built by homeless people during the Great
Depression.
Description: They were named after Herbert Hoover who was President of the United States
during the onset of the Depression and widely blamed for it. The term was coined by Charles
Michelson, publicity chief of the Democratic National Committee.
Significance: Homelessness was present before the Great Depression, and hobos and tramps
were common sights before 1929. Most large cities built municipal lodging houses for them, but
the depression exponentially increased demand.
140 Hoover Blankets:
Definition: During the great depression, the homeless used old newspapers as blankets. There
became known as "hoover blankets" after the United States president Herbert Hoover.
Description: This was a Democratic term used to describe the poor conditions the homeless lived
in. Other terms were Hoover flags (an empty pocket turned inside out). "Hoover leather" was
cardboard used to line a shoe when the sole wore through and a "Hoover wagon" was an
automobile with horses hitched to it because the owner could not afford fuel.
Significance: These terms were made by the Democratic party which mocked the Presidents
name.
141 Hobo’s:
Definition:A hobo is a migratory worker or homeless vagabond, especially one who is penniless.
The term originated in the Western United States during the last decade of the 19th century.
Description: Hobos are workers who wander. The number of hobos increased greatly during the
Great Depression era of the 1930s. With no work and no prospects at home, many decided to
travel for free by freight train and try their luck elsewhere.
Significance: It is unclear exactly when hobos first appeared on the American railroading scene.
With the end of the American Civil War in the 1860s, many discharged veterans looking to
return home took to hopping freight trains. Others looking for work on the American frontier
followed the railways west aboard freight trains in the late 19th Century.
142 Reconstruction Refinance Corporation:
Definition: This was an independent agency of the United States government.The agency gave
$2 billion in aid to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, mortgage
associations and other businesses.
Description: The Reconstruction Finance Corporation spent $1.5 billion in 1932, $1.8 billion in
1933, and $1.8 billion in 1934. Then it dropped to about $350 million a year. The total loaned or
otherwise disbursed by the RFC from 1932 through 1941 was $9.465 billion.
Significance: The loans were nearly all repaid. It was continued by the New Deal and played a
major role in handling the Great Depression of the United States and setting up the relief
programs that were taken over by the New Deal in 1933.
143 Hoover Dam:
Definition: once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of
the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was
constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on
September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Description: Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers,
and cost over one hundred lives. The dam was controversially named after President Herbert
Hoover.
Significance: Since about 1900, the Black Canyon and nearby Boulder Canyon had been
investigated for their potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation
water and produce hydroelectric power. The dam's generators provide power for public and
private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California.
144 Election of 1932:
Definition:The election took place in the midst of the Great Depression that had ruined the
promises of incumbent President and Republican candidate Herbert Hoover to bring about a new
era of prosperity. Economic issues were a dominant topic in this election. The two candidates
were Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Description: Roosevelt united all wings of the party, avoided divisive cultural issues such as
religion and the Ku Klux Klan, promised to end prohibition, and brought in a leading southern
conservative as his running mate, John Nance Garner of Texas.
Significance: Roosevelt won by a landslide in both the electoral and popular vote, receiving the
highest percentage of the popular vote for a Democratic nominee since Andrew Jackson 100
years prior.This critical election marked the collapse of the Fourth Party System, which had been
dominated by the Republicans.
146 21st Amendment:
Definition:The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the
18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide prohibition
of alcohol on January 17, 1920. The Twenty-first amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933.
Description: It is unique among the 27 Amendments of the U.S. Constitution for being the only
one to repeal a previous Amendment.
Significance:The 21st Amendment is the only constitutional amendment ratified by state
conventions rather than by the state legislatures.
147 22nd Amendment:
Definition: The 22nd Amendment of the United States Constitution sets a term limit for election
to the office of President of the United States.
Description:Historians point to George Washington’s decision not to seek a third term as
evidence that the founders saw a two-term limit as a bulwark against a monarchy. Thomas
Jefferson also contributed to the convention of a two-term limit when he wrote in 1807, "if some
termination to the services of the chief Magistrate be not fixed by the Constitution, or supplied
by practice, his office, nominally four years, will in fact become for life.”
Significance:Prior to Franklin D. Roosevelt, few Presidents attempted to serve for more than two
terms.Supporters cited the war in Europe as a reason for breaking with precedent, thus Franklin
Roosevelt was the only President to have served more than two terms.
148 Keynesian Economics:
Definition:In the Keynesian view, aggregate demand does not necessarily equal the productive
capacity of economy; instead, it is influenced by a host of factors and sometimes behaves
erratically, affecting production, employment, and inflation.
Description:The theories forming the basis of Keynesian economics were first presented by the
British economist John Maynard Keynes in his book which was published during the Great
Depression.
Significance:Keynesian economists often argue that private sector decisions sometimes lead to
inefficient macroeconomic outcomes which require active policy responses. Keynesian
economics advocates a mixed economy.
149 The 100 Days:
Definition:President Roosevelt called Congress into special session on 9 March 1933,
determined to put his plan of "bold, persistent experimentation" into action, a flurry of legislative
accomplishment unprecedented in American history.
Description: On the very first day of the special session, Congress passed Roosevelt's bill to
stabilize the country's failing banking system.The House passed Roosevelt's banking bill
unanimously, after just 38 minutes of debate, without even seeing the text of the legislation.
Significance:Roosevelt's Hundred Days program was all over the map; his first government
spending bill was more conservative than anything.No one could accuse Franklin D. Roosevelt
or the Hundred Days Congress of failing to "above all, try something."
150 Relief-CCC,PWA,WPA
Definition:The Civilian Conservation Corps provided work for the jobless in National Forests.
The Public Works Administration created new public works program.The Works Progress
Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of
unemployed people (mostly unskilled men) to carry out public work projects including the
construction of public buildings and roads.
Description:The WPA was a national program that operated its own projects in cooperation with
state and local governments, which provided 10%-30% of the costs.The CCC goals were to
salvage the young men in America and to conserve the environment.The people in the PWA built
dams,bridges,schools, and hospitals.
Significance: These agencies were all apart of Roosevelt’s New Deal.
151 Recovery-NIRA, CCC
Definition:The National Industrial Recovery Act was a law passed by Congress in 1933 to
authorize the President to regulate industry in an attempt to raise prices after severe deflation and
stimulate economic recovery.The CCC was a public work relief program that operated from
1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–
25.
Description:The CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men, to relieve families who had
difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression.The NIRA Act had two main sections.Title I
was devoted to industrial recovery, and authorized the promulgation of industrial codes of fair
competition, guaranteed trade union rights, permitted the regulation of working standards, and
regulated the price of certain refined petroleum products and their transportation. Title II
established the Public Works Administration, outlined the projects and funding opportunities it
could engage in, and funded the Act.
Significance: These acts were made in the hope of raising the economy again.
152 Reform-FDIC,Social Security, Minimum Wage:
Definition: The FDIC provides deposit insurance guaranteeing the safety of a depositor’s
accounts in member banks. The Social Security act was an attempt to limit what were seen as
dangers in the modern American life, including old age, poverty, unemployment, and the
burdens of widows and fatherless children.A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or
monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers.
Description:FDIC also examines and supervises certain financial institutions for safety and
soundness, performs certain consumer-protection functions, and manages banks in
receiverships.The Social Security Act provided benefits to retirees and the unemployed, and a
lump-sum benefit at death.A Minimum wage is such a wage that it not only guarantees bare
subsistence and preserves efficiency but also provides for education, medical requirements and
some level of comfort.
Significance:Since the start of FDIC insurance on January 1, 1934, no depositor has lost any
insured funds as a result of a failure. By signing this act on August 14, 1935, President Roosevelt
became the first president to advocate federal assistance for the elderly.All these acts still exist
today.
153 Schechter Poultry v. US
Definition:Also known as the "sick chicken case"; declared unconstitutional parts of the NIRA
that gave the president some of congress's right to regulate commerce.
Description:This included price and wage fixing, as well as requirements regarding the sale of
whole chickens, including unhealthy ones. The government claimed the Schechter sold sick
poultry.
Significance:Court invalidated the industrial "codes of fair competition" which the NIRA
enabled the President to issue. The Court held that the codes violated the constitutional
separation of powers as an impermissible delegation of legislative power to the executive branch.
The Court also held that the NIRA provisions were in excess of congressional power under the
Commerce Clause.
154 Court Packing Scheme:
Definition:This plan would allow the president to appoint a new Supreme Court justice whenever
an incumbent judge reached seventy and failed to retire; a maximum of six judges could be
named in this manner.
Description:When President FDR's New Deal Program met with opposition by Supreme Court
members, he deceitfully packed the court with a sufficient number of political cronies (those who
supported his plan) to get it approved and declared Constitutional.
Significance:Congress believed Roosevelt's proposal endangered the Court's independence and
said no.
155 2nd New Deal-Wagner Act, TVA
Definition:In 1925 president roosevelt launched a new set of programs and reforms which were
called this. The Wagner Act established defined unjust labor practices, secured workers the right
to bargain collectively, and established the National Labor Relations Board. The TVA was a
New Deal agency created to generate electric power and control floods in a seven-U.S.-state
region around the Tennessee River Valley.
Description:The Wagner Act does not apply to workers who are covered by the Railway Labor
Act, agricultural employees, domestic employees, supervisors, federal, state or local government
workers, independent contractors and some close relatives of individual employers.TVA was
envisioned not only as a provider, but also as a regional economic development agency that
would use federal experts and electricity to rapidly modernize the region's economy and society.
Significance:The Wagner Act guarantees basic rights of private sector employees to organize
into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining for better terms and conditions at work, and
take collective action including strike if necessary.TVA was envisioned not only as a provider,
but also as a regional economic development agency that would use federal experts and
electricity to rapidly modernize the region's economy and society.
156 Effectiveness Of New Deal-Liberty League, Father Coughlin, Dr.Townshend,Huey
Long
Definition:The New Deal was extremely effective, in controlling prices and wages, droves of
workers were kept out of jobs. This had to happen to keep folks desperate enough to allow the
New Deal socialist policies to take root. As for the economy, the nation would have collapsed
under its own weight, and WW2 was a 'godsend' to Roosevelt, as it temporarily ramped up
industry to meet the demand for war goods. From an economist's standpoint, it introduced a great
deal of extreme distortion to the market, which prevented it from self-correcting, as any free
market will do.The Liberty League was an American political organization formed in 1934,
primarily by conservative democrats to oppose the New Deal.Father Coughlin was a vocal
supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his early New Deal proposals, before later becoming a
harsh critic of Roosevelt as too friendly to bankers. Dr. Townshend was an American physician
who was best known for his revolving old-age pension proposal during the Great Depression.A
supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election, Long split with Roosevelt in
June 1933 to plan his own presidential bid for 1936 in alliance with radio's influential Catholic
priest Charles Coughlin.
Description: The Liberty League was highly active for just 2 years.Father Coughlin used radio to
spread his message and ideas. Dr. Townshend influenced the establishment of the Roosevelt’s
administration Social Security system.Huey Long was assassinated in 1935 and his national
movement faded, while his state organization continued in Louisiana.
Significance: These people and groups were all against Roosevelt’s New Deal although it did
help the nation and its peoples.
157 War Time Economic Recovery:
Definition:The economy recovered from the Depression only with the advent of World War II
which pushed demand for goods and services to the limit of its capacity.
Description: With the war going on over in Europe the US was a supplier to the countries that
were fighting.There was an increase of demand in everything because it was scarce.
Significance: The economy went up because of the war and people did much better. An example
of this are the farmers which had been hit very hard during the depression as did everybody else.
158 Washington Naval Conference:
Definition:This was a military conference called by President Warren G. Harding and held in
Washington from 12 November 1921 to 6 February 1922.
Description: It was attended by nine nations the United States, Japan,China,France ,Britain,
Italy,Belgium,Netherlands, and Portugal regarding interests in the Pacific Ocean and East Asia.
Significance:It was the first international conference held in the United States and the first
disarmament conference in history.
159 London Economic Conference:
Definition:This was a meeting of representatives of 66 nations from June 12 to July 27, 1933, at
the Geological Museum in London.
Description:Its purpose was to win agreement on measures to fight global depression, revive
international trade, and stabilize currency exchange rates.
Significance:The Conference was "torpedoed" by US President Roosevelt in early July, when
Roosevelt denounced currency stabilization.
160 Nye Committee Report:
Definition: The committee was formed to investigate whether or not munitions manufacturers
and bankers were pro-war in WWI only to make profit.
Description: This increased anti-war atmosphere and push to pass Neutrality Acts.
Significance:The findings of the committee gave momentum to the non-interventionist
movement and sparked the passage of the Neutrality Acts.
161 Neutrality Laws of 1935-1938
Definition:These laws were passed in response to the growing turmoil in Europe and Asia.
Description:The legacy of the Neutrality Acts is widely regarded as having been generally
negative: they made no distinction between aggressor and victim, treating both equally as
"belligerents"; and they limited the US government's ability to aid Britain and France.
Significance:The acts were largely repealed in 1941, in the face of the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor.
162 America First Committee:
Definition:This was a leading isolationist group advocating that America focus on continental
defense and non-involvement with the European war.
Description: It started in 1940, it shut down after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
Significance:Peaking at 800,000 paid members in 650 chapters, it was one of the largest anti-war
organizations in American history.
163 Preparedness Movement:
Definition:An American movement which felt that US military must be prepared to help Great
Britain.
Description:Originally a campaign led by Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt to strengthen
the military of the United States after the outbreak of WWI.
Significance:In June 1916 Congress passed the National Defense Act of 1916 to authorize an
enormous increase in the size of the military, and the Preparedness Movement faded.
164 Destroyer Deal:
Definition:America gave Great Britain 50 old destroyers from WWI in exchange for eight
defensive bases in the Americas.
Description:It was a legal cover for the Americans to aid the British against Germany without
violating the Neutrality Act.
Significance:There was a majority opinion that we shouldn't get involved in wars out of our
hemisphere.
165 Lend-Lease:
Definition: A law that made the US the "arsenal for democracy" by providing supposedly
temporary military material assistance to Great Britain.
Description: This was nine months before the U.S. entered the war in December 1941.
Significance:A total of $50.1 billion worth of supplies were shipped: $31.4 billion to Britain.
166 Atlantic Charter:
Definition: This charter outlined a vision in which a world would abandon their traditional
beliefs in military alliances and spheres of influence and govern their relations with one another
through democratic process, with an international organization serving as the arbiter of disputes
and the protector of every nation's right of self determination.
Description:It upheld rights of free trade and choice of government, and it became the plan for
postwar peace.
Significance:The Charter stated the ideal goals of the war: no territorial aggrandizement; no
territorial changes made against the wishes of the people; restoration of self-government to those
deprived of it; free access to raw materials; reduction of trade restrictions; global cooperation to
secure better economic and social conditions for all; freedom from fear and want; freedom of the
seas; and abandonment of the use of force, as well as disarmament of aggressor nations.
167 Four Freedoms:
Definition:1941; FDR proposed four fundamental freedoms for people:freedom of speech,
freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
Description:Roosevelt delivered his speech 11 months before the United States declared war on
Japan.
Significance: FDR thought that everyone in the world should be able to enjoy these freedoms.
168 The 3rd Term:
Definition:Franklin Roosevelt won the presidency for a third term; in so doing, he broke the
precedent of not serving more than two terms set by George Washington and kept by all
subsequent presidents.
Description: Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to serve for more than 2 terms.
Significance:Roosevelt's success in 1940 and again in 1944 eventually led to the 22nd
Amendment in 1951, limiting presidents to two terms.
169 Peacetime Draft:
Definition: Both the Congress and the president were concerned with the military expansion of
Germany, Japan, and Italy. By implementing a draft, the United States government would be
better prepared if the nation became involved in the military conflicts raging in other parts of the
world.
Description: The selective training and service act made all men from the ages of 21-35 register
with local draft boards.
Significance:Later, when the U.S. entered WWII, all men aged 18 to 45 were made subject to
military service, and all men aged 18 to 65 were required to register.
170 Appeasement:
Definition:term for the British-French policy of attempting to prevent war by granting German
demands.
Description:The term is most often applied to the foreign policy of the British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain towards Nazi Germany between 1937 and 1939. His policies of avoiding
war with Germany have been the subject of intense debate for seventy years among academics,
politicians and diplomats.
Significance:Since Chamberlain's essentially unsuccessful negotiations with Hitler in 1938, the
word "appeasement" has often been used as a synonym for weakness and even cowardice, and
the term is still frequently used in reference to these negotiations, as a denouncement of any
treaties or international agreements which might appear as a form of "submission" to a threat of
aggression.
171 Munich Conference:
Definition:European diplomatic conference in 1938 where Britain and France conceded to
Hitler's demands for Czechoslovakia
Description:It is widely regarded as a failed act of appeasement toward Germany
Significance:The purpose of the conference was to discuss the future of the Sudetenland in the
face of ethnic demands made by Adolf Hitler.
172 Mutual Non-Aggression Pact:
Definition:Agreement between Hitler and Stalin not to go to war with one another if a third party
attacked one another, and also included allowing the Soviets to be divided a portion of the land
Hitler from countries Hitler was planning to overthrow.
Description: The pact separated Germany and Japan from forming a military alliance, thus
allowing Stalin to concentrate on Japan.
Significance:The pact remained in effect until 22 June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet
Union.
173 Poland, September 3, 1939
Definition:This was a series of killings that took place at Auschwitz. The Nazi’s killed many
polish and jews at this concentration camp.
Description:The number of casualties and other details of the incident are disputed among
historians. The Nazis exploited the deaths as grounds for a massacre of Polish inhabitants after
the Wehrmacht captured the town.
Significance: This was an experiment to see how effective gas was on killing people.
174 Blitzkrieg:
Definition:This describes all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat
engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through
enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken, proceeding without regard to its flank.
Description: Through maneuver warfare, the blitzkrieg attempts to keep its enemy off-balance,
making it difficult to respond effectively at any given point before the front has already moved
on.
Significance:Blitzkrieg operations were very effective during the campaigns of 1939–1941.
These operations were dependent on surprise penetrations, general enemy unpreparedness, and
an inability to react swiftly enough to the attacker's offensive operations.
175 Fall of France:
Definition:The months following the collapse of Poland were known as the "phony war." The
Soviet Union took over Finland despite Congress loaning $30 million to Finland. Hitler overran
Denmark and Norway in April 1940, ending the "phony war." Hitler then moved on to the
Netherlands and Belgium. By late June 1940, France was forced to surrender.
Description:When France surrendered, Americans realized that England was all that stood
between Hitler controlling all of Europe. Roosevelt moved with tremendous speed to call upon
the nation to build huge airfleets and a two-ocean navy. Congress approved a spending of $37
billion. On September 6, 1940, Congress passed a conscription law; under this measure,
America's first peacetime draft was initiated-provision was made for training 1.2 million troops
and 800,000 reserves each year.
Significance: With the Netherlands, Denmark, and France all fallen to German control, it was
unsure what would happen to the colonies of Latin America (the New World). At the Havana
Conference of 1940, the United States agreed to share with its 20 New World neighbors the
responsibility of upholding the Monroe Doctrine.
176 Battle of Britain:
Definition:This was the name given to the Second World War air campaign waged by the
German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940.
Description:The objective of the campaign was to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force,
especially Fighter Command.
Significance:The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air
forces and was also the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign to that date.