Notes

The Agriculture Adjustment Act
provided loans to farm owners for the same purpose. Recovery to farms.

The Bank Holiday
Roosevelt closed all the nation's banks just after his inauguration by declaring a bank holiday. Banks were permitted to reopen only after the government inspected its records ad found it was financially sound.

Black Tuesday
the market crash on October 29th.

Bonus Expeditionary
Bonus Army unemployed (40,000) veterans and their families-former members of the American expeditionary force during WWI, camped out in Washington, DC in the summer of 1932 hoping to persuade Congress to grant them a promised bonus.

Bull Market
a stock market in which stock prices were steadily increasing. In the Bull market of 1920's stock prices became vastly inflated, reflecting the results of speculators rather than the time value of the stock based on company earnings.

Buying on Margin
purchases were able to buy stocks on margin - putting only 10% down and borrowing 90%.

CCC - Civilian Conservation
gave outdoor jobs to young men. -Relief to home and farm owners: Loan corporation (1938) gave emergency loans to low interest rates to homeowners facing foreclosure.

Dust Bowl
an environmental disaster. They had removed the tough grasses that once protected the soil. A series of droughts in the early 1930's dried up crops and top soil, turning the soil to dust. Strong winds swept this dust eastward. Shocking farmers and livestock.

Economic Boom
Period of general prosperity of the 1920's and collapse into the Great Depression of the 1930's.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
was created to insure deposits in banks. (1) The securities and exchange commission (1934) - the SEC was a new federal agency created to oversee the operations of the stock market, preventing fraud. (2) Relief for the unemployed: -work relief: the CCC, PWA, and CWA. Roosevelt favored government projects that gave people meaningful work.

Fireside Chats
informal radio addresses to millions of listeners in which he explained his policies in simple conversational terms. Chats were phrased to emphasize optimism, unity and respect for his listeners.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Became President in 1932, and introduced the "New Deal" to help the economy rebuild.

Great Depression
was the worst depression in our nation's history. Production fell by half, one-quarter of the work force was unemployed, and prices plummeted. Behind the statistics was a great deal of suffering and misery. Only American's entry into WWII put a final end to the Great Depression.

Gross National Product (GNP)
the total value of all the goods and services produced by a national in a single year (including income from US investments abroad, but not income earned by foreigners in the U.S. During the Great Depression, the GNP of te U.S. greatly decreased.

Impact of climate and natural disasters
The land boom in the 1920's was interrupted by a series of natural disasters in Florida, including freezes and hurricanes.

National Labor Relations Act (1935)
replaced several provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act. Gave workers the right to form unions, to bargain collectively and to summit their grievances to the national labor relations board.

National Recovery Administration (NRA)
all businesses and companies in the same industry were asked to cooperate in drawing up a code of fair practice. Each code set standard prices, limited production, reduced the work week to 40 hrs an established a minimum wage.

New Deal
was pragmatic (practical), making choices based on trial and error. Roosevelt was willing to try anything that worked. It had three goals: relief, recovery, and reform.

Relief Recovery and Reform
Roosevelt assembled Congress for a special session to cope with the nation's economic problems. Democratic control of both house's of Congress and the mood the nation permitted Roosevelt to push through major legislation.

"Sit-Down" Strike (1936)
automobile workers held a sit down strike at the General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan. The workers occupy the factory or plant and prevent the owners from using it.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff
reduced international trade.

Social Security
our "safety net" to fall back on when we're struck by unemployment, illness, or a death in the family.

Speculation Boom
refers to the practice of buying real estate (land or buildings), stocks, or anything else to sell later at a profit.

The Tennessee Valley Authority or (TVA)
was a major experiment in public ownership.

The Works Progress Administration
increased employment by creating new public works projects. Spent 11 billion and gave 9 billion people jobs building public schools, courthouses, roads, & bridges.