New Deal Study Guide
Test is on:
Chapter 22, section 1:
“This campaign is more than a contest between two men… It is a contest between two
philosophies of government” - Hoover
1. What were the differences between Hoover and FDR?
Hoover - business man/“self-made man”; orphan as a child; workaholic; ultraconservative; felt the government’s role in everyday lives of the people should be
minimal; “hands-off” approach; felt that depression relief should come from state and
local governments and private agencies
FDR - came from a wealthy/well-off family; educated at elite schools/colleges;
developed a belief that public service was a noble calling; believed that the depression
required strong action and leadership at the federal level to be truly effective
 had been Governor of NY prior to presidency
Married his distant cousin Eleanor Roosevelt (his “eyes and ears”)
2. Who was part of FDR’s Brain Trust?
Diverse group of intellectuals
Henry Wallace (republican) as Secretary of Agriculture
Harold Ickes (republican) as Secretary of Interior
Frances Perkins (social worker) as Secretary of Labor
Eleanor Roosevelt - FDR depended heavily on his wife throughout his presidency
 When the “second” Bonus Army came to DC looking for early payment, FDR sent his
wife instead of active soldiers to meet with them (she showed the vets that the
government actually cared)
3. What were the goals of the Fireside Chats?
 Used as a way to reach all Americans (via radio communication)
 FDR was able to “enter” every person’s home and talk to them on their level
 Broke down and explained the New Deal policies and reforms in a basic language that
anyone could understand
4. What were the goals of the New Deal?
Relief
Recovery
Reform
5. Explain the following New Deal Agencies:
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) - insured bank deposits up to $5,000
Security Exchange Commission (SEC) - set up to regulate the stock market and make it a
safer place for investments
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) - sought to end overproduction and raise crop prices
 Provided financial aid, paying farmers subsidies to not plant parts of their
land/kill off excess livestock
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) - series of dams in the Tennessee River valley to
control floods and to generate electric power to these regions
 Created many jobs/attracted industry in the process
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) - created to counter the depression’s negative impact
on young men; provided jobs for more than 2 million young men
 Replanted forests, built trails, dug irrigation ditches, and fought fires (CCC
eventually expanded)
Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) - granted federal funds to state and local agencies
to help the unemployed
Civil Works Administration (CWA) - provided jobs on public-works projects
Home Owners Loan Corp (HOLC) - loaned money at low interest rates to homeowners
who could not meet their mortgage payments
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) - insured bank loans used for building/repairing
homes to increase homeownership
National Recovery Agency (NRA) - “centerpiece of the early New Deal’s recovery
program”
 Established minimum wages for workers and minimum prices for goods being
sold
Public Works Administration (PWA) - built bridges, dams, power plants and government
buildings
 These public works projects improved the nation’s infrastructure and created
millions of jobs for workers
Chapter 22, Section 2:
6. What did the Second New Deal address? What did it create? Who did it help?addressed the
problems of the elderly, poor, and unemployed; created new public works projects; helped
farmers; enacted measures to protect worker’s rights
7. What did the WPA (Works Progress Administration) do?
Created jobs by improving highways, dredging rivers and harbors, and providing programs in
the arts to unemployed artists
8. What did the SSA (Social Security Act) do?
Gave financial aid to those who were retired, unemployed, disabled, widowed, or injured on the
job
9.What did the REA (Rural Electrification Administration) do?
Loaned money to electric utility companies to supply power to rural areas.
10. What did the NLR (National Labor Relations/Wagner Act) do?
Outlawed unfair labor practices and gave workers the right to organize unions
11. What did the NYA (National Youth Administration) do?
Trained and provided jobs for 16-25-year olds
12. What did the Fair Labor Standards Act do?
Banned child labor, created a minimum wage, and limited workweeks to 44 hours.
13. What did the Food Drug Cosmetic Act do?
Prohibited the mislabeling of food, drugs, and cosmetics
14. What did the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organization) do?
Union of industrial workers
15. What did the UAW (United Automobile Workers) do?
Union of Automobile Workers (Staged a 40-day sit-down strike at General Motors branch and
refused to leave until recognized)
16. What is pump priming? deficit spending was needed to end the depression; putting people to
work on public projects will put money in their hands that they will spend on goods to stimulate
the economy
17. What is Collective bargaining? – employers had the right to negotiate with unions about
hours, wages, and other working conditions
18. What is a sit-down strike? workers refuse to leave workplace until a settlement is reached
19. What was FDR’s Court Packing plan? FDR trying to cheat the system by adding 6 additional
Supreme Court Justices who would all agree with his policies – he tried to lesson the power of the
Supreme Court
Chapter 22, sec 3:
Women Help Lead the New Deal
20. Who was Frances Perkins? – first female Cabinet member
- Secretary of Labor
- Helped win approval of the Fair Labor Standards Act
African Americans Make Advances and Face Challenges
21. What was the Black Cabinet? – FDR had many African Americans advising him
- Robert Weaver and William Hastie (both Harvard grads)
 Worked in the Department of the Interior
22. Who was Mary McLeod Bethune?
- Founder of what would become Bethune Cookman College
- Strong supporter of racial equality
23. How did the New Deal unintentionally hurt many African Americans?
- Many were evicted from white-owned farms when there was not enough money
- Often did not receive equal wages
-
Social Security and Fair Labor Standards Act both exempted domestic workers,
farm laborers (both areas that had many African Americans)
New Deal Affects Native Americans
24. Who was John Collier? – New Deal’s Commissioner of Indian Affairs
- Developed the Indian New Deal
- Created the Indian Civilian Conservation Corps
- Convinced Congress to pass the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934
 “Centerpiece” of Indian New Deal
25. What was the Navajo Livestock Reduction program? – killing/selling of thousands of sheep in
order to protect soil erosion on the Colorado Plateau
26. Who was the New Deal Coalition? – brought together southern whites, blue-collar workers,
poor Midwestern farmers, and African Americans
- Gave the Democratic Party a strong majority in Congress
- African Americans began to vote Democratic
27. What is a welfare state? – government that assumes responsibility for providing for the
welfare of children and the poor, elderly, sick, disabled, and unemployed
Chapter 22, sec 4
The Wizard of Oz
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Gone with the Wind
28. Who was Frank Capra? – film director who specialized in movies focusing on the strengths of
the average Americans
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
29. What did the Federal Art Project/Federal Writer’s Project/Federal Theatre Project do? –
programs to provide work for those who were in these various creative fields
30. Who was Dorothea Lange? – photographer during Great Depression/New Deal era; famous
for “Migrant Mother” photo
31. Who was John Steinbeck? – wrote The Grapes of Wrath (famous Great Depression book
about Dust Bowl migrant farmers, became movie as well)
Escapism – Americans went to movies to find relief from troubles
During the 1930s, many Americans began to become big fans of various comic books (Flash
Gordon, Dick Tracey, Superman)