Unit 11 Review—The 1920s & 1930s
1. Two part question: America experienced an industrial revolution during the Gilded Age (1870-1900)
and again in the 1920s. (a) was the primary difference between these two industrial booms? (b) What
industrial product was the key “driving force” behind the boom?
2. Identify 3 differences between the economies of the 1920s and 1930s
3. Identify 3 differences between the politics of the 1920s and 1930s
4. What did the 1890 U.S. census and the 1920 U.S. census each reveal about America?
5. Name 3 reasons the United States experienced prosperity during the “Roaring Twenties”
6. Name 3 ways rural Americans fought against the “new, urban” changes in American during the 1920s:
7. Two part question: (a) Define “consumer durable good and (b) Name four consumer durable goods that
were prevalent during the 1920s
8. Explain why the 1920s were NOT a time of laissez-faire politics.
9. Three part question: How did the 1920s impact each of the following groups: (a) middle class,
(b) immigrants, (c) African-Americans?
10. Not all parts of the 1920s economy were booming. Name two sectors of the economy that were weak
11. Three part question: (a) What was the purpose of welfare capitalism; (b) Name one example, (c) What
was the purpose of the “open shop”
12. What is the main difference between the Immigration Act of 1921 and the National Origins Act of 1924?
13. Three part question: Identify each of the following 1920s Americans (a) Langston Hughes, (b) Louis
Armstrong, (c) Marcus Garvey
14. Three part question: (a) What was the 18th Amendment? (b) What was the Volstead Act? (c) What was a
speakeasy?
15. The 1920s were dominated by Republican control of the national government. Why were Democrats
unable to mount a serious opposition in the 1920s?
16. Why was the election of 1928 so important in the history of the Democratic Party?
17. Two part question: (a) Which president said: “A return to normalcy”? (b) Which election(s) did he win?
18. Two part question: (a) Which president said: “The business of government is business”?
(b) Which election(s) did he win?
19. Two part question: (a) Which president said: “rugged individualism”? (b) Which election(s) did he win?
20. Two part question: (a) Which president said: “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
(b) Which election(s) did he win?
21. Four part question: Name the political scandal associated with each president: (a) John Quincy Adams,
(b) Ulysses Grant, (c) Rutherford Hayes, (d) Warren Harding
22. Name three ways the Republican presidents tried to restore “normalcy” in the 1920s
23. Name two ideas that the KKK advocated during the 1920s?
24. Two part question: (a) What was the “Red Scare”? and (b) Name one example in the 1920s
25. How were Christians affected by the outcome of the Scopes “Monkey Trial”?
26. How did the advent of radio and motion picture affect immigrants?
27. Where did women find most of their job opportunities in the 1920s?
28. What is Andrew Mellon’s greatest accomplishment during his long tenure as Secretary of the Treasury
(under Harding and Coolidge)?
29. Name three long-term problems in the economy prior to 1929 that helped lead to the Great Depression
30. Name two reasons for the stock market crash in October 1929
31. The Great Depression in 1929 ruined the presidency of Herbert Hoover, but he was not the first president
to be affected by a “panic.” Name one other panic in U.S. history and the president who was affected.
32. What was President Hoover’s initial philosophy to end the depression?
33. Some of the criticism of Hoover’s ineptitude at ending the depression are unfair. Often forgot among
Americans is that Hoover actually began some unprecedented government initiatives. Name three things
that were done by President Hoover to end the Great Depression.
34. What agency was set up by the Hoover administration to make loans to businesses, banks, and state and
local governments?
35. Why did the Bonus Army march on Washington, D.C. in 1932?
36. What was the American unemployment rate in 1933 when FDR took office?
37. Three part question: How did the depression affect each group: (a) middle class, (b) African-Americans,
(c) Mexican-Americans?
38. What was FDR’s first act of the Hundred Days in 1933?
39. The New Deal is often broken down into three components: Relief, Recovery, and Reform. What do each
of these three Rs mean?
40. Name four New Deal programs designed to offer RELIEF to the unemployed
41. Name the two New Deal programs designed to RECOVER the economy and end the depression
42. Name four long-term New Deal REFORMS to prevent another depression and/or fix problems in the
American economy
43. What was the most ambitious job-creation program of the New Deal, that created jobs for many middle
class Americans like advertisers, artists, and historians?
44. Who was the “champion of the dispossessed” – that is, the poor and minorities- during the 1930s?
45. What did the Glass-Steagall Act create?
46. What was the most pressing problem facing Franklin Roosevelt when he became president?
47. Pick one: What “cause” was promoted by either of these New Deal critics: (a) Father Coughlin or (b)
Francis Townsend.
48. What “cause” was promoted by New Deal critic, Hey Long?
49. How did the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) propose to solve the “farm problem”?
50. Passed in 1933, what did the 20th Amendment and the 21st Amendment do?
51. What are the three causes of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s?
52. Why did President Roosevelt set up the Resettlement Administration in 1935?
53. What did the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 attempt to do?
54. Name two things that the Social Security Act of 1935 provided for Americans?
55. Which New Deal program is historic because it was the first government welfare program and marked
the beginning of government responsibility for underprivileged citizens?
56. What did the Wagner Act of 1935 do?
57. What group of workers benefitted the most from the National Labor Relations Act?
58. How was the Congress of Industrial Organizations different from the American Federation of Labor?
59. Name three New Deal programs which helped western or southern farmers
60. Name three groups who voted as part of the new “Democratic voting coalition” (the FDR voting bloc)
61. Why did FDR try to pack the courts in 1937?
62. What was the effect of court packing?
63. What caused the “Roosevelt Recession” in 1937?
64. What is Keynesian economics?
65. Should Congress and President Obama pursue its proposed $2 trillion stimulus package in 2009?
Unit 11 Review—The 1920s & 1930s—The Answers
1. (a) Gilded Age industry focused on making manufactured materials needed for heavy industry (ROSE:
railroads, oil, steel, electricity) while 1920s focused on consumer durable goods; (b) railroads vs. cars
2. Any three will do: economic boom vs. depression; high employment vs. 25% unemployment; little v.s
lots of government intervention in the economy; easy credit vs. total bank failure; high vs. low consumer
purchase power; high vs. low demands for consumer durable goods
3. Any three will do: Republicans vs. Democratic dominance; little vs. lots of government interference;
balanced budget vs. deficit spending; few Progressive-style regulations vs. new reforms to avoid future
problems; business-minded vs. charismatic presidents; urban-rural divide vs. support for FDR;
4. 1890—the western frontier closed; 1920—more Americans lived in cities than rural areas
5. Any three will do: economic boom generated by WWI production, the availability of cheap consumer
durable goods, the perfection of the assembly line, the availability of credit (loans), the rise of a
consumer culture, the expansion of advertising through the radio and print publications, the spread of a
national “American culture” through the radio and movies
6. Any three will do: prohibition, rise of the second KKK, debate over evolution (Scopes Monkey Trial),
immigration restrictions, retreat into fundamental Christianity
7. (a) a mass-produced product that is sold directly to citizens, often with the intention of making peoples’
lives easier; (b) cars (the most important consumer durable good), radios, dishwashers, refrigerators,
stove-tops/ovens, vacuum cleaners, telephones, toasters, furniture, exact-size fashionable clothing, etc.
8. While politicians did retreat from the active, regulation of businesses of the Progressive Era, politicians
of the 1920s attempted to partner with business to promote growth and left the economic regulations
(Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts, Interstate Commerce Commission, Federal Reserve) in place
9. (a) The middle class experienced the greatest gains because they saw their wages increase, had access to
credit, and were the largest buyers of consumer durable goods. (b) America experienced a wave of
nativism in the 1920s, especially among southern and eastern European immigrants, that led to the
Immigration Act of 1921 and National Origins Act of 1924; Immigrants that were already in America
worked unskilled jobs on assembly lines and benefited from better pay and shorter hours, but were still
poor. (c) African-Americans were largely in the South as poor sharecroppers, but those that escaped into
the north (Great Migration) during WW1 worked unskilled assembly line jobs and were relatively poor;
Northern blacks experienced the Harlem Renaissance
10. Any two will do: agriculture (postwar decline in demand), railroads (competition with cars), cotton textile
(competition with synthetic fibers), coal (competition with electric power)
11. (a) Businesses hoped to reduce the power of unions by offering employees benefits to keep them happy;
(b) Five dollar day, home-purchase plans, stock options; (c) Businesses hoped to reduce the power of
unions by giving all non-union employees the same benefits gained by union collective bargaining
12. Both reduced immigration, especially from southern and eastern Europe, but the 1921 act restricted
immigration from each nation to 3% of its total American population while the 1924 act set a maximum
number of immigrants into the USA at 150,000 total
13. (a) The most famous black author of the Harlem Renaissance, (b) the most famous jazz musician of the
Harlem Renaissance, (c) civil rights leader who broke from DuBois/Washington integration plans but
advocating “black separatism” and “back-to-Africa” movements; he began the Black Star Line company
14. (a) Prohibition of alcohol, (b) law that "no person shall manufacture, sell, transport, import, or export
intoxicating liquors " (c) illegal clubs where alcohol was served, often supplied by organized crime
15. The party was divided into urban and rural factions that each wanted very different things
16. Any one will do: The Democrats ran Al Smith, the first Catholic candidate; The urban faction of the
party emerged as the stronger faction; The Democrats lost the election but won the 12 largest cities
revealing the newly gained urban dominance of the party
17. (a) Warren Harding, (b) 1920
18. (a) Calvin Coolidge, (b) 1924
19. (a) Herbert Hoover, (b) 1928
20. (a) Franklin Roosevelt, (b) 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944 (yes, you have to name all four)
21. (a) Corrupt Bargain in 1824 election against Jackson; (b) Crédit Mobilier, Indian Ring, or Whiskey Ring,
(c) Second Corrupt Bargain in 1876 that led to end of Reconstruction in the South; (d) Teapot Dome
regarding protected oil reserves illegally leased to big business by Secretary of Interior Albert Fall
22. Any three will do: settle the debate over the League of Nations (by not joining), retreat from an active
foreign policy (especially in Europe, but not in Latin America), reduction of income taxes that had grown
during WW1, conversion from wartime industrial production to consumer goods, no more progressive
reforms (but regulations remained in place); partnership with business (not laissez-faire)
23. Any two will do: Promoted fundamentalist Christian values and opposed Catholics, African-Americans,
immigrants, birth control, anything “urban” or “un-American”
24. (a) Opposition to anything Communist, Socialist, or anarchist as a result of the victory of the Bolsheviks
in Russia; (b) the Palmer raids, immigration restrictions, panic during the Seattle general strike or the
Boston police strike, Sacco and Vanzetti trial
25. They believed that evolution was an attack on fundamental Christianity and when the trial was over
fundamentalist religion remained a vibrant force in U.S. spiritual life.
26. Movies and radio transmitted an “American” culture that had a negative impact on immigrant culture;
Much of the rich diversity of immigrant culture was lost
27. Despite the booming economy, women tended to cluster in a few low-paying fields.
28. Any one will do: lowered the national debt, lowered income taxes on individuals and businesses, helped
establish a strong pro-business government relationship (not laissez-faire)
29. Any three will do: overproduction of consumer durable goods; overproduction of agriculture; excessive
access to credit; unequal distribution of wealth; weak cotton, railroad, and coal industries; European
depression limited American trade partners
30. Any two will do: lack of regulation of the stock market, ability to buy on-the-margin stock, artificial
inflation of stock prices by brokers, the decline of several “blue-chip” stocks which sent shockwaves
through the market
31. Any one will do: Panic of 1819 (Madison), Panic of 1837 (Van Buren), Panic of 1857 (Buchanan), Panic
of 1873 (Grant), Panic of 1893 (Cleveland), “Great Recession” of 2008 (Bush/Obama)
32. “Rugged individualism” or volunteerism
33. Any three will do: Initially Hoover called for businesses and communities to do their part to assist
employees or the unemployed, but Hoover eventually directly assisting businesses and banks through the
Reconstruction Finance Corporation, tried to create jobs via the Bolder Dam project, lend funds to
farmers, gave relief checks to unemployed workers, keeping faith in the efficiency of the industrial
system & continuing reliance on rugged individualism.
34. Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
35. To demand immediate full payment of bonus money promised to WWI veterans.
36. 25% or 12 million Americans
37. (a) middle class were hit hard and lost many of the gains they made in the 1920s, (b) blacks were the first
fired and last hired in industrial jobs, remained very poor sharecroppers, the New Deal ended the
southern sharecropping system, few of the New Deal agencies or reforms benefitted blacks, (c) first fired
and last hired in agrarian jobs, no New Deal reforms or relief opportunities were available to them,
increased immigration restrictions to protect American jobs for Americans
38. Emergency Banking Act of 1933 (four-day bank holiday)
39. (a) Relief—jobs or relief checks designed to help the unemployed; (b) Recovery—programs designed to
end the depression, (c) Reform—programs designed to avoid another depression or fix serious problems
in the American economy or society
40. Any four will do: Relief checks via the Reconstruction Finance Corps (RFC) and the Federal Emergency
Relief Association (FERA); Jobs through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Civilian Works
Admin (CWA), Public Works Admin (PWA), Works Progress Admin (WPA), Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA); Bank holiday; Homeowners' Loan Corporation (HOLC)
41. Any two will do: National Industrial Recovery Admin (NIRA) created the National Recovery Admin to
promote fair business practices through voluntary business cooperation; Agricultural Adjustment Act
(AAA) to subsidize farmers and lower production
42. Any four will do: Glass-Steagall Act created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to insure
bank deposits; Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulated the stock market; Wagner Act
created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which protected union rights to collectively bargain;
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) set minimum wages and maximum hours; Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) and Rural Electrification Authority (REA) brought electricity to rural areas; Social Security
43. Works Progress Administration created 10 million jobs and cost $10 billion
44. FDR’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt
45. Created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure individual bank deposits.
46. Unemployment
47. (a) Nationalization of banks; Blame everything on the “Jews,” ( b) $200 per month old age pensions to
stimulate the economy
48. “Share the Wealth”—tax the millionaires and give every family $5,000
49. Reducing agricultural production by providing farmers with subsidies (payment for not producing)
50. (a) Shortened the time between presidential election and inauguration (b) ended prohibition.
51. Any three will do: Severe drought, high winds, lack of trees in the plains, dry-farming techniques caused
by wheat and cotton farming; soil erosion
52. Move farmers who were victims of the Dust Bowl to better lands
53. Reverse the forced assimilation of Native Americans into white society and recognize Indain tribes as
semi-sovereign nations living within the United States
54. Any two will do: Economic provisions for the blind and disabled, unemployment insurance, old-age
pensions
55. Social Security
56. Gave labor the right to bargain collectively by forcing businesses to recognize unions when 51% of a
company is unionized
57. Unskilled workers.
58. The CIO was open to all unskilled workers, while the AFL was exclusive to skill, race, and gender
59. Any three will do: AAA, Rural Electrification Admin, TVA, Resettlement Admin, CCC or PWA because
they planted trees in the plains, Homeowners' Loan Corporation (HOLC); Federal Emergency Relief
Association (FERA)
60. Any three will do: voters from the west, south, urban areas, ethnic groups, African-Americans, unions,
farmers, unskilled workers
61. The Supreme Court declared the NRA and AAA unconstitutional and FDR wanted to add 6 more justices
in order to protect the New Deal
62. The Supreme Court did not challenge any future New Deal initiatives; Even though FDR did not add
more justices, his bullying of the justices worked
63. Caused by the withdrawal of government funds and new job-creation initiatives because Democrats
though the Depression was ending and Republicans wanted to stop massive government spending
64. “Deficit spending”—spending money that the government does not have in order to stimulate the
economy and increase taxes later to reduce the federal debt
65. Any one will do: Yes, we learned from the depression that rugged individualism does not work, people
need to believe that the government is doing something, or federal stimulus can create jobs and reduce
unemployment—OR—No, the New Deal did not end the depression, it cost billions of dollars and led to
massive federal deficits, and this new stimulus package will do the same.