History-Great Depression/New Deal

Charles "Charlie" Mitchell

American banker Charles E. Mitchell announced his company the National City Bank would provide $25 million in credit to stop the market's slide. Mitchell's move brought a temporary halt to the financial crisis and call money declined from 20 to 8 percent

Thomas Lamont

On January 1, 1911, he became a partner of J.P. Morgan & Co., following Davison to the company, and served as a U.S. financial advisor abroad in the 1920s and 1930s. During the 1919 Paris negotiations leading up to the Treaty of Versailles, Lamont was sel

Buying on Margin

As the boom market continued, people were increasingly willing to buy stocks with borrowed money. The "buy now, pay later" method of credit was introduced to the stock market as "buying on margin." The deal was to put some of the money down, then pay for

Margin Call

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Black Thursday

Beginning on Thursday October 24, 1929 The wall street crash occurred. Building on post-war optimism, rural Americans migrated to the cities in vast numbers throughout the decade with the hopes of finding a more prosperous life in the ever-growing expansi

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Was a government corporation in the United States between 1932 and 1957 that provided financial support to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, mortgage associations, and other businesses. Its purpose was to boost the country's

Bonus Army

Veterans of WWI who marched to Washington DC to demand the bonus they were promised; Hoover called out the National Guard; created a very poor view of Hoover. Many of the war veterans had been out of work since the beginning of the Great Depression. The W

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Was an act sponsored by Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley and signed into law on June 17, 1930. The act raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels. The dutiable tariff level under the act was the second highest

First New Deal

The New Deal was a series of programs, including, most notably, Social Security, that were enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938, and a few that came later. They included both laws passed by Congress as well as presidential executive orders d

FDIC

is a United States government corporation providing deposit insurance to depositors in US banks. The FDIC was created by the 1933 Banking Act after the Great Depression to restore trust in the American banking system; more than one-third of banks failed i

WPA

was the largest and most ambitious American New Deal agency, employing millions of unemployed people (mostly unskilled men) to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. In a much smaller but more famous pro

Grand Coulee Dam

The proposal to build the dam was the focus of a bitter debate during the 1920s between two groups. One group wanted to irrigate the ancient Grand Coulee with a gravity canal, and the other supported a high dam and pumping scheme. Dam supporters won in 19

Second New Deal

In his address to Congress in January 1935, Roosevelt called for five major goals: improved use of national resources, security against old age, unemployment and illness, and slum clearance, as well as a national work relief program (the Works Progress Ad

Thunder on the Left

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Father Charles Coughlin

Early in his radio career, Coughlin was a vocal supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal. By 1934 he had become a harsh critic of Roosevelt, accusing him of being too friendly to bankers. In 1934 he established a new political organization call

Huey Long

Long is best known for his Share Our Wealth program, created in 1934 under the motto "Every Man a King." It proposed new wealth redistribution measures in the form of a net asset tax on corporations and individuals to curb the poverty and homelessness end

FDRs "Purge

1938 elections FDR didn't support those who didn't support him, he voted for their opponents. FDR's unprecedented battle to drive his foes out of his party by intervening in Democratic primaries and backing liberal challengers to conservative incumbents.

Dr. Francis Townsend

Best known for his revolving old-age pension proposal during the Great Depression. Known as the "Townsend Plan", this proposal influenced the establishment of the Roosevelt administration's Social Security system.

Social Security Act

Originally created to provide federal assistance to those unable to work. Created after Townsend proposed the Townsend plan which would give pension to people of old age.

Court Packing

FDR's plan to "pack" the Supreme Court with supporters to keep his New Deal programs from being declared unconstitutional. Wanted to appoint new supreme court judges to assist those on the panel who were over 70 years old. This decreased FDR's popularity.

1938 Recession

FDR cut back on new deal programs. This made him increasingly unpopular.