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The Great Depression
A period of horrible economic downturn within the U.S. that started with the Stock Market Crash and had awful effects on the population, ranging from mass unemployment to extreme poverty. During this period, President Roosevelt slowly but surely lead the U.S. out of the pit with several acts and agencies created to help the working class and businesses in order to get the economy going -
Stock Market Crash
Prior to the period known as the Great Depression, there were causes that led up to the stock market crash, which was ultimately the catalyst for the economic downturn in the U.S., and from there the rest of the world. The causes include the uneven distribution of wealth in the public, over-speculation of the stock market, excessive production of consumer goods, etc. -
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Mass Unemployment
Because of the Stock market crash, businesses couldn't afford to pay employees, leading to drastic lay offs. By 1933, unemployment among the U.S. reached 25%, a high that hadn't been seen before or since. -
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
in response to the depression, Herbert Hoover signed into law a multitude of increasing tariff rates that were the highest in history. These tariffs ranged from 31 to 41% on foreign imports. The effect of this was Europe also increasing U.S. tariffs, so trade was mainly decreased, which sunk both sides further into depression -
Debt Moratorium
Since the conditions were awful in both the U.S. and Europe, the Dawes plan that had been enacted after WWI as a means of getting the economies of Europe back into action was to be paused, which meant a suspension on international debts. -
Reconstruction Finance Corporation founded
A government funded federation designed under the premise that it would aid other failing corporations like the railroad, banks, and life insurance companies. goal was to give emergency funds to these businesses, which would in turn "trickle down" to smaller businesses, which democrats mocked as it seemed like a way to just aid the rich -
Election of 1932
Republicans threatened that a democratic president would only worsen the depression, while the democratic nominee of Franklin D. Roosevelt (cousin of Theodore Roosevelt) pledged a "New Deal", repeal of prohibition, unemployment aid, and cuts in government spending. Northeastern republicans and socialists ditched the republican party to vote for FDR, earning him presidency -
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First 100 Days
The first 100 days that Roosevelt was in office, He went right into action as president. He called Congress into a special session where they passed into law every request of Roosevelt, enacting more legislation than any congress in history. The important acts passed included the bank holiday, repeal of prohibition, Emergency Banking Relief, Glass - Steagall act, Home owners Loan Corporation, and the farm credit association, and other relief programs. -
Social Security Act
This reform would effect the lives of Americans for generations to come. The act created a program based on automatic payments from employees and employers throughout people's career and would be used to make monthly payments to retired, disabled, or dependent people. -
Election of 1936
As the economy was improving, Roosevelt was nominated, as his new deal made him popular among workers and farmers, but some prounion and regulatory programs made him disliked among businesses. -
Fair Labor Standards Act
Being very pro - workers, Roosevelt passed the Fair Labor Standards act in major benefit to the working class. The regulations enacted included:
- a minimum wage, fixed to 40 cents an hour at the time
- a maximum standard work week of 40 hours and extra pay for overtime
- child labor restrictions on hiring under 16 years old -
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World War II
The second global war which consisted of the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan, and the Allied powers of Britain, The U.S., and the Soviet Union later on. This was known to be the bloodiest war in the history of humanity, causing millions upon millions of deaths. After this war, the United Nations was formed in order to keep a world war like such happen again -
invasion of Czechoslovakia
in March 1939, following the Munich agreement, which stated that germany could only take the Sudetenland, Hitler decided to march all of his troops into Czechoslovakia, and it became apparent to the powers of Britain and the U.S. that his ambitions were far greater than that of taking back some land. -
Selective Service Act
In response to the aggression of Germany, but not wanting to completely throw aside neutrality, Roosevelt strategically enacted this act to provide for the registration of american men between 21 and 25 to train for a year. As isolationists fought it and made their opinions known, the general public opinion had shifted to leaving neutrality behind. -
Cash & Carry
As Britain was singlehandedly fighting the forces of Germany and Italy in Europe, Roosevelt felt it necessary to aid them, but the public opinion at the time was strictly neutrality. In response, Roosevelt concocted the "cash and carry" neutrality act, which held that countries could purchase war goods from the U.S. given that they brought their own ships and paid in cash. This was to aid Britain since they controlled the Atlantic at the time. -
Soviet Union invades
December 1941, the battling had shifted from the Western Europe in Britain to the East in the Soviet Union. from this, Hitler ordered a full scale invasion in the Soviet Union, making the primary forces against the Axis powers the U.S. , Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. The leaders of the 3 opted to concentrate resources in Europe before dealing with Japan -
Pearl Harbor
On December 7th, 1941, Japan launched a semi-surprise attack on the pacific coast of Hawaii. This attack killed 3500 americans and destroyed 20 warships and 150 planes. This single act of terror by Japan singlehandedly lit the greenlight for the U.S. to enter the war. Only a day later, Congress issued a declaration of war against Japan, which caused Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. -
Fighting Japan
throughout 1942, Japan had occupied a strong majority of the pacific, including Korea, the Philippines, french Indochina, etc. The war between the U.S. and Japan took a major turning point when Japanese messages had been decoded and the U.S. destroyed 4 carriers & 300 planes, crippling the navy and putting a halt to Japanese expansion -
Smith - connally anti - strike act
This act on the homefront was a response to several strikes being started due to workers feeling that they weren't getting any better while businesses earned profits. The act stated that the government was allowed to take over war - related businesses whose operations were threatened by a strike. Though it was vetoed by Roosevelt, congress still passed it. 1944, though, he used it to have the military take control of the railroad businesses -
Zoot Suit Riots
in 1942, an agreement was made with Mexico was made to allow mexican farmers to enter the U.S. during the harvest season without the required documents. From this act came a massive influx of Mexicans into the U.S., which White people weren't fond of. This was evident in LA, where in the summer of 1943, Whites and Mexicans had begun fighting . -
Election of 1944
At this time, the war had been going relatively smoothly save for a few hundred thousand deaths, so when the Election of 1944 came about, people decided that a change in leadership was absolutely not necessary. The main change that came from this election was the democrats changing their vice president to Harry S. Truman, who would take over for a majority of Roosevelt's term after his passing. -
D - Day
The allied forces began the push to liberate France on June 6th 1944, storming several beaches on the Normandy Coast, later known as D - Day. From here, Paris was liberated by the end of August and the allied powers continued their pushes through German forces. The allied forces reached the German border by september -
Atom Bombs
As a safety measure and means to end the war altogether, the Manhattan Project had begun in 1942 with Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer directing it, with the sole purpose being to make a weapon who's power came from splitting an atom. It was tested and ready to go by July 1945. After calling Japan to surrender unconditionally or "face utter destruction", Japan denied. On August 6th, a bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and August 9th, a bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. 250,000 died immediately or after. -
Japan surrenders
Following the dropping of the atom bombs, Japan agreed to surrender under the condition that the emperor would stay as the powerless head of state.