1. Which of the following dramatically increased the popularity of Adolf Hitler in Germany? a. the global economic crisis b. the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt c. Italy's invasion of Ethiopia d. the Russian revolution [a] 2. How did president Herbert Hoover assess the state of the economy in December 1931? a. All that Americans had to fear was fear itself. b. The fundamentals of the economy were sound. c. The nation was ripe for reform and bold experiments. d. The only way out was liquidation of all assets, and of labor. [b] 3. The majority of the 15 million chronically unemployed Americans during the winter of 1930 to 1933 were a. white urban males. b. women. c. African-Americans. d. Latinos. [a] 4. The purpose of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation created by Congress in 1932 was to a. locate loans abroad. b. lend money to struggling banks and companies c. begin the process of nationalizing major industries. d. finance major public works to employ idle Americans. [b] 5. What order did Herbert Hoover give to General Douglas MacArthur regarding the bonus marchers that were camping out in the capital? a. clear the city of revolutionaries b. take down the camps, but avoid violence c. negotiate a peaceful withdrawal of the camp d. appeal to the veterans’ sense of duty to have them disband the camp [a] 6. What happened to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1921? a. His wife found out about his extramarital affair with his secretary. b. He lost his campaign for governor of New York. c. He suffered a crippling attack of polio. d. He was the victim of a failed assassination attempt in Chicago. [c] 7. Franklin Delano Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential election by winning what share of the popular vote? a. 48 percent b. 52 percent c. 58 percent d. 69 percent [c] 8. Which of the following statements best describes the New Dealers that surrounded President Roosevelt after his inauguration? a. Nearly all of them were trained at European universities and felt disdain for regular Americans. b. The vast majority of them were old friends of Roosevelt from his time in Albany. c. While they generally believed in the need to mitigate the excesses of the industrial order, they often disagreed on the details of policy. d. Almost all of them would later become socialists, and a good number eventually emigrated to the Soviet Union. [c] 9. Why did ordinary Americans trust banks with their valuable cash for the first time in months on Monday, March 13, 1933? a. Roosevelt’s inauguration had given them hope and inspired them to trust the economy once more. b. Congress had passed the Emergency Banking Act in a special session called by Roosevelt. c. Foreign banks had stepped in and floated an enormous loan to bolster American banks. d. Roosevelt had taken the United States off the gold standard over the weekend, securing the currency and restoring consumer faith. [b] 10. Why did critics worry about regarding the formation of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933? a. They felt it might resemble the Hitler youth indoctrination camps in Germany. b. They feared that the young men in the CCC might not get paid a fair wage. c. They considered the environmental work of the CCC part of the New Deal propaganda. d. With young men working in the forest, American businesses in the cities might lack workers. [a] 11. Between 1933 and 1940 the American economy grew at an average annual rate of a. 1 to 1.5 percent. b. 2 to 4 percent. c. 5 to 6 percent.. d. 8 to 10 percent. [d] 12. Which of the following best describes political trends on the fringes in the United States in the 1930s? a. Several small fascist movements developed, but none gained national traction. b. The Communist Party expanded from about 100,000 members to 3 million. c. The New Deal proved to be a powerful disincentive to populist challengers. d. Conservative opposition to the New Deal was virtually absent during the 1930s. [a] 13. On whom did Louisiana Democratic Senator Huey Long blame the Great Depression? a. immigrants b. blacks c. the rich d. unions [c] 14. During the 1930s, the biggest labor action in the United States since 1919 was a. the strike of textile workers in New England and the South. b. the sit-in of autoworkers in Flint Michigan. c. the walkout of miners in Alabama coal mines. d. the general strike of San Francisco unions in the summer of 1934. [a] 15. During the congressional elections of November 1934, a. liberal Democrats increased their numbers in the House and Senate. b. Republicans were able to recover their control of the Senate. c. New Deal Democrats suffered a serious defeat. d. conservative Democrats took over the majority of House seats. [a] 16. Why did Harry Hopkins believe in the Works Progress Administration? a. The United States needed the new infrastructure that the WPA built. b. The WPA was going to be the birthplace of new private businesses. c. He believed that work relief would prevent social unrest. d. With the work of the WPA, the United States could remain competitive with Britain and Germany. [c] 17. How did business owners respond to the proposed Social Security act in 1935? a. They denounced any government involvement in worker-employee relations. b. They welcomed the proposal as a solution for a social crisis. c. They worried that American workers might not want to pay their share of Social Security. d. They suggested instead a privatized Social Security system. [a] 18. How did the Republican challenger to Roosevelt in the election of 1936, Alfred Landon, characterize the New Deal? a. a pitiful example of timid politics b. an attack on freedom and threat to the American way of life c. a good start that Republicans needed to finish d. a political program in the interests of bankers and big businesses [b] 19. Which of the following countries was pushed towards fascist dictatorship as a result of the depression? a. Canada b. France c. Argentina d. Switzerland [c] 20. The first modern passenger plane, the D-3, was introduced to passengers in a. 1917. b. 1927. c. 1937. d. 1947. [c] 21. Why would the daytime melodramas on 1930s radio called soap operas? a. They tended to be squeaky clean. b. Their plots were fake and artificial. c. The characters in the shows were always exuberant and bubbly. d. The sponsors of these programs tend to be the makers of household goods. [d] 22. Who most upset Nazi Germany in 1936? a. Jesse Owens b. Neville Chamberlain c. Benito Mussolini d. the liberty league [a] 23. Which newsweekly was particularly popular in the Midwest during the 1930s? a. Reader's Digest b. The New Yorker c. Saturday Evening Post d. The Nation [c] 24. Which of the following best characterizes the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt? a. She had a formal position in the federal government as adviser to her husband. b. Having grown up in a working-class environment, she was a seasoned activist. c. She transformed the role of First Lady from hostess to social crusader. d. While she had sympathy for the unions, she did not get along with feminists. [c] 25. Why did neither the members of Congress nor the Roosevelt administration push to revise the restrictive National Origins Act of 1924? a. Anti-foreign sentiment still lingered in the population. b. They did not want to spoil successful economic recovery. c. Because of the world depression, there were no immigrants to whom it applied. d. It was immigrant groups themselves that lobbied Congress to "keep the door shut." [a] 26. Who was the informal head of the group of African-Americans working in the federal government during the New Deal? a. Marian Anderson b. Mary McLeod Bethune c. Ida B Wells d. Fannie Lou Hamer [b] 27. How did New Deal agricultural policies affect landless farmworkers? a. They ensured that a majority of them became land owners. b. They convinced them to find most of the employment in industry c. They did little to help landless farmworkers. d. New Deal policies often singled out farmworkers as culprits. [c] 28. How did the New Deal shape the environment of the American West? a. It contributed to deforestation. b. It marked an end to oversized public works projects. c. It virtually created the infrastructure of the National Park system. d. The New Deal had no significant impact. [c] 29. Several of the most conservative Supreme Court justices that presided during the New Deal saw themselves as guardians of a. civil rights. b. property rights. c. democracy. d. the federal treasury. [b] 30. What triggered the recession of 1938? a. a reduction in consumer purchasing power b. the excessive deficit of the federal government c. the high tax burdens for businesses d. the financial crisis in Europe [a] 1. What did the Republican governor of Kansas Alfred M Landon suggest was necessary in the depths of the depression to stop the nation’s downward drift? a. a democratic revolution b. socialism c. the hand of a dictator d. a divine miracle [c] 2. Prior to John Maynard Keynes, how did most economists explain economic depressions? a. a normal part of the business cycle b. the product of a trade deficit c. the result of government intervention d. the outcome of excessive consumption [a] 3. What share of the nation’s 25,000 banks failed between 1929 and 1933? a. 5 percent b. 10 percent c. 15 percent d. 20 percent [d] 4. How did young people respond to the great depression? a. They did what they always did, go out and find a job. b. The deferred marriage and lived with their parents. c. They joined the military. d. They became members of radical organizations [b] 5. What was the advice of president Herbert Hoover's Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, for dealing with the economic crisis? a. Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers b. invest in education, invest in infrastructure, invest in energy c. expand free trade, promote free trade, recover with free trade d. raise wages, raise prices, raise revenues [a] 6. Early on in his political career, Franklin Delano Roosevelt recognized the importance of a. journalists. b. judges. c. bankers. d. community organizers. [a] 7. How did Franklin Delano Roosevelt characterize the unemployed? a. tragic losers b. victims of complex and impersonal forces c. easy slackers d. unnecessary surplus [b] 8. Who of the following members of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s brain trust was NOT an academic lawyer or economist from Columbia University? a. Harry Hopkins b. Adolph Berle c. Rexford Tugwell d. Raymond Merle [a] 9. What did President Franklin D Roosevelt promise the American people in his inaugural speech? a. to carry on as before b. to hope for the best c. to proceed carefully d. to experiment boldly [d] 10. What concerned most bankers and traditional economists about New Deal policies? a. their potential for causing deflation b. Their failure to consider “the forgotten man” c. the potential of New Deal policies to anger foreign nations d. the possibility of inflation [d] 11. How did the Securities Act of 1933 tame the wild speculation that had taken place in Wall Street? a. It declared risky financial assets illegal. b. It required stock -issuing companies to provide accurate information. c. it imposed a tax on every stock exchange. d. It made the traders on the floor federal employees. [b] 12. What did the Public Works Administration spend its money on? a. large public works projects like dams and highways b. reforestation camps in the American West c. a wide array of projects that involved artists and writers d. the construction of a power plant in the Tennessee Valley [a] 13. Between 1933 and 1940 the income of farmers a. doubled. b. remained stagnant. c. declined even further. d. all but vanished. [a] 14. Why did New Dealers believe in unions? a. They were socialist at heart. b. Most of them had grown up in unions and enjoyed the camaraderie. c. They thought this was the best way to keep illegal immigrants out of the American economy d. They hoped that unions would provide a countervailing power to the concentrated influence of big corporations. [d] 15. What was the goal of Dr. Frances Townsend? a. a nationwide old age pension plan b. nationwide health insurance c. a government-funded unemployment insurance d. the expansion of free higher education [a] 16. Which of the following was a member of the Liberty League? a. Huey Long b. Eleanor Roosevelt c. Marian Anderson d. Al Smith [d] 17. How did Franklin D Roosevelt try to promote his “good neighbor policy” towards Latin America? a. He invited all the ambassadors of the Latin American nations to a state dinner. b. He toured the Caribbean with the famous White Fleet. c. He sent Marines as goodwill ambassadors to small nations in Latin America and the Caribbean. d. He visited several Latin American capitals on an extended sea voyage. [d] 18. What did the Farm Security Administration do in the New Deal? a. This new agency assisted about 20,000 tenant farmers to purchase their land. b. It taught southern cotton sharecroppers how to produce higher yields on their limited acreage c. It offered free seminars to Western farmers on intense cultivation. d. It offered the farmers of the Oklahoma Panhandle individual and home protection against dust storms [a] 19. Between 1935 in 1942 the total number of Americans that worked for the WPA at some point was a. 500,000 b. 1 million c. 3 million d. 8.5 million [d] 20. Why did the Social Security Act not include a modest national health insurance plan? a. Roosevelt and his brain trust had not thought it necessary. b. African-American community leaders had opposed the measure as excessive coddling. c. The American Medical Association complained loudly about “socialized medicine.” d. During the 1930s, the cost of healthcare were not significant enough to warrant health insurance. [c] 21. Which of the following nations had the fastest-growing economy in the world on the eve of the depression? a. Germany b. France c. Canada d. the Soviet Union [c] 22. How did the nation of Japan try to keep its exports more competitive in the 1930s? a. It devalued its currency. b. It focused on cheaper export goods. c. It banned all imports. d. It adopted the gold standard. [a] 23. Which of the following movies of the 1930s celebrated the FBI? a. The Public Enemy b. Scarface c. G-Men d. Little Caesar [c] 24. During the 1930s, who was the most admired woman in America after Eleanor Roosevelt? a. Jane Addams b. Frances Perkins c. Gertrude Berg d. Mary MacLeod Bethune [c] 25. How did conservatives react to the Federal Theater Project of the New Deal? a. They were delighted at such preservation of culture. b. They complained limited that the funds were too limited. c. They denounced the program as left-wing propaganda. d. They used the Federal Theatre Project to promote the Republican Party. [c] 26. What traditional view did most New Deal unemployment and relief programs adopt? a. that of the male head of household as breadwinner b. that of the African-American as a rural peon c. that of the Mexicans as illegal immigrants d. that of women as subjects with no voting rights [a] 27. How did Franklin Delano Roosevelt contributed to the defense of civil rights during the 1930s? a. He pushed a federal anti-lynching bill through Congress. b. He created the first civil rights commission. c. He openly challenged the practice of segregation. d. He appointed many federal judges who sympathized with minority aspirations. [d] 28. What qualified John Collier to become the head of the new Bureau of Indian Affairs? a. He was a seasoned veteran of the war against Prairie Indians. b. He had taught in the Carlisle School for Indians during the progressive era. c. He was a social worker familiar with both immigrants communities and southwestern life d. He was Native American himself. [c] 29. Which region in the nation received more federal development funds per resident than any other region of the country during the 1930s? a. the South b. the West c. the Midwest d. the Northeast [b] 30. What ultimately restored economic growth after the recession of 1938? a. the resumption of the gold standard b. the war with Japan c. a $5 billion spending program and military orders from Great Britain d. the dismantling of New Deal agencies by the Supreme Court and the revival of private business [c] 1. During the Great Depression, why did cities and states fire employees and reduce their social service budgets? a. They believed that economic recovery depended on a surplus in their budget. b. Their property taxes declined, and they were required by law to balance their budgets. c. Most of the city workers and recipients of social services were African-Americans, who city leaders did not consider worthy. d. Mayors and governors of states were ordered to do so by President Hoover. [c] 2. Why did the press never publish an unflattering photograph or description of President Franklin Roosevelt’s physical limitations that stemmed from his polio? a. Roosevelt had paid them not to. b. The government censored the photographs. c. The press refused to show his disability out of a sense of admiration for him. d. They feared that showing the president in an unflattering light might damage their sales. [c] 3. Why did Franklin D Roosevelt take the United States off the gold standard? a. He and other New Dealers argued that the gold standard had been a straitjacket making the depression worse for the US. b. He was hoping that the United States might export itself out of the depression. c. Roosevelt had wanted to remain on the gold standard, but Republicans in Congress forced him to do so. d. Maintaining the gold standard during the Hoover years had led to a constant outflow of dollars into foreign currency markets. [d] 4. Which of the following did Congress NOT do during the first hundred days of Roosevelt’s first administration? a. put the unemployed to work b. nationalized the steel industry c. regulated the stock market d. assisted homeowners and farmers in paying mortgages [b] 5. Most listeners of Father Charles Coughlin were a. socialists. b. Catholics. c. Evangelicals. d. Republicans. [b] 6. Which of the following groups was included in the WPA program? a. pilots b. bankers c. artists d. illegal immigrants [c] 7. What did the economic strategies of the United States, Japan, and Germany have in common during the 1930s? a. They reduced tariffs. b. They stuck to the gold standard. c. They balance their budgets. d. They relied on countercyclical deficit spending. [d] 8. The biggest box office draw of the 1930s was a. child star Shirley Temple. b. pilot Charles Lindbergh. c. Movie star Rudolph Valentino. d. “It” girl Clara Bow. [a] 9. Why did President Franklin D Roosevelt not push the issue of civil rights during the New Deal? a. He considered it more important to maintain good political relations with southern Democrats. b. He felt that civil rights reforms would run counter to the ideas of the New Deal. c. A disciple of Woodrow Wilson, he believed in segregation and was a white supremacist at heart. d. The African-American community failed to draw the president's attention to the issue. [a] 10. Why did Congress balk at Roosevelt’s proposal to expand the number of Supreme Court justices? a. The number of Supreme Court justices was constitutionally fixed. b. The additional salaries of these high-level lawyers would have strained the budget even more. c. Since the Civil War, that number of justices had settled and taken on an aura of inviolability. d. They feared that with more justices, the Supreme Court was less likely to agree to the verdict in its cases. [c] Short Answers 1. What were the consequences of the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff? Most of the countries enacted similar protectionist measures and the net effect was a dramatic decline in international trade. 2. What difference did First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt make in the New Deal? She was a close advisor to her husband, wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column, and traveled 200 days per year to inspect the living conditions of ordinary Americans, who respected her deeply for this. 3. What was the central purpose of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration? Through a variety of different initiatives and programs, the AAA was supposed to prevent the further erosion of prices for agricultural commodities. 4. How was Social Security supposed to work, according to the original legislation? The program was supposed to run on contributions from workers and employers and represented an insurance more than a welfare program. 5. How did the ideas of British economist John Maynard Keynes deviate significantly from those of previous economists? He argued that the government could soften the blow of economic downturn by expanding their spending power at the time when consumers cut back and thereby flatten the dip in the business cycle with "compensatory" spending. 1. Which of the following was part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s biography? a. service as a nurse in World War I b. brief career as a movie actress in Hollywood c. work in a New York City settlement house d. membership in the women's Ku Klux Klan at her father's request [c] 2. The Glass-Steagall Banking Act a. current the galloping inflation of the Great Depression b. returned the United States to the gold standard c. separated risky investment banking from ordinary banking. d. created the security and exchange commission. [c] 3. Which of the following descriptions best characterizes the Tennessee Valley authority? a. a New deal program struck down by the Supreme Court b. a vast experiment in regional planning c. a misguided effort that damaged the region deeply d. a project on paper that never came to fruition [b] 4. How did the Liberty League respond to Roosevelt's New Deal program? a. It celebrated his policies as a triumph of democracy. b. The league accused him of class warfare and wrecking the economy. c. It rejected his efforts “as too little too late.” d. It challenged every single New Deal agency in court. [b] 5. What brought about the decline of Townsend’s political appeal after 1935? a. a sex scandal b. news about his anti-Semitic rants c. charges of mail fraud against Townsend d. the passage of the Social Security Act [d] 6. The head of the Resettlement Administration was a. Harry Hopkins. b. Frances Perkins. c. John L. Lewis. d. Rexford Tugwell. [d] 7. How did the Roosevelt administration break with tradition in the federal government? a. Roosevelt reached out to Jews, immigrants, and African-Americans. b. Roosevelt hired the first openly gay cabinet member. c. Roosevelt banned all forms of liquor from the White House. d. It hired people with a business background. [a] 8. Why did opera singer Marian Anderson perform an open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939? a. The event was a peace protest in the face of the coming war in Europe. b. Performances at the Lincoln Memorial had been part of the African-American tradition in Washington DC since Reconstruction. c. The Daughters of the American Revolution had refused to allow the black opera singer to perform at a concert hall. d. A fire at the original venue -the Library of Congress - had forced Anderson and her audience to move outside. [c] 9. How did most African-Americans vote in 1932? a. Democratic b. Republican c. Progressive d. across the board [b] 10. On what grounds did the Supreme Court of the United States strike down the National Recovery Agency and the Agricultural Adjustment Agency? a. They violated the 14th amendment. b. The agencies exceeded their authority under the interstate commerce clause. c. The agencies violated the explicit constitutional protections for states’ rights. d. The NRA and the AAA violated the 17th amendment. [b]