Notes on Defining Key Terms and Events in History

Warren G. Harding - Became president in 1921. Was a republican and is known for being ‘scandalous,’ but really it was the people and events around him that tainted his presidency. He later died in 1923 due to sickness.
Calvin Coolidge - Became president after Harding died in 1923. Was a republican. He was nicknamed ‘Silent Cal’ because he was soft spoken. He believed in big businesses being supported by government.
Herbert Hoover - Was the republican president after Coolidge. He supported prohibition and wanted the economy to become prosperous. He did bring prosperity to the US in the early years of his presidency. Encouraged Americans to do things to support the war effort, such as giving up some of their food.
Franklin D. Roosevelt - Was the democratic nominee in the 1932 election. Created and passed the ‘New Deal,’ which he spoke about in his acceptance speech. The New Deal gave back money to tax payers, allowed construction companies to make a lot of money, created many new jobs, and also made trade with Mexico much easier.
Albert Fall - Was a republican. Was Harding’s New Mexico senator. He was secretary of the interior. He was involved in the Teapot Dome scandal, and was convicted of taking bribes for leases on federal oil reserves.
James Cox - He was the democratic candidate in the 1920 election. Was also governor of Ohio. His running mate was FDR, and he supported League.
Babe Ruth - Famous baseball player who became a sports hero. Sports heroes began becoming famous during the 1920’s.
Gertrude Ederle - Became the first woman to swim the English Channel in 1926.
Charles A. Lindbergh - Was an american aviator who made the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean solo. Became an isolationist orator after his infant son was murdered.
Charlie Chaplin - Was an actor during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Rebelled against assembly lines and how they were run, and became a symbol of threat against individuals.
Al Jolson - The first “talkie” (movie with sound) was about him. He was a famous jazz singer.
Amelia Earhart - Was the first woman to take a transatlantic flight in 1932. She became a female icon because she was daring and because of her will to persevere. Unfortunately, while flying over the Pacific, her plane mysteriously dissappeared and was never found.
Andrew Mellon - Was the Secretary of the Treasury during the Harding administration. He got congress to lower taxes, and favored expansion of capital investment and tax policies.
Charles Dawes - Coolidge’s VP after 1925. Created the Dawes plan, which would revive the German economy. The US would loan Germany money for reparations to England and france who would then pay back those loans.
Al Capone - Was a famous gangster who lived in Chicago during prohibition. Was later arrested in 1933 for tax evasion.
William Simmons - Was a leader in the KKK, and was also a racist and a nativist.
D.W. Griffith - He was an american Film director who directed the highly controversial silent movie, ‘Birth of a Nation.’
John Scopes - Tennessee teacher who taught evolution to his class. Ended up in the Scopes Monkey trial, which caused the national debate between evolution and creationism. Was found guilty and was fined one hundred dollars, which was eventually set aside on technicality.
Clarence Darrow - Was a famous criminal lawyer, and worked to defend Scopes in the Scopes Monkey trial. He made William Jennings Bryan look like a fool. Debated the issue of teaching evolution in public schools.
William Jennings Bryan (1920s) - Went against Scopes in the Scopes Monkey trial. Argued with Darrow over the countrywide issue of teaching evolution in public schools. He thought that evolution should not be taught in school.
Alfred E. Smith (1928) - He was Irish American. Was the democratic governor of New York who became the first Catholic to be nominated for the presidency by a major party in 1928.
Langston Hughes - Was a popular poet during the Harlem Renaissance. He used rhythms influences by jazz music and wrote of hope for african americans.
Louis Armstrong - Was an african american jazz artist during the times of the Harlem Renaissance
Ernest Hemingway - He was an american fiction writer. He also won the nobel prize for literature in 1954. He wrote “Farewell to Arms.”
Sinclair Lewis - Was an american novelist. Wrote “Main Street,” which was a satire for middle-class america.
F. Scott Fitzgerald - Was another novelist during the jazz age. Wrote “The Great Gatsby,” which was about a gangster’s pursuit of a rich girl, which was out of his reach. Fitzgerald and his wife were the “Couple of the decade,” but it became rough during the depression.
Duke Ellington - was an american jazz composer. He was also a piano player and a bandleader. Was very influential.
John Dewey - Was a philosopher who believed in ‘learning by doing.’ This formed the Foundation of Progressive Education. Was the father of progressive education.
Douglas MacArthur (1930s) - Was an american military commander in Korea. Was fired by president Harry Truman. During the battle of Anacostia, he evicted the vets of the bonus expeditionary force from the unsanitary public camp.
Marx Brothers - Family of american film comedians during the 1930‘s. Duck soup and A night at the opera were two of their famous movies.
Eleanor Roosevelt - Was the wife of president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Known as one of the most politically and socially involved first ladies of all time. Helped advance women’s rights along with civil rights. Also traveled with FDR.
Frances Perkins - Became the first woman cabinet member. She was also secretary of labor. Was a supporter of FDR and helped pull the labor movement into the new deal coalition.
Mary McLeod Bethune - Was an african american woman who FDR appointed to be the head of the national youth administration. This resulted in many african americans deserting the republicans and joining the democratic party for FDR
Harry Hopkins - Was a New York social worker. Also headed the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration. Helped grant 3 million+ dollars to the state’s wages for work projects, and thousands of jobs for unemployed americans.
General Hugh Johnson - Was the head of the NRA. Got rid of child labor.
Huey Long - Was a senator. Was popular for his “Share the Wealth” program. This gave every family $5,000 dollars, which was said to be from ‘the rich.’
Father Charles Coughlin - Was a roman catholic priest. Was also one of the first political leaders who used a radio to reach a mass audience. Made broadcasts during the 1930’s, and used them to promote FDR and his new deal proposals.
John L. Lewis - Led the CIO, which was the Committee for Industrial Organization. Was also the boss of United Mine Workers and let sit ins at general motors.
Frank Capra - Was a film director that appreciated simple things and criticized the wealthy and politicians in the movies he directed. Some were Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Mr. Deeds goes to town.
Woody Guthrie - Was an american singer and songwriter. Wrote ‘This land is your land’
John Steinbeck - One of the best-known american writers. He wrote “Okies” to portray the suffering of dust bowl ‘okies’ in the 1930’s.
Marian Anderson - Was an african american singer. She was also the first african american to perform at the White House.
John Collier - Was the commissioner of Indian affairs. He wanted to take back what the Dawes act did, and also promoted the Indian reorganization act.
George Gershwin - He was a composer and piano player.
James Cagney - He was a popular actor. He gained fame by portraying gangsters in his films.
New Deal Programs
AAA - Stands for The Agricultural Adjustment Act. Was an attempt in 1933 to promote economic recovery by reducing supply of crops, dairy, and meat produced by american farmers.
TVA - Stands for Tennessee Valley Authority. It was in charge of dams, employment, flood control, and soil erosion.
NRA (no guns) - The National Recovery Administration. Was another 1933 attempt to promote economic recovery by persuading private groups of industrialists to decrease production, limit hours of work per employee, and standardize minimum wages.
CCC - Civilian Conservation Corps. Provided government jobs for about 3 million men. They could reforest areas, fight fires, drain swamps, and control floods, along with many other things.
NLRA - National Labor Relations Act. This created a board that could compel employers to recognize and bargain with unions. This helped promote growth in organized labor during the 1930’s, and even after.
Social Security Act - Required workers and employers to contribute to a federally run pension for retired workers. It also provided disability and unemployment assistance. The benefits weren’t great, but it was the first of it’s kind. No other program provided for retired, disabled, or unemployed americans.
FDIC - Stands for Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Put in place in 1933, and it insures money deposited in banks by its members
PWA - Public Works Administration. It was intended for relief from unemployment and industrial recovery and was headed by Harold L Ickes. It spent $4 billion on 34,000 projects that included public buildings and many other things, intended for long term recovery.
CWA - Civil Works Administration. Established in 1933, it would create temporary jobs during the winter emergency. It’s only purpose was to create jobs, such as “Boondoggling”
WPA - Works Progress Administration. This put $11 million into thousands of public buildings, bridges, etc. to give 9 million people jobs in it’s span of eight years.
Terms
“Court Packing” - Also known as the Judiciary Reorganization Bill, it was FDR’s plan for gaining supreme court’s approval of the new deal legislation.
Bonus Army - This was a group of unemployed WWI vets who went to washington demanding their payments of their bonuses that were scheduled to be given later. The US army was put against its own veterans.
Hooverville - Camps and Shantytowns full of unemployed and homeless on the outside of major cities during the early days of the great depression. Were symbols of the failure of Hoover’s program. He was held responsible for the hard times.
New Deal - Was Roosevelt’s program that would use the three R’s, relief, reform, and recovery. It didn’t end the depression but it gave hope and security to the people. It also made government more responsible to the people in bad economic times.
Lost Generation - Ernest Hemingway used this phrase in his book, ‘The Sun also Rises.’ It refers to a group of american literary notables living in europe after serving their country. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway were two figures associated with this term.
Harlem Renaissance - This was a new african american cultural awareness that flourished in literature, art, and music during the 1920’s.
Great Migration - This was the mass movement of african americans from the south to the north. This was caused by new job openings during WWI and the 1920’s.
Prohibition - This was the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, emport, export, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages.
Indian Reorganization - This was an act led by John Collier which reversed the provision of the Dawes Act. It allowed the restoration of excess land to tribes and also tried to restore tribal structures by reasserting the status of indian tribes as semi-sovereign nations.
Fundamentalists - people who reacted to modernism during the 1920’s, which was basically a movement saying the bible is all true and completely infallible.