Title: The New Deal (1932-1941)
Course: Question Banks

Q: Which of the following best describes Franklin Roosevelt’s political background before he became president?
- He was a senator from Jim Crow-era Georgia. (Incorrect. Franklin Roosevelt spent a good deal of time in Georgia while seeking treatment for his paralysis, but the South was not his permanent residence.)
- He was a World War I General. (Incorrect. Roosevelt held a civilian post during World War I; he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy.)
- He was a businessman who had never held public office. (Incorrect. Roosevelt repeatedly sought public office, working in the New York state legislature, among other responsibilities, before becoming president.)
- He was a depression-era Governor of New York. (Correct! Roosevelt’s program of supplying public works jobs as governor of New York foreshadowed his approach to handling the Depression as president.)
A: He was a depression-era Governor of New York.

Q: Which statement best explains why the public preferred Franklin Roosevelt over Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential election?
- Roosevelt had the superior record on African-American civil rights. (Incorrect. Hoover and Roosevelt both had middling records on this issue. At any rate, for the vast majority of White voters, civil rights was very much a marginal issue in the Election of 1932.)
- The public felt sympathy for Roosevelt over his limited mobility. (Incorrect. While the public was dimly aware that Roosevelt was diagnosed with polio, Roosevelt went to great lengths to hide the extent of his paralysis. Accordingly, the public was not sufficiently aware of the issue to feel sorry for the Governor of New York.)
- Roosevelt was more clearly in the tradition of American self-reliance. (Incorrect. Hoover believed in self-reliance far more than Roosevelt. Roosevelt also proposed–with few specifics–government measures to alleviate the damage of the Great Depression.)
- They believed that Roosevelt could bring change and that Hoover could not. (Correct! Hoover’s ideological commitment to free market ideas contributed to the sense that he was unwilling to make the changes necessary to stem the tide of the Great Depression.)
A: They believed that Roosevelt could bring change and that Hoover could not.

Q: Which of the following statements best characterizes Franklin Roosevelt’s campaign promises during the Election of 1932?
- He promised to add new seats to the conservative Supreme Court. (Incorrect. This describes Roosevelt’s agenda for his second term, after the Supreme Court had declared some key New Deal measures to be unconstitutional.)
- He pledged an investigation into the violence against the Bonus Army. (Incorrect. Hoover’s handling of the Bonus Army was generally unpopular, but Roosevelt did not call for an investigation.)
- He called for tax cuts and leaving the economy to self-correct. (Incorrect. This approach is closer to that of Republicans of the 1920s such as Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.)
- He pledged vague and unspecified measures of reform and relief. (Correct! Roosevelt understood the public’s need for a change of course from Hoover but had not yet formulated the specifics of his plan and did not wish to commit himself before the election.)
A: He pledged vague and unspecified measures of reform and relief.

Q: Which of the following is one reason why Franklin Roosevelt appealed to the voting public in the Election of 1932, rather than his opponent, President Hoover?
- Hoover was Catholic and Roosevelt was Protestant. (Incorrect. Hoover belonged to the Quaker faith, and had beaten a Catholic candidate, Al Smith, handily in the Election of 1928.)
- He had a comprehensive plan to address the Great Depression. (Incorrect. Neither Roosevelt nor his “brain trust” had anything more than a sketchy, haphazard set of ideas for combating the Depression during the Election of 1932.)
- He pledged to leave the free market alone, and let the Depression correct itself. (Incorrect. This approach was closer to that of the unpopular Hoover. Franklin Roosevelt pledged action and energy, even if his plan lacked specifics.)
- Given his poor health, he sympathized with Americans suffering during the Depression. (Correct! Roosevelt’s lived experiences with disability allowed him greater insight into the hopelessness many Americans felt in the throes of the Great Depression.)
A: Given his poor health, he sympathized with Americans suffering during the Depression.

Q: What was one way that Franklin Roosevelt tried to inspire public confidence in himself as a presidential candidate in the Election of 1932?
- He challenged Herbert Hoover to a series of televised debates. (Incorrect. Very few Americans had heard of television in 1932, let alone owned a television set. Whether televised or not, no two presidential candidates held a formal debate until 1960 when John F. Kennedy faced off against Richard M. Nixon.)
- Roosevelt spoke of his rise from poverty to riches. (Incorrect. Roosevelt was born into a wealthy Hudson Valley family, and did little to hide his aristocratic background.)
- He kept campaigning after an assassination attempt on his life. (Incorrect. The assassination attempt took place between his election and his inauguration.)
- Roosevelt went to great lengths to hide the extent of his paralysis. (Correct! Many in the 1930s assumed that physical and mental disability went hand-in-hand. To avoid the perception of weakness, Roosevelt used a number of tactics to conceal the fact that he required a wheelchair for most day-to-day movement.)
A: Roosevelt went to great lengths to hide the extent of his paralysis.

Q: Why did Franklin Roosevelt, as a presidential candidate in 1932, seem like he might provide relief from the Great Depression?
- He served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson. (Incorrect. While Roosevelt did hold this position during the First World War, there was nothing about his performance that would indicate his approach to the Great Depression.)
- Although the extent of his illness was not known, the public was aware of his polio diagnosis. (Incorrect. This statement is true, but it does not answer the question. Roosevelt’s polio might have allowed him to empathize with others who suffered ill health, but it did not guarantee that he would create the massive relief programs that would later constitute the New Deal.)
- He advocated for such reforms as the Democrats’ vice-presidential candidate in 1920. (Incorrect. Roosevelt was indeed the Democrats’ choice for the vice-presidency in 1920. However, that ticket did not run on a program of wholesale reform, especially since the nation’s relative prosperity at that time did not make such reforms seem necessary.)
- He attempted reform programs on a smaller scale as Governor of New York. (Correct! While serving as governor, Roosevelt signed into law a number of relief and reform programs that would go on to serve as models for the national scope of the New Deal.)
A: He attempted reform programs on a smaller scale as Governor of New York.

Q: In the 1930s, the U.S. Constitution was amended to change the period of time between the presidential election and the winner’s inauguration. What was the nature of this change?
- The period between the election and the inauguration was lengthened. (Incorrect. Given the urgency of the Great Depression, lengthening the “interregnum” between presidents was not given much serious consideration.)
- Both the election and the inauguration were moved two months forward. (Incorrect. The presidential election remained set on the Tuesday that occurs between 2 thru 8 November.)
- Both the election and the inauguration were moved two months back. (Incorrect. The presidential election remained set on the Tuesday that occurs between 2 thru 8 November.)
- The period between the election and the inauguration was shortened. (Correct! The four months between the election and the inauguration was seen as too long, particularly when the public clamored for decisive action in the midst of the Great Depression.)
A: The period between the election and the inauguration was shortened.

Q: What crisis in late 1932 and early 1933 led Congress and the states to consider a constitutional amendment that would shorten the period between the presidential election and the presidential inauguration?
- The Bonus Army marched to Washington demanding emergency funds for veterans. (Incorrect. While the Bonus Army march made many in Washington concerned about political instability, this event did not take place during the “interregnum” between Hoover and Roosevelt.)
- Adolph Hitler declares war on Poland and invades. (Incorrect. Hitler did not invade Poland until 1939, and it did not take place between a presidential election and an inauguration of a new president.)
- A series of floods on the Mississippi River devastates the South. (Incorrect. There was a catastrophic flood in 1927, but it did not take place between Hoover’s defeat in 1932 and Roosevelt’s inauguration in 1933.)
- A number of banks failed during the final months of Hoover’s presidency. (Correct! With the country having shown their lack of confidence in Hoover, the defeated incumbent did not have the mandate (or the ideological inclination) to take bold action to spur recovery in the four months between his defeat and Roosevelt’s inauguration.)
A: A number of banks failed during the final months of Hoover’s presidency.

Q: Soon after Franklin Roosevelt was elected to the presidency in 1932, a constitutional amendment was passed that shortened the time between a presidential election and the inauguration. Which of these best explains why this amendment was ratified?
- Roosevelt survived an assassination attempt that took place before his inauguration. (Incorrect. While Roosevelt did, in fact, survive an assassination attempt during that period, there is no compelling evidence that the attack influenced the decision to push forward future inaugurations.)
- The Great Depression was showing signs of easing, thus requiring a shorter transition time between presidencies. (Incorrect. To the contrary, the Great Depression showed every sign of becoming more severe between Franklin Roosevelt’s election in November of 1932 and his inauguration in March of 1933.)
- It would give the defeated incumbent less time to mobilize opposition to the incoming president. (Incorrect. Herbert Hoover lost in 1932, but he did so fairly graciously, and did not attempt to hinder Roosevelt’s presidency or block his becoming president.)
- The previous president was voted out, and lacked political power to address the Great Depression. (Correct! If the incumbent is voted out of office, the period before he or she is compelled to leave is called a “lame duck” period. The term refers to the dwindling political capital a defeated candidate can access. The amendment cut this “lame duck” period almost in half.)
A: The previous president was voted out, and lacked political power to address the Great Depression.

Q: Which of the following best describes Franklin Roosevelt’s approach to fighting the Depression during his first 100 days?
- He put the nation back on the gold standard of coinage. (Incorrect. Roosevelt’s early financial policies actually untethered the value of a dollar from the price of gold.)
- He used a laissez-faire or “hands-off” approach to the economy. (Incorrect. Quite to the contrary, Roosevelt was willing to use the power of the government to intervene in the economy if it would stem the tide of the Depression.)
- He nationalized major industries such as oil and steel. (Incorrect. Roosevelt’s approach to recovery from the Great Depression did not go to these lengths. Many historians conclude that Roosevelt saved American capitalism by placing necessary reforms and safeguards around it.)
- He combined immediate relief with longer-term safeguards to the economy. (Correct! Many of the initial New Deal programs provided jobs for the unemployed, but also reformed the nation’s moribund and dangerously unstable banking system.)
A: He combined immediate relief with longer-term safeguards to the economy.

Q: If you were an individual who was unemployed during the Great Depression, which of the following New Deal programs or laws would be of the most immediate help in acquiring a job?
- The Home Owners’ Refinancing Act (Incorrect. It is possible that an unemployed person could benefit from this act, which would refinance a debtor’s mortgage. But it would not be of direct help in finding employment.)
- The Wagner Act (Incorrect. This law provided protections for workers who were forming a union. For someone who was unemployed, this law was not immediately useful.)
- The Glass-Steagall Act (Incorrect. This act reformed the nation’s banking system, putting safeguards onto investment banks to prevent the kind of over-speculation that resulted in the stock market crash in 1929. This act might help someone with savings, but it was not intended to serve as a job creation program.)
- The Civil Works Administration (Correct! This program put millions of Americans to work repairing and improving the nation’s infrastructure.)
A: The Civil Works Administration

Q: What two goals were the most important legislative priorities for Franklin Roosevelt during the First New Deal?
- Reform the banking system and expand the Supreme Court. (Incorrect. Roosevelt did not attempt to expand the Supreme Court until his second term, after a few key New Deal programs had been declared unconstitutional.)
- Prevent house foreclosure and expand the Supreme Court. (Incorrect. Roosevelt did not attempt to expand the Supreme Court until his second term, after a few key New Deal programs had been declared unconstitutional.)
- Increase military preparedness and put people to work. (Incorrect. After the First World War, the United States did not feel any particular need to make military preparedness a priority. Although the U.S. maintained a very functional army and navy, many still believed that the First World War had indeed been “the war to end all wars.”)
- Reform the banking system and put people to work. (Correct! The First New Deal’s twin goals were to reform banking (and thus increase consumer confidence) while also working to help Americans find jobs. The unemployment rate was hovering around 25% at the time of Roosevelt’s inauguration.)
A: Reform the banking system and put people to work.

Q: During the first 100 days of the New Deal, how did Franklin Roosevelt persuade the public to support his program?
- He gave speeches on a “whistlestop” train tour through the country. (Incorrect. While Roosevelt would at times travel by train, he did not embark on a long train trip to build support for the New Deal, as Woodrow Wilson did for the League of Nations.)
- He held the first presidential press conferences. (Incorrect. While Roosevelt would frequently talk with the press, this practice predated his administration by a generation, having begun under William McKinley.)
- He engaged in a series of debates with the conservative opposition. (Incorrect. Roosevelt did not participate in a formal debate over the New Deal either as a candidate for the presidency, or as the sitting president.)
- He held a series of casual speeches over the radio. (Correct! History would remember these addresses as the “fireside chats,” where Roosevelt adopted a more personal style that resonated with members of the public who were frightened by the Great Depression, but unsure of the proposals for recovery.)
A: He held a series of casual speeches over the radio.

Q: During his first “fireside chats,” what did Franklin Roosevelt urge the American public to do?
- Start their own businesses. (Incorrect. Many of the New Deal programs proceeded from the assumption that most Americans were laborers looking for jobs, rather than entrepreneurs.)
- Cultivate more food to help hungry Americans. (Incorrect. To the contrary, Roosevelt controversially centered his agricultural program around raising farm prices, which meant limiting the overwhelming supply of foodstuffs.)
- Buy more war bonds. (Incorrect. When Roosevelt began his fireside chats, World War II was still a long ways in the future.)
- Trust banks and put their savings in them. (Correct! Roosevelt used his first 100 days to audit the stability of many of the nation’s banks. Even after his “bank holiday,” Americans were still skittish about using banks, given the volatility of the Depression and the frequency of bank failures during its first four years.)
A: Trust banks and put their savings in them.

Q: What was the topic that was discussed during most of Franklin Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” held by radio broadcast?
- The rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. (Incorrect. While Roosevelt watched the rise of fascism in Europe with a careful eye, he did not use these addresses to confront the growing specter of anti-semitism.)
- The need to expand the Supreme Court. (Incorrect. Roosevelt did propose expanding the Supreme Court, but this was only into his second term, after the court had struck down some key New Deal programs.)
- To call for volunteers to help the nation’s unemployed. (Incorrect. Relying on appeals to volunteerism is more characteristic of Herbert Hoover’s approach to the Great Depression.)
- How his programs would combat the Great Depression. (Correct! Given that many of his programs were economically complex, Roosevelt used these chats to convince listeners of their efficacy in language that the ordinary person could understand.)
A: How his programs would combat the Great Depression.

Q: Why did the New Deal’s Agricultural Adjustment Act pay farmers to not produce certain crops?
- To incentivize them to work in industrial labor. (Incorrect. Coercive measures to move farmers into the industrial sector were common in the Soviet Union of this era, but not the United States.)
- To trigger inflation and allow the farmers to repay debts. (Incorrect. The idea of deliberately increasing the money supply and creating inflation is not emblematic of the New Deal’s approach. Instead, it is closer to the proposal suggested by the populist movement in the late 1800s.)
- To discourage illegal immigration from Mexico. (Incorrect. The New Deal generally did not engage with the issue of immigration, choosing to leave in place the National Origins Act from the Coolidge administration.)
- To raise crop prices by creating scarcity and demand. (Correct! Farmers were in dire straits because of farm surpluses. Because the supply was so great and the demand remained fairly steady, prices plummeted, endangering the livelihood of many farmers. By limiting the supply, it was hoped that farm prices would rise to a sustainable level.)
A: To raise crop prices by creating scarcity and demand.

Q: What was one common critique of the Agricultural Adjustment Act?
- Livestock like pigs were assigned radically higher prices than crops like corn. (Incorrect. While it is true that the value of pigs was higher than the value of corn, farmers generally accepted this outcome as a natural condition of farming, given the extra care that livestock required.)
- By increasing cotton production, soil in Southern farms would be depleted. (Incorrect. To the contrary, the AAA went to pains to reduce the amount of land under cotton cultivation, due to cotton’s ruinously low prices at the time.)
- It stymied attempts to form agricultural unions. (Incorrect. The New Deal’s broader protections for unions made it possible for interracial organizations such as the Southern Tenant Farmers Union to come into being.)
- It required the destruction of livestock and crops at a time when many were starving. (Correct! In order to keep crop and livestock prices high, the problem of excess supply required a solution. Killing a portion of the livestock and destroying a portion of the crop yield was seen by New Deal administrators as the best solution.)
A: It required the destruction of livestock and crops at a time when many were starving.

Q: The National Industrial Recovery Act is mostly remembered for improving workers’ rights and conditions on the job. But what was one benefit to business owners?
- Businesses were exempt from the “bank holiday.” (Incorrect. The bank holiday took place much earlier in Franklin Roosevelt’s administration, and had already lapsed by the time that the NIRA was enacted.)
- Businesses were allowed to fire workers attempting to unionize. (Incorrect. The National Recovery Act, designed to administer the NIRA, provided key protections to workers who wished to form a union.)
- Their payroll was exempt from funding Social Security. (Incorrect. Social Security was framed after the NIRA was passed.)
- Businesses could establish codes otherwise outlawed by antitrust rules. (Correct! The NIRA was framed as a give-and-take between benefits to business owners and ordinary workers.)
A: Businesses could establish codes otherwise outlawed by antitrust rules.

Q: What was one unintended consequence of New Deal programs in the South?
- It opened more land up for cotton cultivation. (Incorrect. Cotton cultivation was at a high point during the Great Depression, causing its price to plummet. Most New Deal agricultural projects discouraged the expansion of cotton farming.)
- It ended most protections for labor unions in the region. (Incorrect. While the South would lag behind other regions in unionization, the provisions of the Wagner Act made it easier for unions to organize.)
- It made most Jim Crow laws unconstitutional. (Incorrect. President Roosevelt would have liked to diminish segregation in the South, but his programs relied on the approval of committee chairs in Congress, many of whom were White Southerners opposed to even the smallest federal intervention in race relations.)
- It contributed to the eviction of tenant farmers. (Correct! Many of the agricultural subsidies went to land owners, rather than the farmers who worked the land. With many farmers being paid to not produce crops, landless tenant farmers were often let go from their jobs.)
A: It contributed to the eviction of tenant farmers.

Q: In the South, what was one result of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Wagner Act, enacted as part of the First New Deal?
- Child labor became rampant in Southern mills and factories. (Incorrect. As a result of these bills, limits were placed on industrial child labor for the first time in the South, and child labor plummeted as a result.)
- Lynching was registered as a federal crime. (Incorrect. Despite the efforts of such figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, Congress did not pass any anti-lynching legislation during the New Deal period.)
- The South fell far behind wages in the Northeast. (Incorrect. To the contrary, these measures helped to close the gap between the poor wages in the South and the better conditions elsewhere in the country.)
- The wages and working conditions of Southern laborers improved. (Correct! Provisions for a minimum wage and ending child labor were inacted, changing the landscape of labor in the South.)
A: The wages and working conditions of Southern laborers improved.

Q: The Tennessee Valley Authority, created as part of the New Deal, is mostly remembered for establishing hydroelectric power throughout the upper South. What was another key component of this program?
- federal oversight of education, mandating that evolution be taught in schools (Incorrect. The federal government played only a small role in education during this period in U.S. history. The state of Tennessee was, however, the site of the famous Scopes (or “Monkey”) Trial during the 1920s.)
- debt relief to impoverished tenant farmers (Incorrect. While other New Deal programs offered various forms of relief to ordinary citizens who suffered from the Depression, this was not the immediate goal of the TVA.)
- establishing a series of national banks throughout the South (Incorrect. The concept of a national bank was most closely established during the Wilson administration through the Federal Reserve. It was not the province of the TVA to create banks.)
- educational programs that emphasized better farming techniques and job skills (Correct! While the TVA provided irrigation and electricity, President Roosevelt also hoped to educate farmers on newer farming techniques that would make the land more productive and prevent the soil exhaustion caused by earlier generations of farming.)
A: educational programs that emphasized better farming techniques and job skills

Q: Which of the following was a conservative critique of the New Deal?
- The New Deal ignored the elderly at the expense of those of working age. (Incorrect. Many of the elderly fell through the gaps of the New Deal programs, but this was a critique made by more radical voices, such as Francis Townsend, rather than by conservatives. Poverty among the elderly would be addressed more substantively by the Lyndon Johnson administration during the Great Society.)
- The New Deal spent far too much on defense expenditures. (Incorrect. Today, the idea of sizable defense spending is associated with conservatism, but in the 1930s, with much of the world seemingly at peace, neither party offered the idea of a large arms buildup.)
- The New Deal did not address the fundamental problem of wealth inequality. (Incorrect. This was a common critique of the New Deal, but it tended to be made by demagogic figures such as Huey Long, rather than by professed conservatives.)
- The New Deal was eroding traditional American values such as self-reliance. (Correct! Many critiques of the New Deal from the Right emphasized that these programs were a radical shift from the traditional expectations of government. By using the power of the federal government to meet Americans’ basic needs, some conservatives worried that customary American values were endangered.)
A: The New Deal was eroding traditional American values such as self-reliance.

Q: What critique of the New Deal did men such as Father Coughlin and Francis Townsend make?
- The New Deal resembled European state socialism too closely. (Incorrect. Coughlin and Townsend were not critics of European experiments in modest socialism to curb the impact of the Great Depression.)
- The New Deal favored racial minorities over White Americans. (Incorrect. There were some Southern Congressmen who opposed any New Deal measure that might accrue to the benefit of Black Americans in the South, but generally, this was not a common critique of the New Deal from any segment in society.)
- The New Deal discriminated against recent Catholic immigrants. (Incorrect. Although Father Coughlin was a Catholic priest, he did not specifically charge that the New Deal was anti-Catholic. Instead, he framed the Depression in terms of social class, and argued that stronger reforms to help the working class were necessary.)
- The New Deal did not go far enough to provide aid for needy Americans. (Correct! While the New Deal is usually considered a hallmark of liberal reform, many of its critics attacked it from the Left, arguing that it did not do enough to alleviate the dire poverty triggered by the Great Depression.)
A: The New Deal did not go far enough to provide aid for needy Americans.

Q: How was the Social Security Act tailored in part to appease conservative critics of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal?
- It left the administration of the act to each of the states. (Incorrect. Although Southerners were concerned about the New Deal’s encroachment on “states’ rights,” Social Security was administered by the federal government.)
- It balanced direct economic relief with tax cuts. (Incorrect. Tax cuts were not a substantive component of the Social Security Act.)
- It made contributions to Social Security entirely voluntary. (Incorrect. The Social Security Act implemented taxes on most salaried jobs in order to provide its basis of funding.)
- It was funded by payroll taxes, rather than being a direct handout. (Correct! Roosevelt was adamant that the social safety net should not resemble a dole, or direct government handouts, as was common in European attempts at economic recovery.)
A: It was funded by payroll taxes, rather than being a direct handout.

Q: What qualities differentiated the First New Deal from the Second New Deal?
- The First New Deal addressed the agricultural crisis while the Second New Deal helped factory workers. (Incorrect. The First New Deal focused on both agricultural relief (such as the AAA) and industrial relief (such as NIRA).)
- The First New Deal dealt with the Great Depression, and the Second New Deal addressed World War II. (Incorrect. The Second New Deal began during Roosevelt’s second term, long before the United States entered World War II.)
- The First New Deal gave basic provisions to the unemployed. The Second New Deal provided them with jobs. (Incorrect. Many First New Deal programs established jobs for the unemployed, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps or the Works Progress Administration.)
- The First New Deal provided immediate relief, and the Second New Deal provided a social safety net. (Correct! The First New Deal was focused on providing jobs and other forms of immediate assistance to Americans (such as agricultural subsidies). The Second New Deal provided for future insecurities, via such programs as Social Security.)
A: The First New Deal provided immediate relief, and the Second New Deal provided a social safety net.

Q: Why did Franklin Roosevelt believe that a “Second New Deal” was necessary during his second term?
- The Great Depression had largely been overcome, thus requiring a different set of reforms. (Incorrect. The Great Depression had short periods of recovery and short periods of greater intensity, but when Roosevelt was re-elected, the United States was still very much in the throes of the Great Depression.)
- He felt that the United States needed to be prepared in the event of war in Europe. (Incorrect. During most of Roosevelt’s second term, there was little apparent need to rearm, and defeating the Great Depression was the administration’s highest priority.)
- The Republican Party pledged to enact even more reform if put into power. (Incorrect. Most Republicans believed that the First New Deal went too far in expanding government involvement in ordinary peoples’ affairs.)
- The Supreme Court struck down many provisions of the “First New Deal”. (Correct! Some of the most significant New Deal programs, such as the NWA and the AAA were ruled to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Roosevelt decided to regroup by passing programs more likely to pass the court’s scrutiny.)
A: The Supreme Court struck down many provisions of the “First New Deal”.

Q: Which of the following is the best characterization of the New Deal’s Federal One Project?
- It was a guarantee of security for most money placed in U.S. banks. (Incorrect. This answer better describes FDIC-insured banks, part of the legacy of the First New Deal.)
- It established a network of publicly-owned radio stations with educational programming. (Incorrect. This description better fits the development of National Public Radio during the Great Society programs of the 1960s.)
- It brought hydroelectric power to more than half of rural Americans. (Incorrect. While some New Deal programs did provide rural Americans with access to the power grid, this was not the purpose of the Federal One Project.)
- It provided artists and writers with jobs during the Great Depression. (Correct! People who studied the humanities were especially hard hit by the Depression, and this project gave commissions to artists, writers, and musicians. Because the intelligentsia and the artist community played such an oversized role in the Russian Revolution, the Roosevelt administration wanted to avoid similar unrest by providing jobs to this section of the public.)
A: It provided artists and writers with jobs during the Great Depression.

Q: Which of the following is one unintended consequence of the New Deal?
- Labor unions emerged from the Depression in a weaker position than before. (Incorrect. Through such legislation as the Wagner Act, the ability of labor unions to safely organize and bargain collectively was substantially increased.)
- It guaranteed every American access to health care. (Incorrect. While some New Deal programs had provisions allowing the most needy to have better access to medical treatment, universal health care was not given serious consideration as a part of the New Deal.)
- The wage gap between men and women decreased. (Incorrect. Most New Deal programs did not mandate equal pay regardless of sex.)
- Spending for its programs caused the national deficit to grow. (Correct! To foster recovery from the Depression, Roosevelt abandoned the traditional concern for a balanced budget. To contain the deficit, he proposed spending cuts during his second term.)
A: Spending for its programs caused the national deficit to grow.

Q: How did the New Deal change the government’s approach to Native Americans?
- It privatized Native American land holdings and encouraged farming. (Incorrect. To the contrary, the New Deal’s policy toward Native Americans reversed those very trends that were codified by the Dawes Act.)
- It granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans. (Incorrect. This provision took place through the Indian Citizenship Act during Calvin Coolidge’s administration.)
- It gave them priority when hiring bureaucratic jobs for New Deal agencies. (Incorrect. The New Deal did not engage in hiring practices that would later be called “affirmative action.” However, some programs did make a good faith effort to hire Black Americans proportional to their population in a given area.)
- It reversed policies that expected assimilation into American culture. (Correct! Native American policy under Roosevelt promoted more self-government and encouraged preservation of their heritage, a sharp contrast from earlier programs that demanded assimilation into mainstream society.)
A: It reversed policies that expected assimilation into American culture.

Q: Why did the New Deal largely fail to address the problem of racial inequality?
- Most Black Americans in the South voted Republican at the time. (Incorrect. Most Black Americans from the South were unable to vote, through both physical intimidation and the myriad of Jim Crow laws. Black voters in the North, however, became a vital part of the “New Deal Coalition” that kept the Democrats in power throughout the Depression and World War II.)
- The Supreme Court ruled that the New Deal’s civil rights legislation was unconstitutional. (Incorrect. None of the programs passed under the New Deal were primarily civil rights bills. While the Supreme Court did rule that some key New Deal programs were unconstitutional, the court did little on the issue of racial inequality during this period.)
- President Roosevelt refused to appoint Black men and women to fill positions in the New Deal’s bureaucracy. (Incorrect. To the contrary, Roosevelt helped ensure that a sizable number of Black Americans were hired. The Works Progress Administration, for example, hired 350,000 Black Americans annually.)
- Roosevelt’s agenda was dependent on White Southerners in Congress. (Correct! Southerners in Congress were almost entirely Democrats at the time, and controlled many of the committees that would need to write and vet the laws that made up Roosevelt’s agenda. Pushing for racial equality would have alienated these allies, and endangered the New Deal.)
A: Roosevelt’s agenda was dependent on White Southerners in Congress.

Q: While women generally supported the New Deal, the benefits that women enjoyed from its programs were somewhat limited. What was one reason for this?
- In most states, women could not vote and help New Deal supporters get into Congress. (Incorrect. The 19th Amendment, passed over ten years before the New Deal, removed any barriers to voting on account of sex. Of course, in the Jim Crow South, Black women (and Black men!) were prevented from voting.)
- Women were already employed at a much higher rate than men. (Incorrect. Women did not enjoy a discernibly higher rate of employment than men during the Great Depression.)
- Women were generally more Republican than men in the 1930s. (Incorrect. Although women were marginally more Republican than men at this time, this particular fact has no clear bearing on who the New Deal programs were designed to help.)
- Jobs programs like the WPA and CCC encouraged men to apply, and for women to make room for men seeking employment. (Correct! Many of the jobs programs created by the New Deal assumed a family model with a male breadwinner and thus did not encourage female applicants.)
A: Jobs programs like the WPA and CCC encouraged men to apply, and for women to make room for men seeking employment.

Q: In what cause did Eleanor Roosevelt most strongly advocate during her time as First Lady?
- Keeping the United States out of World War II. (Incorrect. Eleanor Roosevelt was not part of the “America First” movement that wanted the United States to disengage from the war in Europe prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.)
- Raising public support for the Daughters of the American Revolution. (Incorrect. Eleanor Roosevelt actually resigned from the DAR when they refused to allow Black singer Marian Anderson to sing at Constitution Hall.)
- Preserving national parks and forest land. (Incorrect. While conservation was not unimportant to Eleanor Roosevelt, she did not often concentrate her political influence in this area.)
- Civil rights for Black Americans. (Correct! Eleanor Roosevelt worked closely with civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and lobbied for an anti-lynching law.)
A: Civil rights for Black Americans.

Q: Upon taking office, Franklin Roosevelt appointed the first woman to serve in what capacity?
- Roosevelt appointed the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. (Incorrect. Roosevelt did not get to make any Supreme Court appointments at all during his first term. It would not be until the Reagan administration, nearly fifty years later, that a woman would be formally nominated to serve on the court.)
- Roosevelt chose a woman to serve as Ambassador to the United Nations. (Incorrect. The idea of a United Nations was very dear to Roosevelt’s heart, and his widow Eleanor would take a key role in its formation. But Roosevelt died before the United Nations could be finalized, and never got the chance to appoint anyone, regardless of their sex.)
- Roosevelt chose a woman to serve as First Lady. (Incorrect. Since the days of Dolley Madison, the president’s spouse had customarily been referred to as the “First Lady.” Roosevelt did, however, have one of the most influential First Ladies in presidential history in his wife Eleanor.)
- Roosevelt appointed a woman to serve as a cabinet secretary. (Correct! Roosevelt selected Frances Perkins to serve as Secretary of Labor, due to her work in New York State’s Industrial Commission.)
A: Roosevelt appointed a woman to serve as a cabinet secretary.

Q: Which of the following is a characteristic of the writing style in a historical argument?
- It uses empathy to help the reader relate to the subject. (Incorrect. Historical empathy is important–so important that it is the subject of another history hack in our U.S. History I course. However, the creation of understanding is not the core of a historical argument, but the basis for better comprehending the context of a historical moment.)
- The author openly explains the flaws in his or her historical argument. (Incorrect. For an essay-length writing assignment, it is best to focus on compiling the evidence in your argument’s favor rather than to spend precious space anticipating readers’ objections.)
- It uses a casual, approachable tone. (Incorrect. More often than not, the tone of a good thesis statement will be crisp and professional.)
- The author writes as if they are an expert on the subject. (Correct! For an essay such as this, the successful author will assume the voice of an expert on the subject (even if he or she doesn’t necessarily feel so confident!))
A: The author writes as if they are an expert on the subject.

Q: Which of these statements is usually true of a good thesis statement?
- It uses the first-person voice. (Incorrect. First-person voice in academic writing runs the risk of appearing to be based on opinion and personal belief, rather than evidence-based material.)
- It appeals to the reader’s sense of justice and morality. (Incorrect. A good thesis statement should avoid emotional appeals and concentrate on the argument that is supported by the body of evidence compiled.)
- It identifies which sources will be used to make its arguments. (Incorrect. You should absolutely give credit to the sources you use for your supporting evidence! However, the thesis statement is not the time to do this. The thesis statement should ideally be one or two sentences that convey the specific argument the author is making.)
- It clearly presents the main idea of the essay. (Correct! A thesis statement serves the function of communicating the author’s argument to the reader in a concise way. Usually, this is done early in the essay.)
A: It clearly presents the main idea of the essay.

Q: If you were writing an argumentative essay on the topic of women in the New Deal, which of these would be a good example of a thesis statement?
- “I will show that Franklin Roosevelt appointed the first woman to serve as Secretary of Labor.” (Incorrect. This is a problematic thesis statement on two counts. For one, it uses the first-person voice, when a more objective third-person voice is preferable. Secondly, this statement offers a fact that can be easily proven or disproven, rather than a more complex argument that can synthesize different kinds of evidence together.)
- “Many women were involved in the programs of the New Deal.” (Incorrect. This statement is broadly true, but it is vague and lacks the argumentative edge that the best thesis statements have. This thesis isn’t one that could be easily argued for or against.)
- “This essay will show the role of women in the New Deal.” (Incorrect. This sentence tells the reader the topic without offering an argument.)
- “Franklin Roosevelt’s female advisors used their experiences as women to shape New Deal policy.” (Correct! This is a good thesis statement because it stakes out a clear argument that one can debate, and which can be backed up with historical evidence.)
A: “Franklin Roosevelt’s female advisors used their experiences as women to shape New Deal policy.”

Q: What is something that a good “key sentence” or “topic sentence” in a paragraph will accomplish?
- It will quote an authoritative source. (Incorrect. Topic sentences should almost always be written in the author’s own words. Otherwise, it is the authority who is cited, rather than the author, who is making the argument.)
- It transitions between one point and another. (Incorrect. Transitions between points are very important in a good argument, but topic sentences serve to make their own distinct point.)
- It will remind the reader of the main thesis. (Incorrect. A topic sentence will accomplish something that moves the essay forward, rather than reiterating what the reader should already know.)
- It ties a paragraph to the overall argument. (Correct! A key sentence will not only signal a specific point to the reader, but will often tie that point to the overall argument being made.)
A: It ties a paragraph to the overall argument.

Q: When writing an argumentative essay, what is a good practice when synthesizing your evidence?
- Make your argument relevant to the present day. (Incorrect. Making sure the reader sees the relevance in your topic can be important, but it is not necessary for synthesizing evidence.)
- Each fact listed should be accompanied by a quote. (Incorrect. Quotes can be useful, but there is a danger in overusing them. Using quotes sparingly and illustratively is best. For example, when a primary source describes something in a particularly evocative way, this would be a good candidate for a direct quote.)
- Considering two arguments and finding common ground between them. (Incorrect. Synthesizing your evidence means to bring in the information that will persuade your reader, not finding a middle ground between two arguments that already exist.)
- Placing your evidence in its proper historical context. (Correct! Make sure that your reader understands how your evidence works within the context of its time and place, and also its immediate situation. For example, when quoting a significant figure, it is important to know when he or she made that quote and to whom it was addressed.)
A: Placing your evidence in its proper historical context.

Q: What should the opening paragraph of a historical essay usually contain?
- a list of sources used (Incorrect. In the body of your essay, you will want to cite the materials you used for evidence when relevant, and you should include a bibliography at the end. However, listing your sources outright in the opening paragraph is not necessary and distracts from your argument.)
- a valid quote from a secondary source (Incorrect. While such a quote may show up from time to time to illustrate a point, a quote from a secondary source is not common in an opening paragraph, nor is it expected.)
- supporting claims (Incorrect. Supporting claims are made in subsequent paragraphs in the body of your essay.)
- a thesis statement (Correct! One element that is almost always included in a standard historical essay is a clear, discernible thesis statement that makes it plain to the reader what is being argued.)
A: a thesis statement