Preparing for the Final Exams Essay QuestionsHistory 174B Prof.

Furner
General questions: How democratic was the New Deal? How conservative? Did it
reform capitalism or save capitalism? Which New Deal reforms do you see as most
important? Was the New Deal a defining moment in U.S. (and world) history? Why?
Specific and analytical:
1. As Commerce Secretary and President 1921-1933, how did Herbert Hoovers vision and politics address
inequality in the United States? How did Hoover try to transform the relationship between government
and business? What was his stance on labor organization? When the Great Depression hit in 1929,
what beliefs and methods did Hoover rely on to deal with the crisis? What was his approach for
helping the unemployed? What parts of the economy did his Reconstruction Finance Corporation lend
money to?
2. According to Cohens Making a New Deal, how and why did Chicago workers loyalties shift in the
1930s? And how does Robin D.G.Kelleys Hammer and Hoe make the case for a positive role of
communists in helping the Southern poor in the 1930s?
3. How did FDR redefine the U.S. presidency in his early actions (1933-1936) against the great
depression? What were his main purposes in the early New Deal? Consider ways that FDRs policies
addressed social and economic inequality by looking at FERA, CWA, WPA, and Social Security.
4. What kinds of opposition did Roosevelt experience, from both the left and the right, in his first and
second terms? How did industrial workers respond to his message and programs? What about
capitalists and business organizations? Left and right wing critics? How did FDRs goals change after
his congressional victory in 1934, his landslide reelection in 1936, and during World War II?
5. How did the New Deal treat women, African Americans, and other people of color? How does Harvard
Sitkoff assess the New Deal for Blacks? What case can be made that some New Deal programs and
the GI Bill after World War II were affirmative action for whites? Did FDRs reforms address
inequities of gender and race as well as class? How much?
6. How did the Roosevelt recession (the economic downturn in 1937) change the course of the New Deal?
What new explanation did Keynesian theory offer for the long depression, and what steps by
government did it recommend to restore prosperity? Based on what ideas?
7. What new rights did the New Deal create for workers? All workers, or only some? How did this change
the distribution of income and wealth during the early postwar decades of the 20th century? Do you
give the New Deal high or low marks for achieving adequate economic subsistence and opportunity for
all?
8. How and for what reasons in policy terms after 1937 did the congressional coalition of conservative
Republicans and Southern Democrats obstruct or force redefinition of New Deal programs?
9. During World War II, as war production expanded the labor force, unemployment ended. Yet concerns
continued about whether unemployment would return. The Truman administration tried to extend the
main thrusts of the New Deal and continue wartime controls on the economy into the peace. Explain
the significance of each of the following. Include what the purpose of the legislation was, who
supported it, who opposed, and what the outcome was.
Continuation of price controls after war
Full Employment Bill
Taft-Hartley Act
Trumans effort to get a national health insurance program
Trumans effort to get expansion of public housing
Trumans civil rights effort