History 271

Devine

Spring 2016

FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE

FINAL EXAMINATION [Thursday, May 19^th 12:45-2:45 pm]

The final will cover all lectures and readings since the midterm.

Draw on the lecture notes and powerpoint slides posted on the syllabus to help you answer the questions below. Knowing the answers to these questions will prepare you to answer multiple choice exam questions on the same topics.

1. Why was the United States called the “engine of prosperity” after World War I?

2. How did German war reparations and French and British war debt involve the United States? How did this 3-way relationship work and why did it cause international economic instability?

3. What were some alternatives to the circular system of debt repayment and reparations? Why would they have made the world economy more stable? Why were such alternatives never implemented?

4. Why was the U.S. government’s refusal to forgive European war debts during the late 1920s and early 1930s a bad idea?

5. What were the two causes of hyperinflation in Germany during the 1920s? Why did the government pursue a policy of hyperinflation?

6. Who opposed the German policy of hyperinflation and why?

7. Why did the Dawes Plan temporarily stabilize the international economy?

8. What caused the U.S. stock market crash in 1929 and why did this crash have a global effect?

9. What was the unintended consequence when the Austrian government froze the assets of one of the nation’s largest commercial banks?

10. Why did the U.S. government raise the tariff on most imported goods in the early 1930s? Why was this a bad idea?

11. Why did the high tariffs of the 1930s have a global effect?

12. Why did cutting taxes on the wealthiest Americans during the 1920s not necessarily mean that wealth and prosperity “trickled down” to those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder?

13. Why did the economy suffer when the housing and auto markets slackened during the mid- to late-1920s?

14. What are the two main powers of the Federal Reserve? By using these powers, how did the Federal Reserve end up making the Great Depression worse?

15. Why was it a bad idea for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates as the Great Depression was beginning? Why did doing this create the wrong economic incentives?

16. In what ways did lack of economic knowledge contribute to the Great Depression?

17. Why were Gangster Films of the 1930s so popular among Depression audiences?

18. What were the Marx Brothers making fun of in Duck Soup? Why was the movie not as popular with the public as it was with the critics?

19. What steps did President Roosevelt take to restore public confidence in the U.S. banking system?

20. Why did establishing the FDIC end the run on the banks? Why did some argue that establishing the FDIC might encourage banks to make risky investments?

21. The Glass-Steagall act separated savings banks from investment banks. What problem was this meant to solve?

22. What reforms did the SEC bring to the process of investing in stocks?

23. Why did Franklin Roosevelt refer to direct cash payments from the government to those in need as a way of “priming the pump”?

24. Why did Franklin Roosevelt believe that public works projects – building post offices, bridges, and dams – would help to stimulate the economy? Why did he prefer such projects to direct cash payments to those in need?

25. Why were farmers suffering during the 1930s? How did Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal propose to help them?

26. How did Roosevelt’s programs intended to help farmers end up hurting consumers and even some farmers?

27. Why did higher wages for workers – required by the NRA – sometimes produce higher unemployment among low skilled and unskilled laborers?

28. Why did some businesses actually prefer to pay higher wages during the 1930s?

29. Why did Roosevelt set up a “social security” system rather than simply give government aid to those who were too old or sick to work?

30. Explain the origins of World War II in Europe. How and why did the conflict begin? What were the key events that led to the official beginning of the war on September 1, 1939?

31. During the late 1930s, why did the British and French choose to “appease” Hitler rather than confront him? How did they justify this decision?

32. Despite their ideological differences, why did Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact in 1939?

33. Identify the two biggest mistakes that Hitler made during World War II and explain why these mistakes were so costly.

34. Why did Roosevelt come up with the program of “Lend Lease”?

35. Why did the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor? In hindsight, why did this prove a costly mistake?

36. How did American racism make the attack on Pearl Harbor even more costly for the U.S. military? How did Japanese racism contribute to the Japanese decision to attack Pearl Harbor in the first place?

37. Why did the Soviet Union want the British and the Americans to open a “second front” against the Germans in Western Europe? Why did the British and the Americans delay doing so until 1944?

38. Why did Winston Churchill and the British government prefer the Americans to support the British war effort in North Africa rather than focus on sending troops to France?

39. Initially, why did many Americans not consider the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan as an entirely new kind of warfare?

40. The 1950s were characterized by the “Four A”s – anxiety, anticommunism, affluence, and alienation. Explain how each “A” led logically to the next one.

41. Why were many Americans anxious after the end of World War II?

42. Why were so many Americans ardently anticommunist during the 1950s? Why did they tend to focus their anticommunism inward (at their fellow citizens) rather than demand that their government directly confront the Soviet Union?

43. Why is it an exaggeration to label the search for communists in government a “witch hunt”? (Consider that “witches” do not exist.)

44. Why did the “red scare” of the 1950s make American society more conformist?

45. How did American family life, gender roles, and religion during the 1950s distinguish the United States from the Soviet Union?

46. What factors contributed to making America an affluent nation during the 1950s? [“affluent” means wealthy]

47. Why did the construction of a national network of highways during the 1950s help further the development of franchise businesses like McDonalds and Holiday Inn?

48. What provisions were in the GI Bill? Why did it help to expand the middle class after World War II?

49. How did the Marshall Plan both help to stop the spread of Communism into Western Europe and stimulate the American economy after World War II?

50. How was the alienation that African Americans experienced during the 1950s different from the alienation that young, white suburban kids experienced?

51. How did some artists, writers, and musicians during the 1950s express their alienation from mainstream American society? What particular aspects of mainstream society did they find so alienating?

52. How did the emergence of Elvis Presley challenge traditional notions about “blackness” being a corrupting or derogatory influence?

53. When observers referred to the early 1960s as a “promising time,” what two conceptions of “promising” did they have in mind?

54. Why did John F. Kennedy come to embody the “promising time” of the early 1960s? Why did his election seem to mark the ending of one era and the beginning of another?

55. Why had Cuba become a concern to the American government after 1959?

56. What was the “Bay of Pigs Invasion” and why did Kennedy agree to support it? Why did the Bay of Pigs Invasion lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later?

57. Why did the Soviet Union support the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1962?

58. What was the United States’ goal when it intervened in Vietnam? Despite the French failure to contain the Communist forces there, why did the U.S. believe it could succeed?

59. Why was it difficult for President Kennedy to get Civil Rights legislation through Congress?

60. Why did the war in Vietnam and the urban unrest of the mid- to late-1960s undermine liberalism?

61. Why did the Vietnam War and opposition to the Vietnam war divide Americans along class lines?

62. If older Americans were most likely to oppose the war, why did they also oppose the anti-war demonstrators?

63. Staying loyal to the neighborhood meant everything to the residents of Southie. Was this more a source of strength or the source of the people’s problems? Did it help them survive or keep them living in poverty?

64. How did Whitey Bulger exploit the residents of Southie by appealing to the very values that many residents believed made their neighborhood special?

65. Why did government-sponsored measures intended to improve race relations and alleviate poverty – such as busing, the enforcement of “hate crimes” laws, provision of public housing, and welfare payments – actually end up fueling racism in Southie and making poverty more difficult to escape?

66. Why did the residents of Southie have such a difficult time escaping poverty?

67. How did the fact that the MacDonalds were poor make it more difficult for “Ma” raise her children?