Endurance and Global Power: United States History 1929–1945

Great Depression

A systemic failure of the economy characterized by overproduction, underconsumption, and banking collapses.

New Deal Liberalism

The ideology that the government has a duty to provide a safety net for citizens and actively manage the economy.

The Three R's

Relief, Recovery, and Reform; the strategies employed by FDR to address the Great Depression.

Relief

Immediate help for the unemployed and poor, including providing food and money.

Recovery

Programs aimed at restarting the flow of consumer demand to revive the economy.

Reform

Permanent changes to the economic system intended to prevent future depressions.

CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)

An agency that employed young men in environmental projects as part of the New Deal.

TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)

An agency that built dams to provide electricity to rural areas of the South.

AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act)

An act that paid farmers not to grow crops to raise farm prices.

FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)

An agency that insures bank deposits to prevent bank runs.

SSA (Social Security Administration)

An agency that provides old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

New Deal Coalition

A political alignment that brought together various groups to support the Democratic Party.

Isolationism

A national policy of avoiding involvement in foreign affairs.

Lend-Lease Act

A policy allowing the U.S. to lend arms to Britain and later the USSR and China during WWII.

Pearl Harbor

The Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, that prompted the U.S. entry into WWII.

War Production Board

An agency that managed the economy to support the U.S. war effort during WWII.

Rosie the Riveter

A cultural icon representing women who worked in factories during WWII.

Double V Campaign

A campaign by African Americans for victory against fascism abroad and against racism at home.

Executive Order 8802

An order issued by FDR banning discrimination in defense industries.

Executive Order 9066

An order authorizing the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

Korematsu v. United States

A Supreme Court case that upheld the internment of Japanese Americans as a military necessity.

D-Day (Operation Overlord)

The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, during WWII.

Island Hopping

A military strategy used by the U.S. in the Pacific theater of WWII.

Big Three Conferences

Meetings between the Allied leaders (FDR, Churchill, Stalin) to discuss post-war strategy.

Manhattan Project

A secret U.S. project to develop atomic bombs during WWII.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Japanese cities where atomic bombs were dropped by the U.S. in August 1945.

Cold War

The geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union after WWII.