2013-2014 Final Exam Review8th Grade Social Studies

PART 4: Great Depression, WWII, Cold War

Crash of 1929• Speculation in stocks

and a consumer culture based on credit led to panic, bank runs and inflation.

• Anger at President Hoover led to shantytowns of unemployed being called Hoovervilles.

The New Deal• During the New Deal years of the Great

Depression, the role of the federal government would drastically increase to meet the needs of the failing economy.

• FDR created a series of relief programs, for example, the Social Security Act, which established a system of unemployment insurance and pensions for retired workers.

• The New Deal also created an era of deficit spending, in which the government spent more money than it had to try and provide relief to Americans.

TO DO LIST: #1- HELP BANKS

• FDR’s first order of business was to get the banking system in order

• On March 5, one day after taking office, FDR declared a bank holiday (closed banks for four days) to stop the bank failures.

TO DO LIST: #2-

GET PEOPLE

TO WORK• Tomorrow you

will learn about the programs put into place by FDR to get people back to work.

#3: KEEP THE PEOPLE INFORMED

• FDR communicated to Americans via radio

• His frequent “Fireside Chats” kept Americans abreast of the government’s efforts during the Depression

World War IIpulled the U.S. out of the Great Depression

U.S. Enters the War• The U.S. entered

the war after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

• The U.S. forced Japanese-Americans into internment camps until the end of the war. (The government paid reparations to Japanese Americans).

Outcomes of WWII

• The Holocaust (discovery of the Final Solution)

• Nuremburg Trials– Trial for the highest

ranking Nazi members. Convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.

• Creation of the United Nations: designed to promote world peace.

The Cold War• Marshall Plan: a plan

for aiding the European nations in economic recovery after World War II, proposed by U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall in 1947

• Korean War & Vietnam War: both were Cold War efforts to contain communism.

• Cuban Missile Crisis: tense 13 day standoff between the United States and Soviet Union over the placement of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Current Events

• What places in the world are struggling against dictators?

• Where else do we see people fighting for civil rights?

• Who is the current president? Vice president? Governor of NY?