What single event precipitated the start of the Depression?
stock market crash (loses ½ its value) due to over-inflated
prices
What were the two sources of bad debts that caused so many banks to
fail at the start of the Depression?
Loans to farmers and investments in the Stock Market
What President was blamed for the start of the Great Depression?
Herbert Hoover
What was Hoover’s basic approach to solving the problems of the Great
Depression?
Staying hands off, “rugged individualism”
Why was Hoover opposed to direct relief?
He thought it would create a large gov’t, hurt America’s pride, and
make people dependent
What were Hoover’s two attempts at direct gov’t action? What did they
try to do?
Federal Farm Board (loans and cooperatives) and the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation (loans to banks and businesses)
Name two religious/charitable organizations that tried to provide relief
during the Depression.
Red Cross, Salvation Army, mutualistas
What were some common themes in popular culture during the Depression?
Fighting to the top, beating the odds, escaping to paradise
What were “Hoovervilles”?
settlement camps for the homeless
What photographer is famous for capturing the face of the Depression?
Dorothea Lange
What was the Dust Bowl?
destruction of millions of acres of farmland in OK & TX because
of drought and wind
What was the Bonus Army? How did the gov’t deal with them?
WWI vets who wanted their bonus early, dispersed by force (US Army
troops)
Where did unemployment peak during the Great Depression?
25%
How much did GNP fall during the Great Depression?
25%
Who defeated Hoover in the election of 1932?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
What was his plan to solve the Great Depression called?
the New Deal
What were his three areas of focus in this plan?
relief, recovery, and reform
What was the Agricultural Adjustment Administration responsible for?
Regulating crop prices & productions with subsidies & by paying
people not to farm
How did conservatives view the New Deal?
1st step towards socialism (too much gov’t involvement)
What was the most controversial part of the New Deal? What did
it ask people to do?
NRA (nat’l recovery administration), comply with voluntary min. wage
& other regulations
What org. brought electricity to rural areas?
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Who employed young men to work at road construction at forest preservation?
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
What did FDR try to do when the Supreme Court rejected parts of the
New Deal?
Pack the court (add six justices who agreed with his ideas)
Who was the charismatic senator from Louisiana that promised to “Share
Our Wealth”? What happens to him?
Huey Long, shot by a political rival
Who was Father Coughlin? Who did he blame the GD on?
RC priest in Detroit, Jewish bankers and capitalists
What group did you join to be a part of the radical response to the
Great Depression?
Communist party
How did FDR respond to pressure from these critics and groups like
the Communist Party?
The Second New Deal
What were the two biggest parts of the “2nd New Deal”?
Social Security and the Works Progress Administration
What does Social Security provide?
Benefits for the elderly and disabled
What major event eventually pulled our country out of the GD?
World War II