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
How did the Dust Bowl affect life in the U.S.? Many people lost farms & were forced to relocate
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? How much support did he enjoy in the election? Franklin Delano Roosevelt, won in a landslide which gave him a mandate
What was his plan to solve the Great Depression called? What did he call his big start toward recovery? the New Deal, the First Hundred Days
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 was the intended effect of big public works programs (TVA, WPA, etc.)? Government spending employs people and stimulates aggregate demand
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 happened to him? Huey Long (promised $5,000 to every family, 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 represented the far right response to the Depression? What country did they think the U.S. should emulate? Fascists, Nazi Germany (Hitler solved the GD by preparing for WWII before everybody else)
What group did you join to be a part of the radical response to the Great Depression? Why was it popular? Communist party, many believed the Soviets’ command economy was successfully handling the problems of the Depression
What law allowed major industrial unions to make gains during the Depression? What union used this to organize entire industries? Wagner Act (NLRA), Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
What were the major provisions of the Wagner Act? Businesses had to negotiate with workers who successfully formed a union, unions could take grievances to the NLRB
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 did Social Security provide? How did it impact the workforce? Benefits for the elderly and disabled, shrunk it by inventing the concept of retirement
What are three significant long term changes brought about by the New Deal? Government takes responsibility for Agriculture, the elderly and disabled, and takes a much more hands on approach to the economy
What major event eventually pulled our country out of the GD? World War II