Chapter 23: The Great Depression

• Black Tuesday 


  October 29th, 1929, the day the U.S. stock market crashed
• Causes of the Great Depression

  (1) Prosperity based on only a few industries

  (2) Unequal distribution of wealth

  (3) Credit structure (farmers deeply in debt, production outweighed demand)

  (4) High protective tariffs

  (5) Debt structure
• Dust Bowl


  "black blizzards" (dust storms) in areas of land from eastern Colorado to western Missouri, Texas-North Dakota
• The Grapes of Wrath was a novel by John Steinback about the Dust Bowl and Great Depression
• Okies

  families that moved from the Dust Bowl to other areas, especially California
• Scottsboro Case

  9 African American teens accused of raping two white women. Eventually all were released but they were at first sentenced death (with little evidence)
• Spanish Civil War

  ->some Americans supported the republican government

  ->fascist gov. of Francisco Franco had the support of Hitler and Mussolini
• The American Communist Party

  Popular front: radicals of the American Communist Party that worked to gain more popular support

  (both were mainly under rigid supervision of the Soviet Union)
• Agricultural Marketing Act

  established the first major government program to help farmers maintain prices - a federally sponsored Farm board would make loans to national marketing cooperatives or establish corporations to buy surpluses & thus raise rates
• What significant event occurred on October 29, 1929?

  The stock market crash known as Black Tuesday
• What is buying on margin?

  Buying stock by paying a small percentage upfront
• Why is buying on margin risky?

  It can lead to significant losses if stock prices fall
• What was a significant problem for farmers in the 1920s?

  They were deeply in debt and faced overproduction
• What was the purpose of the Dawes Plan in 1924?

  To help Germany pay off World War I debt
• How did the Dawes Plan function financially?

  It rescheduled loans and circulated money among countries
• What was the impact of the banking crisis on the money supply?

  The money supply decreased significantly
• How did unemployment affect perceptions of individuals during the Great Depression?

  Many associated unemployment with personal failure
• What was a notable soup kitchen opened during the Great Depression?

  One opened by Al Capone in Chicago
• What was the Dust Bowl?

  A severe drought affecting the Midwest
• Which novel is famously associated with the Dust Bowl?

  The Grapes of Wrath
• What were "Okies" during the Great Depression?

  People who migrated from the Dust Bowl to California
• What was the Scottsboro case?

  A case involving nine falsely accused African-Americans
• How many Mexican Americans were living in the United States during the Great Depression?

  Two million
• Who was a famous photographer during the Great Depression?

  Dorothea Lange
• What was the purpose of FDR's Fireside Chats?

  To communicate directly with the American public
• What was Hoover's approach to the Great Depression?

  He urged volunteerism and feared deficit spending
• What was the Hawley-Smoot Tariff?

  A very high protective tariff
• What were Hoovervilles?

  Shantytowns built by homeless people
• What was the purpose of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation?

  To provide loans to banks and businesses
• What was the Bonus Army's demand?

  To receive their promised bonuses early
• Who led the Army that broke up the Bonus Army?

  General MacArthur
• What was the outcome of the Bonus Army incident?

  It resulted in violence and negative publicity for Hoover
• Who won the election of 1932?

  Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• What was FDR's pledge known as?

  The New Deal
• When was FDR inaugurated?

  March 4, 1933
• What crisis did FDR face upon taking office?

  The worst banking crisis in US history