The Great Depression Flashcards
After a period where farmers were farming more in an attempt to make more money after WWI, a drought began in 1931 and lasted for eight years creating dust storms in the Great Plains.
dust bowl
As economic conditions worsened, Hoover created this for federal relief in 1932. It set aside two billion dollars in taxpayer money to rescue banks, credit unions, and insurance companies. Unfortunately, the money only went to large banks and people didn’t have money to put into the banks anyways.
reconstruction finance corporation
Created by Roosevelt in 1933, this insured personal bank deposits up to $2,500.
federal deposit insurance corporation
Part of the relief, recovery, and reform efforts in FDR’s New Deal, this required full disclosure to the federal government from all corporations and investment banks that wanted to market stocks and bonds and promotes fair dealing, the disclosure of market information, and prevents fraud. It still exists today.
securities and exchange commission
This federal agency was tasked with the job of planning and developing the area through flood control, reforestation, and hydroelectric power and focused around the Tennessee River. It also taught crop rotation, soil replenishment, and reforestation, but displaced many families in its massive construction projects.
tennessee valley authority
This was Herbert Hoover’s main spirit of volunteerism among American businesses, in which he asked them to keep workers employed and told people they could succeed, they just needed to ‘work harder.’
rugged individualism
This involved getting a loan from a bank and using the money to invest in more stocks and things than you can actually afford with the money you have, and lead to banks not having enough money near the beginning of the Great Depression.
buying on margin
Roosevelt signed this in 1938 which established a federal minimum wage, a maximum work week of forty hours, and prohibited child labor.
fair labor standards act
Hoover’s resistance to government aid caused his name to become common for the homeless shanty towns known as these.
hoovervilles
This was an established program intended to help the most vulnerable: the elderly, the unemployed, the disabled, and the young. It included a pension fund for retired people (left out African Americans and Women) and allowed people over 65 to be paid on a payroll tax.
social security
One of the most notable protest movements centered around this expeditionary force in which fifteen thousand veterans of WWI marched on Washington to demand early pay of their veteran bonuses at that time instead of later in 1945. Their request was rejected in July by the Senate.
bonus army
This work program provided government jobs for young men aged fourteen to twenty-four who came from relief families. They would earn 30 dollars per month for planting trees, fighting forest fires, and helping build infrastructure.
civilian conservation corps
