Topic 2 - The Depression

Question 1

Growth of unemployment

Answer 1

Unemployment grew → 1.5 mil (1929) to 13 mil (1933)
National wage bill in 1932 was only 40% of 1929 figure

Question 2

Collapse of GDP

Answer 2

Fell from $103 billion in 1929 to $56 billion by 1932
National growth rate fell → -14.7% (1932) from 6.7%

Question 3

Problems with credit and banking

Answer 3

Credit (borrowing) became extremely difficult
Over 10,000 banks failed between 1929 and 1932

Question 4

Effects on industries

Answer 4

Aviation did surprisingly well → airline passengers increased from 500,000 in 1932 to 12 million by 1938
Coal industry fell by 300,000 between 1929 and 1932
Car sales fell → 4.5 million in 1929 to 11 million in 1933

Question 5

Homelessness and Hoovervilles

Answer 5

Hoovervilles → Homes of tin, wood and cardboard
Several hundred thousand people lived in Hoovervilles

Question 6

Families and Agriculture

Answer 6

Marriages fell → 1.2 million in 1929, to 980,000 by 1932
Suicide increased → 14 per 100,000 (1929) to 17.4 (1932)
Farm prices fell and demand fell

Question 7

Ethnic minorities

Answer 7

Black Americans 4-6 times more likely to be unemployed
Native Americans largely lived in poverty
400,000 Hispanic Americans deported to Latin America

Question 8

Women

Answer 8

Women faced dismissal before male employees, whilst already being banned from employment in ½ of USA

Question 9

Belief → American Individualism

Answer 9

Provided opportunity, anyone could become successful
People should solve problems themselves, not government

Question 10

Attempts to combat depression

Answer 10

Appeared optimistic → revealed that he was out of touch
Blamed world economic conditions - WW1, war debt
Measures designed to protect the USA

Question 11

Smoot- Hawley Tariff

Answer 11

July 1930 → highest tariff in US history, 40% on imports
Fall in international trade → $1.2 billion by 1931
Foreign countries raised their own tariffs in response

Question 12

Repudiation of war debts

Answer 12

June 1931 → USA postponed collection of war debts
This was an attempt to help countries trade again
Ultimately failed → countries remained too poor

Question 13

Unemployment Relief

Answer 13

$500,000 from Congress to help charities and relief grps
Gave only $47m to help the South (1931) through loans

Question 14

Federal Home Loan Bank Act

Answer 14

Intended to save mortgages by making credit easier
Loans no more than 50% of the value of property

Question 15

Reconstruction Finance Corp.

Answer 15

Lent up to $2b to financial institutions in trouble
50% of loans went to 7 largest banks → limited impact

Question 16

Emergency Relief and Construction Act

Answer 16

Authorised RFC to lend $1.5b to states for public works
Eligible states had to be bankrupt → limited impact

Question 17

The Bonus Army

Answer 17

Went to Washington to demand war pensions early
Forcibly moved on by military in scenes of brutality