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WorksheetsBoom to Bust - USA 1929 - 33
Total questions: 23
Worksheet time: 14mins
By 1929, how many Americans owned shares?
1 million
5 million
10 million
20 million
Possible reasons for the Wall Street Crash?
American hopes of sharing in the American Dream - unrealistic
Unrealistic valuation of US businesses (over confidence)
Unregulated banking system
Panic trading
When was 'Black Thursday?'
October 24th 1928
October 29th 1928
October 24th 1929
October 29th 1929
How many shares were ‘traded’ on October 29th, indicating a drastic loss of confidence?
1.6 million
16 million
6 million
600,000
What is the term used to borrow money from banks in order to buy shares?
Investing
Speculating
Buying on the margin
True of the stock market crash…
Caused by loss of confidence leading to panic selling
Was an indication the economy was overheating (companies overvalued)
It was the MAIN cause of the USA’s depression
It contributed to but was not the MAIN cause of the depression
True of the financial crisis by 1932..
5000 banks failed
Wages fell by 60%
9 million US citizens lost their savings
The stock market quickly rebounded back to health
How many people where unemployed at the height of the Great Depression?
1 in 3
1 in 4
1 in 5
Long term causes of the depression
Overproduction + underconsumption
No regulation of the banks (too much lending = too much debt)
c.40% of the population lived on or below the poverty line
High wages
High share values
Features of the US depression of the 1930s
High unemployment (20-25%)
50% decline in industrial output / production
Fall in GDP by 30%
Bankruptcy, homelessness and poverty
Higher wages
True of poverty between 1929 and 1933?
45 died in New York hospital from starvation
Tens of thousands were dependent on ‘bread lines’ for food
Over 250,000 US teenagers became ‘hobos’
250,000 Americans lost their homes
How many people were made homeless by the Oklahoma Dust Bowl & droughts?
5 million
1.5 million
0.5 million
50,000
Who were migrant farm workers?
Those who emigrated to the US from a foreign country, looking for farm work
Those who moved around the USA from farm to farm, looking for work
It is a term for the farmers who overworked the land and caused the Dust Bowl
Those who migrated from the USA to a different country, looking for farm work
True or false: John Steinbeck, 'Of Mice and Men' author, was a migrant farm worker.
True
False
Where did many of the migrant farm workers go?
California
Oklahoma
New York
Canada
Hoover’s response to the economic problems…
Relied on charity to assist the homeless
Underestimated the crisis - said, ‘prosperity is just around the corner’
Introduced Government public works schemes - e.g Hoover Dam ($300million)
Introduced Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act,
Provided $2 billion in reconstruction finance to banks
What name was given to the shanty towns which sprung up during the depression?
Roosevelt’s retreats
Harding’s hovels
Hoovervilles
Coolidge’s camps
Why the Hawley - Smoot tariff was criticised?
Caused a trade war with Europe
It made it easy for foreign goods to be imported to the US
How many war veterans arrived in Washington DC for the Bonus Army March?
10,000
25,000
40,000
50,000
True of the Bonus Marchers…
War veterans
wanted payment of a war bonus promised to them brought forward
Marched on Washington, mid 1932
We’re paid immediately
Had to wait until 1936 for their payment
What was President F. D. Roosevelt’s election pledge to the US people ?
A Rescue Deal
A New Deal
One Deal
A Done Deal
What ‘different’ about Roosevelt’s New Deal?
It was based on balancing the budget
It was based on Keynesian economics - government spending
It rejected the idea of ‘rugged individualism’
It involved regulation of the banks
How many states chose FDR in his landslide 1932 election victory?
33/48
38/48
42/48
46/48
