America: Opportunity and Inequality - American Society during the Depression

Question 1

what caused the Wall Street Crash?

Answer 1

• overproduction - by 1929, American factories were overproducing, making goods faster than they could sell them - profits were beginning to fall
• foreign governments had put tariffs on US-made goods to encourage consumers to buy goods made in their own country
• speculation - in September 1929, a few cautious people began to sell their shares. they were worried that they wouldn’t get their share of the company profits at the end of the year

Question 2

what was the wall street crash?

Answer 2

• on 24 October 1929, 13 million shares were sold (5x more than a normal day) - this is known as “Black Thursday”
• on the 29th of October 16 million shares were sold, the Average price of a share dropped to 40 cents, and shareholders lost $8000 million

Question 3

why did banks go bankrupt?

Answer 3

• when share prices fell, investors couldn’t sell their shares for enough to be able to pay their bank back in full
• when lots of people couldn’t pay their loans back, banks went bankrupt

Question 4

how were factory owners affected by the Wall Street Crash?

Answer 4

• in 1927, Americans bought 4.5 million cars but car factories could not sell a quarter of that total by 1930
• this is called underconsumption
• factory owners were forced to cut production, then wages, and eventually started to sack workers

Question 5

how were factory workers affected by the Great Depression?

Answer 5

• many factory workers lost their jobs. The closure of one factory could affect all sorts of other businesses in the area too
• there were no workers to eat at a local restaurant or visit the newsagent or hairdresser

Question 6

how were ordinary shareholders affected by the Great Depression?

Answer 6

• they often had to pay off their bank loans by selling their valuable belongings such as cars
• some people even struggled to pay their rent and faced homelessness

Question 7

how were bank managers affected by the Great Depression?

Answer 7

• banks loaned out huge amounts of money in the 1920s
• many people spent it buying shares
• when they couldn’t pay the money back, the bank went bankrupt and bank managers and their staff lost their jobs

Question 8

how were the very rich affected by the Great Depression?

Answer 8

• some of the upper classes lost some of their wealth but they often had lots of property and land to fall back on
• they did still have to make some changes, e.g. sacking chauffeurs and cleaners doing the work themselves

Question 9

how were farmers affected by the Great Depression?

Answer 9

• with less money coming in, some farmers couldn’t afford to pay their debts or mortgages
• they faced losing their farms and having to sack their workers

Question 10

which party did Hoover belong to and which political idea?

Answer 10

• Republican party - believed it wasn’t the government’s role to interfere too much in the daily lives of citizens

Question 11

what was Hoover’s early political career like?

Answer 11

• he did a lot to help the starving in Europe after WWI
• he became president in 1928 when many Americans were making loads of money and could afford luxuries

Question 12

what idea did Hoover have for dealing with the Depression and why were these so poorly received by Americans?

Answer 12

• he believed Americans were “rugged individuals” and decided to let America recover on its own - this made him look uncaring

Question 13

how did Hoover respond to the Depression?

Answer 13

• in January 1930, Hoover confidently announced that America had now passed “the worst” of the Great Depression
• eventually, Hoover took steps to improve things. He set up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which lent money to businesses in trouble and made small loans to farmers
• Hoover also set up a huge road and dam building programme that created construction jobs
• in 1930, Hoover introduced the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, which made foreign goods even more expensive, hoping this would force Americans to get out and buy again. Other nations tax US goods brought into their countries, so American exports dropped dramatically and even more businesses failed
• in 1932, Hoover made $300 million available to states that they could use to help the unemployed - but the states didn’t want help from the Federal Government and only $30 million was ever actually given out

Question 14

how were unemployment rates affected by the Great Depression?

Answer 14

• around 13 million people had lost their jobs by 1932 - nearly 25% of the labour force
• around 250,000 Americans stopped paying their mortgages in 1932 alone and within weeks most were evicted from their homes
• many took to living on the streets
• one family in New York moved it a cave in Central Park

Question 15

what were “hobos” and “hoovervilles”?

Answer 15

• hobos were people who travelled illegally on the tops of trains
• the camps, made of urban waste ground, were called Hoovervilles, a sarcastic reference to President Hoover, whom many felt wasn’t doing enough

Question 16

what were “breadlines”?

Answer 16

• charities set up soup kitchens where the homeless could get soup and bread. The huge queues were known as breadlines
• in 1932, the charity YMCA was giving away 12000 free meals a day in one small district
• many people were reduced to begging or picking over rubbish dumps earning a few cents a day sorting bottles or cans

Question 17

how were there problems on farms during the Great Depression?

Answer 17

• by 1932, one in 20 farmers had been evicted
• hundreds of landowners moved away due to the Dust Bowl
• with so many people unemployed, farmers couldn’t get good prices for their food
• those who could keep a farm suffered droughts

Question 18

how was violence and protest during the Great Depression?

Answer 18

• the biggest protest by far took place during the summer of 1932 when 25,000 unemployed ex-soldiers marched to Washington DC and asked for their war pension to be paid early
• in response, Hoover set the army on them
• some people united to organise protests calling for change
• poor farmers used guns and pitchforks to chase away government officials who tried to evict farm owners who couldn’t pay mortgages

Question 19

how old was Herbert Hoover in 1932?

Answer 19

58

Question 20

what was Hoover’s background?

Answer 20

• he was orphaned by 8, worked as a gold miner and eventually became a multimillionaire

Question 21

how old was Roosevelt in 1932?

Answer 21

50

Question 22

what political party was Roosevelt?

Answer 22

Democratic Party

Question 23

what was Roosevelt’s background?

Answer 23

• he had very rich parents and was educated at home with private tutors until he was 14 when he went to an expensive private school and then studied law at Harvard

Question 24

how was Roosevelt’s political career?

Answer 24

• he had an important job organising the navy during the First World War
• he went back into politics in 1928 becoming governor of New York

Question 25

what were Roosevelt's policy ideas?

Answer 25

relief - help old, sick and homeless recovery - government schemes to provide jobs reform - make America a better place for ordinary people and ensure another Depression could not happen

Question 26

what do historians believe made Roosevelt likeable?

Answer 26

- some historians believe that FDR's disability helped him empathise with ordinary people - Voters liked him because he had overcome great personal difficulties - they thought he had the right experience to help America recover from the Great Depression

Question 27

who won the 1932 election?

Answer 27

- FDR won a staggering election victory - in 1932 there were 48 states in America and 42 of them chose FDR - this was the biggest-ever victory recorded in a US election