Great Depression - Answers a severe, world wide economic crisis which lasted from the end of 1929 to
the outbreak of World War II in 1941.
Black Tuesday - Answers October 29, 1929; the day the stock market crashed. Lead to the Panic of 1929
Bull Market - Answers period of increased stock trading and rising stock prices
Stock - Answers a certificate documenting the shareholder's ownership in the corporation
Buying on Margin - Answers An option that allowed investors to purchase a stock for only a fraction of
its price and borrow the rest
margin call - Answers Demand by a broker that investors pay back loans made for stocks purchased on
margin.
Stock Market - Answers A general term used to describe all transactions involving the buying and selling
of stock shares issued by a company.
speculation - Answers buying shares, betting that the stock market will continue to climb , and then
selling the stock to make money quickly
Hawley-Smoot Tariff - Answers The highest import tax in American history to increase jobs by preventing
cheaper European goods from entering the country, which was countered by Europe's tariffs and was a
major failure because it killed international trade and deepened the Great Depression.
Herbert Hoover - Answers 31st U.S. President. 1929-1933. Republican, U.S. president during stock
market crash, who rejected the Progressive emphasis on activist government to pursue a program of
minimal business regulation, low taxes, and high tariffs; encouraged businesses to regulate themselves,
his belief in "rugged individualism" kept him from giving people direct relief during the Great
Depression.
Dust Bowl - Answers the dried up lands of the Great Plains that resulted from a severe drought and over
farming.
Hoovervilles - Answers Shantytowns that the unemployed built in the cities during the early years of the
Depression; the name given to them shows that the people blamed Hoover directly for the Depression.
Reconstruction Finance Corporation - Answers Part of Hoover's plan to fix the economy during the
Depression. This organization was set up by Congress to make loans to businesses
Bonus Expeditionary Force ("Bonus Army") - Answers Thousands of World War I veterans, who insisted
on immediate payment of their bonus certificates, marched on Washington in 1932; violence ensued
when President Herbert Hoover ordered their villages cleared.
, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) - Answers the 32nd president of the United States. He was president
from 1933 until his death in 1945 during both the Great Depression and World War II. He is the only
president to have been elected 4 times, a feat no longer permissible due to the 22nd Amendment to the
Constitution.
The Three Rs - Answers Refers to FDR's plan of Relief, Recovery, and Reform. Relief - RELIEF for the
unemployed and poor;government would provide jobs,food and money directly to the people.
RECOVERY of the economy to normal levels for example government paid farmers to stop
overproducing crops. REFORM of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.- see SEC, FDIC
Bank Holiday - Answers FDR Closed all banks until government examiners could investigate their
financial condition; only sound/solvent banks were allowed to reopen
Public works - Answers government-financed building projects
Election of 1932 - Answers the Republican nominee President Herbert Hoover and the Democratic
nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt won with 472 electoral votes and all but 6 states. His victory
paved the way for his "New Deal' policies and optimism in the country "nothing to fear but fear itself
(Inauguration speech)." Democrats also won control of both houses of Congress
New Deal - Answers Franklin Roosevelt's economic reform program designed to solve the problems of
the Great Depression
Hundred Days - Answers the time between March 9 and June 16, 1933, when the Democratic party
contolled Congress passed many laws to try to deal with the Great Depression
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - Answers a government agency set up to regulate the stock
market and prevent fraud
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) - Answers a law enacted in 1933 to raise crop prices by paying
farmers to leave a certain amount of their land unplanted, thus lowering production to raise the value
(price) for crops.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) - Answers Relief:New Deal program created by the Unemployment
Relief Act. It provided employment in government camps for 3 million men. The work they were
involved in included reforestation, fire fighting, flood control, and swamp drainage.
Glass-Steagall Act - Answers Reform: It separated banks into different categories. The banks couldn't
gamble with the investments, so the investments were kept safe; protected bank depositors; forced a
separation between commericial banking and investment banking
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) - Answers government-run company created by the 1933
Glass-Steagall Act to prevent bank runs & to reform the banking system; (2) it still exists & requires all
banks to pay into a government fund that is used to guarantee that individuals will not lose their bank
savings, even if individual banks fail (go bankrupt)