Section 1: Causes of the Depression
Terms/People to know:
Hawley-Smoot Tariff, Great Depression, speculation, business cycle
Section main ideas:
1. How did the uneven distribution of wealth weaken the American economy.
2. Why was recovery so difficult after the stock crash?
3. How did these events affect the nation’s workers and businesses?
Section 2: Americans Face Hard Times
Terms/People to know:
bread line, Hooverville, tenant farmer, Okies
Section main ideas:
1. How were the experiences of the urban unemployed and the rural poor similar? How were they different?
2. How do you think the arrival of so many Okies affected native Californians?
3. Where might Americans have laid the blame for their difficulties during the early 1930s?
8.2 Affects on Rural:Urban living
Section 3: Hoover’s Response Fails
Terms/People to know:
localism, RFC, Hoover Dam, Bonus Army
Section main ideas:
1. How did Hoover’s views on government influence his response to the depression? Give two examples.
2. What facts show that Hoover’s policies to reverse the depression failed?
3. Is the competition fostered by capitalism a positive force in societies?