Warning Signs of Trouble
This risky investment habit of the 1920s involved people betting on quick stock profits with little concern for danger.
Speculation
The dramatic collapse of stock values in 1929 is commonly known as this event.
The Stock Market Crash
Families who lost their homes often lived in makeshift shantytowns known by this nickname.
Hoovervilles
He won the 1932 election by promising bold action and renewed hope.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
This major work-relief program created jobs building roads, parks, and public structures.
WPA
Many investors purchased stocks using borrowed money—this strategy magnified the damage of the crash.
Buying on margin
When banks failed in the early 1930s, Americans often saw this happen to their life savings.
They lost their money
This environmental disaster destroyed crops and farmland in the Great Plains.
Dust Bowl
Roosevelt reassured anxious Americans with these informal radio messages.
Fireside Chats
This program hired young men to plant trees and carry out conservation projects.
CCC
Americans in the 1920s relied heavily on this purchasing method, allowing them to buy consumer goods without paying full price upfront.
Buying on credit / installment buying
This president was in office during the crash and preferred limited federal intervention.
Herbert Hoover
Many migrant farm families fleeing the Great Plains for California were commonly labeled as these.
Okies
The wide-ranging reforms launched under FDR are collectively known as this.
The New Deal
This regional initiative built dams and brought electricity to rural communities in the Tennessee Valley.
TVA
Tariff hikes by the U.S. intensified the global downturn because foreign nations did this in response.
Retaliated by raising their own tariffs
At its peak, unemployment reached about this percentage.
25%
The Bonus Army marched on Washington demanding early payment of this wartime compensation.
Veterans’ bonus
The three goals of the New Deal were Relief, Recovery, and this final principle.
Reform
This agency was designed to regulate the stock market and prevent abuses.
SEC
This general attitude of financial overconfidence encouraged people to take dangerous risks in the late 1920s.
Economic optimism / overconfidence
Large crowds withdrawing money out of fear that banks might collapse created this crisis.
Bank runs
Americans turned to this inexpensive entertainment for emotional escape from daily hardships.
Movies / movie theaters
This agency helped restore trust in banks by protecting deposits.
FDIC
This 1935 law established pensions for seniors and aid for the disabled and poor.
Social Security Act