The 1930s & The Great Deppression

Herbert Hoover

The 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933.

Black Tuesday

On October 29 more than 16 million shares were traded. The Dow lost another 12 percent and closed at 198—a drop of 183 points in less than two months.

Tariff

A tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. 

Fiscal Policy

The use of government spending and taxation to influence the economy. Governments typically use this to promote strong and sustainable growth and reduce poverty.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act

Increased U.S. tariffs on agricultural imports and more than 20,000 imported goods. The tariffs imposed were the second-highest in American history. The goal was to protect American farmers who were most affected by the Great Depression.

Revenue Act of 1932

Raised United States tax rates across the board, with the rate on top incomes rising from 25 percent to 63 percent. The estate tax was doubled and corporate taxes were raised by almost 15 percent.

Franklin Roosevelt

The 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. The longest-serving U.S. president, he is the only president to have served more than two terms.

The New Deal

A series of domestic programs, public work projects, and financial reforms and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, with the aim of addressing the Great Depression, which began in 1929.

Fireside Chats

A series of evening radio addresses given by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, between 1933 and 1944.

The Dust Bowl

A series of droughts combined with non-sustainable agricultural practices led to devastating dust storms, famine, diseases, and deaths related to breathing dust. This caused the largest migration in American history.

Emergency Banking Act

A bill passed in the midst of the Great Depression that took steps to stabilize and restore confidence in the U.S. banking system. It came in the wake of a series of bank runs following the stock market crash of 1929.

National Industrial Recovery Act

A US labor law and consumer law passed by the 73rd US Congress to authorize the president to regulate industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery.

Works Progress Administration

An American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers to carry out public works project. including the construction of public buildings and roads. It was set up on May 6, 1935, by presidential order, as a key part of the Second New Deal.

Civilian Conservation Corps

A voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28.

National Recovery Administration

A agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate "cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and government together to create codes of "fair practices" and set prices. 

Civil Works Administration

A short-lived job creation program established by the New Deal during the Great Depression in the United States in order to rapidly create mostly manual-labor jobs for millions of unemployed workers.

Glass Steagall Banking Act

Separated commercial banking from investment banking and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, among other things. It was one of the most widely debated legislative initiatives before being signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in June 1933.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

A United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks.

Federal Housing Administration

A United States government agency founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, established in part by the National Housing Act of 1934.

Social Security Act

A law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935. The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law was part of Roosevelt's New Deal domestic program.

Hoover Dam

A concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed between 1931 and 1936, during the Great Depression, it was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over 100 lives. 

Inflation

The rate of increase in prices over a given period of time. Inflation is typically a broad measure, such as the overall increase in prices or the increase in the cost of living in a country.

Deflation

A widespread and sustained decrease in prices in the economy. Although lower prices may seem like a good thing, deflation can in fact be highly damaging to the economy.

Unemployment Rate

The share of the labor force without work. The labor force is the total number of employees, the self-employed, unpaid family workers, and the unemployed.

Tennessee Valley Authority

A federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Hoovervilles

Shanty towns built during the Great Depression by the homeless in the United States. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it. The term was coined by Charles Michelson.

Oakies

A person identified with the state of Oklahoma, or their descendants. This connection may be residential, historical, or cultural. Due to various factors, they have developed their own distinct culture within larger social groupings both akin to and separate from Midwestern and Southern influences. Included are their own dialect, music, and Indigenous-derived folklore.

Federal Arts Project

A New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. It was created not as a cultural activity, but as a relief measure to employ artists and artisans to create murals, easel paintings, sculpture, graphic art, posters, photography, theatre scenic design, and arts and crafts.

Farm Security Administration

A New Deal agency created in 1937 to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression in the United States.

Security Exchange Act

Requires disclosure of important information by anyone seeking to acquire more than 5 percent of a company's securities by direct purchase or tender offer. Such an offer often is extended in an effort to gain control of the company.

Rural Electrification Adminstration

Provided federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems to serve isolated rural areas of the United States.