Chapter 22 Vocab

price support

the maintenance of a price at a certain level through government interventiom

credit

an arrangement in which a buyer pays later for a purchase, often an installment plan with interest chrages

Dow Jones Industrial Average

a measure based on the prices of the stocks of 30 large companies, widely used as a barometer of the stock market's health

speculation

an involvement in risky business transactions in an effort to make a quick or large profit

buying on margin

the purchasing of stocks by paying only a small percentage of the price and borrowing the rest

Black Tuesday

a name given to October 29, 1929, when stock prices fell sharply

Great Depression

a period lasting from 1929 to 1940 in which the US economy was in severe decline and millions of Americans were unemployed

Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act

a law, enacted in 1930, that established the highest protective tariff in U.S. history, worsening the depression in America and abroad

shanty town

a neighborhood in which people live in makeshift shacks

soup kitchen

a place where free or low cost food is served to the needy

bread line

a line of people waiting for free food

dust bowl

the region including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico that was made worthless in the 1930s for farming by drought and dust storms

direct relief

the giving of money or food by the government directly to needy people

Boulder Dam

a dam on the Colorado River—now called Hoover Dam—that was built during the Great Depression as part of a public-works program intended to stimulate business and provide jobs

Federal Home Loan Bank Act

a law, enacted in 1931, that lowered home mortgage rates and allowed farmers to refinance their loans and avoid foreclosure

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

an agency established in 1932 to provide emergency relief to large businesses, insurance companies, and banks

bonus army

a group of WW1 veterans and their families who marched on Washington DC in 1932 to demand the immediate payment of a bonus they had been promised for military service

Alfred E Smith

the Democratic presidential candidate in the 1928 election and a NY governor in the 1920s

Herbert Hoover

31st President of the United States, mining engineer, author, and blamed for the Great Depression