The Great Depression

Great Depression

the economic crisis beginning with the stock market crash in 1929 and continuing through the 1930s

Herbert Hoover

Republican candidate who assumed the presidency in March 1929 promising the American people prosperity and attempted to first deal with the Depression by trying to restore public faith in the community.

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929; date of the worst stock-market crash in American history and beginning of the Great Depression.

bankrupt

to be out of money; financially ruined; to "break the bank"

Overproduction

goods are not purchased as quickly as they are produced; one of the causes of the Great Depression

Soup Kitchens

These were places where poor U.S. citizens could go and get free meals.

Public works

projects such as highways, parks, and libraries built with public funds for public use

Hoovervilles

Depression shantytowns, named after the president whom many blamed for their financial distress

Bonus Army

1932 - Facing the financial crisis of the Depression, WW I veterans tried to pressure Congress to pay them their retirement bonuses early. Congress considered a bill authorizing immediate assurance of $2.4 billion, but it was not approved. Angry veterans marched on Washington, D.C., and Hoover called in the army to get the veterans out of there.

FDR

Roosevelt, the President of the United States during the Depression and WWII. He instituted the New Deal. Served from 1933 to 1945, he was the only president in U.S. history to be elected to four terms

Polio

A highly contagious infectious disease of the spinal cord caused by a filterable virus. FDR was strict with Polio from 1921 to the rest of his life.

Bank Holiday

All the banks were ordered to close until new laws could be passed. An emergency banking law was rushed through Congress. The Law set up new ways for the federal government to funnel money to troubled banks It also required the Treasury Department to inspect banks before they could re-open.

Fireside Chats

informal talks given by FDR over the radio; sat by White House fireplace; gained the confidence of the people

New Deal

A series of reforms enacted by the Franklin Roosevelt administration between 1933 and 1942 with the goal of ending the Great Depression.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

an agency, established as part of the New Deal, that put young unemployed men to work building roads, developing parks, planting trees, and helping in erosion-control and flood-control projects.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

an agency created in 1933 to insure individuals' bank accounts, protecting people against losses due to bank failures

Wagner Act

1935, also National Labor Relations Act; granted rights to unions; allowed collective bargaining

Collective Bargaining

Process by which a union representing a group of workers negotiates with management for a contract

Social Security Act of 1935

Provided old-age pension (retirement), and a program of unemployment insurance (temporary aid to help people who lose jobs to find a new job), and federal welfare program (aid for very poor).

Court Packing Plan

President FDR's failed 1937 attempt to increase the number of US Supreme Court Justices from 9 to 15 in order to save his 2nd New Deal programs from constitutional challenges