Chapter 11 - The Great Depression Begins

Alfred Smith

4 time goernor of New York; first Roman catholic to win major party's nomination for president

stock market

A system for buying and selling shares of companies

bull market

long period of rising stock

margin

buying a stock by paying only a fraction of the stock price and borrowing the rest

margin call

the demand of the investor repaying the loan all at once

speculation

the practice of making high-risk investments with borrowed money in hopes of getting a big return

black tuesday

A name given to October 29, 1929, when stock prices fell sharply in America's history

bank run

takes place where many depositors decide to withdraw their money at one time, usually because the feat that the bank is gong to collapse

installment

buying an item on credit with a monthly plan to pay off the value of the good

baliffs

court officers; ejected the nonpaying tenents

hobos

open-road wanderers who traveled the country by walking, hitchhiking or "riding the rails."

Dust Bowl

A nickname for the Great Plains regions hit by drought and dust storms in the early 1930s that affected farmers

william faulkner

novelist developing new writing techniques; shows what his characters are thinking and feeling before they speak

grant wood

famous painter in the 1930s; styles were referred to as the regionalist school

public works

government financed building projectes

reconstruction finance corporation

what Hoover requested Congress to make loans to buisinesses

relief

money given directly to impoverished families

foreclosed

to take possession of a property from a mortgagor because of defaults on payments

hawley smoot tariff

raised the average tariff rate to the highest level in American history; failed to help American buisinesses , because foreign countries responded by raising their own tariffs.

soap operas

shows that were nicknamed this because they were often sponsored by makers of laundry soaps

john steinbeck

added flesh and blood to journalist's reports of poverty and misfortune; his writing evoked both sympathy for his characters and indignation at social injustice

bonus army

Group of WWI vets. that marched to D.C. in 1932 to demand the immediate payment of their goverment war bonuses in cash

Groucho Marx

Comic star of stage and screen who was one of the many people wiped out financially in the stock market crash

shanty towns

Unplanned slum development on the margins of cities, dominated by crude dwellings and shelters made mostly of scrap wood, iron, and even pieces of cardboard.

walt disney

Film maker, cartoonist, visionary. He developed many famous characters as well as amusement theme parks.