KS4 Period Study: Economic Downturn & Recovery (USA 1929–2000)

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering the Wall Street Crash, the Great Depression, President Hoover's response, and President Roosevelt's New Deal.

Balanced budget

A financial approach where the government does not spend more money than it takes in.

Bonus Army

World War I (WWI) veterans who marched in 1932 demanding the early payment of war bonuses, whose Washington camp was cleared by force on President Hoover's orders.

Demand

The desire and willingness of people wanting to buy goods and services.

Dust Bowl

An area of farmland damaged by severe dust storms in the 1930s, ruining farming across Oklahoma and other states.

Hobo

An unemployed migrant wandering the country desperately looking for work.

Hooverville

A nickname given to shanty towns of unemployed, homeless people during the Great Depression.

Okies

Poor farming families and migrant farmers from Oklahoma and other states who migrated to California looking for work.

Republican

A conservative US political party that favoured balanced budgets and rugged individualism during the Depression.

Rugged individualism

The Republican belief that Americans are responsible for their own lives and should not expect help from the government.

Shares

Units representing the ownership of a small part of a company.

Wall Street Stock Exchange

The financial market where shares of companies are bought and sold.

Wall Street Crash

The collapse of the US stock market in October 1929 caused by the panic selling of shares.

Great Depression

A massive economic and social slump triggered by the Wall Street Crash, leading to widespread business collapse and upwards of $13\text{ million}$ unemployed by 1933.

Emergency Relief Act

A 1932 act passed by President Hoover providing $\$300\text{ million}$ to state governments to help the unemployed, widely considered 'too little too late'.

Democrat

A liberal US political party.

Federal

Relating to the national government of the United States.

New Deal

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's series of policies and direct federal programs designed to tackle the Great Depression.

Three Rs

The three foundational principles of F.D. Roosevelt's New Deal: Relief, Recovery, and Reform.

Fireside chats

Radio broadcasts given by President Roosevelt to communicate directly with the public and reassure them that his plans would work.

Alphabet Agencies

The nickname given to the various government organisations created under the New Deal to improve different aspects of the US.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

A New Deal Alphabet Agency that built $29$ hydroelectric dams, supplied electricity to $7$ states, controlled flooding, and provided jobs for $9{,}000$ people.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

An Alphabet Agency that provided outdoor conservation work to $0.5\text{ million}$ unemployed men aged $18\text{--}25$, housing them in camps and paying $\$30$ per month.

Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)

An Alphabet Agency that paid farmers to produce fewer crops to end overproduction and raise food prices, while assisting with farm modernisation and mortgages.

Landslide

An overwhelming or huge victory in an election, such as Roosevelt's victories in 1932 and 1936.

Mortgage

A legal loan taken out on a property.

Dam

A physical barrier built to hold back water and create a reservoir.

Hydroelectric

Electricity generated from the energy of moving water.

Recession

A period of economic downturn that is less severe than a full depression, such as the one that increased US unemployment in 1937.

Supreme Court

The highest court of law in the United States, which ruled several New Deal government actions to be unconstitutional.

Unconstitutional

Not permitted or allowed by the constitution (the governing rules) of a country.

Huey Long

A Democratic senator who argued that F.D.R.'s policies were merely a short-term fix and demanded higher taxes to share wealth more equally.