Depresh Mode

Credit

an arrangement which consumers agreed to buy now and pay later for purchases, often an installment plan (usually in monthly payments) that included interest charges.

Speculation

Act of buying stocks at great risk with the anticipation that the price will rise.

Buying on Margin

Purchasing stock with a little money down with the promise of paying the balance at sometime in the future

Black Tuesday

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

Great Depression

the period from 1929 to 1941 in which the economy was in severe decline and millions of people were out of work.

dust bowl

Region of the Great Plains that experienced a drought in 1930 lasting for a decade, leaving many farmers without work or substantial wages.

shantytown

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.

soup kitchen

a place where free food is served to the needy.

bread line

a line of people waiting for free food.

direct relief

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

Herbert Hoover

31st president. President during the great depressions who didn't believe the government was responsible for helping the nation.

Boulder Dam

The biggest public works project of the early great depression which spanned the Colorado river and provided cheap electricity for many people in americas southwes

Federal Home Loan Bank Act

Lowered mortgage rates for homeowners and allowed farmers to refinance their farm loans and avoid foreclosure.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

January 1932. Authorized to provide emergency financing to banks, life insurance companies, railroads, and other large businesses.

Bonus Army

A group of unemployed World War 1 veterans and their families who marched on Washington D.C. to demand immediate payment of a bonus they had been promised for military service.

Dow Jones Average

30 representative stocks used to monitor the price changes on the New York stock exchange