The 1928 Election, Herbert Hoover, and the Onset of the Great Depression

Vocabulary flashcards covering key people, factions, events, and concepts from the 1928 election, Herbert Hoover’s rise, and the lead-up to the Great Depression.

Drys

Southern, rural, white Protestant Democrats who fiercely supported Prohibition in the 1920s.

Wets

Northern, urban, largely Catholic Democrats who opposed Prohibition and backed its repeal.

Alfred E. Smith

Four-term New York governor; first Catholic major-party presidential nominee (Democrat, 1928); vocal anti-Prohibition "wet."

Tammany Hall

New York City Democratic machine that fostered immigrant political power and launched Al Smith’s career.

Hoover Democrats

Southern voters who traditionally backed Democrats but chose Republican Herbert Hoover for president in 1928.

Solid South

Former Confederate states that habitually voted Democratic; only six remained blue for Smith in 1928.

Great Engineer

Nickname for Herbert Hoover, highlighting his successful global mining career and technical expertise.

Great Humanitarian

Title earned by Hoover for leading wartime food relief through the Commission for Relief of Belgium.

Commission for Relief of Belgium

Hoover-led WWI nonprofit that fed millions of starving Europeans, boosting his international reputation.

Great Mississippi Flood of 1927

Disastrous flood along the Mississippi River; Hoover directed massive, though racially flawed, relief efforts.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

1928 treaty where dozens of nations renounced war as a tool of national policy.

American Individualism

Hoover’s 1922 book advocating limited government, voluntary cooperation, and community-minded individualism.

Agricultural Marketing Act (1929)

Hoover law creating the Federal Farm Board to stabilize farm prices and reduce crop surpluses.

Buying on Margin

Purchasing stocks with borrowed funds, fueling the speculative bubble before the 1929 crash.

Irving Fisher

Yale economist who wrongly declared stock prices had reached a "permanently high plateau" in 1929.

Hoover’s Worldview

Belief in limited yet active government, voluntary cooperation, anti-socialist caution, and confidence in personal ability.

Ku Klux Klan (1920s)

White supremacist group overlapping with some Democratic dry fundamentalists but opposed by others like Bryan.

Prohibition

1920–1933 constitutional ban on alcohol production and sale; major fault line between drys and wets.

Free-Silver Populists

Democratic faction led by William Jennings Bryan advocating silver coinage and agrarian reforms.

Hard-Money Democrats

Faction typified by Grover Cleveland favoring the gold standard and low tariffs, opposing free silver.

Herbert Hoover

31st U.S. president (1929-1933); Commerce Secretary, engineer, relief organizer, Republican landslide victor in 1928.

Stock Market Crash of 1929

October 1929 collapse in share prices that signaled the start of the Great Depression.