The Great Depression Trivia

1. What Roosevelt New Deal agency was known as the CCC?

From Quiz New Deal Agencies

Answer: Civilian Conservation Corps

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public works program for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families. It ran from 1933 to 1942. Apart from providing jobs during the Great Depression, it established, among other benefits, a conservation program and projects in every state, building and upgrading parks, planting trees, and building public roadways in remote areas.

From Quiz The Great Depression Programs

Answer: Agricultural Adjustment Act

This program paid farmers *not* to grow certain crops.

From Quiz A People's History of the Great Depression

Answer: 42

As Zinn states on page 382, "prosperity was concentrated at the top". This, though, is not a trend unique to the 1920s. The rich versus poor gap also grew in the 2000s.

From Quiz Are You Familiar with the New Deal?

Answer: Herbert Hoover

In the 1932 election was a veritable landslide victory for Roosevelt. He in fact won the election with about seven million more votes than Hoover. This was the biggest victory recorded in an American presidential election up to that time.

From Quiz The Great Depression in America

Answer: October, 1929

On October 23, the Dow Jones lost an average of 21 points AN HOUR. Thursday October 24, 1929 was called Black Thursday because it was a devastating time for investors who suddenly saw how over-priced their stocks were, and that the market would crash. The Dow Jones continued to fall till July, 1932, when it 'bottomed out' at around 48 points.

From Quiz The Great Depression Era

Answer: 1929

The much-feared stock market crash eventually materialised on October 24, 1929, as frightened investors started liquidating massive quantities of expensive shares of stock. On "Black Thursday," a record 12.9 million shares were exchanged. Five days later, on October 29, popularly referred to as "Black Tuesday," about 16 million shares were moved as a result of yet another wave of panic that rocked Wall Street. Millions of shares lost all of their value, completely ruining investors who had purchased shares with borrowed money. The stock market plummeted for a number of reasons. The United States' economy grew quickly following the end of World War I due to the production of steel, automobiles, and social advancements; the stock market also advanced quickly during this time. There were lots of jobs available. That era is now referred to as the "Roaring Twenties." Not everyone, though, felt the advantages. By 1929 many products were sold at a loss because of overstock, which was caused by overproduction on the part of farmers and steel and iron companies, as well as overinflated shares prices. Share prices then began to fall, and this was the start of the Great Depression.

From Quiz New Deal Agencies

Answer: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

The FDIC is an independent agency created by the Banking Act (1933). It provides insurance for each deposit ownership category up to a specified amount. It is funded only by premiums that financial institutions pay for deposit insurance and by U.S. Treasury securities earnings.

From Quiz The Great Depression Programs

Answer: Works Progress Administration

The Works Progress Administration also hired musicians, artists and writers.

From Quiz The Great Depression

Answer: Franklin Roosevelt

The president was Franklin Roosevelt, who created the "New Deal" in an attempt to alleviate the Depression.

From Quiz Are You Familiar with the New Deal?

Answer: Democrats

As a democrat, FDR believed that government should have taken an active role and interfered in people's lives to prevent the rich benefiting at the expense of the poor. Up to that moment, Hoover had governed under Republican ideas (the "Rugged Individualism" belief), and by not interfering in a moment of crisis such as the Great Depression, he became more and more unpopular among the people. This is one of the reasons why Roosevelt won the elections.

From Quiz The Great Depression Era

Answer: Herbert Hoover

Many people attributed Coolidge's policy choices for the country's economic collapse. Given that thousands of farmers lost their properties and almost 5,000 rural banks in the Midwest and South declared bankruptcy, it appears that his failure to support the struggling agricultural industry was misguided. His tax cuts fueled the overproduction of goods and the unequal distribution of wealth. Herbert Hoover took over from Coolidge and ran as the 31st President of the United States between 1929 and 1933. He was a Republican who was the head of the government at the start of the Great Depression. Between 1931 and the winter of 1932, bank runs once more ravaged the country, and thousands of banks had closed by the beginning of 1933. Hoover's administration attempted to provide government loans to failing banks and other organisations in response to this grave scenario. The idea was that the banks would then lend to businesses, allowing the latter to rehire their staff. Hoover, who had previously held the position of Secretary of Commerce for the United States, held the view that the government had no business becoming involved in the economy directly, nor should it be responsible for generating jobs or helping its citizens out financially.

From Quiz The New Deal

Answer: Too costly

The CWA was created by emergency act and with a short term goal of helping the nation through the winter of 1933-34. Harry Hopkins was appointed director. The goal was to pay competitive wages to participants from professional engineers to unskilled labor. About four million workers benefitted from the program. The CWA's workers laid 12 million feet of sewer pipes, built or improved 255,000 miles of roads, 40,000 schools, 3,700 playgrounds, and nearly 1,000 airports. They also found time to upgrade 250,000 outhouses in rural areas. However, the cost of the program was nearly a billion dollars (about eighteen billion in today's economy). When Roosevelt realized the cost, he moved swiftly to end it and develop less expensive alternatives.

From Quiz New Deal Agencies

Answer: Federal Housing Administration

The FHA was established as part of the National Housing Act of 1934. It sets standards for construction and underwriting, and provides mortgage insurance to individuals for loans made by financial institutions.

From Quiz The Great Depression

Answer: Hoovervilles

These "towns" were called Hoovervilles, also known as "cardboard jungles". Other items were named after him too, such as "Hoover Blankets" which were newspapers that served as blankets.

From Quiz Are You Familiar with the New Deal?

Answer: Action, and action now.

"Prosperity is just around the corner" was said by Hoover, poor little man, who didn't believe that the Depression would last long, so he did nothing to help the people, who were suffering. One of the banners carried in a demonstration read: "In Hoover we trusted, and now we are busted!".

From Quiz The Great Depression Era

Answer: 80 percent

Overinflated shares prices and the selling of shares at a loss was the main cause of the financial collapse. Between 1930 and 1933, industrial equity values fell by over eighty percent. Both ordinary investors and banks lost substantial amounts of money in the stock market. A large number of other people who were unable to pay back their bank loans were also impacted. As the recession worsened, many were forced to withdraw their money. The withdrawals occurred during a period when banks were finding it extremely challenging to collect on a variety of loans. From January 1930 to March 1933, almost nine thousand banks failed. The bank collapses resulted in millions of individuals losing their savings.

From Quiz New Deal Agencies

Answer: National Labor Relations Board

The NLRB, established in 1935, is an independent government agency that is charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and dealing with and resolving unfair labor practices.

From Quiz The Great Depression Programs

Answer: It was the first minimum wage Act

The first minimum wage was $0.25 per hour.

From Quiz A People's History of the Great Depression

Answer: the economy was fundamentally unsound

Accoring to Zinn (p386), Galbraith further points to "very unhealthy corporate and banking structures, an unsound foreign trade, much economic misinformation, and the bad distribution of income".

From Quiz The Great Depression

Answer: Curtisvilles

They were named after the vice-president, Curtis.

From Quiz Are You Familiar with the New Deal?

Answer: Brain Trust

Since conditions in the USA were terrible, Roosevelt asked for extra powers in order to act quickly. The Congress organised a special session which lasted for 100 days (8 March - 16 June 1933) and gave Roosevelt the same authority as if the country was being invaded.

From Quiz The New Deal

Answer: World War Two

When US participation in World War Two started, the nation adopted military conscription. Ironically, the same population group that formed the nucleus of the CCC were also a target group to be drafted, that is, young males and unemployed. In addition, Roosevelt asked all federal agencies to reorganize their priorities to abet the war effort. From 1933 to 1942 the CCC was a haven for young, unemployed single men, The CCC primarily worked on ecological and conservation issues. They served six month assignments and were provided with housing and meals and paid 30 dollars a month, of which 25 dollars was allocated to their families. They worked 40 hours a week and 10 of those hours were devoted to education as few had finished high school.

From Quiz New Deal Agencies

Answer: Securities and Exchange Commission

The SEC was established in 1934. It is a federal agency charged with enforcing federal securities laws, regulating the securities industry, and proposing rules and regulations for securities.

From Quiz The Great Depression Programs

Answer: Civilian Conservation Corps

This program was similar to the Civil Works Administration, which created jobs for improving and constructing bridges.

From Quiz A People's History of the Great Depression

Answer: Henry Ford

However, in many ways Ford was better than many to his workers. He started the 40 hour work week and believed in hiring quality employees and paying them well in order to keep them (Zinn, p. 387).

From Quiz Are You Familiar with the New Deal?

Answer: Relief, Recovery, Reform

"Relief" was aimed at relieving extreme poverty (i.e. feeding the hungry and clothing the poor). "Recovery" meant getting USA industry going again. "Reform" concerned making the USA a better place for ordinary people to live in.

From Quiz The Great Depression Era

Answer: Dust Bowls

There were two reasons for the Dust Bowl. In an attempt to boost food production, the Great Plains saw the conversion of huge tracts of land that had been covered with grasses, which served to retain moisture in the topsoil and hold the soil in place, to farmland. Farmers were able to plant a large area during this period of time thanks to the availability of tractors and other mechanical agricultural equipment. Due to increased demand, cattle and crops saw high prices during World War I. Production did not change after World War I, but demand did. The surpluses caused a decline in prices. Farmers, who were already struggling, saw their situation worsen when the severe weather arrived, with livestock dying and crops not growing. With his "New Deal," which paid farmers to reduce output in order to raise agricultural prices, Franklin Roosevelt did try to assist, but the lack of rain between 1934 and 1936 made things much worse for farm families.

From Quiz The New Deal

Answer: Works Progress Administration (WPA)

The WPA became the cornerstone of New Deal work programs. There are few areas where the WPA did not have an effect such as post offices, airports, roads, and sidewalks. Many of these are gone as time and progress has taken its toll. From 1935 to 1942 eight million people worked for the WPA, the peak being 1938 with 3.3 million workers. World War Two reduced the need for federal work programs. My father had to quit school at 16 to help support his family. The WPA was his first real job. He earned 18 dollars a week, enough to pay the rent and put food on the table. He worked in war plants during WW2 but entered the building trades in the post war era and became a union leader.

From Quiz New Deal Agencies

Answer: Social Security Administration

The SSA, formed by the Social Security Act passed in 1935 and amended many times since then, covers many programs such as retirement, disability benefits, and Medicare.

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