Time Magazine Reports: The 1930s Quiz

Answer: 2000

After a year of reporting on bank closures as the American economy plunged, 'Time' finished 1930 with the closing of two major big city institutions. The December 22 issue brought news of the closing of the Bank of the United States in New York City after a run by depositors left it insolvent. A week later, 'Time' reported that customers of Bankers Trust Co. in Philadelphia found a sign on the door stating that the bank was closed and "in the possession of Peter G. Cameron, Secretary of Banking of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania".

The bleeding didn't stop in 1930. By 1933, 11,000 of the nation's 25,000 banks had disappeared. It was only after the election of Franklin Roosevelt and the enactment of major reforms that the banking industry in the US began to stabilize.

Also in 1930: cost of a loaf of bread $.09, a new Pontiac $745, Born August 21, Princess Margaret.

Answer: Hawke's Bay earthquake

'Time' began by describing a normal, uneventful Tuesday morning in Napier, on New Zealand's North Island. "Then the earth wobbled; stone buildings fell apart; wooden ones crumpled: Earthquake. A tidal wave tore over the sea wall, sucked the low-lying shore buildings into its wash. Fire broke out, swept over the debris, for scarcely one building remained erect in Napier".

Also in 1931: Price of gasoline $.10 per gallon, average price of a house in UK 600 Pounds, GM introduces Frigidaire, the first home refrigerator.

Answer: Bonus Expeditionary Force

The BEF (named to resemble the American Expeditionary Force sent to Europe in WWI) is now more commonly called the "Bonus Army". The veterans were unemployed due to the growing economic depression and wanted the government to immediately pay a bonus which was not due to them until 1945. On July 28, the District of Columbia government ordered police to force the marchers out and destroy their camp. The Hoover administration sent 1000 soldiers including cavalry and tanks to assist in the eviction. In the process, four veterans were shot and killed.

'Time's report told the story of William Hushka, one of the fatalities. Hushka was a Lithuanian immigrant who sold his butcher shop to join the Army in 1917. Discharged in 1919, he had been unable to secure stable employment. His wife left him, taking their daughter. After a long period without work, Time said "in June he joined a band of veterans marching to Washington to fuse with the Bonus Expeditionary Force. "I might as well starve there as here," he told his brother. At the capital he was billeted in a Government-owned building on Pennsylvania Avenue. One of thousands, he took part in the demonstration at the Capitol the day Congress adjourned without voting immediate cashing of the Bonus".

"Last week William Hushka's Bonus for $528 suddenly became payable in full when a police bullet drilled him dead in the worst public disorder the capital has known in years."

Also in 1932: Average annual US wages $1650, cost of first class postage increased to $.03, UK unemployment approaches 3 million.

Answer: 21st

Beginning in 1920, virtually all production and sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited in the US by the 18th Amendment and its enabling legislation the Volstead Act. With every year of its existence Prohibition lost popularity and finally 'wet' forces in Congress and the states overcame the political clout of the Anti-Saloon League, Woman's Christian Temperance Union and other 'dry' proponents. Congress passed the proposed 21st Amendment in February, 1933 and it was quickly ratified by the states before the year ended. A ratification convention made Utah the final state to approve the amendment despite opposition by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Also in 1933: US unemployment 25.2%, average monthly rent $18, Helen Wills Moody wins her sixth Wimbledon Singles title.

Answer: Win all five major Academy Awards

No film would sweep the major Oscars (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay) again until "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in 1975.

Had "It Happened One Night" been released later in the year, its two most memorable scenes might not have been allowed to stay in the film. In July the Hays Office and its 'decency code' went into full effect setting strict morality standards for American cinema. The scenes of Claudette Colbert lifting her skirt to show enough leg to attract a ride and of Clark Gable in his undershirt might not have been allowed.

Also in 1934: US Federal spending $6.54 billion, Italy defeats Czechoslovakia to win World Cup, Luxury Liner Queen Mary launched in Scotland.

Answer: Breaking the 300 mph barrier

Campbell's first land speed record was set in 1924 at 146.16 mph. His 1935 record, set at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah was 301.337 mph. Campbell's water speed record in the 'Blue Bird K4' wasn't set until August 1939 on Coniston Water, England.

Campbell's son, Donald, followed his father's quest for speed records. In 1964 he set both the water and land speed records - 276.33 mph on Lake Dumbleyung near Perth, Western Australia and 429 mph on the dry bed of Lake Eyre, in South Australia. Donald's Bluebird CN7 was the last non-jet powered car to hold the land speed record.

Also in 1935: Montreal Maroons win Stanley Cup defeating Toronto 3-0, cost of loaf of bread $.08, Italy invades Ethiopia.

Answer: Spanish Civil War

Describing the initial movements of Nationalist forces, 'Time' reported that "last week telephone operators in Paris, Lisbon and Genoa kept telling people trying to get a line into Spain that the trunk lines to that country had all gone dead. They stayed dead for some 16 hours. Early next morning one short message came over the wire: ''There have been incidents... The number of victims is not yet known."

By the end of the Spanish Civil War in April, 1939 about a half million people had died of all causes, 200,000 of them in combat.

Also in 1936: US unemployment 16.9%, China declares war on Japan, BBC begins scheduled TV broadcasting.

Answer: Appalachian Spring

'Time,' pointing out the broad scope of Gershwin's musical contributions, noted, "If songs like Somebody Loves Me, I Got Rhythm, Embraceable You, Let's Call the Whole Thing Off were ephemeral, Gershwin at least had the satisfaction of hearing a nation sing them. In the Pulitzer Prize musicomedy Of Thee I Sing, nothing was more memorable than his fantastic song, Of Thee I Sing, Baby. Raffish tunes from his Negro opera Porgy and Bess (I Got Plenty of Nothin', A Woman Is a Sometime Thing, It Ain't Necessarily So), stole into the fanciest record albums in the U. S."

Appalachian Spring was composed by Aaron Copland.

Also in 1937: cost of tube of toothpaste, $.35, US gunboat 'Panay' sunk by Japanese forces, 'War Admiral' wins Triple Crown.

Answer: Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Ontario

'Time' reported that when Honeymoon Bridge fell, "it did not blow down like its predecessor or collapse-its piers were knocked out from under it. Ice, blown by gales out of Lake Erie and over the falls, piled up 90 ft. high in the river, ground into the bridge's unprotected piers set near water level. After 30 hours it simply pushed the base of the big 840-ft. arch at the U. S. end from its pier and the bridge fell."

Honeymoon Bridge was replaced by the Rainbow Bridge, built near the same site. Rainbow Bridge opened to the public in November, 1941.

Also in 1938: US minimum wage $.25 per hour, cost of hamburger $.13 per pound, Enrico Fermi wins Nobel Prize in Physics.

Answer: Operation Pied Piper

Pied Piper didn't get underway until fighting had begun in Poland. London's city government wanted to begin removing children in August but the Chamberlain government hesitated, fearing that the evacuation might cause public panic. Finally on September 1 the orders went out and, as 'Time' reported, "Metropolitan homes were emptied of their children. On the whole, when mothers accompanied children to live with strange families in the countryside, the arrangement was carried out with good-natured tolerance by both families. But not always. In the excitement and instability of change, the visiting children broke things, fought with their young hosts, ran wild."

In 1941, Anna Freud, daughter of the famous psychiatrist, conducted a study of Operation Pied Piper. She concluded that "separation from their parents is a worse shock for children than a bombing".

Also in 1939: Siam renames itself Thailand, US population passes 130 million, average cost of new house $3800.