The Roaring Twenties and the Great Crash 1920-32

The Roaring Twenties and the Great Crash, 1920-32

Chapter 15

1.      What was the “Great Twenties Myth?” p.533 

2.      According to the authors, what were the real causes of the Great Depression? Pg.533-534

3.      What did Andrew Mellon discover happened when taxes were raised/cut on the wealthy? The poor? Pg. 535. 

4.      If “Silent Cal” Coolidge was so quiet, withdrawn, and unsocial as the public was used to in a president, why, do you think, was he successful? Pg. 537

5.      What caused the severe drop in labor union memberships? Pg. 538

6.      How did competition in the auto industry affect the economy and industry in general? Pg. 539.

7.      Why did Prohibition fail? Pg. 541 

8.      How did elites like F. Scott Fitzgerald feel about the increasing prosperity of the middle class? Pg. 544

9.      What caused hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic? Pg. 545-546.

10.   What was the flaw in Secretary of State Hughes’ proposal to “cancel production entirely on all those battleships currently under construction”? pg. 546

11.   What was the Kellogg-Briand Act? Pg. 547

12.   What three factors were said to have caused the Crash of October 29, 1929? Pg. 550-551

13.   How did the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 contribute to the Great Depression? Pg. 552

14.   How did Hoover speed up the depression process by attempting to “band-aid” the economy? Pg. 553 

15.   Scary! See any similarities between Hoover’s meaningless “fixes” and today’s bailouts and feeble attempts at “saving” the economy? Pg. 554

16.   How is Obama a mirror image of FDR? Pg. 555

17.   How were FDR’s policies simply a continuation of Hoover’s? Why didn’t people recognize that? P. 556