Image: Shutterstock
About This Quiz
The Great Depression began in 1929 and lasted until 1939, wreaking havoc in the United States and in the global economy. How well do you know one of the most difficult times in U. S. history?
What was FDR's program for combating the Depression?
New Deal
The program included the creation of dozens of government agencies, including the Securities anad Exchange Commission.
Dust Bowl
Welfare Act
The Doctrine of War
Advertisement
What president helped vanquish the Great Depression?
Abraham Lincoln
John F. Kennedy
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Once in office, he made it his mission to end the depression.
Gerald Ford
Advertisement
What was the popular movie where the main character got swept up by a tornado to a magical land?
"The Wizard of Oz"
The movie was released in 1939 by MGM and was a box-office flop that barely broke even and wouldn’t make a profit until the 1949 re-release put it firmly in the black.
"How the West was Won"
"Lord of the Rings"
"Harry Potter"
Advertisement
What war finally brought the United States out of The Great Depression?
WWI
WWII
The economic demands of World War II finally put a lid on the hard times.
Korea
Cold
Advertisement
________ peaked.
Births
Marriages
Suicides
The average suicide rate for the previous thirty years had been 17.8 per 100,000 people. That rate rose to 20.5 in 1931, with a total of 20,000 suicides for the year.
Employment
Advertisement
The stock market hit an all-time high on _______?
August 3, 1928
September 3, 1929
Professionals and amateurs bought shares "on-margin" meaning it was through credit and not cash.
September 3, 1940
August 3, 1930
Advertisement
The stock market crashed on ______?
October 3, 1930
December 25, 1941
October 24, 1929
This date in history is named Black Thursday, when security values lost six billion dollars.
October 24, 1930
Advertisement
What was a Hooverville?
A vacuum cleaner company.
A group of people.
A makeshift community.
A community made up for shanties, shacks, and packing crates, usually set up near a dump so that residnets could pick over garbage for tehir meals.
A new business.
Advertisement
President _______ refused to deliver Federal Aid.
Hoover
He thought aid would sap the initiative of the middle class and make them lazy.
Kennedy
McKinley
Johnson
Advertisement
Within six months of the crash _________ Americans were out of work?
One million
Three million
Four million
By winter of 1931, eight million Americans were unemployed, by the end of 1931, 13.5 million.
Five million
Advertisement
Many Americans went without ______ and _____ in their homes.
TV, cable
Gas, electricity
People barely had money for food. Utilities was a luxury.
Dishwasher, oven
Internet, X-box
Advertisement
What replaced meat as the main meal?
Beans
If a person cpuld not afford food, he or she wuld have to scrunge through the garbage.
Ramon noodles
Rice
Pizza
Advertisement
The main sponsor of the American bread lines was ______?
Walmart
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army was founded in London's East End in 1865 by one-time Methodist Reform Church minister William Booth and his wife Catherine.
Krogers
IGA
Advertisement
What hit song defined the period and became the lament of a nation?
"Dance Party USA"
"Timber"
"Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"
Written in 1930 by lyricist E. Y. "Yip" Harburg and composer Jay Gorney, and sung by Bing Crosby.
"Broken"
Advertisement
Over a __________ banks failed and closed in 1930?
Dozen
Thousand
Rumor of impending closing frequently brought out mobs of depositors and investors who tried to pull tehir money out before the bank went under.
Hundred
Million
Advertisement
What was a Hoover blanket?
A clean piece of paper.
A vacuum bag.
A newspaper.
Because many slept in the streets after being unemployed for months; a derogatory reference to President Herbert Hoover.
A set of fireworks.
Advertisement
What was a bank holiday?
Celebration
National Holiday
Bankers hours
Temporary closure
The banks would close temporarily to prevent "runs" from panicky depositors.
Advertisement
What would the movie theaters do to draw a larger audience?
Let them in for free.
Give away popcorn.
Host a "bank night."
One night a week, a certain amount of money, or dishes, were given away to the lucky person or family whose name or number was drawn.
Add in extra cartoons.
Advertisement
A breakup was ______?
Heart breaking
Bread crumbs
Broken bread crusts and bread that faied to rise that was sold cheaply by bakeries to the poor.
For lovers only.
Ground beef
Advertisement
Young men would hang out in a social club called a _________?
Back yard
Cellar club
The social clubs were in the cellars of tenement buildings in large cities.
Dollar club
Convenience store
Advertisement
What was the Civillian Conservation COrp?
Put the homeless to work.
Put youths to work.
An organization initiated as part of the New Deal to pit 500,000 youths to work in national forests and parks.
Put women to work.
Put animals to work.
Advertisement
What was a free food dump?
Place to burn food.
Place to dump edible food.
Any open spot near a Hooverville or otehr location where free food was dumped, free for teh taking, by restaurants, organizations, and proviate citizens.
Place to bury food.
Place to dump people.
Advertisement
A Hoovercart was _______?
Was a hovering skateboard.
A mule-pulled automobile.
Originated amoung North Carolina farmers who were too poor to buy gasline and spare parts.
An automobile powered by a vacuum cleaner.
A jet-powered shopping cart.
Advertisement
Another name for empty pockets was _____?
Hoover flags
Another disparaging reference to President Herbert Hoover.
Dust bunnies
Hollow echos
Sad pockets
Advertisement
The NRA stood for ________?
National Recovery Administration
The NRA was a governnment agency thagt was part of teh New Deal to legislate prices and wages abd to administer codes of fair practice as means of countering the effects of the Depression. The Supreme Court declared the agency illegal in 1935.
Nimrods Ran Amok
National Rifle Association
New Rabbits Association
Advertisement
Oakies were _________?
Criminals
Refugees
The refugees were from the Midwest dust bowl and packed up all their belongings by the thousands and headed west in search of a better life.
Football team
Wrath of Khan
Advertisement
No ___________ program existed during the Despression.
National relief
Only 1/4 of the people who qualified for relief actually received any help as there wasn't any funds avilable.
National drugs
National weapons
National wars
Advertisement
People had dance parties called _______ to raise money.
Footloose
Dance Party USA
Rent parties
The dance party was held at a person's home to collect money from neighbors to help pay the rent. Music was usually swing or jive.
Booze gatherings
Advertisement
A popular humorist of this era was _______?
Jon Stewart
Stephan Colbert
Will Rogers
He had a down-home wit that cut politicans down to size and elevated teh hard-working little guy.
James Corden
Advertisement
In 1932 the ________ kicked 700,000 vagrants from its trains.
Southern Pacific Railroad
The railroad was founded as a land holding company in 1865, later acquiring the Central Pacific Railroad by lease.
Union Railroad
B & W Railroad
Reading Railroad
Advertisement
More than ________ children roamed the U.S. as drifters during the Depression.
100
2,000
200,000
The Children's Bureau was a government agency formed in 1912 by activists Florence Kelley and Lillian Wald dedicated to childrens issues.
2,000,000
Advertisement
The __________ work week was adopted.
Seven-day
Five-day
Millions of people who usually worked six days per week increasingly had Saturdays off.
Mid-day
Four-day
Advertisement
________ outpaced immigration.
Emigration
Many Americans sought jobs in Russia.
Deaths
Marriages
Births
Advertisement
The most popular slogan of 1930 was _______?
"How the west was won."
"Chin-up, it'll get better."
"Hard work will be repaid."
"Prosperity is just around the corner."
President Herbert Hoover said this at a dinner of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States on May 1, 1930.
Advertisement
Who was a popular actor during the Great Depression?
Jimmy Stewart
Hank Allen
Clark Gable
Clark Gable solified his heart-throb status in "Gone with the Wind," the movie about a romance set during the American Civil War was released in 1939.
Burt Lancaster
Advertisement
You Got:
/35
Shutterstock