Great Depression

Hoovervilles

A "Hooverville" was a shanty town built during the Great Depression by the homeless in the United States of America. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States of America during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it.

international trade

High tariffs were a means not only of protecting infant industries, but of generating revenue for the federal government.

hoover dam

In the early 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation devised plans for a massive dam on the Arizona-Nevada border to tame the Colorado River and provide water and hydroelectric power for the developing Southwest.

dust bowl

The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion

federal reserve system

The Federal Reserve Banks became operational during World War I. Their first major task was to support the U.S. Treasury's wartime financing needs.

deportation

The rounding up and deportation of several hundred immigrants of radical political views by the federal government in 1919 and 1920. This "scare" was caused by fears of subversion by communists in the United States after the Russian Revolution.

economic welfare

a branch of economics dealing with human welfare, the defining of wealth, and the establishment of guides for social policy aiming at the maximization of total individual utilities. First Known Use: 1920

bread line

a group of needy persons waiting in line for free food to be distributed by a government agency or charitable organization.

speculation

speculation is also the practice of engaging in risky financial transactions in an attempt to profit from short term fluctuations in the market value of a tradable financial instrument

repatriation

to bring or send back (a person, especially a prisoner of war, a refugee, etc.) to his or her country or land of citizenship.

Smoot- Hawley tariff

was an act implementing protectionist trade policies sponsored by Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley and signed into law on June 17, 1930. The act raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods.

saturation

the act or process of saturating.

the Great Depression

the economic crisis and period of low business activity in the U.S. and other countries, roughly beginning with the stock-market crash in October, 1929, and continuing through most of the 1930s.

Bank Failure

wave of banking panics or "bank runs," during which large numbers of anxious people withdrew their deposits in cash, forcing banks to liquidate loans and often leading to bank failure.

A bank Run

A bank run occurs when a large number of customers of a bank or another financial institution withdraw their deposits simultaneously due to concerns about the bank's solvency.

over speculation

A cause of the stock market crash in 1929; buying stocks with borrowed money.

Stock Market

A severe downturn in equity prices that occurred in October of 1929 in the United States, and which marked the end of the "Roaring Twenties." The crash of 1929 did not occur in one day, but was spread out over a two-week period beginning in mid-October.

Herbert hoover

After his election as president in 1920, Harding rewarded Hoover for his support, offering to appoint him as either Secretary of the Interior or Secretary of Commerce.