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Hoovervilles were makeshift shantytowns of homeless people during the Great Depression, built from scavenged materials and named derisively after President Herbert Hoover, who was blamed for the economic crisis. -
Herbert Hoover's tenure as the 31st president of the United States began on his inauguration on March 4, 1929, and ended on March 4, 1933. Hoover, a Republican, took office after a landslide victory in the 1928 presidential election over Democrat Al Smith of New York. -
The stock market crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a period of steep decline in U.S. stock prices in late October 1929, particularly on Black Thursday (October 24) and Black Tuesday (October 29). It was caused by a combination of factors, including a speculative boom, buying on margin, rising interest rates, and the collapse of an overheated economy, leading to widespread panic, bank failures, and the start of the Great Depression. -
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, passed in 1930, was a U.S. law that significantly raised import duties to protect American farmers and manufacturers during the early Great Depression. However, it triggered retaliatory tariffs from other countries, leading to a drastic reduction in global trade and helping to worsen the economic downturn. -
The Dust Bowl was an environmental and economic disaster in the Great Plains region of the U.S. during the 1930s, characterized by severe drought and dust storms that destroyed farmland and caused mass migration -
Bank failures accelerated throughout the Great Depression, particularly during periods of banking panics in the years 1930-1933. Key events included the failure of the Bank of United States in December 1930, the major national banking crisis of 1931, and the widespread closures that culminated in President Roosevelt's national Bank Holiday in March 1933. Overall, the period saw approximately 9,000 bank failures, with the highest rates occurring between 1930 and 1933. -
The Scottsboro Boys case involved nine African American teenagers who were falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931. The highly publicized series of trials and retrials became a symbol of racial injustice in the American South and produced two landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions that reshaped criminal law -
The Bonus Army was a protest in Washington, D.C., in 1932, where thousands of World War I veterans and their families marched to demand the early payment of a bonus they were promised for their service. The veterans set up shantytowns, but their demand was met with opposition from President Hoover and was ultimately rejected by Congress. -
The 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), also known as the Wheeler-Howard Act, reversed U.S. assimilation policies by promoting tribal self-governance and ending the harmful land allotment process -
A bank holiday is a public holiday when banks and other financial institutions are closed, most often due to a federal holiday. In the United States, these holidays include New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. While most physical bank branches are closed, online banking services often continue to operate. -
The FDIC was created by the Banking Act of 1933 and signed into law on June 16, 1933, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its establishment was a direct response to the Great Depression, a period marked by thousands of bank failures and widespread public panic. The FDIC's primary purpose is to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation's financial system by insuring bank deposits, thereby preventing bank runs and protecting depositors' funds. -
Roosevelt began on January 20, 1941, when he was once again inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States, and the fourth term of his presidency ended with his death on April 12, 1945. Roosevelt won a third term by defeating Republican nominee Wendell Willkie in the 1940 presidential election. -
The Black Cabinet was an organized but unofficial group of African-American advisors to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. African-American federal employees in the executive branch formed what they called the Federal Council of Negro Affairs to work to influence federal policy. -
The purpose of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chats was to directly communicate with and inform the American public, build trust and confidence in his leadership, explain complex issues in simple terms, and foster national unity and morale during the Great Depression and World War II. -
The National Housing Act of 1934, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 27, 1934, was a New Deal law that established the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to stimulate the housing market during the Great Depression -
The Social Security Act is a foundational U.S. federal law, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935, that created the social insurance program to provide income to retired workers, as well as benefits for survivors and people with disabilities