U.S. HistoryName: Per:

Worksheet: Presidential Responses to the Great Depression

Directions: Some of the questions below are based on your textbookhowever other questions ask you for your opinion, thoughts, or ideas based on what you know (loosely based on information found on pgs. 321 – 361). If I’m asking an opinion-based question or something not directly in the textbook, there is not necessarily one correct answer, I just want you to try your best and explain your rationale.

  1. Based on the above scenario, what group of people do you think will be most hurt but the economic crash? Why? (consider pgs. 328 – 333)
  1. If you were in that situation at the time, what could you do to find a paying job?
  1. How do you think unemployed & impoverished people helped each other?

CAUSES / EFFECTS
Unregulated stock-based economy
Superficial (unrealistic) prosperity levels
Unequal distribution of wealth
Problems in industry & farm sector
Increasing consumer debt
Stock market speculation & crash / People out of work (unemployment)
Rise of shantytowns/Hoovervilles
Banks fail
Schools close
World economy suffers (Global Depression)
  1. Based on the cause/effect chart above, in your opinion, which “cause” was the biggest contributor to the Great Depression? Explain your answer
  1. In your opinion, which “effect” demanded the most attention & why?
  1. In what way(s) did Hoover continue the business/economic policies of President’s Harding & Coolidge? (pg. 336)
  1. Fill in the chart below (pgs. 337 – 338)

Hoover and the Great Depression
Hoover’s Effort / Description
Cooperatives
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
  1. What were the problems with Hoover’s… (pg. 338)
  2. RFC?b. Smoot-Hawley Tariff?
  1. On the one hand, President Hoover opposed federal welfare (assistance)and intervention in the economy. On the other, he felt that the government had a duty to help solve problems & ease suffering. Consider the pros & cons of Hoover’s actions during the Depression. Did he do enough to try to end the Depression? Why or why not? Explain.
  1. If you had been president during the Great Depression, which of Hoover’s policies would you have supported? Justify your decision(s).
  1. Considering the above scenario, how do you think the government could help failing industries?
  1. What do you think could be done to ease unemployment?
  1. What would you do to restore public confidence and economic security?
  1. How would you get money to pay for your proposed recovery programs?
  1. Fill in the chart below regarding major New Deal programs (pg. 360 covers most but you may want to skim through 348-360 for additional information):

Name of New Deal Program / Acronym / Type of program (which “R”)? / Origins/Purpose of Program / Creative Way To Remember This
Example: Federal Housing Administration / FHA / Recovery / Provide loans to build or renovate homes / A
FH (looks like a
house)
Civilian Conservation Corps / CCC
Agricultural Adjustment Administration / AAA
Securities & Exchange Commission / SEC
Tennessee Valley Authority / TVA
Works Progress Administration / WPA
Social Security / N/A
National Industrial Recovery Act / NIRA
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation / FDIC
  1. Double Bubble – On the back of this page, create a double bubble map comparing and contrasting the presidential responses of Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). Identify as many similarities and differences as possible (pgs. 335 – 339; 346 – 361)