It was a time of dashed dreams and lost fortunes. But it also proved America's resilience-hardship was met by hope, and tragedy was answered with daring plans. From the stock market crash of 1929 to the recovery spurred by the coming of World War II, The Great Depression is an illuminating look at a difficult age. Americans united in the face of despair-escaping their troubles with dance marathons, helping each other on the hard road from the Dust Bowl to California's "Promised Land", and rallying behind the revolutionary policies of FDR's New Deal. The Great Depression would be useful for classes on American History, American Culture, Political Science, Economics and Civics. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

The Great Shake Up

In the first years of the Great Depression, banks and businesses failed in record numbers as America struggled to come to grips with the disaster. The Great Shake-Up examines the changes that swept the shaken nation, from the landslide victory of FDR in 1932 to the California migrations of Dust Bowl farmers. Novelist James Michener tells how he joined thousands of others riding the rails as a hobo, and economist John Kenneth Galbraith explores the policies of the New Deal.

Vocabulary

• tenacious
• synonymous
• humanitarian
• infatuation
• epiphany
• speculation
• liquidate
• disenchanted
• rancor
• wanderlust
• irony
• scapegoat
• consummate
• inertia
• destitute
• charisma
• surreal
• intricate
• eccentricity
• refugees

Discussion Questions

1. Narrator and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo states,"Those who do not learn their history are doomed to repeat it." What does this saying mean?
2. How did Governor Mario Cuomo's family survive the Great Depression? How is their experience an example of the country coming together to survive the economic disaster?
3. How did the Great Depression "democratize" American society?
4. A new fad known as marathon dancing became popular during the Great Depression.How was this fad both a form of cheap entertainment and a source of income for unemployed entertainers?
5. FDR's plans for economic recovery included deficit spending. What is deficit spending? Why did Herbert Hoover refuse to employ this tactic?
6. FDR was a member of the country's elite and moneyed class. When he became president, members of his class accused him of being a traitor. Why?
7. What were some of the differences in the personalities and political tactics of FDR and Herbert Hoover?
8. Why was there so much migration during the Great Depression?
9. Many men "took to the rails" during the Great Depression. How were these hobos a type of economic indicator?
10. How did the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) alleviate some of the distress of the Great Depression?

Extended Activities

1. Create an election poster for FDR for the 1932 election.
2. Hobos used their own set of symbols to communicate with each other and to let others know how conditions were in any given place. Create your own set of symbols to communicate with your friends. How would you create these symbols so they could easily be understood by your friends, yet could not be understood by others?
3. Read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and discuss how the Joads are the literary counterparts to Americans who survived the Great Depression.