1. What were the causes of the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression?
Some major causes of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 were over speculation during the 1920’s, “buying on margin”, too much borrowing from banks, buying on credit, and lack of government regulation. Over speculation was rampant in the 1920s. Stocks were being sold to speculators (people who buy or sell stocks quickly to make money) for much more than they were worth and investors expected the value of stocks to continue to increase, never considering that eventually the upward trend would cease. By the late 1920's, companies weren't making much money because people were so in debt. Yet, stock prices continued to go up, which makes no sense. If value of company goes down, the stocks should too but that didn't happen. People were also “buying on margin”, which is very dangerous, but banks were encouraging it back then. Buying on margin is when you buy stocks on money borrowed from the banks. Once they got money from the stock they held, they would pay the banks back. The problem was that people couldn’t pay back the debt they owed because they wouldn’t get any money out of the stock. The money just wasn’t there. There was no government regulation at the time either. The government didn’t set up good enough regulations on the banks. There was no limit to how much banks could give out. The banks would end up giving out more than they had to people buying stocks. Once the stock market crashed, people rushed to the bank to withdraw all their money but the banks didn’t have enough to give out to people. As a result, the banks failed and people who still had money in those banks were left with nothing. Their money just disappeared.
One of the biggest causes of the Great Depression was the stock market crash. There were other things that contributed as well though. Bank failures, reduction in purchasing, the high tariff, and overproduction of goods were all contributors to the Depression. On the agricultural side, overproduction of goods was ruining them. Farmers kept making more and more because they had needed to during World War I but suddenly, there wasn’t as much demand so they were left with a surplus of extra food. People weren’t buying and therefore the prices of food kept dropping and the farmers weren’t making any money. Therefore, there was an agricultural slump. There were also high protective tariff policies that hurt really hurt American exports. No one would buy from us (stopped almost all cash flow from Europe) because of the high prices.
2. What impact did the stock market crash and Great Depression have on the lives of people in the United States?
Boxcar kids emerged during the Great Depression. These kids would run from home and live on the railroads because they felt like a burden to their parents. The Wild Boys emerged also and they were teenage boys that would run away from home to get jobs intending to come back eventually when they felt they could support themselves (they also felt like burdens to their families). They would jump on rail lines as well but many of these boys died. Families were hit hard by the depression as a result of this and all the stress. Some got closer but most were shattered. Lots of people didn’t even have money to pay for a ceremony to get married and others couldn’t pay for a divorce. Both of these things had to be put off while the Depression ensued.
Men and women were affected very differently from each other. While men began to feel like failures, useless because they couldn’t get jobs and provide for their families, women felt empowered and of some import because the only real jobs to be done were in the home. And that was, of course, their specialty at the time. Many people went to live in Hoovervilles, small little houses made of any kind of material people could find. The name was meant to be a bit of a slap in the face to President Hoover who was getting blamed for all of the poverty.
3. What did the United States government do to help alleviate the problems the Great Depression brought to our country?
The New Deal was FDR’s way of trying to alleviate the problems caused by the Great Depression. His goal was RRR-relief for the needy, economic recovery, and financial reform. There were actually two different new deals. The first focused mainly on helping businesses and banks get back on their feet. The second focused on getting the American people back on their feet. Before FDR became president, Hoover set up one thing that did carry over into the New Deal. Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) was a program set up where the federal government gave money to state or local governments in the hopes that they would distribute out the money to where it was needed and better the country. This was a big example of trickle-down theory. The New Deal also established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which tried to help young guys, ages 18-25, who came from poor families, and give them odd jobs. It paid $30 a month and $25 would go to the family and the boys got to keep $5. Other policies that helped the unemployed were the Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) and the Public Works Administration (PWA). FERA created welfare and provided work for people. PWA created many jobs as possible in a bunch of different varieties. Mainly construction jobs building schools and hospitals. The Emergency Banking Relief Act was a program where FDR would close a bank or banks down, restructured the banks, and reopened them to the people. He would assure the people that these banks that were reopened could be trusted with their money. The Agricultural Adjustment Act paid farmers to plant less and destroy crops in order to help farmers with crop prices. The Federal Securities Act made the Stock Market a safer place for people to invest their money.
4. What long lasting impact did the Great Depression have on the US and world?
US-
Since the Great Depression, we have had deficit spending. Which is not good but there have also been some benefits. For example, there is a lot more government involvement and regulation in the stock market and banks. Also, Social Security was established during this time, which we still have today. Social Security is a federal program of social insurance with benefits. Benefits back then: retirement income, disability income, dependent children, and unemployment. Benefits now: retirement, survivors and death benefits, disability, and medicare. We also got welfare out of this.
World-
Employment rate increased dramatically almost everywhere. The Treaty of Versailles.
5. What were the causes of WWII?
European- Germany had to an astronomical amount of debt after WWI because of the Treaty of Versailles. They lost a lot of land to many different countries and thus, their economy plummeted. The Treaty dismantled the German military and they had to pay $33 billion to the Allies in war reparations. They even had to admit full responsibility for starting the war, called it the “War Guilt Clause”, and that was really just pouring salt on their wounds. The people were starving and dying because they couldn’t afford anything. The Treaty sent the country into a huge depression and that is when Hitler rose to power. The people were desperate and needed someone to stand behind. Ultimately, the reason for the start of the war in Europe was Germany and the Soviet Union invading Poland.
Asian- Japan really got involved when they invaded Manchuria, China, for supplies and resources. But, when the wheels really started turning, was when they got the US involved after the Pearl Harbor attack. US had been pretty dead-set on their isolation theory but that was just completely forgotten once Japan attacked us. The US declared war on Japan the day after.
6. What impact did the United States have on WWII?
The shear man power of the US once they entered the war astounded most of the countries. There were so many men and women willing to serve after Pearl Harbor and the US could send just tons and tons of troops. We mainly won because the Allies just kept pumping out more and more supplies and the Axis powers just ran out. The American people were fully backing up the war at home, getting everything ready, women working in factories while the men were away, people buying war bonds, etc., and this was a huge help as well. The Allies really just outdid and out-supplied the enemy. The war really started turn in the direction of the Allies after the US joined. Another big aspect was the dropping of the nuclear bombs. Nobody knew how devastating the bombs would be and no one knew about the bomb (a complete surprise as to how much damage they would do). No one wanted to mess with the Allies after they dropped the bombs because they were scared they would drop the bombs that could wipe out entire cities.
7. What were the goals for the US during the Cold War?
The main goals of the US were to stop the spread of communism (the policy of containment), and promote spread democracy throughout the world. It was really a conflict between the Soviet Union and the US to see which government the people would ultimately choose. Most chose democracy because they would be free, not equally poor with the rest of the country.
8. What were some of the major events that took place during the Cold War?
-Berlin Blockade/airlift: After WWII, Germany was split into 4 zones. The East was controlled by the Soviet Union and therefore became communist. The West was free and controlled by US, Great Britain, France, etc. Berlin, the capital, also got slip in half, communist vs. free. Well the west was giving supplies (food and such) to the west side of Berlin. Stalin wanted to cut off those supplies so he set up a blockade to try and prevent it. This could have actually been considered an act of war if they hadn’t found a way around it. The blockade didn’t really do much because the west just began to drop supplies in from airplanes (the airlift) and Stalin couldn’t shoot them down, otherwise it would have really started a war, so he called off the blockade.
-Cuban Missile Crisis: Nikita Khrushchev, leader of USSR, placed long-range missiles in Cuba because they felt threatened by the US having missiles in Turkey. One of our U-2 planes got pictures of the weapons being built in Cuba and reported back. For 13 days the US and Soviet Union were on the brink of war but then they finally reached a compromise. The Soviets would take their missiles out of Cuba if we promised to never take control of Cuba. Also, on the side, an agreement was reached that, 6 months later, the US would take their missiles out of Turkey.
-Red Scare/McCarthyism: Joseph McCarthy was really the start of the whole communist scare in America. He put the idea in people’s minds that anyone could be communist (or a red), your next door neighbor, Hollywood stars (they were hit hard and many left to go make movies in other countries), politicians, anyone really. He was pretty crazy actually and even said that he had a briefcase that contained the names of hundreds of people who were confirmed communists. This briefcase was never shown but I think it’s pretty safe to say he was bluffing. Eventually, the whole scare was ended when people realized he was crazy by accusing the president of being communist. He went too far and was taken down.
-Space Race: A race between the Soviet Union and the USA to see who would get to the moon first. It was a very heated race because, after the launch of Sputnik (the unmanned satellite) by the Soviets and the first man in space (Yuri Gagarin), the US felt as though we were falling behind the Soviets. In more things than just the moon landing. There was a huge push in education (math and science mainly) because the US needed engineers, and really good ones. The US was the first to reach the moon in 1969. Lance Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had fulfilled JFK’s promise to have a man on the moon by the end of the decade. NASA was created in 1958 to deal with space.
-Bay of Pigs: In 1961, the US wanted to invade Cuba but knew that such an action would look bad: a world superpower invading this little country. So the US government rounded up a bunch of Cuban exiles and had them invade the country in the hope that the rest of the Cubans would rise up and revolt with them. They didn’t and all of the exiles were either captured or killed. The US had promised them air support but had not followed through with their promise and the Cuban exiles were very, very upset with the US. So the exiles spoke out to the press about who was actually behind the invasion and it was a huge embarrassment for the US government, particularly JFK.
-Berlin Wall: a wall that the Soviets built to keep the people in the east pretty much trapped there because most were fleeing to the west. They didn’t want to build the wall because their whole theory, that the people would choose communism (everyone’s equal but in poverty) over democracy (freedom), was being proved wrong. The people were choosing freedom and so they felt they had to build the wall. Eventually, when the Soviets realized that no one was going to choose communism, they let the wall be torn down by the people. The soldiers, guards, and government didn’t do anything to stop it, they just let it happen.
9. Why did the US go to war in Korea and Vietnam and what were outcome of those wars?
Korea- North Korea invaded South Korea and tried to turn the whole country to communism. The US got involved because the United Nations decided it was time to step in after the North invaded the South. The UN was really kind of flexing their muscles a bit because they’d never shown what they had the power to do if they needed to intervene in a country before. The US was able to push the forces of the North back to almost China but then China began to feel threatened and voted to go to war but Taiwan (who was actually the ones on the UN for China at the time) disagreed and knew that if they got involved the Soviets would as well. Then everyone would just be going to war and no one really wanted another war at the time. Eventually the North and South came to an agreement to stop fighting (a cease-fire) and unite the country but a formal document was never signed so technically the two countries are still at war today.
Vietnam- The whole cause of the fighting in Vietnam was the French trying to keep control of Vietnam after WWII. France had been a superpower of the world but after the war, they lost a lot of that power. Keeping control of Vietnam was just a way to try and retain a bit of their former glory. The Vietnamese wanted their independence though. The French lost to the Vietnamese and then the country was split: North communist and South independent at the 17th parallel line. The US really got involved with Vietnam with President Truman and the situation just kept escalating until we got to Johnson. Johnson was the first to send combat forces and sent a ton. The goal was to stop the whole country from becoming communist. The Gulf of Tonkin was the tipping point where we officially sent military over. Many believed the war was almost over but then the Northern Vietnamese forces retaliated with the Tet Offensive and when the American people got news of this, they started to turn very against the war. How could the enemy be almost defeated if they could attack every major city in the South? Also, the war got a very bad, negative rap because of all the things the press was showing: our soldiers killing civilians and how we were supporting a bad government. When Nixon came into presidency, he called for the “vietnamization” of the war. It would be “Peace with Honor” because he didn’t want to be the first president to lose a war but some could argue that we did lose. The Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 27, 1973, which officially ended US involvement in Vietnam. The fighting would stop, US would pull out of Vietnam, and North and South would recognize each other’s independence. The Peace didn’t last long because 2 years later, North invaded the South and almost immediately took control of it. US did not get involved again because they felt that, if the country wanted to be communist, it could be.
10. How did the Cold War come to an end?
Reagan took a very hard stance against communism and didn’t believe in the whole détente theory. He believed that if the Cold War was ever going to end, then the two countries needed to be against each other. Reagan had numerous meetings with Gorbachev (the last communist Soviet leader) and because of these talks, and Gorbachev’s willingness for change, the Cold War was coming to an end. Eventually, the Soviet Union gave up on communism (saying it had failed) because of Gorbachev and his willingness to reform the country. Also, the country was in economic ruin at the time. They had a huge deficit, high inflation, social problems, and a shortage of basic needs. The problem was that the Soviets spent too much on military buildup during a time of peace and ignored the social concerns. USA also had close ties with our Allies, including China, who was starting to side with us after 1972, and the USSR didn’t.
11. Know these major post-Cold War Events:
-JFK Assassination: November 22nd, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed JFK. He was in Texas on a campaign trail and, while going through a parade type-deal, Oswald shot him twice, once through the neck and then the second, which killed, through the head. Jack Ruby killed Oswald before he could face trial.
-Watergate: President Nixon was very paranoid about not being reelected, he actually thought the whole country was secretly against him, and so, to make absolutely sure that he would be reelected, he sent 5 men into the Watergate hotel to spy on the Democratic Party and their plans. The men weren’t caught the first time but were the second but everyone just wrote it off as a common burglary. Except for two reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, who were curious/suspicious as to why the “burglars” didn’t take any cash, were dressed in suits, and were bugging phones. They eventually gave up on the matter seeing as they couldn’t find anything but then an FBI informant told them to “follow the money” and, sure enough, they found what they were looking for. Nixon was found guilty and would have been impeached, not for the matter but outright lying about it, but he resigned before that could happen.
-Iran Hostage Crisis: Iran had been in the control of US, Great Britain, and France for a long time and they wanted to cut the strings and become independent. The leader of the country, called “the Shaw”, was pretty much a puppet of the countries controlling them. Ayatollah Khomeini started an Islamic revolution and rose up against the pro-US government. The Shaw fled to the US in very poor health because they were trying to kill him in his country. This new Islamic government took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The deal was, give the Shaw back to Iran and let them kill him and they would give back the hostages. We refused saying we weren’t going to do that to him. Iraq eventually invaded Iran and we were able to make a deal with Iran because they were too preoccupied with the new Iraqi invasion.
-Persian Gulf War (1991): Started in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait. Saddam Hussein was the leader and they invaded because Kuwait had a lot of oil they were thought to be stealing from Iraq. Kuwait had a lot of debt owed to Iraq and they weren’t paying it. Another reason for the invasion was, Iraq wanted control of the Persian Gulf, or at least be closer to it. United Nations ordered Iraq to remove itself from Kuwait but they refused. Operation Desert Shield was then put into action; the US sent thousands of troops to Saudi Arabia (they had permission to) to threaten Hussein and it created a kind of barrier between the two nations. When that didn’t work, Operation Desert Storm was enacted. The US started a bombing campaign against Iraq. Eventually the goal of freeing Kuwait was reached when the Iraqi forces surrendered and withdrew from the country. It was a fairly easy victory but from that another problem spurred. We never left Saudi Arabia and most of the middle-East felt that we were invaders interfering in their area. We’ve never really left the middle-East after that and it has caused many problems.
-9-11: Osama bin Laden and his terrorist group al-Qaeda took control of a US airplane and crashed it into one of the twin towers. Later, they crashed the second plane and both buildings collapsed. This began the War in Afghanistan and also the War on Terror as a whole.
-War in Afghanistan: war was a result of the 9/11 attack on the US. We have now currently taken down bin Laden but are still trying to take down the Taliban there. The goal is to be out of the country by 2014.
-War in Iraq: we went to war there because we thought they had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). Saddam Hussein had actually wanted us to believe he did, when he actually didn’t, for whatever reason. More than 20 nations invaded Iraq and they took down their government really fast. But they didn’t account for the al-Qaeda or the Taliban that made their way into the country and the big civil war going on at the time. Eventually, we did get out of Iraq (2011) and Saddam Hussein was captured, put on trial, and executed by the people/new gov’t of Iraq, not the US.
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