History 479B
Devine
Fall 2012
Anthony Campagna, “The Great Depression”
- How does the author assess
the preparedness of the country’s political and intellectual leaders to
deal with the depression? Why were they
ineffective and ill-equipped to handle the economic crisis?
- Why does the author
believe that the actions Hoover
took in response to the depression were overly optimistic, ill-advised,
and even contradictory?
- What was the economic
impact of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act?
How and why did such a bill get passed?
- What was Hoover’s policy regarding war debts and
reparations?
- What problems faced
farmers during the depression? How
did the Agriculture Marketing Act address their situation? To what extent
did it succeed?
- What was the purpose of
the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)? What factors prevented it
from fully achieving its aims?
- What was Hoover’s attitude regarding direct
financial relief to impoverished Americans?
- Why did Hoover put tax increases at the center
of his fiscal policy? What is the
difference between an income tax, an excise tax, and a sales tax? Why did the tax increases not produce
the intended result?
- Why have some historians
argued that the Federal Reserve’s failure to increase the money supply was the major cause of the
Great Depression?
- Why did the demand for money fall after the
stock market crash? How did this
help cause the Great Depression?
- Why is increasing the
discount rates in the midst of an economic downturn the “wrong” monetary
policy?
- How were
both “politics” and the inaction of the Federal Reserve responsible
for the banking collapse in March 1933?
- Despite their espousing
nearly identical policies, why did Roosevelt defeat Hoover in 1932?