History Questions

1) Name five important books of the 1920s.

Great Gatsby

Elmer Gantry

Three Soldiers

The Sun Also Rises

Babbitt
2) What was the first "talkie"? How did it change America?

These were movies with noise.
3) Discuss the "Red Scare of 1919".

Americans were scared of communism and foreign ideas. Communism was an idea that was not recieved well especially since people at that time were very conservative and capitalistic.
4) What was the 18th amendment? Why was it enacted? How did it go wrong?

Prohibition, it was enacted to sort of cleanse America and raise its morals. It failed because too many people wanted to drink and started bootleg operations. Alcohol was almost as plentiful during prohibition as it was after.
5) Who were Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul?

Both women were activists trying to get more women's rights. They raised groups that demonstrated to achieve reforms.
6) What is important about Henry Ford? How did he change America?

Henry Ford was able to make automobiles mass produceable. He innovated the assembly line and was able to achieve huge profits. He also payed his workers very well but treated them pretty poorly.
7) What is important about Charles Lindbergh? How did he symbolize the times?

He was the first man to fly across the Atlantic. He became a symbol of american symbolism just like Ford. He showed a new generation of Americans who could achieve anything they set their minds to.
8) What were "pool operators" and how were they crooked?

They were investors who would get other investors to come buy stocks and raise the prices of that stock. They then would sell off their stocks at a large profit and leave the other investors with over priced stocks.
9) How were stocks inflated? How did this cause the crash?

The stocks were not actually being bought with real cash. Many people were buying them on credit and so the stocks had very little real money behind them. When the stocks went down then, people lost money that wasn't really theirs, it actually hurt the banks that had extended them this line of credit.
10) What was Black Thursday and Black Tuesday?

These were the days that stocks shot through the floor. Millions of dollars were lost because millions of shares were being dumped at very low prices.
11) What was Hoover's view of Government relief programs?

Hoover thought that the government should stay out of relief efforts. He thought America could bounce back by itself.
12) What was the "Bonus Army"?

These were veterans who marched to Washington, to try and get their bonus's promised to be payed in 1945. They needed this bonus just to survive.
13) What happened during the "Hundred Days"?

Reforms of all sorts were being passed in an attempt to save the economy. They tried everything until something worked.
14) What was the WPA and what did it do?

It helped build up all of the infrastructure. It was an administration set up to help the economy.
15) What were Roosevelt's FIRESIDE CHATS and why did they become important?

These were chats over the radio that helped make Roosevelt seem more like the common person. They made him very popular.