American History 2--HIST 2112 (OER): Chapter 23: The Great Depression

The wonder of the stock market permeated popular culture in the 1920s. Although it was released during the first year of the Great Depression, the 1930 film High Society Blues captured the speculative hope and prosperity of the previous decade. “I’m in the Market for You,” a popular musical number from the film, even used the stock market as a metaphor for love: You’re going up, up, up in my estimation, / I want a thousand shares of your caresses, too. / We’ll count the hugs and kisses, / When dividends are due, / Cause I’m in the market for you. But, just as the song was being recorded in 1929, the stock market reached the apex of its swift climb, crashed, and brought an abrupt end to the seeming prosperity of the “Roaring ‘20s.” The Great Depression had arrived. Read more from Chapter 23 of the American Yawp.

Questions to be thinking about as you move through the content of this chapter

1. What systemic factors led to the Great Depression?
2. What more recent behaviors led to the Great Depression?
3. FDR asked for “broad executive power” in his 1^st inaugural address:  what did this mean?
4. How does FDR’s New Deal square with traditional laissez faire?
5. Is the New Deal socialism?  If so, does it matter?  What surviving New Deal programs would you eliminate?