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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What event discussed earlier in the book does Harry Norgard think was destructive to society?

2. Who does Myrna Loy suspect of being the force behind her inability to meet FDR?

3. Who played the piano for opening night of The Cradle Will Rock?

4. What controversial action did the Rural Rehabilitation Division undertake in the 1930's?

5. Why was Hiram Sherman removed from Equity leadership?

Short Essay Questions

1. According to James Farley, how did Roosevelt alienate members of his own administration?

2. What was the most controversial component of the New Deal?

3. How did Jack Kirkland become famous during the Depression?

4. How does Max Shachtman explain the decline of Communism's popularity in America?

5. How were the prisons affected by the Depression?

6. How did Neil Schaffner's theatre troupe have to change their business model after the Crash 1929?

7. What does Dr. Martin Bickham discover about the American drive to work through his relief work in the 1930's?

8. Who was Martin Dies?

9. What safety concerns pervaded mines in the 1930's?

10. Why does Myrna Loy think she never got to meet Roosevelt in person?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Franklin Roosevelt administration was a hothouse of young minds and genius fiscal conservatives. Write an essay about the crucible of ideas that this administration fostered. What initial ideas came out of this group, and how were they killed out of the gate? What politicking occurred within the administration, in terms of currying favor with the President? What actions did FDR take that alienated huge swaths of his supporters?

Essay Topic 2

Studs Terkel's Hard Times is an oral history, meaning that it relies entirely on the conflagration of differing ideas. By including voices that speak from different experiences of the Depression, Terkel makes the debate the central focus of the history. Write an essay on this debate in three parts:

Part 1) The topic of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's success as a president is among the most controversial in the book. What are the arguments for his saving the United States? What are the arguments against such an assertion? How do these arguments reveal the dueling ideologies in America both in the 1930's and in 1970?

Part 2) Terkel interviews individuals who suffered greatly in the Depression and those who did not, including some who actually prospered in the desperation. How do the two groups' perceptions of the 1930's differ? What facts existed to support both a horrific and a majestic impression of the Depression years?

Part 3) Terkel interviews not only those who lived through the Depression but also their children and grandchildren. How does he juxtapose the worldviews of those who survived the poverty with those who did not? How do the younger generations see the Depression? Can they understand the residual effects it left with those who survived?

Essay Topic 3

The Great Depression was a period of time during which large organized movements sought to restructure American society. In a three part essay, discuss how several organized groups went about attempting the recreation of a country:

Part 1) What hole in the union movement did the CIO fill in the 1930's? What tactics did the unions use in the rust belt in order to organize industrial workers? What opposition did they face? How much success did the CIO achieve over the course of the Depression? How did its relationship with the AFL change in this time?

Part 2) How did the American Communist movement surge in popularity during the Hoover years, and how did events in Europe destroy much of its credibility? To what extent did Roosevelt's New Deal destroy its ability to accomplish its goals in the 1930's? What members did it lose after Roosevelt built his coalition?

Part 3) How were both the Catholic Worker and the Wobblies different from the unions and the Communists? What was each group's guiding philosophy? Did either one form a coalition during the Depression? What happened to them after the Depression?

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