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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 does Alf Landon say he disliked about Roosevelt's New Deal?

2. Why was Ward James fired from his job in the 1930's?

3. When were the collectivized camps outside of urban centers closed?

4. According to Max Shachtman, what international event ended credibility for Communism in the United States?

5. Of what sixties-era organization is Robert A. Baird's son Peter a member?

Short Essay Questions

1. According to Elizabeth Wood, how did public housing develop the stigma it has today?

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

3. What was Edward Burgess's experience of the 1930's?

4. Describe the incident with the Iowa Judge in The Father Is the Man?

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

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

7. What was Dr. Townsend's contribution to the Depression-era discourse?

8. What strange and dangerous episode regarding congressional testimony does C. Wright Patman make?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Over the course of Hard Times, Studs Terkel interviews several individuals who held powerful elected positions during the Depression. These men took different positions on the issue of the day, and these positions were best expressed in terms of their support or opposition to FDR. Write an essay about these three figures. What did they think of FDR and the New Deal? How did each attain the power they enjoyed in the 1930's? Was each able to make a definitive mark on the country at this time?

Part 1) C. Wright Patman

Part 2) Stanley Fish

Part 3) Alf Landon

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the Appalachian mining communities' attempts to unionize. How was this group of workers facing Depression-style injustice before the Depression started? What type of power did companies wield in Appalachia, and how did they enforce this power? Discuss how normal tension between management and would-be unionizing broke into full war in the 1930's? What was the result?

Essay Topic 3

The federal government went through a series of processes in its attempt to react to the 1929 crash of the stock market and to stem the sinking of the national economy. Write an essay about these attempts at governmental assistance and how they did or did not succeed:

Part 1) How did the Hoover administration react in the immediate aftermath of Black Tuesday? Discuss what sort of governmental initiatives went into place, and whether the administration succeeded in stemming the decline or allaying fears in the general populace. What unrest cropped up at this time?

Part 2) Discuss the first steps taken by the Roosevelt administration upon its arrival into office. What, specifically, was the NRA? What powers did this administrative body offer Roosevelt to place limits on the private sector? Why was the NRA preemptively shut down soon after its creation?

Part 3) How did the Works Progress Administration prove to be more effective at stemming destitution than simple relief? What did this desire of Americans for work programs say about the country's work ethic? What were some material results of the WPA?

(see the answer keys)

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