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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. Dr. Francis Townsend's ideas eventually became the groundwork for what?

2. How was public housing viewed differently by the public in the 1930's than it is today?

3. Why did a significant number of people flee public housing in 1949?

4. During the Depression, why did farmers systematically stop corn deliveries?

5. How were the actors able to perform the opening night of The Cradle Will Rock?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Christopher Lasch explain the possibility of a socialist revolt in the 1930's?

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

4. What did Hiram Sherman do after The Cradle Will Rock?

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

6. What humiliation did Ward James face seeking relief in the 1930's?

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

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

9. Describe Harry Hartman's experiences repossessing belongings in the Depression.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the Horatio Alger narrative and how the Great Depression forced individuals to reassess the legitimacy of it. Which interviewees in the text subscribed to the strive-and-succeed philosophy of Alger? Did any of them succeed? Of those who failed, what elements in the 1930's work environment proved incompatible with the rags-to-riches mythology? What did these people discover as a new philosophy?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the tactic used by union supporters in the 1930's Rust Belt. How did they effectively shut down plants, stopping the introduction of scabs and limiting the union-busting? What kind of press did these strikes get, and how was Governor Frank Murphy of Michigan leveled by these events? What effect did the passage of the Wagner Act have on the ability of workers to unionize?

Essay Topic 3

In exploring the many divergent movements and personalities that shaped the 1930's, Terkel interviews his subjects about individuals who helped shape the national debate in this time. Write an essay about three dominant voices in America at the time of the Depression:

Part 1) What role did Dr. Francis Townsend play in the national debate regarding helping the poverty stricken? What plans did he offer for taking care of the elderly, and why was he vilified as a result of this plan? What government program eventually emerged from the ideas that Townsend offered in the 1930's?

Part 2) What message did Father Coughlin offer that made him the dominant radio voice, besides Franklin Roosevelt, in the 1930's? What was the appeal of this message to those affected by the poverty of the Depression? How did this populist message transform into something far more insidious as the US approached joining the war against Hitler?

Part 3) What role did Huey Long play in the 1930's? How did his populist policy-making find a national audience, and how did this sudden popularity force Roosevelt to reconsider his Depression policies? Why did Huey Long never run for president himself?

(see the answer keys)

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