Great Depression Reading with Questions | Student Handouts
 
Welcome to Student Handouts--www.studenthandouts.com! 100% free teaching materials for students in kindergarten through high school--lesson plans, worksheets, PowerPoints, outlines, interactive games, puzzles, and so much more!
 
The Great Depression
 
 
In October 1929 the booming stock market crashed, wiping out many investors. The collapse did not in itself cause the Great Depression, although it reflected excessively easy credit policies that had allowed the market to get out of hand. It also aggravated fragile economies in Europe that had relied heavily on American loans. Over the next three years, an initial American recession became part of a worldwide depression. Business houses closed their doors, factories shut down, banks failed with the loss of depositors' savings. Farm income fell some 50 percent. By November 1932, approximately one of every five American workers was unemployed.The Great Depression - Free printable reading worksheet with questions (PDF file).

The presidential campaign of 1932 was chiefly a debate over the causes and possible remedies of the Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover, unlucky in entering the White House only eight months before the stock market crash, had tried harder than any other president before him to deal with economic hard times. He had attempted to organize business, had sped up public works schedules, established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to support businesses and financial institutions, and had secured from a reluctant Congress an agency to underwrite home mortgages. Nonetheless, his efforts had little impact, and he was a picture of defeat.

His Democratic opponent, Franklin D. Roosevelt, already popular as the governor of New York during the developing crisis, radiated infectious optimism. Prepared to use the federal government's authority for even bolder experimental remedies, he scored a smashing victory – receiving 22,800,000 popular votes to Hoover's 15,700,000. The United States was about to enter a new era of economic and political change.

Questions with answers in bold:

1. What happened to the American economy in October, 1929?
The booming stock market crashed, wiping out many investors.
2. Approximately how many American workers were unemployed by November, 1932?
a. 5%
b. 10%
c. 15%
d. 20%
3. Describe President Herbert Hoover’s efforts to end the Great Depression.
He attempted to organize business, sped up work schedules, established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to support businesses and financial institutions, and secured from a reluctant Congress an agency to underwrite home mortgages.
4. Who won the presidential election of 1932?
a. Franklin D. Roosevelt
b. Herbert Hoover
c. Warren G. Harding
d. Woodrow Wilson
5. It is often said that hindsight is 20/20. Looking back upon the Roaring Twenties, what might have been done to avoid the Great Depression? Explain your answer.
Answers will vary.
 
 
Click here to print this worksheet.
 
 
You might also like...
World War I Word Search Puzzle
Blank Outline World Map Worksheet
Dutch, French, and Italian Empires and the Results of Imperialism Powerpoint
George Washington Biographical Reading with Questions
Germany Coloring Book for Kids
 
 
War, Properity, & Depression Books & Films War, Properity, & Depression Miscellaneous
   
War, Properity, & Depression Image Galleries War, Properity, & Depression Outlines & Powerpoints
   
War, Properity, & Depression Study Games War, Properity, & Depression Worksheets
 
 
Text courtesy of the U.S. State Department, Bureau of International Information Programs, 2005