Download What Would You Do?

Learning Targets
1. Predict how events in the
1920s will lead to the Great
Depression.
2. Describe the causes of the
Great Depression.
3. Evaluate which cause was the
most important.
What Would You Do?
A Game Show Featuring the
Brilliant People of the 1920s
Alice Paul
Josephine
Baker
Charlie
Chaplin
Clara Bow
Al Capone
Babe Ruth
Average Joe
Charles Lindbergh
It is 1925. New products such the car,
fridge, and radio are being advertised
and are hot items. You don’t have
enough money to purchase these but
want them. Would you . . .
1. Agree to pay for it now on credit
2. Steal one wearing a Batman mask
3. Be happy with your lame life without
these products
After WWI, European countries owed the
U.S. money from war debts and faced a
tariff on selling products in America. If
you were head of a European country,
would you . . .
Pay your debts and buy lots of American
products to look good
2. Refuse to pay debts or buy American
products in protest
3. Move to the Bahamas and lay on the beach
like the load that you are
1.
Calvin Coolidge was the President in the
late 1920s and wanted all Americans to
enjoy prosperity. If you were Cal would
you . . .
Give every American one million dollars
Leave the economy alone and limit
government involvement
3. Move to the Bahamas with the European
loads
1.
2.
In the 1920s some people were very rich
but most were middle-class or poor.
Would you . . .
1. Be rich
2. Be middle-class
3. Be poor
During WWI farmers expanded their
production. After WWI mechanization
provided farmers with more tools to
produce more goods. If you were a
farmer would you . . .
1. Buy new tractors and produce more
goods
2. Cut back on production knowing there
was not as big of need as during the
war
3. Move to the Bahamas and become a
load
During the 1920s many people wanted to
be rich. Buying stocks in the stock
market was a way to make $$ but it was
expensive and risky. Would you . . .
1. Put all your money under your
mattress
2. Borrow money to buy stocks
3. Steal money from your rich neighbor
to move to the Bahamas and be a
load because you heard that was cool
You invested lots of money in the Stock
Market. You heard rumors that stock
prices might fall. Would you . . .
1. Keep your stocks and hope for the
best
2. Buy more travel stocks as you hear
lots of people are going to the
Bahamas
3. Sell sell sell! And hope you will get
some money from them . . .
1. Consumer society &
optimism of 20s
 Easy credit, advertising
2. International relations
U.S. demanded payment of WWI loans
U.S. taxed European goods
 Europeans wouldn’t buy American
1. Loans to Allies During WWI= $7 billion dollars
2. Loans to Help Allies Rebuild = $3 billion
dollars
Destruction in Abbeville,
France at end of WWI
3. Coolidge--ineffective
leader
supported “Laissez-faire”
(gov’t should stay out of economics)
4. Differences in Income
42% below poverty level, 1% had
30% of wealth
5. Overproduction
Farmers expanded because of WWI
Factories produced more goods
Not enough buyers
1921 Tractor
WWI propaganda to
encourage farmers
6. Inflated Stock Market
Speculation (“get rich quick”)
Buying on margin (borrowing)
1928 Busy Trading Day in New York
7. Stock Market Crash:
Oct. 29, 1929
 Panicked selling caused prices to lower
“Black Tuesday:” 16 million shares sold,
$15 billion dollar loss
Bloom’s Taxonomy
(answer as many as possible)
1.
Knowledge: List the reasons people bought goods on credit during
the 1920s.
2.
Comprehension: Explain why European countries refused to buy
American products in the 1920s.
3.
Application: Illustrate the the ineffectiveness of President Coolidge
in a political cartoon.
4.
Analysis: Analyze how the differences in income in the 1920s led
to difficulties in the economy.
5.
Synthesis: Hypothesize how our world might be different if
farmers had cut back on production in the 1920s.
6.
Evaluation: Evaluate which side had the most responsibility for the
stock market crash--the investors or the stockbrokers.