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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. In Three o'Clock in the Morning, Wilbur Kane's mother was bitter about the invasion of what?

2. What public figure publicly raved about Jack Kirkland's play?

3. At the end of his interview, Horace Cayton discusses why black Americans never joined what group en masse?

4. What psychiatric complaints did Dr. Nathan Ackerman's patients most often bring to him?

5. Why did C. Wright Patman push for the impeachment of Hoover's Treasury Secretary?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. How did The Cradle Will Rock become a lightning rod of controversy?

5. Who was Martin Dies?

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

7. How did Ray Wax's life disillusion him to the idea of strive-and-succeed?

8. What strange dichotomy exists in Stanley Kell's interview in Honor and Humiliation?

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

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

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 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

Among the strangest interviews in the book are those dedicated to the plight of farmers in the Midwest, in particular the sections regarding reactions to the price of corn. Write an essay about how the fluctuating price of corn led to massive wastes of foodstuffs. What did farmers do in an attempt to boost the price of corn? What other products did they turn to when the price of corn plummeted to absurdly low levels? What absurd and, later, sensible solutions did the United States government offer?

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