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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 did Huey Long not run for president in 1936?

3. What controversial action did the Rural Rehabilitation Division undertake in the 1930's?

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

5. What type of protest does Horace Cayton discuss in Honor and Humiliation?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Alf Landon recall his 1936 campaign against Roosevelt in the book?

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

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

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

5. Who was Martin Dies?

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

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

8. How did Jack Kirkland become famous during the Depression?

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

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

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

The Great Depression was a time during which the most basic and reliable of systems in the United States failed. Though full-on revolution never broke out in America, dissident movements cropped up regularly. Write an essay about three such movements. What issue or injustice gave rise to this spontaneous act of dissidence? How did the movement grow in strength? What happened that finally put an end to the movement?

Part 1) The Bonus March.

Part 2) The opening night of The Cradle Will Rock.

Part 3) The farmers of Iowa stopping corn deliveries.

Essay Topic 3

The Roosevelt Administration took special care to ensure that arts professionals were employed in the period of the Great Depression. Write an essay about the changes in the performing arts during this period of history. How did the actors union gain strength at this time? What did traveling sketch troupes have to do to remain viable? To what extent did the theatre begin to tackle more current and controversial subjects? Which famous artists emerged from this crucible?

(see the answer keys)

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