| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Stock Exchange | An organized system for buying and selling shares, or blocks of investments, in corporations |
| On Margin | Investors paid only a fraction of the stock price and borrowed the rest from their brokers. Brokers, in turn, borrowed their money from banks. As long as the value of stocks continued to rise, the buyer could sell later, pay back what had been borrowed, and make a profit. If that value fell, though, investors and brokers would not have enough cash to pay off the loans. |
| Defaulted | or failed to meet loan payments |
| Relief | aid for the needy. |
| Public Works | projects such as highways, parks, and libraries sponsored by the government to create jobs for the unemployed |
| Hundred Days | the special session of Congress that Roosevelt called to launch his New Deal programs. The special session lasted about three months: 100 days. |
| New Deal | the legislative and administrative program of President F. D. Roosevelt designed to promote economic recovery and social reform during the 1930s; also: the period of this program |
| Subsidies | grants of money |
| Work Relief Programs | established to give needy people government jobs. |
| Dust Bowl | western Kansas and Oklahoma, northern Texas, and eastern Colorado and New Mexico; long periods of drought and destructive farming methods ruined farming in the region |
| Migrant Workers | people, typically farmers, who move from place to place to harvest fruits and vegetables |
| Pension | a payment, usually for older people once they retire. |
| Second New Deal | a new set of programs and reforms launched by FDR in 1935 |
| Social Security Act | created a tax on workers and employers. That money provided monthly pensions for retired people. |
| Unemployment Insurance | payments to people who lost their jobs; previous employers make the payments |
| The Brain Trust | a group of progressive lawyers, economists, and social workers who advised President Roosevelt |
| Black Thursday | October 24, 1929; almost 13 million shares sold that day alone. |
| Hoovervilles | shanty-towns that housed many who had lost everything. Shelters were built of old boxes and other discards. |
| Bonus Army | WWI veterans who marched on Washington demanding their $1,000 bonus pay before the 1945 due date. |
| Emergency Banking Relief Act | gave the President power over the banking system and set up a system by which banks would be reorganized or reopened. |
| Fireside Chats | informal talks given by FDR over the radio; sat by White House fireplace; gained the confidence of the people |
| The Black Cabinet | a group of African American advisers to FDR |
| Revenue Act | 1935; raised taxes on the wealthy and corporations |
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