Learning Targets1. 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 credit2. Steal one wearing a Batman

mask3. 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 . . .

1. 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

Calvin Coolidge was the President in the late 1920s and wanted all

Americans to enjoy prosperity. If you were Cal would you . . .

1. Give every American one million dollars

2. Leave the economy alone and limit government involvement

3. Move to the Bahamas with the European loads

In the 1920s some people were very rich but most were middle-class or

poor. Would you . . .

1. Be rich2. Be middle-class3. 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 stocks3. 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 relationsU.S. demanded payment of WWI loansU.S. taxed European goodsEuropeans 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 Income42% below poverty level, 1% had 30% of wealth

5. Overproduction Farmers expanded because of WWI Factories produced more goodsNot 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.