Vocabulary -- Chapter #25
buying on margin – purchasing stocks with borrowed money.
Black Tuesday – October 29, 1929 – the day that the stock market crashed, it marks the
beginning of the Great Depression
business cycle – the up and down manner in which the economy expands and contracts
Great Depression – the worst economic crisis in American history, it lasted the entire
decade of the 1930s
pension -- a sum of money paid to people on a regular basis after they retire
Bonus Army – Veterans that came to Washington, D.C. in 1932 to demand early payment of
a promised bonus for service in World War I
New Deal – President Franklin Roosevelt’s programs to try to end the Great Depression
fireside chats – radio talks by President Franklin Roosevelt to explain his programs to the
American people
Tennessee Valley Authority – a government agency that built dams in the Tennessee
Valley to control flooding, provide electricity and jobs
Social Security Act – 1935 New Deal law which provided some financial security for the
elderly, the disabled, children and the unemployed
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) – A union established in 1935 which
organized workers by industry rather than
skill level
sit-down strike -- work stoppage in which workers refuse to leave a factory
Dust Bowl – an area of the American Great Plains that suffered a severe drought during the
1930s
capital -- money
bankrupt -- unable to pay off debts
collective bargaining -- the process in which a union representing a group of workers
negotiates with management for a contract