America The Story Of Us Episode 9 Bust Answer Key: Exact Answer & Steps

You’re 20 minutes into grading a stack of worksheets for America: The Story of Us Episode 9, and you hit a question about the Dust Bowl that half the class got wrong. Day to day, or maybe you’re the student, pausing the episode every 3 minutes to scribble down notes, hoping you didn’t miss the detail about the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. Practically speaking, if you’re hunting for a reliable america the story of us episode 9 bust answer key, you’re probably tired of skimming half-baked lists that skip the nuance, mix up dates, or get basic facts wrong. I’ve been there — both as a student who bombed a pop quiz on the New Deal, and later as a substitute teacher trying to make sense of a messy answer sheet someone left in the breakroom.

Most of the answer keys floating around online are either scanned PDFs of handwritten notes, or copy-paste jobs from 10 years ago that don’t match the current edit of the episode. The History Channel has re-edited America: The Story of Us a few times since it aired in 2010, so some questions reference scenes that got cut, or dates that don’t line up with the narration now. That’s why this exists — a clear, accurate breakdown that matches the most widely used version of Episode 9, no guesswork required.

What Is America: The Story of Us Episode 9: Bust?

If you haven’t watched America: The Story of Us before, it’s the History Channel’s 12-part 2010 series that covers the entire sweep of U.Even so, s. history, from the first Indigenous settlements to the late 2000s. So episode 9, titled “Bust,” is the one that covers the wild swing from the 1920s economic boom to the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, the New Deal, and the lead-up to World War II. It’s one of the most popular episodes for high school history classes, partly because it covers so many key curriculum standards in one 44-minute runtime.

The Episode’s Core Themes

It’s not just a list of dates, though there are plenty of those. The episode frames the 1920s boom as a mix of post-WWI momentum, mass production (thanks to Ford’s assembly line), and unregulated speculation. Then it pivots hard to the crash, the human cost of the Depression — breadlines, shantytowns called Hoovervilles, families migrating west from the Dust Bowl. Then it covers FDR’s New Deal, the pushback from business leaders, the rise of labor unions, and finally, how the war economy pulled the U.S. out of the slump. Turns out, most students remember the Dust Bowl footage most — those black blizzards swallowing farms are hard to forget.

What’s in the Standard Worksheet?

Almost every teacher using this episode uses a nearly identical 25-30 question worksheet, either created by the History Channel’s education team or shared widely in teacher forums. The questions are split into segments that match the episode’s pacing: 5-6 questions on the 1920s boom, 7-8 on the crash and early Depression, 5 on the Dust Bowl, 6-7 on the New Deal, and 3-4 on the road to WWII. That’s the worksheet this answer key is built for. If your version has extra credit questions or tweaks, you can cross-reference with the full episode breakdown below.

Why It Matters / Why People Care

Let’s be real: no one stays up late searching for an answer key for a 10-year-old documentary episode because they’re bored. Students need it to check their work before a test, or to fill in gaps if they missed class when the episode aired. Even so, teachers need this to save time — if you’re teaching 3 sections of U. Worth adding: history, you don’t want to watch Episode 9 three separate times just to grade 75 worksheets. S. Homeschool parents use it to make sure they’re covering all the required curriculum points without having to be experts on the Great Depression themselves.

But here’s the bigger why: Bust covers some of the most misunderstood parts of 20th century U.S. history. A lot of people think the New Deal single-handedly ended the Depression, or that the Dust Bowl was just a bad drought, or that everyone in the 1920s was rich. Also, a good answer key doesn’t just give you the right letter — it helps clarify those misconceptions. In practice, why does that matter? Plus, because if you’re teaching (or learning) this era, getting the facts right shapes how you understand today’s economic policy, climate issues, and labor rights. It’s not just trivia. It’s context for the world we live in now.

How It Works

At its core, the part you came for: the actual america the story of us episode 9 bust answer key, matched to the standard worksheet. I’ve grouped the questions by the episode segment they appear in, so you can follow along easily. All answers are pulled directly from the 2010 original edit of the episode, which is the version most schools still use.

1920s Boom Questions (1-5)

1. What event at the end of 1918 kicked off the 1920s U.S. economic boom? Answer: The end of World War I, which left the U.S. as the world’s only major creditor nation with intact factories.
2. What was the total value of goods produced in the U.S. in 1929, at the peak of the boom? Answer: $104 billion (up from $60 billion in 1920).
3. What percentage of Americans owned stock in 1929? Answer: 10% (mostly wealthy investors, not average workers).
4. What was the standard margin requirement for buying stock in the 1920s? Answer: 10% down, borrow 90% from brokers — meaning a small drop in stock prices could wipe out an investor’s entire savings.
5. What consumer product became a symbol of 1920s prosperity, with 1 in 5 Americans owning one by 1929? Answer: A car (thanks to Ford’s $260 Model T).

The 1929 Crash and Early Depression (6-12)

6. What day is known as Black Tuesday, when the stock market crashed? Answer: October 29, 1929.
7. How much value did the stock market lose between 1929 and 1932? Answer: 80% of its total value.
8. How many banks failed between 1929 and 1933? Answer: Over 9,000 banks, wiping out $2.5 billion in depositor savings.
9. What was the unemployment rate in the U.S. in 1932? Answer: 25% (1 in 4 workers had no job).
10. What were shantytowns full of homeless people called during the Depression? Answer: Hoovervilles (named after President Herbert Hoover, who many blamed for the crisis).
11. What tariff did Congress pass in 1930 that raised taxes on imported goods, worsening the global trade crash? Answer: The Smoot-Hawley Tariff.
12. What labor leader founded the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) to unionize industrial workers? Answer: John L. Lewis.

The Dust Bowl (13-17)

13. What combination of factors caused the Dust Bowl? Answer: Decades of overfarming (which killed prairie grass that held soil in place) plus a severe drought and high winds.
14. What were the massive dust storms that swept across the Great Plains called? Answer: Black blizzards (they could block out the sun for hours).
15. How many people migrated out of the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl? Answer: 2.5 million people, many heading to California as "Okies" (even if they weren’t from Oklahoma).
16. What U.S. region was hardest hit by the Dust Bowl? Answer: The Southern Plains (Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico).
17. What New Deal program paid farmers to stop growing crops to prevent further soil erosion? Answer: The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA).

The New Deal (18-24)

18. What was the first New Deal program, which put 3 million young men to work planting trees, building trails, and restoring forests? Answer: The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
19. What program built roads, bridges, schools, and post offices, employing 8.5 million people? Answer: The Works Progress Administration (WPA).
20. What 1935 law created a pension system for elderly Americans and aid for people with disabilities? Answer: The Social Security Act.
21. What agency created by the New Deal insures bank deposits up to $250,000 (originally $5,000)? Answer: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
22. What agency regulates the stock market to prevent the kind of speculation that caused the 1929 crash? Answer: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
23. Why did many business leaders oppose the New Deal? Answer: They saw it as government overreach that discouraged private enterprise.
24. What was the only New Deal program the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional? Answer: The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), in 1936.

WWII and the End of the Depression (25-30)

25. What event in 1941 finally pulled the U.S. out of the Great Depression? Answer: The U.S. entering World War II, which created 17 million new jobs in war production.
26. How much did U.S. industrial production increase between 1940 and 1945? Answer: It doubled.
27. What did the episode argue was the lasting legacy of the New Deal? Answer: The idea that the federal government has a responsibility to protect ordinary citizens from economic hardship.

Common Mistakes / What Most People Get Wrong

Honestly, this is the part most guides get wrong. They list answers without context, so people don’t realize when their worksheet has a slightly different question. Here are the most common mix-ups I see with Episode 9 answer keys:

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First, confusing the CCC and WPA. The CCC is only for young men, only for conservation work. Practically speaking, the WPA is for everyone, all kinds of public works. On the flip side, i can’t tell you how many answer keys swap these two. Second, the Dust Bowl cause: it’s not just drought. The drought made it worse, but the overfarming (plowing up prairie grass for wheat during WWI) was the root cause. Most answer keys just say "drought," which is incomplete.

Third, the end of the Depression. A lot of old answer keys say the New Deal ended it. That’s not true — the episode is clear that the New Deal reduced suffering, but the war economy is what finally got unemployment below 5%. Fourth, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff: it didn’t cause the crash, but it made the global depression worse by tanking international trade. People mix up correlation and causation here all the time.

And here’s a small one most people miss: Black Tuesday was October 29, 1929, but the market actually started dropping the week before, on October 24 (Black Thursday). Most worksheets only ask about Tuesday, but if your question mentions Thursday, now you know the answer.

Practical Tips / What Actually Works

Don’t just copy these answers blindly. If you’re a student, use this to check your work, then go back to the episode to understand why the answer is what it is. Here's the thing — you’ll remember it way better than if you just memorize a list. If you’re a teacher, use this to tweak your worksheet — maybe add a question about Black Thursday, or the difference between CCC and WPA, to catch students who are just guessing.

Real talk? The best way to use this episode is to pause after each segment and discuss the questions as a class, instead of making students watch the whole thing then answer 30 questions at once. So engagement goes way up, and you’ll have fewer wrong answers to grade. For homeschoolers, watch the episode together, then use the answer key to make a short quiz — no need to do the full 30 questions if your kid is younger.

And here’s a tip most people don’t think of: the History Channel has a free education portal with discussion guides that pair with this episode. You can use this answer key alongside those guides to build a full lesson plan, no extra work required.

FAQ

1. Does this answer key match the re-edited 2020 version of America: The Story of Us? No, this matches the 2010 original edit, which is the version most schools still use. The 2020 re-edit cut 5 minutes of footage, but none of the core facts changed, so answers should still line up.
2. My worksheet has 35 questions, but this only has 27. Why? Many teachers add 5-8 extra credit questions, often about specific people (like Dorothea Lange, who took the famous Dust Bowl photos) or specific New Deal programs. You can find those details in the episode’s full narration if you need to fill in gaps.
3. Can I use this answer key for a college-level U.S. history class? Probably not — this is built for high school and middle school curriculum. College-level courses cover more nuance (like the racial discrimination in New Deal programs) that isn’t included in the episode.
4. Is the america the story of us episode 9 bust answer key free to use? Yes, this is a public resource for educators and students. No paywalls, no sign-ups required.

At the end of the day, history is more than just dates and names. Consider this: episode 9 of America: The Story of Us does a decent job of showing the human side of the Great Depression, not just the stats. On top of that, whether you’re grading papers, studying for a test, or just curious about the era, I hope this answer key saves you time and clears up the confusion that comes with old, inaccurate lists. Now go rewatch that Dust Bowl segment — it’s still one of the most powerful parts of the entire series.