“Hoover Flags”

President Herbert H. Hoover wasn’t very popular following the 1929 stock market crash. In fact, the name Hoover would become a wisecrack betraying general fury over America’s dispossessed, homeless millions – folks using newspapers as slim protection against the elements called them “Hoover Blankets.” Empty pockets were known as “Hoover Dollars,” or, flapping inside-out, “Hoover Flags.” Shantytowns are unfortunately making a comeback, and they go by that old finger-pointing moniker, “Hoovervilles.”

–Daniel Riccuito’s The Depression Alphabet Primer, drawing by Tony Millionaire