The Great Depression

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• The Great Depression

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Big Businesses

• By 1929, ½ of all American homes had electricity
• GE RCA became giants in production of radio
  motion picture technology
• Companies continued to grow in size
• By 1930, just 200 companies were making 50 of
  Americas consumer goods
• Advertising and credit convinced Americans they
  needed products and allowed them to buy

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Politics

• 1920 election Warren G. Harding
• return to normalcy
• Scandal ridden adminstration
• Died of complications of pneumonia in 1923
• VP Calvin Coolidge became president
• Called Silent Cal
• Elected in 1924
• Both Harding Coolidge had tax policies that
  favored the rich heavily
• Republicans, very pro business, controlled
  Presidency both houses throughout 1920s

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Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
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Herbert Hoover

• 1928Hoo, Hoo, Hoo, but Hoover
• A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage
• Al Smith, Catholic democratic candidate
• Some southerners abandoned Democratic party for
  1st time since Civil War
• Inauguration We shall soon . . . be in sight of
  the day when poverty will be banished

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Herbert Hoover
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Causes of the Great Depression

• DO NOT TELL ME THAT THE STOCK MARKET CRASH CAUSED
  THE DEPRESSION!!!!!
• Poor Tax Policies
• Overproduction farm commodities and goods
• High tariffsHawley Smoot Tariff
• Stock Market speculation and bad investment
  practices
• Over expansion of credit
• Drought in Mississippi River Valley regions
• International monetary situation (WW I debt)

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Depression

• By the end of the 20s, most of the industrial
  world in an economic slump
• The depression was virtually worldwide
• Longest and most pronounced period of
  unemployment low business activity in modern
  period
• The efforts to cure the Depression left profound
  impact on American government
• The people who lived through it never got over it

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Jobs in US during Depression
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Stock Market Crash
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Stock Market Crash

• Great Depression began with Stock Market Crash
• Black Tuesday 29 October 1929
• By the end of the year, 40 billion lost
• Crash did not cause the Depression, it was a
  symptom of all the problems in US economy!
• Banks began to close as people demanded their
  money from them
• Between October and end of year 1300 banks closed

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Hoover the Depression

• Hoover believed that the depression would end on
  its own
• Volunteerism
• Eventually too aggressive action to stem the
  depression
• He created several agencies and boards to suggest
  solutions to American business (Farm Board)
• He also sponsored a tax cut hoping to stimulate
  the economy (160 million)

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Hoover

• 1930, off-year elections
• Public shows anger with Republicans by electing
  majority Democratic Congress
• 1932Bonus Army marches on Washington to get
  payment pensions (WW I vets)
• Ordered MacArthur to clear them out of D.C. using
  mounted troops tear gas
• By election of 1932, very unpopular
• FDR swept into office landslide victory

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Franklin D. Roosevelt
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FDR

• FDR promised a New Deal for America
• The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
  
• New Deal introduced social programs that were in
  place in Europe already
• It continued the work of the Progressive Era
• Moved the US away from laissez-faire capitalism
• Reforms accomplished with great speed
• The New Deal did not, actually, bring the US out
  of the DepressionWW II did that
• It did provide very tangible relief for millions
  of Americans and gave them hope

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New Deal

• Three components to the New Deal designed to
  fix societal problems
• The three Rs
• Direct Relief
• Economic recovery
• Financial reform

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One Hundred Days

• Banking Crisis Since the start of the
  Depression, 11,000 of the nation's 25,000 banks
  had failed, and millions of Americans had lost
  their life's savings.
• Trust in banks had to be restored and this was
  FDRs first task
• Emergency Banking Act first legislation passed
• All banks closed on bank holiday then reopened
  and reorganized
• By the next day, deposits exceeded withdrawals!
• FDIC also passed quickly to provide security
  through insurance

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One Hundred Days

• Economy Actpare down costs of government
• Cut salaries of federal employees, pensions, and
  defense spending
• Passed by March 15th
• To put people back to work, CCC created
• Thousands of young men were put to work cutting
  trees, building parks, repairing trails, building
  firestations

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CCC
Camper in new uniform
Living barracks, Colored Corp
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Life in a CCC Camp
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One Hundred Days

• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)subsidies to
  farmers who grew less
• National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)fair
  practice codes for business, minimum wages,
  maximum hours guaranteed right to collective
  bargaining
• During the 100 days, Congress passed over a dozen
  key pieces of legislation
• Some struck down by Supreme Court as
  unconstitutional

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FDR

• Understood fully how to use media
• Fireside chats each week on radio
• Gave Americans a sense of hope and confidence
• He always smiled, laughed, conveyed impression
  that things were getting better
• His polio was virtually hidden from public

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FDR
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Other New Deal Programs

• Securities Exchange Commission
• Federal Emergency Relief Administration
• Federal Housing Administration
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• Works Progress Administration
• Federal Writers Project
• Federal Art Project, Music Project, Theater
  Project
• Filmmakers were hired to document the New Deal
• Pare Lorentz The Plow that Broke the Plains
  The River

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TVA
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Dust Bowl
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The Second New Deal

• 1934off-year elections saw even larger
  Democratic majority
• 1935-36 called Second New Deal
• Highpoint Social Security Act
• 2d New Deal drew more criticism
• Huey Long (LA)
• Father Charles Coughlin
• Francis Townsend
• FDR reelected by large majority

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Second Term

• Very little legislation
• Increased size of earlier programs
• WPA peaked at 3.3 million jobs in 1938
• Fought Supreme Court over legislations
• Threatened to increase the size of the court to
  get an majority
• switch in time that saved 9

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End of Depression

• By 1938, Hitler is on the rise in Europe
• FDR begins to try to help Britain
• Allies buying war goods from US factories begins
  to turn the tide of the Depression more than the
  New Deal programs