The Great Depression

1
The Great Depression

• Students will analyze the cause and effects of
  the Great Depression and WWII and their impact on
  the development of the federal government

2
Key Industries in Trouble

• Key industries- like railroads, textiles, steel
  barely make profit
• Mining and lumbering- expanded during war no
  longer in high demand
• Coal- especially hard hit due to availability of
  new energy sources (electricity)
• Boom industries- automobiles, construction,
  consumer goods, begin to fail
• Housing market- starts to decline as people can
  not afford new homes
• Election of 1928- Republican Herbert Hoover is
  elected in a landslide very popular

3
Causes of the Great Depression

• Causes
• 1. Distribution of wealth- Wages had not risen
  with corporate profits. Over 70 of Americans
  were living below the poverty line.
• 2. Stock Market Speculation- was seen as a get
  rich quick scheme. Millions of Americans pour
  money in expecting to get rich.
• a. Playing the market- People began
  guessing on stock prices this is called
  speculation.
• b. Buying on Margin- allowed people to borrow
  for the cost of the stock but only paying 10
  of the price. When the crash occurs people
  cant pay back the money they owe.
• 3. Credit Abuse- Consumers over extend
  themselves while buying the next new thing,
  credit crisis develops as people cant pay.

4
Causes contd..

• 4. Overproduction- Businesses were producing more
  consumer goods then America could purchase, loss
  money led to low wages
• 5. Farming Collapse- International demand for
  U.S. grain declines after WWI and prices drop by
  40
• a. Bad Cycle- Farmers boost production to sell
  more prices drop faster
• b. Collapse- Income from crops declines causing
  farmers to default on loans leading to the
  collapse of rural banks.
• c. Price-supports bill- government buys surplus
  crops, guarantees prices
• d. President Hoover- vetoes price-support bill
• 6. Government policies No regulation of
  business, high tariffs hurt farmers
• 7. Global economic problems International
  banking created linked markets, Europes
  financial troubles after WWI affected the U.S.

5
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT THERE?

• Stock Market Crash September of 1929 the market
  peaks and people begin selling everything.
• 1. Black Thursday Largest amount of selling
  ever, prices plunged, markets closed till
  Tuesday.
• 2. October 29, 1929 Black Tuesday Bottom of
  market fell out as people were attempting to sell
  all their stock
• 3. Margin- people who bought on credit left with
  huge debts, banks call for their money, people
  have little or no money and are wiped out

6
Great Depression 1929-1939

• Financial Collapse- economy falls, unemployment
  skyrockets
• Banks Collapse- people panic and withdraw their
  money causing banks over 20 of all banks to
  close wiping out millions of savings accounts
• Gross National Product (GNP)- the value of all
  goods and services produced by a nation fell in
  half in four years, 104 billion to 50 billion.
• Unemployment- 25 of all workers go jobless,
  those with jobs get salary and hours cut.

7
President Hoover Reacts

• Reaction- believed it was the responsibility of
  the state and local governments to help not the
  federal government.
• Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930)- President Hoover
  signs into law the highest tariff rates in
  history against European goods, in response they
  do the same. Nobody can trade and everyone falls
  into greater depression. Unemployment soars.

8
The Depressions Effects

• Soup kitchens- offer free or low-cost food
• Bread lines- people line up for food from
  charities, public agencies. Americans find this
  shameful to stand in lines and reject them.
• African Americans, Latinos have higher
  unemployment, lower pay
• Shantytowns- settlements consisting of shacks,
  arise in cities, people dig through garbage, beg
  for food and money

9
Hoovervilles and Families

• Hoover was blamed primarily for the depression
• People who could not pay their mortgage needed
  alternative housing
• Villages named Hoovervilles
• Family- some break under the strain of the
  depression
• 1. Men- commit suicide and go into depression,
  use to taking care of the family most cant find
  jobs leave their families.
• 2. Women- find jobs sewing, maid service,
  resented by their husbands.
• 3. Children- poorly fed, schools close, poor
  health, teenagers leave home looking for jobs.

10
Dust Bowl

• Dust Bowl- area from North Dakota to Texas that
  is hardest hit
• 1. Farmers- in Great Plains exhaust land
  through overproduction
• 2. Dust Storms- 1930s, drought, windstorms hit
  soil scattered for hundreds of miles
• 3. Depression in Rural Areas- most can grow
  their own food but cant pay back loans.
• 4. Loss of Farms- over 400,000 lose their farms
  and become tenant farmers, some leave and
  migrate to the Pacific Coast

11
Psychological Effects of the Great Depression

• 19281932, suicide rate rises over 30
• Admissions to state mental hospitals triple
• People give up health care, college, put off
  marriage, children
• Stigma of poverty doesnt disappear financial
  security becomes goal
• Many show great kindness to strangers
• Develop habit of saving and thriftiness

12
Veterans want their money

• Bonus March- jobless veterans from WWI want the
  money promised them (1945) now.
• 1. Patman Bill- called for the payment of
  bonuses, Hoover and the Senate oppose the bill
  and its struck down.
• 2. March joined- thousands of veterans bring
  their families to the shacks near the capitol.
• 3. Death- 2 veterans are killed in a fight with
  police, Hoover gets scared and orders them
  removed.
• 4. Overreaction- The army uses tear gas and
  tanks on the veterans to drive them out.
• 5. Public Outcry- Americans are stunned to see
  Hoover as heartless and uncaring if hes willing
  to do this to veterans

13
ELECTION OF 1932

• President Hoover (Republicans)- never fully
  appreciated the problems of the Depression and
  believed it was only a temporary downturn, this
  led many people to resent him.
• 1. Hoover warning- says a Democratic victory
  will only lead worse economic crisis.
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt F.D.R. (Democrats)-
  Governor of New York promises the American people
  a New Deal
• 1. Repeal Prohibition
• 2. Aid for the Unemployed
• 3. Cuts in government spending
• Results of the Election- Roosevelt wins over 60
  of the vote, Democrats win both houses of
  Congress.

14
FDR AND THE NEW DEAL

• Three Rs Relief, Recovery, Reform
• Relief for people out of work
• Recovery for business and the economy as a
  whole
• Reform of American economic institutions
• The only thing we have to fear is fear itself-
  F.D.R.
• Bank holiday banks were closed to allow them to
  be reorganized by government
• Repeal of Prohibition Legalized sale of beer
  and wine, increases tax revenue
• Fireside chats FDR assured people that banks
  were safe, people put their money back

15
THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS

• Hundred Days- Roosevelt with Congress pass over
  15 major New Deal laws to help the country.
• 1. Bank Holiday- Roosevelt orders all banks
  closed until the government can reorganize them
  and make them stable.
• 2. Repeal of Prohibition- 21st Amendment is
  passed and the tax money is used by Congress to
  provide programs.

16
Hundred Days contd..

• Financial RECOVERY-
• 1. Emergency Banking Relief Act- reopened banks
  that were financially sound, peoples confidence
  restored they deposit money.
• 2. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
  (FDIC)- insures individual bank accounts and
  regulates banking practices
• 3. Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)-
  refinancing of small homes to prevent
  foreclosures
• 4. Farm Credit Administration- low interests
  loans to farms in order to prevent foreclosures
• 5. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-
  regulates the stock market

17
HUNDRED DAYS CONTD

• RELIEF Programs for Unemployed-
• 1. Federal Emergency Relief Administration-
  offered federal money to state and local
  government run soup kitchens and breadlines
• 2. Public Works Administration (PWA)- gave
  money to state and local governments to build
  roads, bridges, dams, and other public works.
• 3. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)- public
  works jobs to employ men

18
HUNDRED DAYS..

• 4. Tennessee Valley Authority- hired thousands of
  men into the Tennessee Valley to build dams,
  build electric power plants, control flooding and
  erosion. Sold electricity cheaply to areas that
  previously couldnt afford it.
• Farm Recovery-
• 1. Agricultural Adjustment Administration-
  encouraged farmers to produce less to boost
  prices, government will subsidy farmers for
  every acre they dont farm.

19
Critics of the NEW DEAL,

• Liberals- felt that the New Deal was doing too
  much to help business and not enough to help the
  poor and unemployed.
• Conservatives- New Deal was controlling business,
  pro-union and regulations.
• Deficit Spending- government was spending more
  money than it makes on the New Deal programs
  causing people to get upset.

20
THREE BIG MOUTHS TAKE CENTER STAGE

• Father Coughlin- popular priest uses radio to
  demand a nationalization of all banks and
  guaranteed income- Catholic Church yanks support
  after he becomes ant-Semitic and Fascist
• Dr. Francis Townsend- he wants a pension plan for
  the elderly guaranteeing them monthly income.
• Huey Long- A senator and former governor of
  Louisiana he was immensely popular in his home
  state.
• 1. Share Our Wealth- program that promised a
  minimum annual income of 5k for every American
  family to be paid by taxing the wealthy
• 2. New Leadership- Long challenges Roosevelt
  for leadership of the Democratic Party by
  announcing his run for the presidency in 1935.
• 3. Killed- Long is assassinated in 1935 and his
  popularity and ideas die with him

21
ROOSEVELT VS. SUPREME COURT

• Supreme Court- strikes down several New Deal laws
  such as the AAA, NRA as unconstitutional
• Court-packing bill- Roosevelt proposes that the
  president be allowed to appoint a new justice for
  each member over 70.5.
• 1. Reaction- Congress and the Press are
  outraged at Roosevelt for trying to tamper with
  the system of checks and balances. (Dictator)
• 2. Aftermath- most of the older justices were
  retiring by 1937 and he was able to appoint 7
  new justices to support his New Deal laws.

22
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT LEADER IN HER OWN RIGHT

• Most active first lady in history wrote
  newspaper column, gave speeches, traveled the
  country
• Served as the presidents social conscience
• Influenced him to support minorities
• and the less fortunate
• United Nations- Universal Declaration
• of Human Rights
• Womens Activism League of Women
• Voters, Womens Democratic News
• (author), Chair of womens delegation
• to Democratic National Convention

23
WOMEN AND MINORITIES PART OF THE NEW DEAL

• Frances Perkins- Secretary of Labor, is the first
  female cabinet member.
• 1. FDR- appoints several women but America
  still discriminates against them, hires after
  all men.
• African-Americans- FDR appoints more than 100
  African Americans to government, Mrs. Roosevelt
  plays key role.
• 1. Mary McLeod Bethune- appointed to head the
  division of Negro Affairs. Eleanor Roosevelts
  close friend she will organize the Black
  Cabinet during Roosevelts presidency.
• 2. Marian Anderson- famed African-American
  opera singer she is not allowed to sing in
  Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the
  American Constitution, in Washington D.C.
• a. Eleanor Roosevelt- resigns from the (DAR)
  and arranges for Anderson to sing on the steps
  of the Lincoln Memorial, heard throughout the
  country on radio.

24
SECOND NEW DEAL

• New Deal Coalition- Women, Working Class,
  Minorities, Labor Unions, Middle Class,
  Immigrants, North/South
• Works Progress Administration (WPA)- creates jobs
  building airports, roads, public buildings
• Social Security Act Federal insurance program
  based on collection of taxes throughout working
  career
• Retirees collect monthly over the age of 65
• Other benefits paid to unemployed, blind,
  disabled, dependent children and their mothers
• Wagner Act National Labor Relations Act, gave
  workers right to join union and unions right to
  bargain collectively, outlawed unfair labor
  practice.

25
I just want to forget my PROBLEMS!!!!

• Movies- over 65 of the population goes, escape
  from reality shows romance, fun, wealth.
• 1. Gone with the Wind- the most popular movie
  of the 1930s and all time.
• 2. Gangster movies, comedies, musicals all very
  popular ways to forget your troubles.
• Radio- 90 of all households have a radio and are
  the center of all families.
• 1. Orson Wells- War of the Worlds
• 2. Dramas and variety shows at night
• 3. Soap Operas during the day
• 4. Children shows during after school hours

26
Artists and the Great Depression

• Support- great time for artists so to speak,
  federal aid pays for art classes to be taught,
  hire artists and writers
• 1. Richard Wright- Native Son, about the
  African- American experience
• 2. John Steinbeck- Grapes of Wrath, about Dust
  Bowl migrants

27
End of the New Deal

• 1933-1937 the economy shows signs of life, banks
  are stable, unemployment down to 15,
  corporations are beginning to make money
• 1. Americans- begin to have hope and see the
  need to end the New Deal programs, so does
  Congress.
• 2. The end- The New Deal ends in 1939 as
  attention is changed to the aggressive rise of
  Nazi Germany.

28
Impact of the New Deal

• Finance and Banking
• 1. FDIC- protects individual investors
  against bank failures
• 2. SEC- still monitors the Stock Market
• Social Security- still provides help for the
  elderly and needy

• Labor and Unions
• 1. National Labor Relations Board- still
  mediates problems between unions and companies
• Environment
• 1. Tennessee Valley Authority- still provides
  electricity
• 2. Soil Conservation- maintain soil to prevent
  another Dust Bowl