1930’s

October History UnitEPIC Masco Class2006

Herbert Hoover

Hoover was a Quaker originally from Iowa and later Oregon and California. He was also a geologist who made his fortune in mining.

Before he was president he worked for the federal government in helping people own homes and cleaning up after a major flood in 1919.

He became president in 1929 and the major issue he faced was the Great Depression. He tried hard and passed quite a few laws to help end the depression, some helped and some made things worse.

Some of the things he was able to do were: better healthcare for those in the military, set aside more than 5 million acres of national parks and forests, prosecuted gangsters and worked for child health.

The Great Depression

In 1929 the stock market crashed. Almost all of the money people had invested was gone.

From 1930-1933 were a recession, but in 1933 this turned into an economic depression. This means as a country the USA became very poor.

Some great Depression Photos

Squatter's Camp, Route 70, Arkansas, October, 1935.Photographer: Ben Shahn

Philipinos cutting lettuce, Salinas, California, 1935. Photographer: Dorothea Lange.In order to maximize their ability to exploit farm workers, California employers recruited from

China, Japan, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the American south, and Europe.

Farmer and sons, dust storm, Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 1936. Photographer: Arthur Rothstein.The drought that helped cripple agriculture in the Great Depression was the worst in the climatological history of the country. By 1934 it had dessicated the Great Plains, from North Dakota to Texas, from the Mississippi River Valley to the Rockies. Vast dust storms swept the region.

The photograph that has become known as "Migrant Mother" is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo, California. Lange was concluding a month's trip photographing migratory farm labor around the state for what was then the Resettlement Administration.

Relief line waiting for commodities, San Antonio, Texas. March 1939. Photographer: Russell Lee

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The second president to sit during the 1930’s.

His wife was Eleanor Roosevelt.

He designed the New Deal to help end the great depression.

He is the only president to serve four terms or 16 years. (We now have a two term or 8 year limit.)

Scholars rank FDR in the top three presidents the USA has ever had.

The New Deal

FDR wanted men to get back to work

He made up jobs for the men to have

FDR started social security so old people would not die poor if they worked their whole lives.

FDR made more jobs for women as teachers, nurses and social workers as well.

Some of the programs President Roosevelt created in "The New Deal" became known by their abbreviations, such as the REA (Rural Electrification Administration), the PWA (Public Works Administration) and the FHA (Federal Housing Administration)

Schools in the Thirties

City school were crowded, noisy and sometimes dangerous. People sometimes bacame sick because they were not very clean.

Country schools were small, cold, and usually had one teacher for all grades.

The Golden Age of Radio

Radio became the most important kind of entertainment and information in the 1930’s

There was music and talk radio like today, but there were also radio series, tv shows but for listening to.

Let’s Go to the Movies

The 30s was the beginning of the “Golden Age of Hollywood” (1930-1948)

Some of the movies you may have heard of that came out in the 30s were:

Tarzan, the Ape Man 1932 Popeye the Sailor 1933 Snow White and the Seven

Dwarves 1937 Gone with the Wind 1939 The Wizard of Oz 1939

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple was a little girl

born in 1928 who became a big movie star in the 1930s.

It made people happy to see her sing and dance during the Depression.

The first color movie? Nope.

In 1939 the first widely known live action (not a cartoon) movie that was not black and white was a big hit

The colorized movie was called techni-color

This famous movie was called “The Wizard of Oz”

It starred Judy Garland as Dorothy

But… this was not really the first color movie, it was just the first one to get tons of attention.

1930s Fashion

The 30s were more conservative than the 20s.

This means women went back to covering-up their bodies, no more short, tight dresses!

Hats

Women and men were both expected to were hats in the 30s

Here are some 30s style hats

Would you like to wear a hat everytime you go out?

Foods invented in the 30s Banana nut bread Peanut butter cookies Chef’s salad Reuben sandwich Vidalia onions Bisquick Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix Fritos Cobb salad Hawaiian punch Sloppy Joe’s SPAM Krispie Kreme Kraft Macaroni and

Cheese

War War II WW2 started in 1939 and ended in 1945 The USA became involved when Japan attack Pearl Harbor in

Hawaii in 1941 During this war Hitler and his Nazi forces put many people to

death: about 6 million Jews, 2 million Serbs and Poles, 200,000-800,000 gypsies, 200,000-300,000 people with disabilities, and 200,000 or more others

The Americans used two atomic bombs on Japan to help end the war – this is the only time in history atomic bombs have been used.

We will learn more next month when we learn about the 1940’s