Causes of the Great Depression

1929 - 1942

Uneven Distribution of Income

• About ½ of all Americans are poor.

• Farms & Factories are very productive, but most consumers lacked purchasing power.

• Low wages.

Easy Credit

• Huge debts for appliances & the Installment Plan.

• Borrow to invest in the Stock Market.

Imbalance of Foreign Trade

• Hawley Smoot Tariff Act – dumbest thing ever!!!

• Highest Tariff ever!

• Other nations couldn’t sell their stuff to us, so

They did not buy from USA

Mechanization of American Industry

• Productive, but need fewer workers.

Unregulated Stock Market

• What goes way up does come down…

• Crashing

• October 29, 1929

Effects

• The National Income drops in half…

• “Brother can you spare a dime?”

Poverty & Hopelessness

• Many men leave in desperation. Can’t feed their families.

• Become hobos – ride the rails.

85,000 Businesses Close

400,000 Farmers lost the Farm

• Drought + Overproduction

6,000 Banks Fail

• A Run on the Bank

16 Million people out of work

No money $$$$

1929 = u = 3.2%

• 1930 = u = 8.7%

• 1932 = u = 23.6%

• 1933= u= 24.9%

1941 = u = 9.9%

• 1942 = u= 4.7%

• 1943 = u= 1.9%

Hunger, Aimlessness

Depression Increased Dramatically

Children had to work.

Married women are banned from

Work in many cities by 1931.

Destroying crops

• http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma04/hess/Slang/depression.html

Herbert Hoover

• The Great Engineer

• President 1929-1933

“We are just about to turn the

Corner”

They would sometimes say

“Hard times are still HOOVERing over us.”

  • They would also make “Hoover Flags” that are

just empty inside-out pockets flapping in the wind. 

• Also, they would occasionally eat jackrabbits called “Hoover Hogs”. 

• Some drove “Hoover Wagons”, which were old broken down cars pulled by mules. 

The Bonus Army

• 15,000 Veterans from WWI wanted their payment early.

Hoovervilles

• Shacks along the way…made of cardboard… as small as doghouses.

Hoover Blankets

• They sometimes made up things like “Hoover Blankets” which are just blankets made from newspapers.

Bread Lines

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

32 President

Only President to win election 4 Times!!!

1933 - 1945

• What happens during this time period?

Cousin of Teddy Roosevelt

• Remember the Progressive President?

Stricken with polio, paralyzed

In 1921.

Compassionate, adventurous, Creative

Fireside Chats

To communicate his ideas with the public.

Brain Trust

Bright people came to Washington with him.

Harry Hopkins

Social Worker- give people jobs, not just money.

Trusted advisor.

Francis Perkins

First Female Cabinet Membersecretary of labor for the 12 years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency She brought to her office a deep commitment to improving the lives of workers and creating a legitimate role for labor unions in American society, succeeding admirably on both counts.

Cordell Hull from Tn.

• Secretary of State : In 1944 when he resigned because of ill health, he had occupied this important post for almost twelve years, the longest tenure in American history.Warned others of upcoming war intentions.

Harold Ickes

• Conservationist became Secretary of the Interior.

Eleanor Roosevelt

• First Lady was his legs… helped make policy to include women, African Americans, and other minorities.

3 R’s of the New Deal

• Relief

• Recovery

• Reform

Alphabet Soup Progams begin

• Let’s Try It!!

The First 100 Days

More legislation than usually happens in 2 years!

The New Deal =

A series of economic measures designed to alleviate the worst effects of the Depression, reinvigorate the economy and restore the confidence in banks and other key institutions.

FDR

• “ We have nothing to fear, but fear itself”

Happy Days are Here Again

A special session of Congress

Meets March 9 to June 6, 1933.

Called the First Hundred Days.

CCC

• Civilian Conservation Corps

• Put single unemployed men to work

CCC built roads, parks,

CCC lived in Camps

Federal Emergency Relief Act

• Provided $250 million in grants to states to furnish food & clothing to the unemployed, the aged, the ill.

Harry Hopkins Director

CWA – Civilian Works Admin

• Gave aid through local agencies & created govt. jobs.

AAA = Agriculture Adjustment Act

• Govt. pays farmers to not grow crops.

• Govt. paid $200 million to cotton farmers to plow under their crop.

AAA Paid farmers to

• Kill 6 million pigs.

Farm commodities rise in P

• Farmers get more income.

TVA

• Conserves & develops the country’s natural resources

• Dams

• Electricity

• Controls Flooding

• New Jobs

SEC

Emergency Banking Relief Act

• Permitted sound banks in the Federal Reserve System to reopen.

• Forbade hoarding & exporting gold.

• Renewed faith in the banking system.

Bank Holiday

• Banks are closed to stop the panic.

FDIC

NRA

• National Recovery Act

• Set up Fair Trade Codes

• Price controls

• 40 hour work week

• Abolished child labor

• Minimum Wage

Unions can organize

Social Security

• Pension plan for retired workers, disabled , and orphans.

Banking Act of 1935

• Replaced the Fed Reserve Board with a 17 member Board of Governors to be appointed by the President for 14 years.

Board of Governors

Controls the Money Supply

WPA Works Progress Admin.

• Create jobs as quickly as possible.

• Employed more than 8 million between 1935 & 1941.

Built

• 600 airports

• 651,000 miles of roads

• 110,000 libraries, schools, & hospitals

Artists, Musicians, Writers hired

Critics of the New Deal

Huey P. Long

Father Coughlin

Supreme Court

Liberty League

Dr. Townsend

Why did the Depression end?

WWII

Everyone goes to work

Rosie the Riveter

Save the World…