11.3Americans Fight Back

During Great Depression

GREAT DEPRESSION WAS A GLOBAL EVENTUnemployed men in Canada and Germany

Bonnie & Clyde• Bankers became so

unpopular that bank robbers like Bonnie and Clyde became folk heroes

Part of their gang – W.D. Jones

The police that ambushed Bonnie and Clyde

The Posse suffered deafness for hours after unloading rounds

Guns found in their car

Check out video

Public Works Hoover was very worried about the economy. He brought together leaders of banks, railroads, and other

big business. Public Works was also something he wanted to start. Public Works are government financed building projects

like construction.– This only helped a small fraction of the people because it was

done on a such a small scale. How to pay for public works was a big issue: raise taxes or

borrow money?

Government Aid• Hoover was very much opposed to federal relief to poor

families…thought it was the job of state and local gov’s• The National Credit Corporation (NCC) was created to help

banks continue making loans to people.– This program was too small

• The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) made loans to railroads and agricultural institutions. By 1932, the RFC had given away $238 million.– This program too was overly cautious and didn’t do much to help

the economy.• The Emergency Relief and Construction Act gave $1.5

billion for public works and $300 million to states for loans. – Finally federal relief for the first time in US history, but by this time

it was too late to stop the collapse.

Hunger Marches • The American Communist Party was eager to take

advantage of our crisis.• January 1931, 500 men and women looted a grocery store

in Oklahoma City.• December 5th 1,200 people held a hunger march in

Washington DC. they were chanting “feed the hungry, tax the rich.”

• Many more hunger marches were held in the U.S.• See picture page 414.

Farmers Revolt• Between 1930 and 1934 nearly 1 million farms

were foreclosed on and the people were evicted• Farmers began destroying crops to cut supply

and drive up the prices• Farmers in Nebraska heated their homes by

burning corn• Georgia dairy farmers would block the highway,

stop dairy trucks, and dump the milk into ditches

The Bonus Marchers• In May of 1932, about 1,000 WWI veterans began to march

toward Washington DC. to try and pass legislation to have their bonuses paid early

• They were supposed to receive $1,000 in 1945…but they needed it now

• As they passed towns more veterans joined in.• They wore their old military uniforms and sang war songs.• Their numbers grew to about 17,000. This was known as the

Bonus Army.• Totaled 43,000 marchers including their families and

supporters• They found places to stay in shantytowns or abandoned

buildings.

"We Done a Good Job in France, Now You Do a Good Job in America"

Donations for the Bonus Army

Bonus Marchers continued In July, President Hoover ordered them to leave. The police were first responsible for making them leave. After those attempts failed, the real army was called in. Two veterans were shot and killed. They began to tear gas the crowd until everything calmed

down. The mishandling of these WWI veterans would tarnish

Hoover’s image forever.

• This request was shot down by the Senate with a vote of 62-18. Most of the Bonus Army went home at that point, aided by Hoover’s offer of free rail transportation. Ten thousand men remained behind. On the morning of July 28, forty protesters tried to reclaim an evacuated building in downtown Washington scheduled for demolition. The city's police chief, Pellham Glassford, sympathetic to the marchers, was knocked down by a brick. Glassford's assistant suffered a fractured skull. When rushed by a crowd, two other policemen opened fire. Two of the marchers were killed. At this point, the District of Columbia asked for federal troops to preserve order. Hoover agreed and enlisted the help of Major General Douglas MacArthur, who basically burned down the entire shantytown where the Bonus Army was living in. Two children and their mother were killed.

Bonus Army Brick Throwers

Do you remember this guy?He was the BIGGEST international celebrity of the times.

Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping• Charles Augustus Lindbergh,

Jr., was kidnapped on March 1, 1932. He was 20 months old.

• He was in the nursery at home near Hopewell, New Jersey.

• He was kidnapped by Bruno Richard Hauptmann.

• The baby was found dead On May 12, 1932. It was found buried about 4 miles away from its home.

• Hauptmann was found guilty and electrocuted on April 3, 1936.

Ransom Note Ladder to Nursery

Hauptmann

Ladder Sketch in Hauptmann’s Notebook

He was a trained carpenter.

miniature souvenir ladders sold at the trial