THE GREAT DEPRESSION (1929-1939)
Jessica Yu and Sara Lei
WALL STREET CRASH
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In the late 1920s, stock prices kept going up resulting in more investors. So when the stock
market crashed in October 1929, millions of investors lost their money.
CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE CRASH
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“Buying on the margin” –people will borrow money and buy the stock to repay their loan. But
when stock prices dropped, investors lost everything they have borrowed and invested
Excessive use of credit –installment buying on items causing them to pay the money back later
Overproduction–because of uneven distribution of income workers couldn’t afford to buy goods
Bank failures –government didn’t bother to stabilize the bank causing many to withdraw money
The Republicans lost many supporters/voters because of the stock market crash.
20% bank shut down wiping out 10 million savings account, 13 million people unemployed
HOOVER’S POLICIES
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“Rugged Individualism” – Hoover believed that the economy would go back to normal without
the help of the government but just based on self-reliance
Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930) –Raised the tariff, which led them deeper into depression
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) – trickled down economy
Bonus March (1932) – unemployed WWI veterans demanding their promised bonus
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT (DEMOCRAT)
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Won the election of 1932. The 20th Amendment (Lame Duct Amendment) passed after
Hoover’s presidency, it allowed the president to take office in January instead of March
NEW DEAL (RECOVERY)
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Brain Trust: Advisors(African Americans, women, & Catholic) who help shaped the new deal
First Hundred Days into Office:
 Bank Holiday (Emergency Banking Relief Act), closed bank to restore confidence in the bank.
 In 1933, the ratification of the 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition.
 Financial Recovery Programs : FDIC guaranteed up $5,000
 Relief for jobless– FERA, PWA, CCC, TVA (government programs to provide jobs for jobless)
SECOND NEW DEAL (RELIEF, RECOVERY)
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Relief Programs : WPA–provide jobs, RA–provided loans for farmers and tenants
Reforms : Wagner Act–protect worker rights
Social Security Act : monthly payments to retired workers over 65, also jobless and disabilities
Roosevelt reelected in election 1936 because of his new deal programs
Critics: liberal critics say new deal too much for business and too less for poor, conservative
critics leaning more on socialism and communism
Coughlin–attacked the new deal thru radio, Townsend–provide retired $200 a month, Huey
Long– minimum annual income of $5,000
Supreme Court: ruled NRA&AAA as unconstitutional, so Roosevelt appoint a new justice for
every current justice over 70 years old (“Court Packing Bill”)
LAST PHASE OF NEW DEAL
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Recession (1937-1938): a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and
industrial activity are reduced. This happened because Roosevelt wanted to balance the budget
and reduce national debt.
WORLD WAR II (1929-1945)
FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT’S POLICIES (1933-1938)
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Good Neighbor Policy: Pan-American Conference–US pledge to Latin America that they will not
intervene with any of their affairs
- Fascism and Aggressive Militarism:
 Italy: Benito Mussolini led the Italy’s Fascist party. Fascism–the idea that people should
glorify their nation and their race through an aggressive show of force
 Germany: Adolf Hitler led the Nazi party, which he used to bully Jews to increase his
popularity
 Japan: Japanese believed that the best way to access raw materials is to invade China
 American Isolationists: They wanted to ensure that US remain neutral
 Neutrality Acts: Neutrality Act of 1935–prohibit arm shipment and US citizen to travel on
ships to Europe. Neutrality Act of 1936–forbade extensions of loans and credits to European
countries. Neutrality Act of 1937–prohibit shipment of arms to the opposing side in the civil
war in Spain.
THE ROAD TO WAR
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Japanese Aggression in Manchuria (1931): Japan left the League of Nation after being condemn
for their actions
Stimson Doctrine (1932): stated that the US would not recognize the territory that Japan took
from China
Appeasement (compensation to avoid conflict):
 Ethiopia (1935) –Mussolini ordered Italian troops to invade Ethiopia
 Rhineland (1936) – this region was supposed to be demilitarized but Hitler broke the Treaty
of Versailles and order German troops to march onto the Rhineland
 China (1937) – while there was a war going on between China and Japan, Japan accidently
bombed and sunk the US gunboat Panay in China
 Sudetenland (1938) –the British and French leaders met up with Hitler at Munich and
agreed to let him take the Sudetenland
FROM NEUTRALITY TO WAR
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March 1939, Hitler broke the Munich agreement by sending troops to occupy all of
Czechoslovakia
- Outbreak of War:
 Nonaggression/Nazi-Soviet Pact (August 1939) : alliance between Germany and Soviet
Union, Hitler promises half of Poland to Stalin
 Invasion of Poland (Sept. 1939): Germany uses blitzkrieg (lighting war) to invade Poland
 Declaration of War (Sept. 3,1939) : The rest of Europe declares war on Germany
 Winter War (Nov. 1939 – Mar. 1940): between Soviet Union and Finland. Soviet Union
struggles to win.
 Fake/Phony War (Mar – Apr 1940) : a period of waiting because no fighting
 Germany vs. France (May – June 1940) : France loses in six weeks
 Neutrality Act of 1939: “Cash and Carry” – Britain and France can buy US armaments but
they must come pick it up themselves and pay cash. Selective Service Act of 1940– training of
American troops.
 Battle of Britain (Aug. 1940): Germany bombing their air force. In Sept, changed to bomb
cities
 Attack on Soviet Union (Jun. 1941) – Germany backstabbed Soviet Union and attacked.
WORLD WAR II (1929-1945)
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FDR “Four Freedom Speech”: Freedom of Religion, Speech, Want, Fear
Lend-Lease Act (Feb. 1941) : Improvising of “Cash and Carry”, now on credit instead of cash
Atlantic Charter/Conference (Aug. 1941): FDR and Churchill discussed what the their peace
objectives would be when the war ended
Pearl Harbor Attack (Dec. 7, 1941): Japan bombed Pearl Harbor
Declaration of War (Dec. 8, 1941): US officially declares war on Japan. Three days later,
Germany and Italy also declared war on U.S.
WORLD WAR II: THE HOME FRONT
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Women’s Part : WAC–Women Army Corporation, WAVES–Women Appointed For Volunteering
Emergence Service
Rosie the Riveter: symbolize women workers
War Production Board– managed the war industries
Manhattan Project (1942): Dr. Robert Oppenheimer led a team to build the first atomic bomb.
They tested the atomic bomb at New Mexico on July 1945
War’s Impact on Society: African American–segregated in military services and work place.
Mexicans–created the Bracero Program which hired Mexicans to work in the fields. Japanese
Americans– Executive Order 9066 (Feb. 1942): rounded Japanese Americans into internment
camps. Korematsu vs. U.S. made these camps constitutional.
Election of 1944: FDR gets elected a third time because he didn’t let U.S. go into war.
WORLD WAR II: THE BATTLEFRONTS
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Grand Alliances/Allies: U.S, Great Britain, France, and Soviet Union
Axis Powers/Axis of Evil: Germany, Italy, and Japan
Fighting Germany:
 Battle of Stalingrad: Soviet Union vs. Germany.
 Operation Torch (Nov. 1942): This was a second front against Germany. The British devised
an invasion through North Africa, so that the Allies would cut Hitler’s forces through the “soft
underbelly” (Italy) of the Mediterranean Sea.
 D-Day (June 6, 1944): British, Canadian, and U.S. forces under the command of General
Eisenhower secured beachheads on the French Normandy coast. Paris was liberated.
 Germany surrenders on May 7, 1945
- Fighting Japan:
 Battle of Coral Sea: U.S. aircraft carries stopped a Japanese invasion of Australia.
 Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942): the interception and decoding of Japanese messages
enabling U.S. forces to destroy four Japanese carries and 300 planes
 Atomic Bomb at Hiroshima (Aug. 6, 1945): Japan refused to surrender unconstitutionally , so
Truman dropped the atomic bomb at Hiroshima
 Atomic Bomb at Nagasaki (Aug. 9, 1945): A second bomb was dropped by U.S.
 Japan Surrenders on Sept. 2, 1945
- Wartime Conferences
 Teheran Conference (Nov. 1943): Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met and agreed that British
and Americans would begin to liberate France and that Soviet Union would invade Germany
 Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945): They agreed at Yalta that Germany would be divided into
occupation zones, there would be free elections in the liberated countries of Eastern Europe,
and a new world peace organization would be formed (future United Nations).
 Potsdam Conference (July – Aug. 1945): Stalin, Truman, and Attlee agreed to issue a warning
to Japan to surrender unconditionally, and to hold war-crime trials of Nazi leaders.