How did the American government
tackle the Great Depression?
Learning objective – to be able to assess
the American government’s policy in
handling the Great Depression.
I can describe some
of the features of US
economic
policy
between 1929 and
1932.
Grade D
I can explain and
categorise most of
the features of the
US
government’s
economic
policy
between 1929 and
1932.
Grade B
I can explain and assess
the performance of the
US government and its
handling of the Great
Depression.
Grade A
Starter – complete the famous quote from
President Herbert Hoover about his
government’s economic policy?
Prosperity is
------------.
Starter – complete the famous quote from
President Herbert Hoover about his
government’s economic policy?
Prosperity is
just around the
corner.
Who was President Herbert
Hoover?
US President
between 1929 to
1933 and won the
1928 election by a
landslide.
A Quaker who meant he
was very caring. He was in
charge of the relief fund
for East Europeans in 1920
which saved millions of
lives.
US Secretary of Commerce
between 1921 and 1928 –
closely associated with the
government’s economic
policy.
Closely associated with
Laissez Faire economics.
What did Hoover think caused the
Great Depression?
Falling world trade
– but US trade
needed protecting.
Too much government
intervention in other
countries.
Businessmen spending
money they did not have.
What did Hoover do to tackle the
Great Depression?
Continued Laissez
Faire policies and
encouraged Rugged
Individualism – the
idea that an
individual is
responsible for
their own lives
without help from
anyone else.
Passed the Hawley-Smoot
tariff in 1930 which
increased import duties on
foreign goods.
Assisted farmers with the
Agricultural Marketing Act
of 1930 which enabled the
government to lend
farmers money and the
Federal Farm Board in
1932 to buy up surplus
farm produce.
What did Hoover do to tackle the
Great Depression?
Encouraged
businesses to not to
cut wages or
production levels.
Set up agencies to aimed to
relieve unemployment such as the
President’s Organisation for
Unemployment Relief which
encouraged local initiatives and
the Emergency Relief Act, which
gave State Governments $300
million in extra funds.
Cut taxes by $130 million.
Approved a $1.8 billion
worth of public works
projects, such as building
roads.
What did Hoover do when his policies
were not making an impact in 1932?
Despite the federal
government
spending $500
million more per
year on relief funds,
unemployment was
still rising – to
almost 25% of the
entire workforce in
1933.
Hoover increased direct
federal government
intervention, such as the
Reconstruction Finance
Company, which gave
loans to failing banks and
businesses.
What was the reaction to Hoover’s increased
intervention?
The poor felt that
Hoover’s public
works projects
came too late to
improve
unemployment and
that his tax cuts
favoured the rich.
Increased violent protest in
towns and cities.
Businesses hated the
Hawley-Smoot Tariff,
which they blamed for the
drop in exports from
$2,341 million to $784
million between 1929 and
1932.
Relief groups felt that the
government was not doing
enough despite claiming
that they were.
Why was the government’s failure to handle the
Great Depression Hoover’s fault?
Hoover was closely
linked to the
government’s
economic policies
that had caused the
Depression. He
stuck with them for
too long.
Encouraging ‘voluntaryism’
– supporting charities – he
saw it that it was not the
government’s job to help
the poor.
With Hoover supporting
Rugged Individualism and
blaming businesses, he
was seen to do virtually
nothing in 1930.
The Hawley-Smoot Tariff
made the situation worse
and international trade
slowed further.
Why was the government’s failure to handle the
Great Depression not Hoover’s fault?
It was a world
problem not an
American problem
– you cannot blame
just one person.
Hoover cancelled all war
debts to increased
international trade.
Direct federal government
aid took place – a rarity.
The US political system
limited Hoover’s powers to
deal with the Depression.
Responsibility for helping the
poor and unemployed lay
with the state government.
Congress did not want to
raise taxes to help the
poor.
Tasks
Complete all the tasks from the worksheet.
Extension task
Design an election leaflet for Herbert Hoover for
the 1932 Presidential Election. What would you
include? What would you highlight? What would
you leave out?
Plenary
Choose three words
from the word
cloud which you
think are the most
important.
How do they link to
the lesson?
How do they
summarise your
learning?