11. The Great Depression and
the New Deal
America’s World Economic Crisis
Causes of the Great Depression
1.
Overproduction of goods (Produced more than
they could sell)
2. Speculation led to the 1929 stock crash
1. People invested in rising stock prices.
2. Speculation in real estate holdings.
3. In October 1929,k stock prices fell in a crash
3.
4.
Uneven distribution of wealth
Shaky Banking Practices. /bankers invested
depositors’ money poorly.
5.
Restricted International Trade / tariffs were so
high it restricted international trade
New York Stock Market Crash
• October, 1929 crash set off a chain reaction.
• Investors lost savings
• Companies could not sell stocks to raise money
• Factories closed
• Prices dropped
• Unemployment grew
• People lost their homes
• Americans blamed President Herbert Hoover.
What Depression Looked Like
• No safety net.
• Make-shift shanty homes, known as “Hoovervilles”
appeared in the outskirts of towns.
• Many people relied on soup kitchens for food.
• Recording the Misery:
• Dorothea Lange: Recorded the misery of the people in
photographs
• John Steinbeck: Wrote about the suffering of migrant
families during the depression in a series of articles.
An Environmental Disaster
• On the Great Plains
• Spell of dry weather in the 1930s turned the soil
into dust
• Giant wind storms swept the dust away
• Farmers had to leave the Dust Bowl.
• Many farmers settled in California
• About half a million Mexican-American workers
were forced to return to Mexico (Mexican
Repatriation Program)
President Hoover’s Response
• Cut taxes
• Established the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation to make loans to banks and businesses.
• Felt that the Depression would go away on it’s own.
• Failed to provide direct emergency relief since he
believed it would undermine American’s “Rugged
Individualism.”
Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal
• President Roosevelt established a Brain Trust of talented
advisers.
• Fireside Chats. Used the radio to speak directly to
Americans
• New Deal was President Franklin Roosevelt’s program for
lifting the nation out of the Great Depression
• Called congress into special session to pass this
legislation.
• Most was passed in a 100 days
• Consisted of programs focused on “Relief, Recovery, and
Reform.
Relief
• Short term actions designed to tide people over
until the economy recovered.
• Bank Holiday. Closed all the banks for a period
of time.
• Created government jobs to get people back to
work.
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
• Public Works Administration (PWA)
• Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Recovery
• Restore incentives to produce.
• Priming the Pump
• National Recovery Administration (NRA)
• Agricultural Adjustment Acts (AAA)
Reform
• Measures to remedy defects of the U.S. economy to
prevent future depressions.
• FDIC. Insured bank deposits to restore people’s
confidence in the Nation's banks.
• SEC. A watchdog agency to watch over stock
markets and prevent another collapse.
• Social Security Act. Provided a safety net for
workers with unemployment insurance, old age
pensions, and insurance for families of those who
died early: paid for by contributions by both
employees and employers.
The Supreme Court and the New Deal
• The U.S. Supreme Court overruled part of the New
Deal in Schechter v. U.S. on the grounds that the
president had exceeded his constitutional powers.
• In response, Roosevelt developed his Court Packing
Scheme, where he proposed that the President be
able to add new justices for every one over 71 years
old.
• Failed and American public was outraged at the
attempt.
Key Individuals
• Herbert Hoover. President when the Great
Depression began. Believed in “rugged
individualism: and failed to take enough measures
against the problem.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). Elected President in
1932; introduced a New Deal program to get the
economy moving again.
• John Steinbeck. Writer during the Great
Depression. Wrote The Grapes of Wrath
• Eleanor Roosevelt. A political activist, who
served as the eyes and ears to her husband,
President Roosevelt.