The Great
Depression
Slide 1
The Nations Sick Economy
1. What were some causes of the Great Depression?
2. What happened to the price of farm products during the 1920’s?
Towards the end of the 1920’s serious problems
threatened economic prosperity.
1. Farmers faced hard times because the price of
crops declined after WWI
2. Easy credit put many people in debt
3. Overproduction of consumer goods
.
• Congress tried to help the
farmers with price supports,
but Coolidge vetoed them.
• More than 70% earned less
than needed for a decent
standard of living.
The Stock Market Collapses
3. What does buying stock on margin mean?
4. What does speculation mean?
• Speculation: Buying Stocks
on the chance of a quick profit
without considering risks.
• Buying on the Margin: pay
part of selling price in cash,
borrow the rest from the bank
• Early September stock prices
peaked, then fell.
• Investors begin selling their
stock
• Prices edge downward
creating a panic
• Investors try to unload their
stock
Slide 2
The Stock Market Collapses (Con’t)
5. The day the stock market crashed became known as what?
• Black Tuesday: October 29,
1929- orders to sell stock at
any price begin to swamp the
stock exchange.
• Fortunes made during the
boom were lost in hours
• Stock Market Crash signaled
the end of prosperity in the
1920’s.
Slide 3
Bank Failures
6. What caused many banks to fail?
• Thousands of bank
failures also contributed
to the Great Depression.
• Rumors often led bank
customers to panic and
withdraw all their funds.
This is called a “run on the bank.”
• When the bank ran out of funds, the other
depositors lost all their money and the bank
went bankrupt.
Business Failures
7. Why did many businesses go bankrupt between
1929 and 1933?
• 90,000 businesses went bankrupt
between 1929 and 1933.
• One reason for this was that many
industries had failed to adjust their
high production rates to the declining demand in the late
1920s.
• This was especially true with what are called “durable
goods,” things that last a long time, like refrigerators,
washing machines, and automobiles.
• These surplus goods were already being stockpiled in
company warehouses before the depression hit. Without
buyers, companies could not afford to make more of these
items. Factories had to close down.
World Wide Depression
8. What led to a dramatic drop in world trade
• Throughout the 1920s, while the American
economy was booming, European countries had
been suffering economic hard times. They were still
trying to recover from the impact of WWI.
Also, the U.S. passed the
Hawley-Smoot tariff on
imported goods to give an
advantage to American
industries.
The High Tariff rate led to
a dramatic drop in world
trade.
Unemployment Hurts
Everyone
9. Why did people refer to shantytowns as Hoovervilles?
10. Why did the psychological stress of the Great Depression to rise?
• Hit industrial cities of North
the hardest
– People struggle with feelings
of boredom and humiliation
– Suicides went up
– Many were forced to beg to
feed their families
– Shantytowns or “Hoovervilles
sprang up- blamed President
Hoover for not helping.
– Charitable organizations
opened up soup kitchens to
Slide 4
feed
the hungry.
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS PICTURE?????
The Dust Bowl
11. What caused The Dust Bowl?
• Early 1930’s- lower than average rainfall
• Farmers had removed the thick protective
layers of prairie grassland
• Farmers exhausted the land through over
production
Dust Bowl Cont…
12. Who wrote a novel about Oklahomans fleeing the Dust Bowl?
More than a million people traveled along
Route 66 to California- heard they needed
people to help pick the crops.
They were known as “Okies”paid low-migrant farm
worker wages
John Steinbeck wrote
“The Grapes of Wrath
about Oklahomans
fleeing the Dust Bowl
during the Great Depression
Hoboes
13. What was the name given to men and boys who rode the rails looking for
work?
Many teenagers looked for a way out of the suffering.
Hundreds of thousands of teenage boys and some
girls joined thousands of out of work men and hopped
aboard America's freight trains to zigzag the country
in search of work, adventure, and an escape from
poverty. They were the sons
of poor farmers, and out-ofwork miners, and wealthy
parents who had lost
everything. “hoboes," as
they were called, were
eager to tour America for
free.
President Hoover Loses His
Battle With the Economy
14. What did Herbert Hoover ask businesses to do to help the economy?
15. What did Hoover believe the government should not do?
• Hoover tried to restore confidence
in the American economy.
• Tried to convince businesses not to
lay off employees
• Hoover felt that the federal
government should not give direct
relief (giving payment or food to the
poor.)
• Hoover’s popularity declines
• Many hold Hoover responsible for
the Depression
Slide 9
BOULDER DAM
16. What $700 million public works project was named after Hoover?
One project that Hoover
approved did make a
difference, the construction of
a dam on the Colorado River.
In the fall of 1929, nearly one
year into his presidency,
Hoover authorized
construction of Boulder Dam
(later called Hoover Dam). At
726 ft. high and 1,244 ft. long
it would be the world's tallest
dam and the second largest.
This project put a lot of men
to work, but it was not nearly
enough.
Bonus Army Marches into
Washington D.C.
17. Who made up the Bonus Army that marched on Washington?
• WWI Veterans demand early
pay of bonus promised to
them for their service in the
war
• Hoover refuses
• 20,000 Veterans march
• General MacArthur ordered
by Hoover to remove
veterans
– Armed with tanks, military
rifles, tear gas torchesattacked unarmed veterans
– Dozens injured
– Vivid photos appeared in the
Slide 10
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)
Emerges as a Political Leader
18. Who were the candidates in the 1932 election?
19. What did Roosevelt call his plan for recovery from the Great Depression?
20. What did he hope the New Deal programs would do?
• Roosevelt had a plan for
recovery from the Great
Depression called The New
Deal
• The New Deal programs
would stimulate the
economy
• Roosevelt beat Hoover by a
landslide in the 1932
Slide 11
President Roosevelt
21. What was the first major action that Roosevelt took as president?
• The first thing Roosevelt
did was declare a “bank
holiday,” closing U.S.
banks temporarily to
restore public confidence
and prevent further
bankruptcies.
• Congress cooperated with
the president to pass
many reform measures
aimed at relieving the
symptoms of the Great
Depression.
FIRESIDE CHAT
22. What did FDR call his series of radio broadcasts to the public?
On March 12, the day before
the first banks were to reopen,
President Roosevelt gave the
first of his many fireside
chats—radio talks about issues
of public concern, explaining in
clear, simple language his New
Deal measures. These informal
talks made Americans feel as if
the president were talking
directly to them.
THE SUPREME COURT REACTS
23. What was the primary purpose of FDR’s “Court packing plan?”
24. Which two New Deal programs were ruled unconstitutional?
In 1935, the Court struck down the NIRA (24)National Industrial
Recovery Act) as unconstitutional. The next year, the Supreme Court
struck down the Agricultural Adjustment Act
23) Fearing that further Court decisions
might dismantle the New Deal, President
Roosevelt proposed that Congress enact
a court-reform bill to allow him to appoint
six new Supreme Court justices. This
“Court-packing bill” aroused a storm of
protest in Congress and the press. Many
people believed that the president was
violating principles of judicial
independence and the separation of
powers..
EMPLOYMENT PROJECTS
25. Which New Deal program created the most jobs?
26. Who did the Federal Emergency relief Administration try to help?
27. Which program showed Roosevelt's concern for the natural environment?
27) 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Provided jobs for single
males on conservation projects.
1933 Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) Helped
states to provide aid for the 26) unemployed.
1933 Public Works Administration (PWA) Created jobs on
government projects.
1933 Civil Works Administration (CWA) Provided work in federal
jobs.
25)1935 Works Progress Administration (WPA) Quickly created as
many jobs as possible—from construction jobs to positions in
symphony orchestras.
1935 National Youth Administration (NYA) Provided job training for
unemployed young people and part-time jobs for needy students.
BUSINESS ASSISTANCE AND REFORM
1933 Emergency Banking Relief Act (EBRA) Banks were inspected
by Treasury Department and those stable could reopen.
1933 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Protected bank
deposits up to $5,000. (Today, accounts are protected up to $100,000.)
1933 National Recovery Administration (NRA) Established codes of
fair competition.
1934 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Supervised the
stock market and eliminated dishonest practices.
1935 Banking Act of 1935 Created seven-member board to regulate
the nation's money supply and the interest rates on loans.
1936 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDC) Required manufacturers
to list ingredients in foods, drugs, and cosmetic products.
FARM RELIEF AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
28. What was the main objective of the Agricultural Adjustment Act?
1933 Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) Aided farmers
and regulated crop production. ( to raise the prices of farm products)
1933 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Developed the resources of
the Tennessee Valley.
1935 Rural Electrification Administration (REA) Provided affordable
electricity for isolated rural areas.
HOUSING
1933 Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) Loaned money at
low interest to homeowners who could not meet mortgage payments.
1934 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Insured loans for
building and repairing homes.
1937 United States Housing Authority (USHA) Provided federal
loans for low-cost public housing.
LABOR RELATIONS
1935 National Labor Relations Board (Wagner Act) Defined unfair
labor practices and established the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) to settle disputes between employers and employees.
1938 Fair Labor Standards Act Established a minimum hourly wage
and a maximum number of hours in the workweek for the entire country.
Set rules for the employment of workers under 16 and banned
hazardous factory work for those under 18.
RETIREMENT
1935 Social Security Administration Provided a pension for retired
workers and their spouses and aided people with disabilities.
When analyzing cartoons ask
yourself. . .
1. What is the scene depicting?
2. Are there labels or a title?
3. What symbolism do you see?
– What do the objects represent?
– Who are the characters and how
are they drawn?
4. What is the cartoonist’s
point-of-view on this issue?
POLITICAL CARTOON ANALYSIS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is the scene depicting?
Are there labels or a title?
What symbolism do you see?
What do the objects represent?
Who are the characters and how are they drawn?
What is the cartoonist’s point-of-view on this issue?
29. Using the questions above, what is your political analysis of this
cartoon?
POLITICAL CARTOON
ANALYSIS
1.What is the scene depicting?
2.Are there labels or a title?
3.What symbolism do you see?
4.What do the objects represent?
5.Who are the characters and how are they
drawn?
6.What is the cartoonists point-of-view on
this issue?
30. Using the questions above, what is your political analysis of this
cartoon?
Lasting Impact of the New Deal
31. What are some of the lasting government programs left over from the New Deal?
32. Which policy had the biggest long term impact?
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)insures banking accounts up to 100,000 dollars
preventing bank failures
• Security and Exchange Commission (SEC)regulates and stabilizes the stock market
• The Social Security Administration
pensions for the elderly
aid to families with children
unemployment compensation
assistance for the handicapped