THE DEPRESSION
THE HOOVER YEARS
PRE CRASH
• US is experiencing
prosperity
•
•
•
•
Rising GDP
Wages: Up
Hours: Down
Industry was moving
ELECTION OF 1928
• Hoover Wins!
• Extends hold of
Republicans
• Economists
• Helped Europe out of
Post-War food
problems
• Promises Prosperity
for “Decades to
come”
THE CRASH
• Thurs. Oct. 24, 1929
• Market take a dip
• Recover by Friday
• Monday slow but
moving steadily
• Tues. Oct. 29, 1929
• Market starts slow then
dives
• Frantic buyer begin to
sell
• Stock Market forced to
close
• Damage is done
THE NEXT YEAR
• Banks begin to fail:
Ripple effect
• Call in loans
• People out of work
• Can’t pay loans
• Banks begin
foreclosures
• Hit Farmers hard
PAIN OF POOR
• Cities and churches
open bread lines
• Thousands of men
and women seek
help
• Food
• Shelter
• Work
HOOVER AND THE DEPRESSION
• Lowers income taxes
• Not much help
because already low
• Meets with business
leaders
• Agree to keep wages
at current levels
• Refuses welfare
programs
• Believes people won’t
work
RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE
CORPORATION
• Set up to make
loans to businesses,
banks, etc
• Idea was to put
money into system to
get it moving
• Opposite effect
• Beauracracy
• Corruption
• Most money was never
even loaned out
HAWLEY-SMOOT TARIFF ACT
• Hoover signs act
• Plan to raise tariffs to
help businesses
• The damage
• Europe raises their
tariffs
• Farmers are crushed
• Helps the decline of
US Industry
HOOVER’S SHAME
• Many Americans
begin to blame
Hoover
• Not doing enough
• Looking out for business
and the rich
• Hoover becomes
the but of many
jokes
THE NEW DEAL
FDR’S ATTEMPT TO END THE DEPRESSION
HERBERT HOOVER
• A economist, not a
politician
• 1929-1930
• Depression felt by farmers and
poor
• 1930-1931
• Bank closures begins to affect
all
• Unemployment at 14%
• 13 million out of work
• Industry at a stand still
• Haley-Smoot Tariff
• Increased tariffs
• Trading partners do same
• More damage than good
1932 ELECTION
• Republican: Hoover
• Democrat:
Roosevelt
• Landslide victory
• Roosevelt wins nearly
every state
• Promises America a
“New Deal”
WHO IS ROOSEVELT
UNTOLD ROOSEVELT
100 DAYS
• Will be one of the
busiest and most
productive in
Congressional History
• “Bank Holiday”
• Banks forced to close
• Restructure
• Can not open unless
they have funds
• Those that don’t will
remain closed
NEW DEAL I
• Congress passes
sweeping legislation
• Alphabet Soup
• CCC, WPA, NIRA, FERA,
NYA, AAA, TVA, NRA
• 21st Amendment
• Repeals prohibition
• Tax increases on
wealthy
• Redistribution of wealth
• Union assistance
AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT
ADMINISTRATION
• AAA
• Pay farmers not to
grow
• Increase prices
• Lower surpluses
• Tenant/Sharecroppers
• Monies went to owners
• Supposed to be shared
with “renters”
• Was not the case
• Ruled unconstitutional
by Supreme Court in
1936
CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS
• CCC
“Tree Army”
• Employed 18-25 yr. olds
• Get them off the streets
• 300,000 max enrolled
• 2.5 million over the span
of the program
• $30
• $25 to be sent home
• Work
•
•
•
•
Building canals
Cleaning national forests
Planting trees
Making trails
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
• WPA
• Carried out public
works projects
• Employed millions
• Kept culture alive
•
•
•
•
Writing
Painting
Plays
History
• Slave narratives
• Native American art
and history
• Music
NATIONAL RECOVERY
ADMINISTRATION
• Created through the
National Industrial
Recovery Act (NIRA)
• Supported Unionization
• Collective bargaining
• Minimum wages
• Minimum hours
• Encourage
competition
• Break monopolies
• Supreme Court rules
NRA unconstitutional
in 1936
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY
• TVA
• Hydroelectrcity
• Meant to bring
employment and
electricity to rural areas
• Gov’t run not private
• Bring the South out of
Agrarian society and
into Industrialized
society
• Also in mid west and
northern Pacific
THE DUST BOWL
• 1930-36
• Affected mid west
• Massive dust storms
• Many forced to move
• Okies
• Those coming from
Oklahoma, but
encompassed all
• California
• Citrus farming
• The Grapes of Wrath by
John Steinbeck
DOROTHEA LANGE
• WPA member
• Captured Images of
the Dust Bowl and
Depression
NEW DEAL I ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Employment
• Unemployment dropped to 12%
• 5 million people put to work
• Industry did start to come back
• Unions
• Large support gave them power
• Social
• Kept kids of streets
• Cleaned many areas
• Brought electricity to rural
communities
• But not enough
• Unemployment still high
• Bread lines still long
• No hope in sight for many
especially very poor and minorities
1936 ELECTION
• Republican: Alf
Landon
• Democrat: FDR
• FDR wins by a
landslide
• New Deal
• Other guy was weak
NEW DEAL II
• President has a lot
of political clout
• Will attempt to
restructure America
economically,
politically, and
socially
SOCIALLY: SOCIAL SECURITY ACT
• Francis Townsend
• Pay seniors $200 a
month not to work
• Get them off payrolls
• Too expensive
• Social Security Act of
1935
• People pay into a
savings via a tax
• When they retire they
are paid based on
what they contributed
• Still survives today
SOCIALLY: AFRICAN-AMERICANS
• Jim Crow South
• Very tough
• Sharecropping and servants
only real income
• Racist North
• Though more freedoms,
racism still persisted
• FDR
• Put more African-Americans
to work
• Enacted measures to protect
sharecroppers
• Eleanor an advocate
• Black vote will forever shift
from Republican to Democrat
POLITICALLY: COURT BATTLES
• AAA and NRA
challenged
• Unconstitutional
• Tax
• Supreme Court rules
against both
• They are dead
• Roosevelt upset
POLITICALLY: COURT PACKING
• Supreme Court rules
against minimum
wage laws
• West Coast Hotel Co. v.
Parrish
• Court Procedures
Reform Bill
• Add six new justices to
the 9 member Court
• Make life easier for the
old men
• Reality: More justices to
rule in his favor
• Bill Fails
ECONOMICALLY: WAR ON CORPORATE
AMERICA
• Roosevelt attempts to
limit the power of
corporations and
wealthy
•
•
•
•
•
•
Higher taxes
Union assistance
Wage and hour laws
Corporate taxes
Stiffer anti trust laws
SEC: Securities
Exchange Commission
• Oversee stock market
CHALLENGES
• Huey “The Kingfish”
Long
• Louisiana Governor
and Senator
• Loud, aggressive, and
powerful
• “Share the Wealth”
• Redistribution of wealth
• Didn’t really believe in it
• Could have really
challenged FDR in 1936
• Assassinated Sept. 10,
1935
CHALLENGES: FARTHER CHARLES
COUGHLIN
• Michigan Radio
Host
• Gains a great deal of
support from rural
and farmers
• Starts Union for Social
Justice Party
• Criticizes FDR
• Anti-Semitic views
• Hitler rise and word of
Jewish atrocities will
end his career
NEW DEAL RETROSPECTIVE
• Did it work? Yes and No
• Yes:
• Put people to work
• Enhanced the role of women
and minorities
• Did change America
politically, socially, and
economically
• No:
• Unemployment never
dropped below 12%
• GDP remained low
• Still mass unemployment
• Many programs were killed or
ended before any real
success could be seen