APUSH: Great Depression and
New Deal (no images)
Weber
AP TOPIC # 20
The Great Depression and the New Deal
– Causes of the Great Depression
– The Hoover administration’s response
– Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal
– Labor and union recognition
– The New Deal coalition and its critics from
the Right and the Left
– Surviving hard times: American society
during the Great Depression
Great Depression Art Project
One of the best ways to learn something
is to develop empathy. One of the best
ways to empathize is through art.
You will be completing an art project
about the Great Depression.
The projects are due on Tuesday.
As you watch the slide show of images
from the depression, write down words
which capture the feeling and think about
the mood of your own art project.
Essential Questions
What happens to average working people
during an economic depression?
How does the Federal Reserve work and
how does it affect our lives?
How did the New Deal expand the role of
government during the 1930s (WPA, Social
Security, Labor Relations Board, Tennessee
Valley Authority)?
What did workers do to fight for their rights?
How did labor unions grow in response to
the depression (AFL, CIO, United Farm
Workers)?
Causes of the Great Depression
• The uneven distribution of wealth (gap
between rich and poor)
• Over-speculation
• Over-production
• Farming crises
• Consumer credit
• 1929 financial panic/stock market crash
• 1929 Federal Reserve failed to secure
adequate money supply.
• Dust storms in the Midwestern states (Dust
Bowl)
Effects of the Great Depression
• American loss of self-worth.
• Poor farmers from Oklahoma and other
Midwestern states migrated to California
looking for work.
• Unemployment rate of 25% when FDR was
elected.
• Poverty, hunger, food shortage,
unemployment
• New Deal programs to try and fix economy
and expanded role for federal government.
Herbert Hoover’s Policies
 Asked business sector to put
in place voluntary controls.
 Established the “Emergency
Committee for Employment”
to coordinate volunteer relief
efforts.
 Set up the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation and the
National Credit Corporation.
 Authorized 2 billion to state
and local governments.
 Alienated voters by calling for
an increase in taxes.
(Just like what a vacuum does: his policies sucked)
Key Terms
1. Technology
2. Federal Reserve
3. Causes of the Great Depression
4. Herbert Hoover
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
6. Dust Bowl
7. Agriculture
8. Dust Bowl Migrants
9. New Deal
10. Works Progress Administration
11. Social Security
12. National Labor Relations Board
13. Tennessee Valley Authority
14. California Central Valley Project
15. Bonneville Dam
16. AFL/CIO
17. United Farm Workers
Writing a letter to the President
• Use the information you gathered from the
textbook chapter to write a letter to
President elect Obama instructing him on
what worked and what to avoid in trying to
fix an economic crises.
• Show your understanding of New Deal
policies and of the criticisms of the New
Deal.
• Your letter must explain the following
terms…
Your letter must explain and address
the following key terms
1. First hundred days; stabilizing banks
2. Federal Emergency Relief Administration
3. Public Works Programs (CWA)
4. Regulating the Economy (National Recovery
Administration or NRA)
5. Assisting Homeowners and Farmers (AAA and TVA)
6. The Second New Deal (WPA, Wagner Act, National
Labor Relations Board, Social Security)
7. New Deal’s Critics (Women, African Americans,
Political critics, Modern-day critics)
Letter to the President-Elect
[Based on notes from Ch. 21]
Dear President Obama,
We are writing to express our deep concern over the current financial crises. As juniors, we
have been studying the Great Depression and the New Deal and have come to see many
parallels between the past situation and the present.
Studying Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” programs, has inspired us to contact you and let
you know what we think worked well as well as what, in our humble opinion, did not work so
well.
As you are undoubtedly aware, the Tennessee Valley Authority, for example, created much
needed jobs as well as recreation and a renewed sense of purpose for people in one of the
poorest and most underdeveloped regions of the country. The hydroelectric project
generated a tremendous amount of electricity and stimulated the economy once again.
Our country is in need of the modern Tennessee Valley Authority project. We are hoping you
will take this country in the direction of energy independence by investing in renewable
energy and create those “Green Jobs.” Creating jobs would not only reduce unemployment
but also make good on your campaign promises and inspirational message of hope and
change.