Chapter 23 The Great Depression
and the New Deal
Hoover and the Crash
• A Collapsing Economy
– Industries like coal mining, railroads, and clothing
manufacturing were declining through the 1920s
– The stock market continued to rise as the
economy was on the decline
Hoover and the Crash
• Stock Market Crashes
– On Wednesday, October 23, 1929 stock prices fell
and investors lost $4 billion.
• Brokers who lent people money to buy on margin
started to recall their loans, and investors who could
not pay had to sell their stocks. This caused prices to
drop even more
Hoover and the Crash
• October 29, 1929- Black Tuesday- the stock
market collapsed completely
– Stock prices plummeted
– Millionaires lost their fortunes overnight
Hoover and the Crash
• The Great Depression Begins
– The stock market crash marked the start of a 12year economic and social disaster known as the
Great Depression
Hoover and the Crash
• Troubled Industries
– One major cause of the Great Depression was
overproduction
• Factories were producing more than people could
afford to buy
Hoover and the Crash
• Industries that supported prosperity in the
1920s began to decline
– Spending on construction fell by more than $2
billion
– car sales dropped by more than one third in 1929
Hoover and the Crash
• Crisis in Banking
– Banks across the country started to fail
• 5,500 banks closed between 1930-1933
Hoover and The Crash
• The Downward Spiral
– With people unable to buy what factories were
producing, many workers lost their jobs….and
then had even less money with to buy
stuff….which caused more workers to lose their
jobs….which then caused more factories to close
or declare Bankruptcy
Hoover and The Crash
• The Human Cost
– Urbanization caused the depression to affect
more people
Hoover and The Crash
• The Unemployed
– Between 1929 and 1933 the unemployment rate
went from 3% to 25% (13 million people were
unemployed)
Hoover and The Crash
• Growing Poverty
– Jobless people lined up at soup kitchens
– People tried to sell apples or pencils on the street
– Tried to pick up trash for food
Hoover and The Crash
• In big cities, homeless people built
communities of rundown shacks
– Known as Hoovervilles
Hoover and The Crash
• Hoover Responds
– Many Americans blamed President Hoover for the
Depression
Hoover and The Crash
• advisers recommended that Hoover let the
Depression work itself out
• Hoover believed that business leaders and
local governments should help the people
(Not The Federal Government)
Hoover and The Crash
• Hoover met with executives and local
governments to encourage them to help
people
• Hoover soon realized that the federal gov’t
needed to get involved
– formed that Reconstruction Finance Corporation
(RFC)
Hoover and The Crash
• The Bonus Army
Why was President Hoover receiving blame for
the Great Depression? What will the American
people want from their next president?
Homework pages 782 and 790 Key Terms and
People Due Wed
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Election of 1932
• Franklin D. Roosevelt vs. Herbert Hoover
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Roosevelt beat Hoover 472 electoral votes to
59
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• During the campaign FDR pledged “a new deal
for the American people”
– The term New Deal would come to describe his
way of getting the U.S. out of the Depression
This great Nation will endure
as it has endured, will revive
and will prosper. So, first of all,
let me assert my firm belief
that the only thing we have
to fear is fear itself…”
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• The day after Roosevelt took office he
declared a bank holiday
– Tried to stop banks from closing
– Created the Emergency Banking Relief Act
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Tried to restore Americans’ confidence in their
banks and the economy by delivering fireside
chats
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Roosevelt’s plan to bring back the economy
was broken into three parts
– Relief for the jobless
– Promote economic recovery
– Reform the economic system
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Relief for the Jobless
– During FDR’s first hundred days he signed a record
15 new bills
• Relief for the jobless
• Economic recovery
• Reforms to prevent future depressions
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Federal Emergency Relief Administration
(FERA) was created to provide financial
assistance to unemployed
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works
Progress Administration (WPA) were created
to give people jobs
• CCC hired people to work in national parks,
forests, wilderness areas
– Men would plant trees, build reservoirs, construct
parks
• WPA paved 650,000 miles of roads, built
75,000 bridges and 80 airports
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Promoting Economic Recovery
– National Recovery Administration (NRA) tried to
improve wages and raise prices to boost the
economy
– Public Works Administration (PWA) was created to
help improve the nations infrastructure and to
created jobs (Lincoln Tunnel)
– Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created to
build dams along the Tennessee river that would
prevent flooding and provide electricity
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Reforming the Economic System
– Purpose was to try to prevent future depressions
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was
created to protect bank depositors
• Federal Power Commission (FPC) controlled the oil and
gas industries
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Roosevelt was popular and won reelection in
1936 but had many people that opposed his
ideas.
• Roosevelt 523 Electoral Votes
• Alf Landon 8 Electoral Votes
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Supreme Court
– Declared several New Deal programs to be
unconstitutional
– In response FDR designed a “court packing plan”
• Wanted to appoint six new justices so he would have
the majority and be able to continue the new deal
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Many people opposed the New Deal and FDR,
believing it would restrict individual freedom
Roosevelt and the New Deal
• Huey Long-a senator that created the Share
Our Wealth plan
• Francis Townsend-called for the gov’t to pay
Americans over 60 $200 each month as long
as they spent all the money
• Charles Coughlin-believed the gov’t should
take over the banks
Legacy of the New Deal
• Social Security (1935)
– Old-Age Insurance was guaranteed to retired
people
• Retired people would collect a pension that would be
paid for by a payroll tax
– Also included Aid to Dependent Children and aid
to the disabled
Legacy of the New Deal
• Lasting Labor Reforms
– Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act)
• Guaranteed workers rights to organize into unions
• Upheld the right for collective bargaining
• Membership in unions tripled during the 1930s
Legacy of the New Deal
• Unions became powerful during the 1930s
– United Auto Workers launched a sit-down strike at
the nation's largest auto factory in 1936
– Lasted six weeks and the strikers won their
demands for higher wages and shorter hours
Legacy of the New Deal
Was the New Deal
Successful?
Life in the Great Depression
• Eleanor Roosevelt
Life in the Great Depression
• The Dust Bowl
– A drought in 1930 resulted in widespread crop
failure and sent storms of dust swirling across the
land
– These dust storms lasted for five years
– 100 million acres of farm land was turned into a
wasteland
Life in the Great Depression
Life in the Great Depression
• Causes of the Dust Bowl
– Modern methods or farming destroyed the land
• Farmers would clear a large amount of land and
remove the thick layer of sod that held the soil in place
• With that thick layer gone there was noting to hold the
soil in place
Life in the Great Depression
• Black Blizzards
– Black blizzards made noon seem like midnight,
buried fences, seeped into houses, and killed
people and animals.
• “We went to school with headlights on and with dust
masks on.”
Life in the Great Depression
• Okies Head West
– Thousands of people left there farms and moved
west to the farmlands of California
– Known as Okies because many came from
Oklahoma
– Many people found the condition in California just
as miserable
• Unable to buy land, competed with local workers to
pick crops
Life in the Great Depression
• Arts and Media of the Depression
– Many authors and artists tried to capture the toll
the Great Depression had on people
• John Steinbeck
Life in the Great Depression
• Movies and Radio
– Some movies dealt with the real social problems
of the era
• Grapes of Wrath
• The Public Enemy
– Most movies were created to help people forget
the it problems
• King Kong
• Mickey Mouse
• star Shirley Temple
Life in the Great Depression
• Movies and Radio
– Radio was a part of everyday life
• Listeners would listen to bands, comedians, and soap
operas