GREAT DEPRESSION
Warm-Up: Pick up Notes Packet + Assignment
Packet and answer top part of page 1

Schedule
 Warm-Up
 PowerPoint
 Key
Question/Closure: How did the US get itself into
one of the worst economic disasters in history?

Assignment Packet page 1 due Wednesday
The Myth of Prosperity



Mood of most Americans in late 1920s was
optimistic
In 1928, Republican President Herbert Hoover
declared, “poverty will be banished from this
nation.”
Few people realized that serious economic issues
were coming
Looking at this chart, what information jumps out at you?
What does this graph tell us about the US economically?
Economic Danger Signs

Many industries were producing more and
more goods
Majority of middle class and poor
incomes didn’t rise enough to buy
additional goods (cars, refrigerators
etc) + little savings
60% of America living on less than
$2,000 a year = poverty line

Many items were not sold and piled up
in warehouses (too much supply, too little
demand)
Businesses could not sell products 
can’t pay for materials + salaries 
close factories and lay off workers

Get-rich-quick’ attitude was popular
Speculation  practice of investors of
buying and selling risky stocks in the hope of
making a quick profit
To attract other than wealthy investors 
buying on margin  investors could buy a
stock for a fraction of its original price (1050%) and borrow the rest
If stock prices fall  borrowers wouldn’t be
able to repay loan
The Crash and the Great Depression

Only 8 months in office, President
Hoover faced an economic calamity
October  Beginning of economic
depression  severe economic
slump (stock prices sharply decline)

Economy got worse when financial
panic led to stock market crash of
1929
 Stocks went from being worth a
fortune to worthless
 Investors tried to sell stock
before going bankrupt
 Oct 29th  Black Tuesday 
stock prices fell 75%
 Millions lost life savings
In the following
months, thousands
of banks closed
(ran out of money)
 People couldn’t
afford everyday
products 
businesses laid off
workers

The Great Depression

Great Depression  worst economic crisis in
US history + impacted whole world
 Many
European countries borrowed from Europe to
rebuild post WWI
 When US economy tanked  called in loans that
couldn’t be repaid
 Europe’s economy failed
 From 1929-1941 (entry into WWII)
Hoover Loses the Nation
As unemployment, hunger and homelessness grew,
Americans looked to President Hoover to end their
suffering
 Hoover did not want to increase the government’s
role in the economy or aid to the needy

 Encouraged
private charities to aid people + businesses to
maintain wages
 Eventually, but too late, realized change was needed
Reconstruction Finance
Corporation  govtfunded program give
loans directly to banks
 Public works—govt
funded construction
projects that would create
jobs and assist
communities with issues 
Hoover Dam (cheap
water-powered electricity)


Bonus Army Incident
 WWI veterans promised
bonus for service (not due until
after 1940)
 Veterans demand early
payment in 1932  Congress
rejected idea
 Veterans protest outside
Washington DC in
Hooverville—village of huts +
shacks
President Hoover ordered the
army to clear the campsite  a
few casualties
 Shelters and belongings
burned
 Americans were outraged with
incident + reputation as a ‘donothing’ president led America
to choose Franklin D Roosevelt
as president in 1932.

Warm-Up: Complete review questions on page 4
in Notes Packet

Schedule
 Warm-Up
 PowerPoint:
FDR’s New Deal
 Powerful speaker analysis
 Key Question/Closure: How did FDR attempt to restore
America’s confidence?

Assignment Packet page 1 due Wednesday
Who are the people in the political cartoon?
What is happening in the cartoon with the 3 characters?
FDR Takes Charge


FDR’s words reassured Americans
and gave them hope that their
country could prosper once again
From November-March, country
had to wait for FDR to become
president


20th Amendment  moved
Inauguration to January
As FDR waited, he studied
America’s problems


FDR created programs
to fight Great
Depression  New
Deal
In First New Deal
(1933-1935)  FDR
focused on relief,
recovery & reform

First 100 Days 
period of time when
the power and
influence of the
President is greatest
and Congress is most
cooperative

FDR’s initial steps:
 Declare bank holiday 
close all banks and have
government inspectors
examine health of all
banks
 Opened only banks that
were in good shape 
people begin to put
money back in (banks
begin to make loans)
Fire-side chats  series of radio
talks in which he explained his policies
to the American public

Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation
(FDIC)
Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC)
Civilian Conservation
Corps (CCC)
Insures bank deposits (your money)
up to a certain amount
Regulate stock market + protect
investors
Hired young men to work on
conservation (plant trees and
maintain beaches + parks)
Agricultural Adjustment Attempted to raise farm prices by
Administration (AAA)
paying farmers to lower farm
output
Public Works
Created jobs by having people build
Administration (PWA)
public works (highways + bridges)
Warm-Up: Complete warm-up question on page
8 in notes packet

Schedule
 Warm-Up
 Social
Security Analysis
 FDR & Supreme Court Analysis
 PowerPoint Notes
 Key Question/Closure: Identify and describe the major
issues FDR faced in his second term as President?

Assignment Packet page 2 due Friday
FDR’S
ND
2
NEW DEAL
In 1935, Congress passed the Social Security Act—
provide security, in the form of old age pensions,
disability payments & unemployment benefits
 While a person worked, a small amount of each
paycheck goes to Social Security fund
 Work matches employee’s contributions
 When retired, person would receive monthly
payments
 Wagner Act  protect labor rights (form unions,
collective bargaining—wages/conditions)

Roosevelt’s Critics
How do these political cartoons illustrate issues with
FDR’s New Deal policies?
Republicans  knew something had to be
done about the Great Depression BUT
Roosevelt went too far (too much government
control + spending)
New Deal was seen as a form of socialism 
take away private business, property, liberty
= society control nation’s wealth
 Democrats  New Deal programs didn’t go
far enough (more spending/govt control)

Throughout the 1st New Deal era, the
Supreme Court had caused FDR his
greatest frustration
 Most of the 9 judges believed FDR’s
programs gave the government too
much power  declared several
unconstitutional


1937, FDR
proposed
radical
Supreme Court
reform bill
Add 6 judges
to original 9
Many saw FDR’s real vision  ‘packing the court’
with judges who share his views and support New
Deal laws
 Interfered with checks/balances  vetoed
 In end, Roosevelt, got what he wanted with Supreme
Court justices dying and retiring but…lost more than
he won
 Harshly criticized (dictator)  united political
opponents against him until WWII

New Deal Slows Down: Recession of 1937

Industrial production (supply) +
employment decrease causes
 Social Security tax  took money
out of paycheck = less $$ spend
 FDR cut back on supporting
government-run programs
FDR afraid of deficit spending—
borrow money to fund programs
while taking in less money
Economy wouldn’t recover until
WWII
Warm-Up: Start working on page 11 in notes
packet.

Schedule
 Warm-Up
 Word-Web
Activities
 Key Question/Closure: How did the Great Depression
happen? How did FDR attempt to solve the problem?
What major issues did FDR run into?

Assignment Packet page 2 due tomorrow + Quiz
Warm-Up: Hand in review vocabulary page and
go over quiz procedures

Schedule
Warm-Up
 Great Depression Quiz
 When finished, grab reading + questions and complete for
section 3  Due Monday
 Key Question/Closure: How did the Great Depression
happen? How did FDR attempt to solve the problem? What
major issues did FDR run into?


Assignment Packet page 3 due Monday
Warm-Up: Take out notes packet and answer
questions near top of page 14

Schedule
Warm-Up
 Dust Storm Disaster
 PowerPoint
 Railroad Reading
 Key Question/Closure: How did most Americans fair
during the Great Depression?


Assignment: NONE DBQ TOMORROW
Living Through Hard Times: Dust Bowl
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

Few people escaped financial hardship during the
Great Depression
Farmers, especially on the Great Plains out west,
were hit the hardest
In the early 1930s, a drought hit the Great Plains
and lasted for several years
 Land
had already been damaged from before by
farming and grazing practices
 Winds picked up dry dirt and created mile long dust
storms which ravaged farms and blocked out the sun
 Areas affected: Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado,
New Mexico (12,500 square miles)

With crops and cattle buried under layers of
dirt  thousands of farmers moved to
California for work (Okies from Oklahoma)
 By
1940, 2.5 million people left the Midwest and
traveled west
 But

California farm towns quickly became over-populated
Took until the early 1940s for steady rain to
return
Living Through Hard Times: Unemployment


Without work, families couldn’t afford to buy food
 bread lines feed thousands
Lost homes  shacks, huts, under bridges, cars
Living Through Hard Times: Women & Kids

Children had to grow up fast during the Great
Depression
 Boys
typically dropped out of school to work
 Girls stayed home to take care of younger siblings
 Some teens ran away from home to avoid being a
burden to their families

Women had to give up their jobs to men or
work in low-paying jobs men didn’t want
Warm-Up: Grab DBQ Packet and begin
working on outline

Schedule
 Warm-Up
 Great
Depression DBQ (outline + essay)
 Key Question/Closure: What events led to the Great
Depression? How were people affected?

Assignment: DBQ TOMORROW TEST COMING UP
Warm-Up: Answer the warm-up question on
page 20 in notes packet

Schedule
 Warm-Up
 Letters
to Mrs. Roosevelt
 Grapes of Wrath
 Key Question/Closure: Culturally, how was the Great
Depression perceived?

Assignment: TEST COMING UP
Warm-Up: Students will pick up review packet
questions and complete independently

Schedule
 Warm-Up
 Review
packet
 Class review of review packet
 Key Question/Closure: How did the federal
government respond to the Great Depression?

Assignment: TEST COMING UP
Warm-Up: Go over test procedures

Schedule
 Warm-Up
 Great
Depression Test
 Key Question/Closure: How did the federal
government respond to the Great Depression?

Assignment: NONE
Warm-Up: Take Cinderella Man packet from
front cart.

Schedule
 Warm-Up
 Great
Depression discussion
 Background on Cinderella Man + Writing Assignment
 Cinderella Man Movie
 Writing Assignment on Cinderella Man
 Key Question/Closure: How does the movie Cinderella
Man relate to our class discussions on the Great
Depression?

Assignment: Cinderella Writing Assignment
http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=eGhdX1SI
3KY&bpctr=1359924
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