1928-1932
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
2a, 2c, 5a, 6b
CAUSES OF THE DEPRESSION
KEY TERMS AND PEOPLE
Herbert Hoover
 Speculation
 Black Tuesday
 Business Cycle
 Great Depression
 Hawley-Smoot Tariff

PROSPERITY HIDES TROUBLE
The Roaring Twenties was a REPUBLICAN
decade
 Harding and Coolidge advocated big business

 Laissez-faire

1928 Election
 Herbert
 Easily
Hoover will run for the Republicans
wins the election
PROBLEMS IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

Farmers faced difficult times in the 1920s
 They
had increased production during WWI to meet
war demands
 More
 After
land, more machines, etc
the war, demand dropped sharply
 However,
production remained high
 Farmers couldn’t sell their crops=prices plummeted

 The
Couldn’t pay their hefty debts
result was a rural depression
UNEVEN DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

Wealth disparity
 The
wealthy were getting richer, but the poorer
continued to get poorer
 The
wealthy couldn’t make up for what they poor couldn’t
afford to buy

Easy Credit
 The
ability to purchase goods on credit hid the
problem for a while
 Americans were accumulating more and more debt
THE STOCK MARKET CRASHES

Speculation
Too much money being poured into stock market
 People hoping to get rich overnight
 Buying on the margin meant that people owed A LOT of
money


October 29, 1929
Black Tuesday
 People rushed to sell their stocks and the market
crashed
 Millions lost their life savings in a matter of hours

THE GREAT DEPRESSION BEGINS
Lasted from 1929-1941 *****
 The Banks Collapsed

 Crisis
in confidence
 People
“ran” to the banks to withdraw their money
“Bank runs” caused banks to fail and close their doors
 Some people lost any money that they had deposited in the
banks

 The
“feds” had limited money supply prior to crash to
discourage lending. Not enough money in circulation to
help rebound the stock market crash
BUSINESSES CLOSE AND UNEMPLOYMENT
RISES

Stocks falling
 Businesses
closed plants and laying off workers
 Snowball effect: production cuts continued to grow

Tariffs Add to the Problems
 Hoover
tried to fix the problem
 Protect
American business from foreign competition
Issued the Hawley-Smoot Tariff (highest ever)
 Backfiredstopped all international trade and worsened the
worldwide depression

PRIMARY CAUSES OF THE DEPRESSION
Unsold agricultural surplus
 Increasing farm debt
 Hardships in Europe
 Uneven wealth distribution
 Rampant stock market speculation

2b, 5a, 5c
AMERICANS FACE HARD TIMES
KEY TERMS AND PEOPLE
Bread line
 Hooverville
 Tenant farmer
 Dust Bowl
 Okies
 Repatriation

AMERICAN CITIES

Massive unemployment
 Led
to widespread poverty and homelessness
 Breadlines: where people lined up for handouts
from charities or public agencies
 Hoovervilles: makeshift shantytowns of tents and
shacks built on public land or vacant lots
 Name
showed that the American people blamed Hoover
for the Depression
RURAL AMERICA
Crop prices fell even further
 Many farmers left their farms to find work
 Farmers that couldn’t pay their bills lost their
farms and became tenant farmers



Working for bigger landowners rather than themselves
The Dust Bowl
Affected the Great Plains
 Resulted from drought, loss of topsoil, and high winds
 Many people migrated from the area

 Okies
WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND MINORITIES

Women
 Shared
in the anxiety and stress
 Had to take on work to supplement family’s income

Children
 Some
ran away from home
 Some quit school

Minorities
 Had
to endure racism
 Magnified
their communities’ economic hardships
1b, 2c, 6a
HOOVER’S RESPONSE FAILS
KEY TERMS AND PEOPLE
Localism
 Reconstruction Finance Corporation
 Trickle-Down Economics
 Hoover Dam
 Bonus Army
 Douglas MacArthur

VOLUNTEERISM

At first, Hoover followed a “hands-off” policy
 Social
Darwinism
Soon realized this was not going to work
 Hoover called on business leaders to maintain
employment, wages, and prices

 Essentially

it was a policy of doing NOTHING
Called on wealthier individuals to give more
many to charities
CAUTIOUS RESPONSE FAILS

Hoover had faith in localism
 Problems
could best be solved at local and state
levels

Believed businesses and individuals would find
better and faster solutions if they were allowed
to work them out themselves
 Government
benefit them
legislation imposed on them would not
HOOVER ADOPTS MORE ACTIVIST POLICIES

Hoover was being blamed for the Depression
 Associated

his name with suffering
Hoover decides to use federal resources
 Believed
the country suffered from a lack of credit
 Reconstruction
Finance Corporation
Government loans to railroads and businesses
 Loaned money to banks so they could lend to businesses



Trickle-down economics
Hoover Dam
 Brought
much needed employment
BONUS ARMY




World War I veterans had been promised a bonus to be
paid in 1945
The “Bonus Army” marched on Washington demanding
early payment to help alleviate the Depression
Hoover vetoed the bill and a riot broke out
Hoover called on General Douglas MacArthur to get the
Bonus Army out of Washington



Used excessive force
Photographs showed up in the newspapers and Hoover,
once again, received the blame
This was the “nail in his presidential coffin”