Intro question
 Imagine this: you come home from school and your
parents are outside your house with piles of items from
inside. They say to you that they have lost everything
they had in savings and they also have lost their jobs.
They ask you to come up with a plan as to how they are
going to survive. Write down a plan for survival for
you and your family. What would you do?
How did the U.S. go from this…
To this…
Causes of the Great Depression
 Economic trouble in
Europe
Causes of the Great Depression
 U.S. Economic Policies
 Smoot-Hawley Tariff
Causes of the Great Depression
 Buying on Credit
Causes of the Great Depression
 Stock Market Crash
 Bull Market
 Margin Buying
 Black Thursday
 Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929
Causes of the Great Depression
 Banking Crisis
Investors lose their
investments in the stock
market and can’t repay
their loans (margin buying)
Banks are left with little
income and little cash
reserves; some banks are
forced to close
Fearing for their savings,
other Americans “run” to
the bank to get their
savings
As a result, more banks
failed and the Depression
set in even more.
Bank Run Scene
Intro Question: Explain the
difference between empathy and
sympathy.
Unemployment Skyrockets
 1929 – 1.5 million unemployed
1933 – 15 million
 Even workers who were able to keep their jobs saw
their wages and hours cut dramatically.
 African Americans had a particular hard time because
economic trouble only enhanced racial discrimination.
 Women actually saw an increase of employment in the
1930s…why do you think?
City Life During the Depression
 It was a fight to survive
in the city during the
depression.
 People relied on
charitable organizations,
help from neighbors,
breadlines, and garbage
for things to eat.
 Homeless often gathered
themselves in
shantytowns.
Do you know where this is?
Farm Life During the Depression
 Oversupply cause farmers to




let crops rot and slaughter
their animals because they
could not afford to feed them.
Their income dropped and
they could not afford to pay
their mortgages.
Farmers banned together to
help one another.
Tenant farmers were hit
especially hard.
Southwest farmers of
Mexican decent were often
encouraged to leave the
country.
Family Life in the 1930s
 Due to economic strains,
the marriage rate fell.
 Suicide rates increased
by 28% from 1929 - 1932
Psychological Effects
 In pairs, answer the following questions and be ready
to discuss:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is the meaning of work?
What does it mean to have a job?
What do you think people feel when they lose their
job?
What would say to someone who lost their job through
no fault of their own?
The Election of 1932
 The Republicans reluctantly
renominated Herbert Hoover as
their candidate.
 Public resentment for the
Republicans was widespread
and suggested they would
lose
 The Democrats nominated New
York governor Franklin D.
Roosevelt, or FDR.
 Not only did FDR win the
presidency but the Democrats
also won decisive majorities in
both houses of Congress.
 Roosevelt won because he
offered Americans a “new deal”.
If you were an average American
living in 1932, what would you
want to hear from the President in
his Inaugural Address?
FDR - First Inaugural Address
Grade how FDR did in his speech?
 What kind of a public speaker was FDR?
 What was the message of his speech?
 How did the people react?
 What overall grade would you give FDR on his First
Inaugural Address and why?
When the President has a televised
address to the nation, do you
watch it? Why or why not?
FDR - First Fireside Chat
FDR’s First 100 Days
 Immediately following
taking office, FDR called
Congress into special
session.
 During the next 100 days,
Congress approved 15
measures thought up by
FDR and his “brain
trust”, which became
known as the “New
Deal”.
Banking Reform
 The day after FDR took
office, he declared a
banking holiday
proclamation.
 The purpose of this was to
stop the massive
withdrawals that were
crippling the nation’s
banks.
 A few days after his
proclamation, Congress
passed the Emergency
Banking Act
Further Banking Reform
 Confidence in the
nation’s banks increased
even more when
Congress created the
Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation
(FDIC).
 This organization
insured each bank
deposit up to $2,500
Direct Relief to the Needy
 To help the nation’s 13
million unemployed,
Congress (under FDR’s
request) created the
Federal Emergency
Relief Administration
(FERA).
 This organization
channeled $500 million
to state and local
agencies
Job Creation
 Many Americans did not
want a “hand out”; they
wanted a job.
 In response the Civilian
Conservation Corps
(CCC) was created.
 Members were trained
and employed in several
different conservation
projects.
Relief vs. Recovery
 FDR knew that relief was
short-term while
recovery was long-term
 In order to recover from
the depression, FDR
based his programs on
famous economist John
Keynes, who stated that
government had to
spend money to
encourage investment
and consumption
SPEND!! SPEND!!
SPEND!!
Agricultural Recovery
 FDR hoped to help
farmers by encouraging
them to cut their output.
 To do this Congress
passed the Agricultural
Adjustment Act, which
created the Agricultural
Adjustment
Administration (AAA).
Ummm…how about a
little help please????
Tennessee Valley Authority
 One of the largest New
Deal programs was the
creation of the
Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA).
 This organization
created many dams and
power plants to help
combat electricity
shortages, disease, and
the areas low standard
of living
Equality Under the New Deal
 Eleanor Roosevelt (FDR’s
wife) was instrumental in
helping New Deal
programs reach minorities.
 In addition, African
Americans were appointed
to key federal government
positions.
 American Indians also saw
the passage of the Indian
Reorganization Act, which
reversed the Dawes Act.
Have you ever heard the expression
“Just when you think things can’t
get any worse…they do.”
The Dust Bowl
 A huge drought hit the Great Plains in the mid-1930s.
 High winds picked up the topsoil and created huge
dust cloud that buried farms and towns.
 The Dust Bowl caused many farmers to lose everything
and forced them to migrate to a new home.
Critics of the New Deal
 Some reformers, both
conservative and liberal,
opposed New Deal reforms.
 Among them was U.S.
Senator Huey Long, who
proposed a new kind of relief
called Share-Our-Wealth.
 According to this plan, the
government was supposed to
seize wealth from the rich
through taxes and then
provide a minimum income
to every American family
What do you think about this idea?
Do you agree or disagree? In pairs,
discuss this and be ready to share.
The Second New Deal
 After the Civil Works
Administration (CWA),
FDR created the Works
Progress Administration
(WPA)
 This organization built
airports, buildings,
bridges, and miles of
roads.
Social Security
 In 1935, Congress passed
the Social Security Act.
 This act did 3 things:
1.
2.
3.
Provided unemployment
insurance
Provided pensions for
retired workers over the
age of 65
Provided payments to
people with disabilities,
the elderly, and widows
and their children.
The Election of 1936
 Roosevelt promised to
continue the New Deal
reforms.
 As a result, he won the
election easily.
 In addition, for the first
time since
Reconstruction, African
Americans in the North
supported the
Democrats.
FDR and the Supreme Court
 FDR was angered at the Supreme Court for ruling
several of his New Deal programs unconstitutional.
 As a result, he asked Congress for the power to appoint
one new justice for each of those over 70 (there were
6).
 FDR was meant with staunch criticism for this.
What do you think? Should FDR
have proposed this? Was he right
or wrong? Explain your answer.
Effects of the Second New Deal
 Some major effects of the Second New Deal were:
 Organization of labor
 Relief for farmers
 Recession (Remember the business cycle)
What do you think? In our country,
should there be more government
or less government? Explain your
response.
Write a one paragraph reaction to
this photograph.
Life in the New Deal Era
Migration
 Many Americans,
especially farmers in the
Midwest, migrated to
other parts of the
country in search of
work.
 Why do you think they
were moving???
Picturing Life in the Depression
 The horrific living
conditions offered
filmmakers and
photographers material for
their art.
 Many of these
photographers were hired
by the federal government.
 Why? FDR thought that
opponents of his New Deal
programs would change
their minds when they saw
how regular Americans
were forced to live.
Migrant Mother
 Among the most famous
of these types of photos
was Dorothea Lange’s
Migrant Mother
Other forms of art portraying the
Depression
 Other forms of art
portrayed life during the
Depression, like John
Steinbeck's novel, The
Grapes of Wrath
 Others art forms like
films and the theater
offered Americans an
escape from the dismal
conditions around them
Diary Assignment
 You are going to write 4 diary entries describing what
life was like for someone living through the
Depression. 2 must be for someone living in an urban
area and 2 must be for someone living in a rural area.
As a requirement, you must include 3 pieces of
information from your notes in each of the entries (12
total). Underline that particular information in each
entry. Be as creative as possible and really paint a
picture for the reader as to what life was like living
during the Depression. Each entry must be at least ½
page long. We will share these towards the end of
class.