HARD TIMES AND THE
HOME FRONT.
A Mr. Rice Presentation - May 23, 2011
The Great Depression

After years of boom, the United States finally went
bust in October 1929.
 The
banks closed first.
 Many of the banks had invested recklessly in the stock
market and when it went down, so did the banks.
 People who invested in the banks lost everything.
 Factories and businesses went bankrupt because no one
had money to buy anything.

Under President Hoover, the United States had no
plan to battle the issue.
How bad was the Depression?

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It is hard for us to imagine
the fear, hunger, misery,
and anger found in every
community.
Families lost loved one:

Four-year-old Angeline
D’Ambrose died after
eating poisonous weeds in
her back yard. Her dad
could only say “I guess my
baby was hungry. We
haven’t had anything to eat
in this house to eat for two
days.”
Drought and the Dust Bowl

For 12 years, starting in 1928, the United States
went through the worst drought in national history.
 Heavy
winds removed important topsoil from the plains
and Columbia Plateau and blew it away.
 Dust Bowl
 In the Pacific Northwest, billowing clouds of topsoil
could be seen hundreds of miles off Washington’s coast.
How bad was the drought?
Migrants by the Thousands
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With such grim conditions, it was a shock to people
in the Pacific Northwest that their region was
regarded as a land of opportunity.
By 1940, more than 400,000 migrants had
followed others to the Pacific Northwest.
Many were only able to make a bare sustenance
living by working as fruit and vegetable pickers.
 This
army of transient workers moved into the Yakima,
Willamette and Snake River Valleys during harvest
season.
 For the most part, until 1939, this group of people lived
in unsanitary, crowded work camps.
Path of the Migrants
Roosevelt’s New Deal pt. 1


FDR viewed the Pacific Northwest, with its small
population and abundant natural resources, as a
“last frontier” of undeveloped places.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
 Young
men from all over the country worked at some
200 camps throughout the PNW.
 They earned $35-45 a month, received good food,
education and discipline.
 Young men worked on soil conservation projects, ran
state fish hatcheries, wildlife refuges and planted
millions of trees on public lands.
Roosevelt’s New Deal pt. 2

Works Progress Administration (WPA)
 The
WPA hired musicians, writers, historians, and artist to
chronicle the history of the United States.
 Old newspaper articles were catalogued and diaries
were published.
 Histories of towns and cities were written and published.
 Public buildings received a facelift through murals and
other construction projects.
 WPA
Projects in Washington
The End of the Depression

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By 1939, the worst of the great Depression was
over.
Slowly businesses opened up again.
People were working and starting to buy goods.
Unemployment was still high, but people were
working on a daily basis.
They could afford to buy more meat and other
foods so farmers made more money.
Industry and trade in the Pacific Northwest spread
to new U.S. and global markets.
A New Deal for Native Americans

Indian populations reached their lowest level in the early
1900s.

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Poor diets and poor living conditions contributed to high death
rates, especially among children. A new wave of diseases –
tuberculosis, pneumonia, and influenza – ravaged the
reservations. Alcoholism was also a big problem.
John Collier, head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, believed
the concept of the Dawes Act had been a mistake.
He saw the importance of tribal life and the necessity of the
tribe to uphold social, moral and spiritual values of the
group.
The Indian Reorganization Act repealed the Dawes Act and
encouraged the formation of tribal governments.
Tribes again would have common lands and would promote
Indian languages, arts, crafts, and ceremonies.
Another World War
Surprise Attack

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On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the nation of Japan
launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
Wave after wave of Japanese fighters dropped
bombs on the United States Pacific fleet.
The next day, President
Roosevelt asked Congress
to declare war on Japan
and thus brought Americas
entrance into WWII.
Another Economic Boom

Because the Northwest was located close to the
Pacific war zone, the region became a center for
the shipment of military personnel and equipment.
 The
great amount of power produced by local dams
boosted industrial development.

Major industries included:
 Aluminum
 Shipbuilding
Hanford and the Bomb


In September 1939, Roosevelt started the secret
Manhattan Project.
One of the projects facilities was placed at the
Hanford location in central Washington.
 It’s



location ensured both security and public safety.
Hanford produced plutonium used for the bomb.
Houses, cafeterias, and other buildings for 51,000
people disappeared behind the fences.
It was not until after the war that the general public
finally found out about the site.
Relocation of Japanese
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The surprise attack on December 7 produced irrational,
almost hysterical, fear of invasion.
Some Americans felt Japanese Americans would give
aid to a possible invasion.
Because of this, on March 2, 1942, all persons of
Japanese decent living on the West Coast were given
relocation orders.
Most of the Japanese in Oregon and Washington were sent
to the Minidoka Relocation Center in the Idaho desert.
 Minidoka house 10,000 people, most of whom were 2nd and
3rd generation Japanese American citizens.
