Georgia between World Wars:
1919 to 1941
GPS SS8H8a
Describe the impact of the boll weevil and
drought on Georgia.
The Georgian Economy in 1920s
Although most of the country enjoyed great
prosperity throughout the 1920s,
Georgia and a number southern states
(which were still predominantly farming
states) suffered due to:
1. Boll weevil
2. Droughts
3. Lost of farms
4. Exodus of workers
1. Boll weevil
¼ inch long insect
Larvae feed off bolls of the
cotton plant (fibers)
Moved from Mexico into
Georgia in 1915
What happened? Boll weevil larvae hatch and feed off
cotton boll (white fibers)
Makes cotton plant useless
Immediate effect?
Thousands of acres of cotton field destroyed. 2.8 million
bales produce in 1914 to only 600,000 bales in 1923.
Long Term effects?
Prices of cotton drops to only 15 cents per pound
The failing Cotton harvest (the major crop of the South)
negative effects on other parts of economy
2. Drought of 1924
What happened? Parched and sun-baked fields
destroyed boll weevil along with more cotton and
other crops
Immediate effect? Farmers lost income due to lost
of crops
Long term effects? Farmers either lost farms or
became deeper in debt
3. Lost of Farms
What Happened?
Crop failures and debts caused many small farms to fail
Immediate effect?
60,000 farms in operation were lost in 1920s
Long-term effect?
When farms failed, banks also lost money
Many farm-related businesses (stores, equipment dealers,
repairmen) closed
4.
Exodus of Farm Workers
or the “Great Migration”
What happened?
Over 375,000 farm workers left Georgia between 1920 to
1925.
Workers, mostly Blacks who left due to racial
discrimination, moved to Northern cities to work in
factories and assembly plants
Immediate Effects?
Blacks had opportunities for better paying jobs, education,
health care, and civil rights in the North
Long-term Effects?
Blacks still faced segregation, unequal pay, hostile
competition, and over-crowded cities
GPS SS8H8b
Explain the economic factors of the
Great Depression.
The Great Depression was:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
From October 1929 to 1940 (World War II)
Started on “Black Tuesday” when the New York Stock
Market crashed. (Value of stocks fell $40 billion)
{U.S. Steel $262 stocks dropped to $22, and Montgomery
Ward fell from $138 to $4 a share}
By 1932, 13 million (or 1 out of 4) Americans were
unemployed
Over 9,000 banks failed and millions lost their savings and
cash
People left homeless to live in “Hoovervilles” or wooden
and cardboard shacks
“Soup Kitchens” and “bread lines” feed the needy
7. Education and health care for children suffered,
8.
9.
and most went hungry everyday and had no shoes
for their feet.
President Hoover appeared indifferent to people’s
problems since he (and many others) believed that
government was not the solution to the
Depression but the economy itself will work it
own problems out.
When Americans wanted a new approach to
economic recovery, they elected Franklin D.
Roosevelt in a landslide victory in 1932.
Cause and Effect of The Great Depression
Cause #1
Stock Market
Speculation
Effect:
Prices of stock rose
higher than they were
really worth
Cause #2
Over-borrowing
Effect:
People borrowed (or
given loans) more
money than they
could afford to repay.
Loans could not be
fulfilled thus banks
could not make
payments to
businesses. Workers
eventually laid off
Cause #3
Personal Debt
Effect:
Americans bought
too much “beyond
their means.”
Remained in debt
when laid off and
had to sell
belongings.
Cause #4
Unwise Bank
Practices
Effect:
Invested too much in
stock market and
lost money. “Runs
on Banks” caused
banks to fail when
bank withdraws
exceeded cash
deposits.
Cause #5
Laissez-faire attitude
of Government
Effect:
Government officials
and Americans
believed that the
economy will work
itself out of the
depression—YET it
only created more
problems
Cause #6
Industrial
Overproduction
Effect:
Companies produce
more than they
could sell;
businesses either
slowed production
or laid off workers
to get rid of
surplus
Cause #7
High Tariffs
Effect:
Other countries had
difficulties selling
their products in
U.S.; in turn, they
will not be able to
buy American
goods and pay off
wartime debts.
Cause #8
Depressed
Agricultural
Production
Effect:
Droughts and
overproduction
caused prices to
decline and farmer
to lose income.
Farmers could not
pay off debts or
buy goods. Farm
communities in
their own
“depression”
GPS SS8H8d
Discuss the effect of the New Deal in terms
of the impact of the Civilian Conservation
Corps, Agricultural Adjustment Acts, rural
electrification, and Social Security.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
and The New Deal
During Roosevelt first “100 Days” as president in
1933, he introduced 15 programs which
Congress to passed easily:
1. provide relief to the needy, such as Federal
Relief Administration (FERA)
2. economic recovery, such as the Civilian
Conservation Corp (CCC) and Public Works
Administration (PWA)
3. Reform financial system, such as Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC) Provided jobs for young men to build trails
and roads in forests, reforest lands, construct
structure to control flooding, and building of
national parks
Each young man earned $30 per month and send
most of it home to their families
In Georgia, build facilities at Kennesaw Mountain
National Park and Roosevelt State Park; ball
fields, schools, and theaters; Grady Hospital;
and Macon and St. Simon’s Airport
Agricultural Adjustment Administration
(AAA)
1st Act in 1933-- to help farmers will low
prices for crops and reduce surplus,
government set program to set market
prices and provide farmers “subsidies” so
they would produce less.
2nd Act in 1935—Rewarded farmers who
practiced good conservation methods and
reduce production on major crops such as
cotton and wheat.
Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
When he experienced a large electricity bill at his Warm
Springs cottage and finding out that his neighbors had
no electricity, Roosevelt proposed the REA bill.
$300 million given to rural areas nationwide to extend
power lines to country and buy cheaper electricity
Higher number of farmers in Georgia now had electric
water pumps, lights in the homes, milking machines,
and household appliances.
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Built dams on the
Tennessee River to control flooding and generate
electricity to northern Georgia and Tennessee
Social Security Act of 1935
1.
2.
3.
Insured citizens over the age of 65
retirement income
Provided workers with unemployment
compensation
Provided assistance to citizens too
disable to work, plus assistance for their
spouse and children
Georgia Governors during the FDR
Years (1932 to 1945)
SS8H8c Discuss the impact of the
political career of Eugene Talmadge
SS8H9b Evaluate the importance of
Richard Russell
SS8H10c Discuss the impact of Ellis
Arnall
Richard Russell
(1931 to 1932)
View on New Deal and
FDR:
Strong supporter of New
Deal; Persuaded FDR
to start programs
beneficial to GA
Race Relations:
Believed in segregation
but spoke out against
violence used towards
Blacks
Accomplishments:
*reduced number of
state offices (102 to
17)
*Eased some financial
problems caused by
Great Depression
*Served in Senate for
38 years and brought
military contract to
GA
Eugene Talmadge (1933 to 1936;
1941 to 1942)
Views on New Deal and
FDR:
*Disliked federal
intervention and New
Deal Programs
Accomplishments:
Race Relations:
• *Reduced property
*Considered a
taxes, utility rates,
conservative white
and state fees
supremacy.
• *Large support from
*lost 1942 election
rural voters
due to firing
• *Only GA governor
officials who
elected four times
wanted to integrate
schools
Ed Rivers (1937 to 1940)
Views on New Deal and
FDR:
Big supporter of New
Deal Programs in GA
Race Relations:
Supported programs to
help out both poor
whites and blacks
Accomplishments:
*Health services for all
Georgians, old age
pensions, raises for
teachers, and sevenmonth school year
*Expanded electrical
services to rural area
*Unemployment
compensation
Ellis Arnall (1943 to 1946)
Views on New Deal and
FDR:
Strong supporter for
Roosevelt's war time
policies
Race Relations:
Abolished poll tax and
white primary
(100,000 blacks voted
in 1946 GA primary)
Accomplishments:
• Created boards to
monitor Board of
Regents and Prison
system
• *Supported GA to be
first state to allow 18
year olds to vote
• * first governor to
serve four-year term