Chapter 24
The Great Depression and the
New Deal
1929-1939
Introduction
• What were the causes of the 1929 stock market crash
and of the depression that followed?
• What was the social and political impact of the crash and
depression?
• What strategy did the New Deal employ and what
specific measures were passed to implement it?
• Why did Roosevelt turn to a second New Deal in 1935
and what major legislation expressed the shift?
• How did the depression and New Deal affect farmers,
workers, women and minorities?
• Which New Deal programs failed and why? Which New
Deal programs still have an impact today?
• How did the economic hard times affect American Art
and popular culture
Black Thursday and the Onset of
the Depression, 1929-1932
• 1928- Wild Speculation, over 9 million
Americans played the stock market
• Buying on the margin
• 10/24/1929- Black Thursday- Stock Market
crashed
• Farm Prices fell 60%, 5500 Banks failed,
25% Unemployment
• Surplus Goods and Farm Commodities
• Foreign Debt Repayment
Hoover’s Response
• Private Sector Initiative, Limited
Government Intervention, Balanced
Federal Budget
• Local Charity and Local Government
• Reconstruction Finance Corporation- Lend
money to failing businesses
• “Rugged Individualism”
Mounting Discontent and Protest
• Hoovervilles
• Foreclosures
• Bonus Army
The Election of 1932
• Republican- Hoover
• Democrats- Franklin Roosevelt
• Roosevelt and Democrats took over White
House and Congress
Roosevelt and His Circle, 19331935
• New Deal
– Relief, Recovery, Reform
– Eleanor Roosevelt
– Brain Trust
The Hundred Days
• March 9th- June 16th 1933
– FDIC- Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation
– CCC- Civilian Conservation Corps
– Home Owners and Loan Corporation
– Farm Credit Administration
– TVA- Tennessee Valley Authority
– PWA- Public Works Administration
– Federal Emergency Relief
Administration
– AAA- Agricultural Adjustment Act
– NRA- National Recovery Act
Failures and Controversies Plague
the Early New Deal
• Summer 1933 economic upturn and then slump
again
• NRA ruled unconstitutional
• AAA- Small farmers, sharecroppers and tenant
farmers were kicked off of their property, Dust
Bowl, eventually ruled unconstitutional
• PWA- Harold Ickes slow to get work underway
and slow to put money in the hands of
unemployed
• FERA- Harry Hopkins distributed money much
more quickly
1934-1935 Challenges
From Right and Left
• First phase did not end Depression
• American Liberty League called the New
Deal socialistic
• Charles Coughlin- National Union of Social
Justice called for more radical measures
• Huey Long- “Share the Wealth”
redistribution of wealth
• Roosevelt calls for more legislation
The New Deal Changes Course,
1935-1936
• Roosevelt calls for Second New Deal
aimed at aiding the disadvantaged
Expanding Federal Relief
• Emergency Relief Appropriations Act- $5
billion for work-relief
• Work Progress Administration- Harry
Hopkins, $11 billion for construction,
clerical, professional jobs
• John Maynard Keynes- Deficit Spending is
positive way to pump funds into the
economy to relieve depression
Aiding Immigrants, Unions, Regulating
Business, Taxing the Wealthy
• Resettlement Administration- loans to
small farmers, sharecroppers and tenant
farmers
• National Labor Relations Act (Wagner
Act)- Unions right to bargain, NLRB to
watch labor-management relations
• Revenue Act of 1935- boosted tax rates on
corporations and upper income Americans
The Social Security Act of 1935,
End of second New Deal
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Old Age Pension
Families of deceased workers
Unemployment benefits
Dependent mothers and children
Handicapped
Government’s role changed
Election of 1936
• Republican- Alfred Landon
• Democrats- Franklin Roosevelt
• Coalition of South, Immigrants, Industrial
Workers, Farmers, African Americans and
Women joined the Democrats
Environment, West and Indian
Policy
• CCC built fire lookout stations, hiking trails and
planted thousands of trees
• Department of Agriculture and Interior taught
farmers about soil conservation
• National parks
• Highways, Hydroelectric Power plants Flood
Control Dams
• 1934 Indian Reorganization Act
– Stop further sale of Indian lands
– Self-government to Indian tribes
End of New Deal 1937-1939
• 1937- Court-packing bill
• New Deal programs being ruled
unconstitutional
• Congress refused to pass the bill
• Four Supreme Court Justices
died or retired and Roosevelt
replaced the with “New Dealers”
Roosevelt Recession
• 1937 Economy takes another downturn
– Consumer spending is reduced
– Congress cutbacks to balance the budget
– Roosevelt asks for new spending
Final Measures
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Housing Act of 1937
Fair labor Standards Act 1937
Farm Tenancy Act 1937
Second AAA
Conservatives are elected in 1938
elections and New Deal Reforms end
Depression’s Psychological and
Social Impact
• 14% Unemployment throughout the 1930’s
• ¼ of all farm families received some type
of assistance
• Women 20% Unemployment
• Marriage and Birthrates decreased
• Hobo’s
• “Grapes of Wrath”
• “Migrant Mother”
Industrial Workers Unionize
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AFL- skilled workers
CIO- John L. Lewis- Industry-wide unions
Union membership rose to over 8 million
Many of the leaders were radicals
Workers just wanted wages, hours and
working conditions
Blacks and Hispanic Americans
Resist Racism and Exploitation
• 77% of blacks still live in the South
• NAACP organized against lynchings,
segregation and disenfranchisement
• Urban league- “Don’t shop where you can’t
work”
• Mexican-American workers were encouraged to
migrate back to Mexico
• Discrimination and racism against MexicanAmericans and Asian American workers
Avenues of Escape: Radio and the
Movies
• Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen,
Soap Operas
• Golden Age of Hollywood
• Fireside Chat
The Later 1930’s: Opposing Fascism;
Reaffirming Traditional Values
• Cultural Nationalism
– Rise of Aggressive Fascism
– Communism
– WPA Art Projects
– American Jazz
– Harlem Renaissance
• Langston Hughes
• Zora Neal Hurston
World’s Fair
• New Technology
• Growing concern for war in Europe