The Roaring Twenties
and The Great
Depression
“Brother can you spare a dime?”
Timeline of Events
• 1918
– World War I ends
• 1919
– More than 3,000 strikes occur in the U.S.
– Palmer Raids begin and continue until 1920
• 1920s
– Harlem Renaissance begins
Timeline of Events
• 1920
– Warren G. Harding is elected president
– Eighteenth Amendment goes into effect
beginning the Prohibition Era which
included speakeasies and organized crime
– Nineteenth Amendment passes giving
women the right to vote
– Andrew “Rube” Foster founds the Negro
National League
Timeline of Events
• 1921
– Chinese Communist Party is founded in
Shanghai
– Sacco and Vanzettti are convicted of
robbery and murder
– Federal Aid Road Act funds a national
highway
– Emergency Quota Act is passed restricting
immigration
Timeline of Events
• 1922
– Benito Mussolini is appointed Prime
Minister of Italy
– Teapot Dome Scandal
– Louis Armstrong plays for King Oliver’s
Creole Jazz Band in Chicago
– King Tut’s tomb is discovered in Egypt
Timeline of Events
• 1923
– President Harding dies Calvin Coolidge
becomes president
– German economic crisis
– Time magazine begins publication
– Mustafa Kemal becomes the first
president of new Republic of Turkey
Timeline of Events
• 1924
– Calvin Coolidge is elected president
– Vladimir Ilich Lenin, founder of the Soviet
Union, dies
• 1925
– A. Phillip Randolph organizes the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
– The Scopes trial takes place in Tennessee
Timeline of Events
• 1926
– British laborers declare a general strike
– Hirohito becomes emperor of Japan
– Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles is
established
– Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman
to swim the English Channel
• 1927
Timeline of Events
– Henry Ford introduces the Model A
– Holland Tunnel, the first underwater
tunnel connects New York City to New
Jersey
– Charles Lindbergh makes the first nonstop
solo transatlantic flight
• 1927
Timeline of Events
– Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs in one season
– The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson is released
– Bessie Smith, a female blues singer,
becomes the highest paid black artist in
the world
Timeline of Events
• 1928
– Herbert Hoover is elected president
– Joseph Stalin launches the first of his
Five-Year-Plans for the USSR
– President Alvaro Obregon of Mexico is
assassinated
– Steamboat Willie, the first animated
movie with sound, was released by Walt
Disney
Timeline of Events
• 1929
– National Revolutionary Party is organized
in Mexico
– Woodbridge Cloverleaf, the first
cloverleaf intersection is built in New
Jersey
– The first Academy Awards are presented
– The stock market crashes on October 29th
– Hoover Dam begins construction
Timeline of Events
• 1930
– Army officers lead by Jose Uriburu seize
control of Argentina
– More than 40% of the nation’s banks fail
from 1930-1933
– Congress passes the Hawley-Smoot Tariff
– Grant Wood paints American Gothic
Timeline of Events
• 1931
– Jane Addams shares the Nobel Peace Prize
– Japan invades Manchuria
– 8.02 million Americans are unemployed
Timeline of Events
• 1932
– The Bonus Army arrives in Washington,
D.C.
– Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected
president
– Roosevelt launches the New Deal
– Ibn Sa’ud becomes king of newly-united
Saudi Arabia
Timeline of Events
• 1932
– From prison, Mohandas K. Gandhi leads a
protest against British policies in India
– Federal Home Loan Bank Act is approved
by Congress
– Reconstruction Finance Corporation is
approved by Congress
Timeline of Events
• 1933
– “Century of Progress Exposition” begins
– The Twenty-First Amendment ends
prohibition
– Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party take
power in Germany
– Japan withdraws from the League of
Nations
Timeline of Events
• 1933
– Frances Perkins becomes the 1st woman
cabinet member serving as Secretary of
Labor
– Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
– Federal Emergency Relief Administration
(FERA)
– Public Work Administration (PWA)
– Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Timeline of Events
• 1933
– Emergency Banking Relief Act (EBRA)
– National Recovery Administration (NRA)
– Agricultural Adjustment Administration
(AAA)
– Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)
– Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Timeline of Events
• 1934
– Congress creates the SEC to regulate the
stock market
– Indian Reorganization Act is passed
– Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
– Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
Timeline of Events
• 1935
– Congress passes the Social Security Act
– Mussolini leads Italian invasion of Ethiopia
– British Parliament passes the Government
of India Act
– Works Progress Administration (WPA)
– National Youth Administration (NYA)
Timeline of Events
• 1935
– Banking Act of 1935
– Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
– National Labor Relations Board (Wagner
Act)
• 1936
– President Roosevelt is reelected
– Civil war begins in Spain
Timeline of Events
• 1937
– Labor unions begins using sit-down strikes
– United States Housing Authority (USHA)
– Japan invades northern China
– Hindenburg disaster
– Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is
released
– Zora Neale Hurston writes Their Eyes
Were Watching God
Timeline of Events
• 1938
– Route 66 is completed, linking Chicago,
Illinois to Los,Angeles California
– Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDC)
– Fair Labor Standards Act
– Orson Welles creates widespread panic
with his radio show, The War of the
Worlds
Timeline of Events
• 1939
– The Wizard of Oz is released in movie
theaters
– Germany invades Poland
– Gone with the Wind is released on film
– John Steinbeck publishes The Grapes of
Wrath
• 1940
– President Roosevelt is elected a third time
Economic Troubles
• Industry
– Basic industries
• railroads, textiles, and steel
• Barely made a profit
– New forms of transportation
• Trucks, buses, and automobiles
• Railroads lose business
– Mining and lumbering
• No longer in big demand
Economic Troubles
• New forms of energy take away from
coal
– huge profit losses due to new forms of
energy
• Hydroelectric
• Fuel oil
• Natural gas
– By 1930s supply more than ½ the energy
that had come from coal
Economic Troubles
• Boom industries weaken
– Automobiles, construction, and consumer
goods
• Housing industry weakens ~ key
indicator
– Housing starts to fall so do jobs in
related industries
– Furniture manufacturing and lumbering
Forms of Energy
Farmers Need a Lift
• Agriculture suffered the most
– During WWI prices rose and international output for
crops like wheat and corn soared
• Planted more crops
• Borrowed money for more land and equipment
– Demand fell after WWI and crop prices fell by 40%
– Farmers planted more but this caused a greater drop
in prices
– 1919- 1921 ~ annual income drops from $10 billion to
$4 billion
– Farmers are in debt and having problems paying back
loans
Farmers Need a Lift
Farmers Need a Lift
• Farmers in trouble
– Many lost their farms due to foreclosure
– Many defaulted on their loans and rural
banks began to fall as well
– Auctions were being held to recoup losses
• Congress
– McNary-Haugen (price legislation) bill
• Called for federal price supports for key
products like wheat, corn, cotton, and tobacco
• Government would buy surplus crops at
guaranteed prices and sell them on the world
market
• Coolidge vetoed the bill twice
Consumers Spend Less
• Incomes fall ~ people have less to spend
on goods and services
• Late 1920s ~ Americans are buying less
–
–
–
–
–
Rising prices
Stagnant wages,
Unbalanced distribution of income
Overbuying on credit
Production expanding faster than wages
Living on Credit
• Americans in the 1920s were living beyond
•
•
•
•
•
their means
Bought goods on credit
Paid on the installment plan with interest
Credit was easily available and encouraged
Americans to go into debt
Many had trouble paying back their debts
Consumers begin cutting back on spending
Living on Credit
Uneven Distribution of Income
• The rich are getting richer and the poor are
getting poorer
• 1920-1929
– Wealthiest 1% of Americans income rose 75%
– Rest of Americans income rose 9%
– 70% of nation’s families earned less than $2,500
per year
– Families earning twice that much could not afford
luxuries
• Unequal distribution meant most Americans
could not participate fully in the economic
advances of the 1920s
Uneven Distribution of Income
Election of 1928
Herbert Hoover
• Republican
• Secretary of Commerce
•
•
•
•
under Harding and Coolidge
Never held public office
Mining engineer from Iowa
Quiet and reserved
Major advantage ~ years of
prosperity under
Republican presidents
Alfred E. Smith
• Democrat
• Career politician
• 4 term governor of New
York
• Personable and enjoyed
being in the limelight
Election of 1928
• Hoover won by an overwhelming margin
• America was happy with Republican leadership
Hoover
wins!
Dreams of Riches
• Economist warned of weaknesses in the stock market
• Stock market was the most visible symbol of
•
•
•
•
American prosperity
DJIA ~ Dow Jones Industrial Average ~ most widely
used indicator of the stock market’s health
Dow is based on the stock prices of 30 large firms
trading on the NYSE
1920s ~ stocks rose steadily reaching an all time high
of 381 points
Many (about 4 million Americans) took advantage of
the bull market
Dreams of Riches
• Trouble was looming
• Speculation (over-speculation) ~ the buying of
stocks and bonds on the chance of a quick
profit
• Buying on the margin ~ paying a small down
payment and borrowing the rest
• Money ~ easily available to investors ~
unrestrained buying and selling fueled the
upward spiral
• Government did not help in discouraging these
risky undertakings
And It All Comes Crashing Down
• September 1929
– Stock market peaks and then falls
– Confidence fell in the market and some investors
sold their stocks and pulled out
• October 24, 1929
– Stock market takes a plunge
– Panicked investors sell their shares
• October 29, 1929
–
–
–
–
Black Tuesday
The bottom fell out of the market
16.4 million shares were dumped that day
Investors sold as quickly as possible
And It All Comes Crashing Down
And It All Comes Crashing Down
And It All Comes Crashing Down
• November 1929
•
•
•
•
– Investors lost about $30 billion
– The bubble burst and it all came crashing down
The Stock Market Crash
– Signaled the beginning of the Great Depression
– People panicked and withdrew their money from banks
– Some could not get their money because banks had
invested it in the stock market
In 1929 ~ 600 banks closed
By 1933 ~ 11,000 of the nation’s 25,000 banks failed
Millions of people lost their life savings
And It All Comes Crashing Down
The House of Cards Tumbles
• 1929 – 1932
– GNP (Gross National Product) ~ the nation’s total
output of goods and services
– went from $104 billion to $59 billion
– About 90,000 businesses went bankrupt
• Including automobiles and railroad companies
– Million of workers lost their jobs
– Unemployment skyrocketed
• 1929 ~ 3%
• 1933 ~ 25%
• 1 out of 4 workers lost his/her job and those who
kept them faced pay cuts and shorter hours
The Dominoes Fall
• Other countries besides the U.S. were hit by the
depression
• Great Depression limited the amount of European
goods the U.S. imported
• Americans were having difficulty selling their
products abroad
• 1930 ~ Hawley-Smoot Tariff passed by Congress
– Established the highest protective tariff in U.S. history
– Designed to protect Americans farmers and manufacturers
from foreign competition
– Had the opposite effect causing world trade to drop by
40%
Causes of the Great Depression
• Tariffs and war debt policies that cut down
the foreign market for American goods
• A crisis in the farm sector
• The availability of easy credit
• An unequal distribution of income
• These led to falling demand for consumer goods
• Federal government kept interest rates low allowing
companies to borrow easily and build up large debts
• Borrowed money was used to buy stocks which later
led to the crash
Depression in the Cities
• People lost jobs, were evicted, ended up in
•
•
•
•
•
•
streets
sleeping in parks, sewer pipes
wrapping themselves in newspapers to keep
warm
Many built makeshift shacks from scraps
Shantytowns built up throughout cities
Soup kitchens offered free or low cost food
Breadlines offered free food provided by
charitable organizations
Depression in the Cities
Depression in the Cities
Depression in the Cities
• African Americans and Latinos had difficulty
– Unemployment rates were higher
– Racial violence occurred when competing for jobs with
whites
– 1933 ~ 24 African Americans were lynched
• Latinos
– Whites demanded that they be deported
– 1930s ~ hundreds of thousands of people of Mexican
descent relocated to Mexico
– Some left voluntarily and other were deported
Depression in the Rural Areas
• Farmers were also hit hard by the depression
• One advantage for farmers
– They could grow food for their families
• Most farmers lost their land because of debt
and falling prices
• 1929-1932 ~ 400,000 farms were lost to
foreclosure
• Farmers turned to tenant farming to survive
Depression in the Rural Areas
Depression in the Rural Areas
Depression in the Rural Areas
The Dust Bowl
• Drought hit in the early 1930s on the Great
•
•
•
•
Plains
Farmers used tractors to break up the prairie
grasses but eventually they exhausted the land
through overproduction
Land became unsuitable for farming
Windstorms scattered the topsoil leaving only
sand and gravel
1934 wind storm carried dust hundreds of miles
to east coast cities
The Dust Bowl
• Regions hit the
hardest included
–
–
–
–
–
Kansas
Oklahoma
Texas
New Mexico
Colorado
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl
• Thousands of farmers and sharecroppers left
•
•
•
•
the area
Packed up their families and headed west
following Route 66 to California
Migrants became known as Okies (originally a
term for people from Oklahoma), but now a
negative term
Found work as farmhands
End of 1930s thousands of farm families had
migrated to California and other Pacific states
Route 66
Route 66
The American Family
• Families were the source of strength for most
Americans
• Americans believed in traditional values and
emphasized the importance of the family even
during the depression
• Many families with money so tight stayed home
to entertain themselves playing board games like
Monopoly invented in 1933 or listening to the
radio
• Sometimes families did break apart under the
strain of trying to make ends meet
The American Family
Men in the Streets
• Men had difficulty coping with unemployment
• Many would walk the streets daily looking for work
• Some would become discouraged and others would
•
•
•
•
leave their families because they could not cope
with not being the bread winner
300,000 transients or hoboes wandered the
country
Hitching rides on railroads and riding in boxcars
Sleeping under bridges
Developed their own hidden language to help them
cope as they wandered
Riding the Rails
Riding the Rails
Hobo Symbols
Women Struggle to Survive
• Women worked hard to help their families to
survive
–
–
–
–
Canned food
Sewed clothes
Managed household budgets carefully
Some women worked outside the home for less money
then men
– They were often resented by males and many others
who believed women, especially married women should
not take work away from men
– Women suffered just as much as men did, they just
did it privately
Women Struggle to Survive
Children Suffer Hardships
• Poor diet and lack of healthcare led to serious health
problems
• Malnutrition and diet-related diseases like rickets ran
rampant among young children
• Rickets ~ a lack of vitamin D and calcium in the diet
• Schools shortened their school year or closed all
together
– 2,600 schools closed by 1933 leaving 300,000 children
out of school
• Many went to work in sweatshops under horrible
conditions
Children Suffer Hardships
• Hundreds of thousands of teenagers (boys and
girls) hopped freight trains looking for work,
adventure, and any escape from poverty
• Many of these “wild boys” fell victims to murder
or beating by freight yard patrolmen
• 1929-1939
– 24,647 trespassers on the railroads were killed
– 27,171 were injured on railroad property
Children Suffer Hardships
Social and Psychological Effects
• Demoralization causes loss of will to survive
• 1928 – 1932 ~ suicide rate rose to 30%
• Compromises and Sacrifices
– Adults stopped going to the doctor and dentist
– Many young people gave up their dreams of going to
college
– Financial security became the primary focus in life
– Stigma of poverty and having to scrimp and save never
left most people
– People started to show kindness to strangers during the
depression
– Families shared their strengths and resources and
bonded within their communities
Hoover’s Reassurance
• Hoover tried to tell Americans that the nation’s
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•
•
•
•
economy want on a sound footing
Believed that Americans should remain optimistic
Experts believed the best course for the country
to take was to do nothing and let the economy fix
itself
Hoover felt the government should play a limited
role in helping to solve the problem
Government’s role was to encourage and facilitate
cooperation, not to control it
Hoover was cautious in his assistance with the
depression
Hoover’s Cautious Steps
• Hoover called together key leaders in business,
banking, and labor
– Urged them to work together to find solutions to the
nation’s economic problems
– Asked employers not to cut wages
– Asked labor leaders not to demand wage increases or
to go on strike
– Created a special organization to help private
charities generate contributions for the poor
• None of these ideas worked and the economy
was still in dire straits
Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam)
• Hoover proposed the a dam to be built on the Colorado
•
•
•
•
•
River when he served as the secretary of commerce
Hoover financed the building of the dam by using profits
from sales of the electric power the dam would generate
Arranged an agreement between the seven states that
had water rights on the Colorado River basin
Won approval in 1929 as part of a $700 million public
works project
Hoover able to authorize construction of the dam in
1929
726 ft high and 1,244 ft long ~ world’s tallest and second
largest
Hoover Dam
Democrats Win Congress
• 1930 Congressional Elections
– Democrats take advantage of anti-Hoover sentiments
– Republicans lose control of the House of
Representatives but keep control of the Senate by 1
vote
• Farmers grow more and more resentful
– Refuse to sell the crops at a loss so they burn them or
dump the milk on the roads
– Some used force to keep from being foreclosed upon
– Some declared a “farm holiday” and did not work their
fields
Hoover’s Heartlessness
• Hoovervilles
– Shantytowns in American cities
• Hoover Blankets
– Newspapers people used as blankets to keep warm
• Hoover flags
– Empty pockets turned inside out
• People began to resent Hoover and believed the
“great humanitarian” had become a cold and
heartless leader
• Hoover refused to provide direct relief or other
forms of federal welfare
Hoover Ditty
“Mellon pulled the whistle
Hoover rang the bell
Wall Street gave the signal
And the country went to hell.”
Hoover Takes Action
• Backs Cooperatives
– Federal Farm Board
• intended to raise crop prices
• members to buy crops and keep them off the
market temporarily until prices rose
– National Credit Corporation
• Tried to prop up the banking system
• Persuaded nation’s largest banks to establish it
• Organization loaned money to smaller banks to help
them stave off bankruptcy
Hoover Takes Action
• Hoover appeals to Congress to pass a series of
measures
– reform banking
– provide mortgage relief
– Funnel federal money into business investments
• Federal Home Loan Bank Act ~ 1932
– Lowered mortgage rates for homeowners
– Allowed farmers to refinance their farm loans to avoid
foreclosure
• Glass-Steagall Banking Act
– Passed after Hoover left office
– Separated investment and commercial banking
Hoover Takes Action
• Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
– January 1932
– Authorized up to $2 billion for emergency
financing for banks, life insurance companies,
railroads, and other large businesses
– Hoover believed the money would trickle down
to the average citizen through job growth and
higher wages
– Unprecedented example of federal
involvement in a peacetime economy
– Too little, too late
Bonus Army
• Bonus Expeditionary Force AKA the Bonus
Army
– 10 to 20 thousand WWI veterans and their
families arrived in D.C.
– Led by Walter Waters, an unemployed cannery
worker from Oregon
– Came to support the Patman Bill which would
authorize the government to pay a bonus to
WWI vets who had not been adequately
compensated for their wartime service
Bonus Army
– Money was to be paid out in 1945 in cash and life
insurance
– Congressman Wright Patman felt is should be paid
immediately
– Hoover respected the people and even gave them food
and supplies, allowing them to assemble in sight of the
Capitol
• June 17th ~ Senate votes down the Patman Bill
• Hoover asks the Bonus Army to leave
• Most did, but about 2,000 refused
Bonus Army
• Hoover felt the groups should be disbanded
• July 28th ~ 1,000 soldiers under the command of
General Douglas MacArthur and his aide, Major
Dwight D. Eisenhower came to remove the vets
• Infantry gassed more than 1,000 people
–
–
–
–
11 month old baby killed,
8 year old boy partially blinded by the gas
2 people were shot
Many were injured
Bonus Army
Bonus Army
Election of 1932
• Americans were stunned and outraged by the
gassing
• Hoover’s popularity suffered again
• Election of 1932
– Hoover is facing Franklin Delano Roosevelt
– Americans are ready for a change
– FDR was the Democratic nominee
• 2 term governor of New York
• Distant cousin of Theodore Roosevelt
• Effective reform minded leader
• Possessed a can-do attitude
• Friendly and confident
Election of 1932
FDR ~ 23 million votes and Hoover ~ 16 million votes
Senate ~ Democrats - 2/3 majority
House ~ Democrats - ¾ majority
Roosevelt’s Wait
• Roosevelt won in November 1932 but did not take
office until March 1933
• 20th Amendment passed in February 1933 moving the
inauguration date for the presidency to January
• FDR was not idle
– Carefully selected a team of advisors including lawyers,
professors, and journalists ~ “Brain Trust”
– Began to formulate a set of policies
– Three goals of the New Deal
• Relief for the needy
• Economic recovery
• Financial reform
The Hundred Days
• Lasted from March 9 to June 16, 1933
• Congress passed over 15 major pieces of New
Deal legislation
• Laws that expanded the federal government’s
role in the nation’s economy
• First step
– Banking and finance reform
– On March 5th he declared a bank holiday
closing all banks to prevent further
withdrawals
The Hundred Days
• Emergency Banking Relief Act
– Authorized the Treasury Department to
inspect the country’s banks
– Those that were sound could reopen at once
– Those that were insolvent were kept closed
– Those that needed help could receive loans
• Measure revived public confidence in banks
• Open banks were in good financial shape
• March 12th
Fireside Chat
– FDR gives his first fireside chat
– Talks in clear, simple language about his
New Deal measures
– Made Americans feel the president was
talking directly to them
– Explained how the banking system
worked and because of this many
Americans returned their savings to the
banks
Fireside Chat
Banking and Finance
• Glass-Steagall Act
– Established the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC)
– Provided federal insurance for individual bank
accounts of up to $5,000 (now $100,000)
– Also required banks to act cautiously with their
customer’s money
• Federal Securities Act
– May 1933
– Required corporations to provide complete
information of all stock offerings
– Made them liable for any misrepresentation
Banking and Finance
• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
– June 1934
– Regulates the stock market
– Prevents people with inside information about
companies from “rigging” the stock market for
their own profit
• Roosevelt persuaded Congress to approve a bill
allowing the manufacture and sale of some alcohol
– Purpose was to raise government revenue by taxing
alcohol
– 21st Amendment passes repealing prohibition by
the end of 1933
Rural Assistance
• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) ~ 1933
– Set up to raise crop prices by lowering production
– Government paid farmers to leave a certain amount of
land fallow
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) ~ 1933
– Focused on the badly depressed Tennessee Valley
– Renovated 5 existing dams and constructed 20 new
ones
– Created thousands of jobs
– Provided flood control, hydroelectric power and other
benefits to a poor region
Rural Assistance
Works Projects
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) ~ 1933
– Put young men 18 – 25 to work building roads, parks, planting
trees, and helping in soil erosion and flood control projects
– 3 million young men worked for the CCC between 1933 – 1942
– Wages ~ $30 a month, $25 was sent home to the family
– Supplied food, lodging and clothing for the workers
• Public Works Administration ~ 1933
– Part of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) ~ 1933
– Provided money to states to create job chiefly in the
construction of schools and other community buildings
• Civil Works Administration (CWA) ~ 1933
– Built 40,000 schools and paid salaries of more than 50,000
school teachers in rural areas
Works Projects
Works Projects
Fair Practices
• National Recovery Administration (NRA) ~ 1933
– Established codes for fair practices
– Set prices of many products to ensure fair competition
– Established standards for working hours and a ban on
child labor
– Codes limited production and establish prices
Food, Clothing, and Shelter
• Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) ~ 1933
– Provided government loans to homeowners who faced
foreclosure because they couldn’t meet loan payments
• National Housing Act ~ 1934
– Created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
– Furnishes loans for home mortgages and repairs to this day
• Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) ~ 1933
– Funded with $500 million to provide direct relief for the
needy
– ½ the money was given to states for grants-in-aid
– Rest distributed to states to support work relief programs
– Headed by Harry Hopkins
Food, Clothing, and Shelter
New Deal Under Attack
• Roosevelt agreed to deficit spending
– Deficit spending ~ spending more money than the
government receives in revenue
– Believed it was a necessary evil to be used only at a
time of great economic crisis
• New Deal did not end the depression
• Liberals believed the New Deal did not go far
enough
• Conservatives believed the government was
trying to control business and spending too
much on direct relief
New Deal Under Attack
• Supreme Court boosts the Conservatives
• 1935 ~ Court stated that NIRA was
unconstitutional
– Declared the law gave legislative powers to the
executive branch
– enforcement of industry codes within states went
beyond the federal government’s powers to regulate
interstate commerce
• 1936 ~ Court stated that the AAA was
unconstitutional
– Stated that agriculture was a local matter and should
be regulated by the states rather than by the
federal government
Court Packing Bill
• 1937 ~ Roosevelt asks Congress to enact a court-reform
•
•
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•
bill to reorganize the federal judiciary
Wanted to appoint 6 new judges to the Supreme Court
Many members of Congress and the press protested on
the grounds that the president was violating principles
of judicial independence and separation of powers
1937 ~ a justice retires and Roosevelt appoints Hugo
Black, a liberal shifting the balance of the
Court
7 justices will be appointed
by Roosevelt over the next
4 years
Roosevelt’s Critics
• 1934 ~ American Liberty League formed by
conservatives
– Opposed New Deal measures that it believed violated
respect for the rights of individuals and property
• Father Charles Coughlin
– Broadcast radio sermons on economic, political and
religious ideas
– Initially a supporter of the New Deal
– Favored a guaranteed annual income and
nationalization of banks
Roosevelt’s Critics
• Dr. Francis Townsend
– A physician and health officer in Long Beach, California
– Believed Roosevelt wasn’t doing enough to help the poor
and elderly
– Devised a pension plan that would provide monthly
benefits to the aged
• Huey Long
– A senator from Louisiana
– Wanted to be the president
– Created a nationwide social program called Share-OurWealth
– At the height of his popularity, Long was assassinated
by a lone gunman
Roosevelt’s Critics
Second Hundred Days
• 1935
– Seeking ways to build on the programs established
during the first 100 days
– Economy had improved in the first 2 years of FDR’s
administration
– Unemployment still high
– Production lagged behind 1920s levels
– New Deal had widespread popularity
– FDR launched 2nd New Deal
– Prodded by his wife, Eleanor, a social reformer
Second Hundred Days
• 1936 Presidential Election
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2nd New Deal was under way
Republicans ~ Alfred Landon ~ governor of Kansas
Democrats ~ FDR
Overwhelming victory for the Democrats
marked the first time that most African Americans
voted Democratic
– was the first time labor unions gave united support
to a presidential candidate
– vote of confidence for FDR and the New Deal
1936 Presidential Election
Winner!
Farmers Get a Hand
• Mid 1930s
– 2 out of 5 farms were mortgaged
• The Grapes of Wrath
– Written by John Steinbeck
– Described the experience of a tenant farmer and his
family
– Won the Pulitzer for fiction in 1940
• Agricultural Adjustment Act (2nd) ~ 1938
– Paid farmers for cutting production of soil depleting
crops
– Rewarded farmers who practiced good soil conservation
– Brought back many of the features of the original AAA
John Steinbeck
Farmers Get a Hand
• Sharecroppers, migrant workers & poor
farmers received help under the 2nd New Deal
• Resettlement Administration
– Created by an executive order in 1935
– Provided monetary loan to small farmers to buy land
• Farm Security Administration (FSA) ~ 1937
– Replaced the Resettlement Administration
– Hired photographers like Dorothea Lange, Ben
Shahn, Walker Evans, Arthur Rothstein, and Carl
Mydans
– Used the photographs to create a pictorial history of
the difficulties faced by rural Americans
Photographers
Extending Relief
• Works Progress Administration (WPA) ~ 1935
– Created as many job as possible as quickly as possible
– Spent $11 billion to give jobs to more than 8 million
workers
– Built 850 airports
– Constructed 651,000 miles of roads and streets
– Put up more than 125,000 public buildings
– Women workers in sewing groups made over 300
million garments for the needy
– Employed many professionals who wrote guides to
cities, collected historical slave narratives, painted
murals on walls of schools and public buildings and
performed in theatre troops
WPA
Extending Relief
• National Youth Administration (NYA) ~ 1935
– Created specifically to provide education, jobs,
counseling, and recreation for young people
– Provided student aid to high school, college, and
graduate students
– Students worked part time positions at their schools
in exchange
– For graduates unable to find work or dropouts, it
provided part time jobs like working on highways,
parks, and public grounds of buildings
NYA
Improving Labor
• Fair Labor Standards Act ~ 1938
– Set maximum hours at 44 per week (decreased to 40
after 2 years)
– Set minimum wage at 25 cents an hour ~ 40 cents an hour
by 1945
– Set rules for employment of workers under 16 and banned
hazardous work for those under 18
• Social Security Act ~ 1935
– Created the social security system with 3 parts
– Old age insurance for retirees 65 or older and their
spouses
– Unemployment compensation administered at the state
level
– Aid to families with dependent children and the disabled
Utilities
• Rural Electrification Administration (REA) ~ 1935
– Established by executive order
– Financed and worked with electrical cooperatives to
bring electricity to isolated areas
– 1945 ~ 45% of America’s farms and rural homes had
electricity
– 1949 ~ 90%
• Public Utility Holding Company Act ~ 1935
– Took aim at financial corruption in the public utility
industry
– Outlawed ownership of utilities by multiple holding
companies
– Proved difficult to enforce
Utilities
Women and the New Deal
• FDR named several women to important positions in
the government
• Eleanor Roosevelt
– Was a driving force behind FDR bringing women to the
work place
• Frances Perkins
– the 1st female cabinet member as the Secretary of Labor
– Played an important role in the creating the Social
Security system
– Supervised labor legislation
Improving Labor
• Supreme Court in 1935 declared the NIRA
unconstitutional
• National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) ~ 1935
– Reestablished the NIRA provision of collective
bargaining
– Federal government protected the rights of workers
to join unions and engage in collective bargaining
– Prohibited unfair labor practices such as threatening
workers, firing unions members, and interfering with
union organizing
– Set up the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to
hear about unfair practices
Women and the New Deal
• 2 other women became diplomats and another a
federal judge
• Women faced discrimination in the work place
• 82% of America felt if a husband had a job a wife
should not work
Women and the New Deal
African American Activism
• Activism by African Americans was on the rise in
the 1930s
– A. Philip Randolph organized the first all-black trade union,
the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
• FDR appointed more than 100 African Americans to
key positions in the government
• Mary McLeod Bethune
– Educator
– Head of the Division of Negro Affairs of the NYA
– Worked to ensure that the NYA hired African American
administrators and provided job training and other benefits
to minorities
– Helped to organize the “Black Cabinet,” influential African
Americans who were advisors to FDR’s administration
African American Activism
• William H. Hastie and Robert C. Weaver
– Appointees to the Department of the Interior
• Marian Anderson
– African American singer who performed at Lincoln Memorial
on Easter Sunday in D.C. because the members of the DAR
would not allow her to perform in their concert hall
• Civil Rights
– FDR did not promote civil rights for African Americans
because he was afraid of upsetting the white Democratic
vote
– Refused to approve a federal anti-lynching law and an end
to the poll tax
– Many New Deal agencies discriminated against blacks but
they supported him because they thought his ideas gave
them their best hope for the future
African Americans & the New Deal
African Americans & the New Deal
Mexican Americans
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•
Received in fewer benefits than African Americans
Settled mainly in the Southwest
Found work laboring on farms
Farm works who tried to unionize met with violence
CCC and WPA did help some Mexican Americans
Were also disqualified from some programs
because they were migrant works and did not have
a permanent address
Native Americans
• Received strong government support from New Deal
• Native Americans receive full citizenship under the law
in 1924
• John Collier is appointed commissioner of Indian
affairs
• Indian Reorganization Act ~ 1934
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Moved away from assimilation and towards autonomy
Mandated 3 areas ~ economic, cultural, and political
Economic ~ Native American land belong to the tribe
Cultural ~ Native American children could attend school on the
reservations
– Political ~ tribes could elect tribal councils to govern the
reservation
New Deal Coalition
• An alignment of diverse groups dedicated to
supporting the Democratic Party
– Included Southern whites, various urban groups,
African Americans, and unionized industrial
workers
– Kept Democrats in control throughout the 1930s
and 1940s
Labor Unions
• Labor Unions
– Union members had better working conditions
and increased bargaining power
– FDR was a friend of labor
– 1933 – 1941 ~ union membership increased from
less than 3 million to more than 10 million
• Unionization of major groups began to occur
– Coal miners, auto workers, rubber and electrical
workers
– Which would become dominant?
Labor Unions
• American Federation of Labor opposed industry
wide unions
• Key Labor Leaders for a new union
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–
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–
John L. Lewis ~ United Mine Workers of America
David Dubinsky ~ International Ladies Garment Workers
Form the Committee for Industrial Organization
Signed up unskilled and semi-skilled workers gaining
success
– Expelled from AFL in 1938
– Changed name to Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO)
– Joined back with AFL to become the AFL-CIO in 1955
Labor Leaders
Labor Disputes
• Sit down strikes
– one of the main bargaining tactics of the 1930s
– Workers did not walk off the job, the stayed in the plant
but did not work
– Prevented the factory owner from hiring strikebreakers
– Very effective
• Republic Steel Plant Strike (Memorial Day
Massacre)
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–
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Memorial Day, 1937
Chicago, Illinois
Police attacked steel workers outside the plant
10 people killed, 84 wounded
NLRB stepped in and required Tom Girdler, the head of
Republic Steel to negotiate with the union
Election of 1936
• FDR ~ Democratic nominee
Win # 2!
Alfred Landon ~ Republican
Election of 1936
• FDR wins for the 2nd time
• New Deal coalition helps FDR to win
– Also includes urban voters
– Roosevelt carries the 12 largest cities in the U.S.
– Support came from various religious and ethnic groups
including Roman Catholics, Jews, Irish, Polish and
Slavic groups
• New Deal legislation aided the urban poor
• New Deal has a tremendous influence on
American society and culture
Culture in the 1930s
• Motion Pictures
– Golden Age and profitable
– 65% of the population went to the movies once a
week
– 15,000 movie theatres nationwide
• Radios
– 1930 ~ 13 million sold
– 1940 ~ 28 million sold
– 90 % of American homes had a radio
Movies are the Rage
• All genres vied for attention including comedies,
musicals, love stories, and gangster films
• New Stars on the rise
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Clark Gable
Marlene Dietrich
James Cagney
Helped to launch a new era of glamour and
sophistication in Hollywood
• Gone With the Wind (1939)
– Most popular movies of all time and the most famous
during the era
– Starred Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh
Movies are the Rage
Movies are the Rage
• Flying Down to Rio (1933)
– Starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers ~ America’s
favorite dance partners
– Light romantic comedy
• The Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Monkey Business and Duck Soup
– Starring the Marx Brothers
– Had an escapist quality about them
• Little Caesar (1930) and The Public Enemy (1931)
– Gangster films sent on gritty street in urban America
Movies are the Rage
Movies are the Rage
Movies are the Rage
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
– Present the social and political
accomplishments of the New Deal in a
positive light
– Directed by Frank Capra
– Portrayed honest, kindhearted people
winning out over the greedy special
interests
Movies are the Rage
Radio Entertains
• Embodied the democratic spirit of the times
• Families spend hours around the radio
listening to their favorite programs
• Radio is a direct means of access to the
American people
• Offered a wide range of entertainment
including dramas and variety shows
• The War of the Worlds broadcast by Orson
Welles
– One of the most famous shows broadcast
– People actually believed that Martians were going
to attack the Earth
Radio Entertains
Radio Entertains
• Many radio personalities made it to the silver
screen including Bob Hope, Jack Benny, and
George Burns and Gracie Allen
• Soap operas (named because they were
sponsored by soap companies) played in the
late morning and early afternoon
• The Lone Ranger, a children’s program aired in
the afternoon
• A description of the crash of the Hindenburg
was one of the first radio broadcasts aired
worldwide
Hope, Benny, Burns and Allen
Hi Ho Silver!
The Hindenburg
The Hindenburg
The Hindenburg
The Arts in Depression America
• Art, music, and literature of the time very
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sober and serious
Artistic work portrayed the American people
Conveyed a message of strength of character
and the democratic values of the American
people
Many artists received direct support from
New Deal legislation
Harry Hopkins, the head of the WPA stated
it best “They’ve got to eat just like other
people.”
Artists Decorate America
• Federal Art Project
– Branch of the WPA
– Paid artists a living wage to produce public art
– Aimed to increase appreciation of art and promote
positive images of American Society
– Created posters, taught art in schools, and painted
murals on public buildings
– Murals were inspired by the work of Mexican
muralists like Diego Rivera who portrayed the
dignity of ordinary Americans at work
Artists Decorate America
• Outstanding Painters of the New Deal
– Grant Wood ~ American Gothic, 1930
– Edward Hopper ~ Nighthawks, 1942
– Thomas Hart Benton ~ The Arts of Life in
America: Arts of the City, 1932
• Federal Theatre Project
– Hired actors to perform plays and artists to
provide stage sets and props for theatre
productions
– Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty, 1935 ~
portrayed the labor struggles of the 1930s
Grant Wood
American Gothic, 1930
Grant Wood
Edward Hopper
Nighthawks, 1942
Edward Hopper
Thomas Hart Benton
The Arts of Life in America:
Arts of the City, 1932
Thomas Hart Benton
Clifford Odets
Woody Guthrie Sings of
America
• Woody Guthrie
– Singer and songwriter
– Used music to capture the
hardships of America
– Traveled the country in
search of brighter
opportunities and told
his troubles in songs
Writers Depict American Life
• Federal Writer’s Project
– Gave Saul Bellow ~ a future Nobel and Pulitzer Prize
winner ~ his first writing project
– Richard Wright ~ Native Son, 1940
– Zora Neale Hurston ~ Their Eyes Were Watching
God, 1937
– John Steinbeck ~ The Grapes of Wrath, 1939
– James T. Farrell ~ Studs Lonigan trilogy, 1932- 1935
– Jack Conroy ~ The Disinherited, 1933
– James Agee and Walker Evans ~ Let Us Now Praise
Famous Men, 1941
– Thornton Wilder (playwright) ~ Our Town, 1938
Writers Depict American Life
Writers Depict American Life
Impact of the New Deal
• 1937
– economy had improved enough to convince many Americans
that the Depression was finally ending
– Economic troubles still occurred throughout the nation
– Congress wanted to scale back New Deal programs so FDR
agreed
• Outcome
– Industrial production dropped
– Unemployment increased from 7.7 million in 1937 to 10.4
million in 1938
• 1939
– New Deal is essentially over
– FDR more worried about Hitler and his rise to power in
Germany
Supporters and Critics
• Opinions range from harsh criticism to high praise
• Conservatives Critics
– Made federal government too large and too powerful
– Government stifled free enterprise and individual initiative
• Liberal Critics
– FDR did not do enough to socialize the economy and to
eliminate social and economic inequalities
• Supporters
– FDR struck a reasonable balance between unregulated
capitalism and overregulated socialism
– Helped the country recover from its economic difficulties
Expanding Government’s Role
• FDR’s administration expanded the power of the
government especially the power of the president
• Gave the president a more active role in shaping the
economy
• Federal government put millions of dollars into the
economy, created jobs, settled labor disputes and
established many new agencies still used today
– FDIC and SEC regulate banking and investment activities
• New Deal did not end the Great Depression but did
alleviate the suffering of thousands of people
• Gave people hope and allowed the to regain their
dignity
Expanding Government’s Role
• Federal government went deep into debt to help
the American people
• Federal deficit
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1934 ~ $2.9 billion
1937-1938 ~ $100 million
1939 ~ $2.9 billion
1944 ~ $54.4 billion
• World War II ended the Great Depression
because the U.S. was spending millions for guns,
tanks, ships, airplanes, and other supplies and
equipment needed for the war
Protecting Worker’s Rights
• New Deal had lasting effects in protecting
workers rights
• Wagner Act and Fair Labor Standards Act
– set standards for wages and hours
– banned child labor
– ensured the rights of workers to organize and
bargain collectively
– NLRB acts as a mediator in labor disputes between
unions and employers
Banking and Finance
• Securities and Exchange Commission
– monitors the stock market
– enforces laws regarding the sale of stocks and bonds
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
– shored up the banking system
– reassures individual depositors that their savings are
protected against loss in the event of a bank failure
– Protects up to $100,000 today
Social Security
• One of the most important legacies of the New
•
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•
Deal
Helps a large number of needy citizens receive
some assistance
Provides old-age insurance program
unemployment compensation system
Aid to the disabled and families with dependent
children
Rural Scene
• New Deal had a huge impact on the agricultural
industry
• Legislation set farm quotas on the production of
crops
• Established agricultural price supports set a
precedent of federal aid to farmers that
continues
• Rural Electrification program helped to improve
conditions in rural America
The Environment
• New Deal helped to protect the environment
through conservation and passed public policies
to protect the nation’s natural resources
• Civilian Conservation Corps
– Planted trees
– created hiking trails
– built fire lookout towers
• Soil Conservation Service
– Taught farmers how to conserve the soil through
contour plowing, terracing, and crop rotation
The Environment
• Taylor Grazing Act (1934)
– Reduce grazing on public lands
– Grazing had contributed to the erosion that brought
on the Dust Bowl
• Tennessee Valley Authority
– Harness water power to generate electricity
– Helped prevent disastrous floods in the Tennessee
Valley
• National Park System
– Established new wildlife refuges
– Set aside large wilderness areas
New Deal Legacy
• Brought hope and gratitude from some people
for the benefits and protection they received
• Brought anger and criticism from those who
believed that it took more money in taxes and
curtailed freedom through government
regulation
• Deficit spending used to fund the New Deal
grew tremendously as WWII loomed on the
horizon