1. Great Depression Begins
“Mellon pulled the whistle, Hoover rang the bell, Wall Street gave the signal, and the country went to hell.”

2. Election of 1928 Herbert Hoover v. Alfred Smith
Hoover wins with his campaign: “closer to triumph over poverty than ever” (Hoover predicts the end of poverty)
20’s marked the reign of prosperity (although it was on a shaky foundation)
Quite and reserved
“Two cars in every garage”

3. Herbert Hoover

4. Warning signs of Economic Downturn:
speculation (buying on chance of quick profit),
buying on margin (paying a small % down and borrowing the rest),
inflation of stock prices

5. Stock Market Crashes
Oct. 1929: prices begin to fall = confidence in stock market waivers
Oct 29, 1929: BLACK TUESDAY, bottom falls out of the market

6. What were the causes?

7. Causes of Depression Overproduction of goods Too much available credit
Less consumption of goods (prices rise, widening of gap between rich and poor)
Farm surplus (increase during WWI, then decreased demand afterward but production remained the same)
High tariff (to protect American industry, but hurts worldwide trade)
No banking regulations
Hawley Smoot Tariff: 1930, highest tariff ever, designed to protect but does the exact opposite

8. Hard Times Hit Home
Rural Areas: can grown own food, but many lose land
Cities: jobs lost and evictions
People lost life savings in stock markets and bank closures

9. Soup kitchen: low cost or free food
Many people can’t afford to buy food or feed their families.

10. Breadlines
Wait in line for hours to receive food, often bread, from charities

11. Hard Times Hit Home Family Life Changes
men on the move in search of jobs
family as source of strength
some families break apart
Social effects: increased suicide (30%), increased mental illness, ethics change, dreams are forsaken, decrease in overall health and nutrition

12. due to people losing their homes and being evicted shantytowns emerge.
Hard Times Hit Home:
due to people losing their homes and being evicted
shantytowns emerge.
They were made out of
anything you could find.

13. Shantytowns aka Hoovervilles sprang up all across the country.
“Here were all these people living in old, rusted out car bodies…There were people living in shacks made of orange crates. One family with a whole lot of kids were living in a piano box…People living in whatever they could junk together.”
Shantytown visitor outside Oklahoma City

14. Men on the move in search of jobs, some abandon families altogether

15. Children suffer—malnutrition and poor health during the Great Depression

16. Dust Bowl—severe drought in mid-west mostly caused by disregard for the land, few trees, and lack of soil erosion techniques
Hard to grow food, land unusable, dust storms, etc.
Farms destroyed
Many will leave and head west in search of jobs

17. wrote “Grapes of Wrath” a novel about the Dust Bowl and a
John Steinbeck
wrote “Grapes of Wrath” a novel
about the Dust Bowl and a
group of migrants or “Okies” that left to go west to California
Picture yourself standing in a field,
not an ordinary field of grass and flowers, but a barren field of dust.
You fix your eyes toward the horizon
and a sigh comes over you as a dust storm rolls your way.
This was life during the dust bowl of the 1930's.

18. Bonus Army Marches on Washington
Bonus Army is WWI veterans and their families seeking help
Came to Washington to support a bill under debate in Congress to compensate WWI veterans for their service
When the bill failed, Hoover called them squatters and order them to be removed
Eventually they are disbanned violently (over 1000 gased and 2 shot with many others injured) and their Hooverville is burned and destroyed

19. Bonus Army (WWI veterans and families) march on Washington and set up a Hooverville in the nation’s capital.

20. Hooverville being destroyed in Washington, D. C
Hooverville being destroyed in Washington, D.C. after Hoover calls for the Bonus Army to be disbanned by Federal Troops

21. Hoover’s Resolve
Rugged Individualism: people should succeed through their own efforts and shouldn’t depend on government
Gave no direct relief (cash payments or food provided by gov’t)
Created gov’t agency to help business recover: RFC (Reconstruction Finance Corporation) provides emergency financing to business to prevent failure
All across the country Hoovervilles shantytowns emerge as people are disgraced at Hoover

22. Rugged individualism: people should succeed through their own efforts, without government help

23. Hooverville (Seattle): shantytowns are coined “Hoovervilles” b/c the American people are frustrated and disappointed in Hoover’s effort to relieve the Great Depression

24. Election of 1932
Franklin D. Roosevelt (distant cousin of Teddy Roosevelt), NY governor, pledged a “new deal” for the American people and help for the common man
Democrats win majority in Congress
Hoover remains a lame duck for several months until FDR takes office
Banking system is in crisis and the Great Depression drags on

26. Franklin Delano Roosevelt runs for office in 1932 against Hoover promising a “New Deal”

27. Hoover remains a lame duck after the November 1932 election in which FDR won. The 20th amendment is passed changing the inaugural date for the President and Congress from March to January 20th.

28. Roosevelt must deal with a crisis in banking,
the nation's sick economy, and
the other effects of the Great Depression
when he takes office.