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“Ours is a land rich in resources; stimulating in its glorious beauty; filled with millions of happy homes; blessed with comfort and opportunity…I have no fears for the future of our country it is bright with hope.” Herbert Hover

 Credit o 1929 – number of purchases made on credit is 6 times higher than in 1915 o $ 7 million purchases on credit o Federal Government encouraged borrowing with low interest rates o Consumers ignored warnings about the dangers of this

 Americans were confident in the economy of the 1920s and was reflected in the stock market  Investors poured millions of dollars into the market…as demand increased so did stock prices  Playing the Market o Bull Market – upward trend in stock prices o Bear Market – downward trend in stock prices o Margin Buying – purchasing stocks with borrowed money

 Black Thursday – October 24, 1929 o Large number of investors suddenly began to sell their shares o Dumping of shares…causes prices to plunge  Black Tuesday – October 29, 1929 o 16 million shares of stock dumped on the market o Prices dropped even lower  Brokers contacted customers who bought on margin and demanded cash…thousands faced to sell stocks at huge losses o Most investors ruined o Most values cut in half o $30 billion lost on stocks…exceeds the cost of WWI o From 6:00 to 19:00 minutes

 Banking Crisis o Large banks suffered significant loses o Borrowers default on home loans o No cash reserves and forced to close o Fearful customers panicked and tried to withdraw savings…causes even more bank failures  Business Failures o Lost money in stock market as well o Consumers unwilling or unable to buy products…not buying on credit anymore o Forced to trim inventory, limit production, lay off employees

 Global Depression o Economic troubles in Europe & other parts of the world because of massive war debts from WWI o World trade declines…no consumers for American products o Smoot – Hawley Tariff 1930 – highest tariff on imported goods in U.S. history, protects American goods at home, but not abroad

 Income Gap & Consumer Debt o Between 1923 and 1929 the wealthiest 1% population’s income increases by 63% while the poorest 93% decreases by 4% o Most people do not have the buying power to boost the economy  The Business Cycle o The regular ups and downs of business in a free enterprise economy

 Between 1929 and 1933 o 9,000 banks closed o Almost 50,000 business went under (1930 & 1931) o Business investments in industrial construction declined from $23.3 billion to $10.1 billion o Automobile industry’s earnings dropped 40% o U.S. gross national product declines from $103.1 billion to $58 billion o 1932 – unemployment at 23.6 % o People lost money cannot buy products industries slow production layoff workers leaves even fewer consumers

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“My father walked the streets everyday…My mother went to work. I even worked, playing the piano for dancing class on Saturday mornings for fifty cents an hour. My mother would find a few pennies and we would go to the grocer and wait until he threw out the stuff that was beginning to rot. We would pick out the best rotted potato and greens and carrots that were already soft. Then we would go to the butcher and a beg for a marrow bone. And then with the few pennies we would buy a box of barley, and we’d have soup to last us for three or four days. I remember she would say to me sometimes, ‘You go out and do it. I’m too ashamed ’” - Clara Hancox (11 years old)

 1929…1.5 million unemployed, by 1933…15 million  50% of Chicago, 80% in Toledo, Ohio  “Everybody in America is looking for work” Langston Hughes  Wages fell by 33%  Companies cut hours  Immigration drops

“We saw the city at it's worst. One vivid moment of those dark days we shall never forget” “We saw a crowd of some fifty men fighting over a barrel of garbage which had been set outside the back door of a restaurant American citizens fighting for scraps of food like animals ’” - Louise V. Armstrong

Shanty Towns  Shanty towns “Hoovervilles” o Make shifts towns on the outskirts of town, abandoned lots and parks o Cardboard boxes scrap lumber and metal o The only alternative to living on the streets

Shanty Towns

Hunger  Hunger o Plenty of food on the farms, no way to transport o Triggers malnourishment, riots and looting

Hunger

Breadlines

Hunger

 8 minute video clip from The Century Series o ch?v=luWcTm2oRrY ch?v=luWcTm2oRrY

 Harder to sell products o Shrinking demand…prices drop o Some farmers forced to let foods rot in the fields o Slaughter livestock that they cannot afford to feed o “While Oregon sheep raisers fed mutton to the buzzards, I saw men picking for meat scraps in the garbage cans of New York and Chicago”  Cannot keep up mortgage payments o Foreclosure sales o Tenant farmers o Midwest had plenty, Southerners face devastation  Pressure for Mexican Migrant Farmers to leave

 Interviews with Great Depression Survivors o atch?v=polnEBTnQ6g atch?v=polnEBTnQ6g

 Family Strains o Hardship on families…many break apart o Marriage rate falls dramatically o Birthrates decline o “Do you realize how many people in my generation are not married?...it wasn’t that we didn’t have a chance. I was going with someone when the Depression hit. We probably would have gotten married…Suddenly he was laid off. It hit him like a ton of bricks. And he just disappeared.”  Difficult for women o Trying to put food on the table, making clothes and shoes last o Make their own soap and bread

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“What the country needs is a good big laugh. There seems to be a condition of hysteria. If someone could get off a good joke every ten days I think our troubles would be over.”

 Economic recovery through individual effort and not from government assistance.  Opposes Direct Relief o Federal relief would create a large bureaucracy o Inflate the federal budget o Reduce self respect of people o Rugged Individualism – success comes through individual effort and private enterprise o Private charities and local communities should provide relief  Encourages Volunteerism o Community Chest, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, YMCA o Distribute information about how to get help to people

 Stimulating the Economy o Believes something should be done o Urges businesses to maintain pre-depression level of production, employment, and wages o Several publics works programs…$800 million o Example: Hoover Dam

 Coping with the Farming Crisis o Federal Farm Board Help farmers to help themselves Develops Cooperatives…buy things in bulk, store crops and wait for higher prices  Home Loan Bank Board o Money for low interest mortgages  Reconstruction Finance Corporation o $2 Billion tax payer money to stabilize banks, insurance companies, railroad companies and other institutions o “Trickle Down”  Government is more active than ever…

 Mid 30s severe drought struck Great Plains, winds picked up the loose and dry topsoil, turning a 50 million acre region into a wasteland

 “The Dust Bowl” (series introduction) o  Boom Time o Southern plains experience a boom period o  Modern Machinery o Turning agricultural into an industrial model o  Environmental Catastrophe o Natural and man made factors turn profitable farming land into a vast wasteland o

 “NO JOBS in California. IF YOU are looking for work KEEP OUT!”

 Farmers had lost their land…packed up and hit the road o West on Route 66 o California & other parts of the West Coast o “Okies” – from Oklahoma educators/lesson-plans/ educators/lesson-plans/ o Found fierce competition

 Americans ready for change…people were suffering from lack of work, food and hope

 20 th Amendment not ratified until Feb of 1933 o Changes inauguration from March to January  During the waiting period, works with “Brain Trust” o Select group pf professors, lawyers, and journalist o Develop polices for his new administration  New Deal o “a new deal for the American people” o Focuses RELIEF for the needy RECOVERY for the economy REFORM for financial institutions

 Intense activity from March 9 to June 16, 1933  Congress passes more that 15 major pieces of New Deal legislation

 By 1933, widespread banking failures had caused Americans to lose faith in the banking system.  March 5…one day after taking office, Roosevelt declares a bank holiday and closed all the banks to prevent further withdrawals  Emergency Banking Relief Act o Treasury Department to inspect all banks o Sound? Can open at once o Insolvent? (cannot pay debts) Remained closed o Need Help? Can receive loans

 Rural Assistance  Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) o Raise crop prices by lowering production o Government would pay farmers to leave certain amount of acreage unseeded o Issues with hunger and destroying food  Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) o

 Providing Work Assistance  Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) o Put young men 18 to 25 to work building roads, developing parks, planting trees, and helping in soil erosion and flood control projects o Example 217 million trees planted Create a wind break that stretched through the Great Plains from Texas to Canada  National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) o Provides money to states to create jobs chiefly in construction of schools and community buildings

 Food, Clothing, and Shelter  Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) o Provides government loans to homeowners who face foreclosure because they cannot make the payments  Federal Housing Administration (FHA) o Provides loans for home mortgages and home repairs  Federal Emergency Relief Administration o $500 million dollars given for direct relief for the needy o Furnish food and clothing to unemployed, the aged and the ill o Support work programs

 FDR agrees to Deficit Spending, but is reluctant o Spending more money than the government receives in revenue o Necessary evil to be used in economic crisis  New Deal does not end the Great Depression and is criticized o Liberal critics New Deal did not go far enough to help the poor and reform the economic system o Conservative critics FDR spent too much on direct relief and used the New Deal programs to control business and social the economy NIRA and AAA interfered with the free market economy

 By 1935…economy has improved, but gains were not as great as FDR had hoped o Unemployment is high o Production levels still lagging  New Deal enjoyed widespread popularity, FDR launches a Second New Deal o Calls on Congress to provide more extensive relief for both farmers and workers  1936 Election o FDR re-elected

 Farmers  Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act o Pays farmers for cutting production of soil depleting crops, rewarded farmers for practicing soil conservation methods  Second Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) o Includes many of the features except no processing tax to pay for farm subsidies (unconstitutional)  Resettlement Administration o Monetary loans to small farmers to buy land  Farm Security Administration (FSA) o $1 billion to help tenant farmers become landholders, camps for migrant farm workers (from video yesterday)

 Working People  Works Progress Administration o Create as many jobs as possible as quickly as possible o Spent $11 billion to give more than 8 million workers, most unskilled, jobs 850 airports 651,000 miles of roads and streets 125,000 public buildings Women’s sewing groups made 300 million garments for the needy o Criticized as a make-work project o Gave working people a sense of hope and purpose “It was really great, you worked, you got a paycheck and you had some dignity. Even when a man raked leaves, he got paid, he had some dignity.”

 Youth  National Youth Administration (NYA) o Provide education jobs, counseling, and recreation for young people o Provides student aid to high school, college, and graduate students in exchange for students working part time positions at their schools

 Labor Relations  Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act) o Prohibits unfair labor practices o No threatening workers, firing workers for union activity, interfering union organization  Fair Labor Standards Act o Maximum hours o Minimum wage o Rules for workers 16 and under o No hazardous work for workers under 18

 Social Security Act (SSA) o Old age insurance for retirees 65 or older and their spouses o Unemployment compensation system o Aid to families with dependent children and people with disabilities o Not a total pension system or a complete welfare system, provides substantial benefits to millions of Americans

 Rural Electrification Administration (REA) o Brings electricity to isolated areas o % %1949 – 90%  Public Utility Holding Company Act o Takes on corruption in industry o Outlaws ownership of utilities by multiple holding companies

 Financing the New Deal o Higher taxes for the wealthy o FDRs response that it would unpopular for the few, but benefit the majority  Opposition from the Supreme Court o 11 out of 16 of the programs were decreed unconstitutional in cases heard by the Supreme Court o FDR had tried to impose the power of the federal government on state governments – and this was unconstitutional  Intrusiveness of Government o Socialism/Communism rising Italy and Germany, Americans are scared o Many people felt very strongly that government should not intrude into matters of commerce and people's personal lives

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President Roosevelt is best known for leading the country through the Great Depression. The New Deal was a set of policies designed to provide “relief, recovery and reform” to alleviate the suffering of millions of Americans.

 In your table groups, you will attempt to answer the following question: “Was the New Deal a Success or Failure?”

Document A  Read  Is there any information to support a Success or Failure Argument?

 Who wrote this? o Identify the author’s position on the historical event  What is the author’s perspective? o Identify and evaluate the author's purpose in producing the document  When, Where, Why was it written? o Hypothesize what the author will say before reading the document  Is it reliable? Why? Why not? o Evaluate the source’s trustworthiness by considering genre, audience and purpose

Document A  Identify the author’s position on the historical event  Identify and evaluate the author's purpose in producing the document  Hypothesize what the author will say before reading the document  Evaluate the source’s trustworthiness by considering genre, audience and purpose

“Was the New Deal a Success or Failure?”  Team A will argue: YES, the New Deal was a success  Team B will argue: NO, the New Deal was a failure  With your team, read the documents in the New Deal Document Set. Find five pieces of evidence which support side.

 As you develop your arguments, use as many of the following possible sources of evidence as you can from the New Deal documents set o Document A – Fireside Chat o Document B – African Americans and the New Deal o Document C – Interview with a Cotton Mill Worker o Document D – Hot Lunches for a Million School Children o Document E – Unemployment Statistics o Document F – Song o Document G – Whither the Indian

“Was the New Deal a Success or Failure?”  Team A will present arguments. All teammates must present at least one argument o Team B writes down Team A’s arguments and then repeats back them to Team A.  Team B will present arguments. All teammates must present at least one argument o Team A writes down Team B’s arguments and then repeats back them to Team B.

“Was the New Deal a Success or Failure?”  Everyone CAN ABANDON their positions. Groups of 4 attempt to develop a consensus.  Pick three strongest arguments

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 Grim experiences of migrants and others in the areas provided powerful subject matter for documentary film makers and photographers  Images of the slumped shoulders of unemployed men, the staring faces of hungry children, and the worried expressions of exhausted women convey the human suffering of the era

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 Works Progress Administration

 Federal Project Number One - $300 Million o Program sought to encourage pride in American culture by providing work to artists in the fields of writing, theatre, music and the visual arts o Hired unemployed artists and designers to produce posters for the New Deal programs, teach art in public schools and paint murals on public buildings

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 John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath (1939) o Gripping picture of the Great Depression. Story follows the fortunes of a poor family as they travel from the Dust Bowl region to California  Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) o Black woman’s search for fulfillment in rural Florida  Richard Wright – Native Son (1940) o Grim picture of black urban life. Journey of a young African American man lost in a racist world  Margaret Mitchell – Gone with the Wind (1936) o Best selling novel of the decade. A sweeping story of the Old South set during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Depression-era readers could relate to the turmoil faced by the main character Scarlett O’Hara.

 Most films were offered as an escape from troubles o Marx Brothers comedy Duck Soup (1933) o Gold Diggers of 1933 – “We’re in the Money” – most optimistic tune of the decade!  Also tackle social issues o Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) – criticized the wealthy and politicians o

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 Plays dealt with the nation’s labor and class struggles o The Petrified Forrest (1935) – ideas of destroying the country o The Little Foxes (1939) – attacks upper class greed  By the end of the decade, focused on traditional American values o Our Town (1938) o The Time of Your Life (1939)

 American traditions and sounds  “Billy the Kid” – popular song  Country Music o Grand Ole Opry – popular radio show  Gospel Music o Traditional spirits and jazz o “Precious Lord Take My Hand” o Some ministers object to the hand clapping and stomping  Jazz continues to be popular  Swing – smooth big band style popular in dance halls o Duke Ellington – “It Don’t Mean a Thing If You Ain’t Got That Swing” o Benny Goodman

 American Folk revival in 1930s  Woody Guthrie is displaced by the Dust Bowl  No formal training in music, but describes the experiences of common people in his music  Ain’t Got No Home o  You know this one… o

Jacob Lawrence  One of the best known 20 th Century African American Artists  Daily lives of African American heroes o Frederick Douglas o Harriet Tubman

Georgia O’Keefe

 Look to rural America  Regionalists – group from the Midwest  Grant Wood – American Gothic

 Anna “Grandma” Moses – takes up painting at age 70  Handmade quilts & wood carvings become popular

 What were two causes of the Great Depression o Cause (2) o Two underlying factors (2 for each) Site one specific example for each factor  President Hoover believed in “rugged individualism.” o What does this mean? o Who did he believe people should rely on during the Great Depression? o Why did he not believe that the government should be responsible to help the American people who were suffering?  What did the New Deal programs aim to provide to the American people during the Great Depression?  Was the New Deal a success or failure? Provide three pieces of evidence to support your position.