THE GREAT DEPRESSION BEGINS

 S tock Market  O verproduction  B ank Failures CAUSES OF THE CRASH

 “Bull market” led to rising stock prices  Wealth was generated on paper  Investors bought on margin / credit!  Black Tuesday – October 29,1929  The day the bubble popped STOCK MARKET CRASH

 Crisis in the farm sector!  Markets that were open during WWI, now closed!  Farmers produced more than they were able to sell (trying to pay off their debt)  Prices of products dropped  Demand of manufactured goods fell off.  Americans spending less!  No one buying things  don’t need to produce as much  don’t need a lot of workers OVERPRODUCTION/CONSUMER DEBT

 After the crash – American panic and try to withdraw money from banks!  Too many people, not enough money!  Banks shut down  659 (1929)  6,000 (1933)  Wiped out 9 million individual savings accounts  stock-market- crash/videos#1929-stock- market-crash BANK FAILURES

1.3% to 25% 2.13 million 3.1,800/year to 1,050 per year 4.1 in , NUMBERS – WHAT DO THEY REPRESENT?

 Towns made of shacks  Shacks built from scrap material.  These towns were known as Hoovervilles (after president Hoover).  “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” SHANTYTOWNS

 Many Americans scrounged for food  Digging in garbage cans  Begging on street corners  Soup Kitchens  Bread Lines SOUP KITCHENS & BREAD LINES bcNhcCyn8

 Unemployment rates were higher & jobs had very low pay  Racial violence increased against African Americans  Americans demanded Latinos be deported AFRICAN AMERICANS & LATINOS

 Take a moment…put yourself in someone else’s shoes….  Answer these questions on you sheet  How might they be feeling?  What would be the worst part? GREAT DEPRESSION

 Generally, Americans believed in traditional values and the importance of a family staying together!  However, making ends meet caused stress and sometimes would break apart families EFFECTS ON THE FAMILY

 Walk the streets  Some stopped trying  Some abandoned their families  Wandered the country MEN OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 Women  Women canned food and sewed clothing  Carefully managed the budget  Sometimes worked outside the home  Children  Health problems: Malnutrition/diet related diseases  Child-welfare programs were cut  Some schools closed or shortened the year  Many worked – sweatshops WOMEN AND CHILDREN

 The Dust Bowl!!  Rocked the great plains! Devastated farmers and people of that area.  “Black Blizzards”  Ruined farms, many people had to leave  Farmers lost their farms  Killed animals and many times, people! FARMERS nburns/dustbowl/

 People felt demoralized  People admitted to mental hospitals  Sacrifices made:  No doctor/dentist  No college  No family/marriage  Families helped other families  Habits of saving/thriftiness  This shaped the generation OTHER EFFECTS

 Tried to reassure American’s that the nation’s economy was OKAY  “Any lack of confidence in the economic future…is foolish”  Hoover didn’t do much – didn’t want government to have too much power or do too much.  “Rugged individualism” – People should succeed through their own efforts.  Don’t depend on gov. to bail you out!  Refused to support direct relief programs PRESIDENT HOOVER & THE DEPRESSION

 Boulder Dam  To add jobs and jumpstart economy.  Part of his public-works programs  Federal Farm Board  Raise crop prices/help farm cooperatives buy crops  Federal Home Loan Bank Act  Lowered mortgage rates for homeowners  Farmers can refinance their farm loans to avoid foreclosure  Reconstruction Finance Corporation  Provides emergency financing to banks, life insurance companies, railroads, etc.  “Trickle-down” approach.  All of these things helped a little but it was just too little, too late. PRESIDENT HOOVER

  Might not need to show this due to America the story of US CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GD