1. 14.1 The Nation’s Sick Economy

2. Causes of the Great Depression  Farming crisis  Easy credit  Unequal distribution of income

3. Farmers need a lift  During WWI, international demand for crops such as wheat and corn had soared  After the war, demand for farm products fell and crop prices declined by 50%  Farmers increased production in hopes of selling more crops, which led to lower prices

4. Living on Credit  Credit- buy now, pay later  “Buying Power”

5. Uneven Distribution of Income  In the 1920s, nearly half of the nation’s families earned less than $1,500/year  1920-1929: income of the wealthiest 1% rose by 75%  1929: wealthiest 5% of families controlled 1/3 of the nation’s income

6. Riches in the Stock Market  Speculation-buying stocks and bonds on the chance that they might sell for huge profits  Buying on margin- putting a small down payment on the stock and borrowing the rest

7. 1928-A New President  Herbert Hoover  Herbert Hoover was a mining engineer from Iowa who had never run for public office  Won a landslide victory mostly because Americans were happy with the way Republicans were running the country

8. Black Tuesday-October 29, 1929  Market prices dropped, causing a frenzy of selling  16 million shares were sold in one day  $30 billion gone by mid- November

9. 14.2 The Dust Bowl

10. What is the Dust Bowl?  Huge wind storms that relocated millions of tons of dust from the central plains

11. Why did the Dust Bowl happen?  Destruction of grasslands for farming  Exhausted land through overproduction  1930s draught  High winds

12. Where did the Dust Bowl happen?  Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, New Mexico

13. Who did the Dust Bowl affect?  “Okies”-a negative term used to refer to those who were displaced by the dust storms