1. THE GREAT DEPRESSION Stock Market Crash to World War II

2. WHAT WAS THE GREAT DEPRESSION?  The Great Depression was a time between 1929 through the 1930’s when the entire world suffered from a poor economy. (This means that people were having a hard time finding jobs, making money, and paying for the things they needed.)

3. SO WHAT? LOTS OF PEOPLE DON’T HAVE MONEY TODAY. WHAT MADE THE GREAT DEPRESSION SO DIFFERENT?

4. THE GREAT DEPRESSION WAS MUCH BIGGER!  Millions of people in the United States (and around the world) had no jobs. This depression was global.  Countless people became homeless.  Families were separated as parents and older children tried to find work.  The depression lasted for more than a decade, the longest and most severe in our history. It affected the whole world.

5.  1929-1942 THE GREAT DEPRESSION

6. HERE ARE THE FACTS.  In the early years of the depression in the United States, over 250,000 children were homeless.  About 90% of these children were malnourished, meaning they were unhealthy because they didn’t have enough food / vitamins.  Nearly 3 million children had to drop out of school because their families needed them to work OR because their schools closed down.  In some cases, children were paid barely more than 50 cents a week. Wages were as low as 2 cents an hour.

7.  Here are three homeless children. You should note that children often tried to find work during the Great Depression, too. Many traveled across the country and away from their families.

8.  Here is another picture of some young children during the depression. Look at how dirty they are.

9.  This is a REAL school during the depression. Notice the students are sitting on logs and that a garbage can is helping to support the ceiling.

10. HERE ARE THE FACTS.  Families were separated as people tried to find jobs. Many fathers moved to the other side of the country and were away from their families for years.  One out of EVERY 4 PEOPLE in the country had no job.  The depression lasted for more than a decade.

11. HOW DID IT HAPPEN?

12. CAUSES OF GREAT DEPRESSION  Too much installment buying  Not enough money in circulation  Over speculation in the stock market, crash of 1929  Overproduction by American industry and farmers  High tariffs prevented free trade among nations  WWI reparations and debts  Low wages kept buying power low

13.  Because of the Great Depression, businesses could not afford to pay their workers, so they had to fire people.  Normally when people lose a job, they get another one. During the Great Depression, however, there were no other jobs because almost all businesses were firing people, and NO businesses were hiring. Thus, people couldn’t find work, and they couldn’t make money.

14.  Here’s a picture of people looking for a job. Jobs were rare, and many people would be after the same position. Most would go away empty-handed.

15.  Since people didn’t have money, they couldn’t afford to buy things. This made businesses even more broke.  When the businesses became even more broke, they had to fire even more people, so everything started all over again.

16.  People lost their homes. Many lived in shacks like this.

17. “HOOVERVILLE”  A "Hooverville" is the popular name for shanty towns built by homeless people during the Great Depression.  They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States during the onset of the Depression and widely blamed for it. People wanted the government to step in and provide relief but it didn’t happen.  The term was coined by Charles Michelson, publicity chief of the Democratic National Committee. Hoover was a Republican.

18.  Some lived in tents. (Notice that this family is living in their car, as well.)

19.  Most of these unemployed residents of the Hoovervilles used public charities or begged for food from those who had housing during this era.  Democrats coined other terms, such as "Hoover blanket" (old newspaper used as blanketing) and "Hoover flag" (an empty pocket turned inside out). "Hoover leather" was cardboard used to line a shoe when the sole wore through. A "Hoover wagon" was an automobile with horses hitched to it because the owner could not afford fuel;

20.  This is a picture of New York. Look at the make-shift shacks people lived in through the winter. Do you think these shacks had heat?

21.  People without money can’t buy food. Here are some men at a soup kitchen for a free meal. Remember--these men might have owned homes before this.

22. Here’s another food line picture.

23.  This is another food line. Look at how many people have to rely on free food to survive.

24.  Many people left their hometowns to try and find work. Many traveled across the country.

25.  Here’s a family that couldn’t afford a car, so they walked from town to town looking for work.

26.  Some people hopped on freight trains to get from town to town--a terribly dangerous way to travel.

27.  Look at this billboard. Many towns would not allow travelers to stay because they didn’t even have enough jobs for their own citizens.

28.  Here’s a picture of a homeless man resting. Remember--this man might have been living in his own house only months earlier.

29. AS IF THINGS WEREN’T BAD ENOUGH, ALONG CAME THE GREAT DUST BOWL.

30. WHAT WAS THE DUST BOWL?  The Dust Bowl was a group of dust storms in the central United States and Canada from 1934 to 1939. (A dust storm occurs when huge amounts of dust and sand rise into the air, blocking out the sun.)  The Dust Bowl storms were so big that they stretched from Oklahoma to Texas, to Arkansas, to Illinois.

31. WHY WAS THE DUST BOWL SUCH A BIG DEAL?  Since the dust storms of the Dust Bowl were so huge--and since they lasted so long--they destroyed many plants and crops.  Lots of farmers lost their farms, causing EVEN MORE people to be out of work during the Great Depression.  Many of these farmers moved west in search of jobs--just like everyone else--but there weren’t many jobs to be found.

33.  Here’s a picture of a dust storm approaching a small town in Texas. Look at how big it is.

34.  Here’s another picture--this time in South Dakota. Look at the size of the storm! Imagine the damage it would cause!

35.  The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history within a short period of time. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states; of those, 200,000 moved to California. In just over a year, over 86,000 people migrated to California.  With their land barren and homes seized in foreclosure, many farm families were forced to leave. Migrants left farms in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico, but were often generally referred to as "Okies", "Arkies", or "Texies". Terms such as "Okies" and "Arkies" came to be known in the 1930s as the standard terms for those who had lost everything and were struggling the most during the Great Depression.

36. RELIGIOUS REVIVALISM  In the U.S., the Great Depression of the 1930s saw a resurgence of revival-tent preaching in the Midwest and South, as itinerant traveling preachers drove from town to town, living off donations.  Several preachers began radio shows as a result of their popularity.  One of the first ministers to use radio extensively was S. Parkes Cadman, beginning in 1923. By 1928, Cadman had a weekly Sunday afternoon radio broadcast on the NBC radio network, his powerful oratory reaching a nationwide audience of five million persons.

37. BONUS ARMY  As World War I drew to a close in 1918, millions of American veterans returned home to the promise of a cash bonus — compensation for their overseas service.  There was a catch, though: The money would not be paid out until 1945.  Then, the Great Depression struck. Millions of Americans were left hungry and homeless. Veterans of the war were desperate for relief.  So in 1932, a group of veterans in Portland, Ore., led by a man named Walter Waters, decided to go to Washington to lobby for early payment of their promised bonus.

38. WASHINGTON D.C.  The first Bonus Marchers arrived in Washington, D.C., on May 25, demanding payment of their bonuses. Within weeks, there were 20,000 veterans in town.  On June 15, the House of Representatives passed a bill to pay out the bonus. The Bonus marchers celebrated. But then the Senate turned it down and adjourned.  Officials in Washington expected that the Bonus Marchers would all go home. But they didn't. The numbers dropped, but the hard core among them stayed. And there was no indication they were ever going to leave.

39.  Herbert Hoover was in the White House, and his administration began to panic.  On July 28, officials sent in the Washington police to evict the marchers. The action was peaceful until someone threw a brick, the police reacted with force, and two bonus marchers were shot. The situation quickly spiraled out of control.  Within a week, the images of that night were all over the country. In every little town, people watched the newsreels, and they saw the tanks in the street, the tear gas, and MacArthur driving out the troops that had won the first World War.  Four years later, the WWI vets received their bonuses. And in 1944, Congress passed the GI Bill to help military veterans transition to civilian life, and to acknowledge the debt owed to those who risk their lives for their country.

40. EVEN MUSIC REFLECTS THE TIME  Brother, Can You Spare A Dime.mp4 Brother, Can You Spare A Dime.mp4

41. FINALLY--A TURNING POINT  When did things finally start to get better?  The stock market crash of 1929 burst a lot of bubbles, and the banking sector seized up. As the then-President and Congress understood things, it was best for the government to keep its hands off the economy and let the markets straighten themselves out.  By 1932, though, things hadn't straightened out, but rather kept getting worse. FDR and the Democrats swept into power on the promise of Doing Something. The Something he promised, was billed as the New Deal.New Deal