1. Let’s Review –Look over your notes and discuss
How did society change during the Great Depression as a result of the Dust Bowl?
What are the major differences between entertainment and social life in the 20s and the 30s?

2. SSHS-S1C8-01-b-c
Strand 1: American History
Concept 8: Great Depression and World War I
P.O. 1: Describe causes and consequences of the Great Depression
c. Effects on society
Students will comprehend the reasons why Hoover was opposed to doing more about the economy by identifying the political beliefs of Hoover.

3. Hoover Responds to the DepressionOr
why people hated him

4. Rugged Individualism Hoover tried to remain optimistic
Didn’t believe the government should help
Saw how European countries turned to Socialism after WWI and thought that was why those countries didn’t recover
Believed if people just tried harder and worked harder they would be able to recover

5. American Individualism
Wrote the book American Individualism
Was all about how the American system was the best social, political, spiritual, and economic system
American Exceptionalism
Because of this it was really hard for Hoover to propose more government help

6. What to do?
Hoover was worried so he organized conferences with banks, railroads, and other big companies to try to out a solution
Industry leaders originally promised not to slash wages but broke that promise by 1931
Hoover increased funding for Public works -helped only a fraction

7. Trying to rescue the banks
Hoover asked the Federal Reserve Board to add more money into circulation
The Board refused so Hoover set up the National Credit Corporation (NCC)
Created a pool of money for banks to lend to their communities
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

8. Direct Help for Citizens
Hoover strongly opposed giving direct help to citizens
Believed that state and local government should help and then charities should fill in any gaps
Problem with this was no one had any money due to the Depression so they couldn’t donate to charities
Congress finally passed the Emergency Relief and Construction Act which Hoover reluctantly signed
For the first time in American history, the Federal Government was supplying direct relief funds

9. Were People Actually Dying?
President Herbert Hoover declared, "Nobody is actually starving. The hoboes are better fed than they have ever been."
In New York City in 1931, there were 20 known cases of starvation; in 1934, there were 110 deaths caused by hunger.
There were so many accounts of people starving in New York that the West African nation of Cameroon sent $3.77 in relief.

10. In an Angry Mood
Hunger Marches -Organized by the American Communist Party
Looting and stealing from grocery stores
A group marched on Washington D.C. a group of about 1,200 chanted “Feed the hungry, tax the rich”

11. Struggle of the Farmers
Dairy farmers dumped milk to protest the low prices
Farmers burned some of their crops try to drive up prices
In Nebraska farmers burned corn to heat their homes
Nearly one million farms were foreclosed between

12. The Bonus Army
World War I veterans were supposed to get a $1,000 bonus in 1945
in 1929 Texas congressman Wright Patman introduced a bill that would give these bonuses early
1932 a few hundred Oregon vets began marching to Washington D.C. to lobby for the passage of the legislation
As they went, others joined
Once they got to D.C. they numbered around 15,000 people
Lived in hoovervilles

13. Reaction The senate voted down the bill
Hoover said Congress made provisions for the return home of these marchers
Many left but not all
Hoover ordered the buildings where the marchers were living to be cleared
An officer panicked and fired into the crowd killing two vets

14. Reaction
Security of War asked to send in the army to clear out the buildings
Hoover said yes but to leave the camps alone
General Douglas MacArthur was in charge of clearing the vets

15. The Reaction
The President, worried that the government reaction might look overly harsh, did not wish the Army to pursue the Bonus Marchers across the bridge into their main encampment on the other side of the Anacostia River.
MacArthur, according to his aide Dwight Eisenhower, "said he was too busy," did not want to be "bothered by people coming down and pretending to bring orders,“
General Douglas MacArthur ignored Hoover and sent in the cavalry, infantry, and tanks to clear out the camps
Used teargas and burned the shacks

16. Let’s Review
How did President Hoover’s governing philosophy influence his efforts to combat the Great Depression?
What did civilians do to better their situation during the Great Depression?