1. Chapter 21: Great Depression Section 1: Cause of the great depression

2. 1920’s Prosperity
During the 1920’s the US economy skyrocketed and people credited Republican Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge
Coolidge decided not to run for reelection in 1928 opening the door for Herbert Hoover who had been Sec of Commerce under both Harding and Coolidge
Hoover’s solid record of accomplishments led him to an easy victory over Democrat Alfred Smith of NY who chose Franklin D Roosevelt as his VP candidate
Hoover claimed that he would end poverty in the US, little did he know that an economic disaster was on the horizon

4. 1920’s trouble
Farmers made up 1/4th of the US workforce, they had increased production for the war and never recovered from the loans they needed to buy better equipment in order to produce such large quantities of food
Throughout the 1920’s crop prices remained low due to massive surpluses and a rural depression had been a way of life while the rest of the country thrived
Industrial workers did see improvements in the 1920’s with raises averaging 8%, but that was nothing compared to corporate profits being up 65%
The rich got richer while the poor stayed poor, the wealthiest 1% earned the same amount as the bottom 42%
To make matters worse, Americans had changed their opinion of credit and most used loans to buy cars, radios and even stocks

7. Credit system Why was this bad?
People didn’t really have the money they were spending
WWI
The U.S. was a major credit loaner to other nations in need
Many of these nations could not pay us back

8. The Stock Market People bought stocks on margins Stocks fall
If a stock is $100 you can pay $10 now and the rest later when the stock rose
Stocks fall
Now the person has less than $100 and no money to pay back

9. As people panicked about their money, investors tried to sell their stocks
This led to more selling and a rapid decline in prices
Many stocks were now worthless
People who had bought on “margins” could not pay back the money borrowed to purchase stocks
Most investors were average people that were now broke
And then….

10. Stock Market Crashes
Because stocks were being bought with credit, prices were inflated, many investors looked to make quick money and sell (Stock Speculation)
Stocks began to slide in Sept of 1929, by Oct investors began to lose confidence they would recover…this lack of confidence caused the Market to crash
October 29, 1929 is known as Black Tuesday: in one day 16 million shares were sold and billions of dollars were lost
Hoover tried to tell Americans the market would recover, but it continued to fall into November and the boom of the 1920’s was over

12. The Great depression Begins
With confidence in the US economy at a new low, investors withdrew their savings from banks
when banks ran out of cash they were forced to close and investors who hadn't withdrawn funds lost everything (No FDIC)
The fear often led to “Runs on the bank” by panicked depositors hoping to get their money out before banks closed
From , there was a steady closing of banks across the country, over 500 closings by 1932, some wondered if the banking system would survive at all
With peoples life savings gone, they could not purchase goods, which caused businesses to produce less, with that lesser production came fewer jobs (Snowball effect)
By 1933, between 25%-33% of Americans had lost their jobs

14. What about the people? Farmers were already feeling the effects
Prices of crops went down
Many farms foreclosed
People could not afford luxuries
Factories shut down
Businesses closed
Banks could not pay out money
People could not pay their taxes
Schools shut down due to lack of funds
Many families became homeless and had to live in shanties

15. President Hoover Herbert Hoover was president at the start
Philosophy: We’ll make it!
What He Did: Nothing
The poor were looking for help and no ideas on how to correct or help were coming
When he finally began to see a problem, it was “Too little, too late”

16. Depression goes Global Page 707-708
What was the Hawley-Smoot Tariff? What was its intention and what did it actually do?
What other European problems helped the Depression become a worldwide problem?
What was the effect of Germany refusing to make war reparation payments?

18. Causes of the Great Depression
Some historians believe the Stock Market Crash and bank failures simply left too little money in circulation for the economy to function
John Maynard Keynes disagrees, he blames the lack of government intervention in the economy, meaning when the economy began to collapse the government should have stepped in and provided more money to circulation to ease the pain of the economic collapse
Keynes would also argue that the US government should have stepped in to stop the uneven distribution of wealth, stock speculation and production of goods throughout the 1920’s.
Historians do not disagree however on the fact that those factors combined with poor decisions by Congress and the President ultimately led to the worst economic disaster in the nations history