1. The Great Depression

2. Causes of the Depression 1. Overproduction 2. Under-consumption 3
Causes of the Depression 1. Overproduction 2. Under-consumption 3. Stock Market Speculation

3. Economy in the Late 1920’s
Herbert Hoover was elected President
American economy showed signs of serious problems – Laissez-Faire
Huge corporations were ran by rich families who held most of America’s wealth
Most Americans had no savings
Many Americans took part in speculation – high risk investments in hopes of getting rich

4. The Stock Market Crash Stock market prices began to drop
Americans panicked; rushed to get their $ out of banks & sell stocks
October 29, 1929 – The Stock Market crashed, billions were lost – BLACK TUESDAY
Factories closed, small businesses closed, families lost farms & life savings
Causes – Americans borrowed too much $, industries produced too much product, government made mistakes in economic policies

5. The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange just after the crash of In a single day, sixteen million shares were traded--a record--and thirty billion dollars vanished into thin air. The "Era of Get Rich Quick" was over. Cynical NY hotel clerks asked guests, "You want a room for sleeping or jumping?"

6. Industry Key industries barely made money Over production
Loss of business due to foreign competition and new technology
Declining demand after the WWI
Declining demand for coal because of new energy sources
Housing development declines

7. Agriculture Money declines after the war
Could not pay debt, lost farms
Rural banks fail
Federal price supports were passed, but President vetoed them

8. Consumer Spending Easy credit = Large consumer debt Increase in money
Stagnant wages
High levels of debt
Consumers decreased their buying
Under consumption

9. Distribution of Wealth
½ of US families earned less than the minimum amount needed for a decent standard of living
Rich got richer
Unequal distribution of wealth
A few rich with lots of money; lots of poor with little money

10. Stock Market Speculation Buying on margin Generated wealth on paper
Many investors lost life savings when the market crashed

11. The Great Depression

12. Global economy suffers
Unequal distribution of wealth Stock market speculation and crash Problems in industry and farming Easy credit and rising consumer debt Overproduction slows industrial growth
Under consumption
The Great Depression
Bank failures Loss of savings and high unemployment Mass homelessness Increased poverty leads to health and social problems
Global economy suffers

13. Unemployed men vying for jobs at the American Legion Employment Bureau.

14. Life During the Depression

15. THE GREAT
DEPRESSION

16. period of drought lasted much of 1930s Children suffered the
Many men
feel a sense
of failure
Increase in the
number of
homeless
Farmers lose
their crops &
move
out west
Urban families
crowd into small
apartments
THE GREAT
DEPRESSION
Competition for work causes more
racial tensions
Hoovervilles –
shelters
set up for the
homeless
Dust Bowl –
period of drought lasted much of 1930s
Children suffered the
effects of a poor
diet

21. Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother," destitute in a pea picker's camp, because of the failure of the early pea crop. These people had just sold their tent in order to buy food.

30. Escaping the Depression
Movies
Art
Literature
Radio

31. Escaping the Depression
MOVIES: Walt Disney produced the first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Other films, like The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Gone with the Wind, contained stories of triumph over adversity and visions of a better life.
RADIO: Families gathered around the radio daily to hear news or listen to shows like the Lone Ranger. Melodramas, called soap operas, became very popular with housewives. Soap operas received their name because makers of laundry soaps often sponsored them.

32. The Depression in Art
ART: depicted homeless and unemployed Americans; showed the realities of the Depression
LITERATURE:
John Steinbeck:1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath, story of an Oklahoma family fleeing the Dust Bowl

33. American Gothic- by Grant Wood

35. In an Angry Mood
Violence: discontentment led to looting, rallies, and hunger marches
Farmers: between 1930 and 1934 creditors foreclosed on almost a million farms. Some farmers destroyed their crops, hoping the reduction in supply would cause the prices to go up.

36. Bonus Army
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?

37. Bonus Army Who? WWI veterans What? March on the Capitol When? 1932
Where?
Washington, D.C.; lived in Hoovervilles and abandoned buildings
Why?
Wanted the war bonus promised to them in 1945 now, when they really needed it
When bonus was denied, most marchers left; others were driven out with tear gas

38. World War I veterans seeking early payment of a bonus scheduled for 1945 assembled in Washington to pressure Congress and the White House. Hoover resisted the demand for an early bonus. It swelled to 60,000 men.