1. Chapter 26: The Great Depression Begins
The Nation’s Economy Crashes
Hoover’s Policies Have Little Effect
Roosevelt Faces a Difficult Challenge

2. Alabama family, 1938 Photo by Walter Evans
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
The Stock Market crash signaled the beginning of the Great Depression
The Great Depression is generally defined as the period from 1929 – 1940 in which the economy plummeted and unemployment skyrocketed
The crash alone did not cause the Great Depression, but it hastened its arrival
Alabama family, 1938 Photo by Walter Evans

3. Great Depression
The period from 1929 to 1940 in which the economy plummeted and unemployment skyrocketed.
The stock market crash was not the only cause.

4. The Nation’s Economy Crashes
4 Causes to the depression
Mechanization of Industrial base
Unequal distribution of income
Farm crisis
Unfavorable balance of trade
Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act
Easy credit
Installment Plan
Buying on margin

5. Four Causes of Great Depression
1. Tariffs and war debt policies that cut down the foreign market for American goods.
2. Crisis in the farm sector.
3. Availability of easy credit.
4. Unequal distribution of income.

6. Income There was an uneven distribution of income.
Over 70% of Americans lived below the standard of living.
Less than 1% were elite. (extremely rich)

7. Credit Consumers agree to buy now and pay later.
Would pay monthly payments with interest.
Credit was too easy to get in the 1920s.

8. The U.S. was not the only country gripped by the Great Depression
Much of Europe suffered throughout the 1920s
In 1930, Congress passed the toughest tariff in U.S. history called the Hawley- Smoot Tariff- designed to protect American farmers and businesses from foreign competition.
The tariff made unemployment worse in America b/c no one wanted to buy our goods.
Worst depression in American history
Other countries enacted their own tariffs and soon world trade fell 40%
HAWLEY-SMOOT TARIFF

9. Economy Crashes - continued
Depression devastates people’ lives
National income
Direct suffering
Shantytowns
Soup kitchen
Bread Lines
Dust Bowl
Bonus Army

10. Hardship and Suffering

11. HARDSHIPS DURING DEPRESSION
The Great Depression brought hardship, homelessness, and hunger to millions
Across the country, people lost their jobs, and their homes
Some built makeshifts shacks out of scrap material
Before long whole shantytowns (sometimes called Hoovervilles in mock reference to the president) sprung up

12. SOUP KITCHENS
One of the common features of urban areas during the era were soup kitchens and bread lines
Soup kitchens and bread lines offered free or low-cost food for people
Unemployed men wait in line for food – this particular soup kitchen was sponsored by Al Capone

13. CONDITIONS FOR MINORITIES
Conditions for African Americans and Latinos were especially difficult
Unemployment was the highest among minorities and their pay was the lowest
Increased violence (24 lynchings in 1933 alone) marred the 1930s
Many Mexicans were “encouraged” to return to their homeland
As conditions deteriorated, violence against blacks increased

14. RURAL LIFE DURING THE DEPRESSION
While the Depression was difficult for everyone, farmers did have one advantage; they could grow food for their families
Thousands of farmers, however, lost their land
Many turned to tenant farming and barely scraped out a living
Between almost ½ million farmers lost their land

15. THE DUST BOWL
A severe drought gripped the Great Plains in the early 1930s
Wind scattered the topsoil, exposing sand and grit
The resulting dust traveled hundreds of miles
One storm in 1934 picked up millions of tons of dust from the Plains an carried it to the East Coast
Kansas Farmer, 1933

16. Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas - 1934
THE DUST BOWL
Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas

17. Storm approaching Elkhart, Kansas in 1937

18. Dust buried cars and wagons in South Dakota in 1936

19. Boy covers his mouth to avoid dust, 1935
HARDEST HIT REGIONS
Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado were the hardest hit regions during the Dust Bowl
Many farmers migrated to California and other Pacific Coast states
Boy covers his mouth to avoid dust, 1935

20. Photographer Dorothea Lange captures a family headed west to escape the dust storms

22. HOBOES TRAVEL AMERICA
The 1930s created the term “hoboes” to describe poor drifters
300,000 transients – or hoboes – hitched rides around the country on trains and slept under bridges (thousands were teenagers)
Injuries and death was common on railroad property; over 50,000 people were hurt or killed

23. EFFECTS OF DEPRESSION
Suicide rate rose more than 30% between
Alcoholism rose sharply in urban areas
Three times as many people were admitted to state mental hospitals as in normal times
Many people showed great kindness to strangers
Additionally, many people developed habits of savings & thriftiness

24. Hoover’s Policies

25. Hoover’s Policies Democrats control Congress (1930)
Hoover fails to adapt
Too cautious
Inflexible
Sends troops against Bonus Army
Moratorium
Allied War Debts
German Reparations

26. Hoover’s Policies Have Little Effect
Herbert Hoover
Solutions to late
Boulder (Hoover Dam)
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
Home Loan Bank Act
Hoover was a Humanitarian
Rugged Individualism
Hoovervilles
“Cinderella Man”

27. HOOVER STRUGGLES WITH THE DEPRESSION
After the stock market crash, President Hoover tried to reassure Americans
He said, “Any lack of confidence in the economic future Is foolish”
He recommended business as usual
Herbert Hoover

28. HOOVER’S PHILOSOPHY Hoover was not quick to react to the depression
He believed in “rugged individualism” – the idea that people succeed through their own efforts
People should take care of themselves, not depend on governmental hand-outs
He said people should “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”
Hoover believed it was the individuals job to take care of themselves, not the governments

29. HOOVER’S SUCCESSFUL DAM PROJECT
Hoover successfully organized and authorized the construction of the Boulder Dam (Now called the Hoover Dam)
The $700 million project was the world’s tallest dam (726 feet) and the second largest (1,244 feet long)
The dam currently provides electricity, flood control and water for 7 western states

30. Any dam questions?

31. HOOVER TAKES ACTION: TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
Hoover gradually softened his position on government intervention in the economy
He created the Federal Farm Board to help farmers
He also created the National Credit Organization that helped smaller banks
His Federal Home Loan Bank Act and Reconstruction Finance Corp were two measures enacted to protect people’s homes and businesses
Hoover’s flurry of activity came too late to save the economy or his job

32. BONUS ARMY A 1932 incident further damaged Hoover’s image
That spring about 15,000 World War I vets arrived in Washington to support a proposed bill
The Patman Bill would have authorized Congress to pay a bonus to WWI vets immediately
The bonus was scheduled to be paid in The Army vets wanted it NOW

33. Thousands of Bonus Army soldiers protest – Spring 1932
BONUS ARMY TURNED DOWN
Hoover called the Bonus marchers, “Communists and criminals”
On June 17, 1932 the Senate voted down the Putnam Bill
Thousands of Bonus Army soldiers protest – Spring 1932

34. BONUS MARCHERS CLASH WITH SOLDIERS
Hoover told the Bonus marchers to go home– most did
2,000 refused to leave
Hoover sent a force of 1,000 soldiers under the command of General Douglas MacArthur and his aide Dwight Eisenhower

35. AMERICANS SHOCKED AT TREATMENT OF WWI VETS
MacArthur’s 12th infantry gassed more than 1,000 marchers, including an 11-month old baby, who died
Two vets were shot and scores injured
Americans were outraged and once again, Hoover’s image suffered

36. Hoover had little chance to be re-elected in 1932

37. FDR pledges a New Deal Election of 1932 20th Amendment FDR vs. Hoover
Dramatic landslide for FDR
Brain Trust
20th Amendment
“Lame Duck”
Meanwhile, conditions got worse

38. Franklin D. Roosevelt Roosevelt defeated Hoover in the 1932 election.
Roosevelt wanted the government to help with the Great Depression.

39. New Deal Roosevelt’s plan to help deal with the Great Depression.
He wanted to do the following:
1. Help the needy
2. Economic recovery
3. Financial reform

40. Roosevelt Faces a Difficult Challenge
FDR installs confidence
Fireside Chats
“We have nothing to fear, but fear itself”
Physical problems
Polio
Wheelchair
Eleanor Roosevelt

41. Eleanor Roosevelt FDR’s wife, who was a social reformer
Humanitarian and had great political skills.
She urged the president to appoint women into government positions.
One of the most powerful First Ladies in American History.

42. Frances Perkins First female cabinet member.
Mary McLeod Bethune: An African American woman who was appointed to a gov’t position by Roosevelt.
Roosevelt did not favor full civil rights of African Americans, he did not want to anger white, Democrats in the South.

43. Key People

44. FDR’s 100 Days Bank Holiday Federal Securities Act
Emergency Banking Relief Act
F.D.I.C.
Federal Securities Act
S.E.C.
Reasons for Bank Failures
Panic
Banks invest your money
Savings Accounts
FDR supplies optimism

45. Movies Were an escape from reality. Wizard of Oz Gone with the Wind
Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (1st Disney animated film)

46. Dust Bowl
The region, including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico, that was made worthless for farming by drought and dust storms during the 1930s.

47. Why/How it happened Drought- lack of rainfall or moisture in the soil.
Farmers would plow fields which would not leave grass to cover soil.
The soil would not hold moisture
Wind storms would carry dust and create dust storms.
Impossible to grow crops in these conditions.

48. Dust Storm

49. Farmland Covered in Dust

50. Car Stuck in Dust

51. Farmers Left the land due to storms and evictions.
Most went to California and other Pacific Coast states.
Most migrants were called Okies b/c most were from Oklahoma.
They would work as farmhands to make money.

52. Migrant farmers