LEARNING TARGETS

• Students will be able to explain the impact the decade of the 1920s had on the Great Depression.

• Students will be able to analyze the reasons the Great Depression started.

1. Consumer society & optimism of 20s

• Easy credit, advertising

2. International relations

• U.S. demanded payment of WWI loans• U.S. taxed European goods• Europeans wouldn’t buy American

1. Loans to Allies During WWI= $7 billion dollars

2. Loans to Help Allies Rebuild = $3 billion dollars

Destruction in Abbeville, France at end of WWI

3. Coolidge--ineffective leader

• supported “Laissez-faire” • gov’t should stay out of economics)

4. Differences in Income

• 42% below poverty level, 1% had 30% of wealth

5. Overproduction

• Farmers expanded because of WWI • Factories produced more goods• Not enough buyers

1921 Tractor

WWI propaganda to encourage farmers

6. Inflated Stock Market

• Speculation (“get rich quick”) • Buying on margin (borrowing)

1928 Busy Trading Day in New York

7. Stock Market Crash: Oct. 29, 1929

• Panicked selling caused prices to lower • “Black Tuesday:” 16 million shares sold, • $15 billion dollar loss

Closing Reflection

• Cover your notes. Write down as much as you can remember about why the decade of the 1920s led to the Great Depression.

• Share if time.