Social Impact of The Great Depression

And the New Deal 1. Impact on Family Life2. Impact on Minorities3. New Deal Programs4. Successes5. Failures6. End of the Great

Depression!

Social & Psychological Effects• People became demoralized • Suicides increased 30% during 1928-1932.• Tension visible in sharp rise in domestic

violence reports.• Women told that domestic violence results

from men’s depression and women’s lack of sympathy.

Impact on Family Life

• Many couples delayed marriage

• Some forced to split up.• But divorce rate dropped

sharply • Birth rates dropped below

the replacement level for the first time in American history.

Impact on Men• Men now jobless, had to rely on their wives

and children.• Loss of power as the primary decision maker

and breadwinner. • A 1940 survey revealed that 1.5 million

married women had been abandoned by their husbands.

• Women were “advised to return home” and make their men feel … more like men.

Impact on Women: Target of Resentment Women forced to work took low-paying jobs as

domestics. often blamed for “taking”

jobs from men, Particularly if married

it was believed that if all married women left the workforce then there would be enough jobs for men

Impact on Women

DISCRIMINATION• The Economy Act of 1932-

37 prohibited both members of a couple from holding federal jobs. • dismissal of numerous

female civil service employees

• Many states prohibited hiring women whose husbands earned a “living wage” or simply hiring married women

Impact on Children

• 300,000 students out of school.

• to take low-paying jobs or leave home.

• 2,600 schools shut down.

Depression’s Effect on Health “No one has starved.”

President Hoover

But some did.

Health Poor, hungry and without

shelter – more prone to illness.

children- suffered from poor diets and lack of health care.

Malnutrition rose from 18% in 1928 to 60% in 1931

Many postponed treatment.

Discrimination Increases Hard times created

hostility against minorities. Whites willing to

take low wages of Asian-Americans, Hispanics and African-Americans

Whites moving West made it harder for Hispanics to find jobs

African Americans

“Last hired, first fired” Faced discriminationMany lost jobs to unemployed white

workers.In 1930, about 50 percent of blacks

were unemployed. Children sometimes put to work

Impact on Mexicans • In California, local leaders and

unions convinced government to deport Mexican-born workers and their children.

• 1929 and 1939 Illegal deportation of 500,000 Mexican-Americans so that whites could get more jobs

Deportation of Mexican Americans at Union Station

FDR & THE NEW DEAL

1933-1940

Franklin Delano Roosevelt• US President from 1933 to 1945: longest

term of leadership in this nation’s history• FDR aimed to restore confidence

• What were his first measures?

The New Deal’s 3 Rs• Relief: providing jobs for

the unemployed and protecting farmers from foreclosure

• Recovery: getting the economy back into high gear

• Reform: regulating banks, abolishing child labor, and conserving farm lands• Overall objective: saving

capitalism!

Immediate Responses, 1933• Federal Emergency Relief Act

• Federal funds for relief• distribute money, clothing,

and food to the unemployed• National Industrial Recovery Act

• Fair work and competition codes• Administration to enforce codes• Guaranteed labor’s right to organize• price controls • high wages

Agricultural Adjustment Acts (AAA)• Recovery of agriculture• Paid farmers who agreed

to reduce production of basic crops such as cotton, wheat, tobacco, hogs, and corn

New Deal Programs

• Civilian Conservation Corps• Soil Conservation Service• Soil Erosion • Planting trees• Irrigation and range management• Gave outdoor work to unemployed

men between the ages of 17 and 29

Works Progress AdministrationWPA

• Biggest agency• 1935 employed 8 million and

$2 billion fund • Bridges, reservoirs, irrigation, sewage, schools, playgrounds,

education, training• Work Programs paid minimum wages, pulled them off charity and soup lines• “We Work Again”

1935 Social Security Act• Safety net for all

Americans• Percentage of paycheck• Based on shorter life-span• Intended to supplement

(not replace) income

National Housing Act● Provided loans to buy houses● Reduced excessive rents.

Successes of the New Deal• Relief :Gave Americans help and hope in a

time of severe crisis• Roads & building: Economic infrastructure• Reform : Expanded the role of federal

government • Social reforms:Social security/ minimum wage/

labour relations and trade unions survived and protected ordinary people’s rights and conditions.

Weaknesses of the New Deal

• Damaged minorities• Determined Opposition BRAS:

Businessmen , Republicans, Activists, Supreme Court

• No economic recovery• And … Unemployment still high

Then what ended the Great Depression?

End of the Depression

• How did the Great Depression end then?

End of the Depression• heavy demands of mobilization for World

War II restored country to full employment, by doing exactly what the New Deal had been attempting:

• 7 million new civilian jobs were created• Industrial productivity increased by 96

percent• Corporate profits after taxes doubled. • Adolf Hitler probably did more than

FDR to end the Great Depression in America.

Enjoy your holidays!