the great depression 1929-1939 the coming of the great depression

THE GREAT DEPRESSION 1929-1939

The Coming of the Great Depression

Great Depression Worst, economic collapse in U.S. History 1929-1939 Included

Stock Market Crash Rapid declines in production and sale of goods Sudden, severe rise in unemployment (25%) Business and bank closings Loss of homes and savings Hunger and personal depression


The Great Crash

The Great Crash THE GREAT BULL MARKET

1927 -1929 stock prices doubled in value while business relatively static

caused by the easy credit polices of brokerage firms September 1929 stock prices began to fall October 23 & 24 – beginning of the crash

recovered with the help of big investment bankers October 29 “Black Tuesday” = the crash

Shares of stock Certificates of ownership in a corporation Traded (bought, sold) on stock market Buy low , sell high = quick profit Rampant stock speculation during the 1920s

Dow Jones Industrial Average Average of the value of stocks of 30 large,

primarily industrial companies in the U.S. Most important stock performance indicator

Speculation A financial transaction that involves risk but

is potentially profitable 1920s stock market speculation widespread

Buying stocks for quick profit , ignoring risks Belief that anyone could profit led to less

affluent Americans to speculate

Buying on margin Risky practice of buying stock on credit Investors paid a small part of stock price and

borrowed the rest Hoped to sell the stock at high price to repay the

loan and make a profit Helped fuel bull market and stock speculation

of 1920s

Black Tuesday October 29 – beginning of the stock market

crash Investors rushed to sell stock , avoid loss

Average drop that day – 10% value Many stocks became virtually worthless Within a month , stocks lose half value and

continued to decline for several years


Causes of the Depression

Causes of the Great Depression 1. Lack of diversification in U.S. economy in the 1920s

Prosperity dependent on a few basic industries

2. Uneven distribution of wealth during the 1920s Too few Americans were able to purchase goods produced by American

Industries

3. Credit structure of the economy Some of the major banks did not have enough reserves to withstand an

economic downturn

4. America’s position in international trade American industries & banks involved in the European economy Collapse of international credit structure hurt by US policy of loaning less

money to foreign countries


Progress of the Depression

PROGRESS OF THE DEPRESSION The closing of over 9,000 American banks

between 1930 and 1933 resulted in a decrease in the money supply

At first national leaders talked as if nothing wrong “Prosperity just around the corner”


The American People in Hard Times


Unemployment and Relief

UNEMPLOYMENT AND RELIEF the unemployment rate in 1932 peaked at 25

percent industrial Northeast and Midwest experienced the

collapse of city and state relief systems 1929 – 1932 : Dust Bowl

high temperatures decline in rainfall decline in farm prices overproduction in agriculture


African Americans and the Depression

AFRICAN AMERICANS Suffered hardship because

unemployed whites want positions formerly held by blacks the sharecropping system unprofitable blacks not receiving fair share of relief benefits

Scottsboro Case eight young blacks sentenced to death an organization associated with the Communist party came to

the aid of the youths never acquitted by southern juries all of the youths eventually gained their freedom

Equal rights advanced when many blacks allowed to join labor unions


Hispanics and Asians in Depression America

HISPANICS Experienced hardships similar to blacks

Received less relief than whites Suffered social discrimination Being last hired & first fired

But … HISPANICS encountered the additional problem of having little access to public school and hospitals


Women and Families in the Great Depression

WOMEN AND FAMILIES 25 percent more women were working

By the end of the 1930’s, the American feminist movement had reached its lowest point in nearly a century

the Great Depression caused a decade-long decline in the birthrate


The Depression and Values

THE DEPRESSION & VALUES Social values seemed to change relatively little

sociological study of Muncie, Indiana, found Americans still committed to the traditional value of individualism blamed themselves for their economic difficulties

But traditional “success ethic” undermined in some ways indicated by the fact that many Americans : accused corporate moguls and international bankers of

causing much of the distress looked to the government for assistance in a situation that

was basically society’s problem Dale Carnegie’s 1936 bestseller, How to Win Friends and Influence

People adaptability to one’s environment and making others feel

important are the more effective routes to success


The Depression and the Arts

THE DEPRESSION & THE ARTS Writers and photographers portrayed the distress

primary group addressed = southern tenant farmers and sharecroppers

Employed by Farm Security Administration in late 30s Documentary photographers traveled through

the South recording what they say Dorothea Lange - Migrant Mother

MIGRANT MOTHER

Photo by Dorothea Lange (1936)

THE DEPRESSION & THE ARTS Literature that addressed the social problems and

political solutions John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath John Dos Passos’s U.S.A. trilogy Clifford Odet’s Waiting for Lefty

Radio shows, movies, and literature reflected America’s desire to escape Best selling novel = Harvey Allen’s Anthony Adverse

Culture of the 1930s Movies & radio offered escape from hard

realities of the Depression About wealth , good times, adventure, romance ,

justice Films : The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind Radio Broadcasts : Lone Ranger , soap operas

Paintings, Music, literature most often somber, serious, expressed hardships

Woody Guthrie


The Allure of the Left

THE ALLURE OF THE LEFT The American Communist party of the 1930’s was:

active in the formation of the Lincoln Brigade

Volunteer Americans to fight fascists in Spain an alliance of anti-fascist groups = “the Popular Front” the Washington, D.C. , hunger march of 1931

supervised by the Soviet Union (Comintern) obeyed Stalin’s policy orders in 1939 to abandon “the

Popular Front” = criticize American liberals

Norman Thomas Leader of the Socialist party of America


The Ordeal of Herbert Hoover


The Hoover Program

Herbert Hoover’s early response to the Depression

persuade businessmen not to cut production or lay off workers

ask Congress for an increase in spending on public works programs

create a federal program to help farmers raise agricultural prices

Raise agricultural tariffs

HOOVER DAM A federally financed public works project

supported by Hoover Voted for by Congress under Coolidge Begun in 1930 under Hoover Completed in 1936 under FDR

MUSCLE SHOALS BILL Vetoed by Hoover as “socialistic”

Public works project to dam the Tennessee River creating a government electricity service Later passed under FDR as part of the controversial

TVA

The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 Attempted to improve conditions for farmers failed because relied on voluntary cooperation

rather than federal control Created the Federal Farm Board

lent money to farmers primarily to organize producers’ cooperatives

Hawley –Smoot Tariff of 1930 Extremely high protective tariff Intended to aid U.S. farmers and manufacturers

from foreign competition Had opposite effect

Many countries retaliated by raising tariffs Made unemployment worse

Caused the world wide depression to deepen Reduced world trade = world wide depression


A Deepening Crisis

1930 and 1931 the Republicans lost heavily in the 1930 elections the banking structure in Europe collapsed

1931 collapse of the largest bank (Austria) European nations reacted by withdrawing their gold

from American banks many Americans holding Hoover personally

responsible for the crisis

Hoovervilles Nickname for shanty towns of homeless Term critical of Hoover Exemplified

Suffering of the Great Depression Public frustration w/ Hoover’s inability to solve

the problems and suffering of the Depression

Hoover’s Responses (1931)

To international finance crisis suspended war debts, reparations, and

international private debts To domestic crisis

Asked Congress to increase funding for financial institutions in order to prevent mortgage foreclosures

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (1932)

provided federal loans to troubled banks, railroads and other big businesses local governments for public works projects

RFC : first of the “alphabetical agencies” set up under Hoover’s administration

not effective enough limited funds tight restrictions on use of funds

HOOVER’S APPROACH adopted unprecedented federal initiatives to combat the

depression lend funds to feed farm livestock directly assisting businesses and banks

faith in the efficiency of the industrial system continuing to rely on the American tradition of rugged

individualism AGAINST providing direct aid to the people

Too little , too late Hoover’s reluctance to spend large amounts of

federal funds

“Rugged Individualism” Political philosophy of Hoover Belief that

People succeed by own efforts, not dependent on government

Welfare weakens self respect, moral fiber, work ethic

Accounts for Hoover’s cautiousness Frustrated suffering Americans

PROSPERITY IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER SONG & VIDEO CLIP


Popular Protest

1932 FARMERS PROTEST lobbied Congress for a guaranteed return on their

crops organizing a strike in an effort to keep their crops

from market staging public protests in the nation’s capital

1932 BONUS ARMY PROTEST The Bonus Expeditionary Force

Group of 20,000 WWI veterans march into Washington, D.C. Wanted early payment of bonuses due to World

War I veterans Built tent camps in city and around the White

House

1932 HOOVERS RESPONSE TO THE BONUS ARMY PROTEST

Results: Hoover and Congress reject veteran’s appeal Hoover authorized the use of military force (the army)

to make them leave General MacArthur exceeded orders

Violently dispersed veterans Burned tent cities Injured many veterans , several killed

severely damaged Hoover’s public image

BROTHER CAN YOU SPARE A DIME

SONG LYRICS

In Nexttext book

The Election of 1932


the Democrats

nominated Franklin D. Roosevelt in anticipation of victory

New Deal = vague plan for economic recovery

Based on progressive reform principlesPromise to do something

Risk bold experimentationcalled for

a balanced budgetrepeal of Prohibition

captured control of both houses of Congress

The Roosevelts Franklin D. Roosevelt

Jaunty , optimistic approach to life Affliction with infantile paralysis

Development of compassion & strength of will

Eleanor Roosevelt “champion of the dispossessed”

dispossessed = poor and minorities

the RepublicansRe-nominated Herbert Hoover

African Americans rejected the Republican Party & became a vital element in the Democratic Party

The Interregnum


Interregnum Period between election and inauguration

after the election loss & during the lame duck period (the interregnum) Hoover tried to bind FDR to an anti-inflationary policy that

would have made impossible many of the later New Deal experiments

FDR was un-cooperative to Hoover’s efforts to involve him Personal bitterness between Hoover and FDR increased

The New Yorker picture Banking crisis evolved

20th Amendment = shortened lame duck period Passed 1933

This picture was supposed to be the cover of the New Yorker magazine for the week of the inauguration

A more subdued pic was used after an attempted assassination of FDR several weeks earlier Mayor of

Chicago killed in the attempt

PERSISTING QUESTIONS IN HISTORY Discuss :

What were reasonable responses to the kinds of problems the depression posed ?

from The Great Depression Strikes

TRANSPARENCIES Breadline Transients Detroit Photos of rural America

FINAL EXAM :

Presidents Test on FINAL EXAM day Washington to FDR

Names Dates – Presidential Terms Political party

TAKE-HOME Presidents Test due on FINAL EXAM day

LIST : important domestic & foreign events that occurred during presidencies of TR - FDR (consult AP review book)

the great depression 1929-1939 the coming of the great depression

Documents

great depression slide

great crash slide

personal depression

relief slide

corner slide

great depression worst

stock prices

stock market crash investors