The Great Depression

Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother depicts destitute pea pickers in California, centering on Florence Owens Thompson, age 32, a mother of seven children, in Nipomo, California, March 1936.

Causes• Weak economy-farmers struggling-surplus goods-workers laid off-consumers not buying

• Unbalanced business systems• Poor distribution of purchasing

power

• Huge debt-consumer debt-bank debt-international

• Stock market crash of 1929Crowd gathering on Wall Street after the 1929 crash.

Effects

• Banking crisis• Decline of GNP

(Gross National Product)

• Unemployment

Hoover and the Depression

• Hoover’s philosophy:-strong belief in thrift, self reliance,

and rugged individualism-believed no direct aid should be

given to the people to ease their suffering

-aid to businesses and banks would be acceptable

Hoover’s Efforts to Ease the Depression

• Attempts to generate optimism (“the fundamental business of this country…is on a sound and prosperous basis.”)

• Encouraged business leaders to maintain production and preserve jobs

• Aid to farmers- Agricultural Marketing Act brought minimum relief

• Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)- a government bank set up to loan funds to struggling banks, railroads, and insurance companies

U.S. Farm Production

U.S. Industrial Production

Response of the American People• The Bonus Army marched on

Washington D.C.- World War I veterans were seeking bonuses promised in 1945; Hoover ordered troops to break up their encampments

• “Hoovervilles”- many who could not afford apartment’s or homes built shacks on the edges of cities; referred to as “Hoovervilles”, they were an indication of the disgust of the American people with Hoover’s performance

Bonus Army marchers (left) confront the police.

HOOVERVILLE

Americans Demand Change

• Election of 1932- Americans were ready to try something new and to experiment with possible solutions to the nation’s economic problems; Franklin D. Roosevelt challenged Hoover and won an overwhelming presidential election victory