THE GREAT DEPRESSION

The Great Depression• How did the GD affect American• Hoovervilles• Hoover blankets• Life in general

The Great Depression

• 3 characteristics of a depression

– High unemployment

– Business failures

– Bank closures

Emergency Banking Act

• This act allows only Federal Reserve-approved banks to operate in the United States of America.

FDIC

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

• provides deposit insurance guaranteeing the safety of a depositor's accounts in member banks up to $250,000.

• 1933 it covered up to $5000

Expanding the Role of Gov’t

• “Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity, than a consistent omission of a government frozen in its own indifference.”

Franklin Roosevelt

First 100 Days

3 R’sRelief, Recovery, and Reform

• Relief for the unemployed and poor;

• Recovery of the economy to normal levels;

• Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.

The New Deal

• A series of domestic programs enacted in response to the Great Depression

• American Fascism?????

Alphabet Soup

New Deal Programs created by the Roosevelt Administration during the

Great Depression

AAA

• Agriculture Adjustment Act

• restricted agricultural production by paying farmers subsidies not to plant part of their land (fields lie fallow) and to kill off excess livestock

NIRA

• National Industrial Recovery Act

• regulate industry and permit cartels and monopolies in an attempt to stimulate economic recovery, and established a national public works program.

NRA• National Recovery Administration

• The goal was to eliminate "cut-throat competition" by bringing industry, labor and government together to create codes of "fair practices" and set prices.

• The NRA was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and allowed industries to get together and write "codes of fair competition."

REA

• Rural Electrification Act

• provided federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems to serve rural areas of the United States.

REA• REA crews traveled through the American

countryside, bringing teams of electricians along with them. The electricians added wiring to houses and barns to utilize the newly available power provided by the line crews. A standard REA installation in a house consisted of:

• A 60 amp range circuit • A 20 amp kitchen circuit • Two or three 15 amp lighting circuits• A ceiling-mounted light fixture was installed in each

room, usually controlled by a single switch mounted near a door. At most, one outlet was installed per room, since plug-connected appliances were expensive and uncommon.

FERA

• Federal Emergency Relief Administration

• Appropriated $500million in relief funds to state and local agencies

TVA

• Tennessee Valley Authority

• federally owned corporation created in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression.

SSA

• Social Security Administration

• a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits.

PWA

• Public Works Administration

• a large-scale public works construction agency created by the NIRA.

• It built large-scale public works such as dams, bridges, hospitals, and schools.

CCC• Civilian Conservation Corps

• public work relief program for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25.

• It provided unskilled manual labor jobs related

to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments.

FDIC

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

• provides deposit insurance guaranteeing the safety of a depositor's accounts in member banks up to $250,000.

• 1933 it covered up to $5000

FLSA

• Fair Labor Standards Act

• establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments.

Social Security Act of 1935

• The act was an attempt to limit what was seen as dangers in the modern American life, including old age, poverty, unemployment, and the burdens of widows and fatherless children.

• President Roosevelt became the first president to advocate federal assistance for the elderly.

Dust Bowl

Expanding the Role of the Federal Government

During the 1930’s, the role of the federal government expanded with the New Deal. This occurred through its efforts to help the economy recover, with programs such as the NRA, to provide relief to the unemployed by creating jobs and to institute reforms for the protection of the elderly, farmers, investors, and laborers.