The Invisible Scar of the Great Depression

Becker

US History

The Great Depression:

• October 24,1929

• Black Tuesday, after year of instability

• Stock market “crashes”

• WHY?– Caused by overspeculation– Also, drastically overvalued stocks

• Banks closed, people lost everything

• Foreclosures and unemployment set in

Black TuesdayBlack Tuesday

• In one day, $14 billion lossIn one day, $14 billion loss

• Two weeks later $26 billionTwo weeks later $26 billion

• By July 1932, $47 billion had vanished.By July 1932, $47 billion had vanished.

The Great Depression Worsens

• Bread lines become increasingly common

• Foreclosures and late rent causes evictions

• Eventually, 1/4 of the workforce out of work.

• In cities like Detroit, as high as 50%.

• For African Americans and Mexican Americans, unemployment rates are higher.

UNEMPLOYMENTUNEMPLOYMENT

BREADLINESBREADLINES

Shantytowns Hoovervilles

• Homeless people begin building shacks

• On public land outside towns

• Called Hoovervilles (President is blamed)

• Hobos wandered around looking for work

HOOVERVILLESHOOVERVILLES

Farmers in DepressionFarmers in Depression

• Farmers especially hard-hit

• Additionally, a drought begins on the plains

• Farmers have no money to plant

• Empty fields begin to erode

• Dust Bowl results with terrible dry duststorms

• Migration to California begins- little improvement

DUST BOWLDUST BOWL

Although Many Suffer, Some ProsperAlthough Many Suffer, Some Prosper

• Joseph Kennedy, JFK’s father– Turns $4 million into $100 million (1929-1935)

• J. Paul Getty, oil tycoon– Buys good oil companies– Amasses oil empire from 1930-1935

Depression Does Not Go AwayDepression Does Not Go Away

– Officials continued to predict a good future

– January 1930, Department of Labor predicts "a splendid employment year"

– March 1930, Hoover announces “the worst will be over in 60 days”

– 60 days later, he predicts that business will be normal in the fall

– Hoover tries a do-nothing strategy

People Lost their Savings

Bonus ArmyBonus Army

• Veterans march on Washington

• Demand their bonus to be paid in 1936

• Congress refuses to pay early bonus

• Finally Hoover orders them evicted

• Army kicks Bonus Army out

• Burns their shanties to the ground

BONUS ARMYBONUS ARMY

People Lost their Jobs

Hoovervilles Began to Dot the Urban Scene

Central Park, New York Seattle

Poverty an important issuePoverty an important issue

• Local private charity systems overwhelmed

• Harlan County KY, people live on dandelions and blackberries

• Dysentery bloats stomachs of starving babies

• Children are so famished that they begin chewing up their own hands

• People attempted to plant vegetables but ate plants before they could produce fruit

Poverty an important issuePoverty an important issue

• First savings accounts

• Then insurance

• Then borrow from family and friends

• Then stop paying rent

• Then get evicted

• Then move in with relatives

• Then run up more bills for food

A New York City Breadline

Government Does Not RespondGovernment Does Not Respond

• Still little official recognition of serious need• "Don't emphasize hard times, and everything

will be all right."• No department of welfare exists• Finally, NY forms one in 1929• Hoover kept insisting that no one starved• Newsreel shows him feeding his dog a steak• 1933, 29 people starved to death in NYC• An additional 110 children die of malnutrition

Starvation Starvation becomesbecomesan Issuean Issue

Starving Times: Christmas Dinner

Workers treated shabbily:

• Skilled workers laid off from factories

• Glut of workers employers took advantage

• In Detroit- men stood outside auto plants all night to be first in hiring line

• Seeking jobs, many told

• "Get lost. You are too black, or too Jewish or too old or the wrong sex to work here."

Workers treated shabbily:

• Immigrants told-"Move on. Why don't you go back where you came form."

• Mexicans are fired,sent back to Mexico

• Women are told

• "Stay home. Don't take a job from a man.”

• Baby Bust Generation: “You better not have a baby either. You can’t afford to feed the ones you have.”

The Government AdvisesThe Government Advises

• Men told- "Keep a way from women. Don't get hooked.”

• “Keep away from your wife. You don't need children."

• Hoover chose the word depression because it sounded less frightening than panic or crisis.

Franklin D. Roosevelt & the New Deal:Franklin D. Roosevelt & the New Deal:

• Great Depression produces desperation

• Hoover’s do-nothing attitude sweeps Franklin D. Roosevelt into the White House in 1932

• FDR’s first task is to restore faith in the financial system

• Solution is the New Deal

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Three Rs

• Relief

• Recovery

• Reform

Hundred DaysHundred Days

• FDR makes many promises for 1st 100 Days in office

• Banking Holiday• Glass-Seagall Banking act- 1933

– More powerful Federal Reserve – Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

• Securities Act– regulated the stock exchanges “truth telling”– SEC created to oversee

Franklin D. Roosevelt & the New Deal:

• Create employment to revive the economy• Federal Emergency Relief Administration

– FERA – funds for jobs for the unemployed

• Civilian Conservation Corps– CCC – temp work for young men in conservation

• Civil Works Administration– CWA – 4M employed in road building and repair – Public Works Administration replaces the CWA

• Works Progress Administration– Largest New Deal agency: 8M jobs– Art, theatre, construction, aid distribution– Women are excluded from most programs– Assumption that men are the breadwinners

Civil Conservation Corps:Sequoia National Park

Works Progress Administration

Assistance for agriculture:

• Agricultural Adjustment Act– AAA - raised farm prices– paid farmers not to grow crops– funds mainly large-scale farmers

• Farm Security Administration– Moves tenant farmers/sharecroppers– Relocates onto fertile land in group farms– Critics say socialization of agriculture

Assistance for Industry

• National Industrial Recovery Act– NIRA - creates National Recovery

Administration– system of business self-regulation– regulate market, raise prices, raise wages– guaranteed right of collective bargaining

Housing Issues

• Federal Housing Administration created (FHA)– Improve housing conditions in urban areas– Makes home loans available to the poor

• HOLC: Home Owners Loan Corporation

– USHA creates low-cost housing projects• HUD Housing and Urban Development runs projects

Additional Programs

• Rural Electrification Act of 1936– Creation of jobs bringing electricity to

backward areas– Primarily involves Tennessee Valley

Authority

• Social Security Administration (SSA)– 1st national program to provide relief for the

elderly

• National Youth Administration– Education/jobs for youth

Franklin D. Roosevelt & the New Deal:

• Still despite the New Deal things got worse• Roosevelt Recession occurs• 1934 is particularly bad causing major strikes

– Akron OH– San Francisco, CA– Minneapolis, MN

• 1936-37 General Motors workers go on strike– Flint, MI and all around the country– Workers sat-down in GM plants

• 1937, steel industry begins rioting– Memorial Day Massacre in Chicago– Several strikers are shot by police

A Pennsylvania Steel Strike, 1933

The Minneapolis General Strike, 1934

The San Francisco Strike, 1934

The Flint Sit-down Strike, 1936-37

The Flint Sit-down Strike, 1936-37

The Sit-down Strike Mania, 1937

Memorial Day Massacre in Chicago, 1937

Franklin D. Roosevelt & the New Deal:

• The result of these and other strikes:

• Congress of Industrial Organizations formed• New and aggressive form of unionism• Organized on an industrial basis• Other unions organize along craft lines• Willing to admit women, African-Americans,

and other disadvantaged groups

Steelworkers Organizing Poster

Roosevelt would join a union.

Franklin D. Roosevelt & the New Deal:

• Still– no real economic recovery.

• No real improvement until war broke out in Europe in 1939

• Economy finally recovered with US involvement World War II in 1941