8.6-4—Explain the effects of the Great Depression and the lasting impact of the New

Deal on people and programs in South Carolina, including James F. Byrnes and Mary McLeod

Bethune, the Rural Electrification Act, the general textile strike of 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, the

Public Works Administration, the Social Security Act, and the Santee Cooper electricity project.

The Great Depression

Begins• The crash of the stock market in October 29,

1929 marked the beginning of the Great Depression

• Stock market crash was not the cause of the Great Depression though

• SC had already been in a depression for many years before the crash

• After the crash, conditions in SC did continue to deteriorate

Depression Impact on SC

• Banks continued to fail• Some textile mills closed• More farmers lost their land to foreclosures• The railroad went bankrupt• One quarter if South Carolinians were

unemployed

Depression Impact on SC• People had no money to

spend in local stores • Marriage & birth rates

dropped• Young men wondered from

town to town looking for work

• Churches & charitable organizations couldn’t keep up with the demand for food & shelter any longer

• People looked to the government for help

Roosevelt’s Promise• Roosevelt elected president in Nov 1932 on his

promise of a “New Deal for the American people”• Sought advise from South Carolinians: James F.

Byrnes & Mary McLeod Bethune.• First “hundred days” in office; started an

aggressive program to bring relief, recovery, & reform to the country

• Used radio “fireside chats”- Americans have “nothing to fear but fear itself”

• Program not specifically designed for SC, but had significant long-term impact

James F. Byrnes• Byrne selected to senate

in 1930• Helped pass the New

Deal• Served as an important

domestic policy advisor• Served as SC senator

until 1941 when he accepted an appointment to the Supreme Court

• Later served as head of the Office of War Mobilization, Secretary of State, & Governor of SC

Mary McLeod Bethune• Educator & civil rights leader• Founded a college • Organized the National

Council of Negro Women• Served as the Director of

Negro Affairs for the National Youth Administration

• Influential member of the unofficial “Black Cabinet” (a group of black leaders President Roosevelt consulted)

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)• Put unemployed young men to work in

the nation’s parks• They lived in army camps & sent most

of the $ they made back home • This $ pumped local economies again• 50,000 SC men were employed in

reforestation & soil conservation projects

• They built parks including: Hunting Island, Paris Mountain, Poinsett, & Myrtle Beach State Parks

• Still segregated

The Public Work Administration (PWA) &Works Progress Administration (WPA)

• Building projects that put people back to work, but also improved communities

• PWA: build schools, libraries, courthouses, & US Navy aircraft carriers

• WPA: built highways, airports, bridges, playgrounds, hospitals, & schools

• WPA employed artists & writers to produce murals, plays, & record interviews with former slaves that preserved the historical record of African Americans in SC

• Job creation programs put some people back to work, alleviated their despair & economic hardship, * pumped some money back into the economy

• The New Deal did not result in economic recovery

Social Security Act

• Designed as a reform system to prevent future depressions & provide for the elderly, orphaned, the disabled, & the unemployed

• Old age benefits were important for SC b/c it did offer a program like this for the elderly

• Cost was shared by the workers & their employers• The basic social welfare legislation in the US• Set the precedent for future aid to people in need• Social Security was criticized b/c of this precedent• Poverty rate for the elderly declined as a result

Santee Cooper Electricity Project• Largest New Deal project in SC• Promoted by Senator Byrnes• Built dams along the Santee & the Cooper

Rivers• Created Lake Marion & Lake Moultrie• Hydroelectric dams:– produced power for the region– Provided jobs for builders– Industries made possible by the power provided– Improved living conditions for many in SC

Lake Marion Dam

Ferguson cypress swamp

Graves documented before they were

flooded over to make the lake

The Rural Electrification Act• Brought power to farms

& rural regions of SC• Creative power

cooperatives• By 1940. 25% of farms

had electricity• Farmers who still had

their land were able to install milking machines & water pumps that made farming more profitable

National Recovery Act• Designed to address problems of overproduction

& declining prices for farmers & industry• Set up codes for industries to regulate prices for

consumers & standard work hours and wages for workers – did not guarantee a 40 hr work week

• Did not effect the “speed up” or “stretch out” methods of mills

• SC Mill workers unhappy with wages & working conditions joined a labor union & called a general strike in 1934

Mill Strike• Affected mills along the eastern seaboard• Violence broke out between union members & strike

breakers (scabs)• In SC, deputies fired on a crowd in Honea Path

(Chiquola Mill) killing 7 workers & injuring others• Roosevelt urged worker to end the strike & allow

arbitration for a settlement• Strikers agreed- SC mill owners did not; keeping their

mills closed even when workers were ready to return• Strike led to the collapse of the union in SC• In SC, the general textile strike intensified anti-union

sentiment which continues today

Chiquola Mill- Honea Path, SC: After the shooting

•The New Deal did not end the Great Depression. •The Great Depression ended when the US became involved in helping the Allies fight Hitler’s Germany inWorld War II