The Great

DepressionAPUSH

Period 7

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"Mellon pulled the whistle. Hoover rang

the bell. Wall Street gave the signal. And

the country went to hell."

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Causes of the Great

Depression

Spark of the Depression – Stock Market Crash–

stock prices plunged – Black Tuesday – 10/29/29

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Background Causes Weakened industries were not profitable

Agriculture lacked profit; indebted farmers

Consumer spending was down

Poor distribution of wealth

Consumers indebted – installment plan

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Bank Runs, Business failure,

unemployment, Hoovervilles

Stock Market crash triggered bank runs

1933 - 6000 banks had failed (1/4 of total)

85,000 bankrupt businesses

25% unemployment by 1933

Hoovervilles (shantytowns)

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Early Government Response:

Tariffs! - Smoot-Hawley Tariff

1930 – highest tariff in US history – 60%+ –

backfired

Tariff war

Global trade plunged

Global Depression

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Republican Pres. Herbert Hoover’s

Response

Early Response: “Gov’t handouts will

weaken self-respect and will to work

Hoover felt social welfare could be left to

charity

After 1930 elections – Hoover changed

positions

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Changes in Congressional Representation

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Democrats win congress -1930

Hoover’s weak response led to Democratic Party

Landslide in 1930 election

Meanwhile -“Hoovervilles” dotted the country

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Woody Guthrie - I Ain't Got No Home

This Land is Your Land

This Land is your land - modern

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Effects on the family –1929-32

No forms of direct government relief for food/jobs

Increased malnutrition, disease

300,000 “hoboes” wandered country

Suicide rate – up 30%

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The Depression– Urban & Rural

Shantytowns aka “Hoovervilles” throughout cities

Soup kitchens/breadlines

400,000 farm foreclosures – 1929-32

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Dust Bowl – 1930-34

Drought, then windstorms

Previous overproduction had damaged soil

“Okies” left plains for California

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Hoover’s later attempts

Boulder (later Hoover) dam – 1930

Federal Home Loan Bank Act – 1932 –

refinancing for mortgages and indebted farmers

Reconstruction Finance Corporation – 1932- $2

billion of emergency financing to key businesses

*** NO DIRECT RELIEF

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The Bonus Army Spring 1932 -1000s of WWI vets marched on DC

Demanded early payment of WWI bonus ($500)

Senate passed Patman Bill for bonus – Hoover veto

President Hoover – saw marchers as troublemakers

Bonus Army – gassed – 7/28/1932

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Bonus Army

Bonus Army - Short Form

Bonus Army - Long Form

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Hoover Dam - Vegas Vacation

Hoover Dam - Old School

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Well, this will elect me – Franklin Delano Roosevelt 28

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1932 election – Roosevelt landslide

Roosevelt’s campaign – focused on bringing

change/restoring economy

Hoover blamed for Depression, country’s problems

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Waiting on Roosevelt

Roosevelt not inaugurated until March 4, 1933

20th Amendment – moving presidential

inauguration to January – not in effect yet

Roosevelt used “brain trust” to plan as he waited;

waiting on Roosevelt – people panicked

So, first of all, let me assert my

firm belief that the only thing we

have to fear... is fear itself –

Roosevelt’s inaugural address

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Waiting on Roosevelt

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The 100 Days – March 9- June 16 1933

“New Deal” - broad set of economic reforms –

introduced – 3 “Rs” – Relief, Recovery, Reform

Congress passed 15 pieces of New Deal legislation

Banking and Finance Reform – Bank Holiday

Explained programs on radio – “Fireside Chats”

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Financial Protections

Emergency Banking Relief Act – 1933 – pres. power to regulate banking, foreign exchange, reopen banks

Glass-Steagall Act – 1933 – created FDIC – bank deposits insured up to $5000

Federal Securities Act -1933- accountability for corporations that offered stock

Gold Reserve Act – 1934 – individuals and agencies had to sell gold to treasury; price of gold rose

Securities Exchange Commission -1934- regulated stock market

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New Deal = Immediate Relief

The New Deal -“alphabet soup” of programs

**Rapidly expanded the reach of government

National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) – National

Recovery Administration (NRA) – gave POTUS broad

reach to regulate industry/stimulate economy

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New Deal Target Areas (1933-34)

Agriculture - Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

– raise crop prices by lowering production

Employment Projects- Civilian Conservation

Corps (CCC), Civil Works Administration (CWA)

Housing – Home Owners Loan Corporation

(HOLC) – relief loans to prevent foreclosure

Infrastructure – Public Works Administration

(PWA) Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

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CCC - small documentary

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New Deal under Attack

- Conservatives saw FDR/Congress as meddling

with economy

Struck down by Supreme Court

1935 -NIRA – National Industrial Recovery Act

1936 – AAA – Agricultural adjustment Act

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Roosevelt and Supreme Court

** 1937 – Roosevelt promoted a “court-packing”

bill

1937-41 – Roosevelt got to nominate 7 justices

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Opponents to the New Deal

Huey Long – income caps and minimum incomes

Dr. Francis Townsend – pensions for old

Father Charles Coughlin – “radio priest” guaranteed

annual income

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1936 US Presidential Election

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Alf

This is here because this

character shares a name with

Republican candidate Alf

Landon (note to self)

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The Second New Deal

Roosevelt sealed resolve with more

programs at midpoint of first term

1936 – Another Roosevelt Landslide

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Works Progress Administration

(WPA) - 1935

8 million jobs created – 1935-1943

Criticized as “make-work” program

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Cincinnati, Ohio

San Antonio, Texas

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Chicago, Illinois

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Farm Security Administration

– FSA - 1937 $1 billion in loans to tenant farmers and

migrant workers to help become landowners

FSA –massive photo-history campaign

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Social Security Act - 1935

1 of most enduring legacies of New Deal

Old-Age insurance

Unemployment compensation system

Disability aid

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"I have pleaded your case from the pulpit and

from the public platform--not in the quavering

tones of a feeble mendicant asking alms, but

in the thundering voice of the captain of a

mighty host, demanding the rights to which

free men are entitled.“ – John L. Lewis

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Wagner Act - 1935

Protected right to unionize – union membership

skyrocketed

Established National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

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Fair Labor Standards Act - 1938

Maximum work hours – 44 hours weekly

Federal Minimum Wage (25 cents/hour)

Increased child labor laws for those under

16; banned under-18s from “hazardous

work”

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CIO CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) –

formed as offshoot of skilled AFL (1935)

organized low-skilled and semi-skilled workers

John L. Lewis – union boss –sit-down strikes

Sit-down strikes – get GM and US Steel to recognize

Unions

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First woman cabinet member

Frances Perkins – Secretary of Labor – 1933-45

Represented a shift toward greater inclusion of women

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The “Black Cabinet”

Mary McLeod Bethune – helped organize a panel of

influential African-Americans to advise president

Still, Roosevelt was cautious on civil rights

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Eleanor Roosevelt – Activist

First Lady

FDR’s “ears and legs”

My Day – Newspaper – espoused her views

– gave hope to women, blacks, other long-

excluded groups

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FDR’s New Deal Coalition Diverse Groups dedicated to Democrats

Southern whites

Urban groups

Blacks

Unionized industrial workers

1933-41 – Union membership – 3 mil. To 10 mil.

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Mass Culture & Entertainment

Late 1930s – 65% of public attending movies

weekly –source of news

1940 – 90% of homes had a radio

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The Arts

Serious art, literature, and music –

Federal Writers and Artists Projects (WPA)

Focused on realism and difficulty of the

American experience

Woody Guthrie – music

Dorothea Lange – Migrant Mother

John Steinbeck - literature

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“I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so

meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them

day by day… I see one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-

clad, ill-nourished.”

-FDR – inaugural address - 1937

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Perceptions of the New Deal

Liberal – New Deal did not go far enough

Conservative – New Deal hurt ambitions, work

ethic

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Enduring New Deal Programs

FDIC – Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation–

insures your deposits

SEC – Securities Exchange Commission – regulates

banking and investment

Social Security – still provides benefits

National Labor Relations Board – still regulates

problems between labor and workers

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Agricultural/Environmental

Farm subsidies

Continually Existing New Deal

Infrastructures

Conservation

Expanded national park system

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