Great Depression

1
Great Depression

• 1929 to 1940

2
What were the causes of the Great Depression?

• Causes
• Overproduction
• Many different industries were overproducing
  products based on product demand for WWI.
• Farmers high demands during WWI, fell after WWI,
  and crop prices declined by 40. Produced more in
  hopes to sell more crops, but failed.
• The McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Act It would
  subsidize American agriculture by raising the
  domestic prices of farm products. The plan was
  for the government to buy the wheat, and either
  store it or export it at a loss.
• President Coolidge vetoed the bill twice.

3
What were the causes of the Great Depression?

• C Causesunder consumption Americans did not
  have the money to buy products. Prices of goods
  rose. The difference between the rich and the
  poor rose. Credit and the installment plan
  Credit an arrangement in which consumers agreed
  to buy now and pay later for purchases.Installmen
  t plans monthly payments that included
  interests. Easy credit allowed Americans to pile
  up a lot of consumer debt, which they couldnt
  pay back.

4
What were the causes of the Great Depression?

• Causes
• Uneven distribution of income 1920 to 1929 the
  income of the wealthiest 1 of the population
  grew by 75 compared with 9 of the whole U.S.
• 70 of American families earned less than 2,500
  per year and could not afford different household
  products. The prosperity of the era depended on a
  small of the population.

5
Why did the Stock Market crashed?

• Stock market was a clear sign of prosperity.
• DOW Jones Industrial Average based on the stock
  prices of 30 representative large firms trading
  on the New York Stock Exchange.
• Bull Market- stock are up Bear Market- stock are
  down.
• 1924- 4 million Americans owned stocks- a lot
  were average Americans wanted to get rich.
• People were buying on speculation- buying stocks
  and bonds on the chance of a quick profit,
  ignoring the risks.
• Buying on the margin where people pay a small
  of stocks prices as a down payment and borrowed
  the rest.
• Government did nothing to regulate the market.

6
Why did the Stock Market crashed?

• In1927 Houses prices began to fall, a bad sign
  of the American economy.
• Many Americans put their life savings into stocks
  hoping to make a huge profit.
• 1929
• September 29 stocks prices peaked and fall.
• October 24 Black Thursday market took a
  plunge, investors were unloaded their shares,
  about 13 million shares.
• October 29 Black Tuesday bottom fell out of
  the market. 16.4 million shares were dumped.
• November 30 investors lost 30 million

7
Financial Collapse

• Run on the bank- people withdrew all of their
  money from the bank, but the bank had no money to
  pay back the people. People lost their savings.
• In 1929 600 banks closed, by 1933 11,000 out of
  25,000 national banks failed. Only 28 states had
  banks.
• Gross national product- nations total output of
  goods and service, was cut in half from 104
  billion to 59
• Unemployment went from 3 to 25 by 1932.
• World Wide Event Countries had to pay their debt
  from WWI and limit Americas ability to import
  European goods and export goods.
• Hawley-Smoot Tariff a protective tariff to
  protect farmers and business owners from foreign
  competition.

8
What was life like during the depression?

• In the cities Building Shantytowns build towns
  out of wasted material.
• Soup Kitchens offer free or low cost food
• Bread lines stand in line and wait for food by
  different charitable organizations or public
  agents.
• In 1933 24 African Americans died because of
  lynching.
• Rural Areas People could grow their own food.
• 1929 to 1932 400,000 farms were lost through
  foreclosure.
• Dust Bowl Drought, which the wind would blow
  dust for hundred of miles. States Kansas,
  Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado.
• Okies people who left the Dust Bowl region.
  Negative term.
• Families stayed home, listen to the radio or
  played board games.
• Men looked for jobs or left their jobs become
  hoboes. They stood in the bread lines.
• No direct relief government support in the form
  of food or cash.
• Women canned food and sewed clothes. Looked down
  upon if they had a job.

9
What was life like during the depression?

• Children They suffered malnutrition. Child
  welfare programs were slashed.
• By 1933 2,600 schools closed and 300,000 students
  were out of school.
• Teenagers (Hoover Tourists) travel around the
  country looking for jobs.
• Many riders were jailed or killed by freight yard
  patrolmen or murderous criminals 1929 t0 1939
  24,647 were killed and 27,171 were injured on the
  railroad.
• Social and Psychological Effects 1928 to 1932
  suicide rose from more than 30. 3 times the
  amount of people were admitted into mental
  hospitals.

10
Hoover Administration

• Became President in 1928
• Hoovers philosophy he believed that the
  government should play a limited role in helping
  with the depression.
• Rugged Individualism the belief that people
  should succeed through their own efforts, and not
  through government intervention.
• Cautious Steps Brought key figures from
  business, banking, and labor to find solution to
  the nation's economic problems.
• Hoovervilles were shantytowns Hooverhotels-
  cardboard homes Hooverblankets were newspapers
  Hooverflags were empty pockets.
• Boulder dam (Hoover Dam) On the Colorado River.
  Paid by the electric power to would create.
  Passed with 700 million public works project in
  1929. It provides electricity, flood control and
  water supply.

11
Hoover Administration

• 1930 Congressional elections Democrats take
  over. No seats in House of Representatives and 1
  vote in Senate.
• Farmers Revolt Burn their corn and dumped their
  milk because their products were not selling.
• Federal Farm Board keep crops off the market
  until prices raised, and bought each others
  products.
• National Credit Corporation larger banks loaned
  money to smaller banks to stave off bankruptcy.
• Direct Intervention He wanted to reform banking,
  provide mortgage relief and federal money into
  business investment.
• Federal Home Loan Bank Act (1932) lowered
  mortgage rates for homeowners and allowed farmers
  to refinance their farm loans and avoid
  foreclosure.
• Glass- Stegall Banking Act separated investment
  from commercial banking.
• Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) (1932)
  Congress passed 2billion for emergency financing
  for banks, life insurance companies, railroads,
  and other large businesses. trickle down effect
  

12
Hoover Administration

• The Bonus Expeditionary Forces Army led by Walter
  Waters
• In 1932, 10,000 to 20,000 WWI veterans and their
  families went to Washington, D.C.
• The Patman Bill authorized the government to pay
  a bonus to WWI veterans who were not properly
  paid during WWI.
• Approved in 1924, Paid by 1945.
• Congressman Wright Patman believed the money
  should be paid immediately.
• June 17 Hoover told them to leave, but 2,000
  stayed
• July 28 General Douglass MacArthur with his aide
  Major Dwight D. Eisenhower were ordered to remove
  the soldiers and their families
• 1,000 people were gassed.

13
Election of the 1932

• The election showed the people were ready for a
  change
• FDR (democratic nominee) 23 million of the
  popular vote
• Hoover (republican nominee)16 million
• 20th Amendment moved the inaugural date from
  March to January. Approved February 1933.
• Brain Trust A group of professors, lawyers, and
  journalists that worked with FDR on how to
  improve the state of the America.

14
FDR and the New Deal

• His program for change was called the New Deal
• It focused on three goals
• RELIEF for the needy, Economic RECOVERY and
  Financial REFORM
• First Hundred Days it was a period of intense
  activity that lasted from March to June 16, 1933.
  
• Congress passed 15 major pieces of legislation
  that will expand the power of the federal
  government
• Fireside chat (March 12, 1933) informal talks
  that discussed different issues that bother the
  public in simple language.

15
Reform, Relief, Recovery

• Reform
• Emergency Banking Act
• FDIC
• Federal Securities Act
• Securities and Exchange Commission
• NIRA
• NRA
• 21st Amendment

• Relief
• FERA
• CCC
• TVA

• Recovery
• AAA
• CWA

16
New DealBusiness Assistance and Reform

• 1933 Emergency Banking Relief Act (EBRA)
• Banks were inspected by Treasury department and
  those stable could reopen
• NIRA or National Industrial Recovery Act (1933)
• A law enacted to establish codes of fair practice
  for industries and to promote industrial growth
• Provided money to states to create jobs in
  construction of schools and other community
  buildings.
• The Supreme Court found it unconstitutional
  stating that the law gave legislative powers to
  the executive branch and that the enforcement of
  industry codes within states went beyond the
  federal governments constitutional powers to
  regulate interstate commerce.
• 1933 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
• Protected bank deposits up to 5,000
• Reassured millions of bank customers that their
  money was safe
• 1932 21st Amendment
• Passed to repeal the prohibition of alcohol.

17
New DealBusiness Assistance and Reform

• 1933 National Recovery Administration (NRA)
• Established codes for fair competition
• Set prices of many products and establish
  standards.
• Was also found unconstitutional with the NIRA,
  due to it being an unfair advantage to small
  business owners compared to big business.
• Federal Securities Act (1933)
• Required corporations to provide complete
  information on all stock offerings and made them
  liable for any misrepresentations.
• 1934 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• Supervised the stock market and eliminated
  dishonest practice
• It was created to help prevent people with inside
  information about companies from rigging the
  market
• 1935 Banking Act of 1935
• Created seven-member board to regulate the
  nations money supply and the interest rates on
  loans
•  1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDC)
• Required manufacturers to list ingredients in
  foods, drugs, and cosmetic
  products.

18
New DealEmployment Projects

• 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
• Provide jobs for single males on conservation
  projects
• Men between 18- 25 to work
• Develop parks, plant trees, and helped in
  soil-erosion and flood control projects.
• By 1942 3 million men went through the CCC.
• 30 a month, 25 sent straight to families.
• Supplied free food and uniforms, plus a place to
  stay.
• Helped to cure the dust bowl by planting 200
  million trees.
• 1933 Federal Emergency Relief Administration 
• Helped states to provide aid for the unemployed
• To be able to maintain a certain standard living
• 1933 Public Works Administration (PWA)
• Created jobs on government projects
• Revive American industry tri-borough bridge,
  Lincoln tunnel, grand coulee dam in Washington
  state.
• It built more than half a million miles of roads.
  

19
Second New DealEmployment Projects

• 1935 Works Progress Administration (WPA)
• Quickly created as many jobs as possible- from
  construction jobs to positions in symphony
  orchestras
• Headed by Harry Hopkins
• Create jobs as quickly as possible between 1935
  to 1943.
• It spent 11 billion to give jobs to more than 8
  million unskilled workers.
• Built 850 airports, repaired 651,000 miles of
  roads, 125,000 public buildings.
• Women workers created sewing groups and made 300
  million garments for the needy.
• Wrote guides to cities, collected historical
  slave narratives, painted murals on the walls of
  schools,. And other public buildings and
  performed in theater troupes around the country
• 1935 National Youth Administration (NYA)
• Provided job training for unemployed young people
  and part-time jobs for needy students
• Provide aid to high school, college, and graduate
  students.
• Provided part-time jobs, working on highways,
  parks and the grounds of public buildings.

20
New DealFarm Relief and Rural Development

• 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
  
• Aided farmers and regulated crop production
• Lowered crop prices by lowering production, which
  the government would pay farmers to leave a
  certain amount of every acre of land unseeded.
• Government paid 200 million to cotton growers to
  plow under 10 million acres and paid hog farmers
  to slaughter to 6 million pigs.
• The Supreme Court decided that it was
  unconstitutional on the grounds that agriculture
  is a local matter and should be regulated by the
  states rather than by the federal government.
• It was replaced with the Soil Conservation and
  Domestic Allotment Act this act paid farmers for
  cutting production of soil-depleting crops and
  rewarded farmers for practicing good soil
  conservation methods.
• In 1938 it was brought back by did not include a
  processing tax to pay farm subsidies, a provision
  that the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional.
  

21
Second New DealFarm Relief and Rural Development

• 1933 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
• Developed the resources of the Tennessee Valley
• Renovated five existing dams and constructed 20
  new ones, created thousands of jobs, and provided
  flood control, hydroelectric power and other
  benefits.
• It also created the Oak Ridge Facility, which
  will later provide research for the atomic bomb.
• 1935 Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
• Provided affordable electricity for isolated
  rural areas.

22
New DealHousing

• 1933 Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)
• Loaned money at low interest to homeowners who
  could not meet mortgage payments
• 1934 Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
• Insured loans for building and repairing homes
• 1937 United States Housing Authority
• Provided federal loans for low-cost public
  housing

23
New DealLabor Relations

• 1935 National Labor Relations Board (Wagner Act)
• Defined unfair labor practices and established
  the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to
  settle disputes between employers and employees
• Prohibited unfair labor practices such as
  threatening workers, firing union members, and
  interfering with union organizing.
• The board to hear testimony about unfair
  practices and to hold elections to find out if
  workers wanted union representation.
• 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act
• Established a minimum hourly wage and a maximum
  numbers of hour in the workweek for the entire
  country. Set rules for the employment of workers
  under 16 and banned hazardous factory work for
  those under 18
• Maximum hours a week of 44 hours.
• Minimum wage 25 cents an hour, creasing to 40
  cents by 1945.

24
New DealRetirement

• 1935 Social Security Administration
• Provided a pension for retired workers and their
  spouses and aided people with disabilities
• Old Age Insurance for retires 65 or older and
  their spouses it was a supplemental retirement
  plan half from employers, half from the
  employees.
• Unemployment compensation system funded by
  federal tax, a payment every week 15-18.
• Aid to families with dependent children and the
  disabled the aid was paid for by federal funds
  made available to the states.

25
Critics of FDR

• Deficit Spending spending more money than the
  government was receiving.
• FDR believed it was evil, but necessary in times
  of trouble.
• Liberal critics argued that the New Deal did not
  go far enough to help the poor and to reform the
  nations economic system.
• Conservative critics believed 3 things
• 1.) FDR was spending way too much money
• 2.) Used New Deal Policies to control business
  and socialize the economy.
• 3.) Gave the federal government too much control.

26
FDR and the Supreme Court

• NIRA (1935) was claimed unconstitutional because
  it gave the federal government too much power to
  regulate interstate commerce.
• AAA (1936) was claimed unconstitutional on the
  grounds that agriculture is a local matter and
  should be regulated by the states rather than by
  the federal government.
• Court Packing Plan (February 1937) Congress
  passed a bill to allow FDR to appoint 6 new
  judges.

27
Three Main Critics of FDR

• Father Charles Coughlin, a Roman Catholic Priest,
  who broadcast radio sermons from Detroit. He was
  against FDR because he favored guaranteed annual
  income and nationalization of banks.
• Dr. Francis Townsend, a physician and health
  officer in Long Beach, California. He believed
  FDR was not doing enough to help the poor and
  elderly. He devised a pension plan that provided
  monthly benefits to the aged.
• Senator Huey Long, he wanted to win the
  Presidency. Share the wealth program, Every Man
  a King. Wealth redistribution through a net
  asset tax.
• Long was very popular 27,000 Share our Wealth
  clubs with 7.5 million members.
• In 1935 Long was assassinated.

28
FDRs Second New Deal

• The Second New Deal was under way when FDR was up
  for re-election in 1936.
• The Republicans are going to nominate Alfred
  Landon, the governor of Kansas, while the
  Democrats are going to nominate FDR.
• It was an overwhelmingly victory for FDR.

29
Helping Farmers

• During the 1930s 2 out of every 5 farms in the
  United States were mortgaged, and 1,000s of
  small farmers lost of their farms.
• Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act.
  This act paid farmers for cutting production of
  soil-depleting crops and rewarded farmers for
  practicing good soil conservation methods
• The Resettlement Administration (1935) it
  provided monetary loans to small farmers to buy
  land.
• In 1937 the agency was replaced by the Farm
  Security Administration (FSA), which loaned more
  than 1 billion to help tenant farmers become
  landholders and established camps for migrant
  farm workers.
• It also hired photographers to make a record of
  the Great Depression.

30
Roosevelt Extends Relief

• Works Progress Administration (WPA) Headed by
  Harry Hopkins.
• Between 1935 and 1943, it spent 11 billion to
  give jobs to more than 8 million workers, most of
  them were unskilled.
• Built 850 airports, repaired 651,000 miles of
  road, hired people to create murals and created
  125,000 public buildings.
• Women workers created 300 million garments.

31
Roosevelt Extends Relief

• National Youth Administration (NYA) was created
  to provide education, jobs, counseling and
  recreation for young people.
• It gave federal aid for students who want to go
  to college as long as the students worked part
  time.
• If college graduates couldnt find jobs, the
  government provided them with part-time jobs.

32
Improving Labor and Other Reforms

• National Labor Relation Act or the Wagner Act
  sponsor Senator Robert F. Wagner of NY. The act
  reestablished the NIRA provision of collective
  bargaining, the right of works to join unions and
  engage in collective bargaining with employees.
• The act set up the National Labor Relations Board
  (NLRB) to hear testimony about unfair practices
  and to hold elections to find out if workers
  wanted union representatives.

33
Improving Labor and Other Reforms

• Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)
• Set work hours at 44 hours per week- going down
  to 40 in 2 years
• Minimum wage was 25 cents per hours- going up to
  40 cents per hours in 2 years
• Set rules for workers under the age of 16
• Banned hazardous work for those under the age of
  18

34
Improving Labor and Other Reforms

• Social Security Act (1935) was created by
  Secretary of Labor, Francis Perkins. This act had
  3 major parts
• Old Age insurance for retirees 65 or older and
  their spouses
• Unemployment compensation system.
• Aid to families with dependent children and the
  disabled.

35
Culture in the 1930s

• Motion Pictures and Radio provided an escape
  from the realities of the Great Depression.
• By the end of 1930s, 65 of Americans were
  attending the movies per week.
• 15,000 movie theatres
• Radio sales went up 13 million in 1930 to 28
  million by 1940. 90 of Americans had a radio
• Famous Movies Gone with the Wind, Flying Down,
  Wizard of Oz, Snow White, Public Enemies, and
  Duck Soup.
• Famous Radio Programs/Personalities Orson
  Welles, Bob Hope, and George Burns and Gracie
  Allen. Famous Programs Soap Operas and War of
  the Worlds

36
Flying Down to Rio
37
Gone with the Wind
38
Duck Soup
39
Snow White
40
Wizard of Oz
41
The War of the Worlds I
42
The War of the Worlds II
43
Roosevelt legacy The Impact of the New Deal

• Expanding the governments role in the economy
• The government went into deeper debt
• Protected workers rights.
• Helped stabilized the countrys finances.
• Set quotas on the production of crops and gave
  loans to farmers.
• Helped protect national resources.