U.S. History Unit 3: The Great Depression

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U.S. History Unit 3The Great Depression
THE BIG IDEA The economic surge of the 1920s
crashed in 1929 and the Great Depression began.
Behind the destitution rose a progressive named
FDR and his New Deal that increased the role of
our government.
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• I.The Roaring 20s
• A. This is a time of great prosperity --
  Pres. Coolidge

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• 1. Radio
• a) 1920 20,000 homes, 1930 13,750,000
  homes
• 2. Movies
• a) 1917 silent movies become popular,
  1930-- 100 mil sound movie tickets sold/week
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vwTtM2FazTOA
• 3. Professional Sports
• a) baseball, boxing most popular

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• 4. The Harlem Renaissance 1914-1930
• a) A-A Migration North
• - pop in Harlem 14,000 - 200,000
• b) A-A Jazz, Writing, Pride
• - Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong,
  Langston Hughes

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• 5. Automobile
• a) Henry Fords assembly line affordable
  cars
• b) 1920 8 mil sold, 1930 23 mil sold
• c) auto accidents, hotels, restaurants,
• suburbs

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• 6. Buy! Buy! Buy! Economy
• a) installment buying paying for an item
  over time in small payments
• b) U.S. unemployment at 3
• c) U.S. wages 40
• d) Booming Stock Market
• - stock values 60
• - Dow Jones Industrial Average (avg price
  of biggest stocks) 40
• e) GNP 30

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• II. Signs of Economic Trouble
• A. Rising Debt
• 1. Installment buying interest payments
• 2. Speculation in Stock Market
• If a man saves 15 a week and invests in good
  stocks, at the end of 20 years he will have at
  least 80,000. He will be rich. And because
  income can do that, I am firm in my belief that
  anyone not only can be rich, but ought to be
  rich.
• John J. Raskob, leader of General Motors
  1928
• a) get rich quick mentality
• b) taking risks became popular
• c) buying on margin borrowing to buy
  stocks

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• B. Wealth Distribution
• 1. upper class income 60
• 2. middle class income 8
• 3. overall savings
• C. credit was being maxed out, purchasing power
  negative savings rate
• D. Overproduction
• 1. warehouses were filled w/products
• E. Farming Problems
• 1. during WWI bought new machines
• 2. post war slump
• a) farmers couldnt pay back bank loans
• 3. 6,000 rural banks closed

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• III. The Stock Market Crashes, 1929
• A. Sept 3, 1929 - Market reaches high point
• 1. Bankers asked for payments on loans
• 2. Investors, unable to payback loans,
• look to sell stocks
• 3. Stock prices slowly began to fall
• B. October 24, Black Thursday
• 1. the most terrible stampede of selling ever
  experienced on Wall Street.
• C. Oct 29, Black Tuesday
• 1. Dow drops from 381 to 198 16 billion lost
• D. Effects of the Crash
• 1. Foreclosures loss of possessions
• 2. Americans forced to buy less
• 3. Businesses forced to lay off workers or
  wages
• 4. By 1933 -- Unemployment rate was at 25
• 5. Many banks were forced to close
• 6. European economy is hurt too
• 7. Pres. Hoover downplays the effects
• Prosperity is just around the corner.

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• IV.Everyday Life During the Depression
• A. Homelessness
• 1. 1931 -- 15,000 homeless in NYC
• 2. Hoovervilles
• Here were all these people living in old,
  rusted-out carsThere were people living in
  shacks made of orange crates. One family with a
  whole lot of kids was living in a piano box.
• Homeless Oklahoma woman in 1931
• B. Emotional Toll
• The biggest scar left on me was my pride, my
  pride.
• Homeless South Dakota Father in 1937
• 1. suicide rates, mostly men

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Hoovervilles
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• V. The Election of 1932
• A. Herbert Hoover vs. Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 1. Hoover laissez-faire hands off approach
• a) believed rugged individualism
• would be lost if govt intervened
• b) Blame it on Hoover! developed
• Hoover is my Shepherd, I am in want,
• He maketh me to lie down on
• Park benches,
• He leadeth me by still factories,
• He restoreth my doubt in the
• Republican Party.
• 2. FDR progressive approach
• a) believed it is the duty of govt to help
  people
• For at least two years after the crash, the only
  efforts made by Hoover to cope with the distress
  of unemployment were to deny its existence.
• FDR campaign speech in 1932
• B. FDR wins a landslide victory
• 1. FDR -472 electoral votes, Hoover -59

Hoover
Roosevelt
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Election of 1932
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• I assert that modern society, acting through its
  Government, should prevent the starvation or the
  dire want of any of its fellow men and women who
  try to maintain themselves but cannot.
• FDR in 1932

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• VI. Roosevelts First 100 Days as Pres.
• A. Restored Confidence- The only thing we
  have to fear is, fear itself.
• 1. Emergency Banking Act
• a) Closed banks for 1 week for a bank
  holiday
• b) Government will now oversee banks
• c) 4 weeks later, 1 billion in new deposits
  were put into banks
• 2. Fireside Chats
• B. The New Deal
• 1. Relief, Recovery, Reform
• 2. Public Works Programs (alphabet soup)
• a) NIRA National Recovery Act
• - govt controls wages, working conditions,
• production and prices
• b) CWA Civil Works Admin.
• - jobs building roads, sewer lines, parks,
  airports, etc.
• 3. Lasting legacy
• a) FDIC Federal Deposit Insurance Corp
• - insures money in banks
• b) SEC Securities and Exchange Commission

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• C. Criticism of FDRs New Deal
• 1. Is FDR a threat to capitalism?
• 2. Does FDR have too much power?
• 3. National Debt
• You cant spend your way into
  prosperity.
• former Pres. Herbert Hoover