THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE 1930

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THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE 1930S

• Brother can you
• spare a dime?

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Causes of Great Depression

• Overproduction-the 1920s manufactured and sold
  many products but consumers lacked the money to
  buy these items and this caused overproducing

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Causes of the Great Depression

• Speculation-people buying stocks for low prices
  in hopes that they would sell for a high price
  later. No guarantee

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Causes of the Great Depression

• Buying on the Margin-buying 10 of a loan and
  promised to pay it off later. Similar to an
  installment plan

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Farms Decline

• After WWI Europe no longer needed food from
  American farmers. Farmers had overproduction of
  crops they could not sell. In addition
  overproduction ruined the soil causing the Dust
  Bowl

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Causes of the Great Depression

• High tariffs- American protective tariffs helped
  American business but farmers could not sell
  abroad and Europe also began implementing their
  own tariffs

What is the benefit of a Protective tariff?
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STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1929

• Black Thursday,
• October 24, 1929
• Stockbrokers pulled out sold all stocks
• Black Tuesday,
• October 29, 1929
• Members lost everything! No one wanted to buy
  stocks and millions lost

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STRUCTURE OF AMERICAN SOCIETY DISINTEGRATES

• People lost all their money. Loans were unpaid so
  people lost their homes/cars
• Banks became failures due to unpaid loans
• Demand for goods decreased/people lost their
  jobs/factories closed
• No safety nets like unemployment or insurance

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Human Impact

• The Great Depression was
• a national nightmare.
• People felt worthless and
• Pretended to go to work
• Businesses failed, farmers
• lost farms, banks failed, millions of people out
  of work
• Private charities were overwhelmed. People were
  homeless and hungry
• Millions depended on soup kitchens for food

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1932 AMERICAN DREAMS ARE SHATTERED

• Writers like John Steinbeck and Dorothea Lange
  recorded the misery of the depression

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DUST BOWL (DUST STORMS) OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS
1934-1935
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How many states were partially in the region most
affected by the Dust Bowl?
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Route 66
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Black SundayApril 14, 1935

• 24 hours of a blinding dust storm
• Dreaded black-blizzard covers entire disaster
  area
• 18 storms hit in one year

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The Dust Bowl

• In the 1930s farmers faced a natural disaster
• A series of droughts dried up the land from over
  production of wheat crops in the Midwest
• Lasting for a year the heavy winds carried
  topsoil across hundreds of miles, burying homes,
  cars and destroying harvests

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The Dust Bowl

• Unable to pay bills farmers abandoned their farms
  and headed onto route 66 to California
• Oakies-farmers from Oklahoma who moved to migrant
  worker camps in California to pick fruit

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THE VICTIMS OF THE DUST BOWL

• Colorado
• Kansas
• Oklahoma
• New Mexico
• Texas

• Devastation of their cropland
• Respiratory health issues
• Unsanitary living
• Rampant crime
• Debt-ridden families

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Mexican Repatriation

• Immigration acts of 1920s did not impose quotas
  on immigrants from Mexico as a result many
  Mexicans flourished the U.S.
• Many settled in barrios in California, Texas and
  the SW
• Mexicans were barred from attending white schools

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Mexican Repatriation Act

• As the Great Depression carried on, many whites
  were looking for jobs carried out by Mexicans
• Hostilities grew
• The Mexican Repatriation Act sent Mexicans back
  to Mexico
• More than half a million were separated from
  their families

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Herbert Hoover- 31st President

• Hoovers philosophy.This too shall pass.
• Laissez Faire/No safety net/Social Darwinism
• Rugged Individualism
• Hoover felt that private charities should provide
  emergency relief

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Soup Kitchens
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Emergency Relief
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Hoover Responds

• Hoover cut taxes and established the
  Reconstruction Finance Corp. to give loans to
  banks and businesses believing that the money
  would trickle down
• Hoovers policies were seen too little too late

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Lack of Trust

• Many felt frustrated with Hoovers lack of
  leadership
• By 1932 13 million people were unemployed
• Hoover roast
• Hoover flag
• Hoovervilles/Hoover blankets

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Hoovervilles
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Hoover Blankets
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Hoover Roasts and Hoover Flags