Hoover and the Depression

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The Coming of the Depression

The Great Crash

40% increase in the Market 10/21 & 10/23 – big declines10/29 – Black Tuesday 16 Million shares traded

Causes of the Depression

Lack of diversification – mostly cars & construction

Demand not up to supply (uneven distribution of wealth)

Over speculation of the MarketDecline in exports / International debtEasy CreditBuying on Margin

Progress of the Depression

No confidence in the economyBanks collapse$2.5 million in deposits are goneUnbelievable unemployment ratesCuts in wages and hoursMoney supply downInterest Rates go up

The American People in Hard Times

Unemployment and Relief

Ohio Cities face 50-80% unemploymentSuicide rates are upNomads and trash pickersSoup kitchens can’t handle #’sTax revenue is down (no help in sight)Health issues (malnourished)Dust Bowl/Black Blizzards/Okies

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African Americans and the Depression

Worsened an already bad life of mostWhites take jobsScottsboro Riots in SouthNAACP & CIO

Hispanics and Asians in the Depression

Went inward in communitiesMany went back to MexicoSome join communist partyChicanos – not allowed in schools, not

admitted to hospitalsTreated like blacks, but had no historical

connections to American society

Women and Families in the Depression

Go back to kitchen due to competition for jobs Only one civil service job per family Increase work because of need, took jobs men

don’t want, mostly black women No more consumerism Pack many into one house Make own clothes Less divorce – too expensive Men desert families Lower birth and marriage rates

The Depression and Societal Values

Who is to blame?Self Help booksSuicideCrimeRacismSexism

The Depression and the Arts

Photography of rural povertyWriters (Richard Wright – Native Son)Steinbeck – Grapes of WrathRadio – Superman, Dick Tracy, Lone

Ranger, Amos & Andy, World Series, Soaps, Hindenburg, War of the Worlds)

Movies – Mr. Smith goes to Washington, Disney, Wizard of Oz

The Allure of the Left

Communism softens due to the rise of Fascism Stalin might need FDR)

Critical of industry & government

The Ordeal of Herbert Hoover

The Hoover Program

Voluntary cooperation – don’t slow production (fails)

Federal Farm Board – try to buy surplusOutlaws StrikesBuilds Hoover DamRugged Individualism

A Deepening Crisis

HoovervillesDemocrats get CongressGains brief surge in economy – uses it to

justify his programsReconstruction Finance Corporation

Popular Protest

Farmers Holiday – hold back resources from market

Bonus Army – MacArthur, Eisenhower, & Patton sent to DC to displace Vets

Bad image of Hoover using military against his own people

The Election of 1932

Hoover is the “Most Hated an in America”FDR – imaginative, energetic, charismaticPromises a New Deal

The Interregnum (Lame Duck Period)

Banks are collapsingHoover wants a promise from FDR not to

mess with banksFDR refused

Effects of the Depression

Political – Hoover out, Democratic dominance, New Deal coming, Increase in Presidential Power

Economic – Business losses & failures, farm Foreclosures, unemployment issues, loss of personal savings, low prices

Social – end of Flappers, increased poverty & homelessness, new themes in art, stress on the family