1929-1939

• Stock market

crash

• Didn’t realize

the effect it

would have

• No money to

replenish what

was borrowed

Many found being broke

humiliating.

The Roaring 20’s• The new concept of

“credit”

• People were buying:

– Automobiles

– Appliances

– Clothes

• Fun times reigned

– Dancing

– Flappers

– Drinking

Why was this bad?

• Credit system

– People didn’t really have

the money they were

spending

• WWI

– The U.S. was a major

credit loaner to other

nations in need

– Many of these nations

could not pay us back

The Stock Market• People bought stocks

on margins

– If a stock is $100 you can pay $10 now and the rest later when the stock rose

• Stocks fall

– Now the person has less than $100 and no money to pay back

And then….• With people panicking

about their money investors tried to sell their stocks

– This leads to a huge decline in stocks

– Stocks were worthless now

• People who bought on “margins” now could not pay

• Investors were average people that were now broke

Read pages 336-337• What event put an

end to the

prosperity of the

1920’s?

• What was the Great

Depression?

• What factors

caused the

Depression?

• The stock market crash in

October 1929

• A period of hardship and

unemployment in the

United States and other

countries that lasted

through the 1930’s.

• The Depression was

caused by problems on

farms, bank failures, and a

slowing economy

• Herbert Hoover was

president at the start

• Philosophy: We’ll

make it!

• What He Did: Nothing

• The poor were looking

for help and no ideas

on how to correct or

help were coming

• Farmers were already feeling the effects

– Prices of crops went down

– Many farms foreclosed

• People could not afford luxuries

– Factories shut down

– Businesses went out

• Banks could not pay out money

• People could not pay their taxes

– Schools shut down due to lack of funds

• Many families became homeless and had to live in shanties

Many waited in unemployment

lines hoping for a job.

People in cities would wait in line for

bread to bring to their family.

Some families were forced to relocate

because they had no money.

“Hooverville”• Some families were

forced to live in

shanty towns

– A grouping of shacks

and tents in vacant

lots

• They were referred to

as “Hooverville”

because of President

Hoover’s lack of help

during the depression.

A drought in the South lead to

dust storms that destroyed crops.

“The Dust Bowl”

The South Was Buried

• Crops turned to dust=No food to

be sent out

• Homes buried

• Fields blown away

• South in state of emergency

• Dust Bowl the #1 weather crisis

of the 20th century

Two Families During

the Depression

A Farm Foreclosure

Some families tried to make money by

selling useful crafts like baskets.

Page 338-339

• What did charities and other

organizations do to help

people during the Great

Depression?

• Where was the Dust Bowl?

• Why did people build

shantytowns and stand in

breadlines during the

Depression

• Charities donated meals

to feed the hungry.

• The Dust Bowl is located

in the Great Plains.

• People lost their homes

and did not have enough

money to buy food.

*FDR*• When he was

inaugurated

unemployment had

increased by 7

million.

• Poor sections (like

Harlem) had 50% of

the pop. unemployed

• Instated the “New

Deal”

• Yea! Frankie!

• People everywhere were effected by the depression

• It wasn’t till President Roosevelt took over and tried to put the economy back together that people even saw a glimmer of hope

Read 344-345

• What were Hoover’s

strategies for improving

the economy?

• What did Roosevelt

promise that he would do

as president?

• Hoover waited for the

economy to improve on its

own and then asked

Congress to help

businesses and unemployed

workers.

• He promised to create

government programs that

would help people who

were suffering.

Read page 346-347

• Roosevelt created the

New Deal. Name

some of the programs

he created.

• What New Deal

programs are in effect

today?

• CCC-Civilian Conservation

Corp, TVA-Tennessee Valley

Authority, WPA- Works

Progress Administration,

Social Security

• Social Security, banking

regulations, minimum wage