THE CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION. WAIT… WHAT’S THE GREAT DEPRESSION?
The Great Depression
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The Great Depression. 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 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of The Great Depression
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
• 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.
*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
Major Historical Happenings...
• Jim Crow Laws
• Scottsboro Trials
• Recovering from the Great Depression
• Racial Injustice
• Poor South
Jim Crow Laws• After the American Civil War most
states in the South passed anti-African American legislation. These became known as Jim Crow laws.
• These laws included segregation in…– Schools -- Hospitals
– Theaters -- Water fountains
– Restaurants
– Hotels
– Public transportation
– Some states forbid inter-racial marriages
• These laws were instituted in 1896 and were not abolished till the late 1950’s (even then still not completely).
• 9 young African-American men (13-20) accused of raping 2 white girls in 1931
• Immediately sentenced to death
• Trials went on for nearly 15 years before all the men were dismissed
• Started on a train bound for Memphis
• Several white men boarded and picked a fight with the black men
• Whites were forced off train by the 12 black men. The white men reported the the black men had raped two white girls on the train to authorities
• They were immediately arrested and tried in front of an all-white jury.
The trials caused a huge uproar amongst the black community.
• Wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960
• Based the story on her life growing up in Monroeville, Alabama
• TKAM was the only novel she ever wrote
• The character of “Dill,” Scout and Jem’s playmate in the novel was based upon Lee’s actual neighbor, Truman Capote
• Capote is famous for amongst other things, In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
• It has been said that he gave Lee Mockingbird as a gift.
• In 1962 the novel was turned into a film starring Gregory Peck.
• It received a humanitarian award and several Academy Award nominations
Great Depression
Brother can you spare a dime?
1920’s Problems
Factories making Too Much, Farms growing too much
Factories Fire Workers (Don’t need them)
Farm Prices fall (Farmers can’t make $$)
Farmers & Factory Workers can’t pay back loans to
Banks: DEFAULT!!
Banks Close because they have no money: Loans have not been paid back, can’t give people their savings
BANKS Have NO $$
PEOPLE LOST SAVINGS & JOBS
NO ONE TO HELP!
=+People Default on Loans
Banks have no money to give people
Banks Close
People Loose savings
1932 Electoral College Votes
OBJ #5- Opponents of the New Deal (Against)
C. Supreme Court Reacts
1. 11 New Deal Plans Ruled Unconstitutional
2. Roosevelt Reacts: ‘Court Packing Scheme’
a. Wants Court raised from 9 to 15
-President chooses new judges
-New judges would favor New Deal
3. Friends & Enemies Very Upset!!!
a. FDR wants TOOO much POWER
b. Congress with all friends won’t pass
law for FDR
4. FDR Wins Anyway- By 1938 New Judges
a. 1 Justice switches, 1 Justice retires
OBJ #5 - Describe the reasons people opposed Roosevelt’s plan. Give two (2) examples of people who opposed Roosevelt. Why? What did the Supreme Court say about the early part of the New Deal? How did Roosevelt try and change their minds? What was the result?
V. OBJ. #5 - Critics of the New Deal A. BIG BUSINESS!!!! (Gov’t doing too much!)
1. Gov’t Can’t tell us what to do B. FDR, not doing enough:
1. “Share Our Wealth”, Huey Long Gov. Louisianaa. Heavy Tax on the wealthyb. Give everyone- Home, Car, $$c. Assassinated in 1935
2. Father Coughlin, “Radio Priest”a. Mad at FDR for not being tough enough on big businessb. Hates communist, Unions, Jews (Hitler?)
3. Francis Townsenda. Give pensions to anyone 60+, would get jobs to
younger people
OBJ #5- Opponents of the New Deal (Against)
C. Supreme Court Reacts
1. 11 New Deal Plans Ruled Unconstitutional
2. Roosevelt Reacts: ‘Court Packing Scheme’
a. Wants Court raised from 9 to 15
-President chooses new judges
-New judges would favor New Deal
3. Friends & Enemies Very Upset!!!
a. FDR wants TOOO much POWER
b. Congress with all friends won’t pass
law for FDR
4. FDR Wins Anyway- By 1938 New Judges
a. 1 Justice switches, 1 Justice retires
Origins and Causes
• Extreme wealth inequalities
• Ballooning stock market
• Over reliance on unprotected loans
• Too much speculation & borrowing
• Overproduction and uneven distribution capabilities
• Stock Market crash was a symptom
• Banks lacked money, people lost savings, debts were called in, no cash
• Production stopped, workers fired, no $, consumption declined, no profits, more workers fired
President Hoover
• Herbert Hoover
• Progressive
• War Reconstruction
• Opposed direct federal aid
• Self-help & volunteerism
• Self-help cooperatives
The Bonus Army/March
• World War One veterans
• Gov’t denied their pensions
• Marched on Washington, 1932
• Congregated around White House
• Gen. Douglas MacArthur
• Military evicted them from D.C.
• Deep anger at gov’t
• Deep class divisions
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqevdBZCbcQ
Hoover Dam
Grand Coulee Dam
• Columbia River, 1941
• Largest concrete structure in the world
• Created a 150 mile lake
• Too much power
• Bonneville Power Administration
• Powered 70% of Northwest
The Dust Bowl
• Economic and environmental disaster• Overproduction, monocrops • Plowed up grasses for farms to meet the needs of a
booming wheat market • Soil exhaustion, soil erosion• Drought and winds• 1935: Blew winds from CO and NE, blackened the sky
across the plains, into the East and Atlantic Ocean
Responses
• Killed millions of animals, burned millions of tons of food
• Taylor Grazing Act – Federal control of grazing
Migrants: Okies
• Poor whites and sharecroppers
• Evicted from OK, TX, MI, ARK
• Going to CAL
• L.A. Police Chief “bum blockade”
Women
• Eleanor Roosevelt
• Work & aid
• Patriotic home economics conserve, recycle, help America “as a woman”
