The Great Depression Chapter 23 – Section 3 Life in the Great Depression.
The Great Depression
25
The Great Depression Chapter 22 Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother”
description
The Great Depression. Chapter 22. Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother”. Economic Troubles. Basic Industry declining from competition: Railroads Textiles Steel Coal mining. Housing Construction Declining. 25% drop from 1925-1929 Drop in all related industry. Farmers. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of The Great Depression
The Great Depression
Chapter 22
Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother”
Economic Troubles
• Basic Industry declining from competition:– Railroads– Textiles– Steel– Coal mining
Housing Construction Declining
• 25% drop from 1925-1929– Drop in all related industry
Farmers
• Caught in vicious cycle of more crops and lower prices
Buying on Credit
• Large consumer debt
Uneven Distribution of Wealth
• 70% of nation’s families earned less than $2500
Mechanization
• Increase in production and lower prices• Many lack the funds to buy goods
Buying on Margin
• Pay only a percentage of stock price and borrow the rest
• This caused stocks to be overvalued
1928 Election
• Republicans: Herbert Hoover (wins easily)• Democrats: Alfred E. Smith (1st Catholic
nominated by a major party)
Stock Market Crash
• October 29, 1929• Prices Plunge• 16.4 million shares traded• By mid-November over $30 billion lost
Great Depression
• By 1933:– 44% of country’s banks failed– 90,000 businesses bankrupt– Gross National Product (GNP) drops from $104
billion to $59 billion– 25% unemployment (13 million workers)
World Wide Depression
• Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930):– Caused world trade to drop 40%• Highest in US history
Hardship & Suffering during the Depression
• People lost money, jobs, houses• Shantytowns: make shift shacks spring up called
“Hoovervilles”• Soup kitchens, bread lines begin• Minority groups suffer greatly economically• 400,000 farms lost• Families break under stress• 300,000 hoboes wandering the country• Increased malnutrition in children• Declining health of all Americans• Suicide rate increased 30%• More admitted to mental hospitals
Dust Bowl
• Caused by overproduction and drought• Lasts the decade of the 1930’s• Thousands fled the region• Terrible conditions for those who stay
Hoover’s Response• Rugged individualism (people should help themselves)
over direct relief (cash payments/food from the government)
• Problem with Direct Relief: people losing the will to work• Depression part of natural business cycle. Economy
would fix itself. Government helps out businesses.• Public Works Projects: Boulder/Hoover Dam ($700
million)• Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC): $2 billion for
banks, insurance, railroads, and other big business• Federal Home Loan Bank Act: lowered interest rates so
people could avoid foreclosure
Hoover/Boulder Dam
Bonus Army• 1924: WWI veterans promised a $500 bonus to be
paid in 1945• Depression starts and veterans want bonus paid now• Congress debates Patman Bill: pay bonus immediately• 20,000 veterans march on Washington D.C.• Patman Bill voted down by Congress• Bonus Army Driven from Washington D.C.– Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, & George Patton
responsible for driving out Bonus Army– President Hoover takes the blame
