UNIT 7: 1930’sPPT #1

(SPRING 2020)

DAILY ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

1. What were the causes and effects of the Great Depression?

2. How did the Great Depression affect the lives of Americans?

3. Why did President Hoover’s government policies fail to solve the country’s economic crisis?

EQ #1: What were the causes and effects of the

Great Depression?

• What does this chart reveal?

• What does this tell us about

society in the 1920s?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgmeL7sp4hw

The Great Depression 3min

1. Problems for Farmers

– Crop Prices too low.

Rural farmers produced

huge surpluses (too much)

of food that lowered

prices.

Causes:

2. Easy credit and

installment buying lead

people to purchase

goods they couldn’t pay

for.

4. Stock Market Speculation –

“buying on margin” leads to -

October 29th, BLACK TUESDAY, the

stock market crashed as investors

tried to sell at any price.

3. Rising wages masked an

uneven distribution of

wealth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rKPHKmNJrc Mr. Betts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp7u328PKu4

The stock market crash didn’t start the Great

Depression by itself. Instead, it quickened the

collapse of the U.S. economy.

1. Banks and businesses fail. After the crash, people ran to the

bank and attempted to withdraw their funds. But banks didn’t have

enough money on hand as cash. These bank runs caused banks to

fail.

Effects:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPkJH6BT7dM

“It’s a Wonderful Life” Bank Run Scene

• Factories closed, causing worker

layoffs.

• This lowered demand for goods

because people do not have enough

$$$$.

2. By 1933, the unemployment rate reached 25%.

3. Congress passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff to protect American

manufacturers from foreign competition. BUT…. This was a mistake.

Other nations retaliated and raised tariffs so it was hard to sell

American goods overseas.

4. Loans given to Europeans by Americans were not paid.

EQ #2: How did the Great Depression affect the lives of Americans?

1. Unemployment lead to poverty. Food came from soup kitchens

or bread lines.

2. Hoovervilles - homeless lived in empty railroad cars, cardboard

boxes, or in shacks. Named after President Hoover.

3. Between 1930

and 1934, nearly

a million farmers

lost their farms,

homes, and farm

equipment

because they

could not pay

their mortgages.

4. Farmers on the

Great Plains suffered

a terrible drought,

which led to the Dust

Bowl.

5. Farmers who had

lost their land, called

Okies were forced to

leave and travel to

find work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guTek7ipD4U 6min The Dust Bowl

EQ #3: Why did President Hoover’s government policies

fail to solve the country’s economic crisis?

1. At the start of the economic downturn, Hoover took a

hands-off approach. (What’s this called?)

Laissez-Faire

2. Then, he asked businesses to keep wages, employment,

and prices at current levels.

3. And asked the wealthy to donate to charities. BUT…

many now could not afford to donate.

4. He favored localism, a policy

whereby problems are best

solved at the local and state

levels.

5. BUT…Towns and states didn’t

have the necessary

resources/money to deal with the

depression.

6. American people believed that

he wasn’t trying to help them.

Herbert Hoover 31st President,

Scapegoat for the Great Depression

1. Some blamed Hoover and some

blamed capitalism.

2. Some were World War I veterans who

wanted a bonus that was promised to

them. In 1932, those veterans formed

the Bonus Army and marched on

Washington.

Many grew disillusioned during the Great

Depression.

How did people respond to Hoover’s approach?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jrQ0WTK-SA

Hoover, Bonus Army 4min

3. Almost 20,000

veterans set up camps

and occupied vacant

buildings. In July, police

tried to evict them and

riots erupted.

How do you think Americans felt about Pres. Hoover now?

Will he win the next Presidential election?