People during the Great Depression

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People during the Great Depression

• The Dust Bowl-from Texas to North Dakota.
  Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas are the worst.

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Okies move out to California
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People during the Great Depression

• Bank Runs

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Shanty towns
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Soup kitchens and breadlines
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Depression and demoralization

• Suicide rate goes up 30
• More people in mental health wards
• Some families break up.
• Men become hobos
• People are ashamed of
• Of their poverty

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Minorities

• Treated badly, have highest unemployment rates
  and lowest wages.
• Some are lynched.

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Women and children

• Some women are going to work
• They are paid less and people resent married
  women working.
• Children get diseases like rickets and pellagra
  from nutrient deficiencies.
• Many do not attend school
• Some work in sweatshops

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On the bright side

• People generally help each other out.
• They learn to be thrifty and reuse and save.
• They play Monopoly and dream of better times.

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Hoovers Response to the Great Depression
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Hoovers reaction

• Hoover tries to reassure Americans the nations
  economy is fine.
• He declares any lack of confidence foolish.
• Americans traditionally thought depressions to be
  a normal part of the business cycle.
• Point is we are supposed to come out of it.

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Best possible solution-Do nothing

• Thought the best possible solution was to do
  nothing and wait it out.
• Believed that the economy would fix itself.
• Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon advocated the
  do nothing approach.

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What Hoover thought

• Hoover believed that the government could some
  things to help.
• Object was to keep it limited so the government
  didnt get too much power.

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Hoovers beliefs

• Believed in the power of reason to solve
  problems.
• He is a humanitarian
• Hes inflexible-he has a hard time adjusting to
  the nations changing circumstances.

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Beliefs on Government

• Believed that governments job was to encourage
  cooperation among competing groups
• Business and labor
• They were not to control it just encourage.
• Believed in rugged individualism-people should
  succeed by themselves.
• Dont expect the government to bail you out.

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Hoovers beliefs work against him

• His answer to suffering was that individuals,
  charities, and local organizations should help
  the poor.
• Government relief should be limited.
• No welfare or direct handouts this would cause
  people to have less self-respect.

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Hoover takes cautious steps

• After Stock Market crash, he called together
  advisors and business leaders.
• He asked employers not to cut wages or lay off
  workers.
• Asked labor leaders not to demand high wages or
  strike.

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Hoovers plan doesnt work!

• None of these ideas actually make a difference.
• More companies go out of business, more
  unemployment, more soup kitchens, more misery!

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People are frustrated!

• Democrats win in Congress in 1930.
• Farmers burn their corn and wheat and dump milk
  instead of selling it at a loss.
• Some declare farm holidays.

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Hoovers name is used

• People start naming things after Hoover.
• Hoovervilles
• Hoover Blankets
• Hoover Flags

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Blame it on Hoover

• Despite criticism, Hoover stays firm to his
  policies and principles.
• He refused to supply direct relief or federal
  welfare.
• Mellon pulled the whistle
• Hoover rang the bell
• Wall Street gave the signal
• And the country went to hell

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Hoover takes action
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He listens

• Hoover does start listening to criticism.
• He softens position on government intervention.
• Takes more of an activist approach to the
  problems in the nation.

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Boulder Dam

• Starts allowing federal funds into projects.
• Like the construction of Boulder Dam, which
  becomes Hoover Dam.
• This was designed to jump start the economy and
  create jobs.

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The Dam
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Government projects

• Hoover initiated public works projects to build
  roads, dams, and large projects
• To stimulate business
• Provide jobs for unemployed
• 800 million was given for these projects
  including Boulder Dam.

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Creation of Bureaus

• Created Federal Farm Board to help raise crop
  prices by
• Buying crops and keeping them off the market
  temporarily.
• Created National Credit Corporation to loan small
  banks money to prevent bankruptcy.

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Not many changes

• By 1931, it hadnt turned the economy around.
• Hoover wanted to get reelected so he decides to
  take more serious action.

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One last effort

• Tries to reform banking by passing an Act to
  increase bank reserves and make bank loans easier
  to get.
• Federal Home Loan Bank Act is passed
• Lowers mortgage rates for homeowners
• Allows farmers to refinance their farm loans and
  avoid foreclosure.

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Trickle down theory

• Reconstruction Finance Corporation
• Provided emergency financing to banks, life
  insurance companies, railroads, and other large
  businesses.
• Hoover thought that giving money to businesses
  would cause it to trickle down to the poor
  through more jobs and higher wages.
• People criticize this
• Instead of giving money to the poor and hungry
  through direct relief, he is giving money to
  corporations.

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Too little too late

• The RFC did help but not enough
• Businesses were still failing
• Gave 805 million to business in the first 5
  months.
• Its too little too late

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Things get worse for Hoover

• In Spring 1932-10,000 to 20,000 World War I vets
  and their families arrive in Washington D.C.
• They call themselves the Bonus Army

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What did they want?

• The vets were there to get their bonuses
• Congress approved extra bonuses in 1924 for the
  vets.
• About 500 per soldier
• They were to receive them in 1945.
• One congressman thought they should get them
  immediately.
• The soldiers showed up in support of getting
  their bonuses

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Hoovers involvement

• Hoover opposed giving them the bonuses now.
• He did respect their right to peaceful assembly
  so gave them food and supplies.
• They built a shantytown within sight of the
  capitol

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Bonus Army Hooverville
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Gassing the Bonus Army

• On June 17, Senate voted down the bill to give
  the bonuses.
• Hoover told the Bonus Army to leave.
• Most did except for about 2,000 who hoped to meet
  with the president.

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What happens next

• More than 1,000 people are gassed
• Including an 11-month old baby who died and a 8
  year old boy who becomes partially blinded.
• Two people were shot and many injured.

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Hoover gets nervous

• Hoover is scared that the vets will become
  violent.
• He decides to disband the Bonus Army.
• On July 28-1,000 soldiers under the command of
  General Douglas MacArthur and Dwight D.
  Eisenhower went to get the soldiers out of
  Washington.

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Countrys reaction

• Most Americans are stunned and outraged.
• Hoovers image greatly suffered.
• Franklin Roosevelt declares this will elect him.

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Blame it on Hoover
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Franklin Roosevelt

• The only thing we have to fear is fear itself
• First and only president in a wheelchair.

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Fixing the Great Depression
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Franklin Roosevelt

• Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat) wins in a landslide
  election
• Developed the New Deal-relief for the needy,
  economic recovery, and financial reform.
• The Hundred Days-Congress passed more than 15
  major pieces of New Deal Legislation

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Reassuring the public

• FDR makes good on campaign promise and ends
  Prohibition.
• Starts his fireside chats-radio talks that
  reassure the country and build faith and hope

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Alphabet soup of the New Deal

• The banks and stock market
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation -federal
  insurance for individual bank accounts up to
  5000.
• Federal Securities Act-Required corporations to
  provide complete, truthful information on all
  stock offerings.

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Helping the public

• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)-raise crop
  prices by lowering production, paid farmers for
  not planting and killing animals.
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)-Rebuilt dams and
  provided hydroelectric power to an impoverished
  region
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)-Put thousands
  of young single men to work building roads,
  parks, Planting trees, and helping in soil
  erosion and flood-control projects.
• Works Progress Administration (WPA)-employed
  youths, professionals, and other workers to build
  roads, libraries, schools, and hospitals as well
  as art work and theater.

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Labor and other reforms

• Wagner Act- listed unfair labor practices and
  established the National Labor Relations Board to
  settle disputes between employers and employees.
• Social Security Act- Provided a pension for
  retired workers, aided people with disabilities,
  poor mothers with dependent children, and needy
  elderly.

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2 new deals

• There were 2 New Deals
• No 3rd because the other 2 were working,
  unemployment was down, and world events (Hitler)
  were distracting
• FDR faced problems-some New Deal programs were
  declared unconstitutional.

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Women in the New Deal

• 1st women in the cabinet-Francis Perkins
• Mary McLeod Bethune-African-American woman
  appointed to NYA for minority affairs, helped set
  up the Black Cabinet
• Eleanor Roosevelt-was the presidents legs.
  She filled him in on domestic affairs (inside the
  US).

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Society and Culture
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Think about it

• Why would movies and radio be so important during
  the Great Depression?

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Movies

• Movies are a hit
• Gone with the wind
• Wizard of OZ
• Marx Brothers
• They offer an escape

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Radio

• Radio is like TV
• News, comedy, dramas, soap operas, childrens
  shows
• Most famous War of the Worlds

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Literature

• John Steinbeck writes The Grapes of Wrath

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Art

• Art and theater are supported by the government
  and New Deal programs.
• Why?

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American Gothic by Grant Wood
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The Models
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Thomas Hart Benton
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Deficit Spending

• Congress encouraged scaling back New Deal
  programs
• This caused a drop in production
• Increased unemployment
• FDR did not like deficit spending
• Spending more money than the government has

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Expanding the National Government

• The New Deal expanded the power of the
  government.
• Had a more active role in the economy.
• Put millions of dollars in the economy through
• Creating jobs
• Regulating supply and demand
• Settling labor disputes
• Creating agencies
• Regulating banking and investment.

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Going into Debt

• New Deal caused the nation to go deeply into
  debt.
• Goes as high as 3.3 billion in 1934.
• New Deal did not end Great Depression.
• Deficit spending during World War II did.

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Lasting Effects of the New Deal

• Labor
• Social Security
• Agriculture
• Banking and Finance
• FDIC
• Securities and Exchanges Commission

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Continuing Benefits

• Social Security
• Old age insurance
• Unemployment insurance
• Aid to families with children and disabled
• Started in 1935 and still exists today
• Important government program for many Americans

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The Environment

• FDR was very committed to conservation and
  protecting resources.
• CCC planted trees, created hiking trails, built
  fire lookout towers.
• Soil Conservation Service taught farmers
• Contour plowing
• Terracing
• Crop rotation
• Passed an act to help reduce grazing on public
  lands which causes erosion and brought about the
  Dust Bowl.

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The Environment

• TVA made dams for power and to prevent floods in
  the Tennessee Valley.
• Created many national parks
• Olympic National Park
• Shenandoah National Park
• Carlsbad Caverns
• Isle Royale
• Great Smoky Mountains
• Established wild life reserves
• Also contributed to air, water, and land
  pollution.
• Strip mining
• Dumped untreated sewage into rivers and streams

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So how bad was the Great Depression?

• At its worse unemployment was at a national
  average of 25.

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So did the New Deal really work?

• It did help
• It brought hope and gratitude from those
  receiving services.
• Also brought anger and criticism
• It was really World War II that brought us out of
  the Great Depression!