American Culture 1930-39

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American Culture 1930-39
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I. The Stock Market Crash of 1929

• The 1929 Stock Market Crash is well known as the
  most devastating crash in United States history.
• Which marked the beginning of the Great
  Depression.
• It didnt happen on a single day
• The stock market continued to plummet over the
  course of a few days
• Setting in motion one of the most devastating
  periods in the history of the United States

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II. Black Thursday

• The most significant events started on Black
  Thursday, October 24, 1929
• On that day, nearly 13 million shares of stock
  were traded.
• It was a record number of stock trades for the
  U.S.
• Marked the end of an upward trend on stock
  prices
• On Black Thursday, the stock prices dropped so
  quickly, the stock ticker could not keep up
• As the day progressed, the stock ticker lagged
  behind, failing to show the most up to date
  stock prices.

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III. Top American Bankers Try to Save the Banking
System

• On the next day, Friday, October 25, several of
  the nations largest bankers met to decide what
  they could do about the situation
• Among the attendees were the heads of Morgan
  Bank, Chase National Bank, and National City Bank
• The bankers ultimately decided to purchase a
  number of U.S. Steel shares above market price
• The bankers who tried to thwart the 1929 stock
  market crash were unsuccessful

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• In those days, the stock market traded six days a
  week
• The bankers move led to a slight increase in
  stock price on Saturday, October 26
• Over the weekend many investors lost faith in the
  stocks and decided to sell their shares
• When the markets reopened on Monday, October 28,
  1929, another record number of stocks were
  traded
• The stock market declined more than 22
• The situation worsened yet again on the infamous
  Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929
• When more than 16 million stocks were traded
• The stock market ultimately lost 14 billion that
  day.

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IV. Causes of The Stock Market Crash

• Rising stock markets
• Throughout the 1920's, the New York Stock
  Exchange had risen dramatically faster than any
  time in the nation's history.
• This sudden appearance of overnight
  multi-millionaires convinced many that the stock
  market was the easy way to future riches.
• Indeed, during much of the 1920's, fortunes were
  made overnight by many investors who bought stock
• frequently without little of their own money
• sold it as it rose in value

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• Margin Loans
• Refers to the practice of using borrowed money to
  pay for stocks in order to pay for much more
  stock than one could normally afford
• An investor went to a bank and received a loan
  for the purpose of buying stock
• The investor offered the stock to be purchased as
  collateral
• Thanks to so many poor loans that were made for
  the purpose of buying stock, many banks were
  unable to cover their losses and were short of
  cash

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• Overproduction
• Businesses boomed overnight in the 1920's
• In order to assure buyers that they would not be
  left without items to buy, manufacturers produced
  at top capacity
• What manufacturers did not realize was that while
  their output rose by 40
• The wages of average workers rose only 25

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• Agricultural Depression
• All through the 1920's, while those in the East
  Coast and Wall Street prospered, the American
  farm family suffered
• During WWI while crop priced were high, many
  farmers went further into debt to buy more land
  and better farm equipment
• When the war ended, crop prices plummeted
• They had more bills to pay than they did before
  the war

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• European Depression
• In the 1920's, Europe, source of several of our
  most important trading partners, was in a
  depression of its own
• Paying for the unimaginable costs of WWI
• The cost of WWI actually exceeded the amount of
  money in circulation in the entire world
• European nations were forced to divert most of
  their national earnings into debt repayment
• This had the effect of leaving little left over
  to trade with the United States

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Great Depression Activity

• Choose a partner.
• One person plays the role of the interviewer and
  the other person plays the role of the
  interviewee.
• Using your computers research the answers to the
  interviewers questions
• Questions
• Where were you living in the 1930s?
• How old were you in the 1930s?
• What do you remember most about the 1930s?
• How did the Great Depression affect your family?
• How was your life affected by the Great
  Depression?
• What activities did you participate in during the
  1930s?
• Are there any particular stories or experiences
  from these years that you can tell me?
• What was a typical day like for you?
• How was your life in the 1930s different than
  life today?
• Is there anything else you would like to tell me
  about your life in the 1930s?

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Great Depression Activity

• Create a PowerPoint presentation for the
  interview
• Each presentation must contain the following
• A title slide
• Each slide must contain
• The question
• The answer
• A picture to aid in interpreting the
  interviewees answer

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V. Historic Events

• Dust Bowl
• Tons of topsoil were blown off barren fields and
  carried in storm clouds for hundreds of miles
• Its primary area of impact was on the southern
  Plains

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• Causes
• Poor agricultural practices and years of
  sustained drought caused the Dust Bowl.
• Plains grasslands had been deeply plowed and
  planted to wheat.
• The droughts of the early 1930s deepened, the
  farmers kept plowing and planting and nothing
  would grow
• The ground cover that held the soil in place was
  gone.
• The Plains winds whipped across the fields
  raising billowing clouds of dust to the sky's
• In some places the dust would drift like snow,
  covering farmsteads.