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DBQ - The Great Depression – Analyzing Documents

Document 1       Why would Gordon Parks believe that the Stock Market Crash would have no effect on his “small world”? Why was Parks unable to find a job in the weeks after the Stock Market Crash?     Document 2

Describe why the market continued to rise in the 1920s.

“MARKET  CRASHES—PANIC  HITS  NATION!”  one  headline  blared.  .  .  .  I  couldn’t  imagine  such  financial  disaster  touching  my  small  world;  it  surely  concerned  only  the  rich.  But  by  the  first  week  of  November  I  too  knew  differently;  along  with  millions  of  others  across  the  nation,  I  was  with  out  a  job.  All  that  next  week  I  searched  for  any  kind  of  work  that  would  prevent  my  leaving  school.  Again  it  was,  “We’re  firing,  not  hiring.”.  .  .  Finally,  on  the  seventh  of  November  I  went  to  school  and  cleaned  out  my  locker,  knowing  it  was  impossible  to  stay  on.  A  piercing  chill  was  in  the  air  as  I  walked  back  to  the  rooming  house.  The  hawk  had  come.  I  could  already  feel  his  wings  shadowing  me.  —Gordon  Parks

Why was Black Tuesday such a pivotal day in the history of the Stock Market?    Document 3                                        Judging  by  the  above  quotations,  was  Hoover  realistic  in  his  assessment  of  the  severity  of  the  Great  Depression?      Why  or  why  not?          What  was  Hoover’s  attitude  toward  government  intervention  in  the  economy,  based  on  the  quotations  above?                  

“We  in  America  today,  are  nearer  to  the  final  triumph  over  poverty  that  ever  before  in  the  history  of  any  land.  The  poorhouse  is  vanishing  from  among  us.  .  .  .We  shall  soon  .  .  .  be  in  sight  of  the  day  when  poverty  will  be  banished  from  this  nation.”  —  campaign  speech  given  by  Herbert  Hoover  in  1928    “the  fundamental  business  of  the  country  .  .  .  is  on  a  sound  and  prosperous  basis.”  —Herbert  Hoover  during  the  first  week  of  the  stock  market  crash,  1929    “The  Depression  is  over.”  —Herbert  Hoover  in  1930    “The  spread  of  government  destroys  initiative  [independent  action]  and  thus  destroys  character.  Character  is  made  in  the  community  as  well  as  in  the  individual  by  assuming  responsibilities,  not  by  escaping  them.”  —Herbert  Hoover  in  1930    “We  have  passed  the  worst.”  —Herbert  Hoover  in  March  1930

Document 4   Why does Roosevelt argue that “fear itself” is the greatest problem facing the country? What is the main thing that the country has to do, according to Roosevelt? Describe the tone of Roosevelt’s speech. Why do you think he used this tone? Document 5

I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision, which the present situation of our Nation impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror, which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves, which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days. . . . Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources. Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. —Franklin  D.  Roosevelt,  First  Inaugural  Address  (March  4,  1933)    

“…  Republicans  followed  a  trickle-­‐down  theory…  They  reasoned  that,  if  government  legislation  protected  the  wealth  of  big  corporations  and  the  well-­‐to-­‐do,  their  continued  investments  would  expand  the  economy  and  a  better  life  would  ‘trickle  down’  to  workers  and  consumers  in  general.    FDR  and  his  advisors  viewed  things  differently.  They  felt  that  government  would  use  pump-­‐priming−  that  government  should  take  actions  that  would  make  the  consuming  public  secure  and  optimistic…  By  increasing  government  programs,  business  activity  would  increase,  thereby  fostering  consumer  confidence  and  investment−  keeping  the  economy  growing…”    -­‐United  States  History  &  Government:  Constitutional  &  Geopolitical  Patterns,  2001  

Why did President Herbert Hoover follow a trickle-down theory in order to combat the Great Depression? Why did President Franklin Roosevelt follow a theory of pump-priming to combat the Great Depression? Document 6

Describe how the cartoonist depicts Roosevelt’s view of the role of government. What do you think the cartoonist thinks about the effectiveness of President Roosevelt’s attempts to deal with the Great Depression?