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The Great Depression Begins
•As the prosperity of the 1920s ends, severe economic problems grip the nation •An economic crisis grips the nation during the Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover’s conservative response to the nation’s problems costs him manysupporters. Factors leading to Great Depression:- tariffs, war debts, farm problems, easy credit, income disparity
Deceptive Prosperity During the 1920s, Americans experienced a cultural revolution-- new fashions, new music, new technologies (like radio and film), as well as a new emphasis on consumerism changed the way most people in the United States lived their lives.
Easily available credit allowed average Americans
to afford new items like refrigerators, gas ranges, radios, and automobiles.
"We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us. We have not yet reached the goal, but, given a chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and we shall soon, with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation."
Herbert Hoover, 1928Inaugural Address
Industries in Trouble
• Key industries like railroads, textiles, steel barely make profit
• • Mining, lumbering expanded during war; no longer in high demand
• • Coal especially hard-hit due to availability of new energy sources
• • Boom industries—automobiles, construction, consumer goods— now weak
• • Housing starts decline
Farmers Need a Lift
• International demand for U.S. grain declines after war
• - prices drop by 40% or more
• • Farmers boost production to sell more; prices drop further
• • Farm income declines; farmers default on loans; rural banks fail
Uneven Distribution of Income
• In 1920s, rich get richer, poor get poorer
• • 70% of families earn less than minimum for decent standard of living
• • Most cannot afford flood of products factories produce
Dreams of Riches in the Stock Market
• Dow Jones Industrial Average tracks state of stock market
• • 1920s, stock prices rise steadily; people rush to buy stocks, bonds
• • Many engage in speculation, buy on chance of a quick profit
• • Buying on margin—pay small percent of price, borrow rest
In Over Our Heads• In the late 1920s, average Americans began
buying into the stock market in large numbers. • Most Americans did not have the ready money to
invest, and so began to buy on margin. Buying on margin: The practice of buying a stock on credit. • For example, someone buying on margin could
buy $10,000 dollars worth of stock by putting only $1,000 dollars down. They would then pay the other $9,000 dollars owed after their stock made money.
The Market Gets Nervous• Throughout 1928, the stock market soared, and
investors struck it rich. But during the summer months of 1929, there began to be some signs of distress from the market.
• In April and June of 1929, there were mini-crashes-- but each time, the market stabilized. Everything looked like it was going to be fine.
• On October 25, 1929, the Dow Jones suddenly began to plummet. Afraid of a collapse, several wealthy bankers pooled their resources and bought stocks at artificially high prices to stop the plunge.
• The plan seemed to work. On October 26, the
market began to rebound and go back up.
Black Tuesday
• October 29 or Black Tuesday, market, nation’s confidence plummet• • Shareholders sell frantically; millions of shares have no buyers• • People who bought on credit left with huge debts• • Others lose most of their savings• After crash, people panic, withdraw money from banks• • Banks that invested in stocks fail; people lose their money• • 1929–1932, gross national product cut nearly in half• - 90,000 businesses go bankrupt• • 1933, 25% of workers jobless; those with jobs get cuts in hours,
pay
The Depression Devastates People’s Lives
• The Depression in the Cities• • People lose jobs, are evicted from homes• • Shantytowns, settlements consisting of
shacks, arise in cities• • People dig through garbage, beg• • Soup kitchens offer free or low-cost food• • Bread lines—people line up for food from
charities, public agencies• • African Americans, Latinos have higher
unemployment, lower pay
The Depression in Rural Areas
• Most farmers can grow food for their families• • About 400,000 farms lost through foreclosure• - many become tenant farmers• The Dust Bowl• • Farmers in Great Plains exhaust land through
overproduction• • 1930s, drought, windstorms hit; soil scattered for
hundreds of miles• • area from North Dakota to Texas that is hardest hit• • Many farm families migrate to Pacific Coast states
Effects on the American Family
Hardship and the Family• • Family is source of strength for most Americans• • Some families break apart under strain of making ends meet• Men in the Streets• • Many men used to working, supporting families have difficulty coping• - cannot find jobs• • About 300,000 hoboes wander country on railroad box cars• • No federal system of direct relief—cash or food from government• Women Struggle to Survive• • Homemakers budget carefully, can food, sew clothes• • Women work outside home; resented by unemployed men• • Many women suffer in silence, ashamed to stand in bread lines• Children Suffer Hardships• • Poor diets, health care lead to serious health problems in children• • Lack of tax revenue leads to shortened school year, school closings• • Teenagers leave home, ride trains in search of work, adventure
Social and Psychological Effects
• 1928–1932, suicide rate rises over 30%• • Admissions to state mental hospitals
triple• • People give up health care, college, put
off marriage, children• • Stigma of poverty doesn’t disappear;
financial security becomes goal• • Many show great kindness to strangers• • Develop habit of saving and thriftiness
Hoover’s Philosophy• President Herbert Hoover tells Americans economy is sound• • Many experts believe depressions a normal part of business cycle• • Hoover: government should foster cooperation between competing
groups• • People should take care of own families, not depend on
government• Hoover Takes Cautious Steps• • Calls meeting of business, banking, labor leaders to solve
problems• • Creates organization to help private charities raise money for poor
Hoover Takes Action
• Hoover Backs Cooperatives• • Hoover negotiates agreements among private entities• • Backs Federal Farm Board (organization of farm
cooperatives)• - buy crops, keep off market until prices rise• • Gets large banks to establish National Credit
Corporation• Direct Intervention• • Federal Home Loan Bank Act lowers mortgage rates• • Reconstruction Finance Corporation—emergency
funds for businesses• • Hoover’s measures don’t improve economy before
presidential election
Gassing the Bonus ArmyThe Patman Bill Denied• • Bonus Army—veterans go to D.C. in 1932 to support Patman Bill:
authorizing the government to pay immediately WWI veterans who had not been compensated adequately for their wartime service. The bonus was scheduled to be paid out in 1945
• - want payment of bonus• • Hoover opposes bill; Senate votes down bill• • Most veterans leave Washington; about 2,000 stay to speak to
Hoover• Hoover Disbands the Bonus Army• • Hoover fears violence, calls on U.S. Army to disband Bonus Army• • Infantry tear gas over 1,000 people, including children; many
injured• • Public is stunned, outraged by government’s actions
The New Deal
• A New Deal Fights the Depression
• After becoming president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt uses government programs
• to combat the Depression.
The Hundred Days
• FDR launches Hundred Days; passes over 15 major New Deal laws
• • Emergency Banking Relief Act permits Treasury Dept. to inspect banks
• - decides which are insolvent, sound, or need loans• - public confidence in banks revived• An Important Fireside Chat• • FDR gives fireside chats—radio talks explaining New
Deal measures• • First chat discusses need for public support of
government, banks
Regulating Banking and Finance
• Glass-Steagall Act establishes Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation• - insures individual bank accounts, regulates banking practices• • Federal Securities Act—companies must give all information on stocks• • Securities and Exchange Commission created to regulate stock market• • FDR gets law allowing production of some alcoholic beverages• • 21st Amendment repeals prohibition by end of 1933• Helping the American People• Rural Assistance• • Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) raises food prices, lowers supply• • Tennessee Valley Authority creates jobs renovating, building dams• Providing Work Projects• • Civilian Conservation Corps—public works jobs for young men• • Public Works Administration—money to states to create jobs• • Civil Works Administration builds rural schools, pays teachers
The New Deal Comes Under Attack
Opposition to the New Deal• • Deficit spending—spending more money than government takes in• - funds New Deal• • Liberals: New Deal does not do enough to help poor, fix economy• • Conservatives: New Deal used to control business, socialize economy• The Supreme Court Reacts• • Supreme Court strikes down NIRA, AAA as unconstitutional• • FDR proposes “Court-packing bill”; Congress, press protest• • Starting in 1937, justices retire; FDR appoints seven new ones• Three Fiery Critics• • Some conservative opponents form American Liberty League• • Think measures violate respect for personal rights, property• • Father Charles Coughlin withdraws initial support of New Deal• - wants guaranteed income, banks nationalized• • Dr. Francis Townsend devises pension plan for elderly• • Presidential hopeful, Senator Huey Long has popular social program
The Second Hundred Days
Furthering the New Deal• • By 1935, economic recovery not as great as FDR had
expected• • FDR launches second phase: more relief for farmers,
workers• • First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a social reformer, prods
president• Reelecting FDR• • 1936, Democrats win presidency, large majorities in
both houses• • First time most African Americans vote Democratic• • First time labor unions support presidential candidate
Women Make their Mark
• Frances Perkins, secretary of labor, is first female cabinet member
• • FDR also appoints 2 women as diplomats, 1 as federal judge
• • Women still face discrimination in workplace from male workers
• • NRA sets some lower minimum wages for women• • Federal work programs hire far fewer women than men• • Only slight increase in overall % of women working for
wages
African Americans• African Americans Take Leadership Roles• • FDR appoints more than 100 African Americans to government• - Mrs. Roosevelt plays key role• • Educator Mary McLeod Bethune heads Division of Negro Affairs of NYA• • Helps organize “Black Cabinet” of African-American advisers• • Daughters of American Revolution refuse Marian Anderson concert• • Mrs. Roosevelt resigns; arranges for Lincoln Memorial concert• The President Fails to Support Civil Rights• • FDR afraid of upsetting white Southern Democratic voters• • Refuses to approve antilynching law, end to poll tax• • New Deal agencies discriminate against African Americans• - pay them lower wages, favor whites• • African Americans help organize Southern Tenant Farmers Union• • Generally support Roosevelt administration, New Deal
Mexican Americans• Mexican Americans Under FDR• • Mexican Americans generally support New Deal• • Many come to U.S. in 1920s, settle mainly in Southwest• - work on farms• • CCC, WPA help some Mexican Americans• • Disqualify migrant workers with no permanent address• Native Americans Gain Support• Native Americans and the New Deal• • 1924, Native Americans receive full citizenship• • John Collier, commissioner of Indian affairs, changes policies• • Indian Reorganization Act favors native autonomy, mandates changes:• - lands belong to entire tribe; government can’t sell unclaimed areas• - children can attend schools on reservations• - tribes elect tribal councils to govern reservations
Supporters and Critics of the New Deal
• Conservatives think FDR made federal government too large• - stifled free enterprise, individual initiative• • Liberals: didn’t do enough to socialize economy, end inequalities• • Supporters: did help country recover from economic difficulties• Expanding Government’s Role in the Economy• • FDR expands power of federal government, • • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) regulates
banking• • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates
investment• • New Deal does not end Depression; does reduce suffering, give
hope• • Federal government goes deeply into debt to create jobs, give aid• • Massive spending on equipment, supplies for WW II end
Depression
Legacy of New Deal• Protecting Workers’ Rights• • New Deal laws set standards, ban child labor, permit unions• - establish policies followed today• • National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) still mediates labor disputes• Banking and Finance• • SEC still monitors stock market, enforces laws on stock, bond sales• • FDIC still protects individual investors in case of bank failure• Social and Environmental Effects• Social Security• • Federal government takes responsibility for citizens’ welfare• • Provides for aged, disabled, needy• The Rural Scene• • Commodity Credit Corporation makes loans to farmers• -based on amount of farmer’s surplus, parity price• • Agricultural price supports set precedent of federal aid to farmers• The Environment• • CCC plants trees, builds hiking trails, fire lookout towers• • Soil Conservation Service teaches methods to preserve soil• • Taylor Grazing Act reduces grazing on public lands• • Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) creates electricity, prevents floods• • Government adds national parks, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas• • Government-sponsored stripmining, coal burning cause pollution
1930s Culture
Art, Film, Music, and Literature
Art Deco Art deco was an artistic and design movement that was popular from about 1925 until the 1940s. It featured clean geometric shapes and was seen as elegant, functional, and extremely modern.
Art deco design covering the elevator doors at the Chrysler Building in New
York.
Gordon House, Frank Lloyd Wright.
American Art in the 1930s
• During the 1930s, American artists stopped relying so heavily on European trends and techniques. Instead, they began to focus on American subjects-- particularly the land and people in their regions.
• Famous for her detailed paintings of floral subjects, Georgia O'Keefe was also inspired by the landscape of the American southwest.
• Regional painter Grant Wood painted one of the iconic images of America during the Great Depression, capturing the no-nonsense attitude of the average American in his painting, American Gothic.
Deer Skull with Pedernal, Georgia O'Keefe. 1936.
American Gothic, Grant Wood. 1930.
The Golden Age of Hollywood
• After the advent of "talking pictures" in 1927, Hollywood experienced an incredible explosion of talent during the 1930s. Stars like Myrna Loy, Rita Hayworth, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers drew crowds to the cinemas in droves.
• One major reason for the popularity of movies
was simply escapism-- during the hardship of the Great Depression, comic films by the Marx brothers and musicals like Top Hat were ways to escape the disappointments of daily life.
Radio
Radio truly came into its own during the 1930s. Not only were there musical programs and news broadcasts-- there were also serial dramas, comedy shows, and kids' programming. Audiences tuned in nightly to hear the continuing adventures of the Lone Ranger, to listen to Dick Tracy solve another dastardly crime. Many Hollywood stars, like Orson Welles, got their start in radio.
John Steinbeck
A writer of numerous short stories and novels, John Steinbeck grew famous during the 1930s for his depiction of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression in Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. Both books were enormously popular-- if controversial. Steinbeck did not
shy away from describing what he saw as some of the downfalls of capitalism and the harsh realities of life, and many of his books were banned in certain states.
One of the most important figures in American folk music, Woody Guthrie learned to play story-telling songs and the blues during his travels across the Dust Bowl. Many of his songs describe life during the Great Depression, and champion the rights of the average American citizen.
This land is your land, this land is my landFrom California to the New York island; From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and me.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway, I saw above me that endless skyway: I saw below me that golden valley: This land was made for you and me.
I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts; And all around me a voice was sounding: This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there And on the sign it said "No Trespassing." But on the other side it didn't say nothing, That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people, By the relief office I seen my people; As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking Is this land made for you and me?
