The Great Depression

The End of Prosperity…The Beginning of a Colossal Struggle

1920’s- Evidence of Prosperity

• 1921- 1.5 million cars sold

• 1929- 4.5 million cars sold

• 80 million people to movies/ week

• Rising stock prices• 1928 RCA ($85-

$420)

Rising Stock Prices= Bull Market

• Continuing rising stock prices

• “Everybody Ought to be Rich”

• People “bought on the margin”

• Speculation

What goes up…must come down!

• Few predicted a Bear Market

• This is a continual drop in stock prices

And then BAM!!

October 29,1929

• Black Tuesday• $15 Billion in stock

lost in one day• Panic spread-

everybody sold their stocks

Panic of 1929 ensued…

• $50 billion loss by end of November

• Examples• GE- $396- $168• US Steel- $261- $150• “on the margin”

purchasers forced to sell everything

Economic collapse…a vicious cycle

• Andrew Mellon and comrades in denial

• Businesses slowed production/ laid off workers

• No jobs/ no consumption

• More lay offs/ slower production

And this is how the Great Depression began

• Between 1929 and 1931 the GNP dropped by almost 30%

• Unemployment quickly rose to over 20%

Banking crisis

• Unable to pay bank debts(farmers, individuals)

• Small banks could not pay big banks and failed

• People rushed to take out their money

• 1929- 1933- 9,700 banks failed

What did people think?

This was all part of the natural business cycle in a free enterprise

economy

Causes of the Great Depression

1. Overproduction

2. Bank failures

3. Stock market crash

4. Struggling industries

5. Unequal distribution of wealth

6. Unwise trade policies

Coming to a classroom near you…

President Hoover and the Great Depression

HERE IT IS….

Depression hits home

• Who suffered?• Everybody• Especially new

immigrants, Latin American, African Americans

• They were the last to be hired, first to be fired

In the Cities…

• Thousands of unemployed competed for jobs, food, and shelter

• Sometimes literally-• American citizens

fought for food scraps like animals

Farm families

• Better equipped to get basic necessities

• “It’s my sister’s turn to eat” WV schoolgirl

People lost their homes and left to look for work…

• People begged for food

• Stole food• Some starved to death• Built clusters of

shacks from cardboard or wood

• Blamed Hoover…

HoovervilleHooverville

How did people survive? They needed food clothing, shelter, and money.

• Relatives, neighbors, and churches

• Red Cross • Salvation Army• People robbed bread

trucks• Private charity could

not provide for all

More to come…

Hoover’s philosophy

• Gave little help to Americans

• Insisted economic downturn was temporary

• In 1930 declared, “The Depression is Over”