Trials of the “Greatest Generation:” The Great Depression and World War

II (1929-1945)

Onset of the Great Depression

Major Features of Depression

• Unemployment rate as high as 25% (which does not even count underemployment)

• Bank failures in the thousands with deposits lost

• Wave of home foreclosures• Dust Bowl devastating Southern Plains states• Massive transient population, including hobos

and “Okies”

A Nation Coming Apart at the Seams

Bonus Army March - 1932

Election of 1932 Herbert Hoover vs. Franklin Roosevelt

The New Deal

Dimensions/Goals of New Deal

• Relief: Most immediate, short-term goal; attend to basic needs of public such as food and shelter; least controversial, but many Americans were initially reluctant to accept charity

• Recovery: Moderate-term goal of bringing the economy out of a depression; entailed Keynesian policies of using government spending to stimulate economic growth; included many public works programs to employ Americans; downside is that it requires running budget deficits and relying upon government bureaucracy that may not be as efficient as private sector

Dimensions/Goals of New Deal (continued)

• Reform: Longest-term goal of making structural changes to U.S. economy to prevent future depressions; most controversial because it more permanently places government in the business of managing the economy

Civilian Conservation Corps

Works Progress Administration

Social Security Act

New Deal Setbacks/Limitations

• Gender differential in pay• Much segregation in New Deal programs• Certain amount of “goldbricking” or “shovel-

leaning”• Conservative Supreme Court justices struck

down several FDR initiatives

FDR’s “Court Packing” Plan - 1937

Consequences of New Deal

• Brought the U.S. economy out of the worst depths of the Great Depression, but did NOT by itself produce a recovery.

• Helped shift the focus of the American public onto the executive branch as the driving force in the government.

• Solidified the notion that the federal government should provide some degree of a safety net for its citizens.

Rise of Fascism

Japanese Empire

Nazi Domination of Europe

Pearl Harbor Attack – 12/7/41

Allied “Big Three” Leaders

Race War vs. Conflict of Ideologies

U.S. War Effort in Europe

Dwight Eisenhower

Invasion of Normandy

Collapse of Nazi Germany

U.S. War Effort in the Pacific

Battle of Midway

Fall of Iwo Jima

Use of Atomic Bomb

Surrender of Japan

Homefront

End of World War II

Recommended Primary Sources for Papers & Other Assignments

• The 25 Points by National Socialist Party (1920)

• First Inaugural Address by FDR (Mar ‘33)• “Share Our Wealth” Plan by Huey Long (1934)• “Blood, Toil, Tear and Sweat” speech by

Winston Churchill (1940)• Arsenal of Democracy speech by FDR (Dec ‘41)• Four Freedoms speech by FDR (Jan ‘41)