• Flip to the blank side of your handout• Analyze the painting quietly• “spill” words & thoughts that come to YOUR mind onto the card
Word Spill
“Employment Agency” Isaac Soyer
• A decade of overspending led to a sudden CRASH of the economy• Thousands in cities were out of jobs
• People became desperate & discouraged
Taking a step back…1928 election:
• We now know that the U.S. associated “prosperity” with “Republican president”
• Coolidge chose not to run• Hoover (R) wins by a landslide• Hoover had previously been Sec. of Commerce, thus
aiding in that prosperity
“We in America are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is
vanishing among us.” – Herbert Hoover 1928
Blinders???
President Hoover
• Aimed for following in Cal’s footsteps• 7 months after he’s president the stock market crashes• Worst economic depression in history!
Recapping Signs of Trouble• People were blinded by
wealth & prosperity • The rich didn’t see trouble
coming• Some Americans had not
shared in the prosperity of the 20s (they saw it coming)
• Textiles & mining were industries that lost many jobs during the 20s
PA mining town tombstone reads: “For 40 years beneath the sod, with pick & spade I did my task.
The coal king’s slave, but now, thank God, I’m free at last”
Farmers suffered during the 20sFarm expenses had risen much faster than the prices that
farmers received or their products
• Farmers did NOT reduce production (it was their living!)
• Result: prices for farm products stayed low & income fell
• Downward spiral = no power to buy goods or pay off loans
The crash is coming!August 1929 – many investors worried that the
boom might soon “run out” or end
ON YOUR STICKIE WRITE DOWN…
Something you would
DEFINITELY want to
spend $$ on
Something you would
NEVER want to spend $$
on
Investor fear grows…
• They began selling their stocks• By September this paranoia caught on & many more sold stocks• The volume of selling caused the prices of each stock to fall• Result: selling continued, stock prices tumbled
DEMAND
SUPPLY
THINK…. What’s
something you love? You hate?
Many investors had bought stocks on margin • Buyers of stocks on margin can pay only part of the
cost of the stock when they make the purchase if they don’t have a lot of $$
• They can borrow the rest from stockbrokers
Stockbrokers: invest in the stock market for individuals or corporations
• With prices falling, brokers asked investors to pay back what they owed
• Investors who could not repay their loans had to sell their stock
• Panic quickly set in
Oct 24-Oct 29People tried to unload millions of shares, resulting in
stock prices dropping even further
• Oct 29: Black Tuesday – when the market opened, a wild stampede of selling hit the NYSE
• Prices plunged as there were no buyers• People who thought they owned valuable stocks
were left with worthless paper• Result: business leaders tried to restore confidence in the
economy, but it was no use