The Great Depression & New Deal, 1929-1941

Origins and Causes Extreme wealth inequalities Unwise borrowing and too much debt Overproduction and uneven distribution Ballooning stock market Too much speculation & buying on margin (borrowing money from a broker to purchase stock) Stock Market crash was trigger Banks lacked money, people lost savings, debts were called in Production stopped, workers fired, no income, consumption declined, no profits, more workers fired Smoot-Hawley Tariff dampened commerce globally and intensified Depression. 2

President Herbert Hoover Hoover’s response was to do little (Laissez-faire: let things take their course w/o interference) Only state & local, not Federal, governments should provide relief to the needy Self-help & volunteerism Self-help cooperatives As Depression deepened: Federal loans to banks, states, & local governments 3

Hoovervilles 4

The Bonus Army/March WWI veterans Gov’t denied early service bonus Marched on Washington (1932) Camped around White House & Capitol Military led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur evicted veterans from D.C. Anger at Hoover’s gov’t Deep class divisions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNOsIB5VMSQ

Roosevelt and the New Deal Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) ”First Hundred Days” - Programs to address the Depression “Relief, Recovery, Reform” Deficit spending/Debt Consume our way out of the depression Role of government enlarged 6

Immediate Responses, 1933 “Bank Holiday” & Emergency Banking Act Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) Federal funds for relief National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) Fair work and competition codes Labor rights 7

Bank run: people rushing to the bank to withdraw their savings.

Financial System Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Insured individual bank deposits Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Regulated trading practices in stocks and bonds 9

New Deal Programs Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Soil Conservation Service Building roads, park trails Planting trees Irrigation and range management Targeted young men age 18- 25 who were housed in work camps http://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=qolPqXNGW3I 10

Public Works Administration (PWA) -Managed all large public works projects that used skilled labor, putting millions back to work. -Set work hours and minimum wage -Didn’t allow child labor

Tennessee Valley Authority 12

TVA (1933) One of the most innovative ideas of Roosevelt’s recovery plan: He asked Congress to create “a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise.” Flood control, Electricity, Irrigation, Jobs Still functioning today

Second New Deal (1935-1938) After pulling back on federal government spending in 1934 over concern about the rising national debt and fear that Americans would become too dependent on government-provided jobs, FDR saw unemployment shoot up again sharply and the recovery stall. In 1935, he launched another series of programs and reforms to speed up the recovery, provide economic relief/security to more Americans, and ensure his re-election in 1936.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) Biggest agency 1935 employed 8 million and $2 billion fund Bridges, reservoirs, irrigation, sewage, schools, playgrounds, education, training Work Programs paid minimum wages, pulling people off charity and soup lines “We Work Again” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk0Sp TOi9Aw 15

Propaganda/Education Government Promotional Film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq5UiGdje8U 16

1935 Social Security Act Safety net for all Americans (unemployment system, disability insurance, old-age pension, child-welfare benefits) Percentage of paycheck (payroll tax) Based on shorter life-span Intended to supplement (not replace) income 17

Wagner Act, officially National Labor Relations Act (1935) Single most-important piece of labor legislation enacted in the U.S. in the 20th century. Main purpose was to establish the legal right of most workers (excepting agricultural and domestic workers) to organize or join labor unions and to bargain collectively with their employers. Prohibited employers from engaging in unfair labor practices, and set up a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with the power to hear and resolve labor disputes.

Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (Wage & Hours Bill)  FLSA establishes: Federal Minimum Wage Forty-hour Work Week Overtime Pay FLSA prohibits: Oppressive child labor  

The Dust Bowl 1930’s economic and environmental disaster in Southern Plains states Overproduction, monocrops Farmers plowed up native grasses to meet needs of booming wheat market Soil exhaustion, soil erosion Drought and winds = dust storms 1935 “Black Blizzard”: Winds blew soil from CO and NE, blackened the sky across the plains, into the East Coast and Atlantic Ocean 20

Responses Killed millions of animals, destroyed millions of tons of food Soil Conservation Service Taylor Grazing Act 21

Migrants: Okies Poor whites and sharecroppers Evicted from homes in OK, TX, MI, ARK Going to CAL L.A. Police Chief “bum blockade” 22

Mexican and Okie Farmworkers 23

Problems with New Deal Favored large industries and business Hurt some small farmers Local agencies administered relief and ran programs Relief based on race: scaled payments Criticism of new deal: http://www.lhs.rcs.k12.tn.us/teachers/pughc/Po werpoint/New%20Deal/The%20New%20Deal%2 0and%20FDR.swf 24

Mexican Repatriation - Nearly 1 million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans sent to Mexico - L.A. County deported 12,000 - Colorado deported 20,000 25

Indian Reorganization Act (1934) Economic & political assistance Business Councils Tribal Constitutions Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior Dept Although the IRA was meant to reverse assimilation policies & provide tribes with greater autonomy, some rejected it 26

Women Eleanor Roosevelt Work: women made less money than men and were discouraged from taking jobs men needed. Patriotic home: conserve, recycle, help America “as a woman” (sewing, canning, etc.) 27

African Americans Unemployment rate reached 50% Sharecropping Jobs in gov’t, “Black Cabinet” Mary McCloud Bethune 100,000 blacks evicted by AAA No loans from FHA http://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=Gk0SpTOi9Aw 28

Criticisms of New Deal Claims: Gave Federal Government too much power Piled up national debt Telling businesses how to operate was destroying our free enterprise system Undermined individualism and promoted Socialism Focused too much on helping “big business” and didn’t tackle wealth inequalities

Major Critics Senator Huey Long Father Charles Coughlin Liberty League

“Share the Wealth” Huey Long Populist Governor and Senator from Louisiana Use of radio and sensational claims Rhetoric of poverty / class tensions “Share the Wealth” Plan Social Justice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iGxjtlKVok&ebc=ANyPxKqzcQ_UIaTZyLtwaubG6IVezwC3Hcqbl Rx1c7ftsbB3i3iad1YknUfEYmXBqq-yPb3ee1LtueobI-eMiCdd2Hbts9_Ukg (start video 3:40)

Father Coughlin utilizes Radio A Catholic priest from Detroit who outwardly criticized the New Deal because he thought its reforms and relief efforts were too moderate. Began broadcasting a weekly radio show in 1930 that amassed a following of 40 million listeners. He blamed the Great Depression on Wall Street, crooked financiers, and Jews. Demanded higher taxes on the rich and nationalization (government takeover) of the entire American banking system.

Liberty League Group of business leaders and anti-New Deal politicians of both parties Alarmed by growing deficit spending and government intervention in business, their purpose was to organize opposition to the New Deal and “teach…respect for the rights of persons and property.”

Public Art and Culture Federal Writers Project Theater Oral histories of slavery, folk lore, Indian stories, Mexican Revolution, cowboys, frontier life, etc National cultural resources and heritage Federal Arts Program http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKsm3Sm BBKU&feature=related 34

Federal Theatre Project 35

Writer’s & Theater Project 36

WPA Posters 37

Travel through the West 38

New Deal Work Mural 39

End of the Depression Federal spending on an unprecedented level failed to stop it, but buffered its effects on the public. Expanded role of the federal government in the American economy and increased power of Executive Branch Made the federal government into a “broker state” between labor and capital, and other competing economic interests Social programs and “safety net” Brought fed gov’t into lives most Westerners WWII ended the Depression 40

Comparisons with the Present? Wealth inequalities Deregulation Bad Home mortgages High level of individual debt Inflated costs & uncontrolled speculative investments in commodities Collapse of investment-debt-loan system A Vicious Cycle: Retraction of loans, increase in job losses, fall in investments, layoffs, decline in consumption, reduced production, layoffs, no consumption…