Life During The Great Depression and Hoover’s Response Chapter 18.2 and 18.3

Life During the Great Depression In 1930 alone over 1352 banks suspended operations In 1932 alone over 30,000 companies went out of business By 1933 over 25% of the workforce was unemployed

Life During the Great Depression The jobless often went hungry People stood in line for hours at soup kitchens and bread lines Thousands of people were unable to pay their rents and mortgages, and lost their homes Throughout the country, newly homeless people put up shacks on unused or public lands (Hoovervilles)

Hoovervilles Shantytowns built on public lands Comprised of people who lost their homes Hoboes: homeless, unemployed Americans who began walking, hitchhiking and riding rail cars across the country in search of work or a better life.

Immigrants Many immigrants who had recently come to America began leaving and heading back to their native countries, in search of work. However, the federal government also launched drives to send poor immigrants back to their native countries (forced exile). Many Mexican Americans were being deported at this time.

The Dust Bowl Farmers began to overwork the land and plant too many crops The soil began to lose its nutrients A massive drought hit the Midwest and caused much of the soil to turn into dirt/dust. Winds blew the arid earth and blackened the sky for hundreds of miles

The Dust Bowl The dust buried crops and livestock Humans or animals caught outside during the dust storms often died from suffocation The lack of crops and continuous dust storms drove farmers further into debt, and many abandoned their land to move out west

Dust Bowl http://www.histo ry.com/topics/du st- bowl/videos/ame rica-black-blizzard

Entertainment The hard times of the 1930’s led many Americans to want to escape their worries/horrors. Movies and radio grew increasingly popular 60 million Americans went to the movies each week The Wizard of Oz, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Gone With The Wind and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, all came out during the Great Depression

Hoover’s Response to the Depression

Promoting Recovery Urged business leaders and consumers to make rational decisions He desperately wanted to limit Bank Runs and Bank Closings He believed that America’s rugged individualism would keep the economy going Hoover was strongly against implementing socialist policies because he believed the American economic system was the best in the world

Hoovers Plan Hoover organized a series of conferences with heads of banks, railroads and other big business leaders in order to strategize solutions. He made them pledge to keep factories open and to stop slashing wages, however by 1931 most had broken those promises. Hoover increased Public Works, which are government financed building projects. However there were too few Public Works and millions remained unemployed.

Trying to Rescue the Banks Hoover wanted to increase the money supply to help banks make loans to corporation, in order to begin to grow the economy Created the National Credit Corporation (NCC) in order to allow troubled banks to continue to lend money to corporations (It failed to meet the nations needs). The economy continued to decline

Direct Help for Citizens Hoover strongly opposed the federal governments participation in Relief, which is money given directly to impoverished families Only state and local government should dole out relief With state and local governments lacking the funds to continue to dole out relief, and an increased support by Americans for Federal Relief, led to congress passing the Emergency Relief and Construction Act. The new act called for 1.5 billion dollars in public works and 300 million in emergency loans to the states for direct relief.

Marches and Protests Mobs began looting grocery stores and going on hunger marches, which were organized by the American Communist Party Some farmers blocked off highways and dumped milk into ditches Veterans of WW1 were promised a $1,000 bonus in 1945 for their service, but many of these men were starving/hungry and wanted their bonuses now They marched to Washington demanding their bonuses and protesting the government These marches and protests were done to show the government that the people were displeased with the slow speed of economic recovery, and that their needed to be decisive action

Douglas MacArthur After the bonus marches many veterans hung around Washington D.C. living in abandoned downtown buildings or in the many Hoovervilles in the city. President Hoover ordered General MacArthur to remove these squatters from just the downtown buildings However, MacArthur decided to remove all those individuals who were living in abandon buildings and in a Hooverville He brought with him 700 troops, Calvary, arms and tanks to remove the homeless from the city. They fired tear gas at the people and forcefully removed them from the city, which only further angered the people of this country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWvCCxOUsM8 Bonus Army March