Depression, the New Deal & Hope in New Mexico A Look at the 30s, 40s and 50s in New Mexico

A little history….

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM The economic prosperity of the 1920s ended with an economic disaster. We have come to refer to that disaster as the Great Depression. By 1933 production in American factories and plants had fallen, thousands of banks, with no money to lend and no cash on hand, closed their doors.

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM In the end, millions of American workers found themselves without work and without even the hope of work. As people looked into the future and so only more hardship to come, hope began to fade. The Depression would jolt many out of the American Dream forcing them to look at the realities of widespread poverty.

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM IN A NUT SHELL WHAT HAPPENED WAS...

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM During the economic boom of the Roaring Twenties, the traditional values of rural America were challenged by the Jazz Age, symbolized by women smoking, drinking, and wearing short skirts. The average American was busy buying automobiles and household appliances, and speculating in the stock market, where big money could be made. 

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM Those appliances were bought on credit, however. Although businesses had made huge gains — 65 percent — from the mechanization of manufacturing, the average worker’s wages had only increased 8 percent.

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM The imbalance between the rich and the poor, with 0.1 percent of society earning the same total income as 42 percent, combined with production of more and more goods and rising personal debt, could not be sustained.

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM On Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression, the worst economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world. It spread from the United States to the rest of the world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the early 1940s.

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM And KABOOM! Everything—the lives that most had known—was simply gone!

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM With banks failing and businesses closing, more than 15 million Americans (one-quarter of the workforce) became unemployed!!!

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM Videos #1 and 2

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM Hooverville?????

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM During the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted approximately a decade, shantytowns appeared across the U.S. as unemployed people were evicted from their homes. As the Depression worsened in the 1930s, causing severe hardships for millions of Americans, many looked to the federal government for assistance. 

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM When the government failed to provide relief, President Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) was blamed for the intolerable economic and social conditions, and the shantytowns that cropped up across the nation, primarily on the outskirts of major cities, became known as Hoovervilles.

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM Video #3

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM The highly unpopular Hoover, a Republican, was defeated in the 1932 presidential election by Democrat Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945), whose New Deal recovery programs eventually helped lift the U.S. out of the Depression. In the early 1940s, most remaining Hoovervilles were torn down.

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM THE BONUS MARCH: World War I veterans block the steps of the Capital during the Bonus March, July 5, 1932. 

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM In the summer of 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression, World War I veterans seeking early payment of a bonus scheduled for 1945 assembled in Washington to pressure Congress and the White House.

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM Hoover resisted the demand for an early bonus. Veterans benefits took up 25% of the 1932 federal budget. Even so, as the Bonus Expeditionary Force swelled to 60,000 men, the president secretly ordered that its members be given tents, cots, army rations and medical care.

The dust bowl The dust bowl

Dust Bowl

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM Video #4 Questions….See handout

Depression, the New deal & hope in NM