The Great Depression AIM: What caused the Great Depression & how did the federal government respond?

I. The Great Crash

A. Causes of the Great Depression

Unemployment, 1929-1942 This downward spiral continued for 4 years; By 1932 unemployment was at 25%

II. Effects of the Great Depression A. The Depression hit all classes: “Hoovervilles” Unprecedented poverty & suicide rates; fathers abandoned their families; lawlessness ensued

“Hoovervilles” & “Hoover Flags”

3. African-Americans who had migrated to North were laid off as well as women 4. Mexican immigrants faced competition & deportation from angry Americans 5. The middle class was hit hard: Refused relief checks & charity Many lost their homes Health care declined; doctor & dentist visits were “luxuries”

Employment Agencies & Relief-Check Lines

Soup Kitchens & Breadlines

These 4 potatoes are Christmas Dinner

David Glaser Class of ’15 took this picture

Life During the Depression continued 6. Rising unemployment (25%, 13 mil), bank & business failures 7. Bread lines, soup kitchens 8. Decline in birth rate

10. Childhood anxiety; school enrollment increased 9. Psychological impact – people blamed themselves 10. Childhood anxiety; school enrollment increased

Why has Dad gone?

B. Past Times 1. Leisure: board games (Monopoly), pinball, cycling, escapist novels (The Good Earth, Gone w/ Wind) 2. Radio and Film: soap operas, “Lone Ranger,” War of the Worlds; movie attendance up (Marx Bros, etc.)

C. Dust Bowl

Mortgage Foreclosures

Hoover Struggles to Fight the Depression

III. Hoover’s Response to GD “Prosperity is just around the corner.”

Hoover and Voluntarism Initial response was to reassure Americans that prosperity would return Reflected gov’t action & called for volunteerism among charities, local gov’t, & business “Rugged individualism”

C. Reconstruction Finance Corps (RFC) which loaned money to failing businesses TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS

Hawley Smoot Tariff-1930 Debt Moratorium - 1931

The Hoover administration initiated job-creation programs, like building the Hoover Dam Boulder Dam was renamed Hoover Dam

F. Failure of Hoover Plan 1. Refusal to provide direct relief 2. Bonus Army March on Wash. 1932

Bonus Army Douglas MacArthur Dwight Eisenhower

Bank Failures, 1929-1933

VII. Summary The inability of Republicans to resolve the economic depression opened the door for a Democratic takeover in politics Democrats succeeded in relieving some suffering, restored hope, & created an unprecedented level of gov’t intervention in the process