The Great Depression & New Deal (Part 1)

Origins and Causes of the Great Depression Extreme wealth inequalities Ballooning stock market Over-reliance on unprotected loans Too much speculation & borrowing Cycle of overproduction, price drops and lost jobs Unregulated banking system *Stock market crash was a symptom, not a cause

President Hoover: Attemps to end the Depression Inexperienced Conservative political and economic bias INDIRECT efforts to end Depression: Urged industry leaders not to cut wages or lay off workers Opposed direct federal aid Private charities and community efforts DIRECT efforts to end Depression: Temporary moratorium on reparations payments (1 year) Federal Farm Board Federal Home Loan Bank Act Reconstruction Finance Corporation

“Hoover’s America” Soup kitchens and breadlines only continued to grow Unemployment continued to increase (rose to 25% - a “normal” healthy unemployment rate is approximately 4%) Men and women struggled in different ways (men usually “rode the rails”, women often stayed in their communities, looked for work and attempted to hide their poverty) Different races experienced the Depression differently (black (50%)and Latino-Americans (70%) were harder hit by unemployment than white Americans (30%)) Breakdown of the American family (number of abandoned families increased, children dropped out of school and went back to work or even “rode the rails” as well) Anger, distrust and protest simmered in the public consciousness (people were hungry and ready for change)

Hoovervilles

The Bonus Army/March World War One veterans Marched on Washington, 1932 Congregated around White House and refused to leave Gen. Douglas MacArthur called in by Hoover to attack and gas the protestors Deep anger at government; this event most likely guaranteed FDR’s election three months later Deepened class divisions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkmo4ygPTjc

“The Soup Song” (Maurice Sugar) by The New Singers I'm spending my nights at the flophouse - I'm spending my days on the street. I'm looking for work and I find none I wish I had something to eat! CHORUS: Sou-oopp! Sou-oop! They give me a bowl of sou-oo-oop Sou-oopp! Sou-oop! They give me a bowl of soup. (Repeat after each verse) I spent twenty years in the factory. I did everything I was told. They said I was loyal and faithful Now even before I get old. I saved fifty bucks with my banker. To buy me a car and a yacht. I went down to draw out my fortune, And this is the answer I got. I fought in the war for my country. I went out to bleed and to die. I thought that my country would help me, But this was my country's reply.

Roosevelt and the New Deal Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Programs to address the Depression “Relief, Recovery, Reform” Deficit-spending Consume our way out of the depression Changing role of government https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ_lizW5zSI