“Brother can you spare a dime?”

STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1929  “Black Thursday”, October 24, 1929  “Black Tuesday”, October 29, 1929

STRUCTURE OF AMERICAN SOCIETY DISINTEGRATES FFactories and mines close BBanks are worthless CConsumer buying comes to a standstill

1932 – AMERICAN DREAMS ARE SHATTERED  14 million Americans are jobless (almost 1/3 the workforce)  Banks foreclose on houses and farms  No food, no clothes, no jobs  Recycled lifestyle

Causes of the Great Depression  Buying on Credit  American factories were putting out too many products  When the stock market crashed and everyone lost money, no one had money to buy goods  Prices fell  Agricultural surpluses soared

Stock Market problems  Speculation: Too many Americans were engaged in speculation – buying stocks & bonds hoping for a quick profit  Margin: Americans were buying “on margin” – paying a small percentage of a stock’s price as a down payment and borrowing the rest

Bank Failure  After the crash, many Americans panicked and withdrew their money from banks  Banks had invested in the Stock Market and lost money  In banks fail  By 1933 – 11,000 of the 25,000 banks nationwide had collapsed

Unemployment and bankruptcy  Between , the U.S. Gross National Product (GNP) – the total output of a nation’s goods & services – fell nearly 50% from $104 billion to $59 billion  90,000 businesses went bankrupt  Unemployment leaped from 3% in 1929 to 25% in 1933

Hoovervilles  The Great Depression brought hardship, homelessness, and hunger to millions  Across the country, people lost their jobs, and their homes  Some built makeshifts shacks out of scrap material  Before long whole shantytowns (sometimes called Hoovervilles in mock reference to the president) sprung up

 One of the common features of urban areas during the era were soup kitchens and bread lines  Soup kitchens and bread lines offered free or low-cost food for people

Dustbowl Approaching Stratford, Texas, 1934

Dust Storm Approaching Kansas

Aftermath of a Dust Storm

DUST BOWL ( DUST STORMS ) OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS

Black Sunday April 14, 1935  24 hours of a blinding dust storm  Dreaded black-blizzard covers entire disaster area  Drought adds further devastation

THE VICTIMS OF THE DUST BOWL  Colorado  Kansas  Oklahoma  New Mexico  Texas  Devastation of their cropland  Respiratory health issues  Unsanitary living  Rampant crime  Debt-ridden families

Dustbowl Affects  Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado were the hardest hit regions during the Dust Bowl  Many farmers migrated to California and other Pacific Coast states

DUST BOWL ORPHANS  Mass exodus to California  Opportunities in Russia  Migrant workers become source of cheap labor

Great Depression  The 1930s created the term “hoboes” to describe poor drifters  300,000 transients – or hoboes – hitched rides around the country on trains and slept under bridges (thousands were teenagers)  Injuries and death was common on railroad property; over 50,000 people were hurt or killed

Hoover Blamed for Depression  Hoover was not quick to react to the depression  He believed in “rugged individualism” – the idea that people succeed through their own efforts  People should take care of themselves, not depend on governmental hand-outs  He said people should “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”

Franklin Roosevelt Elected  Franklin Roosevelt ran for the residency in 1932  Hoover didn’t have a chance of winning, too many people blamed him for the depression  FDR’s platform for the election was known as the THREE R’s: Relief, Recovery, Reform  First Hundred Days: a whirlwind of reform was taken during this period  Roosevelt’s recovery plan was named New Deal

New Deal  Short range goals: relief and immediate recovery-next two years  Long range goals: permanent recovery and reform of abuses

Bank Reform  Glass Steagall Banking Reform Act-  Created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation  Peoples deposits were insured up to $5000  Money was taken off the gold standard  Gold was purchased at increased rates, getting more paper money into circulation, causing inflation and relieving some debtors problems

Creating Jobs and Improving Economy  Civilian Conservation Corps  Reforestation  Firefighting  Flood control  Swamp drainage  Federal Emergency Relief Act  Short term relief  Agricultural Adjustment Act  Money to farmers to meet their mortgages  Home Owners’ Loan Corporation  Refinance mortgages of nonfarm homes

Creating Jobs and Improving Economy  Federal Housing Administration  Loans given to improve old houses or complete new ones  Social Security Act  Money that can be collected by older generation not working  Passed primarily as a help to World War I Vets  National Recovery Administration  Hours of labor reduced allowing more people to work during the day