The Great Depression

Roaring 20’s Sexual Revolution Women get right to vote Alcohol Lots of new jobs Lots of money from the war Jazz Age

A Lost Generation? Affects of World War 1 –Many Americans were totally disillusioned after WW1 -Particularly artists and writers –13 Million Dead –10 Million refugees –Shattered gender roles

Alcohol Puritan values in United States –Only military not to allow soldiers to drink Party time in Europe When soldiers returned they couldn’t understand what the problem was

Culture Clash Huge unemployment with soldiers returning from WW1 Access to alcohol and extra money became an issue

War-Torn? So many people were killed in WW1 that people wanted to live for the moment Personal savings was at an all-time low Baby Boom Lots of parties

Prohibition Never really worked Forced legal activity underground –Rum-Runners –Speak Easy’s –Criminals got rich Al Capone, Kennedy Family –Cops didn’t care

Birth of Stock Market Private investors start buying “stocks” in companies they like Everyone has lots of money so the stocks always rise in value Easy money?

How can it go wrong? The more people invested the higher the prices went, which led more people to invest. Prices seemed like they would never drop

What Happened? Stock prices dropped 80% in one day Billions and billions of dollars lost Banks go out of business –Recall loans –People lose their houses, cars

What did the Government do? At first? Nothing –This had never happened before and people did not know how to react –No social programs for citizens –Forced to rely on friends or family

What would you do? Do you want to encourage trade or encourage people to buy Canadian goods?

Tariffs Canada decides to impose high tariffs to discourage trade with other countries

Results? Other countries retaliated and prices went WAY up Salaries were down and prices were up Farmers affected the worst

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl, or the "dirty thirties", was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936 caused by severe drought coupled with decades of extensive farming without crop rotation It was a mostly man-made disaster caused when virgin top soil of the Great Plains was exposed to deep plowing, killing the natural grasses

Crop Rotation

New Deal New President FDR drops tariffs and spends TONNES of money on mega- projects to kick-start the economy WW2 starts in 1939