Hoover and the Depression

The Coming of the Depression

The Great Crash  40% increase in the Market  10/21 & 10/23 – big declines  10/29 – Black Tuesday  16 Million shares traded

Causes of the Depression  Lack of diversification – mostly cars & construction  Demand not up to supply (uneven distribution of wealth)  Over speculation of the Market  Decline in exports / International debt  Easy Credit  Buying on Margin

Progress of the Depression  No confidence in the economy  Banks collapse  $2.5 million in deposits are gone  Unbelievable unemployment rates  Cuts in wages and hours  Money supply down  Interest Rates go up

The American People in Hard Times

Unemployment and Relief  Ohio Cities face 50-80% unemployment  Suicide rates are up  Nomads and trash pickers  Soup kitchens can’t handle #’s  Tax revenue is down (no help in sight)  Health issues (malnourished)  Dust Bowl/Black Blizzards/Okies

African Americans and the Depression  Worsened an already bad life of most  Whites take jobs  Scottsboro Riots in South  NAACP & CIO

Hispanics and Asians in the Depression  Went inward in communities  Many went back to Mexico  Some join communist party  Chicanos – not allowed in schools, not admitted to hospitals  Treated like blacks, but had no historical connections to American society

Women and Families in the Depression  Go back to kitchen due to competition for jobs  Only one civil service job per family  Increase work because of need, took jobs men don’t want, mostly black women  No more consumerism  Pack many into one house  Make own clothes  Less divorce – too expensive  Men desert families  Lower birth and marriage rates

The Depression and Societal Values  Who is to blame?  Self Help books  Suicide  Crime  Racism  Sexism

The Depression and the Arts  Photography of rural poverty  Writers (Richard Wright – Native Son)  Steinbeck – Grapes of Wrath  Radio – Superman, Dick Tracy, Lone Ranger, Amos & Andy, World Series, Soaps, Hindenburg, War of the Worlds)  Movies – Mr. Smith goes to Washington, Disney, Wizard of Oz

The Allure of the Left  Communism softens due to the rise of Fascism Stalin might need FDR)  Critical of industry & government

The Ordeal of Herbert Hoover

The Hoover Program  Voluntary cooperation – don’t slow production (fails)  Federal Farm Board – try to buy surplus  Outlaws Strikes  Builds Hoover Dam  Rugged Individualism

A Deepening Crisis  Hoovervilles  Democrats get Congress  Gains brief surge in economy – uses it to justify his programs  Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Popular Protest  Farmers Holiday – hold back resources from market  Bonus Army – MacArthur, Eisenhower, & Patton sent to DC to displace Vets  Bad image of Hoover using military against his own people

The Election of 1932  Hoover is the “Most Hated an in America”  FDR – imaginative, energetic, charismatic  Promises a New Deal

The Interregnum (Lame Duck Period)  Banks are collapsing  Hoover wants a promise from FDR not to mess with banks  FDR refused

Effects of the Depression  Political – Hoover out, Democratic dominance, New Deal coming, Increase in Presidential Power  Economic – Business losses & failures, farm Foreclosures, unemployment issues, loss of personal savings, low prices  Social – end of Flappers, increased poverty & homelessness, new themes in art, stress on the family