1. The Great Depression & New Deal, 1929-1941

2. Origins and Causes □Extreme wealth inequalities □Unwise borrowing and too much debt □Overproduction and uneven distribution □Ballooning stock market □Too much speculation & buying on margin (borrowing money from a broker to purchase stock) □Stock Market crash was trigger □Banks lacked money, people lost savings, debts were called in □Production stopped, workers fired, no income, consumption declined, no profits, more workers fired

3. President Herbert Hoover Hoover’s response was to do little ( Laissez-faire : let things take their course w/o interference) □Only state & local, not Federal, governments should provide relief to the needy □Self-help & volunteerism □Self-help cooperatives As Depression deepened: □Federal loans to banks, states, & local governments

4. Hoovervilles

5. The Bonus Army/March □WWI veterans □Gov’t denied early pensions □Marched on Washington (1932) □Camped around White House & Capitol □Military led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur evicted veterans from D.C. □Deep anger at gov’t □Deep class divisions □https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNO sIB5VMSQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNO sIB5VMSQ

6. Roosevelt and the New Deal □Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) □”First Hundred Days” - Programs to address the Depression □“Relief, Recovery, Reform” □Debt spending □Consume our way out of the depression □Role of government enlarged

7. Immediate Responses, 1933 □“Bank Holiday” & Emergency Banking Act □Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) ■ Federal funds for relief □National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) ■ Fair work and competition codes ■ Labor rights

8. Bank run: people rushing to the bank to withdraw their savings.

9. Financial System □Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) ■ Insured individual bank deposits □Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ■ Regulated trading practices in stocks and bonds

10. New Deal Programs Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) □Soil Conservation Service □Building roads, park trails □Planting trees □Irrigation and range management □Targeted young men age 18- 25 who were housed in work camps □http://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=qolPqXNGW3Ihttp://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=qolPqXNGW3I

11. Public Works Administration (PWA) -Managed all large public works projects that used skilled labor, putting millions back to work. -Set work hours and minimum wage -Didn’t allow child labor

12. Tennessee Valley Authority

13. TVA (1933) □One of the most innovative ideas of Roosevelt’s recovery plan: He asked Congress to create “a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise.” □Flood control, Electricity, Irrigation, Jobs □Still functioning today

14. Works Progress Administration (WPA) □Biggest agency □1935 employed 8 million and $2 billion fund ■ Bridges, reservoirs, irrigation, sewage, schools, playgrounds, education, training □Work Programs paid minimum wages, pulling people off charity and soup lines □“We Work Again” ■ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk0Sp TOi9Aw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk0Sp TOi9Aw

15. 1935 Social Security Act □Safety net for all Americans □Percentage of paycheck □Based on shorter life-span □Intended to supplement (not replace) income □Less inclined to “retire”

16. Propaganda/Education □Government Promotional Film □http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq5UiGdje8Uhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq5UiGdje8U

17. Water and the West □Bureau of Reclamation □Hoover Dam ■ Water for L.A., Imperial Valley, Phoenix, and power for region □Central Valley Project harnessed the Sacramento River ■ Water storage, irrigation, hydro-electricity ■ Federal-corporate alliance

18. Hoover Dam

19. Grand Coulee Dam □Columbia River, 1941 □Largest concrete structure in the world □Created a 150 mile lake □Bonneville Power Administration □Powered 70% of Northwest

21. The Dust Bowl □Economic and environmental disaster □Overproduction, monocrops □Plowed up grasses for farms to meet the needs of a booming wheat market □Soil exhaustion, soil erosion □Drought and winds □1935 “Black Blizzard”: Winds blew soil from CO and NE, blackened the sky across the plains, into the East Coast and Atlantic Ocean

22. Responses □Killed millions of animals, burned millions of tons of food □Taylor Grazing Act ■ Federal control of grazing

23. Migrants: Okies □Poor whites and sharecroppers □Evicted from homes in OK, TX, MI, ARK □Going to CAL □L.A. Police Chief “bum blockade”

24. Mexican and Okie Farmworkers

25. Problems with New Deal □Favored large industries and business □Hurt some small farmers □Local agencies administered relief and ran programs □Relief based on race: scaled payments □Criticism of new deal: http://www.lhs.rcs.k12.tn.us/teachers/pughc/Po werpoint/New%20Deal/The%20New%20Deal%2 0and%20FDR.swf http://www.lhs.rcs.k12.tn.us/teachers/pughc/Po werpoint/New%20Deal/The%20New%20Deal%2 0and%20FDR.swf

26. Mexican Repatriation - Nearly 1 million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans sent to Mexico - L.A. County deported 12,000 - Colorado deported 20,000

27. Indian Reorganization Act (1934) ■ Economic & political assistance ■ Business Councils ■ Tribal Constitutions ■ Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior Dept ■ Although the IRA was meant to reverse assimilation policies & provide tribes with greater autonomy, some rejected it

28. Women □Eleanor Roosevelt □Work: women made less money than men and were discouraged from taking jobs men needed. □Patriotic home: conserve, recycle, help America “as a woman” (sewing, canning, etc.)

29. African Americans □Unemployment rate reached 50% □Sharecropping □Jobs in gov’t, “Black Cabinet” □Mary McCloud Bethune □100,000 blacks evicted by AAA □No loans from FHA □http://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=Gk0SpTOi9Awhttp://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=Gk0SpTOi9Aw

30. Criticisms of New Deal Claims: □Gave Federal Government too much power □Piled up national debt □Telling businesses how to operate was destroying our free enterprise system □Undermined individualism and promoted Socialism □Focused too much on helping “big business” and didn’t tackle wealth inequalities

31. Major Critics □Senator Huey Long □Father Charles Coughlin □Francis Townsend □Liberty League

32. “Share the Wealth” □Huey Long □Populist Governor and Senator from Louisiana □Use of radio and sensational claims □Rhetoric of poverty / class tensions □“Share the Wealth” □ Social Justice □http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdzAbxsjPRA&NR=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdzAbxsjPRA&NR=1

33. Public Art and Culture □Federal Writers Project □Theater □Oral histories of slavery, folk lore, Indian stories, Mexican Revolution, cowboys, frontier life, etc □National cultural resources and heritage □Federal Arts Program ■ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKsm3Sm BBKU&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKsm3Sm BBKU&feature=related

34. Federal Theatre Project

35. Writer’s & Theater Project

36. WPA Posters

37. Travel through the West

38. New Deal Work Mural

39. End of the Depression □Federal spending on an unprecedented level failed to stop it, but buffered its effects on the public. □Expanded role of the federal government in the American economy and increased power of Executive Branch □Made the federal government into a “broker state” between labor and capital, and competing economic interests □Social programs and “safety net” □Brought fed gov’t into lives most Westerners □WWII ended the Depression

40. Comparisons with the Present? □Wealth inequalities □Deregulation □Bad Home mortgages □Massive individual debt □Inflated costs & uncontrolled speculative investments in commodities □Collapse of investment-debt-loan system □A Vicious Cycle: ■ Retraction of loans, increase in job losses, fall in investments, layoffs, decline in consumption, reduced production, layoffs, no consumption…