1. The Nation’s Sick Economy
What caused the economy to go bad at the end of the 1920s?

2. Signs of Trouble in Late 20s
RR, farming, coal were struggling  layoffs begin
Congress tries to pass price controls, Coolidge vetoes
Easy credit  massive consumer debt  public stops buying [80% have no savings]
Income gap between rich & poor widening
$5,000- 9,999(5%)
$10,000 or more (1%)
$2,000-$4,999 (29%)
$1,999 or less (65%)

3. Herbert Hoover Elected
Sec’y of Commerce Herbert Hoover wins election (Laissez-Faire Republican)
philosophy towards rising unemployment: business will fix the problems itself
“We in America are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before.”

4. Bullish Stock Market
1929: Dow Jones Industrial Average (measures overall stock price) had gone up every year in 1920s
many stocks bought on 1) speculation (buy risky stocks, for a quick profit) or 2) buy on margin (small down pymt, borrow rest)

5. The Stock Market Crashes
Investors worry about unemployemnt, begin selling stock
Stock market plunges, Oct 29th “black Tuesday” 16.4 million shares were “dumped”, stock market loses 25% of its value
panic ensues $30 billion lost

6. Financial Collapse
run on banks = people try to pull remaining money out  11K of 25K banks to collapse
90K businesses go bankrupt, unemp. rate jumps from 5% to 25%, US GNP drops 50%

7. Effects of the Depression
How did urban and rural people survive during
the Great Depression?

8. Suffering at Home
Financial and housing market collapse  people lose homes
move into makeshift shelters (Hoover hotels) creating Shantytowns known as “Hoovervilles”

9. Soup Kitchens & Bread Lines
some people eat out of garbage cans
charities set up soup kitchen & bread lines

11. Racial Issues in 1930s
Af-Am unemp. = 50% [2x rest of US]
1933: competition over low paying jobs  greatest number of lynchings since Recon
In SW, whites compete with Hispanics  demand Hispanics be deported (13K deported, 200 lynched)

12. Depression in Rural America & The Dust Bowl
rural areas hit hard by depression & natural catastrophe
land overused, native plants removed  top soil blew away during wind storms [“Dust Bowl”]
“Migrant Mother”, by Dorothea Lange

14. affects KS, OK, TX, NM & CO
farmers unable to pay back debt to banks [400k farms foreclosed upon ( )]
families forced to migrate west, migrants known as “Okies”, discriminated in jobs/housing [Grapes of Wrath]

15. Effects on the American Family
Men: feelings of failure  abandon families, become hoboes “riding the rails”
2. Women: had to stretch food/clothes as far as possible, men given jobs before women
3. Young Children: Poor diets/lack of health care = malnutrition & disease, schools are closed = uneducated future pop
4. Teenagers: Many also “ride the rails” to travel the country, issue becomes rampant crime by teens & against teens
Overall: Suicide rate rose more than 30%, 1/3 more institutionalized