1. Great Depression and the New Deal

2. Causes of the Great Depression
Overproduction
Underconsumption
Stock Market speculation
Stock Market Crash 1929

3. Overproduction New technology
Farmers and industries making more than people can buy

4. Underconsumption People were not buying as much
After the stock market crash people stop buying things that aren’t necessities

5. Stock Market speculation
“Pools” would put money into a stock, watch it rise and then cash in
(This made other people think they should buy in, but once the pool sold their stock the value would go down)

6. Stock Market Crash 1929
Stock prices peaked in September 1929, then fell
Confidence in the market started to fall
Black Tuesday (Oct. 29) the bottom fell out
Shareholders frantically tried to sell their stocks
The nation’s confidence fell as well

7. Dust Bowl Drought began in early 1930s
**summarized on next slide!!!
Drought began in early 1930s
Farmers exhausted the land through overproduction
There were few trees or grasses left to hold the soil down
Windstorms blew dust hundreds of miles

8. Drought plus overfarming, combined with climate changes that created windstorms, left parts of the Midwest covered in dust.

9. Hoovervilles Unemployment caused people to lose their homes
People live in shantytowns called Hoovervilles

10. New Deal Three Goals Relief for the needy Economic recovery
Financial reform

11. Eleanor Roosevelt
President Roosevelt was encouraged by his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, to continue providing aid to farmers and workers. She was a social reformer and traveled the country, observing social conditions and reminding the president about the suffering of the nation’s people. She also urged her husband to appoint women to government positions.

12. Important New Deal Programs
Tennessee Valley Authority
Brought electricity to rural areas
Provided jobs

13. Wagner Act
Protected the rights of workers to join unions and engage in collective bargaining with employers
Prohibited unfair labor practices
Set maximum work hours, minimum wage, and child labor laws

14. Social Security Act
Provided old-age insurance for retirees 65 or older and their spouses
Unemployment compensation system
Aid to families with dependent children and the disabled

15. Roosevelt’s Political Challenges
Huey Long of Louisiana initially supported the New Deal, but eventually withdrew his support of FDR because he wanted to run for president. He proposed a nationwide social program called Share-Our-Wealth. He was assassinated at the height of his popularity.

16. “Court Packing Bill”
FDR proposed a court-reform bill to add 6 new justices to the Supreme Court
Many people felt he was violating separation of powers and judicial independence

17. Neutrality Act
When Roosevelt took office he tried to reach out to the world in several ways. However, in 1935 Congress passed the Neutrality Acts to keep the U.S. out of future wars. Americans wanted to maintain a policy of isolationism.