1. The Great Depression

2. Many found being broke humiliating.
Stock market crash
Didn’t realize the effect it would have
No money to replenish what was borrowed
Many found being broke humiliating.

3. The Stock Market People bought stocks on margins Stocks fall
If a stock is $100 you can pay $10 now and the rest later when the stock rose
Stocks fall
Now the person has less than $100 and no money to pay back

4. With people panicking about their money investors tried to sell their stocks
This leads to a huge decline in stocks
Stocks were worthless now
People who bought on “margins” now could not pay
Investors were average people that were now broke
JP Morgan steps in and buys millions of stocks temporarily saves stock market
And then….

5. What about the people? Farmers were already feeling the effects
Prices of crops went down
Many farms foreclosed
People could not afford luxuries
Factories shut down
Businesses went out
Banks could not pay out money  Banks runs
People could not pay their taxes
Schools shut down due to lack of funds
Many families became homeless and had to live in shanties

7. Many waited in unemployment lines hoping for a job.

8. People in cities would wait in line for bread to bring to their family.

9. Some families were forced to relocate because they had no money.

10. “Hooverville” Some families were forced to live in shanty towns
A grouping of shacks and tents in vacant lots
They were referred to as “Hooverville” because of President Hoover’s lack of help during the depression.

11. Hooverville

12. Out of the Dust:
The South
and the
Dust Bowl

13. 1934, 1936, 1939 A drought in the South lead to dust storms that destroyed crops.
“The Dust Bowl”

14. The South Was Buried Crops turned to dust=No food to be sent out
Homes buried
Fields blown away
South in state of emergency
Dust Bowl the #1 weather crisis of the 20th century

16. 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: Blew winds from CO and NE, blackened the sky across the plains, into the East and Atlantic Ocean

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

18. Two Families During the Depression

19. A Farm Foreclosure

20. Some families tried to make money by selling useful crafts like baskets.

21. *FDR* When he was inaugurated unemployment had increased by 7 million.
Poor sections (like Harlem) had 50% of the pop. unemployed
Instated the “New Deal”
People became more optimistic

22. People everywhere were effected by the depression
It wasn’t till President Roosevelt took over and tried to put the economy back together that people even saw a glimmer of hope

23. Origins and Causes of the Great Depression
Extreme wealth inequalities – Why is this bad in a Capitalist Economy?
Ballooning stock market – Boom & Bust Cycles
Over reliance on unprotected loans - International loans included!
Too much speculation & borrowing – “Buying on margin”
Overproduction and uneven distribution capabilities
Stock Market crash was a symptom (NOT THE CAUSE)
Banks lacked money, people lost savings, debts were called in, no cash
Bank Runs
Production stopped, workers fired, no $, consumption declined, no profits, more workers fired – DO YOU SEE A CYCLE HERE???

24. President Hoover Herbert Hoover Progressive War Reconstruction
Opposed direct federal aid
Self-help & volunteerism
Self-help cooperatives

25. The Bonus Army/March World War One veterans
Gov’t denied their pensions
Marched on Washington, 1932
Congregated around White House
Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Military evicted them from D.C.
Deep anger at gov’t
Deep class divisions

26. Roosevelt and the New Deal
Frederick Delano Roosevelt (FDR)
Programs to address the Depression
“Relief, Recovery, Reform”
Debt spending
Consume our way out of the depression
Role of government

27. Immediate Responses, 1933 Federal Emergency Relief Act
Federal funds for relief
National Industrial Recovery Act
Fair work and competition codes
Administration to enforce codes
Guaranteed labor’s right to organize

28. New Deal Programs Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Soil Conservation Service
Soil Erosion
Planting trees
Irrigation and range management

29. 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, pulled them off charity and soup lines
“We Work Again”

30. 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”

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

32. Problems with New Deal
Relief based on race: Tucson scaled payments based on race
Favored large industries and business
Hurt some small farmers
Local agencies administered relief and ran programs

33. “Share the Wealth” Huey Long: Senator & Presidential Candidate
Populist Gov. in LA
Use of radio and sensational claims
Rhetoric of poverty / class tensions
Share the Wealth (of the Rich)
Higher Taxes on the wealthy classes
Social Justice

34. End of the Depression
Federal spending on an unprecedented level failed to stop it
The largest entrance of the federal government into the American economy
Made the federal government into a “broker state” between labor and capital
Social programs and “safety net”
Brought fed gov’t into the lives of nearly all Westerners
WWII ended the Depression

35. 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…

36. Opponents of the New Deal (Against)
C. Supreme Court Reacts
New Deal Plans Ruled Unconstitutional
2. Roosevelt Reacts: ‘Court Packing Scheme’
a. Wants Court raised from 9 to 15
-President chooses new judges
-New judges would favor New Deal
3. Friends & Enemies Very Upset!!!
a. FDR wants TOOO much POWER
b. Congress with all friends won’t pass
law for FDR
4. FDR Wins Anyway- By 1938 New Judges
a. 1 Justice switches, 1 Justice retires