1. The Great Depression
US History

2. Historical Unemployment

3. How do you stop the cycle?
Recession
Recession Hits – economy slows, sales of homes and autos slow
Car dealers order fewer cars, autoworkers laid off
Fewer houses being built, less need for construction workers
Auto production plant needs less steel, steelworkers laid off
Fewer houses are being built, furniture makers are laid off
Clothing sales/restaurant workers are laid off
How do you stop the cycle?

4. The Great Crash Historical Panics: Panic/Depression v. Recession
1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893, 1906, 1921
Panic/Depression v. Recession
Hoover’s Misnomer
Traditional Government Reaction

5. Causes of the Great Depression
Stock Crash of 1929 – Buying on Margin
Overproduction/Overspeculation of Goods
Concentration of Wealth
Richest 1% of the nation had 59% of the wealth
Poorest 87% of the nation had 10% of the wealth
Buying on Credit
International Economy
Farm Problems
Bank Failures
Tariff Policy

6. Discussion Questions
Does any one person or policy deserve the blame for the Great Depression? Who and/or why?
What should be the role of government in helping to address problems of unemployment and poverty?

7. Unemployment

8. Great Depression

9. Bread Lines

10. Bread Lines

11. Hoovervilles

12. Hoovervilles

13. Great Depression

14. Dust Bowl

15. Dust Bowl

16. Dust Bowl

17. Dust Bowl Migrants

18. Hoover’s Response to the Depression
Self Reliance/Rugged Individualism
Hawley Smoot Tariff
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)– 1932
Trickle Down Economics
Bonus Army – 1932

19. Trickle Down Economics
Cut Taxes and or/Give Money to Business/Wealthy
Business Invests/Expands & Hires More Workers
Worker Earn More Pay
Workers Buy Things Stimulating the Economy

20. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Background/Polio
Election of 1932
Fireside Chats
Eleanor Roosevelt

21. The New Deal Relief – immediate help to those who need it
Recovery – fix the Great Depression
Reform – prevent future depressions
Alphabet Soup Agencies
“Priming the Pump”
Companies Expand Production/Hire More Workers
Workers Buy Stuff
Government Gives People Jobs/Provides Direct Relief

22. Emergency Banking Act
FDR closed the nation’s banks by declaring a “bank holiday”
The government would inspect the banks and reopen them
Goal was to restore confidence in the US banking system

23. Federal Emergency Relief Act
Gave money to states and cities for aid to the unemployed and needy

24. Public Works Administration
Gave jobs to people working on large scale public projects like bridges, housing, hospitals, schools and aircraft carriers
(Old Memorial Auditorium and Old Buffalo War Memorial)

25. Civilian Conservation Corps
Gave jobs to 2.5 million young men working on conservation projects like planting trees, building parks, and flood control
Lived in camps onsite and sent most of the money home

26. Works Progress Administration
Jobs program to work on roads, bridges, airports, public buildings, playgrounds and golf courses; also offered money to artists, musicians, and writers
Largest program, employed 25% nation’s workforce between
(Old entrance to Buffalo Zoo and Connecticut Street Armory)

27. Tennessee Valley Authority
Provided jobs building dams to prevent flooding and provide electricity
Most criticized as it directly competed with private electrical companies

28. National Industry Recovery Act
Allowed industries to set up “codes of competition” to maintain prices, wages and hours
Allowed workers to organize unions and collectively bargain
Declared unconstitutional in 1935

29. Federal Housing Authority
The federal government would insure bank mortgages
Allowed people to get year mortgages with only a 10% down payment

30. Agricultural Adjustment Act
The government paid farmers not to grow excess crops and reduce the acres the planted in an attempt to increase prices
Declared unconstitutional in 1936

31. Glass Steagall Act
Created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure bank deposits up to $5000
Separated investment banks from commercial banks

32. Securities and Exchange Commission
Created the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the stock market and financial advisors

33. Social Security Act
Provides insurance and/or public assistance for people who are
Elderly
Unemployed
Handicapped
Paid for by taxes collected from workers and employers

34. National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
Guaranteed the right for workers to form unions and collectively bargain

35. Fair Labor Standards Act
Set up a minimum wage (originally .25 cents) and maximum hours (44 hours); outlawed child labor

36. Court Packing Conservative rejection of New Deal Programs
Schechter Poultry v. US
Butler v. US
Court Packing Plan (1937)
Reaction
Long Term Outcome
plan fails
no other New Deal programs are declared unconstitutional
ending of the New Deal

37. New Deal and Federal Authority
Banking – Emergency Banking Act & FDIC
Labor – Fair Labor Standards Act & Wagner Act
Welfare – Social Security Act
Housing – Federal Housing Administration
Government creates a safety net.
Programs are expensive – higher taxes.

38. Unemployment

39. Practice Question
What was one similarity between Hoover and FDR’s responses to the Great Depression? What was one difference between Hoover and FDR’s responses to the Great Depression? You will need a specific for Hoover and FDR for each part (2 in each answer/4 total).

40. 1920s Stock Market - Dow

41. FDR

42. Long, Townsend, Coughlin

43. John L. Lewis

44. Sit Down Strike

45. Memorial Day Massacre, 1937

46. Government Spending

47. Impact of the Great Depression
Federal Spending: 1930: 3.3 B 1934: 4.6 B 1936: 8.2 B 1937: 7.6 B 1939: 9.1 B 1942: 35.1 B
Debt as % of GDP: 1930: 15.9% 1934: 44.1% 1936: 42.8% 1937: 40.2% 1939: 47.2% 1942: 47.8%

48. Schechter Poultry v. US (1935)
Background:
The NRA gave the president the power to create industrial codes regulating hours, wages, and child labor.
Legal Question(s):
Did the NRA give too much power to the president? (Was the law constitutional?)
Legal Decision:
Yes (No) (9-0)
Impact:
The NRA and the AAA being declared unconstitutional inspired Roosevelt’s court packing plan.

49. Court Packing Plan

50. Criticism of the Plan

51. John Maynard Keynes
Deficit – amount a government is short in one year Debt – sum total of deficits Keynes argued it was OK to run deficits in times of crisis (war, depression, natural disaster).

52. Economic Recovery in Great Depression

53. Historical Deficits

54. Historical Debt