1. The Great Depression
AIM: What caused the Great Depression & how did the federal government respond?

2. I. The Great Crash

3. A. Causes of the Great Depression

5. Unemployment,
This downward spiral continued for 4 years; By 1932 unemployment was at 25%

6. II. Effects of the Great Depression
A. The Depression hit all classes:
“Hoovervilles”
Unprecedented poverty & suicide rates; fathers abandoned their families; lawlessness ensued

7. “Hoovervilles” & “Hoover Flags”

8. 3. African-Americans who had migrated to North were laid off as well as women
4. Mexican immigrants faced competition & deportation from angry Americans
5. The middle class was hit hard:
Refused relief checks & charity
Many lost their homes
Health care declined; doctor & dentist visits were “luxuries”

9. Employment Agencies & Relief-Check Lines

10. Soup Kitchens & Breadlines

12. These 4 potatoes are Christmas Dinner

13. David Glaser Class of ’15 took this picture

14. Life During the Depression continued
6. Rising unemployment (25%, 13 mil), bank & business failures
7. Bread lines, soup kitchens
8. Decline in birth rate

15. 10. Childhood anxiety; school enrollment increased
9. Psychological impact – people blamed themselves
10. Childhood anxiety; school enrollment increased

16. Why has Dad gone?

17. B. Past Times
1. Leisure: board games (Monopoly), pinball, cycling, escapist novels (The Good Earth, Gone w/ Wind)
2. Radio and Film: soap operas, “Lone Ranger,” War of the Worlds; movie attendance up (Marx Bros, etc.)

18. C. Dust Bowl

19. Mortgage Foreclosures

20. Hoover Struggles to Fight the Depression

21. III. Hoover’s Response to GD
“Prosperity is just around the corner.”

22. Hoover and Voluntarism
Initial response was to reassure Americans that prosperity would return
Reflected gov’t action & called for volunteerism among charities, local gov’t, & business
“Rugged individualism”

23. C. Reconstruction Finance Corps (RFC) which loaned money to failing businesses
TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS

24. Hawley Smoot Tariff-1930
Debt Moratorium

25. The Hoover administration initiated job-creation programs, like building the Hoover Dam
Boulder Dam was renamed Hoover Dam

26. F. Failure of Hoover Plan
1. Refusal to provide direct relief
2. Bonus Army March on Wash. 1932

27. Bonus Army
Douglas MacArthur
Dwight Eisenhower

28. Bank Failures,

29. VII. Summary
The inability of Republicans to resolve the economic depression opened the door for a Democratic takeover in politics
Democrats succeeded in relieving some suffering, restored hope, & created an unprecedented level of gov’t intervention in the process