1. Great Depression and the 1930s

2. Election of 1928 Republican Herbert Hoover won
Continued with economic trends of Harding and Coolidge
“We are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the
history of any land”

3. The Stock Market (1922-1929) Bull Market – steady growth
By 1929, 10% of Americans owned stock (4 million)
Buying on margin
purchasing a stock for only part of its value, as low as 10%

4. Crash of 1929
Black Tuesday – October 29th
$30 billion was lost

5. Banking Banks lost money Had loaned to stock speculators
Invested depositors’ money in the market
Many closed
Bank run

6. Hawley-Smoot Tariff Tariff rates increased on over 900 items
Hurt US trade with Europe
Economy worsened

8. Early Years of the Depression

9. Problems in Society
Hunger
Bread lines
Soup kitchens

10. Housing foreclosures and evictions
shantytowns – nicknamed “Hoovervilles”

11. The Dust Bowl Causes poor farming techniques on the Great Plains
farm prices drop – farms left unplanted
drought from

12. Okies

14. Anger & Frustration

15. Protests and Marches

16. The Bonus Army
WW I veterans march to Washington to demand their $1,000 war bonuses
Hoover brought in US Army troops to break up the marchers

17. President Hoover’s Response
Downplayed the public’s fear
Refused to give direct cash relief payments, individuals are responsible for own welfare
Hoover Dam – construction project to provide jobs
“Business has turned the corner, we have now passed the worst” - President Hoover, January 1930

18. Crime Rates Increased
Bonnie and Clyde ( )

19. Roosevelt to the Rescue
A New Deal for the Forgotten Man

20. Roosevelt takes Office
9 million savings accounts depleted
Unemployment at its highest = 25%
The New Deal
Purpose:
Relief – immediate aid, often direct cash
Recovery – short term help, jobs programs and business reorganization
Reform – prevention, never let this happen again

21. The First Hundred Days
“Fireside chats” – weekly radio broadcasts by FDR
Emergency Banking Relief Act
Bank Holiday – closed nation’s banks for 10 days so they could restructure and reorganize before reopening
FDR explained this in his first Fireside Chat
Glass-Steagall Act
FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) government agency that insured bank deposits up to $2,500

22. Restoring American confidence in banking
Why?

23. First New Deal 1933 – 1935

24. Economic Legislation Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Purpose:
Regulate trading in the stock market

25. Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
Purpose:
Reduce surplus farm products
Paid farmers to destroy crops and plant less = crop prices increase
Found unconstitutional b/c it favored large one crop farming

26. Relief and Employment Plans
“prime the pump” of recovery

27. Federal Emergency Relief Act
Gave $500 million in direct aid payments to the poor
State and local governments gave it out

28. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Employed 250, yr old men
Run by War Department, military style discipline
Forestry projects

29. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Hydro-electric dam construction
Jobs
Electricity
Lakes for recreation

30. The Second New Deal

31. Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Jobs – construction of highways, streets, public buildings, bridges, and airports

32. Social Security Act
Retirement plan for people over 65 funded by tax on wages paid equally by employer and employee
Gave direct aid payments to disabled and poor families with young children

33. Rural Electrification Administration
WPA would build power lines into rural areas

34. National Labor Relations Act
Also known as the Wagner Act
Purpose:
Maintain the right for labor to make unions
Supported collective bargaining
Supported by Supreme Court
NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel – 1937 – workers can form/join unions

35. Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO)
Joined together several industries that did not have unions
Led by John L. Lewis

36. Fair Labor Standards Act
Set minimum wage and maximum hours (8 hr workday = 40 hour week +4 overtime hours)
25 cents was first minimum wage (1938)
Child labor laws
Children under 18 could not do dangerous jobs
Children under 16 could not work during school hours

37. Reactions to the New Deal

38. Huey Long – the Kingfish
FDR/government should give more to Americans
“Every man a king”

39. Father Coughlin Did not support the New Deal
National Union for Social Justice
Wanted:
higher taxes on the wealthy
Federal government to take over the banking system

40. New Deal and the Supreme Court
Supreme Court found some of the New Deal programs unconstitutional
FDR’s court packing plan
Attempt to restructure the Supreme Court in his favor

41. Why did some Americans equate FDR to a dictator?

42. Legacy of the New Deal Government as an economic safety net
Keynesian economics
Reduce interest rates
Increase government spending on infrastructure
Creation of BIG government to create more departments to insure Americans well-being (protecting the general welfare)