1. The Great Depression & New Deal Part 1: “Hoover’s America”

2. “The Soup Song” (Maurice Sugar) by The New Singers
I'm spending my nights at the flophouse - I'm spending my days on the street. I'm looking for work and I find none I wish I had something to eat! CHORUS: Sou-oopp! Sou-oop! They give me a bowl of sou-oo-oop Sou-oopp! Sou-oop! They give me a bowl of soup. (Repeat after each verse) I spent twenty years in the factory. I did everything I was told. They said I was loyal and faithful Now even before I get old. I saved fifty bucks with my banker. To buy me a car and a yacht. I went down to draw out my fortune, And this is the answer I got. I fought in the war for my country. I went out to bleed and to die. I thought that my country would help me, But this was my country's reply.

3. Question of the Day:
What challenges did the average American face during the Great Depression and what fundamental misunderstandings existed between the American people and their government and business leaders?

4. President Hoover Attempts to end the Depression
INDIRECT efforts to end Depression:
Urged industry leaders not to cut wages or lay off workers
Opposed direct federal aid
Promoted private charities and community efforts
DIRECT efforts to end Depression:
Temporary moratorium on WWI reparations and debt payments (1 year)
Emergency Relief and Construction Act: Doubled the amount of money put into infrastructure projects (spent 140 million to create jobs)
1932 Revenue Act: Increased taxes on the poorest (1% – 4%) and wealthiest Americans (to 63%) and an increase in the estate tax (1 – 43% for inheritances valued at 50k – 10m)
Federal Farm Board: subsidized farmers with price controls and long-term product storage
Federal Home Loan Bank Act: provided a fund to support financial institutions that held mortgages, making sure they weren’t too expensive for homeowners
Reconstruction Finance Corporation: bailout program for banks and other financial institutions related to housing, manufacturing and agriculture

5. “Life in Hoover’s America”
Soup kitchens and breadlines continued to multiply Private charities administered them as early as 1929; by 1933, the government was running them. One kitchen in a large city like Detroit might serve up to 3,000 people per day.
Homelessness increased to 2 million by 1932.
Unemployment continued to increase Unemployment rose to a high of 25% during the 1930s. A “normal” healthy unemployment rate is approximately 4%.
Men and women struggled in different ways Men usually “rode the rails”, women often stayed in their communities with their children, looked for work and attempted to hide their poverty.
Different races experienced the Depression differently African Americans (50%) and Latino-Americans (70%) were harder hit by unemployment than white Americans (30%).
Breakdown of the American family The number of abandoned families increased, children dropped out of school and went back to work, or even “rode the rails” as well).
Anger, distrust, and protest simmered in the public consciousness The Bonus Army March (WWI veterans), Hunger Marches (American Communist Party)

6. Hoovervilles: Shantytowns/Tent Cities

7. The Bonus Army/March
World War I veterans were struggling like most Americans
WWI vets marched on Washington during the summer of 1932 to demand the payment of a $500 bonus that was supposed to be paid to them by 1945
Congregated around White House, set up a tent city, and refused to leave
Gen. Douglas MacArthur was called in by President Hoover to attack and gas the protestors
These actions ignited deep anger at government, most likely guaranteeing FDR’s election three months later
Deepened class divisions

8. Henry Ford:
“The Depression is a wholesome thing in general…If it didn’t go on for a while, how would people profit from the illness?...A man will not do an honest day’s work if he can get out of it.”

9. Roosevelt and the New Deal
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)
Government programs to create jobs and a social safety net to address the Depression
Fireside Chat #1: “More Important Than Gold”.
Audio:
Full text:
Deficit-spending (government goes into debt to finance a project)
High taxes on the rich
Changing and expanding role of government

10. Activity:
Listen to FDRs first “Fireside Chat” (you can follow along with the full text as you listen).
Question: How would this broadcast make you feel if you were one of the people whose money was lost in a bank failure? How do you think Americans responded to this message from President Roosevelt?