1. Quick Write What were the 5 main causes for the Great Depression?
Clearly explain why these causes were the result of the Great Depression.

2. Causes and Effects of the Great Depression

3. Cause #1: Farming Prices
A farming family in 1929

4. Cause #2: Buying on Credit

5. Cause #3: Stocks and “Prosperity” Under Herbert Hoover

6. Cause #4: Unequal Distribution of Wealth

7. Cause #5: Stock Market Crash
Panic on Wall Street, Black Tuesday. An extra 400 police officers were needed to patrol the scene.

8. Unemployment as Percentage of the Labor Force
1900 
5 percent 
1910 
5.9 percent 
1920 
4 percent 
1925 
1929 
3.2 percent 
1930 
8.7 percent 
1932 
23.6 percent 
1933 
24.9 percent 
1934 
21.7 percent 
1935 
20.1 percent 
1936 
16.9 percent 
1937 
14.3 percent 
1938 
19 percent 
1939 
17.2 percent 
1940 
14.6 percent 
1950 
5 percent
Effects of the Great Depression – EMPLOYMENT

9. Effects of the Great Depression

10. Effects of the Depression
Nations Income:
Drops from $87 Billion to $75 Billion in 1930
1932 National Income drops to $42 Billion and to $40 Billion in 1933
600,000 Home owners lost their homes
Widespread Unemployment:
40% of all non-farming workers became unemployed
3% in 1929 to 25% in 1933

11. Effects of the Depression
25% of nations families did not have a single employed wage earner
By 1933 average family income had tumbled 40% from $2300 in 1929 to $1500 in 1933
Between 1929 and ,000 businesses failed
Between 1929 and 1933 over 6000 banks failed with over 9 million savings accounts lost ($2.5 billion)

13. Effects of the Depression
Production of Durable Goods: Fell 80 %
Durable Goods are long-term purchases such as autos, appliances, etc…

14. Employment Office During Depression Original caption: Employment office during depression days. Men studying announcement of jobs. Photograph Ca. 1930's.
Image: © Bettmann/CORBIS
Date Photographed:
ca. 1930s
Location Information:
USA

15. Effects of the Depression - Hoboes
There was an increase in “hoboes”, people who wandered the country looking for work
The Southern Pacific Railroad boasted that it threw 683,000 vagrants off its trains in 1931

16. Unemployed Men Carrying Suitcases to Los Angeles Two men carry suitcases as they walk down a deserted highway towards Los Angeles during the Great Depression. A billboard next to the highway, reads "Next Time Try The Train, Relax".
Image: © CORBIS
Photographer:
Dorothea Lange
Date Photographed:
March 1937

17. Effects of the Depression
Breakdown of families
Many men had to leave their families and travel the country looking for work and sending money home
Marriage rate dropped 15%
Soaring high school dropout rates (2-4 million)

19. Effects of the Great Depression – Farmers

20. Effects of the Great Depression – FARMING

21. Effects of the Depression
American farmers—who represented 25% of the economy—were already in an economic depression during the 1920s
Made it difficult for them to take part in the consumer-buying spree
After the war, farmers found themselves competing in an over-supplied international market.
Prices fell, and farmers were often unable to sell their products for a profit.

23. Effects of the Depression
Farm Prices:
Fell 65% - caused widespread hunger amongst farmers
Total farm income in 1929 was $6 billion
In 1933 it dropped to $2 billion
Between , one third of farmers lost their land.
Farmers armed with guns and pitchforks marched on local banks to prevent foreclosures

25. Effects of the Depression
The farming practices that made the plains so productive were beginning to take a toll on the land.
Farmers overgrazed livestock and over-plowed the fields to make more money.
This damaged the land and destroyed the regenerative properties of the soil.

27. Effects of the Depression
A drought began in 1931 that caused crops to shrivel, cattle to die, and the topsoil to blow away. This turned the West into one large dust bowl.

28. Effects of the Depression
In 1932, the national weather bureau reported 14 dust storms. The next year, they were up to 38.
These storms would last several days driven by high winds.
The winds blew the dust creating huge dark, yellowish clouds that, at times, blocked out the light of the sun.
Sometimes these dust clouds got up to 8,000 feet high and were accompanied by thunder and lightening.

31. Effects of the Great Depression – HOUSING

32. Effects of the Depression
During the Great Depression, many families lost their homes because they could not pay their mortgages.
By ,000 homeowners had lost their homes. These people had no choice but to seek alternative forms of shelter.
The homeless built settlements of cardboard and tar-paper shacks, called “Hoovervilles” in sardonic reference to Pres. Hoover

33. Effects of the Depression
Some of the men who were forced to live in these conditions possessed building skills and were able to build their houses out of stone.
Most people, however, resorted to building their residences out of box wood, cardboard, and any scraps of metal they could find. Some individuals even lived in water mains.

36. Effects of the Depression
Eventually, in 1941, a shack elimination program was put into effect, and shantytowns were torn down.
In what ways do you think life changed for people who lost their jobs, life savings, and homes, and ended up living in Hoovervilles? Is there anything comparable to Hoovervilles today?

37. Effects of the Great Depression – FAMILY LIFE

41. Effects of the Depression
Many families resorted to waiting in line for free hand-outs from others

42. Effects of the Great Depression – PHYSICAL & EMOTIONAL HEALTH
Line at a Soup Kitchen Unemployed men line up outside a Great Depression-era soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone. The storefront sign reads "Free Soup, Coffee and Doughnuts for the Unemployed."
Image: © CORBIS
Date Photographed:
ca. February 1931
Effects of the Great Depression –
PHYSICAL & EMOTIONAL HEALTH

43. Unemployed Men in Bread Line Unemployed men wait in long lines for bread and handouts during the Great Depression.
Image: © Bettmann/CORBIS
Date Photographed:
ca. 1930