1. Chapter 15 THE GREAT DEPRESSION
The American Nation In the Modern Era
4/5/2017
Chapter 15 THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Section 1: Prosperity Shattered
Section 2: Hard Times
Section 3: Hoover’s Policies
CHAPTER 15--THE GREAT DEPRESSION

2. Objectives: Section 1: Prosperity Shattered
Why did financial experts issue warnings about business practices during the 1920s?
Why did the stock market crash in 1929?
How did the banking crisis and subsequent business failures signal the beginning of the Great Depression?
What were the main causes of the Great Depression?

3. Warnings about business practices
Section 1: Prosperity Shattered
Warnings about business practices
farm crisis
“sick” industries
consumers’ reliance on credit
stock speculation

4. Reasons for the stock market crash of 1929
Section 1: Prosperity Shattered
Reasons for the stock market crash of 1929
Economic factors such as rising interest rates began to worry investors.
Investors sold stocks.
Stock prices dropped sharply, fueling panic.
Heavy selling continued.

5. Events signaling the Great Depression
Section 1: Prosperity Shattered
Events signaling the Great Depression
Banks failed due to heavy defaults, margin calls, and heavy withdrawals.
Bank failures deprived businesses of necessary resources and customers.
Businesses closed and workers lost their jobs.

6. Causes of the Great Depression
Section 1: Prosperity Shattered
Causes of the Great Depression
The global economic crisis decreased exports.
Unequal distribution of income reduced the total purchasing power available in the economy.
Consumer debt undermined individuals and increased economic chaos.

7. Objectives: Section 2: Hard Times
How did unemployment during the Great Depression affect the lives of American workers?
What hardships did urban and rural residents face during the depression?
How did the Great Depression affect family life and the attitudes of Americans?
How did popular culture offer an escape from the Great Depression?

8. Unemployment during the Great Depression
Section 2: Hard Times
Unemployment during the Great Depression
rose sharply
created severe financial problems
created severe emotional problems

9. Hardships during the depression
Section 2: Hard Times
Hardships during the depression
poverty
diminished expectations
low prices or lack of market for farm products
farm foreclosures
hunger
homelessness
deportation for aliens

10. Great Depression’s effects on family life and attitudes of Americans
Section 2: Hard Times
Great Depression’s effects on family life and attitudes of Americans
fractured some families, forced others to band together for survival
divorce rates up
birth rates down
many psychological problems

11. Popular culture during the depression
Section 2: Hard Times
Popular culture during the depression
movies
radio
comic books and popular novels

12. Objectives: Section 3: Hoover’s Policies
Why did President Hoover oppose government-sponsored direct relief for individuals during the Great Depression?
How did the Hoover administration attempt to solve the depression’s economic problems, and how successful were these efforts?
How did radicals and veterans respond to Hoover’s policies?
Why was Franklin D. Roosevelt such a popular candidate in the 1932 election?

13. Hoover’s opposition to government relief during the Great Depression
Section 3: Hoover’s Policies
Hoover’s opposition to government relief during the Great Depression
President Hoover believed that individuals and businesses should be self-reliant and that government help would create a bureaucracy.

14. Hoover’s attempts to solve economic problems
Section 3: Hoover’s Policies
Hoover’s attempts to solve economic problems
Public-works programs such as building Boulder Dam failed to relieve entrenched depression.
The Federal Farm Board, which made loans, established cooperatives, and bought surplus goods, avoided some foreclosures, but failed to end the farm crisis.
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which loaned taxpayer money to stabilize industries, helped some companies avoid bankruptcy, but used money for businesses, not people.

15. Radical response to Hoover’s policies
Section 3: Hoover’s Policies
Radical response to Hoover’s policies
staged protests
became involved legally
Veterans’ response
gathered in Washington D.C. to demand payment of their pension bonuses

16. Reasons for Roosevelt’s popularity
Section 3: Hoover’s Policies
Reasons for Roosevelt’s popularity
Roosevelt’s optimism and enthusiasm contrasted with Hoover’s gloom.
As governor of New York, Roosevelt had designed new relief programs.