Great Depression

Slide 2: Contents • Election of 1928, 1932, 1936 • Flow charts of causes and reversing spiral of Great Depression • Graphs of stock market and unemployment in the 1930s • Dust Bowl • Election of 1932 and links to FDR inaugural address • New Deal Programs • Fireside Chats (link to audio of 1st fireside chat) • Critics of FDR • Social Security • Movies, radio and the arts of the 1930s 2

Slide 3: • (R) Herbert Hoover – Food Administration WWI – Secretary of Commerce • (D) Al Smith (corner) – Governor of New York – 1st Irish Catholic to run for White House • Advantage? – Republican prosperity in the 1920s ensure easy victory for Hoover 3

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Slide 5: Causes of the Depression People lose Demand Fewer goods their jobs. drops. are sold. In order to The Spiral stay in business Even more people Of companies cut Lose their confidence wages And spend less money Depression People lose their Demand Companies are confidence & drops even forced to cut costs start saving their further. by laying people off money 5

Slide 6: Stock Market Crash of 1929 • The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted on October 29, 1929. • $14 billion was lost in one day. • Stock Market will not recover for decades. • Unofficial start of the Great Depression. 6

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Slide 9: Great Depression in the Cities • In cities across the country people: – lost their jobs – Were evicted from their houses – Ended up living on the street. • Shantytowns, soup kitchens and bread lines appeared 9

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Slide 12: People waiting in line for bread and soup and also living out of their car. 12

Slide 13: • Farmers in the Midwest had over farmed the soil. • Drought conditions led to 100 of acres of soil being “blown away.” • These ‘black blizzards’ lasted from 1933 to 1939. 13

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Slide 25: • WW I vets marched on Washington DC. • Demanded the bonus that was due in 1945 be paid presently. 25

Slide 26: Bonus Army in DC… • Congress refused their demands. • Gen. MacArthur broke up the marchers and had their shanty town burned to the ground. • Public relations disaster for President Hoover. 26

Slide 27: FDR Hoover 27

Slide 28: What were we thinking? 28

Slide 29: Key Quotes: FDR’s Inauguration Speech This Nation asks for action, and action now. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. I shall ask Congress for broad executive power to wage was against the emergency. Link to: •Text of Speech •Video 29

Slide 30: • Series of radio addresses by FDR • 30 total between 1933 to 1944 • FDR used these to calm American people down. • CLICK on the radio to link to hear the 1st chat on the Bank Crisis 30

Slide 31: FDR and the New Deal • During the presidential campaign of 1932, FDR promised Americans a NEW DEAL. • This would be his program to get America back on its feet. 31

Slide 32: Goals of New Deal Program 1. Relief  Help people right away 2. Recovery  Get the US out of the Depression 3. Reform  Make sure another depression does not happen 32

Slide 33: New Deal: Relief • Federal Emergency Relief Association (FERA) • Civil Works Administration (CWA) • Public Works Administration (PWA) • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) • Farm Credit Association (FCA) • Homeowners Loan Corporation (HOLC) 33

Slide 34: New Deal: Recovery • Works Progress Administration (WPA) • National Recovery Administration (NRA) • Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) • National Youth Administration (NYA) • Federal Housing Act (FHA) 34

Slide 35: New Deal: Reform • Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC) • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) • Wagner Act (NLRB) • Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) • Social Security 35

Slide 36: Reversing the Spiral of Depression More Pay = Government Alphabet More Taxes Spending $ Agencies More Jobs More Jobs Cycle Democrats called of More goods have this Process More Spending to be produced ‘Pump Priming’ Prosperity! Demand for Demand for goods increases goods increases More goods have More More people with to be produced Spending Jobs = more pay $ 36

Slide 37: FDR and the Supreme Court 37

Slide 38: Court Packing…. • The Supreme Court struck down several New Deal laws as unconstitutional. • FDR wanted to increase the size of the court from 9 to 15. – Would appoint justices who were pro-New Deal • Congress did not agree with FDR. • This hurt FDR’s image. 38

Slide 39: Huey Long • FDR was NOT doing enough for the poor. • Long pushed his “Share Our Wealth” program. • Take all income over $1,000,000 to give: – House – Car – Annual Salary – For all Americans 39

Slide 40: Dr. Francis Townshend • FDR was NOT doing enough for old people. • Proposed a $200 a month pension to everyone over 60. • This was good for (2) reasons: – $$ to boost economy – Open a job up for a younger American 40

Slide 41: Charles Coughlin • FDR had NOT done enough…. • Fr. Coughlin felt that FDR did not take on the powerful bankers in the United States. • Used the radio to blast FDR and became known as the “Radio Priest”. 41

Slide 42: Liberty League • FDR had gone TO FAR with the New Deal. • Interfering with business and people’s lives. • Government was taking away freedoms from Americans. 42

Slide 43: Social Security Act of 1935 43

Slide 44: How is Social Security funded? Social Security Trust Fund Workers Employers 44

Slide 45: Social Security Dependent Old Age Families Unemployment Insurance + Pension Disabled45

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Slide 48: • October 30, 1938 • Orson Wells performed HG Wells classic over the radio. – Made Wells famous • Caused a panic because people thought Martians were invading – Link to listen to the radio broadcast. 48

Slide 49: • Famous painting entitled “American Gothic”. • Best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. 49

Slide 50: • Folk singer during the Depression • His personal and musical styles were deeply influenced by his childhood in rural Oklahoma during the Great Depression years. • This Land is Your Land – famous song • CLICK HERE to listen to song on YouTube 50

Slide 51: • Classical novel written by John Steinbeck in 1939. • Focuses on a poor family of sharecroppers : – Driven from their home by the drought – They head to California looking for a better life 51

Slide 52: What will end the Great Depression? • America’s entry into World War II 52