1929-1933

2.  Industrial cities see huge unemployment rates
 In 1932: Cleveland=50%, Akron=60%, Toledo=80%
 Farm income declined 60%
 1/3 of farmers sold their land between ‘29 & ‘32
 Unemployment was seen as a personal failure
 Local and state relief efforts were overwhelmed
 Red Cross, Salvation Army
 Hoboes
 Scavenging for scraps of food

3.  Homelessness
 Malnutrition, even death
from starvation
 Shacks,
shanties=“Hoovervilles”
 Wanderers
 Freight trains, parks,
under bridges

6. Unemployed man,
San Francisco
bread line, photo
taken by
Dorothea Lange,
1933

7. Hooverville, outside of Seattle, 1933

8.  Drought hits the Plains in 1930
 Accompanied by heat & high winds
 Led to “black blizzards”
 Killed livestock & humans; respiratory problems
 Black clouds reached the east coast
 Drought lingered until 1937 in most of the region, 1940
in others
 As many as 2.5 million people left the Plains
 Traveled west, esp. CA
 “Okies”
 Popularized by Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath

12.  1st concern=restoring confidence in the economy
 Asked business leaders & labor leaders for voluntary
cooperation
 No laying off workers & no asking for higher wages
 Increased government spending; but not enough
 Increased taxes in 1932 (Revenue Act)
 Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 worsened economy
globally
 Popularity had sunk by 1931

13.  Est. Reconstruction
Finance Corporation in
1932
 Provided federal loans
to troubled banks, RRs,
& other businesses
 Funded public works
projects
 But most of the $$ went
to big banks &
corporations
 Had a large budget; but
didn’t use it

14.  Avoided providing direct
relief to homeless &
unemployed
 Thought it would destroy
desire to work &
undermine self-worth
 Some thought him
hypocritical
 In 1930 refused $25 million
to feed Arkansas farmers
 But approved $45 million
to feed their livestock
 In 1932 refused to help pay
Chicago teachers & city
workers
 But approved a $90 million
loan to Chicago’s Central
Republic Bank

15.  1924, Congress passed a
$1K bonus for WWI vets
 Wouldn’t mature until
1945
 But vets demanded that
gov’t pay immediately
 Movement initiated in
Portland, OR
 By the time they reached
Washington, DC they
had 20K followers
 HOR agreed to
immediate payment, but
Senate shot them down
 Hoover refused to meet
w/ the veterans

16.  W/ conflict seeming
inevitable, Hoover
ordered the Sec. of War
to “surround the affected
area & clear it w/o delay.”
 In July of ‘32 the US
Army (led by Patton &
MacArthur) attacked the
veterans’ camp
 Set the tents & shacks
ablaze & dispersed the
Bonus Army
 100+ veterans were
injured, 1 infant was
killed
 Hardened the nation’s
anti-Hoover opinion

18.  Hoover, once a
symbol of optimism,
was now a failure
 He was doomed in
the election of 1932
 Only received 39%
of popular vote