great depression

1. What was life like
in the 1930’s?

2. THE GREAT DEPRESSION

3. WHAT WAS THE GREAT
DEPRESSION?
• The Great Depression was a time
between 1929 through the 1930’s when
the entire world suffered from a poor
economy. (This means that people were
having a hard time finding jobs, making
money, and paying for the things they
needed.)

4. What was the Great Depression?
 The worst economic crisis of the century
 Over 13 million people unemployed
 “Dust bowl” as a result of drought
 Farmers lost crops
 Many lost their homes

5. 5
This is a picture of the Dust
Bowl!

6. What caused the Great Depression?
 People spent more money than they had
during the Roaring 20s
 The new concept of “credit” - Spend
NOW, pay off later…Does not work!

7. Why was this bad?
• Credit system
– People didn’t really have
the money they were
spending
• WWI
– The U.S. was a major
credit loaner to other
nations in need
– Many of these nations
could not pay us back

8. Unequal Distribution of Wealth
 No middle class
 Supply not equal to demand
 Credit cards created false demand

9. Stock Market Crash
 Many stocks purchased
 Stock prices fell
 Huge sums of money lost
Thursday, October 24, 1929

10. The Results
 Bank Failure

11.  Unemployment

12.  Loss of homes
 “Hoovervilles”
Here were all these people living in old
rusted-out car bodies. ... One family ... [was]
living in a piano box. This wasn't just a little
section, this was maybe 10 miles wide and 10
miles long. People living in whatever they
could junk together. ..."

13.  Dustbowls
A traveler noticed a nice new hat by the side of the road, and he stopped to pick it up.
Under the hat was a man, buried up to his neck in the dust! As he dug the poor fellow out
the traveler asked if he wanted a ride into town. "No, I'll get there myself,"
the man replied, "I'm on a horse."
(Excerpt from THE DUST BOWL by Tricia Andryszewski, p. 33.)

14.  Depression

15. 15
STOP TAKING NOTES HERE
PLEASE!

16. Did everyone suffer during the
depression?

17. “The only thing we have to fear
is fear itself”
“Our greatest primary task is to put people to work”
Franklin D. Roosevelt

18. FDR’s New Deal
 Relief for the needy
 Jobs provided
 Business and government reformed

19. So What?

20. A Long Way From Chicago
By Richard Peck