The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in US history. From 1929 to 1940, unemployment rose to 22% as many banks failed. People lost their savings and homes. Millions stood in breadlines. Dust storms ruined farms in the Dust Bowl. Families migrated west in search of work. President Hoover initially believed voluntary cooperation and individualism could solve the crisis, but the Depression worsened under his leadership until he implemented some relief programs, though it was too little too late and he lost re-election in a landslide to FDR.

1. Music: Brother can you spare a dime
The Great
Depression
1929-1940

2. 1. Story
32 Years old
7 kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1heTNwnJJ4

3. Single worst economic disaster
in the United States

4.  Unemployment rose to 22%
 Those who had jobs took a wage cut or
worked less hours

5. CAUSES
 Over Production
 High demand and
prices during WWI
 Demand and prices
fall after war
 Farmers could not
pay back loans

6. CAUSES
 Decrease in consumer spending
 Rising prices, low wages
 Overbuying on credit, large debts had to
be paid off
 Uneven distribution of income – Rich got
richer and poor got poorer – many
Americans could not afford to buy goods
produced

7. CAUSES
 Over speculation
 Stocks bought on the hope of quick profit
 Buying on Margin – paying a small % of
stock’s price and borrowing the rest
 High tariffs harm world trade

8. STOCK MARKET CRASH
 October 29, 1929 –
Black Tuesday
 Stock market fell to
all time low
 Those who bought
stocks on credit
stuck with huge
debts

9. THE “BUBBLE BURSTS”
 Banks fail – people withdrew funds
 Banks invested in stock market –
could not repay loans
 1933 – 11,000 of nation’s 25,000 banks
had failed
 Account not insured – millions lost
their savings
 Clip – It’s a Wonderful Life -
http://vimeo.com/89261487

11. DOMINO EFFECT
People lose jobs
Businesses close down or lay off
More people lose jobs
(higher unemployment)

12. EXAMPLE
 80,000 seat football stadium
 “You are now unemployed”
 2/3 will still be unemployed
in four years
 Next week – another 80,000
unemployed
 Continues for 162 weeks = 13 million
unemployed

13. HARDSHIPS AND SUFFERING DURING THE
GREAT DEPRESSION

14. HOMELESS POPULATION INCREASES
 Shantytowns sprang up – little towns
consisting of shacks made out of crates
and boxes, also called “Hoovervilles”

16.  Children were malnourished and
suffered from disease.
 Rickets is caused by a
lack of vitamin D,
calcium, or phosphate - leads to
softening and weakening of the bones.

17. Garden adjacent to the dugout home of jack Whinery,
homesteader. Pie Town, New Mexico, September 1940.
Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee.
The Faro Caudill family eating dinner in their dugout.
Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940.

18. Thousands stood in breadlines or soup
kitchens for free food.

21. AFRICAN AMERICANS AND LATINOS
 Higher unemployment, lowest pay
 Laid off to make room for white
workers
 Last hired, first fired
 Many Latinos were deported back to
Mexico

22. Chopping cotton on rented land near White Plains. White
Plains, Greene County, Georgia, June 1941. Reproduction
from color slide.
http://extras.denverpost.com/archive/captured.html

23. HOBOS
 Transients who wandered the country
looking for work or better life
 Rode in railroad boxcars, slept under
bridges

27. THE DUST BOWL
 Area of the country from Kansas to Texas
hit hard by over-farming and drought

28. CAUSED BY:
 Plowing that removed top layer of
grass
 Soil is exposed and blown away by
wind storms, dust travels hundreds of
miles

32. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_eR0PmDXfs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fTwxY1TFqg

34. OKIES
 Families affected by
dust bowl that
migrated to
California looking
for work

36. Couples at square dance. McIntosh County, Oklahoma, 1939
or 1940, Reproduction from color slide
http://extras.denverpost.com/archive/captured.html

37. THE BONUS ARMY – 1932
 WWI veterans and their families
marched on Washington D.C.
 Demanded bonus that had been
promised to war veterans be paid early

38.  Hoover opposed paying bonus early
 Bonus Army erects Shantytown near
capitol
 Senate votes down bill to pay out
bonuses

40.  Hoover demands Bonus Army leave,
however, many stay
 Sends General Douglas MacArthur and
army to remove them
 Violence breaks out and shantytown
burns to the ground

42. AMERICAN RESPONSE
 Stunned and outraged
Hoover’s image suffers

43. HOOVER’S RESPONSE TO GREAT
DEPRESSION
 Voluntary
cooperation from
businesses and
charities to help
needy
 Rugged
Individualism –
people should
succeed through
their own efforts
 Opposed any form
of direct relief

44.  The Depression became worse and
Hoover became (more) unpopular

45. EVENTUALLY HE STARTED GOVERNMENT
RELIEF PROGRAMS
 Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam) – provide
electricity and flood control along
Colorado River
 Create jobs

47. FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANKING ACT
 Lowered mortgage rates for
homeowners and allowed farmers to
refinance their farm loans and avoid
foreclosure
 Direct intervention

48. RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION
 $2 Billion in emergency financing for
banks
 Money would trickle down to
American citizens through job growth
and higher wages
 Criticized for benefiting only
corporations

49. TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
 Presidential Election 1932
 Hoover (Republican) v.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democrat)
 FDR wins overwhelmingly –
23 million votes v. 16 million for
Hoover
 Democrats also capture 2/3rd majority
in Senate and ¾ majority in House