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The Great Depression

The Great Depression. The Roaring Twenties (1920-1929). Time of excess and celebration Repeal of the 18 th Amendment (Prohibition) Women have the right to vote Soldiers returning home from WWI. Bull Market. Rising stock prices Many became rich and invested in risky stock

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The Great Depression

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  1. The Great Depression

  2. The Roaring Twenties (1920-1929) • Time of excess and celebration • Repeal of the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) • Women have the right to vote • Soldiers returning home from WWI

  3. Bull Market • Rising stock prices • Many became rich and invested in risky stock • People buying stocks on credit • Buyers would pay only a 10% down-payment of their stock, relying on high market prices so they could eventually pay it all off

  4. Wealth of America • Poorly distributed • Industrial wages (blue collar) rose more slowly than corporate wages (white collar) • Farm incomes declined and suffered from growing debt and falling farm prices

  5. Black Thursday: October 29, 1929 • Stock Market crash causes • People buying on credit (necessities) • Government Policies: No regulation of stock market or businesses • Weak International Economy: Other countries still recovering from WWI • Rapid selling of stocks • Values dropped $14 billion

  6. Black Thursday: October 29,1929 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJpLMvgUXe8 • Write down two things that you find interesting about the video and why

  7. Results of Black Thursday • Millions of people lose their jobs • Banks recalled loans • People retrieving their money from banks • Banks close and people lose their life-savings

  8. President Hoover’s Response • Created new policies to encourage business growth, assuming that this would result in job creation • “Trickle Down” Theory • Idea that business recovers, creating jobs, and then the people recover • Many wealthy individuals held onto government money instead of reinvesting in their businesses, worsening the situation

  9. President Hoover’s Response • Reconstruction of Finance Corporation • Gave money to businesses • Hoover Moratorium • Stopped payment of war debt • Hoped to ease world-wide crisis and provide time for recovery

  10. President Hoover’s Response • The Bonus March: July 5, 1932 • 20,000 jobless WWI veterans go to Washington, D.C. and demand their war bonuses early • Hoover sends in the U.S. Army to stop protestors • Destroys his popularity

  11. “Hoovervilles” • Shanty-towns that cropped up over the nation on the outskirts of major cities • Built by homeless, unemployed American citizens

  12. “Hoovervilles” • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISniZI_H7mE What did the residents of Hoovervilles call newspapers?

  13. The Dust Bowl • Drought and dust storms in the Midwest due to over-farming • Farmers could no longer afford to plant crops • Forced farmers to leave land and migrate West in search of jobs

  14. The Dust Bowl

  15. DUSTBOWL CLIP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEYb9xjAhHI Write down two important pieces of information from the clip

  16. Impact of the Dust Bowl • Unemployment rose to an all-time high of 25% • Farmers suffer • “Oakies”- Farmers who moved to California

  17. Migrant Workers in the 1930s • Chose California because • Mild climate • Diversity of crops (peas, lettuce, oranges, lemons, pecans, avocadoes, grains, etc.) • Over exaggerated promises

  18. Problems in California • The worker to job ratio extremely high • Local and state infrastructures overworked

  19. The People • Rejected at the border • Very low wages • Lived in camps near worksite • Discrimination • Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

  20. Of Mice and Men • Based on experiences of John Steinbeck • Takes place in his birthplace of Salinas, CA • Spent summers working on family-worked ranches, and ranches that employed migrant workers • Exposed to the harsher aspects of migrant life and dark side of human nature • American Dream • “"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley“ –Robert Burns “

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