Great Depression Review PowerPoint

1. Great Depression Review PowerPoint Megan

2. Economic Issues Farming: • Hoover set up the Federal Farm Board to keep prices stable and help farmers market prices • Production was not regulated so farm prices stayed low Consumerism: • Slowing down • Less demand for houses and office buildings • 1/3 of nation’s wealth was controlled by 1% of the population

3. Stock Market Crash • Everyone started selling their stock because prices were falling so much • People who bought stock on margin were asked to pay what they owed but they couldn’t • On October 29th, 1929 a huge amount of stocks were selling hit the Stock Exchange • People lost millions of dollars overnight *Black Tuesday*

4. Causes of the Great Depression • Over production of farm and factory goods • Prices of luxury goods were higher than people’s salary's • Slow orders caused factories to shut down • Weakness in banking system • banks made unwise loans • When the stock market crashed people couldn’t pay back their loans • Without money from loans banks couldn’t pay back investors • Over 5,000 banks closed in 3 years

5. During the Depression • Many were Jobless • Father and son’s left their families to look for jobs • Many lost their homes (way more hobo’s) • Marriage and birth rates decreased • Families grew their own food • Extended families came together to live in one house • A higher suicide rate because more feeling of “failure”

6. Hoover Responses to the Depression • Didn’t think that the government should get involved with business • Called on independent charities to help like soup kitchens • After awhile Hoover decided the government needed to help some: Set up the Public Works programs to build schools, highways and dams with public funds • Also he set up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) which loaned money to railroads, banks, and insurance companies to keep them in business *These were no help to the poor! He hoped that if he helped the top it will reach the bottom, the Trickle Down Effect*

7. Vocabulary • Hoovervilles • Shanty towns set up by homeless people. Named after President Hoover because they believed he put them there

8. Bonus Army • At the end of World War I congress gave the veterans a bonus in 1942 • When the depression hit 20,000 jobless vets marched to D.C. to get their bonus early • They camped out for 2 months • The Senate rejected the bill to pay the vets • Vets still stayed there and demanded they got their money • Hoover then ordered the military to clear out the camps. Many were killed during that. After that many Americans despised Hoover.

9. FDR’s New Deal • First 100 days in office he passed 15 laws to help the people in 3 months. • Gave “Fireside Chats” or radio addresses to show Americans that he understands them. In these he encouraged them to put their trust back into the banking system. • 3 Goals of his New Deal: Relief Reform, and Recovery, these were all to prevent another depression

10. New Deal programs • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) : hired men from the ages 18-25 to plant trees, build bridges, and flood projects for $1 a day. • FERA: Disputed money to the unemployed • Works Project Administration (WPA): hired people to build schools, hospitals, airports, and hired artists, composers, and writers to advertise things • Public Works Administration (PWA): Promoted recovery by hiring workers for thousands of projects like schools, dams, and ports.

11. Reactions to New Deal • Huey Long: Wanted FDR to do more for the poor. Was for “Share our Wealth,” or heavy taxes on the rich to help the poor • Supreme Court struck down 10 of the New Deal laws. Thought it gave the government too much power; they were declared unconstitutional

12. Court Packing Plan • FDR’s solution to the Supreme Court striking down some of his New Deal plans • Increased the supreme justices from 9 to 15