Great Depression and the 1930s

1. Great Depression and the 1930s

2. Election of 1928 • Republican Herbert Hoover won • Continued with economic trends of Harding and Coolidge “We are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land”

3. The Stock Market (1922-1929) • Bull Market – steady growth • By 1929, 10% of Americans owned stock (4 million) • Buying on margin • purchasing a stock for only part of its value, as low as 10%

4. Crash of 1929 Black Tuesday – October 29th • $30 billion was lost

5. Banking • Banks lost money • Had loaned to stock speculators • Invested depositors’ money in the market • Many closed • Bank run

6. Hawley-Smoot Tariff • Tariff rates increased on over 900 items • Hurt US trade with Europe • Economy worsened

8. Early Years of the Depression

9. Problems in Society • Hunger • Bread lines • Soup kitchens

10. Housing • foreclosures and evictions • shantytowns – nicknamed “Hoovervilles”

11. The Dust Bowl Causes • poor farming techniques on the Great Plains • farm prices drop – farms left unplanted • drought from 1932 - 1937

12. Okies

14. Anger & Frustration

15. Protests and Marches

16. The Bonus Army • WW I veterans march to Washington to demand their $1,000 war bonuses • Hoover brought in US Army troops to break up the marchers

17. President Hoover’s Response “Business has turned the corner, we have now passed the worst” - President Hoover, January 1930 • Downplayed the public’s fear • Refused to give direct cash relief payments, individuals are responsible for own welfare • Hoover Dam – construction project to provide jobs

18. Crime Rates Increased Bonnie and Clyde (1931-35)

19. Roosevelt to the Rescue A New Deal for the Forgotten Man

20. Roosevelt takes Office • 9 million savings accounts depleted • Unemployment at its highest = 25% The New Deal • Purpose: • Relief – immediate aid, often direct cash • Recovery – short term help, jobs programs and business reorganization • Reform – prevention, never let this happen again

21. The First Hundred Days • “Fireside chats” – weekly radio broadcasts by FDR • Emergency Banking Relief Act • Bank Holiday – closed nation’s banks for 10 days so they could restructure and reorganize before reopening • FDR explained this in his first Fireside Chat • Glass-Steagall Act • FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) government agency that insured bank deposits up to $2,500

22. Restoring American confidence in banking Why?

23. First New Deal1933 – 1935

24. Economic Legislation • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) • Purpose: • Regulate trading in the stock market

25. Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) • Purpose: • Reduce surplus farm products • Paid farmers to destroy crops and plant less = crop prices increase • Found unconstitutional b/c it favored large one crop farming

26. Relief and Employment Plans “prime the pump” of recovery

27. Gave $500 million in direct aid payments to the poor State and local governments gave it out Federal Emergency Relief Act

28. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) • Employed 250,000 18-24 yr old men • Run by War Department, military style discipline • Forestry projects

29. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Hydro-electric dam construction • Jobs • Electricity • Lakes for recreation

30. The Second New Deal

31. Jobs – construction of highways, streets, public buildings, bridges, and airports Works Progress Administration (WPA)

32. Social Security Act • Retirement plan for people over 65 funded by tax on wages paid equally by employer and employee • Gave direct aid payments to disabled and poor families with young children

33. Rural Electrification Administration WPA would build power lines into rural areas

34. National Labor Relations Act Also known as the Wagner Act • Purpose: • Maintain the right for labor to make unions • Supported collective bargaining • Supported by Supreme Court • NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel – 1937 – workers can form/join unions

35. Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) • Joined together several industries that did not have unions • Led by John L. Lewis

36. Fair Labor Standards Act • Set minimum wage and maximum hours (8 hr workday = 40 hour week +4 overtime hours) • 25 cents was first minimum wage (1938) • Child labor laws • Children under 18 could not do dangerous jobs • Children under 16 could not work during school hours

37. Reactions to the New Deal

38. Huey Long – the Kingfish • FDR/government should give more to Americans • “Every man a king”

39. Father Coughlin • Did not support the New Deal • National Union for Social Justice • Wanted: • higher taxes on the wealthy • Federal government to take over the banking system

40. New Deal and the Supreme Court • Supreme Court found some of the New Deal programs unconstitutional • FDR’s court packing plan • Attempt to restructure the Supreme Court in his favor

41. Why did some Americans equate FDR to a dictator?

42. Legacy of the New Deal • Government as an economic safety net • Keynesian economics • Reduce interest rates • Increase government spending on infrastructure • Creation of BIG government to create more departments to insure Americans well-being (protecting the general welfare)