great depression - part i

8/12/2019 Great Depression - Part I

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Causes of the Great Depression

Great Depression Unit Part I


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Presidential Election of 1928

Republican domination and prosperity throughout the20s (Coolidge Administration)

The CandidatesHerbert Hoover Republican candidate

Al Smith Democratic candidate (Irish Catholic, not wellknown)

Hoover easily wins the election444 electoral votes, Smith - 87 electoral

Significance Shows that the American public are

happy with Republican leadership


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Herbert Hoover(Republican) 30 th

President of the UnitedStates of America.

Hoover is remembered as

the President during thestart of the Great

Depression

He calls for RuggedIndividualism In the

style of laissez-faire politics


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Causes (Cont)

Farmer Crisis (# 2)During the war, crops prices rose and farmers

took out loans.In the 20s, farmers boost production in hopesof making more money (prices decrease)

Farm incomes decrease greatly and manyfarms have to foreclose and property seizedPrice-Supports / Subsidies Govt plan to buysurplus goods and sell them to the world market


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Causes (Cont)

Living on Credit (# 3)

Consumers bought goods on credit spendingmoney they dont actually have Overspeculation (Buying on Margin) Invest inmore stock than they can affordConsumers and investors build up large debts


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Causes (Cont)

Uneven distribution of wealth ( # 4)

Despite the rise of a middle class, the richget richer and poor get poorer

Most Americans could not participate in theeconomic advances of the 1920s.

Middle and Lower classes affected thegreatest during the Depression


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Stock Market Crashes

Stock market prices begin to fall and confidencedecreases.

Black Tuesday (Oct. 29, 1929) Bottom fell out of themarketShareholders sell their stocks before prices go down evenmore.

Many suffer huge debts while others lose most of theirsavings.Investors lost about $ 30 Billion (same as US spent on WWI)


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The Big Bull Market was dead. Billions of dollars

worth of profits and paper profits haddisappeared. The grocer, the window cleaner, andthe seamstress had lost their capital [savings]. In

every town there were families which had suddenlydropped from showy affluence into debt With the

Big Bull Market gone and prosperity going, Americans were soon to find themselves living in analtered world which called for new adjustments, new

ideas, new habits of thought, and a new order ofvalues.

~ Frederick Lewis Allen


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The Collapse An OverviewGreat Depression Period from 1929-1940 in whichthe economy plummeted and unemploymentskyrocketed.Bank Failure By 1933, 11,000 of 25,000 banks fail(Govt did not protect bank accounts and people losetheir savings)Many other businesses fail (90,000 businesses total)Unemployment rises drastically (25% or 13 millionworkers)Economic Depression becomes a worldwideproblem.


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Worldwide Panic

Many European countries affected more thanthe U.S. (German example)

Hawley-Smoot Tariff highest protective tariffin US historySupposed to help American businesses fromforeign competition.Prevents other countries from making money, thenthey cannot buy American goods.Tariff has the opposite effect of its intentions.

Sends the world into greater Depression.


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Warm Up : After reading the excerpt, answer the following question:

If you were living during the Great Depression, do you think that youwould feel the same way as Senator Huey Long or would you be

more optimistic about the future of America?

This great and grand dream of America, that all men arecreated free and equal, endowed with the inalienable rightof life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, this greatdream of America, this great light, and this great hope,have almost gone out of sight in this day and time, andeverybody knows it. There is a mere candle flicker here

and yonder to take place of what the great dream ofAmerica was supposed to be.

~ Senator Huey Long of Louisiana


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The Impact of the GreatDepression on Society

Great Depression Unit Part I


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With millionsunemployed, men looked

everywhere for jobs to put food on the tables for

their families.

The Depression impacts

not just those with moneyin the Stock Market, buteven the common worker

and family.


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Impact in the City

The depression hits families harder than it doesbusinesses.

Throughout the cities, the unemployed andhomeless increase and have to find a new way tosurvive.Shantytowns Little towns consisting of shacks

spring up everywhere (also called Hoovervilles)Soup Kitchens become common placeBread Lines lines of people waiting to receivefood provided by charities


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Breadline full of men in New York City


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Impact on the Farm

Many farmers lose land through foreclosuresDust Bowl Because of overproduction and

drought, the farmers in the Midwest leave theirland and head to CaliforniaGrapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Dust is blown all over the Midwest and the East

coastOkies Term that originally meant allOklahomans but eventually meant all migrantsThousands of families arrive in Californialooking for work and a place to live


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A lone man standsduring the Dust

Storms inOklahoma


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Dust Bowl in Oklahoma during the Great Depression


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Okies on theirway to

California, a photograph very

much like the

scenes fromGrapes of

Wrath


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Homeless Family on the road during the Depression


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Men of the Depression

Some men abandon their families becauseof shame and discouragementHoboes Mostly men who wandered thecountry, sleeping under bridges and onrailroads (approx. 300,000)Very little relief to families during the earlyyears of depression


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Women of the Depression

Women still responsible for much of thehousehold chores and raising children

Work diligently to save money and some evenworkMany people become angered that women areworking since many men were not.

Women suffer just as much as men even thoughthey are not seen suffering as much


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Migrant Mother(1936) is the most

well-known photograph from theGreat Depression time

period

By Dorothea Lange


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Children of the Depression

Poor diets and health problems (lack ofmilk)

Many schools lose funding and have toclose down (children forces to work oftentimes in sweatshops)Many young teenagers leave home foradventure and work (many are killed bycriminals or injured on the trains)


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The inside of a school in Alabama


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African Americans & Hispanics

Unemployment is 30%-60% than whitesStill have to deal with discrimination andsegregation

African American organizations become splitbecause of goals (Fighting poverty v. Endingdiscrimination)Many Hispanics were forced to relocate


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Psychological Effects

NegativesBetween 1928-32, suicides rise more than 30%Many more admitted to mental institutesHealth, marriage, and even the future of families areput off

PositivesThere is a sense of brotherhood that is formed.People helping one another through difficultsituations (strong sense of charity)

Habits formed during the Depression shape anentire generation

great depression - part i

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