HARD TIMES AND THE HOME FRONT.

A Mr. Rice Presentation - May 23, 2011

The Great Depression

After years of boom, the United States finally went bust in October 1929. The banks closed first. Many of the banks had invested recklessly in

the stock market and when it went down, so did the banks.

People who invested in the banks lost everything.

Factories and businesses went bankrupt because no one had money to buy anything.

Under President Hoover, the United States had no plan to battle the issue.

How bad was the Depression? It is hard for us to

imagine the fear, hunger, misery, and anger found in every community.

Families lost loved one: Four-year-old Angeline

D’Ambrose died after eating poisonous weeds in her back yard. Her dad could only say “I guess my baby was hungry. We haven’t had anything to eat in this house to eat for two days.”

Drought and the Dust Bowl

For 12 years, starting in 1928, the United States went through the worst drought in national history. Heavy winds removed important topsoil

from the plains and Columbia Plateau and blew it away.

Dust Bowl In the Pacific Northwest, billowing clouds of

topsoil could be seen hundreds of miles off Washington’s coast.

How bad was the drought?

Migrants by the Thousands

With such grim conditions, it was a shock to people in the Pacific Northwest that their region was regarded as a land of opportunity.

By 1940, more than 400,000 migrants had followed others to the Pacific Northwest.

Many were only able to make a bare sustenance living by working as fruit and vegetable pickers. This army of transient workers moved into the

Yakima, Willamette and Snake River Valleys during harvest season.

For the most part, until 1939, this group of people lived in unsanitary, crowded work camps.

Path of the Migrants

Roosevelt’s New Deal pt. 1

FDR viewed the Pacific Northwest, with its small population and abundant natural resources, as a “last frontier” of undeveloped places.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Young men from all over the country worked at

some 200 camps throughout the PNW. They earned $35-45 a month, received good

food, education and discipline. Young men worked on soil conservation

projects, ran state fish hatcheries, wildlife refuges and planted millions of trees on public lands.

Roosevelt’s New Deal pt. 2

Works Progress Administration (WPA) The WPA hired musicians, writers, historians,

and artist to chronicle the history of the United States.

Old newspaper articles were catalogued and diaries were published.

Histories of towns and cities were written and published.

Public buildings received a facelift through murals and other construction projects.

WPA Projects in Washington

The End of the Depression

By 1939, the worst of the great Depression was over.

Slowly businesses opened up again. People were working and starting to buy

goods. Unemployment was still high, but people

were working on a daily basis. They could afford to buy more meat and

other foods so farmers made more money. Industry and trade in the Pacific Northwest

spread to new U.S. and global markets.

A New Deal for Native Americans Indian populations reached their lowest level in the

early 1900s. Poor diets and poor living conditions contributed to high

death rates, especially among children. A new wave of diseases – tuberculosis, pneumonia, and influenza – ravaged the reservations. Alcoholism was also a big problem.

John Collier, head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, believed the concept of the Dawes Act had been a mistake.

He saw the importance of tribal life and the necessity of the tribe to uphold social, moral and spiritual values of the group.

The Indian Reorganization Act repealed the Dawes Act and encouraged the formation of tribal governments.

Tribes again would have common lands and would promote Indian languages, arts, crafts, and ceremonies.

Another World War

Surprise Attack

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the nation of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

Wave after wave of Japanese fighters dropped bombs on the United States Pacific fleet.

The next day, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan and thus brought Americas entrance into WWII.

Another Economic Boom

Because the Northwest was located close to the Pacific war zone, the region became a center for the shipment of military personnel and equipment. The great amount of power produced by

local dams boosted industrial development. Major industries included:

Aluminum Shipbuilding

Hanford and the Bomb

In September 1939, Roosevelt started the secret Manhattan Project.

One of the projects facilities was placed at the Hanford location in central Washington. It’s location ensured both security and public safety.

Hanford produced plutonium used for the bomb. Houses, cafeterias, and other buildings for

51,000 people disappeared behind the fences. It was not until after the war that the general

public finally found out about the site.

Relocation of Japanese

The surprise attack on December 7 produced irrational, almost hysterical, fear of invasion.

Some Americans felt Japanese Americans would give aid to a possible invasion.

Because of this, on March 2, 1942, all persons of Japanese decent living on the West Coast were given relocation orders. Most of the Japanese in Oregon and Washington

were sent to the Minidoka Relocation Center in the Idaho desert.

Minidoka house 10,000 people, most of whom were 2nd and 3rd generation Japanese American citizens.