Mr. JuddStreetsboro High School

•The Great Depression took place from 1930 to 1939.•During this time the prices of stock fell 40%. •9,000 banks went out of business. •9 million savings accounts were wiped out. •86,000 businesses failed. •Wages were decreased by an average of 60%. •The unemployment rate went from 9% all the way to 25%. •About 15 million jobless people.

Facts and Figures

So, what caused thisGreat Depression?

• Low Interest Rates Federal Reserve kept interest low; this encouraged companies to borrow money and expand more than necessary. It also encouraged member banks to make risky loans.• Overproduction Companies (and farmers) made more goods than could be sold.• Uneven Distribution of Wealth While manufacturing output per person rose 32%, the average worker’s wage increased only 8%. Therefore, most Americans did not earn enough to buy up the flood of goods they helped produce.• High Tariffs High tariffs like the Hawley-Smoot

restricted foreign demand for American goods.• Stock Market Speculation Low interest rates

encouraged borrowing money to speculate, endangering bank solvency.

• Falling Demand With too many goods unsold, production was cut back and employees were laid off.

Cyclical Effect

Automobile sales declined The loss of demand meant less demand for:

Industry slowed, which caused:

Which helped contribute further to:

oil steel

rubber textiles

Lower wages

unemployment

Heavy stock speculationand buying on marginled to the stock marketcrash on Oct. 29, 1929-sometimes referred toas Black Tuesday.

Hard Times

Hoovervilles

Bread Lines and Soup Kitchens

During the 30s, there were thousands of foreclosures. Farmers borrowed money from banks to buy more land or new machinery. Farmers pledged their assets as security on the loan. After the stock market crashed people could not pay their loans and lost everything.

The Depression in Rural Areas

The Dust Bowl

Drought, winds andover farming wreakedhavoc on the GreatPlains during the 1930’s.Listen to Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Blues

Plagued by dust storms and evictions, many farmers left behind their land andwent to California. These migrants, known as Okies, found work as farmhands.

“I wouldn't pray just for a old man that's dead, 'cause he's all right. If I was to pray, I'd pray for folks that's alive and don't know which way to turn.” --John Steinbeck, “The Grapes of Wrath”

During the Great Depression, as many as 300,000 transients-or hoboes- wandered the country, hitching rides on railroad boxcars and sleeping under bridges. By 1939, over 50,000 trespassers had been killed orinjured on railroad property.

Children Suffer HardshipsPoor diets and a lack of money for health care led to a dramatic rise in malnutrition and diet-related diseases-such as rickets. Many left school to work.

“Migrant Mother” (1936) Dorothea Lange

“I saw and approached the hungry and desperatemother, as if drawn by amagnet… she said that they had been living onfrozen vegetables fromthe surrounding fields, and birds that the childrenkilled. She had just soldthe tires from her car tobuy food.”

--Dorothea Lange (Photographer)

Gassing theBonus Army

In 1932, World War I veteransand their families marched onWashington, D.C. to demandthe immediate payment ofa bonus they had been promised for military service.When some of the marchersrefused to leave after theSenate denied their request,President Hoover called outthe regular army. Gas was used to disband the marchers.Most Americans were stunnedand outraged by the government’s treatment ofthe veterans. This was ahuge blow to President Hoover’s image.

Hoover and Federal Projects

On the one hand, PresidentHoover opposed federalwelfare and interventionin the economy. On the other hand, he felt thatgovernment had a duty tohelp solve problems andease suffering.

“… handouts willweaken people’s self-respect and “moral fiber.”

Lets build a dam!!

Hoover Dam