The Great
Depression
Economic Troubles on the
Horizon
During the 1920s:
Economic Troubles…
The late 1920s
Economic Troubles…
The biggest
problems
however were in farming.
After the war;
the demand for food dropped.
Farmer’s income
Farmers of the late 1920s
Many farmers could not pay their
mortgage payments on their farms
Farmers in the late 1920s
Congress tried
to help farmers by passing
price supports, which would not allow food prices to fall below a certain level.
BUT Calvin
Coolidge vetoed the bill and
Economic Troubles…
Farmers were
not the only problem with the economy but Americans were buying less.
Many found
that prices were rising faster than
Economic Troubles…
Too many Americans bought
goods on credit (the installment
plan) and could not afford to pay
off their accumulating debt.
In the late 1920s, much of
America seemed prosperous, but
there was an uneven distribution
of income.
◦ The little rich were getting richer
The Economy
Few people
recognized that problems with the economy in 1928.
In the election of
Herbert Hoover
People believed
Hoover when he said that the
American economy was healthy.
The Dow Jones
Industrial Average, a measure of 30 popular stocks was way up and many rushed to buy
The Stock
Market
Many people were
engaging in
speculation, buying risky stocks in hopes of a quick profit.
To do so, they were
buying on margin paying just a small down payment and borrowing the rest.
The Stock Market Crashes
In September
1929, stock market prices begin to fall and on Tuesday,
October 29, 1929 the prices
dropped so
dramatically the market crashed.
This date
became known as BLACK
Black Tuesday
As a result, people frantically tried to sell their
shares which drove prices down further.
There were no buyers.
Many lost all their savings.
By mid-November, $30 billion—more than
HARDSHIP AND
The Depression Devastates
People’s Lives
The Depression
brought suffering and hardship to many Americans.
The hard economic
times ruined many lives.
◦ Millions of people lost their jobs.
◦ Some went hungry.
The Devastation
Cities were full of homeless people
and some slept in parks and wrapped themselves in newspapers to keep
The Devastation
Some people built shantytowns, where
The Devastation
Some people
ate in soup kitchens, where charities
served meals to the needy.
Those who
could not
The Devastation
African
Americans and Latino
Americans who lived in cities had a very hard time.
◦ They faced higher
unemployment.
◦ If they did work, they were paid lower wages than whites.
The Devastation
The Depression
hurt people in rural areas too.
◦ Food prices went down.
◦ Farmers earned less and less.
◦ Farmers
continued to lose their farms.
The Devastation Worsens
A long drought hit the Great Plains
when there was little to no rain from Texas to North Dakota.
The soil was exhausted from
over-farming and the grass that had held the soil in place was gone.
When powerful winds swept through
the Great Plains, the soil blew away.
This dry area became known as the
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was huge dust
The Dust Bowl
Many farmers packed up their
belongings and decided to try their luck in other areas of the country.
Many started to California to look for
work.
They became migrant workers, moving
from place to place to pick crops.
Since many migrant workers were from
The American Family
The Depression put a heavy
strain on family life.
◦ Some families pulled together during hard times where as some broke
The American Family
Families that
were able to survive:
◦ Shared what they earned.
◦ Stayed home for
entertainment , instead of going out.
The American Family
Many men felt ashamed because
they lost their jobs and some left
the family and wandered the
country looking for work.
Women tried to find work, and if
they did they were usually paid
less.
Some people complained that
The American Family
Children suffered terribly from
poverty and the break-up of
families.
Many had poor diets and no
health care.
Many children ran away from
home, hopping rides from freight
trains.
The Great Depression
During the early years of the
Great Depression the federal
government did not give direct
relief—cash or food directly to the
poor.
Since many were out of work,
cities and states collected less
tax money which then in return
affected state and local budgets.
The Great Depression
School years were shortened and
The Great Depression
The Depression also saw
a rise in suicide rates and mental illness.
Less people went to
college.
Although there was a lot of negative aspects surrounding the Great Depression, it also
brought out the best in communities and
some individuals. It taught people to rely on each other and to share resources with
The Second Hundred Days
Although there
was an
improvement in the first two
years of
Roosevelt’s
presidency, it still did not improve by much.
But the New Deal
FDR and his Reforms
The Second New
Deal refers to a second wave of reforms
launched by FDR.
These programs
were designed to help poor
Roosevelt’s Wife
Eleanor
Roosevelt,
traveled around the country .
She reported
back to the President the suffering of the poor, while also speaking up for women and
The 1936 Election
The 1936 election was an
overwhelming victory for Roosevelt.
This election also marked the first
Works Progress
Administration
The WPA set out
to create jobs as quickly as
possible.
Workers built
The WPA
Some people criticized the WPA as a
make-work program that created useless jobs just to give people a paycheck.
BUT the WPA create works of lasting
value.
The WPA gave jobs to teachers,
The National Youth
Administration
The NYA
provided aid and part time jobs to many
high school and college
students.
This allowed
them to get an education even through hard
The Social Security Act
The Social Security Act was one of the
most important achievements of the New Deal.
It had 3 main parts:
◦ Old-age insurance—supplemental retirement plan
◦ Unemployed compensation —paymets to workers who lost their jobs.
The REA
The New
