Transcript File

Great Depression
Election of 1928
Al Smith (D) v. Herbert Hoover (R)
Smith, a Roman Catholic, suffered politically from anti-Catholic
prejudice, his anti-prohibitionist stance, and the legacy of
corruption of Tammany Hall with which he was associated.
Hoover won the election in a landslide.
Great Depression
Introduction
• On October 21, 1929 President Hoover declared:
“We gain constantly in better standards of living,
more stability of employment. . . and decreased
suffering.”
• Stocks are a part ownership in a company and
are sold as shares.
• On October 29th, Black Tuesday, the stock market
crashed with investors losing 13% of the value of their
investments.
• While there were many indicators that the economy
was beginning to fail before the crash, the prolonged
economic crisis caused many Americans to lose
confidence in the economy and government.
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 led to
Unemployment for millions of Americans.
Great Depression
U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
120
•Gross National Product (GNP)—value of all goods
and services produced in a year by a country.
Billions
100
80
60
40
20
0
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
Great Depression
U.S. Unemployment Rate
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
• Today, 6.1%
5%
0%
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
Great Depression
• The price of stocks had increased much more
rapidly than production had increased
• American confidence in business collapsed
• Congressional investigations revealed massive
irregularities
• Banks knowingly had sold worthless bonds
• Some Wall Street leaders sold their portfolios of
stocks while advising their clients to keep theirs.
• The economy begins to slump in 1929 after years
of prosperity.
• One of the underlying causes of the Great
Depression was the United State’s unstable
economy.
CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
1. Low Interest rates: Fed. Reserve kept low and companies
borrowed money that was unnecessary to expand.
2. Overproduction of goods: made more then they could sell.
3. Buying of margin: people buying stocks only making amount of
cash down-10%
4. High Tariffs: Restricted foreign demand for our goods.
5. Uneven distribution of wealth: not everyone could afford goods.
6. Too much borrowing from banks: Lending on installment for
goods.
7. Falling Demand: Too many goods unsold, employees laid off.
8. Stock Market Speculation: Stock prices grossly inflated and didn’t
have “real” value
Lecture 6: Great Depression
Introduction
• Those who still had a job saw their wages and
hours fall
• In 1929 U.S. Steel had 225,000 full-time
employees
• In 1932 U.S. Steel production was only 12 percent
of capacity but it had no full-time employees
• Hungry Americans stood in bread lines waiting for
food
• Millions of Americans lost their homes and
moved in the villages of shacks called Hoovervilles
Lecture 6: Great Depression
Introduction
Hooverville, Puget Sound, Washington
Hoovervilles
Name given to a settlement of homeless people during the
Great Depression.
The Great Stock Market Crash of 1929
C. EFFECTS
1. Investors and businesses lose millions –Started making
Margin calls: Demands made to pay back stocks
bought on the margin.
2. Thousands of banks fail- People making bank runs!
3. Savings wiped out
4. Unemployment rises (production cut/lay-offs)
5. Economic “ripple-effect” spreads to Europe
6. U.S. set high tariffs to protect U.S. businesses, but it
did more harm than good.
7. The Great Depression sets in
The Great Stock Market Crash of 1929
D. Summary
1. Both physical and psychological impact on entire nation.
2. Fear of losing jobs and unemployment caused anxiety.
3. People became depressed and considered and
attempted suicide (usually males)
4. Thousands went hungry
5. Children suffered long term effects from poor diet and
inadequate medical care.
Hoboes
Mostly boys and men seeking work and a better life wandering throughout
the U.S. They walked, hitchhiked or most often sneaked onto railroads.
Lecture 6: Great Depression
Introduction
• Hoover opposed having the government provide
any form of relief:
The Government should not support the people .
. . . Federal aid . . . Weakens the sturdiness of our
national character.
• Some of Hoover’s measures, such as the HawleySmoot Tariff which increased tariffs, made the
Depression worse because it reduced international
trade.
• In 1932 Hoover pushed through a tax increase to
balance the federal budget but at the cost of
reducing consumer spending
Dust Bowl
Caused by over farming and several years of drought from the
Dakotas to Texas. Mainly in the Great Plains. As a result, Farmers
had it the worst during the Great Depression.
Name given to drifting mounds of dirt in the Great Plain
states during the Great Depression.
Okies were migrants who left the Great
Plains and headed West to California
Bonus Army March on Washington, D.C. Americans
start to question Hoover’s compassion.
• Bonus Army WWI
Veterans
• Wanted their “bonus”
that was promised to
them early due to the
depression
• Hoover opposed it and
sent in the U.S. Army to
remove them.
Lecture 6: Great Depression
Introduction
• One of the most publicized protests was Bonus
Army of army veterans who demanded that they
now be paid the bonus they had been promised
to receive in 1945
• In 1932 the veterans camped in Washington, D.C.
• Led by General Douglas McArthur, the U.S. army
forcefully closed the encampments of the
veterans
Bonus Army
END OF PROHIBITION
The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States
Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the
United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide
Prohibition on alcohol on January 17, 1920.
The Twenty-first Amendment was ratified on December 5,
1933.