The Depression

“The Stock Market Crash of 1929 is the second most traumatic event in U.S.

History…”Do you agree with that statement?

Herbert Hoover in Office During the Depression

• During President Hoover’s term in office, from March of 1929 to March of 1933, he did not commit to pay for social services– He did not want an active government• Henry Ford and other business moguls backed Hoover

– He blamed the economic crisis on the workers

WWI Veterans Demand the Promised Cash Bonus From Hoover

• In 1932, 10,000 unemployed WWI veterans marched on Washington to demand the cash bonus they were promised after the WWI

• They camped out in the nation’s capital in tents and shacks – Tens of thousands more on their way

• The Senate rejected their demands• They were seen as a symbol of larger, unemployed groups

in society• Hoover ordered the army to evict them

– Concerned about Revolution

Forcible Repression of the Bonus Army

• The Army’s repression of the Bonus Army was led by General McArthur, Dwight Eisenhower and General Patton– Soldiers wore bayonets and gas masks, hurled tear

gas– Soldiers burned the tents and used tanks – Hoover saw this as saving the country

• Most citizens saw this as government bullying– Helped FDR to win the presidential election of 1932

Hoover and Citizen Homes

• Private Enterprise alone was not enough to solve the nation’s housing crisis

• Hoover held a Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership– It was found that millions lived in overcrowded,

unhealthy urban slums or ramshackle rural dwellings

• Hoover created a federally sponsored bank to provide home loans

FDR and Citizen Homes

• Created the Home Owners Loan Corporation and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and later the Veterans Administration (VA)– Home ownership became possible for tens of millions

of families– Cheaper for most Americans to buy than rent– Insured millions of long term mortgages issued by

private banks• The federal government itself built thousands of

units of low rent housing

What was FDR’s Platform?

• Repeal of Prohibition (21st Amendment)– This helped him win his landslide victory

• A pitch for active government• Pledged to build up permanent employment• Stated that no citizen should starve• Will provide temporary work wherever

possible

FDR’s New Deal

• To reorganize capitalism to make it more humane– To stabilize the system as much as possible

• FDR established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)– Supervision of broadcast airwaves and telephone

communications• Created the Securities and Exchange Commission– Banks had to operate under strict rules– FDR named Joe Kennedy to be the first Chairman

FDR’s New Deal Cont.

• Emergency Banking Relief Act– Government Supervision over the banking industry

• Federal Emergency Relief Act for state welfare programs

• Agricultural Adjustment Act (ended 1935)A– Raised prices by reducing the supply of goods– Government paid farmers for land they would

leave fallow• This hurt Black, Mexican and poor white sharecroppers

FDR’s New Deal Cont.

• 1934-1943: Works Progress Administration– Thousands of buildings and bridges– 500,000 + miles of road– 600 + airports– Stadiums– Pools – Sewage Treatment Plants

FDR’s New Deal Cont.

• 1934-1943: Works Progress Administration• Artists decorated public buildings with murals• Writers produced local histories and

guidebooks• Writers recorded the stories of ordinary

Americans including hundreds of former slaves

• Federal Theater Project put on plays

FDR’s New Deal Cont.

• 1934-1943: Works Progress Administration• Federal Music Project: Established orchestras and choral

groups• Federal Dance Project: Sponsored ballet and modern dance

programs• Wagner Act

– Outlawed firing union organizers– National Labor Relations Board to supervise elections for union

representatives– Supported the idea that unionization and higher wages would aid

economic recovery by boosting the purchasing power of ordinary Americans

FDR’s New Deal

• 1935: Social Security Act– Unemployment Insurance– Old Age Pensions– Aid to the disabled, elderly, poor and families with

dependent children– Paid for by taxes on employers and employees– European countries had similar programs the U.S.

had copied

Documentary Photographer Dorothy Lange and the Great Depression

• Became famous during the Depression • Captured human suffering and rural poverty • Pioneered “social documentary photography”

• All of the following photos are taken by Lange in Washington State

• They are now kept in the Library of Congress American Memory Collection for the Great Depression in Washington State Project

Yakima, WashingtonRevival Meetings held in a Yakima shacktown

Unfinished Hotel near the center of townConstruction abandoned after the 1929 economic collapse

Seattle Hooverville Resident repairs the roof of his shack with tarpaper in 1939. Hooverville residents were migratory and poor.

Seattle Hooverville

Packing fresh prunes at night in packinghouse during busy seasonWages at 2 cents per box

Camp of family with 9 children who have been on the road for 3 years

Chris Adolf, his teams and 6 of his children on their new FSA farm near Wapato, Washington

The FSA was created to improve the lives of sharecroppers, tenants and poor farmers. It purchased submarginal land from poor farmers and resettled them on land better for farming.

Family who traveled by freight train

Summer of 1939By Dorothy LangeYakima Valley“Migrant Woman, originally from TexasYakima, Valley, Washington”

Yakima, WashingtonStockade used as a jail for striking farm workers in 1933Source: Library of Congress American Memory Collection

FDR’s New Deal Cont.

• The government took on a new role it has never fully relinquished: The government bears responsibility for the economy and the standard of life for its people

• Depression did not end until the start of WWII• Economic Nationalism led trade wars and then

world war• http://www.history.com/topics/new-deal/pictures/new-deal-programs/streaming-water-on-the-

bonneville-dam• Supporting the Arts through the WPA Smithsonian Channel • FDR gives first Fireside Chat• Dust Bowl