1929-1941 THE GREAT DEPRESSION

¡  Easy credit in the 1920s – Americans purchasing on the installment plan

¡  Unequal distribution of income ¡  Crisis in the farming sector

(post-WWI) ¡  Shady banking practices ¡  Major industries weakening ¡  Tarif fs making international

trade complicated ¡  As 1920s went on, consumers

were spending less to pay off debts

¡  Investors gambling on the stock market (speculation, buying on the margin)

CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

¡  Stock prices peaked in September 1929

¡  Black Tuesday – October 29, 1929 – the stock market hit bottom

¡  Investors lost everything ¡  Those who bought on the

margin accumulated huge debts

¡  People were jumping out of windows of tall buildings

¡  Only impacted about 2% of the population, so America went on

STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1929

¡  1929-1941 ¡  Economy was in severe

decline ¡ Many Americans were out of

work ¡  Brought on after major runs

on the banks from 1929-1933 ¡ Worsened by increased tarif fs

and natural disasters

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Migrant Mother – Dorothea Lange 1936

FACE OF THE DEPRESSION

The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck

1939

THE DEPRESSION IN POPULAR CULTURE

Herbert Hoover ¡ Laissez faire approach ¡ Instilled consumer

confidence ¡ Asked businesses not to

lay people off ¡ Implemented protective

tariffs ¡ Eventually initiated a

federal jobs program and supported loans to banks and governments

Franklin D. Roosevelt ¡ Government intervention ¡ Shut down the banks

and restructured ¡ Implemented

government regulation over stock market

¡ Implemented federal jobs programs

¡ Initiated direct relief

HOOVER V. FDR

PUBLIC SERVICE PROJECTS

¡  Depression worsens

¡  Dust Bowl ¡  Gassing of the

Bonus Army

END OF HOOVER

¡  Closed nation’s banks ¡  Emergency Banking Relief Act

of 1933 ¡  Glass-Steagall Banking Act of

1933 – created FDIC ¡  Federal Securities Act –

created SEC ¡  Securities and Exchange

Commission would regulate stock exchange

¡  Reassured the American public through his “fireside chats”

¡  “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”

FDR LEADS IN A NEW DIRECTION

¡ Nicknamed the “alphabet soup” programs

¡ Began with banking reforms

¡ Moved on to government works programs and direct relief

¡ Some New Deal programs were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court

THE FIRST NEW DEAL

¡  Supreme Court ruled the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) unconstitutional in 1935

¡  Supreme Court ruled the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) unconstitutional in 1936

¡  FDR proposes court reform bill in 1937

¡  Fierce resistance came about and the plan never went anywhere

FDR’S COURT PACKING PLAN

¡  Implemented from 1935-1938

¡  Continued previous New Deal policies

¡  Implemented programs that benefited the elderly and youth

¡  Social Security Administration

THE SECOND NEW DEAL