The Great Depression. American History Chapter 13

Transcription

1 The Great Depression American History Chapter 13

2 The Crash and Its Aftermath Tuesday, October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday) Stock Market Lost $30 Billion In a Flash, Fortunes Were Lost

3 Why Did The Crash Occur? Stock Market Speculation Risky Gambling With Short-Term Investments Buy Stocks That May Rise Quickly Sell Stocks For a Profit Profits Could Be As High as 100% Banks Paid Under 7% Interest

4 Why Did The Crash Occur? Buying Stocks On Margin Could Buy for as Little as 5% of the Stock s Value Stockbroker Loaned the Rest of the Money The Stock was Collateral for the Loan Boom Market: Brokers Made 20% Interest on Their Loan When Stocks Went Down, Brokers Called in Their Margins

5 The Beginning of the End Stock Market Saturated With Borrowed Money Summer of $6 Billion in Margin Loans Investors Began to Sell Because of the Dangerous Situation Selling Caused Prices to Decline Brokers Starting Calling In Their Margins Investors Defaulted on Their Payments Brokers Were Forced to Sell Stocks Brokers Selling Forced the Market Even Lower Lower Market Brought on Panic Selling Major Stocks Lost 75% of Their Value Banks Were Also Tied to the Market Loan Defaults

6 The Causes of the Great Depression Depression Severely Reduced Economic Activity Characterized by High Unemployment Depressed Farms and Industries Farm Prices Fell in the 1920s Textile, Lumber, Mining, & Railroads also Declined Automobile and Construction Suffered from Decreased Orders Wages Dropped and Workers Were Laid Off People Could Not Afford to Buy Consumer Goods Underconsumption

7 The Causes of the Great Depression Wealth Distribution Gap Between Rich and Poor Grew Wider Consumers Lacked Buying Power Consumer Goods Piled Up in Warehouses Monetary Policy Federal Reserve System Dried Up Credit Not Enough Money In Circulation for the Crisis Decline in Foreign Trade Foreign Investment Slowed as Money Was Invested in Stocks High Tariffs also Slowed Foreign Trade

8 Hoover s Response Asked Business Leaders Not to Cut Wages, Limit Production, or Lay Off Workers Agricultural Marketing Act Loans For Cooperatives Farm Board Helped Farmers Establish Cooperatives Collective Buying and Selling Would Not Loan Money to Individual Farmers Many Went Under

9 Hoover s Response Business Failures In ,000 Business Failed 25% Unemployment By 1932 Relief in New York City-- $2.39 per Week

10 Too Little, Too Late Hoover s Response Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1932 $2 Billion in Loans to: Banks, Railroads, Insurance Companies Emergency Relief Act, 1932 Authorized an Additional $300 Million to State Governments

11 The Bonus Army WW I Veterans Were Promised a Bonus in 1945 Organized in Portland, Oregon with 1,000 Men- May ,000 Eventually Descended on Washington, D.C. They Demanded Their Payments Now U.S. Senate Rejected Their Demand Most Went Home, About 2,000 Remained in Washington

12 The Bonus Army Camp Anacostia Camp Anacostia Hooverville Meal Time Bonus at Camp Army Recruitment Anacostia Poster

13 Bonus Army Camp Anacostia Was Torched Hoover Asked Douglas MacArthur to Clear Out the Bonus Army The Army Attacked the Veterans General MacArthur

14 The Dream on Hold Drought Years on the Plains Poor Soil Conservation Suitcase Farmers Agricultural Expansion of the 1920s Additional Acreage Tilled Through Mechanization Black Sunday-April 14, 1935

15 On The Farms Many Farmers Faced Foreclosure Penny Auctions Foreclose Property was Auctioned Off Friends Would Only Bid a Few Cents For Land and Equipment Land and Equipment was Returned to the Owner

16 On the Farms Migration of the Okies Rumors Circulated of Jobs in California Loaded With All They Could Carry, They Headed West Influx of Okies Had the Effect of Lowering Wages

17 Tenant Farmers Overproduction Caused Farm Prices to Fall Landowners Were Paid to Let Some Land Go Unplanted Government Payments Were More Than the Rent of the Tenants Tenant Farmers Were Forced to Move

18 Mexican American Workers Many Mexicans Were Deported in the 1930s Many Were U.S. Citizens Denied Their Rights Los Angeles Deported 12,000 Mexicans Between Mexican Americans Sought Repatriation Return to Mexican Citizenship Austin, Texas 60% of Persons of Mexican Decent Had Returned to Mexico By January 1931

19 In The City Jobless, Homeless, & Penniless Bread Lines Unemployment: Buffalo 30%; Chicago 50%; Cleveland 50%; Toledo 80% Last Hired, First Fired Policies Hit Minority Workers the Hardest People Lost Their Homes and Their Possessions

20 The Better Off J. Paul Getty Used the Depression to Build His Oil Business Eventually Became the Richest Man In the United States The Getty Center in Malibu, California is one of the finest art museums in the world today

21 The Getty Center A Symbol of Philanthropy

22 Social Cost of the Depression Stress on Families Fathers Lost Self Esteem as Providers Many Abandoned Their Families (Hobos) Women Revived Home Crafts Canning, Sewing, Gardening

23 Social Cost of the Depression Economic, Psychological, and Spiritual Depression People Stayed at Home Ashamed of their Old Clothes People Put Off Getting Married or Having Children Jackrabbit Drives

24 The Car Craze Continues America s Love Affair With Cars Continued in the 1930s Cars Were Seen as a Status Symbol Cars were Prized Possessions Number of Cars Registered in the U.S. Rose from 24 Million in 1933 to 32 Million By Ford 1935 Packard

25 Escape From Household The Appliance Revolution The Refrigerator Washing Machine Vacuum Cleaner Radio & Television Drudgery

26 Escape Through Entertainment Silver Screen Afternoon Matinee 10 Talkies Gone With the Wind (1939) Color Films Mass Media-- Advertising

27 Escape Through Entertainment The Golden Age of Radio 10 Million Households Had Radios in 1929 Radio Entertained, Provided News, Company, and Escape Regular Programming is Still Followed by TV Today

28 Voices That Would Not Be Stilled Authors: John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath Stressed the struggles of individuals in society

29 Voices That Would Not Be Stilled Artists: Grant Wood Iowa artist that painted scenes from his region of the nation Two examples are: Spring Town, and American Gothic

30 Voices That Would Not Be Stilled Artists: Thomas Hart Benton Regional artist from Missouri Very prolific painter whose work is highly regarded today

31 Voices That Would Not Be Stilled Playwright: Clifford Odets Glorified the Depression era worker and their struggle against management in Waiting for Lefty

32 Voices That Would Not Be Stilled Documentary Photographers The greatest documentary photographer of the era was Dorothea Lange She managed to convey the personal struggle of individuals during the depression