THE GREAT

DEPRESSION
BEGINS

Photos by photographer Dorothea Lange

 SECTION 1: THE NATION’S
SICK ECONOMY
As the 1920s advanced, serious problems
threatened the economy while
Important industries struggled, including:

• Agriculture
• Railroads
• Textiles
• Steel
• Mining
• Lumber
• Automobiles
• Housing
• Consumer goods
FARMERS STRUGGLE
• No industry suffered as
much as agriculture
• During World War I
European demand for
American crops soared
• After the war demand
plummeted
• Farmers increased
production sending
prices further downward
Photo by Dorothea Lange
 CONSUMER SPENDING
DOWN
• By the late 1920s,
American consumers
were buying less
• Rising prices, stagnant
wages and overbuying on
credit were to blame
• Most people did not have
the money to buy the
flood of goods factories
produced
GAP BETWEEN RICH &
POOR
• The gap between rich
and poor widened
• The wealthiest 1% saw
their income rise 75%
• The rest of the
population saw an
increase of only 9%
• More than 70% of
American families
earned less than $2500
per year
Photo by Dorothea Lange
 HOOVER WINS
1928 ELECTION
• Republican Herbert
Hoover ran against
Democrat Alfred E.
Smith in the 1928
election
• Hoover emphasized
years of prosperity
under Republican
administrations
• Hoover won an
overwhelming victory
Young Hoover supporter in 1928
THE STOCK MARKET
• By 1929, many Americans
were invested in the Stock
Market
• The Stock Market had
become the most visible
symbol of a prosperous
American economy
• The Dow Jones Industrial
Average was the barometer
of the Stock Market’s worth
• The Dow is a measure
based on the price of 30
large firms
 STOCK PRICES RISE
THROUGH THE 1920s
• Through most of the
1920s, stock prices
rose steadily
• The Dow reached a
high in 1929 of 381
points (300 points
higher than 1924)
• By 1929, 4 million
Americans owned
stocks New York Stock Exchange
 SEEDS OF TROUBLE
• By the late 1920s,
problems with the
economy emerged
• Speculation: Too many
Americans were engaged
in speculation – buying
stocks & bonds hoping for
a quick profit
• Margin: Americans were
buying “on margin” –
paying a small percentage
of a stock’s price as a
down payment and
borrowing the rest
The Stock Market’s bubble was
about to break
 THE 1929 CRASH
• In September the Stock Market
had some unusual up & down
movements
• On October 24, the market took
a plunge . . .the worst was yet
to come
• On October 29, now known as
Black Tuesday, the bottom fell
out
• 16.4 million shares were sold
that day – prices plummeted
• People who had bought on
margin (credit) were stuck with
huge debts
By mid-November, investors
had lost about $30 billion
 THE GREAT DEPRESSION
• The Stock Market crash
signaled the beginning of
the Great Depression
• The Great Depression is
generally defined as the
period from 1929 – 1940
in which the economy
plummeted and
unemployment
skyrocketed
• The crash alone did not
cause the Great
Alabama family, 1938 Photo by Walter Evans Depression, but it
hastened its arrival
 FINANCIAL COLLAPSE
• After the crash, many
Americans panicked and
withdrew their money
from banks
• Banks had invested in
the Stock Market and lost
money
• In 1929- 600 banks fail
• By 1933 – 11,000 of the
25,000 banks nationwide Bank run 1929, Los Angeles
had collapsed
 GNP DROPS,
UNEMPLOYMENT SOARS
• Between 1928-1932, the
U.S. Gross National
Product (GNP) – the total
output of a nation’s
goods & services – fell
nearly 50% from $104
billion to $59 billion
• 90,000 businesses went
bankrupt
• Unemployment leaped
from 3% in 1929 to 25% in
1933
• The U.S. was not the only
country gripped by the
HAWLEY-
Great Depression SMOOT TARIFF
• Much of Europe suffered
throughout the 1920s
• In 1930, Congress passed
the toughest tariff in U.S.
history called the Hawley-
Smoot Tariff
• It was meant to protect
U.S. industry yet had the
opposite effect
• Other countries enacted
their own tariffs and soon
world trade fell 40%
CAUSES OF THE GREAT
DEPRESSION
• Tariffs & war debt
policies
• U.S. demand low,
despite factories
producing more
• Farm sector
crisis
• Easy credit
• Unequal
distribution of
income
 SECTION 2: HARDSHIPS
DURING DEPRESSION
• The Great Depression
brought hardship,
homelessness, and
hunger to millions
• Across the country,
people lost their jobs,
and their homes
• Some built makeshifts
shacks out of scrap
material
• Before long whole
shantytowns (sometimes
called Hoovervilles in
mock reference to the
president) sprung up
 SOUP KITCHENS

• One of the common

features of urban
areas during the era
were soup kitchens
and bread lines
• Soup kitchens and
bread lines offered
free or low-cost food
Unemployed men wait in line for food –
for people
this particular soup kitchen was
sponsored by Al Capone
 CONDITIONS
FOR MINORITIES
• Conditions for African
Americans and Latinos
were especially difficult
• Unemployment was the
highest among
minorities and their pay
was the lowest
• Increased violence (24
lynchings in 1933 alone)
marred the 1930s As conditions deteriorated,
violence against blacks
• Many Mexicans were increased
“encouraged” to return
to their homeland
 RURAL LIFE DURING THE
DEPRESSION
• While the Depression
was difficult for
everyone, farmers did
have one advantage; they
could grow food for their
families
• Thousands of farmers,
however, lost their land
• Many turned to tenant
Between 1929-1932 almost ½ million
farmers lost their land farming and barely
scraped out a living
 THE DUST BOWL
• A severe drought gripped
the Great Plains in the
early 1930s
• Wind scattered the
topsoil, exposing sand
and grit
• The resulting dust
traveled hundreds of
miles
• One storm in 1934 picked
up millions of tons of
dust from the Plains an
carried it to the East
Coast Kansas Farmer, 1933
Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas - 1934
Storm approaching Elkhart,
Kansas in 1937
Dust buried cars and wagons in South Dakota
in 1936
 HARDEST HIT REGIONS
• Kansas, Oklahoma,
Texas, New Mexico,
and Colorado were
the hardest hit
regions during the
Dust Bowl
• Many farmers
migrated to
California and other
Boy covers his mouth to avoid dust, Pacific Coast states
1935
Photographer Dorothea Lange captures a family
headed west to escape the dust storms
 HOBOES
TRAVEL
• The 1930s created the term AMERICA
“hoboes” to describe poor
drifters
• 300,000 transients – or
hoboes – hitched rides
around the country on
trains and slept under
bridges (thousands were
teenagers)
• Injuries and death was
common on railroad
property; over 50,000
people were hurt or killed
EFFECTS OF DEPRESSION
• Suicide rate rose more
than 30% between 1928-
1932
• Alcoholism rose sharply in
urban areas
• Three times as many
people were admitted to
state mental hospitals as
in normal times
• Many people showed great
kindness to strangers
• Additionally, many people
developed habits of
savings & thriftiness
 SECTION 3: HOOVER
STRUGGLES WITH
THE DEPRESSION
• After the stock market
crash, President
Hoover tried to
reassure Americans
• He said, “Any lack of
confidence in the
economic future . . . Is
foolish”
• He recommended Herbert
Hoover
business as usual
 HOOVER’S PHILOSOPHY
• Hoover was not quick to
react to the depression
• He believed in “rugged
individualism” – the idea
that people succeed
through their own efforts
• People should take care of
themselves, not depend on
governmental hand-outs
• He said people should
“pull themselves up by
Hoover believed it was the individuals job to
take care of themselves, not the their bootstraps”
governments
 HOOVER’S SUCCESSFUL
DAM PROJECT
• Hoover successfully
organized and authorized
the construction of the
Boulder Dam (Now called
the Hoover Dam)
• The $700 million project
was the world’s tallest
dam (726 feet) and the
second largest (1,244 feet
long)
• The dam currently
provides electricity, flood
control and water for 7
western states
Any dam questions?
HOOVER TAKES ACTION:
TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
• Hoover gradually softened his
position on government
intervention in the economy
• He created the Federal Farm
Board to help farmers
• He also created the National
Credit Organization that
helped smaller banks
• His Federal Home Loan Bank
Act and Reconstruction
Finance Corp were two
measures enacted to protect
Hoover’s flurry of activity came people’s homes and
too late to save the economy or
businesses
his job
 BONUS
ARMY
• A 1932 incident further
damaged Hoover’s image
• That spring about 15,000
World War I vets arrived
in Washington to support
a proposed bill
• The Patman Bill would
have authorized Congress
to pay a bonus to WWI
vets immediately
• The bonus was scheduled
to be paid in 1945 --- The
Army vets wanted it NOW
 BONUS ARMY
TURNED DOWN
• Hoover called
the Bonus
marchers,
“Communists
and criminals”
• On June 17,
1932 the Senate
voted down the
Putnam Bill
Thousands of Bonus Army soldiers
protest – Spring 1932
 BONUS MARCHERS CLASH
WITH SOLDIERS
• Hoover told the Bonus
marchers to go home–
most did
• 2,000 refused to leave
• Hoover sent a force of
1,000 soldiers under the
command of General
Douglas MacArthur and
his aide Dwight
Eisenhower
 AMERICANS SHOCKED AT
TREATMENT OF WWI VETS

• MacArthur’s 12th infantry gassed more than 1,000

marchers, including an 11-month old baby, who died
• Two vets were shot and scores injured
• Americans were outraged and once again, Hoover’s
image suffered
Hoover had little chance to be re-elected in 1932