The Great Depression

20’s Keep Roaring

• Americans make more than ever– 1922 National Income=

$61 Bill.

– 1929 National Income= $87

• Over 23 million cars were owned– (3/4 of worlds supply)

• 1929 Stocks at all-time highs!

Trouble on the Horizon

• Unemployment on the rise

• Farmers were losing land– Farming and rural areas suffered as crop

prices fell by 40 to 60 percent.

• Stock prices begin to drop

1929- The Great Crash

• Investors all over the country rush to get their money out of the stock market

• October 29 (Black Tuesday), the stock market collapsed, losing billions $$$ in value in one day

• By December 1929, $40 billion in stock value had been lost

The Economy Takes A Dive

• Between 1929 and 1933, 100,000 businesses failed

• Corporate profits fell from $10 billion to %1 billion

• Between 1929-1933, over 6,000 banks failed with over 9 million saving accounts lost ($2.5 billion)

• By 1933, 13 million workers were unemployed (25% of work force) and many were underemployed

• Malnutrition increased, as did tuberculosis, typhoid, and dysentery

Hoovervilles

• Small towns within a city that were built with scrap materials

• Almost 1 out of 4 Americans unemployed

Seattle

Portland (Where I-84 is today)

Social Health

• Decreased living condition– More people into less

space

• Divorce rate decreased– Could not afford it

• Many men felt shame

Increased Discrimination

• Many married women are fired– Get more men jobs

• Minorities (African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans) pushed out of jobs– 56% of African-Americans were unemployed in 1932– Increased lynching

• Scottsboro Boys– 9 African American youths accused of raping a white

women– 8 of 9 convicted to die (no defense)– Communist Party supplies lawyers for an appeal and

the convictions were overturned

Dust Bowl

• 440,000 left Oaklahoma

• 300,000 left Kansas• Many moved to

California for farm work

Americans Look for Help

• In 1932, 95 people died in NYC from starvation

• Many American turned to soup kitchens and breadlines

• Large numbers of homeless workers roamed the U.S., particularly the Southwest, seeking work

Hoover’s Response

• Believes that direct relief (welfare) would undermine America

• Urged Americans to look toward churches and private charity for help

• Met with business and labor leaders to reduce layoffs and strikes

• Financed federal works projects, such as massive dams in the west (Bolder, Hoover, and Grand Coulee)

Hostility to Hoover

• Bonus Army (Bonus March)

Election of 1932

• President Hoover– Slogans: “The

Worst is Past” and “Prosperity is Just Around the Corner”

– Accused FDR of seeking the destruction of capitalism

• Franklin D. Roosevelt– Campaigned for cautious

liberalism – Rejecting Hoover’s

conservatism and radical approach of socialists and communists

– Offered a New Deal for the “forgotten man” and promised a balanced budget along with economic reforms

FDR WINS!