Week four great depression to new deal

TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.

Hoover’s Response to the Great Depression


• Discuss how Hoover’s initial conservative response to the depression failed.

• Explain the changes in the President’s policies as the crisis continued.

• Describe how Americans reacted to Hoover’s relief programs.

Objectives


Terms and People

• localism – policy whereby problems are best solved at the state and local level and not by the federal government

•Reconstruction Finance Corporation – created in 1932 to lend cash to investors to stimulate the economy

• trickle-down economics – economic theory that held that money lent to large banks and corporations would in turn be invested in small businesses which would hire more workers


Terms and People (continued)

•Hoover Dam – huge public works project on the Colorado River that provided jobs, water for irrigation, and power

•Bonus Army – group of World War I veterans who marched on Washington, D.C., in 1932, to demand early payment of a bonus promised them by Congress

•Douglas MacArthur – supervised the forced removal of the Bonus Army, which angered many Americans


Why did Herbert Hoover’s policies fail to solve the country’s economic crisis?

As the Great Depression spread misery across America, Herbert Hoover struggled unsuccessfully to respond to the nation’s problems. As a result of Hoover’s failed response, in 1932 Americans would turn to a new leader and increased government intervention to stop the depression.


Herbert Hoover did not cause the Great Depression, but Americans looked to him to solve the crisis.

He tried a number of different approaches, but in the end he failed to discover the right formula for stopping the crisis.


Like most economists of the day, he believed that up and down swings in the economy were a natural part of the business cycle.

It was thought that strong businesses would weather storms without the support of the government.

At the start of the economic downturn, Hoover took a hands-off approach.


Asked businesses to keep wages, employment, and prices at current levels

Called for tax cuts, lower interest rates, and public works

Asked wealthy to donate more money to charity

Hoover saw that he must do something.


But volunteerism failed.

• Towns and states didn’t have the necessary resources to deal with the depression.

• Hoover did not support direct federal aid to individuals.

Hoover put his faith in localism, a policy whereby problems are best solved at the local and state levels.


The RFC gave billions of dollars to banks and large businesses.The idea was that they would lend to, and invest in, struggling businesses who would hire workers and thus end the depression. The RFC failed when businesses did not hire more workers.

In 1932, Hoover urged Congress to create the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). The RFC employed a policy known as trickle-down economics.


One policy that did succeed was the construction of Boulder Dam, (later renamed Hoover Dam) across the Colorado River.Started in 1930, the huge dam provided power for more than a million people and irrigation for farm land, and brought needed jobs to the Southwest.


• Some blamed Hoover and some blamed capitalism.• Some were World War I veterans who wanted a

bonus that was promised to them.• In 1932, those veterans formed the Bonus Army

and marched on Washington.

Many grew disillusioned during the Great Depression.


In the summer of 1932, almost 20,000 veterans set up camps and occupied vacant buildings. In July, police tried to evict them and riots erupted.


The eviction of the Bonus Army doomed Hoover’s bid for re-election. Americans were ready for new leadership and a greater role for the government in solving problems.

Hoover ordered General Douglas MacArthur to remove the veterans. He used tear gas, cavalry, tanks, and troops with fixed bayonets.Press photos of troops using excessive force angered the American public.


Early New Deal Policies


• Analyze the impact Franklin D. Roosevelt had on the American people after becoming President.

• Describe the programs that were part of the first New Deal and their immediate impact.

• Identify critical responses to the New Deal.

Objectives


Terms and People• Franklin D. Roosevelt – American President

elected at the height of the Great Depression• Eleanor Roosevelt – FDR’s wife and First Lady;

known for her active role in the administration• New Deal – programs and legislation enacted by

FDR during the Great Depression to promote economic recovery and social reform

• fireside chat – informal radio broadcast in which FDR communicated with the American people

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) – government agency that insures bank deposits



• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) – government agency that built dams in the Tennessee River valley to control floods and generate electric power

• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) – New Deal program that provided young men with jobs on environmental conservation projects

• National Recovery Administration (NRA) – New Deal agency that promoted economic recovery by regulating production, prices, and wages



• Public Works Administration (PWA) – government agency that improved the nation’s infrastructure and created millions of jobs

• Charles Coughlin – Roman Catholic priest who accused FDR of not doing enough to end the depression

• Huey Long – Louisiana Senator and New Deal critic


How did the New Deal attempt to address the problems of the depression?

As poverty and homelessness gripped the country, many Americans wondered if the nation could survive the crisis.

They hoped a new leader could bring back prosperity—and their faith in democracy.


Americans were ready for a change.

In 1932, President Hoover ran for reelection. But he had little chance of winning.

• Unemployment stood at 25 percent.

• Bank failures had wiped out savings.

• The hungry waited for food at soup kitchens.


Hoover’s opponent in the election was Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt.

• Harvard graduate• New York State senator• Assistant Secretary of

the Navy• 1920 Nominee for Vice

President• Polio survivor• Governor of New York


The two candidates offered very different approaches to the problems of the Great Depression.

Hoover

State and local governments and private agencies should provide relief.

Roosevelt

Leadership should come from the federal government.

Roosevelt won in a landslide.


To help him plan, FDR sought the advice of a diverse group of men and women.

His “Brain Trust” consisted of professionals and academics.

His wife Eleanor Roosevelt helped him throughout his presidency. She traveled widely and acted as the president’s “eyes and ears.”


Together with his “Brain Trust,” Roosevelt moved quickly to carry out his promise of giving Americans a New Deal.

The legislation had three goals: relief, recovery, and reform.

During his first 100 days in office, 15 bills were passed.

First New Deal


Roosevelt began with the bank crisis.

FDR declared a four-day bank holiday, closing the banks so they could get their accounts in order.

In the first of many fireside chats, FDR explained that his actions were to halt bank failures.

When the banks reopened, there were no more runs on the banks.


FDR took other steps to reform the financial system.

Insured bank deposits

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Regulated the stock market

Such measures helped restore confidence in the economy.


Roosevelt then turned to a series of New Deal programs to bring relief to the country.

• The Agricultural Adjustment Act sought to end overproduction and raise crop prices.

• The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) built dams to control floods and generate electricity.

Some programs helped farmers and those in the rural South.


Many programs focused on job relief.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Put young men to work improving national parks, forests, and wilderness areas

Federal Emergency Relief Agency (FERA)

Granted funds to state and local agencies to help the unemployed

Civil Works Administration (CWA)

Gave people jobs on public-works projects


The Public Works Administration (PWA) created millions of jobs.

Workers built bridges, dams, power plants, and government buildings.

These projects improved the nation’s infrastructure.


Roosevelt also took steps to speed economic recovery.

National Recovery

Administration(NRA)

• Established codes of fair competition

• Set minimum wages for workers and minimum prices for goods


Not everyone, however, supported the New Deal.

Conservatives charged that it was making the government too powerful.

• Destroying free enterprise• Undermining individualism

Such critics formed the American Liberty League.


While conservatives thought the New Deal did too much, others took the opposite position.

Some argued that the New Deal did not do enough to end the depression.

• Socialist Party

• American Communist Party


The opponents who gained the largest audience were Populist critics.

Dr. Francis Townsend

Proposed giving each person 60 or older $200 a month to spend

Father Charles Coughlin

Used his radio show to attack the New Deal, calling it communist

SenatorHuey Long

Proposed a “Share Our Wealth” program that taxed the rich and gave money to the poor


Despite the critics, the New Deal was popular with most Americans.

In his inaugural address, Roosevelt told Americans, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

FDR succeeded in reducing people’s fear, but the depression was far from over.

Week four great depression to new deal

Health & Medicine

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