Hoover and the Depression
The Coming of the Depression
The Great Crash
40% increase in the Market 10/21 & 10/23 – big declines10/29 – Black Tuesday 16 Million shares traded
Causes of the Depression
Lack of diversification – mostly cars & construction
Demand not up to supply (uneven distribution of wealth)
Over speculation of the MarketDecline in exports / International debtEasy CreditBuying on Margin
Progress of the Depression
No confidence in the economyBanks collapse$2.5 million in deposits are goneUnbelievable unemployment ratesCuts in wages and hoursMoney supply downInterest Rates go up
The American People in Hard Times
Unemployment and Relief
Ohio Cities face 50-80% unemploymentSuicide rates are upNomads and trash pickersSoup kitchens can’t handle #’sTax revenue is down (no help in sight)Health issues (malnourished)Dust Bowl/Black Blizzards/Okies
http://www.stls.frb.org/greatdepression/gallery.html
African Americans and the Depression
Worsened an already bad life of mostWhites take jobsScottsboro Riots in SouthNAACP & CIO
Hispanics and Asians in the Depression
Went inward in communitiesMany went back to MexicoSome join communist partyChicanos – not allowed in schools, not
admitted to hospitalsTreated like blacks, but had no historical
connections to American society
Women and Families in the Depression
Go back to kitchen due to competition for jobs Only one civil service job per family Increase work because of need, took jobs men
don’t want, mostly black women No more consumerism Pack many into one house Make own clothes Less divorce – too expensive Men desert families Lower birth and marriage rates
The Depression and Societal Values
Who is to blame?Self Help booksSuicideCrimeRacismSexism
The Depression and the Arts
Photography of rural povertyWriters (Richard Wright – Native Son)Steinbeck – Grapes of WrathRadio – Superman, Dick Tracy, Lone
Ranger, Amos & Andy, World Series, Soaps, Hindenburg, War of the Worlds)
Movies – Mr. Smith goes to Washington, Disney, Wizard of Oz
The Allure of the Left
Communism softens due to the rise of Fascism Stalin might need FDR)
Critical of industry & government
The Ordeal of Herbert Hoover
The Hoover Program
Voluntary cooperation – don’t slow production (fails)
Federal Farm Board – try to buy surplusOutlaws StrikesBuilds Hoover DamRugged Individualism
A Deepening Crisis
HoovervillesDemocrats get CongressGains brief surge in economy – uses it to
justify his programsReconstruction Finance Corporation
Popular Protest
Farmers Holiday – hold back resources from market
Bonus Army – MacArthur, Eisenhower, & Patton sent to DC to displace Vets
Bad image of Hoover using military against his own people
The Election of 1932
Hoover is the “Most Hated an in America”FDR – imaginative, energetic, charismaticPromises a New Deal
The Interregnum (Lame Duck Period)
Banks are collapsingHoover wants a promise from FDR not to
mess with banksFDR refused
Effects of the Depression
Political – Hoover out, Democratic dominance, New Deal coming, Increase in Presidential Power
Economic – Business losses & failures, farm Foreclosures, unemployment issues, loss of personal savings, low prices
Social – end of Flappers, increased poverty & homelessness, new themes in art, stress on the family
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