The Great Depression & The New Deal

Stock Market Crash of 1929

• 1928 - 29: Surge in Stock Market speculation, $87 billion in 1929

• October 29, 1929: approximately $50 billion lost

U.S. Depression Linked to a Global Depression

• Europe struggled with wartime debt

• U.S. and Europe could not buy American goods

• 1930: 1,352 banks failed & $850 million deposits lost

• 1931: 2,300 banks failed & $1.7 billion lost

Hoover’s Response, 1929 - 1932

• Relied on VOLUNTARY aid associations

• The “Bitter Bread of Charity”: Aid humiliated and disciplined the poor

Hoovervilles

Seattle, 1932 “Pipe City” in Oakland, 1932

What Was Life Like During the Great Depression?

• 1932: 250,000 nomadic families

• Women’s unemployment rate was over 20%

• 2 million women housecleaners did not earn minimum wage

Effects of the Great Depression on Family Life

• Birth Control easier to obtain

• Divorce rate soared

• High School enrollment increased

Farm Life

• ¼ of all farm families on public or private aid

• Mortgage foreclosures of farms across the U.S.

World War I Bonus Marchers, 1932

What Happened?

• 10,000 WWI veterans demanded early bonuses in Washington D.C.

• 2,000 stayed in Hoovervilles in D.C.

• July 28, 1932: General Douglas MacArthur burned their shelters

• Riot ruined Hoover’s career

Mexican Repatriation

• 1/2 million Mexicans returned to Mexico in the 1930s, some voluntary and many by force

• Deportations involved “round ups” of laborers

• 70,000 Mexicans left Los Angeles, CA in 1931

Election of 1932

• FDR: 57.4% of votes vs. Hoover: 39.7% of votes

FDR’s Inaugural Address

The First New Deal: March 1933 – 34

• March 1933: 14 million people out of work

• FDR hired the “BRAIN TRUST”: Professors, lawyers, politicians, & former Progressive Era reformers who developed New Deal policies

Addressing the Bank Crisis

• March 5, 1933: National Banking Holiday, banks closed for 4 days

• Emergency Banking Act: Only healthy banks could re-open

• (FDIC) Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation created

(CCC) Civilian Conservation Corps

• Employed jobless youth in reforestation & environmental programs

• Paid $30 - 35 per month

• 1933: 500,000 workers

• 1942: 3 million workers

(PWA) Public Works Association

• Large scale public works projects: building libraries, bridges, dams

• Built 500 airports and 250,000 rest stop bathrooms in CA, OR, and WA

• Helped redefine the meaning of public assistance

(AAA) Agricultural Adjustment Act

• Paid farmers to stop producing wheat, corn, cotton, pigs, and dairy

• Wanted to raise the price of goods by reducing the supply in the market

• Problem: AAA did not help farm workers or migrant workers & it only helped large land holders

(TVA) Tennessee Valley Authority

• Advanced the economic development of the entire Tennessee River Valley

• Created jobs for architects, engineers, construction workers, scientists, and clerks

• Brought electricity and running water to one of the poorest areas in the nation

Results of the First New Deal

• FDR began to strengthen the role and authority of the federal government

• Federal government programs changed the prior idea of “charity aid”

• Did not end the Great Depression

Challenges from the Left and Right: 1934-1935

• Father Coughlin: Detroit Catholic priest with an audience of millions

• Fan base primarily of the lower middle class

Challenger # 2: Dr. Francis Townsend

• Elderly CA physician

• Proposed the government pay $200 per month to retired people over 60 years old

• Retirees would have had to spend the money in 30 days

Challenger # 3: Louisiana’s Huey Long

Huey Long’s “Share the Wealth” Plan

• 5,000 dollars to every American family

• Limit personal fortunes to 1 million dollars

• Old age pensions of $30 a month to persons over sixty

The 2nd New Deal: 1934 – 1936 The Works Progress

Association• 8 million construction

workers, writers, artists, photographers, and musicians employed between 1935 – 1942

• Employed 10,000 jobless writers

• Oral Histories of immigrants and former slaves

Who did the 2nd New Deal Target?

• Directly addressed the needs of workers, the elderly, and the poor

• The federal government became the source of stability and security

• Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 sets minimum wage of 40 cents per hour

• Brain Trust placed higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy out of the fear of the influence of Coughlin, Long, and Townsend

Social Security Act of 1935• The major accomplishment

of the New Deal• Established worker’s

pensions, unemployment insurance, survivor’s benefits for industrial accidents, aid for the disabled, aid for single mothers

• Ignored farmers, domestic workers, and self-employed

• Embraced by people during the 1930s