Unit 10 - The Great Depression & World War II

1929-1950

Unit 10 Vocabulary

• Stock market – the buying and selling of stocks as shares in companies• Economic depression – a period of economic decline characterized by

high unemployment, high prices, and a lack of economic production• Rationing – practice of giving out limited amounts of food and supplies,

generally given to soldiers or civilians during war time• Internment – confinement• Ally – A country that agrees to help another country achieve a common

goal.• New Deal – The set of programs and policies designed to promote

economic recovery and social reform introduced by FDR.• Black Tuesday – Record amount of money lost in the stock market.• Stock – Ownership in a corporation usually divided into shares and

represented by a certificate• Black Blizzard – Dust storms so fierce that the sun is completely blocked

out for hours at a time.• Consumer goods – product created for personal use, such as clothing,

radios, and refrigerators.

World War I

World War I

• 1914 – World War I began, but the U.S. remained neutral (stayed out of the war).

• 1917 - German submarines sank ship (the Luisitania) carrying American passengers. This forces the U.S. into the war! In April, President Woodrow Wilson officially declares war against Germany.

The Zimmerman Telegram

• German diplomat, Arthur Zimmerman, sent a secret-code telegram to Mexico.

• In telegram, Germany promised to help Mexico regain its “lost territories” of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico in exchange for its support.

• News reaches the U.S. and Texas; they are furious!

Texas and World War I• About 200,000 U.S. troops are Texans.

25% are African Americans.

• Texas is excellent for training troops because of wide open spaces and many connecting railroad networks.

• Training camps include:

1. Kelly Field in San Antonio –world’s largest flight training school

2. Camp Logan near Houston

3. other camps in Waco, Fort Worth

The Roaring 20s

The Roaring 20’s

• Fun Times reigned! A great period of prosperity for America.

– Bohemian Lifestyle –Dancing, Drinking, Jazz.

• Applied to people who live unconventional, usually artistic, lives.

Credit System (1920s)

Why was this bad?

• Credit system– People didn’t really have

the money they were spending

• WWI

– The U.S. was a major credit loaner to other nations in need

– Many of these nations could not pay us back

The Stock Market• People bought stocks

on margins– If a stock is $100 you

can pay $10 now and the rest later when the stock rose

• Stocks fall– Now the person has less

than $100 and no money to pay back

Texas in the 20s -Urban Texas

• 1920s - Texas changed from a rural, agricultural state to an urban one in which people had more leisure time.

• Most homes now had:

1. electricity, phone service

2. refrigerators, electric appliances

3. washing machines, irons, vacuums

Texas in the 20s - Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

• Ku Klux Klan was a secret anti-minority organization formed during Reconstruction

• Used violence against victims (African Americans, Jews, Catholics)

• 1920s – very influential in Texas politics

Texas in the 20s - Against the KKK

• Many Texans fed up with Klan’s violence and elected anti-Klan Miriam “Ma” Ferguson as Governor.

• Miriam “Ma” Ferguson - First woman to be elected Governor in Texas!

Texas in the 20sTexas Highway Department

• 1922 – more than one million cars and trucks were registered in Texas, ending the horse and buggy era.

• Traffic laws were passed and police enforced them.

• Texas created the Texas Highway Department and became eligible for federal funds to build new roads.

Economic Concepts

• Free enterprise system – type of economy where people own and run their own businesses and respond to consumer demand.– It was most developed when Anglos from the United States began

colonizing Texas.

• The crash of the stock market resulted in Americans not having enough money to buy products. – This event, and the overproduction of agriculture products and oil and

gas led to a drop in prices. – Supply and demand – supply is the amount of goods available, and

demand is the desire to own something and the ability to pay for it.

• Overproduction of agricultural products like cotton and oil and gas led to a drop in prices, which led to smaller profits or no profit. – Without a profit, businesses during the Great Depression closed and

workers lost their jobs.

Great Depression Begins

• In 1929, early in Republican Herbert Hoover’s presidency, the U. S. stock market collapsed.

• Many investors, hoping to make quick fortunes, drove up the price of stock.

• Some investors borrowed money heavily to buy stocks, and when stock prices fell, those investors and the banks that loaned them money were wiped out.

Many waited in unemployment lines hoping for a job.

People in cities would wait in line for bread to bring to their family.

Some families were forced to relocate because they had no money.

Great Depression

The Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl in Texas

• 1930s - A severe drought added to the problem of overproduction as dust storms made the area into a Dust Bowl; it lasted 7 years.

• People became ill from lung diseases (Dust Pneumonia) and many families lost their farms because of hard times.

• The Dust Bowl covered a five-state area: Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.

Effects of the Dust Bowl

• The climate in the Panhandle is windy, hot, and dry during the summer. Combined with three years of drought, and lack of soil conservation, dust storms occurred destroying crops and causing Texans to migrate from the Panhandle and Texas.

• It also caused a change in farming techniques and government policies.

Developments From the Dust Bowl

Political Social Economic

• New Deal Programs were initiated to prevent erosion

• Texans migrated to California and other parts of the nation

• Implemented ways to stop erosion – planting trees (Shelter Belt), contour plowing, terracing

• Crop prices dropped

• Farms were lost to the bank

• Population decreased in Panhandle towns

The Shelter Belt

• Texans planted trees and natural vegetation in the Texas Panhandle to prevent erosion.

• Irrigation systems facilitated the adaptation to the arid environment of this region.

A New Deal for Texas

Impact of the Great Depression on Texas

POLITICIAL ECONOMIC SOCIAL

• New Deal Programs:Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Public Works Administration (PWA), and Works Progress Administration (WPA).

• John Nance Garner:Vice President under Franklin Roosevelt.

• Sam Rayburn: Speaker of the House. He served longer than any other legislator. Supported regulatory legislation such as the SEC.

• Texans involvedprimarily in agriculture.

• Funding for education and government services was severely cut.

• Prices for food and other products fell.

• Oil industry began to increase due to demand.

• New Deal programs employed over 100,000 Texans; built and repaired bridges, dams, roads, and parks.

• North Texans migrated to California looking for work.

• The social securitysystem was established.

• Dust Bowl – dust storms swept through the Great Plains causing erosion, drought, and destruction of crops.

• Texas celebrated its centennial.

New Deal

Government regulation!!!!

• New Deal Programs during the Great Depression created jobs that put Texans to work.– Works Progress Administration (WPA), Public Works

Administration (PWA), and Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) put people to work building or improving public buildings such as schools, post offices, hospitals, coliseums, parks, swimming pools, and dams.

• Import/export agricultural products

• Import/export of oil

New Deal Affects the Future

• Dams built to provide hydro-electric power and control flooding, reservoirs provided recreation areas. (Hoover Dam)

• Irrigation of the plains has strained aquifers, some of which have dried up, yet crop yields have increased.

• Drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico have resulted in more energy, economic growth, oil spills, oil contamination of beaches, gulf, and wildlife habitats, possible water contamination and possible increase in seismic activity.

World War II

U.S. Supports the Allies• Roosevelt favored the Allies–nations at war

with the Axis powers–although the United States was officially neutral.

• To assist the Allies,

Roosevelt made

military equipment

available through

the Lend-Lease Act.

U.S. Goes to War

• December 7, 1941 - Japan attacked the U.S. troops based at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the United States officially entered the war.

• World War II would not end until 1945 with a victory for the Allied forces.

Texan Leaders During WWII

• Oveta Culp Hobby – First director of the Women’s Army Corp (WAC)

• Admiral Chester W. Nimitz – Commander of Pacific Fleet

• Dwight Eisenhower – Allied Commander

• Sam Rayburn – Speaker of the House (supported financial support for the war effort)

• Jack Nance Garner – Vice President

• Audie Murphy – most decorated soldier. Became a movie star.

Impact of WWII on Texas

Political Social Economic

• Major military bases and airfields

• Over 750,000 Texans served in the war

• Many Texans received the Medal of Honor

• Rationing

• Migration to urban areas

• Desire of minorities to be integrated because of their involvement in the war effort

• Over 22,000 Texans died in the war

• Increase in Civil Rights groups activities. (NAACP, LULAC)

• Improved Texas economy

• Oil and Gas industry

• Lumber

• Agriculture

• Cotton

• Women joined the workforce

Texans Support the War at Home

• Texans encouraged to “Do your bit” at home to support troops by:

1. buying war bonds and

liberty loans

2. buying war stamps

3. giving to the Red Cross

4. ration food supplies

5. Planted “Victory Gardens”

Texans Support the War at Home• Food items, gasoline, tires, and other

scarce supplies were rationed.

• Texans supplemented their food by

planting “victory gardens.”

• They collected scrap iron for use in

manufacturing war supplies.

• Texans contributed to the Red Cross

and other agencies serving the military.

U.S. Forces Train in Texas

• Texas’s favorable climate, location between the two coasts, and wide open spaces made it ideal for military bases.

• More than 100 military bases were built or enlarged.

Industrial Production in Texas

• World War II depended heavily on tanks, ships, airplanes, gasoline, explosives, and other supplies. Texas had large supplies of natural gas, water, timber, and supplied 80% of the oil needed.

• From 1942 to 1944, Texas industries boomed, resulting in a large population growth.

New Methods of Production

• Wartime needs encouraged development of improved products and methods of production.

• Scientists invented synthetic rubber from petroleum, and plants were built in Texas.

Home Front Workers

• Between 1940 and 1943, about 450,000 rural Texans moved to cities to work in wartime factories.

• There were new job opportunities for women, African Americans, and Mexican Americans, but discrimination was still a problem.

Texas After the War

• Airplane and ship plants either closed or began producing consumer goods.

• Women who worked in factories generally were fired so that returning servicemen could have their jobs.

• Since farming had become mechanized and required fewer workers, most tenant farmers never returned to work on farms.

New Attitudes of Minorities

• Many African Americans and Mexican Americans realized the unfairness of fighting and dying for democracy and freedom when many of their civil rights were denied at home.

– Many Mexican American veterans joined LULAC, while others formed the American GI Forum of Texas.

– The NAACP also became more active during and after the war.

Texans Return to Civilian Life

• 1944 - Congress passed the GI Bill of Rights which helped veterans in various ways, including paying college tuition.

Foreign Affairs

• U.S. troops served in Germany and Japan as armies of occupation.

• New threats emerged when the Soviet Union set up Communist dictatorships in several Eastern European nations.

• The United States was committed to stopping the spread of Communism and became involved in the Cold War.

VS.

New Threats

• Communism - community ownership of property, with the end goal being complete social equality via economic equality.

***In Practice - a way of organizing a society in which the government owns the things that are used to make and transport products (such as land, oil, factories, ships, etc.) and there is no privately owned property

• 1950 - Communist North Korea invaded South Korea and the United States was again at war – the Korean War.

• This war would not end until 1953.

Capitalism

• In common usage, the word capitalism means an economic system in which all or most of the means of production are privately owned and operated, and the investment of capital and the production, distribution and prices of commodities (goods and services) are determined mainly in a free market, rather than by the state. In capitalism, the means of production are generally operated for profit.

• In a purely capitalist economy, there would be no public schools, no state owned or maintained roads and highways, public works, welfare, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, Social Security benefits etc.

Socialism

• Most generally, socialism refers to state ownership of common property, or state ownership of the means of production. A purely socialist state would be one in which the state owns and operates the means of production. However, nearly all modern capitalist countries combine socialism and capitalism.

• The University of Idaho, and any other public school or university, is a “socialist” institutions, and those who attend it or work for it are partaking in socialism, because it is owned and operated by the state of Idaho. The same is true of federal and state highways, federal and state parks, harbors etc.

Communism

• Most generally, communism refers to community ownership of property, with the end goal being complete social equality via economic equality. Communism is generally seen by communist countries as an idealized utopian economic and social state that the country as a whole is working toward; that is to say that pure communism is the ideal that the People’s Republic of China is (was?) working toward. Such an ideal often justifies means (such as authoritarianism or totalitariansim) that are not themselves communist ideals.

• Fundamentally, communism argues that all labor belongs to the individual laborer; no man can own another man's body, and therefore each man owns his own labor. In this model all "profit" actually belongs in part to the laborer, not, or not just, those who control the means of production, such as the business or factory owner. Profit that is not shared with the laborer, therefore, is considered inherently exploitive.

Fascism

• The word descends from the Latin ‘fasces’, the bundle of sticks used by the Romans to symbolize their empire. This should clue you in that Fascism attempts to recapture both the glory and social organization of Rome.

• Most generally, “a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.”

• Unlike communism, fascism is opposed to state ownership of capital and economic equality is not a principle or goal. During the 1930s and WWII, communism and fascism represented the extreme left and right, respectively, in European politics. Hitler justified both Nazi anti-Semitism and dictatorship largely on the basis of his working to fight-off communism.

A Note On Morality• Capitalism and socialism are essentially a-moral* terms:

they simply refer to economic systems – who owns what and how capital is exchanged – regardless of any other type of moral principle or goal. Communism and fascism, on the other hand, refer to both economics, governance, and basic moral principles: that is to say they refer to overarching ideas about how people should live (rather than describing how people do business), so they imply a total ideology: a morality, an economy, a government.

*amoral vs. immoral. Both have to do with right and wrong, but amoral means having no sense of either, like a rock, but the evil immoral describes someone who knows the difference, doesn't care, and says "mwah ha ha" while twirling a mustache. If you call someone immoral, you are saying that person knows better.