10/9/2011
Mr. O’Brien
Warren Hills Regional HS
Pres. Hoover’s responses…
he didn't believe that the gov't
should play an active role in the
economy
he persuaded big
bankers/businesses to follow his
policy of VOLUNTARY NON COERCIVE COOPERATION where
he gave tax breaks in return for
promises to not layoff workers
Hoover also organized some
private relief agencies for the
unemployed
AMERICANS REACT TO
HOOVER
• Hoover was increasingly
unpopular he persuaded
Congress to establish the
RECONSTRUCTION
FINANCE CORPORATION
• had power to make
emergency loans to banks
• but it was too little too
late…
• and Hoover wouldn't
involve himself in any
programs of direct aid to
individuals
– didn't want to erode
Americans sense of
"RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM"
1
10/9/2011
The Bonus March
• WW1 veterans march on Washington = BONUS
MARCH (BONUS ARMY)
• they reached Washington by 1931, set up
shantytowns = HOOVERVILLES (food scraps =
HOOVER-MEALS, hitchhiking journeys =
HOOVER RIDES)
1932 ELECTION
• 1 out of 4 was unemployed…
• nat'l income was 50% of what it had been
in 1929
• winner by a landslide = FRANKLIN
DELANO ROOSEVELT (Dem - N.Y.
governor)
The New Deal
One day after taking
office Roosevelt
declared a bank
holiday closing all
banks
1. He then had all
banks inspected
to see if they
were financially
sound
2. He used his
fireside chats to
restore
confidence in the
nation’s banks
2
10/9/2011
Franklin Roosevelt – 1st 100 Days
A. Democrats also won twothirds of the seats in the
Senate and three-fourths
of the seats in the House
B. Roosevelt chose brilliant
advisers; they were
professors, lawyers, and
journalists
1. They were called the
Brain Trust
2. They created
programs, policies,
and agencies to
alleviate the problems
of the Great
Depression
3. These programs
became known as the
New Deal
C. To carry out these
programs Roosevelt
created his own “Alphabet
Soup”
3