The Response to the
Economic Collapse
How did the federal government
respond to the economic collapse
that began in 1929?
Introduction
• 1932 unemployment
is rampant
• Veterans want their
retirement bonuses
paid sooner rather
than later
• Bonus Army marches
on Washington
• Camp in front of the
White House
Bonus Army March
Bonus Army Camp
Blaming Hoover
The Conservative Response
• Traditional customs
and values
• Self-reliance;
individual
responsibility;
personal liberty
• Status quo
• Business cycle
• Little/no government
intervention
The Liberal Response
• Expansion of liberty
• 1800s individual
liberty, less
government
• Big Business;
Progressive Era
• Regulation
• Public works, social
welfare
Convex backside and four
hydroelectric-intake towers of
Hoover Dam seen in this 1935 photo
taken before Lake Mead rose.
Courtesy U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation
The top of the Dam still carries a main road, heading south to
Phoenix (though they're building a by-pass). Lake Mead, created
by the dam, lies behind.
Sharing Power
• The Power Plant on
the Nevada side
• The Dam is on the
State-line between
Nevada and Arizona
• Each state has its
own generator room.
Paying for the Dam
• This is what Hoover
Dam is about supplying electrical
power…
• …though Lake Mead
supplies water to
cities as far away as
Los Angeles.
The Radical Response
• Sweeping social,
political, economic
changes
• Socialists and
communists gain
supporters
• Redistribute wealth
• Replace capitalism
with communism
• Planned economy
Eugene V. Debs for President
Hoover’s Conservative Response
• Self-reliance; hard
work; individualism
• No government help;
churches; charities
• Sees economy as
sound; bad cycle
• Hoovervilles
• RFC; Trickle down
• Gasses the Bonus
Army
Hoovervilles
FDR and the New Deal
• Democrat; promises
to do whatever it
takes to promote
recovery
• Sweeps 1932 election
• Relief, recovery,
reform
• First hundred days
• CCC; AAA; Truth in
Securities Act