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Great Depression to 1933
Chapter 14
Economic Problems!
•  All that spending of the 1920s finally catches
up with the USA!
–  People buying on ________________________
–  American debt _______________________!
•  Most working class people not sharing in the
prosperity of the 1920s
Problems with Credit
•  ______ made it easy to get credit
•  What if there is a downturn in the
economy?
–  People can t ____________________
–  ________________ start calling in loans
and people can t pay their debts
–  _________________________ close if
people can t pay them back.
•  Starts a downward spiral in economy
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___________________
•  Businesses overproduced
and now prices are _______.
–  Supply higher than demand
–  Low prices = lower profits =
______________________
______________________
•  Major industries beginning to
fail in the late 1920s.
•  ________also overproduced
and couldn t pay their bills.
Stock ______________
•  Speculation = ________________________
_____________________________________.
•  People bought lots of stock in the stock
market (over ______________ owned stock)
•  Many bought stock on ________________
–  ______% in cash, _______% credit from banks
–  If businesses fail there could be a major downturn
in the economy (see 3 B s on board)
Problems with stocks
•  If people buy stocks = price and worth _________!
•  If people do not buy stocks = price and worth _____!
•  If businesses go out of business = stocks are worth
$_________________and you lose your investment!
•  When rumors of business closings = people all try to
sell their stock at the same time = price and worth
drop!
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1929
•  Depression in __________________
–  Post-WWI economic and political problems
–  Causes a limit in our _______________________
•  ____________________________ increases
•  Businesses start to lay off, cut production, go
out of business
–  People can t _________ products
–  Prices still too low for _________________
–  Can t pay bills for homes, cars, products bought
on credit
________________, 1929
•  By Oct., ‘29: Economy in _______________
–  With failing businesses and as stock worth begins
to drop people ______________________.
–  As things get desperate in October, 1929, millions
try to unload stocks to get something of worth
•  October 29, 1929, _____________________
–  Dramatic decrease of worth of stocks due to
millions trying to sell their shares of stock
•  ___________ close, millions in savings lost
How bad was it?
•  16,410,030 shares of stock sold
causing crash
•  Within 2 months, stockholders lost
_____________________________
•  Black Tuesday signaled the beginning
of the _________________________
(1929-1940)
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•  Bankers call brokers wanting
their money!
•  Banks close---people lost their
savings
•  Brokers go to investors to
collect their money to pay the
bank loans borrowed by broker
for investor
•  Businesses close---could not
pay back loans to banks.
•  Orders to sell any any price…
swamped the market--nobody
would buy
•  Brokers go under--stocks are
worthless--investors loose their
savings!
•  Run on the Banks: People
begin to panic and go to
banks---try to withdraw their
money…Banks don t have any
money to give back
•  Workers lose their jobs
•  No money to buy consumer
products
•  Sales fall---more businesses
shut down
•  More workers lose their jobs
domino effect
Great Depression
•  Depression:
•  1929-1940: Great
Depression
•  Millions out of work, lose
homes, lose farms, lose
business
•  Unemployment by 1932 =
______________________
•  Banks close, loss of savings
–  ______ banks closed in 1929
–  Over ___________________
failed by 1933
• 31st President 1929 to
1933
• Republican
• “A chicken in every pot and
car in every garage”.
• Hoover believed Depression would be short.
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• US Govt. should not
provide __________________
• Direct relief:
• He believed people would
become dependent on gov t and
not work their way out of
Depression
• States and local gov ts could give
direct aid if they wanted
· _______________________________:
Americans are self-sufficient
and would work themselves
out this depression through
hard work and determination.
· Pull yourself up by your
______________________________”
v  US Government provided ________________relief:
v  assisting insurance corporations, banks,
railroads and state and local governments.
v  The theory was that prosperity at the top would
help the economy as a whole _________________
v  Aid to Charitable organizations: Churches,
volunteers and people helping one another.
v  Gave a lot of money to the __________________
v  By end of 1929, much of aid had not trickled down to
the __________________________________
The Midterm Election (1934)
•  People become angry with the
____________________ party
(Hoover s party)
–  Not giving enough assistance
–  Some blamed them for the
Depression
–  Working class turning toward the
_________________________
•  The _______________ lost 49
seats and their majority in the
House of Representatives.
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Farmers
•  During World War I, many farmers had heavily mortgaged
their land to pay for seed, feed, and equipment.
•  After the war, prices sank so low (overproduction) that
farmers could not make a profit.
•  1929-1934: creditors foreclosed on nearly ____________
farms, taking possession of them and evicting families
•  Some farmers began destroying their crops in a desperate
attempt to _______________________ prices
–  During a time when people couldn t afford food
–  Did not work
Because
people lost
their jobs they
could not
make
payments on
their farms,
ranches or
homes.
FORECLOSURE
S
Banks would
foreclose on
their property
and thousands
lost their
homes
FORECLOSURE
S
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Thousands of
people
became
homeless and
workless.
FORECLOSURE
S
• Major drought hit the Great Plains region, including
Oklahoma in the 1930s
• It was caused by __________________________________
and years of sustained _____________________________.
• Misuse of land: overproduction during 1920s
• Millions of acres of farmland became useless, and
hundreds of thousands of people were forced to
leave their homes
• many migrated to ____________.
• As the land dried up, great clouds of dust and sand,
carried by the wind, covered everything and the word
______________________was coined.
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Families Struggle
•  High ____________
•  Government did
very little to help.
•  _____________
rates high
•  Families often split
apart.
•  Many children were
________________.
Direct Help for Citizens
•  Hoover believed direct aid should come from
states and cities --by 1932, they were running
out of money.
•  Political support was building for a relief
measure; Congress passed the
______________________________________
Called for ___________for _______works and
____________________________ in loans to
the states for debt relief.
–  Public works:
–  It was still not enough; the collapse continued.
Hunger Marches
•  Crime rate dramatically increased
•  Rallies _________________________ were
held by the American Communist Party
•  December 5, 1932: a freezing day in
Washington, DC; 1200 hunger marchers
assembledà Feed the hungry, tax the rich.
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_________________________ were migrant towns of
people who were out of work and on the move to find work.
Usually outside large cities where migrants were trying to
find jobs. people who were in need…….
HOOVERVILLES
Poverty Strains Society
Impact on
Health
Stresses on
Families
Discrimination
Increases
• Some people starved and thousands went hungry.
• Children suffered long-term effects from poor diet and
inadequate medical care.
• Social and Psychological Effects
• 1928–1932, suicide rate rises over 30%
• Admissions to state mental hospitals triple
• People couldn t afford to go to the doctor
• Living conditions declined as families crowded into
small houses or apartments.
• Men felt like failures because they couldn t provide for
their families.
• Working women were accused of taking jobs away from
men.
• Competition for jobs produced a rise in hostilities
against African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian
Americans.
• Lynchings increased.
• Aid programs discriminated against African Americans.
• The American people had lost their self-confidence
• People wanted to get back on their feet by getting
back to work…..
PSYCHO
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Run on the banks…….Bread and food lines………
PSYCHO
• People lost their homes, possessions and property.
• Families lived in Hoovervilles or shantytowns.
PSYCHO
• No hope, despair,
emotional pain,
depression and guilt.
• W hen you have millions
of unhappy men out of
work, you have the
potential for social
chaos.
PSYCHO
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DEBTS
• Bonus Army March
in the summer of
1932 approx. 20,000
veterans from
________marched on
Washington, DC.
• Demanded their
_______ promised to
them by the
government for
fighting in WWI.
• They were not due
these until _______
DEBTS
• Bonus Army refused to leave Washington, DC until Congress gave
them their Bonus. Congress voted ______ the Bonus to the veterans.
• They were ordered to leave by President Hoover but disobeyed the
order. Eventually, President Hoover would order ________________
to force these veterans out of Washington, DC
Battle of Washington
• July 28, 1932
• President Hoover orders
the army to remove Bonus
Army from Washington, D.C.
• General ______________,
later a WWII hero, was part
of removing the Bonus
Veterans.
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DEBTS
• August 28, 1932, Battle of Washington, D.C., US troops
supplied with tanks fought skirmishes, made arrests and burnt
down the camps of the Bonus veterans.
• The American people were appalled how President Hoover
solved the problem. People felt Hoover had no compassion and
would blame him for the Depression.
The Election of 1932
Herbert Hoover
Franklin Roosevelt
Believed government had a
responsibility to
_______________________
____________ needed to be
reformed.
Governmental involvement in
people s lives was a
_______________ for those
in need.
v 
v 
v 
v 
v  Believed that federal
government should not try to
fix people s problems.
v  He believed direct relief
would destroy people s selfrespect.
He believed it would create a
big government which would
violate laissez faire.
• Democrat Franklin
D. Roosevelt, beat
the Republican,
Herbert Hoover,
who was running
for reelection.
• FDR promised
relief for the
unemployed, help
for farmers and a
balanced budget.
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