2. The Beginning
• The economic contraction that began with the
Great Crash triggered the most severe economic
downturn in the nation’s history—the Great
Depression
• The Great Depression lasted from 1929 until the
United States entered World War II in 1941
• The stock market crash of 1929 did not cause the
Great Depression. Rather, both the Great Crash
and the Depression were the result of deep
underlying problems with the country’s economy
X
5. Hoover’s Response
• To protect domestic industries, Congress passed the
Hawley-Smoot tariff, the highest import tax in history.
European countries also raised their tariffs, and
international trade suffered a slowdown
• Hoover set up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation
(RFC), which gave government credit to banks, industries,
railroads, and insurance companies. The theory was that
prosperity at the top would help the economy as a whole.
Americans saw it as helping bankers and businessmen,
while ordinary people went hungry
• Hoover did not support federal public assistance because
he believed it would destroy people’s self-respect and
create a large bureaucracy
• Finally, public opinion soured for Hoover when he called
the United States Army to disband a protest of 20,000
unemployed World War I veterans called the Bonus Army
X
6.
7. Hoover’s Limited Strategy
PORTRAYAL OF AMERICAN LIFE BY LOST GENERATION
WRITERS
Effort Description Effectiveness
public-works poured money into public failed to affect the
programs construction projects entrenched depression
such as the Boulder Dam
agricultural created the Federal helped some farmers
efforts Farm Board; made take advantage of
loans, established cooperatives and avoid
cooperatives, and closure, but failed to
bought surplus goods end the farm crisis
Reconstruction loaned taxpayer money helped some
Finance to stabilize industries companies avoid
Corporation bankruptcy, used
(RFC) money for businesses;
not people
X
9. A ―New Deal‖ for America
• FDR promised a New Deal for the American people.
• He was ready to experiment with government roles in
an effort to end the Depression.
• As governor of New York, Roosevelt had set up an
unemployment commission and a relief agency.
• FDR’s wife, Eleanor, was an experienced social
reformer. She worked for public housing legislation,
state government reform, birth control, and better
conditions for working women.
• When the Roosevelts campaigned for the presidency,
they brought their ideas for political action with them.
X
10. The Election of 1932
Franklin Roosevelt Herbert Hoover
• Believed that government • Believed that federal
had a responsibility to help government should not try to
people fix people’s problems
• Called for a reappraisal of • Argued that federal aid and
values and more controls on government policies to help
the poor would alter the
big business
foundation of our national life
• Helped many Americans • He argued for voluntary aid to
reassess the importance of help the poor and argued
―making it on their own‖ against giving the national
without any help government more power
• Much of his support came • Hoover gave very few
from urban workers, coal campaign speeches and was
miners, and immigrants in jeered by crowds
need of relief
• Roosevelt won 57 percent of
the popular vote and almost
89 percent of the electoral
vote X
12. Restoring Hope & the First Hundred Days
boosted family
incomes so that
helped modernize the South children could stay
in school
broke down class barriers New Deal
Programs
provided jobs,
brought electricity improved people’s
to rural areas sense of self worth
X
13. Areas of New Deal Reform
Stabilizing FDR wanted to restore public confidence in the nation’s banks.
Financial Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act, which authorized the
Institu- government to inspect the financial health of all banks.
tions Congress also passed the Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1933. This act
established a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to insure
bank deposits.
Providing FDR persuaded Congress to establish the Federal Emergency Relief
Relief Administration (FERA). FERA put money into public works programs,
and government-funded projects to build public facilities and create jobs.
Creating One public works program was the Civilian Conservation Corps
Jobs (CCC). The CCC put more then 2.5 million men to work maintaining
forests, beaches, and parks.
X
14.
15. Areas of New Deal Reform
Regulating In 1933, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). NIRA
the established the National Recovery Administration (NRA), which tried to balance
Economy the unstable economy through extensive planning.
The NRA established codes for fair business practices. These codes regulated
wages, working conditions, production, and prices, and set a minimum wage.
Assisting The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) worked to improve housing
Home- standards and conditions, and insure mortgages.
owners and The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) raised farm prices through
Farmers subsidies. They paid farmers not to raise certain crops and livestock, hoping
that lower production would cause prices to rise.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provided jobs, hydroelectric power, flood
control, and recreational opportunities to farmers in the underdeveloped
Tennessee Valley.
X
16.
17. Work Programs
• The Civilian Conservation Corps
– CCC = relieve unemployment & poverty
– 250,000 young men, 17-24 yrs = Nat’l parks, etc.
– $30/month + food, shelter, clothing & education
• Modest Gains for Labor
– NIRA: monitoring BIG business
– 1938: Fair Labor Stand. Act = ended child labor,
established min. wage, overtime pay
• Praise for the New Deal
– Roosevelt's received thousands of fan mail with
requests for soap, money, and clothing
X
19. Key Players in the New Deal
• FDR was the first President to appoint a woman to a
Cabinet post. Frances Perkins, a former Progressive,
was the Secretary of Labor until 1945
• FDR also broke new ground by hiring African
Americans in more than a hundred policymaking posts
• Eleanor Roosevelt was one of FDR’s most important
colleagues. Occasionally the First Lady took stands
that embarrassed her husband. For example, she
protested the Jim Crow laws at a meeting of the
Southern Conference for Human Welfare in
Birmingham, Alabama.
X
