Chapter 5 : The Great Depression

• What waused the Great Depression ?

  • 1920s prosperity was very unevenly distributed
  • Companies produced too much and couldn't sell
  • Investors realized that and wanted their money back
  • -> Wall Street panic
• Date of the “Black Thursday” the stock market prices plummeted, but banks managed to control the situation

  October 24, 1929
• Date of the "Black Tuesday" the market completely collapsed because of the fear investors could lost it all

  October 29, 1929
• Years of presidency of Herbert Hoover

  1929-1933
• What did Herbert Hoover thought about the Great Depression ?

  He thought it was a temporary phenomenon, and "Prosperity [was] around the corner". For him it was not the role of government to act : "Though the people support the government, the government should not support the people"
• Solutions for the difficult times :

  • President's Organization for Unemployment Relief (POUR)
  • Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
  • -> This response was seen as grossly insufficient, anedequate and disorganized
• The POUR's aim was to coordinate privare agencies
• The RFC's aim was to loan money to banks and companies
• How many people lost their jobs in a few months time because of the GD ?

  between 13 and 15 million people ( 25% unemployement)
• How the american tried tu survive during the GD ? And what were the limits of these solutions ?

  They turned to charities, religious organizations & state aid but even those ran out of money
• Breadlines became commonplace during the GD
• How people tried to get money ?

  They would sold various household items they had to be able to buy food
• During the DG, Many people were evicted from their houses and had to live in "Hoovervilles"
• What's a Hooverville ?

  Some houses build from savaged wood, cardboard and tin
• The depression torn apart the social fabric
• Concerning the social fabric :

  • Children had to grow quickly to help their families, many became drifters
  • Many people turned to organized crime to earn money
  • Cases of malnutrition, suicide rose
  • Weddings had to be cancelled, brithrates declined
  • The crisis hit the most vulnerable hard : the elderly, migrants, African Americans
• What's the dust bowl ?

  In 1930s, the worst drought in American history struck the Great Plains
• The Dust Bowl devastated farms, crops & livestock : meaning it was almost impossible to grow food. Even farmers couldn't make a living
• Because of the Dust Bowl, some farmers lost their lands because of financial pressure of banks, some others had to lay off workers
• Consequence of the Dust Bowl

  Some 2.5 million people fled the Plains states, moved West hoping for better conditions
• Reaction of the population towards the GD

  • American workers had nothing to do with the crisis, but were suffering the consequence
  • Different understanding of how an economy works
  • Some accepted the situation as "normal" : working hard = prosperity ; working badly = depression
• In Iowa, Nebraska, Dakotas : farmers stopped milk trucks, because they weren"t making enough money to survive
• What's the "Bonus Army" ?

  In 1932, 20,000 WW1 veterans occupied Washington D.C. for a few months demanding the payment of their war effort bonuses.
• How was the reaction of the government toward the "Bonus Army" in 1932 ?

  They had a violent reaction
• In 1928 Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the governor of which state ?


  New York
• Dates of presidency of Franklin Roosevelt


  1933-1945
• F.D. Roosevelt witnessed the consequences of the Depression first hand, and thought it was a social duty to act
• The 1932 presidential election was based on government funded public works, helping farmers, ending Prohibition
• Roosevelt won a landslide victory over Hoover: 23 million votes to 16, and 472 electoral votes to 59
• The objective of the "first 100 days" of the New Deal was to renew confidence and stability in the U.S.
• The "Fireside chats" was a series of informal radio speeches part of the New Deal
• The three "R's" of the New Deal : Relief, Recovery and Reform
• The First New Deal used to stabilize the situation of American banks, create governmental agencies employing millions of Americans and Helping US compagnies if they agreed to give better wages, end child labor and allow unions
• The Second New Deal created the American "Welfare State"
• What meant the American "Welfare State" for the US government ?

  It meant that the US government was responsible for the social well-being of the American people
• What did Roosevelt in 1935 ?

  He pushed for the institutionalization on a national scale of trade unions and created social security funds for the unemployed, mothers with dependent children, the disabled, the lederly poor and a pension system
• What were the reaction and critics towards the New Deal ?

  Ethnics minorities were abandonned, and not part of the various programs. FDR was criticized for not respecting the constitution
• In 1936, Roosevelt was reelected, winning 46 out of the 48 states
• In 1937, Roosevelt stopped some government programs which led to a recession and a rising number of criticism but the tensions in Europe and the Pacific soon stole the public's attention