This document discusses the impact of events after World War 1 on Georgia, including the boll weevil infestation and drought that damaged cotton farming, factors that led to the Great Depression like stock market crashes, and programs under FDR's New Deal like the CCC and REA that helped Georgia's economy but often excluded African Americans. It also profiles the political careers of governors Eugene Talmadge and others during this era.

1. SS8H8 The student will analyze the important events
that occurred after World War I and their impact on
Georgia
• a. Describe the impact of the boll weevil and
drought on Georgia.
• b. Explain economic factors that resulted in the
Great Depression.
• c. Discuss the impact of the political career of
Eugene Talmadge.
• d. Discuss the effect of the New Deal in terms of
the impact of the Civilian Conservation Corps,
Agricultural Adjustment Act, rural electrification,
and Social Security.

2. The Destruction of King Cotton
a. Describe the impact of the boll weevil and drought on Georgia
• Boll weevil: insect which ate Georgia’s
most important cash crop
• Price of cotton also dropped
• 1924: major drought (period with little or
no rain) hit Georgia
• Georgia farmers did not have the “good
life” that many Americans enjoyed
• Farms closed forcing banks and farm-
related business to close

3. The Bottom Drops Out
b. Explain economic factors that resulted in the Great Depression .
• Stock Market: Place where shares of
ownership in corporations (stock) are bought
and sold
• “Black Tuesday” – October 29, 1929: Stock
market prices fall greatly; millions of people
lose all their wealth
• Total losses by end of year: $40 billion
• Example: U.S. Steel was $262 per share –
dropped to $22 per share
• Some stocks worth less than 1¢

4. Causes of the Depression
b. Explain economic factors that resulted in the Great Depression.
• Many people had borrowed too much money
• Factories produced more goods than they could
sell
• As people and businesses had problems making
money, banks did not get paid for loans
• “Speculation” in the stock market: paying only a
portion of the price of a stock hoping that the value
will go up
• Runs on banks: people were afraid they would
lose their money if it was left in the bank
• laissez-faire: attitude that the economy would fix
itself if left alone

5. Living Through the Depression
• 1932: 13 million unemployed
• 9,000 banks closed
• 31 Georgia banks failed
• Hoovervilles: named for President Hoover –
shacks where homeless people gathered
• Soup kitchens set up by charities and
governments to feed hungry
• Schools were often forced to close or shorten
schedules
• Georgians were already suffering from economic
problems before Black Tuesday

6. Easing the Burden
• President Hoover’s plan: government would
buy farmer’s crops to help raise the price
• Plan did not work, but the food and cotton
were used to help the needy
• Another plan was to hire unemployed
people to do work for the government
• Plan did not employ enough people to really
help
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7. Eugene Talmadge
• A conservative white supremacist
• Became governor in 1933
• Disliked public welfare and tried to rid the state
of the New Deal programs
• Elected to a second term in 1934
• Elected again 1940
• Softened his view on the New Deal and used
modified versions of New Deal legislation
• Tried to interfere with integration of the
University of Georgia and cost Georgia’s white
colleges their accreditation

8. The New Deal
Discuss the effect of the New Deal
• 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt elected
president
• New Deal: Roosevelt’s plan to end the
depression
– Examined banks for soundness
– Give jobs to unemployed workers
– Tried to improve American’s lives
• Paved the way for recovery though all
programs did not work

9. Georgia and the New Deal
• NIRA: National Industrial Recovery Act – set
minimum wage
• Textile mill owners did not like the minimum
wage
• Stretch out: mill owners tried to make workers
work longer, faster, or more tasks
• TVA: Tennessee Valley Authority – Blue Ridge
Lake, Lake Chatuge, Lake Nottley built
• CCC: Civilian Conservation Corps – built many
parks, sewer systems, bridges, etc.
• REA: Rural Electrification Authority – brought
electric power to rural areas

10. New Deal
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC ) 1933 Provided
jobs for young single men building forest trails and
roads, building parks, and planting trees to reforest the
land and control flooding.
• Rural electrification -- The REA loaned over $300
million to farmers’ cooperatives to help them extend their
own power lines and buy power wholesale. This program
was one on the most important and far-reaching of the
New Deal programs. By 1940, a significant percentage
of farmers in Georgia and other parts of the nation had
electricity. Electric water pumps, lights,milking machines,
and appliances made farm life much easier.

11. New Deal
• Under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, farm
subsidies (grants of money from the
government) went to property owners rather
than to the tenant farmers, who were
predominantly black.
• The Social Security Act was not designed to
provide an income for farm and household
workers, so African Americans working at those
• jobs were not covered.

12. African Americans During
the New Deal
• Did not benefit from many New Deal
programs
• WPA: Works Public Administration – did
employ many African Americans
• Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet”: influential
African Americans working with President
Roosevelt:
– Mary McLeod Bethune
– Clark Foreman
– Robert Weaver
– William Hastie

13. Georgia’s New Deal
Governors
• Richard B. Russell
– Worked to reorganize state government like a successful
business
– Elected to U.S. Senate and served for 38 years
• Eugene Talmadge
– Did not like New Deal programs in Georgia
• Eurith “Ed” Rivers
– Worked with Roosevelt to increase New Deal spending in
Georgia
– Began programs for public housing
– Term ended with corruption problems

14. Georgia’s New Deal
Governors
• Talmadge re-elected in 1940
– Began to use some New Deal programs
– Used his power as governor to remove state
officials working to integrate Georgia’s state
colleges
• Ellis Arnall
– Reformed Board of Regents and state prisons
– Removed poll tax
– New state constitution
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