2. Guiding Question Objective
What three areas of the Students will be able to
economy began to explain how a failure in
struggle at the end of industry, agriculture,
the 1920s? and the consumer
(What caused the market led to the Great
Great Depression?) Depression
3. Warm Up
• Think and scribble!
• What would you do if you lost your entire life’s savings
and your job at the same time?
• How would you feel if you couldn’t provide clothing,
food, or shelter for your family?
• What would happen if you spent more money than you
actually have?
• What typically happens when people and businesses
are both in debt?
4. Economic Struggles
• What happens to companies during times of War?
• Which companies might feel these effects?
• Lumber, oil, automobile, steel
• Which resources do we use for energy?
• Which resources were used in the late 1920s?
• Coal
5. Economic Struggles
• In the early 1900s, how were goods transported?
• Railroads
• What transportation industries flourished in the 1920s?
• Automobile, airplanes
• With the growth of air and highway transportation, the rail
industry shrunk. What other industries might this affect?
6. Economic Struggles
• What industries or professions benefit from building
houses?
• Lumber
• Construction workers
• Architects
• Landscaping
• Plumbing
• Steel
• Glass
7. Economic Struggles
• What happened to
housing starts
(construction)
between 1920 and
1940?
• What would
happen to the
industries that
benefit from
building houses
during this time?
8. Economic Struggles
• What is the name for the branch of the economy that
encompasses rail, steel, coal, energy, lumber etc.?
• Industry
• Many of the major industrial companies either went out of business or
dramatically cut back on expenses/ This led to high levels of
unemployment and a weak economy.
11. Economic Struggles
• Between 1919 and 1921 farming income decreased from
$10 billion to just over $4 billion
• If you were a farmer during World War I and you did not
have the most modern equipment, what would you do?
• Remember, demand for crops always goes up during war. This
means profits go up too!
• Most farmers chose to take out loans to purchase new equipment.
When the farming bubble burst after World War I, most were unable to
pay back their debt
12. Economic Struggles
• What happens when you
can’t pay back your debt?
• Foreclosure
• The bank seizes your assets and
sells them off to get the money
you owe
• Many farmers began to lose
their farms
• This resulted in a drop in the
agricultural sector. As a result,
banks failed because debt
became unpayable and food
production dropped.
13. Economic Struggles
• To help farmers make more money, Congress proposed
the McNary-Haguen bill. This bill would have allowed the
US Government to buy surplus crops at a guaranteed
price.
• President Coolidge vetoed the bill twice
• “Farmers have never made money. I don’t believe we can do much
about it.”
15. Economic Struggles
• What was one of the negative consequences of the
installment plan (buying on credit)?
16. Economic Struggles
• Wages stagnated (stopped rising) at the end of the 1920s.
If wages are not rising as fast as they were when credit
rates were created, what might this do to debt payment?
• If you begin to accumulate too much debt, what might you
do?
• By the end of the 1920s, many consumers cut back on spending
because wages had slowed down making it more difficult to pay off
debt.
• Who suffered from less consumer spending?
• Business
17. Economic Struggles
• What is wealth distribution?
• Between 1920 and 1929, the income of the wealthiest 1%
of the population rose 75% compared with a wage
increase of 9% for the other 99%
• How balanced was wealth distribution between 1929 and
1930?
18. Economic Struggles
• Why is unequal wealth distribution a bad thing?
• It prevents most people from successfully navigating economic
disaster. When a majority of the population is unable to contribute
to the economy after a crash, the economy has a hard time
recovering
• Some historians argue that unequal wealth distribution
was a contributing factor to the fall of the Roman Empire
• Rome wealth control: Top 1% owned 16% of wealth
• 1929 US wealth control: Top 1% owned 44.2% of wealth
• 2013 US wealth control: Top 1% owns 38% of wealth
• 2013 International wealth control: Top 1% owns 40% of wealth
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOwjN9qV2ls
19. Economic Struggles
• What is the name of the branch of the economy that we
occupy?
• Consumer market
20. Economic Struggles
• Exit Ticket
• What three sections of the economy began to struggle at the end of
the 1920s and how did they lead to the economic downturn in
1929?
21. • Guiding Question
• What caused the Great Depression?
• Objective
• Students will be able to explain why the Stock Market
Crash was not a primary cause of the Great Depression.
22. Warm Up
• Do you recognize this statue?
• Where is it located?
• What does it represent?
25. The Stock Market Crashes
• NYSE
• New York Stock Exchange. The place to buy and sell stock since
1792
• Stock
• A share of a company that entitles you to profits made by the
company
• Stockbrokers
• People who take orders from customers to buy and sell shares of
stock in companies
• Why would you buy stock?
• Retirement plan
• Salary compensation
• Recreation
• Get rich quick
26. The Stock Market Crashes
• Dow Jones Industrial Market
• Barometer of the stock market’s health based on the prices of the
30 largest NYSE firms
• Bull Market
• A general rise in the stock market over time
• Speculation
• Buying stock in hopes of making a quick profit
• Buying on margin
• Paying for a small percentage of the stock and borrowing the rest
27. The Stock
Market Crashes
• What does the artist
will think will happen
as a result of the
stock market crash?
• How is fear
communicated in the
picture?
29. The Stock Market Crashes
• Black Tuesday
• In September 1929, stock prices peaked and then fell
• This caused confidence in the market to waver and some investors
quickly sold their stock
• On Tuesday 1929 the bottom fell out of the market
• Shareholders tried to sell before prices plunged even lower
• 16.4 million shares sold in one day
• Despite this, many people were left with shares worth less than what they had
originally paid. Many were left with huge debts while other lost their entire life
savings
30. The Stock Market Crashes
• Cause or effect?
• Did the stock market crash cause the Great Depression?
• What arguments would you use to say that Black Tuesday was a
result of a bad economy and not a cause of the Great Depression?
• Where should we go to get data to support our argument?
• What kind of argument is this?
31. • Can Americans all take their money out of the banks at
the same time?
• No, the money is not sitting in a vault. It is being spent, invested
and given to people when they make withdrawals
32.
33. So What Did Cause the Great
Depression?
• Bank Failure
• After the crash, many people withdrew their money from the banks.
However, many people could not get all of their money back. Why
do you think this was?
• Money was gone because of unpaid debt
• The banks had invested the money in the Stock Market
• 11,000 banks failed out of 25,000 nationwide
• Businesses went bankrupt
• GNP (Gross National Product– the monetary value of all goods and
services produced in the United States) dropped from $104 billion
to $59 billion
• 90,000 business go bankrupt
• Unemployment jumps to 25%
34.
35. So What Did Cause the Great
Depression?
• Bad international trading trends
• Many European countries were also locked in depression making it
difficult to export American good
• Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act
• Highest protective tariff in U.S. History. Ended up harming U.S. exports
because other countries could not pay for American goods
36. So What Did Cause the Great
Depression?
• There are four main causes of the Great Depression
• 1. Tariffs and war debt cut down the foreign market for American
goods
• 2. The agricultural sector collapses
• 3. Large amounts of consumer debt and an unequal distribution of
wealth
• 4. A weak industrial sector
37. International Issues
• What might be some of the international effects of the
Great Depression?
• Downturn in international trade
• Greater dependence on reparation payments
• Rise of Hitler
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tGKfIJwrh4
39. 1928 Election
• Herbert Hoover
• Republican
• Mining engineer from Iowa
• Served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce under Harding and
Coolidge
• Strengths: Economic success under Republican Presidents in the
1920s
• Alfred E. Smith
• Democrat
• Four-time Governor of New York
• Strengths: opposed prohibition, comfortable in the spotlight, career
politician
40. 1928 Election
• “We in America are nearer to the final triumph over
poverty than ever before.” –Herbert Hoover
• Hoover won in a landslide, indicating that the American
people were pleased with the American economy and the
Republican, hands-off economic approach
• Some economists had warned of a weakened economy
42. Hoover’s Philosophy of Government
• “Rugged Individualism”
• People should succeed through their own efforts
• Handouts weaken people’s self-respect
• Opposed any form of welfare or federal government
handouts
• Local charities alone should be responsible for helping the
poor
• What are the potential problems with this philosophy?
43. Wrap Up
• Did the Stock Market Crash directly cause the Great
Depression? Why or why not, and if not what did cause
the Great Depression?
44. Warm Up
• Who should take care of the poorest people in the United
States?
45. Life during the Great Depression
• http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=a2e8-ZmtU7c
• What is the mood of this
song?
• What job do you think the
singer has?
• What happened to the
singer?
46. • What is the name of this region of the United States?
The Great Plains
47. The Dust Bowl
• Between 1929 and 1932 400,000 farms were lost to
foreclosure
• Most farmers turned to tenant farming and made barely enough to
survive
• Many farmers had “over farmed” the land at the beginning
of the 1920s to keep up with the demand for food.
• This resulted in a loss of top-soil and trees which would hold soil in
place
• In 1930 a disastrous drought struck the Great Plains
• What happens when soil dries out?
• Dust!
48. The Dust Bowl
• Due to a large build up in dust and a lack of top soil to
keep the dust in place, enormous amounts of dust blew
up creating a massive dust storm in the Great Plains
49. The Dust Bowl
• The largest dust storms happened in Texas, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado
• Dust was found as far away as Boston and New York City
• Many farmers up and left for California. These people
were known as Okies.
50. The Dust Bowl
• What do you see in these pictures? What emotions,
people, conditions etc.
51. The Dustbowl
• Dorothea Lange traveled around the country collecting pictures of the
Dust Bowl. This picture, “The Migrant Mother” is her most famous
piece
• What does this picture make you think when you see it?
52. Depression Effects on the Family
• Effects on women
• Many women had to budget their money wisely to pay for food
• Women also took jobs to help feed their family
• Many men resented this. Working women were seen to be preventing
unemployed men from getting jobs
• Most people assumed women were having an easier time than
men
• Men were the ones who were lining up and begging for jobs
• In reality, women were suffering in secret and were starving to death in
attics as opposed to starving to death on the streets
53. Depression Effects on the American Family
• Effects on Men
• Men were accustomed to working with their families
• Unemployment was a shameful thing for them
• What are the men in the picture doing?
54. Depression Effects on the Family
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNXTKVxOmfk
• What is Russell Crowe doing in this scene?
• Why is he doing it?
• Where is this happening?
• What do you notice about the other men in the room?
55. Depression Effects on the Family
• Effects on children
• A lack of food and money for health care causes sickness among
children
• Slashed tax revenue resulted in school closings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCKh3Jsge4E
56. Depression Effects on Minorities
• Latinos were seen as job poachers
• Many Americans called for Mexicans and Mexican-Americans to be
deported
• During the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of Latinos left, either due to
deportation or voluntarily leaving
• African-Americans became even more exposed
• Having already lived an underprivileged life, the black community
suffered higher unemployment from the rest of the country as well
as more violence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcrgXmyc6KY&feature=player_de
tailpage#t=117s
57. Exit Ticket
• Name and describe one social effect of the Great
Depression on American lives
58. Decision Time
• Fill out the reasoning guide explaining your beliefs on
each of the statements
60. Hoover’s Solution
• Hoover believed in rugged individualism as his political
philosophy
• People should take care of themselves and their own families and
not rely on the government for aid
• Any sort of government aid leads the people to rely on government
61. Hoover’s Solution
• What is government aid?
• Food stamps
• Unemployment
• Direct relief
• Early depression era program allocating money to be given to the needy
by the government
62. Hoover’s Solution
• For Hoover, government’s role is encourage voluntary
cooperation between differing parties
• Government is a mediator
• Government can help guide relief programs but NEVER
get involved
• Small government philosophy
63. Hoover’s Solution
• Tried to be positive
• Told the public to go on acting as normal
• Believed the Depression was just a natural part of the
business cycle
• Told people to let the economy fix itself
• Limited the role of government to fix the problems
64.
65. Hoover’s Solution
• Tried to get businesses to voluntarily enact business
practices
• Asked businesses not to cut wages or lay off workers
• Asked workers not to go on strike
66. Economic Situation in 1930
• Continued to worsen
• Unemployment continued to rise
• More companies went out of business
• Soup kitchens, shantytowns, & hoboes became common
• Misery of ordinary people continued to grow
• Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives
& Senate
69. Hoover’s Solution
• Hoovervilles
• Homeless people suffering from the Great Depression would gather
supplies to build makeshift houses
• These shantytowns became known as Hoovervilles
• This Hooverville is located in New York City
70. Hoover’s Solution
• Charities began to open up bread lines and soup kitchens
to feed the hungry
• Food was donated by the rich
• However, the demand for resources became far too heavy
and without the aid of the federal government the charities
could not bear the entire burden of helping the poor
71. Hoover’s Solution
• When the Democrats won Congress in the 1930 election
Hoover took this as a sign that he had to act
• Still cautious, Hoover commissioned cooperative projects
to provide employment opportunities
• The government would partner with private businesses to pay for
different projects and create employment
72. Hoover’s Solution
• In 1931, Hoover commissioned the construction of the
Boulder Dam on the Colorado River
• Created thousands of jobs and cheap power
• Later renamed the Hoover Dam
73. Hoover’s Solution
• The co-ops did not do enough however, and Hoover
started instituting direct relief programs to gain reelection
• In 1932 Hoover signed the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to allow
people to refinance their mortgage to avoid foreclosure
• In January 1932 Hoover established the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation
• This provided $2 billion for banks, life insurance companies, railroads
and other large businesses. The idea was that the money would “trickle
down” to the poor through job growth and higher wages.
• This did not happen!
74. Patman Bill
• Passed by Congress in 1924
• Authorized government to pay
WWI veterans, but not until 1945
• Wright Patman believed that
all veterans should
immediately get $500
75. Bonus Army’s March on Washington
• 20,000 World War I veterans and their families marched
on Washington to demand their payments
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWvCCxOUsM8
76. Bonus Army
• Hoover believed the Bonus Army was made up of
communists
• Hoover sent 1,000 soldiers under the command of Dwight
D. Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur to disband the
veterans.
• They gassed 1,000 people including an 11 month old
baby who died & an 8 year old who went blind
77. Hoover’s Solution
• 1929-1931: Everybody relax. This will fix itself and you should
just act as if all is normal. Charities, you guys can carry the
poor. The federal government isn’t involving itself at all.
• 1931: Hmm, well this might be a problem that won’t quite fix
itself. Tell you what, we here at the Federal Government aren’t
going to outrightly help you, but we will try to get all those
companies to do their part. The federal government will
involve itself a little bit, but not with direct aid.
• 1932: Okay this is a problem. We need to a fix and no charities
are big enough to bear the burden. We here at the federal
government will involve ourselves directly.
• 1933: Retirement is nice…
78.
79. A Failed Presidency
• The failure of the United States economy to recover from
the Great Depression was blamed largely on Herbert
Hoover.
• People thought he lack compassion for the struggles of
the poor and did not understand how to deal with the
crisis.
81. 1932 Election
• The single most important issue in this election was the
economy. Previous important issues such as Catholicism,
Nativism, and even Prohibition tool a back seat to what
could be done to fix the economy
• New York Governor and former Vice Presidential
candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran on the
Democratic ticket. Roosevelt attacked Hoover’s weak
response to the weak economy and promised a better
future for Americans
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqsT4xnKZPg
82. 1932 Elections
• Roosevelt won a huge victory. But more importantly he
won the South. This was the first time since 1912 that a
Democrat carried many of these crucial states. Roosevelt
was the second Democratic President in 30 years in the
20th Century
Notas do Editor
What happened to this region of the country during the Great Depression?Which states are most affected by the Dust Bowl? Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma
