22:1 Nation’s Sick EconomyBell Ringer: 680

Problems with the economy

• Wealth gap• Struggling industries• Farmers• debt

Industries in Trouble

• RR, textiles, steel– New transportation

• Mining, lumbering– New energy

• Boom industries weakened• Fewer housing starts

Farmers Need a Lift• During and after

WWI• Over production• Foreclosures and

bank failures

Price Supports

• Government intervention• Coolidge veto “Farmers have never made

money. I don’t believe we can do about it.”

Consumer goods and credit

• Rising prices • Stagnant wages• Uneven

distribution of income

• Credit• Installment Plan

Uneven distribution of income

• Wealth gap• Poverty level• Access to consumer goods

1928 Election

• Republican Hoover• Democrat Alfred E. Smith

Investing in the Stock Market

• Dow Jones Industrial Average• Buying on the margin• speculation

Black Tuesday

• October 29, 1929• Stock market bubble burst

Great Depression

• 1929-1940• Economy• Unemployment• Stock market

Bank Failures

• Withdrawals• Banks

speculated

Business Failures

• GDP slashed• Unemployment

skyrocketed

Depression in Europe

• High war debts

• Germany’s reparations

• European trade

1930 Hawley Smoot Tariff Act

• Protective tariff• Effect on world trade• Effect on unemployment

Causes of the Great Depression

22:2 Hardship and Suffering During the Depression

Depression in the Cities

• Unemployment• Homeless• Shantytowns Hoovervilles• Soup kitchens• Bread lines

Effects on Minorities

• Unemployment rates• Pay• Racial violence• Southwestern deportation

Depression in Rural Areas

• Able to grow food• Falling prices + rising debt = foreclosures• Tenant farming

Dust Bowl 1933-1936

• Causes– Extreme Drought– Over cultivation

• Dust bowl-hardest hit region

Okies

• Rt. 66 to CA• Migrant workers

Migrant Mother

Effect on American Family

• Family unity• Strain

Men during the depression

• Wandered the streets• Became hoboes• Hobo jungles• Riding the rails• Hobo symbols

Women During the Depression

• Finding work• Targets of resentment• “silent suffering”

Children and Teens during the Depression

• Malnutrition• Education• Sweatshops• “Wild Boys”• “Hoover Tourists”• Dangers

Early Relief

• Direct v. indirect relief• City and charity

Social and Psychological Effects of the Depression

• Suicide rate• Mental hospitals• Long term effects• charity