Hard Times

The KKK reemerges Emergency Quota Act

Nativism: the idea that people born in the U.S. are superior to immigrants.

What caused the stock market crash in 1929?

The practice of borrowing money to buy stocks and sell them a short time later to make a profit (known as speculation).

Many professional investors saw this as a problem and sold their stocks causing a panic.

Black Thursday signaled the beginning of the Great Depression.

Europe no longer needed American produce.

Overproduction caused sales to slow.

Farmers and other businesses could not repay loans used to buy equipment because…

Thousands of banks were forced to close and millions of people lost their money.

Herbert Hoover 31st President

He believed it was the State and Local governments’ job to help struggling Americans.

Wanted to keep a balanced budget; couldn’t raise taxes and did not want to go into debt

Many Americans blamed Hoover for not funding relief programs (Hoovervilles, Hoover wagons,

Hoover blankets, Hoover flags, and Hoover hogs).

Wanted the $1,000 bonus early to help during these hard times.

The U.S. Army was called in to remove the Bonus Army.

The Bonus Army

Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd President

He used the power of the Federal government to create jobs and give Americans hope.

He called his plan the New Deal.

The New Deal “Alphabet Agencies”

TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority): provided electrical power to more than 8 million people.

CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps): employed young men, that planted trees and fought forest fires

The New Deal “Alphabet Agencies”

WPA (Works Progress Administration): employed men and women; constructed public works (highways, libraries, schools, hospitals, etc.)

FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation): insures bank deposits and protects people’s money

By 1932 nearly 25% of workers were unemployed.

Bread Lines Soup Kitchens

The many jobless Americans turned to charities for free food in order to survive.

A severe drought in the Great Plains during the 1930’s forced many farming families to leave their

lands and move West.

Jesse Owens

Won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

Became a hero for struggling African Americans.