Unit 4 – 1920s and the Great Depression

Section 3 – Causes & Hardships of the GD

4.3 - CAUSES & HARDSHIPS

OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

The Students Will Be Able To (TSWBAT):

Identify the major short term and long term effects of the Great Depression

Analyze primary source documents to evaluate and understand the effects of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression on American citizens

LEARNING TARGETS & KEY WORDS

Key Words:

Republican

Credit

Buying on Margin

Speculation

Stock Market Crash

Bank Run

Dust Bowl

Overproduction

EQ: What were the major

causes and effects of the

Great Depression? How

did it negatively affect the

American people?

I. CAUSES OF THE GD

Elected in 1928 (after

Coolidge)

Party: Republican

Term: 1929-1933

31st Pres.

Country elects another

Republican because of a

booming economy

Aims for the end of poverty

“Two cars in every garage”

HERBERT HOOVER

1928 ELECTION

(1) Government Policies – Republicans

Government/business cooperation

Congress cut taxes on corporations

and wealthy individuals (Coolidge)

(2) Industries in trouble

Textiles, steel, and railroads struggle

to make profits after boom time of

WWI

Overproduction – Lower consumer

demand leads to surplus of goods

LONG-TERM CAUSES OF THE

GREAT DEPRESSION

(3) Agricultural Issues

During WWI, int’l demand for

crops caused prices to rise

Farmers planted more crops to

meet demand & took out more

loans to buy land and expensive

equipment

After WWI, demand for farm

products decreased Crop prices fell

Overproduction/surplus

LONG-TERM CAUSE, CONT.

(4) Consumer Issues

Overbuying on credit (spurred by advertising)

Radios, automobiles, etc.

Rising prices, wages remain the same

Uneven distribution of wealth

LONG-TERM CAUSE,

CONT.

WAGES ARE

STAGNANT

(5) International

Problems

After WWI, European

demand for American

goods declines

European industry

regaining its footing

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Highest protective

tariff in US history

LONG-TERM CAUSE, CONT.

(6) Stock Market

Throughout 1920s, stock prices steadily increased

More and more people bought stocks and bonds

This leads to more speculation

Investors buying stocks and bonds on the chance they might make a quick profit, ignoring any risks

Buying on margin = Buying stocks on credit

Paying a small % of the stocks’ price as a down payment and borrowing the rest from stockbrokers

If your stock price declined, you had no way of paying it back

LONG-TERM CAUSE, CONT.

October 1929 In Sept, stock prices began to decline Confidence in market began to waver

Many investors pulled their money out and sold their stocks

In October, market took a huge plunge and panicked investors tried to unload their stocks Black Tuesday – October 29, 1929

People & businesses frantically trying to sell stocks before prices fell further

16 million shares dumbed

By mid November, investors lost $30 billion

People lost their life savings in 1 day

THE SHORT TERM SPARK

Bank Run: People rushing to the

bank to withdraw their savings, but

the money was gone

CRASH OF 1929

II. LIFE DURING THE GD

Dust Bowl

Period of extreme drought in

Middle America

Over tilling/farming of the soil

Massive dust storms

An already difficult life for farmers

gets harder

Cities

Shantytowns/Hoovervilles – Groups

of shacks created by people

evicted from their homes

Soup kitchens

Bread lines

HARD TIMES HIT

HOME

HOOVERVILLES

Family Life

By 1933 12 million workers were out of work

That was ¼ of the US workforce!

Men on the move constantly looking for work

Women take on brunt of family work

Malnutrition

Social Effects

More suicides, mental illnesses

Loss of the American dream

HARD TIMES, CONT.

During the Depression, loss of self -esteem was perhaps the most devastating to the unemployed man who traditionally had been the breadwinner for the family. What connections does self -esteem have with unemployment, then and now?

Is it more difficult for a man to face unemployment than a woman? Is it more difficult today than it was during the Depression?

What is the unemployment rate today?

5.5% as of February

In 1933, it was up to 25%

In 2010, the highest was 9.8% (highest during recent crisis)

DISCUSSION/PHOTO ANALYSIS

“Migrant

Mother”

Photographer:

Dorothea Lange

Photograph

Comparison

Activity:

http://docsteach.org/act

ivities/1506

“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions . I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty -two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.”

- Lange, “The Assignment I'll Never Forget: Migrant Mother,” Popular Photography, February 1960

DOROTHEA LANGE, ON THE “MIGRANT MOTHER”

EQ: What difficulties did Americans face during the Dust Bowl in the Great Depression?

Groups of 3-4

Directions:

(1) Read Background

(2) Questions - Using your Document Set (1 or 2) and the audio clips on my website (douglassamerican2.weebly.com), answer questions

Complete sentences and CITE YOUR SOURCES!

(3) Diary Entry

On big chart paper, write a diary entry as a group that will be displayed in the classroom on a gallery walk

THE DUST BOWL: WHAT HAPPENED HERE?