4.3 - CAUSES & HARDSHIPS OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION. Unit s and the Great Depression Section 3 Causes & Hardships of the GD

Transcription

1 4.3 - CAUSES & HARDSHIPS OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION Unit s and the Great Depression Section 3 Causes & Hardships of the GD

2 LEARNING TARGETS & KEY WORDS 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 EQ: What were the major causes and effects of the Great Depression? How did it negatively affect the American people? Key Words: Republican Credit Buying on Margin Speculation Stock Market Crash Bank Run Dust Bowl Overproduction

3 I. CAUSES OF THE GD

4 HERBERT HOOVER Elected in 1928 (after Coolidge) Party: Republican Term: st Pres. Country elects another Republican because of a booming economy Aims for the end of poverty Two cars in every garage

5 1928 ELECTION

6 LONG-TERM CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION (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

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8 LONG-TERM CAUSE, CONT. (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

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10 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

11 WAGES ARE STAGNANT

12 LONG-TERM CAUSE, CONT. (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

13 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

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15 THE SHORT TERM SPARK 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 Bank Run: People rushing to the bank to withdraw their savings, but the money was gone

16 CRASH OF 1929

17 II. LIFE DURING THE GD

18 HARD TIMES HIT HOME 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

19 HOOVERVILLES

20 HARD TIMES, CONT. Family Life By 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

21 DISCUSSION/PHOTO ANALYSIS 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)

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23 Migrant Mother Photographer: Dorothea Lange Photograph Comparison Activity: ivities/1506

24 DOROTHEA LANGE, ON THE MIGRANT MOTHER 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

25 THE DUST BOWL: WHAT HAPPENED HERE? 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