Download Chapter 15 Crash and Depression In October 1929

Chapter 15 Crash and Depression
In October 1929, panic selling caused the United States stock market to crash. The crash led to
worldwide economic crisis called the Great Depression.
I.
The Stock Market Crash
A. Throughout most of the 1920’s, Americans were generally confident that business
would bring continued prosperity.
1. Americans were barrowing money, and buying products on credit
2. They were trying to get rich by earning high returns in the stock market.
3. They were spending money faster than they were earning it.
B. Although only a small percentage of Americans owned stocks, after the stock market
crashed millions of Americans found themselves out of work and on the verge of
financial ruin.
C. Warning signs were all around, the largest of which was over production, and factories
were producing more goods than consumers could buy.
By the early 1930’s wage cuts and growing unemployment had brought widespread suffering across the
United States. Hard times continued and eventually spread to all levels of society.
II.
Social Effects of the Depression
A. The number of homeless people in the US rose dramatically, due mainly to people (low
paid laborers) losing their jobs and then losing their homes.
B. Hoovervilles were communities of people who lost their jobs and homes due to wage
cuts and unemployment.
C. A major environmental catastrophe of the 1930’s was the Dust Bowl.
D. The Dust Bowl created large amounts of land that could not be farmed and the top soil
just blew away.
E. People’s physical and mental health declined because of poor health and anxiety of
living during these times.
F. Dorothea Lang’s photographs of migrant workers helped win aid for workers.
Americans survived the Great Depression with determination and even humor. They helped on another,
looked for solutions, and waited for hard times to pass.
III.
Surviving the Great Depression
A. The generation that survived the Great Depression was forever changed.
1. They would not buy items on credit even when times were good.
2. They would work hard and regularly save more than they spent.
3. They avoided the stock market as an investment.
B. Farmers who could not make their payments would have their property auctioned. To
help each other, neighbors would purchase their items for pennies and give the items
back after the auction.
C. Radical and Reform movement work together to seek social justice.
D. In 1933 the Twenty-First Amendment brought an end to “Prohibition”.
E. Ending Prohibition would hopefully bring and end to the crime and violence of the
gangsters.
F. One symbol of hope during the Great Depression was the construction of the Empire
State building.
As the Depression worsened people began to blame Hoover and the Republicans for their misery. The
1932 Presidential elections brought a sweeping victory for Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt
brought about profound changes in the role of government in people’s lives.
IV.
The Elections of 1932
A. President Hoover believed the best thing to do, to end the depression was to encourage
voluntary controls in the business sector.
B. Roosevelt felt that the government should step in and more actively control business.
C. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation provided government credit to banks.
D. Also Roosevelt was well liked by most Americans for his spirit of optimism.
E. The election of 1932 was a turning point in the role of government in American society.