Download PowerPoint: Dustbowl & Great Depression

Dust Bowl
Great Depression
Out of the Dust
and
Bud, Not Buddy
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties,
was a period of severe dust storms that greatly
damaged the agriculture of Texas during the
1930s These dust storms were caused by severe
drought and a failure to apply dry land farming
methods to prevent wind erosion.
During the drought of the 1930s, the soil turned to dust that
the winds blew away in clouds that sometimes blackened
the sky. These choking billows of dust – named "black
blizzards" or "black rollers“ reduced visibility.
The drought and erosion of the Dust Bowl affected
100,000,000 acres that centered on the panhandle of
Texas and Oklahoma and touched adjacent sections of
New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.
The Dust Bowl forced tens of thousands of families to
abandon their farms. Many of these families migrated
to California and other states only to find that the Great
Depression had caused economic damage. Condition
were not any better anywhere else.
President Roosevelt ordered the Civilian Conservation Corps to plant a
huge belt of more than 200 million trees from Canada to Abilene, Texas to
break the wind, hold water in the soil, and hold the soil in place. The
administration also began to educate farmers on soil conservation and
other techniques, including crop rotation, strip farming, contour plowing,
terracing, and other improved farming practices. In 1937, the government
paid the farmers a dollar an acre to practice one of the new methods. By
1938, the massive conservation effort had reduced the amount of blowing
soil by 65%. In the fall of 1939, after nearly a decade of dirt and dust, the
drought ended, as regular rainfall finally returned to the region.
Selling the Farm
The Great Depression
1930s-1940s
The Great Depression was
a severe worldwide
economic depression in
the decade (10 years) after
World War II.
The timing of the Great
Depression varied across
nations, but in most
countries it started in 1930
and lasted until the late
1930s or middle 1940s. It
was the longest, deepest,
and most widespread
depression of the 20th
century.
Herbert Hoover was president when the Great Depression began. He
declared in March 1930, that the U.S. had “passed the worst” and argued
that the economy would sort itself out. The worst, however, had just
begun and would last until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was one of the main causes of the Great
Depression. This stock market crash was the most devastating crash in
the history of the United States. On “Black Tuesday,” October 29, 1929,
the stock market lost $14 billion, making the loss for that week an
astounding $30 billion. It took 23 years for the stock market to hit the
high it was at before the crash.
The causes of the Great Depression are widely debated.
There was no single cause, but several things when working
together made it happen. A weak banking system and over
spending also led to this horrible time in history.
People who lost their homes often lived in what were called
“Hoovervilles,” or shanty towns, that were named after President
Herbert Hoover. There was also “Hoover Stew” which was the name
for food handed out to the poor at soup kitchens.
Some people
who became
homeless would
ride on railroad
cars, because
they didn’t have
money to travel.
This was very
dangerous.
Almost half of the children
who were living in the
United States at that time
did not have enough food,
shelter, or medical care.
Many suffered diseases. By
the 1930s, thousands of
schools were operating on
reduced hours or were
closed down entirely. Some
three million children had
left school, and at least
200,000 took to riding the
rails either with their
parents or as orphans.
Christmas Dinner
Soup Lines
Shany Towns
and Hooverville
“HOOVERVILLE” shanty towns named after the President
During the 1932
presidential election,
Hoover did not stand a
chance at reelection and
Franklin D. Roosevelt in a
landslide. People of the
United States had high
hopes that President
Roosevelt would be able
to solve all their woes. As
soon as Roosevelt took
office, he closed all the
banks and only let them
reopen once they were
stabilized.
Unemployment
http://www.shambhala.org/business/goldocean/causdep.html
The major turn-around for the U.S. economy occurred after the
bombing of Pearl Harbor and the entrance of the United States
into World War II. Once the U.S. was involved in the war, both
people and industry became essential to the war effort. Weapons,
artillery, ships, and airplanes were needed quickly. Men were
trained to become soldiers and the women were kept on the home
front to keep the factories going. Food needed to be grown for
both the home front and to send overseas. It was the entrance of
the U.S. into World War II that ended the Great Depression in the
United States.
Bibliogrphy
• http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/
• http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/Timeline.h
tm
• http://www.shambhala.org/business/goldo
cean/causdep.html