Download VI. The Twenties, Thirties and the Great Depression

VI. The Twenties, Thirties
and the Great Depression
1.
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For the most part, the 1920’s was a decade
dominated by a return to international
isolation, conservative political policies and
the rise of big business.
True
The three presidents during the 1920’s were conservative,
pro-business Republicans – Warren G. Harding, whose
administration was plagued by the Teapot Dome Scandal,
Calvin Coolidge, who took over when Harding died and
Herbert Hoover, who had the misfortune of being
president when the stock market crashed.
There was also mounting concern about the spread of
communism, triggered by the Russian Revolution in 1917.
In the United States, this led to a “Red Scare” where
people suspected of communism were subjected to
harassment and civil rights violations.
This was also a decade characterized by moral crusades
such as Prohibition, quota restrictions on immigration that
reflected rising intolerance and growing religious
fundamentalism that emerged during the Scopes “Monkey
Trial” of 1925.
2. African Americans and other minorities
made significant progress in the 1920’s.
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False
African Americans had cause for optimism:
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Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois had
emerged as civil rights leaders offering
differing types of leadership.
African American soldiers had fought valiantly
in World war One and had been treated as
equals in France.
The Great Migration of African Americans to
northern cities had accelerated during the war
and had even helped to spawn the Harlem
Renaissance
However, they were sadly disappointed.
During the Twenties, the KKK was larger
than at any time in its history. Thousands
of Klansmen marched down the streets of
Washington, DC and the Klan took over the
governments of states like Indiana and
Oregon.
Langston Hughes
Juke Box Love Song
I could take the Harlem night
and wrap around you,
Take the neon lights and make a crown,
Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone their rumble down.
Take Harlem's heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on a record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you till day-Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.
A Dream Deferred
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
The legacy of lynching’s…
3. The 1920’s witnessed important advances in terms of
new technology and business efficiency.
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True
The “Roaring Twenties” was a
decade of phenomenal economic
growth and prosperity.
Much of this was fueled by new
technology in such areas as
automobiles, radio, film and
aviation. Business also
expanded due to new advances
in assembly line technology,
credit and modern advertising.
However, while many got rich
and the middle classes grew,
farmers faced declining farm
prices, minorities faced
mounting discrimination and
certain industries such as
textiles and mining became
“sick.”
4. The stock market crash in October of 1929 caused the
Great Depression.
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False
The stock market crash started the
Depression, but it was not the cause.
The long term causes were rooted in
the 1920’s and included
overproduction/under consumption,
the uneven distribution of wealth
and problems with international
trade
There was also too much
unrestricted business speculation.
5. The Great Depression began in the United
States and soon spread around the world.
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True
The epicenter of the Great Depression
was Wall Street, but the shock waves
soon traveled throughout the planet.
Communism immunized the Soviet Union
from its effects. In fact, 100,000
Americans immigrated to the USSR
during the 1930’s (This was the only
decade in American history where more
people left the U.S. than immigrated into
the U.S.)
However, nations like France, Great
Britain and Germany suffered like the
United States. The Great Depression is
the single biggest reason why Hitler was
able to take power.
6. At its height in 1932, the Depression saw
one out of every four Americans
unemployed.
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True
Human suffering during the
Depression was reflected in high
unemployment, bankruptcies and
bank closures.
This came at a time when there
was very little government relief,
so there were millions who faced
hunger and homelessness.
Unlike previous depressions that
were part of capitalism’s business
cycle, this depression did not
improve.
Life During the Great
Depression…
Numbers of Banks and Bank Suspensions
Year Number as of 12-31 Suspensions
1929 24,633
659
1930 22,773
1350
1931 19,970
2293
1932 18,397
1453
1933 15,015
4000
1934 16,096
57
7. President Hoover’s decision to lower
the tariff on foreign imports proved to be
an effective boost to the economy during
the Depression.
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False
In reality, President Hoover pushed for passage of
the Hawley-Smoot Tariff, the highest in the nation’s
history. He believed this was a time when American
industry needed protection. However, other nations
soon retaliated. When countries should have been
trading more to stimulate their economies, they were
trading less.
President Hoover also tightened the government’s
budget. Instead, he should have borrowed money to
increase spending and provide jobs.
When President Hoover ran for reelection in 1932, he
was defeated by Franklin Roosevelt in one of the
greatest landslides in American history.
By 1932, the nation was
ready for change!
8. President Franklin Roosevelt’s New
deal drastically reduced the role of
government in the nation’s economy.
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False
FDR assembled a “Brain
Trust” of experts who took a
very pragmatic approach to
solving the nation’s
problems.
The New Deal ended up
creating an “alphabet soup”
of about two dozen new
agencies and organizations
designed to deal with the
effects of the Depression.
The end result was a
significant expansion in the
role of government.
What were some of the most important
accomplishments of the New Deal?
* Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) a Hoover program to
create unskilled jobs for relief; replaced by WPA in 1935.
* United States bank holiday, 1933: closed all banks until they became
certified by federal reviewers
* Abandonment of gold standard, 1933: gold reserves no longer backed
currency; still exists
* Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), 1933: employed young men to perform
unskilled work in rural areas; under Army supervision; separate program for
Native Americans
* Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), 1933: effort to modernize very poor
region (most of Tennessee), centered on dams that generated electricity on the
Tennessee River; still exists
* Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), 1933: raised farm prices by cutting total
farm output of major crops (and hogs)
* National Recovery Act (NRA), 1933: industries set up codes to reduce
unfair competition, raise wages and prices;
* Public Works Administration (PWA), 1933: built large public works projects;
used private contractors (did not directly hire unemployed)
Continued…
* Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) / Glass-Steagall Act: insures deposits in
banks in order to restore public confidence in banks; still exists
* Securities Act of 1933, created the SEC, 1933: codified standards for sale and purchase
of stock, required risk of investments to be accurately disclosed; still exists
* Civil Works Administration (CWA), 1933-34: provided temporary jobs to millions of
unemployed
* Indian Reorganization Act, 1934 moved away from assimilation
* Social Security Act (SSA), 1935: provided financial assistance to: elderly, handicapped,
paid for by employee and employer payroll contributions; required years contributions, so
first payouts were 1942; still exists
* Works Progress Administration (WPA), 1935: a national labor program for 2+ million
unemployed; created useful construction work for unskilled men; also sewing projects for
women and arts projects for unemployed artists, musicians and writers.
* National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) / Wagner Act, 1935: set up National Labor
Relations Board to supervise labor-management relations; In 1930s it strongly favored
labor unions. Modified by Taft-Hartley (1947); still exists
* Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 1938: established a maximum normal work week of
40 hours, and a minimum pay of 40 cents/hour; still exists
9.The New Deal had many critics on
both the “Left” and the “Right.”
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True
On the left, leaders life Father Charles
Coughlin, Dr. Francis Townsend and
Senator Huey Long criticized the New
Deal for not doing enough.
Others on the political right criticized
it to taking the nation “on the path
towards socialism.”
FDR even threatened to follow through
on an ill-advised plan to increase the
size of the Supreme Court when it
declared parts of the New Deal to be
unconstitutional.
10. Overall, FDR’s New Deal
effectively ended the Great
Depression.
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False
Unemployment remained
high throughout the 1930’s.
While the situation
improved, the Depression
only ended with the start of
World War Two.
The best that can be said is
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the New Deal enabled
people to survive the
Depression.
the American way of life,
characterized by free
elections, a limited
government and a free
enterprise economic system,
survived without any violent
revolutions or civil wars.