Great Depression Era Notes

​The Great Depression Era

Herbert Hoover

• Hoover initially took little action

to combat the depression as he
believed in a laisses-faire
economy and the spirit of hard
working Americans

• He later passed the Mexican

Repatriation Act which sent
Mexican immigrants back to
Mexico to reduce job competition

• He also created the

Reconstruction Finance
Corporation which gave loans to
businesses and banks, but it
wasn’t enough

• Families continued to loose their

homes and moved to
“Hoovervilles”, a community of
shacks to house the homeless

Day 3

Unemployment

•The economic boom and security
of the 20s was replaced by people
losing their jobs
•Unemployment resulted in people
losing their homes to foreclosure
and having to wait in long lines to
receive meager meals from soup
kitchens
•The ‘Dust Bowl’ (caused by
drought and poor farming
practices) resulted in millions
moving from the Great Plains to
find economic opportunity in
California

Day 2

Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Roosevelt took the opposite

approach of Hoover, and saw it
as his responsibility to get the
American economy out of the
Great Depression.

• Roosevelt took to the radio often

to deliver ‘fireside chats’ to
encourage and instill confidence
in the American people

• His wife, Eleanor Roosevelt was

an outspoken woman who
earned world wide respect for
her effort to improve the lives of
the less fortunate

Day 3

New Deal

•Roosevelt plan to end the
Great Depression was called
the New Deal
•Under the New Deal the
federal government would
play a larger role in the lives
of citizens to ensure a
healthy economy
•Roosevelts Neal Deal had
three parts:
1.

Relief

2.

Recover

3.

Reform

Day 4

Relief

•Roosevelt declared a Bank Holiday,
and only allowed banks to reopen
that were financially fit, this
restored confidence in banks
•The Government provided cheap
emergency loans to homeowners
and farmers so they could keep
their property until the end of the
depressions
•The Federal Emergency Relief Act
and Public Works Administration
created projects such as the
Hoover Dam to help provide jobs
to the unemployed

Day 4

Recovery

•Roosevelt put money into
the hands of the American
people to increase
purchasing power
•Now that people had
money, the demand for
products increased
•As companies soled more
products, they hired more
workers, which in turn
provided even greater
purchasing power to
consumers

Day 4

Year

Unemployment %

1933

24.9

1934

21.7

1935

20.1

1936

16.9

1937

14.3

1938

19.0

1939

17.2

1940

14.6

1941

9.9

1942

4.7

1943

1.9

1944

1.2

1945

1.9

Reform

•Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation- (FDIC)
guaranteed money deposits
were safe even if bank failed
•Securities and Exchange
Commission- (SEC) intended
to prevent fraud and prevent
another stock market collapse
•Social Security Act- a
government benefits program
created to financially help the
elderly and disable

Day 4

Supreme Court’s Role

• The supreme court ruled a few of

Roosevelts New Deal legislation as
unconstitutional because it violated the
rights given to states in the 10th
Amendment

• Roosevelt attempted to pass legislation

that would allow the president appoint
new justices to the Supreme Court to
ensure his laws would not be overturned

• The law was rejected by congress
• After Roosevelt was elected to a 4th term,

the 22nd Amendment was passed limiting
the president to serve only 2 terms

Day 6

Multiple Choice

The purpose of the New Deal program was to-

• help the nation recover from the Great Depression

• end discrimination against African Americans

• give women voting rights

• improve working conditions for immigrants

Multiple Choice

People who could no longer afford to live in their homes were forced to live in cardboard shacks that they build in public parks. What were these shacks called?

• Shantyshacks

• Tenement Housing

• Town Homes

• Hoovervilles

Multiple Choice

What effect did the Dust Bowl storms have on the Great Depression?

• Many farmers were forced to leave the Great Plains

• Unemployment decreased gradually

• Hoover was re-elected as president

• Many homes along the Mississippi River were flooded

Multiple Choice

Match the description to the New Deal Program: Social Security

• Provided jobs to some of the 12 million unemployed young men through this job program

• Federal regulation over the stock market

• Federal regulation over banking practices

• Provided care for the elderly( still here today)

Multiple Choice

What was the other failure that lead to the Great Depression?

• Presidential Choices

• Unemployment

• Crops Failing

• Banks Failing

• World War 2

Multiple Choice

Which of the following events was NOT a causation of the Great Depression?

• The Stock Market Crash of 1929

• Bank Failures (closings) of the early 1930's

• The Dust Bowl

• Dropping of the Atomic Bomb

Multiple Choice

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) were both New Deal programs developed to address the problem of

• excessive stock market speculation

• high unemployment

• increased use of credit

• limited income of senior citizens

Multiple Choice

What was one reason behind the creation of the alphabet agencies in the 1930's

• to employ people during the Great Depression

• to fix state and federal election laws

• to celebrate the centennial of Texas

• to lower the amount of Social Security payments

Multiple Choice

Which of the following New Deal Programs was created to restore confidence in the U.S. Banking system by insuring deposits up to $250,000 and is still around today?

• Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)

• Social Security Act (SSA)

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

• The Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC)