the great depression + new deal

Great Depression

Worst US economic downturn (1929 to late 1930s): mass unemployment, bank failures, and collapsed production

Stock Market Crash of 1929

Late Oct 1929 collapse of stock prices that helped trigger the Great Depression

Black Tuesday

Oct 29, 1929: the worst day of the crash, when stock prices plummeted

Buying on margin

Buying stock with borrowed money; losses spread when prices fell and loans couldn't be repaid

Bank failures

Thousands of banks collapsed and depositors lost their savings, with no deposit insurance

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

1930 law raising import taxes to record highs; it worsened the Depression by shrinking world trade

Overproduction

Factories and farms produced more goods than consumers could afford to buy

Underconsumption

Consumers lacked the income to buy what was produced, so demand fell

Uneven distribution of wealth

Most wealth was held by a small share of Americans, limiting the buying power of everyone else

Unemployment

Reached about 25% at its peak in 1933

Breadlines / soup kitchens

Charity-run sites giving free food to the jobless and hungry

Hoovervilles

Shantytowns of the homeless, named sarcastically after President Hoover

Dust Bowl

1930s drought and dust storms on the Southern Plains caused by drought and poor farming practices

Okies

Dust Bowl migrants (not all from Oklahoma) who moved west, mainly to California, seeking work

Bonus Army

WWI veterans who marched on Washington in 1932 demanding early payment of their bonuses; the army drove them out

Herbert Hoover

President at the crash; relied on voluntary and limited measures and was blamed for the Depression

Rugged individualism

Belief that people should succeed through their own effort without government help

Volunteerism

Hoover's idea that businesses and charities, not government, should provide relief

Depression-era migration

Movement of people (e.g., Okies) seeking work, often toward California

Escapism (radio, film)

Radio and movies offered cheap entertainment to distract from hardship

New Deal

FDR's programs for relief, recovery, and reform during the Depression

Franklin D. Roosevelt

President (1933 to 1945) who created the New Deal; promised bold, active government

First Hundred Days

FDR's first months in office (1933), when Congress passed a flood of emergency recovery laws

Fireside chats

FDR's radio talks explaining his policies and restoring public confidence

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

Paid farmers to cut production to raise crop prices

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Gave young men jobs on conservation projects such as planting trees and building trails

National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)

Set industry codes for wages, prices, and hours; struck down by the Supreme Court in 1935

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Built dams in the Tennessee Valley to provide cheap electricity, flood control, and jobs

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Insures bank deposits to prevent bank runs

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Regulates the stock market to prevent fraud and abuse

Social Security Act

1935 law creating old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to dependent families

Wagner Act

1935 law protecting workers' right to unionize and bargain collectively; created the NLRB

Huey Long

Louisiana senator whose "Share Our Wealth" plan called for redistributing wealth

Father Charles Coughlin

Radio priest who criticized the New Deal as not going far enough; later turned antisemitic

Dr. Francis Townsend

Proposed monthly pensions for the elderly; his plan helped push Social Security

Court Packing Plan

FDR's 1937 proposal to add justices to the Supreme Court; it failed and hurt his support

Recession of 1937-38

Downturn after FDR cut spending and the Fed tightened policy; showed the recovery was fragile

Black Cabinet

Informal group of Black advisors to FDR, led by Mary McLeod Bethune

Indian Reorganization Act

1934 law ending land allotment and promoting tribal self-government (the "Indian New Deal")

Dorothea Lange

Photographer whose images (e.g., "Migrant Mother") documented Depression hardship

John Steinbeck

Author of The Grapes of Wrath, a novel about Dust Bowl migrants

Causes of the Great Depression

Overproduction, underconsumption, unequal wealth, buying on margin, bank failures, and the Hawley-Smoot Tariff

First New Deal goals

Relief, recovery, and reform: stabilize banks, create jobs, and aid farmers and industry

Second New Deal

1935 wave of reforms that expanded the federal role: Social Security, Wagner Act, and the WPA

New Deal legacy

Larger federal government and the expectation that government will provide a safety net and regulate the economy