History - America - Great Depression 1930s and WWII

Paper 1 Section B

Hooverville

The nickname given to shanty towns built by the homeless after the economic crash.

Buying on the margin

Borrowing money to buy shares wtih the intention of selling them when they rose in value.

US banks lent 9 billion dollars to speculators alone.

What caused the economic crash

Investors lost confidence and thought the value of shares was too high and sold causing other investors to panic sell their shares

US companies collapsed and investors sold their shares for any value they could get. Some shares because worthless.

Tuesday 29 October 1929

Black Tuesday - more shares were sold than any other day.

Lack of demand meant that US companies were overproducing

Europe’s retaliatory tariffs meant they could not sell their excess production overseas.

Hoover helping the economy

Reluctant because of laissez faire economics, cut taxes to encourage buying goods. By mid 1931, production was rising again

He created the Reconstruction Finance Company to prop up banks to stop them going bankrupt (not very effective. In 1929 659 banks failed, causing people to withdraw their savings)

Revenue Act 1932

Created by Herbert Hoover, doubled the tax paid by the richest 1%. Ineffective because 1% were such a small part of the population

effect of depression on African Americans

As farm income fell farmers couldn’t pay their mortgage. Many had to leave their homes, blacks lost land first

Southern and Midwest drought - turned soil into dust, created dust storms

many faced hunger and malnutrition

effect of depression on towns

In 1932, 50% became unemployed in Cleveland, 80% in Toledo

Every town had a Hooverville

In 1932, 45 died of malnutrition in New York

Bonus marchers

Veterans from WW1 asked for their war bonuses early, Hoover didn’t meet because there was no money due to the Wall Street crash.

On July 28th 1932, just before the 1932 election, Hoover sent police and troops with guns and tear gas to the marchers, killing 2 of them.

Why Hoover lost

Hoover’s treatment of the Bonus Marchers

He blocked a $2.1 billion relief bill

Did little to help farmers who formed a large part of the electorate

Why FDR won

Roosevelt embarked on a country wide tour of the USA with idea of a new deal for America

The democrats employed Charles Michaelson to produce a campaign that mocked Hoover’s approach - Smile your way to prosperity

He believed in using public money to restart the economy and create jobs.

Brains Trust

The advisors who helped FDR set out the New Deal. FDR wasn’t afraid to listen to his advisors.

Fireside Chats

FDR’s weekly radio broadcast to the American people explaining his actions.

Emergency Banking Act (First New Deal)

All banks close for 4 days and 50K trustworthy banks allowed to reopen with support. Was effective at ending bank closures.

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (First New Deal)

500 million was spent on soup kitchens, blankets and employment schemes. Was effective in helping the urgent needs of the poor.

Civilian Conservation Corps (First New Deal)

Young men could sign on for a period of 6 months which could be renewed if they couldn’t find work. Mostly environmental projects. Was effective. Helped around 2.5 million people. Most young men sent the money back to their families.

Agricultural Adjustment Administration (First New Deal)

Set quotas to reduce farm production to gradually force prices upwards. Help farmers modernise and use methods that would protect the soil. In extreme cases, helped farmers with mortgages. Was effective although modernisation put some farmers out of work.

Public Works Administration (First New Deal)

Used government money to build schools, roads, dams, bridges and airports. These would be vital once the USA recovered. In the short term created millions of jobs.

National Recovery Administration (First New Deal)

Outlaw child labour. Set out fair wages and set up sensible levels of production. Stimulated the economy by giving workers money. It was voluntary and firms that joined used the blue eagle as a symbol. Over 2 million employers joined the scheme.

Tennessee Valley Authority (First New Deal)

Built dams on Tennessee River. Transformed the region, bringing water to dried out land. Also provided electricity for the area. In the short term, created jobs

Revenue Act of 1935 (Second New Deal)

Increased taxes on wealthiest Americans. 79% on wealth over $5M

Undistributed Profits Act 1935 (Second New Deal)

Tax on businesses

Wagner Act 1935 (Second New Deal)

Made employers use trade unions to negotiate pay and conditions for workers.

Social Security Act 1935 (Second New Deal)

State pension for widows and the elderly and national insurance for sickness

Works Progress Administration 1935 (Second New Deal)

Created jobs to help people in the arts. Painters, photographers, etc.

Resettlement Administration 1935 (Second New Deal)

Helped small hold farmers resettle to better quality land and farming.

Farm Secuirty Administration 1937 (Second New Deal)

Gave loans to small holders. Replaced the resettlement administration

Republican Criticisms of the new deal

New Deal is too bureaucratic and too many regulations that hampered business.

The Tennessee Valley Authority created unfair competition for private companies.

Schemes were too much like communist schemes in the USSR.

High taxes discouraged people from working hard and gave money to people for doing nothing

Huey Long

By 1934, he was criticising the New Deal for being too complicated and not doing enough.

Said that people were still poor and the hardest hit were the African Americans and farmers.

Put forward a scheme called Share Our Wealth. All personal fortunes would be reduced to $3M a year.

Government taxes would be shared among all Americans.

Charles Coughlan

Was a Catholic priest. Used his own radio programme to attack Roosevelt. He set up the National Union for social justice which gained a large membership of 14M peoples.

Dr Francis Townsend

Founded several Townsend Clubs to campaign for a pension of $200 per month for people over 60, provided that it was spent in that month to boost the economy.

Schecter Poultry Company 1935

In May 1935, was found guilty of breaking the NRA. It sold chicken that was unfit for human consumption, exploited workers and threatened government inspectors.

Schecter Poultry Company Appeal to the Supreme Court

The company thought that the NRA was unconstitutional and the court ruled that the government had no right to prosecute them. (The supreme court was Republican dominated.)

Roosevelt was angered by this and asked congress for the power to appoint 6 new supreme court judges.

People thought FDR was attacking their way of government and acting like a communist dictator.

Indian Reorganisation Act 1934

Provided money to help Native Americans buy and improve land and control their own tribal areas.

Native Americans were given more freedom but they were still excluded by American society

Indian Reservation Act 1934

Helped Native American to practice their traditions, laws and culture and develop their land as they chose.

Native Americans remained poor and excluded from society.

African Americans (First New Deal)

Around 200K African Americans gained benefits from the Civilian Conservation Corps. Many benefited from New Deal slum clearance and housing projects. There was still racial segregation, and more black workers were unemployed and less likely to be given jobs. 35% living on relief in 1935. Roosevelt didn’t put forward any civil rights legislation against lynching.

Women (First New Deal)

The New Deal enabled women to obtain more prominent positions line society.

Mary MacLeod Bethune (an African American woman) headed the National Youth Administration

Eleanor Roosevelt became and important campaigner on social issues.

Most New Deal programmes only aimed at helping men. Only about 8K women were helped by the CCC. Local governments tried to avoid paying out security payments to women by introduction special conditions and qualifications.

Individual action during WWII

People recognised the urgency of the situation. Americans accepted rationing on items like gasoline and some types of food. When the war production board called for the people to contribute 4 million tonnes of scrap metal in 2 months, they responded in just 3 weeks. Americans contribute $129 billion in bonds.

Propaganda in WWII

Throughout the war, the US government used Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour and racial policies of Nazi Germany as propaganda.

Hollywood glorified the USA while present the enemy as cruel. Sherlock Holmes was used in popular films to foil Nazi plots.

Comic books glorified heroes such as GI Joe

A Hands On Government in WWII

The wartime economy was more closely controlled by the government than ever before. Between 1940 and 1945, the federal government spent nearly twice as much as it had been in the preceding 150 years.

Victory tax - raised people’s tax on income and their savings. People had to pay taxes on luxury goods such as nylon. No one complained that the government was doing too much.

Willing Industrialists in WWII

Jan 1942, Roosevelt set up the War Production Board. He asked leading industrialists to help with war production needs. General Motors produced heavy machine guns and other war products. Chrysler corporation produced antiaircraft guns. General Electric increased their production of turbines by 300x in 1942.

Willing Workers in WWII

Approx 16M Americans served in the US Armed Forces. More workers needed to fill their jobs at home, so General Motors employed an extra 750K workers. 750K African American workers found work in war industries. Many served in the armed forces. US labour unions chose not to strike and accepted increased federal control for hte duration of the war.

Women in WWII

During the war 300K joined the armed forces. Women’s Air Service pilots flew every type of US war plane in tests and delivery runs, from factories to airfields. Women were given hard welding jobs in awkward parts of the aircraft because they were smaller than men. In munitions and electronics industries, 1 in 2 workers was a woman. Women in the military could only be nursers and were given traditional female roles.

According to Howard Zimm

In 1944 1M workers when on strike. Of the 10M drafted, 43K were conscientious objectors. This was 3x times the proportion of conscientious objectors in WWI. The Socialist Workers Party opposed the war unequivocally. In 1943 members of. the Socialist Workers Party were convicted for belonging to a party that violated the Smiths Act (which prohibits writing that would lead to refusal of duty in the armed forces.). (The Smiths Act also prohibited writing that would encourage the overthrow of the government by force.)

Executive Order 8802

Companies who were supplying goods for the war effort had to stop workplace discrimination.

Signed by Roosevelt in 1941.

Executive Order 9981

Ordered the equal rights and opportunities in the armed forces.

Rationing and Price Control

Helps everyong to afford food so that it is not just rich people who can afford the prices. People used points from their ration book instead of money. This was during WWII.

Internment of Japanese Americans

The attack on Pearl Habor created a wave of Anti Japanese sentiment. (Mainly official propaganda rather than ordinary Americans.)

120K Japanese Americans from California, Washington State, Arizona, and Oregon were interned in 1942, transported to bleak internment camps in remote parts of the USA.

Forced to sell their property

Some were even abused or murdered.

Release of Japanese Americans

In January 1943, Congress allowed Japanese Americans to serve in the armed forces and 33K immediately volunteered. (Plus thousands from internment camps.)

Many lawyers argued that it went against the constitution.

In 1944, a Supreme Court Judge called the policy Government Racism.

Discrimination in the Workplace

Over 400K African Americans migrated from the South to the USA’s industrial centres in the North. (On average, their wages doubled to $1K per year.). They generally earned half of that of the white workers.

In 1942, at Packard Electronics Company, 300K white workers walked out when 3 African American workers had their jobs upgraded as a result of the executive order.

Poor workers created racial tension.

4 African Americans, combating Nazism, felt hypocritical because American treated African Americans poorly.

Discrimination in the Armed Forces

Over 1Million African Americans served in the armed forces, but Black soldiers only worked in African American units with White officers.

It was not until 1944, that the US Marines allowed African American soldiers into combat.

Mules - people who only transported supplies or were cooks and labourers.

African American women were nurses but could only treat black soldiers.

In the South, a rail company refused to serve African Americans guarding Nazi, but happily served white Nazi Germans.

Detroit Race Riots 1943

In 47 cities, there were riots

In the short term - Police were attacking African American youth.

In the long term - Police brutality, competition for the best jobs, housing, and services, such as schools, because multiple migrants settled in Detroit to work in the war industries.

Caused by racial tensions.

Poverty Line

The minimum amount of money to feed yourself, clothe yourself, and have a house and family