Lecture 11-The Great Depression

warning signs of the great depression

1. western world market troubled

   • Euro nations devastated after WWI

   • brit & france repaying US loans

   • germany $33bill war debr

   • international sales of US goods decreased

2. signs of economic danger

   • steel/car demand decline

   • ag struggle

   • high debt rates from consumer goods craze

   • pop to buy stock on credit

   • stock overvalued

Circle of Debt

The Crash

• Black Monday & Black Tuesday

  • oct 28-29, 1929

  • market fluctuating, panic begins

  • ppl sold shares

  • Dow dropped 23 pts

  • 16 mill shares traded

  • $30bill lost ($375 bill today)

  • market dropped until ‘32, wasn’t completely over until 40s

• Many rich and middle class reduced to poverty

  • banks/businesses foreclosed, some suicidal

Suffering—City

• Working class suffered most

  • mill lost jobs bc companies lost $ and downsized

  • unemployment at 12 mill, 25% of total pop

  • workers hrs/salary declined

• specifics

  • many lived in shacks/street

  • food from soup kitchens, garbage

  • pawning possessions

  • charities swamped

  • hobos—men who wandered around begging and looking for odd jobs

Suffering—Country

• farm produce demand decreased after WWI

  • low price, too much

• depression worsened farmers lot

  • thousands closed

  • mill of farmers homeless

  • those w farms & crops had few purchasers for the products

  • surplus wasn’t distributed to the hungry in cities or rural areas

• tenants and sharecroppers hardest hit

  • malnutrition and disease

The Dust Bowl

• Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico

  • farming on prarie caused soil erosion

  • terrible droughts

  • huge dust clouds covered area

  • almost impossible to grow crops

  • many migrated to CA for work but few found it

• The Grapes of Wrath (1939)—John Steinbeck’s novel

  • family migrated from Oklahoma to California

  • detailed severe hardships

  • 1940 pop film

Family

• unemployed men

  • brought up in independent hardworking culture

  • emotional crisis of inferiority and guilt

  • some left fams

  • others ashamed to ask for help

  • most feared losing respect/love of wife and children

• women’s work

  • some managed to keep low paying service jobs

  • 1930/40—women in work increased 25%

• young couples put off marriage and had fewer children

Blaming Pres Hoover

• not his fault but was blamed, progressive for his era

• met w business leaders to convince them to keep production and wages stable

  • did not work bc products weren’t selling

• Hoover cautious ab creating gov assistance programs

  • gov aid to struggling banks and companies

  • jobs didnt increase

  • no federal assistance for indivs