Chapter 23

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929, stock market crashed

4 causes of The Great Depression

lack of diversity in economy, maldistribution of purchasing power, credit structure of economy, America's position in international trade \*International post war debt

Lack of diversity in economy

\- depended on construction and automobile industries \- industries declined b/c people couldn't afford to build homes or buy another car \- new industries not strong to support economy (oil, steel, electronics, plastics)

Maldistribution of purchasing power

\- common public didn't have enough money to afford products \- ability to buy things was down

Credit structure of economy

\- farmers in debt b/c crop prices too low to make profit \- small banks failed b/c customers were not able to pay back loans \- large banks failed b/c banks invested people's money in stocks, which failed

America's position in international trade

\- European demand for American goods declined (b/c industry in Europe increased, and they were in debt)\- debt from WWI

International postwar debt

\- allied debts un payed (Europe to America)\- American gov refused to release debts \- central powers debts un payed (Germany and Austria to Europe)\- debts were payed by taking out more loans ——> debts piled up\- American tariffs increases, hard for foreign countries to trade

Reparations

the compensation for war damage paid by a defeated nation

Protective tariff

A tax on imported goods that raises the price of foreign goods so people will buy domestic goods

Gross National Product

(GNP) value of all products and services produced by the citizens of a country

Underemployment

workers are overqualified for their jobs, work weeks shortened and wages lower

Cities were paralyzed by ____________

Underemployment

How did relief programs react to the depression?

Services un equip to handle heavy new demands, relief programs collapsed

Conditions in rural areas

\- farmers income declined \- lost their land \- suffered drought \- left home in search of work, wandering

Dust Bowl

Drought in the Great Plains that turned the fertile land into dry desert, rainfall decreased, heat increased, severe winds blew dust across eastern U.S., Texas up to Dakota

Okies

Displaced farm families (mostly from Oklahoma) who migrated to California in search of jobs, worked as agricultural migrants (moving from farm to farm)

Problems black people faced in The Depression

\- cotton and crop industries declined\- pushed out of their jobs by white men\- traveled from the south to find no better conditions in the north

Scottsboro Case

\- March 1931\- 9 black teens taken off freight train in Alabama \- arrested for vagrancy and disorder\- 2 white women accused them of rape, sentenced to death

What organization helped the Scottsboro case boys

International Labor Defense (and communist party)

John Maynard Keynes

British economist

"Chicanos"

Mexican Americans

What happened to Hispanic Americans during the Depression

\- white people demanded their jobs\- removed from relief programs \- deported

What happened to Asian Americans during the depression?

\- educated people couldn't move into professional jobs \- lost professional jobs to white people\- owned businesses \- hired and worked with the community

What did people generally believe about women in the depression

\- women should give up their jobs for unemployed white men\- women belong at home

Why did the amount of working women increase

\- "female jobs" more stable than industrial jobs\- sold things at home and created their own jobs \- needed to work if their husbands couldn't find work

Ways the strength of the family unit declined

\- informal separations of parents \- men deserting their families \- many children put in orphanages\- kids leaving home for work

Banking

Putting money in the bank, borrowing from the bank to boost the economy

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Gov agency that insures customer deposits if a bank fails, currently ensures 250k in a single bank

Stock market

Network of stock exchanges, where traders and investors buy and sell shares of publicly traded companies

Initial Public Offering (IPO)

Original public offering price of a corporation's stock

Buying on margin

Borrowing money from a broker to purchase stock

Reasons why stocks fluctuates

\- value of products or company changes (goes down)\- everyone wants to buy the same stock ——> value goes down

What were American's values during the depression

\- recommitted to familiar ideas and goals \- survival ideals of work and personal responsibility \- people trying to restore themselves to prosperity \- wanted to distract themselves from depression

"How to Win Friends and Influence People"

(1936) Dale Carnegie, self help manual for individual initiative

Culture of the radio

\- almost every family had one\- rural people hooked them up to car batteries\- urban people gathered to listen to sport events and music \- drew parents and children closer through favorite programs

Amos n' Andy

Radio comedy that portrayed a demeaning image of urban black Americans

Radio adventures

"Dick Tracy" and "The Lone Ranger"

Popular radio hosts

Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen

Radio soap operas

\- soap opera companies \- targeted and advertised towards housewives

Large events covered by the radio

The World Series, Academy Awards, political conventions

Hindenburg crash

\-German dirigible\-crashed in flames in Lakehurst New Jersey (1937)\- enormous reaction b/c of live radio broadcast

Orson Welles

\- Halloween 1938\- produced radio play about aliens landing in New Jersey that set off towards New York with weapons \- sounded like a news broadcast\- created panic

Why were movies more appealing

Now with sound and color

Will Hays

head of the Motion Picture Association, censor who ensured movies didn't haven't sensational or controversial messages

Hollywood studio system

A few large companies dominated industry, controlled actors, writers, and directors, also worked to avoid Hollywood controversy

Films that portrayed the depression

"Our Daily Bread" (1932) King Vidor"The Grapes of Wrath" (1940) John Ford

Gangster movies

\- "Little Caesar" (1930) \- "The Public Enemy" (1931) \- portrayed a dark, gritty, violent world, popular characters despite struggles

Frank Capra

Italian born director, love for America, romanticized ordinary people in capitalist market and towns

"Mr. Deeds Goes to Town"

(1936) Frank Capra, simple man from small town inherits a fortune, moves to the city, doesn't like the greed and dishonesty, gives money away and moves back home

"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

(1939) Frank Capra, decent man from the west, elected to the U.S. senate, refuses self-interested politics, exposes corruption

"Gold Diggers"

(1933) lavish musical

"It Happened One Night"

Screwball comedy by Frank Capra

Marx Brothers

\- family of comedians of four brothers \- designed films to divert audiences from their struggles\- indulged in quick and easy wealth

Walt Disney

\- champion of animation and children's entertainment \- created starring character Mickey Mouse\- first feature length film in 1937, "Snow White"

Novels adapted into films

\- "The Wizard of Oz"\- "Gone with the wind" (1939)

Mae West

\- American actress \- portrayed herself as overtly sexual women manipulating men through attractiveness in films

How did Hollywood portray black people in films

As stereotypes, servants, farmers, entertainers

Popular escapist and romantic novels

\- "Gone with the Wind" (1936) Margaret Mitchell \- "Anthony Adverse" (1933) Harvey Allen

Magazines

\- focused on fashion, stunts, scenery, arts \- "Life" (1936) largest photographic journal\- "Life Goes to a Party" social columns about rich and famous

"U.S.A"

(1930-1936) trilogy by John Dos Passo, attacked materialistic madness

"Native Son"

(1940) Richard Wright, about a young black man broken by systemic racial oppression

"Miss Lonelyhearts"

(1933) Nathanael West, about an advice columnist, depressed, encounters people who ironically give him advice

"The Disinherited"

(1933) Jack Conroy, harsh portrait of hardened working class youth

"Grapes of Wrath"

(1939) John Steinbeck, about the Joad family, migrates from the Dust Bowl to CA, family struggles and displacement

Why did the popular front gain popularity

The depression showed the flaws of capitalism

Popular Front

Broad coalition of leftist groups, driven by communism, formed alliances with progressive groups, improved image of communist party

John L. Lewis

Anti communist mine labor leader supported by the popular front

Spanish Civil War

Fascist Francisco Franco vs. Spain's existing republican government

Lincoln Brigade

3k young Americans, traveled to Spain to fight against the fascists, organized by the communist party

American Communist Party

\- hunger march in Washington D.C. (1931)\- rigid supervision by Soviet Union and Stalin\- Moscow sent orders to abandon the popular front \- returned to the harsh criticism of American liberals \- many left the party after the change

The Socialist Party of America

\- led by Norman Thomas\- attempted to mobilize support for rural, poor people

Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU)

\- led by young socialist, H.L. Mitchell \- attempted to create biracial coalition of sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and others \-failed to establish socialism in politics

Antiradicalism

Hostility towards communist party

Hamilton Fish (New York) and Martin Dies (Texas)

Led congressional committees that investigated communist influence

How did Americans try to get rid of communists

\- white southerners tried to drive communists out of countryside\- CA tried to keep communists from organizing Mexican workers

Leftist ideals

(1930s) impressive, temporary, widening of ideological range of mainstream art and poltics

Roosevelt's New Deal

sponsored artistic work through the Works Projects Administration

Pare Lorentz

A filmmaker funded by New Deal programs that created a series of powerful documentaries on how people were exploited in industrial capitalism

2 documentaries by Pare Lorentz

"The Plow that Broke the Plains" (1936) and "The River" (1937)

Farm Security Administration (FSA)

Traveled to rural areas, recorded the ravaged nature of agricultural life

Photographers for the FSA

Dorothea Lange, Margaret Bourke-White, Arthur Rothstein, Russell Lee, Walker Lee Evans, Ben Shahn

New Deal's Federal Writers' Project and Federal Art Project

Funded writers and photographers exposing social and environmental injustice

Herbert Hoover

\- began presidency March 1929\- first 6 months: attempted to expand associational policies \- had to deal with new economic problems

Voluntary Cooperation

Hoover urged businessmen not to cut production or lay off workers, labor leaders stop demands of higher wages and better hours

Agricultural Marketing Act

First major government program to help farmers maintain prices, established the farm board

Farm Board

Federally sponsored program that loans money to national corporations to buy surpluses of farm goods, raised the prices of the goods

Harley-Smoot Tariff

protective import tax, protected American farmers from international competition

What happened in the 1930 congressional elections

Democrats won control of the House and inroads to the Senate

Hoovervilles

Depression shantytowns, named after Hoover who many blamed for their financial distress

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

(Jan 1932) government agency to provide federal loans to troubled banks, railroads, etc, operated on a large scale with a large budget

Problems with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Only lent money to large banks and cooperations, only helped projects that would ultimately paid for themselves (toll bridges and public housing), didn't spend all the money it had

Farmers Holiday Association

formed by a group of unhappy farm owners, it endorsed the withholding of farm products from the market- in effect a farmers' strike, blockading several markets ended in failure

Bonus Expiditionary Force (Bonus Army)

\- 200k WWI veterans marched into Washington D.C. after not receiving promised bonus \- built camps around the city and promised to stay until Congress approved legislation to pay the bonus

What was Hoover's order against the bonus army

Ordered police to clear members out of abandoned federal buildings, ordered U.S. army to assist the police

General Douglas MacArthur

\- army chief of staff\- exceeded president's orders to remove bonus army \- led the third Calvary, 2 infantry regiments, machine gun detachment, and 6 tanks into Washington

How did the veterans react to General MacArthur's advances

\- veterans fled in terror, but the army followed them across the Anacostia River \- 100 marchers injured, tent cities burned down

"Great Engineer"

Personification of optimistic days of 1920s, symbol of nations failure to deal with struggles

Republican president nominee (1932)

Herbert Hoover, renominated for second term

Democratic president nominee (1932)

Governor of NY, Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)

\- Hudson Valley aristocrat, charming, young, imaginative \- progressed rapidly through NY state legislature \- got polio and never regained full use of his legs \- returned to politics in 1928, beat Al Smith for governor \- assembled broad coalition within his own party\- broke tradition, flew to Chicago for DNC and accepted nomination in person