Describe the Wall Streets Crash.
19th October 1929-3.5 million shares bought and sold and prices began to fall quickly.
Thursday 24th October
... [Show More] 1929-"Black Thursday",13 million shares traded and prices collapsed.
Investors lost millions of dollars.
Describe the impact of the Wall Street Crash on unemployment.
End of 1929- 2.5 million people unemployed.
End of 1930-5 million people unemployed.
End of 1931-9 million people unemployed.
End of 1932-13.5 million people unemployed.
Describe the impact of the Wall Street Crash on depression in the cities.
Factories began to close down.
People stopped spending.
Almost one third of the workforce was unemployed.
People lost their homes.
Some moved into Hoovervilles, some slept on the streets and others travelled the country as Hobos.
Black workers were the first to be sacked.
Black unemployment was at 50% by 1933.
White unemployment was at 20% by 1933.
Describe the impact of the Wall Street Crash on depression in the countryside.
Farmers went bankrupt as they couldn't sell their produce.
Drought in 1931 reduced prices and deceased output.
Oklahoma,Colorado,New Mexico and Kansas hit worst by the drought- Know as the "Dust Bowl" 20 million hectares of land.
1 million people went to west coast for fruit-growing jobs.
From Oklahoma-"Okies"
From Arkansas-"Arkies"
Describe the impact of the Wall Street Crash on family life.
Marriage rate fell from 1.23 million in 1929 to 982,00 in 1932.
Suicide rates rose from 12.6 per 1,000 in 1926 to 17.4 per 1,000 people.
Schools closed for 10 months of the year as there was not enough money to pay teachers.
1932-Estimated 25% of the country recieving no income.
Relied on charities such as the Red Cross.
Describe Hoovervilles.
Slums on the outside of towns and cities.
Sarcastic name due to Hoover's lack of support and relief.
No running water or sewage system.
At peak , several hundred thousand people lived in Hoovervilles.
"Hoover Blankets"-Layers of newspaper.
"Hoover Flag"-Trouser pockets turned inside out to show lack of money.
"Hoover Wagons"-Cars with horses tied to them to show lack of money to buy petrol.
Describe the Bonus Marchers.
First World War veterans who were promised a bonus for serving in the war payable in 1945.
Couldn't wait that long so in May and June 1932 Bonus Expeditionary Forces , made of 12,000 veterans marched to Washington DC.
Took wives and children with them.
Built a Hooverville outside the capital.
Would have cost $2.3 million to pay bonuses.
Congress p[aid for transport home but 5,000 refused.
Labelled communists by government.
Conflict broke out- 2 veterans killed.
Army used tear gas- killed a baby and 100 people injured.
Describe Hoover's early policies.
Laissez faire(leave alone) and rugged individualism when dealing with the economy.
Met with business leaders to cut wages and production levels.
Hawley Smoot Tariff Act 1930-Protected US farmers by putting tariffs on foreign goods. Countries refused to trade with the US.
Agricultural Marketing Act 1930- Government lent money to farmers through cooperatives which tried to fix prices to reasonable levels.
Cut takes by $130 million.
Won congress approval of $1.8 billion for new construction and road and damn repair.
Describe Hoover's policies in 1932.
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (February 1932)-Largest federal aid given, $2 billion loans to banks, insurance companies and railroads,designed to last 2 years.
Emergency Relief Act(ERA,July 1932)-Provided state governments with $3000 million to help the unemployed.
Home Loan Bank Act(July 1932)-Stimulated house building and home ownership.12 regional banks set up with $125 million.
Describe the successes of Hoover's policies.
Sent $1.5 billion on public work schemes.
Persuaded local governments to expand their public works programmes.
Implemented policies that were continued by Roosevelt- such as helping banks and home owners.
Describe Roosevelt's election in 1932.
Won by a landslide, 48 states against 6 states.
Hoover blamed for Depression.
Roosevelt had overcome polio.
Roosevelt had created optimism in the country.
Roosevelt offered a simple message.
Roosevelt's new deal offered hope for Americans.
Describe the aims of the New Deal.
Relief-Assist in the removal of poverty .Provide food for the starving.Intervene to prevent people from loosing homes/farms.
Recovery-Boost the economy so people could get jobs.
Reform-Ensure that there were welfare provisions in the future to help the unemployed ,old, sick, disabled and destitute.
Describe the Hundred Days.
9th March 1933- 16th June 1933.
Roosevelt allowed to bypass congress to pass acts.
Roosevelt needed to stem the banking crisis.
20,00 banks had closed in the year before.
Closed all banks for 10 days and on radio with 60 million listeners he explained his plans.
Allowed banks with assets to re-open and those without would shut down.
Said banks were safer.
Became one of many of the fireside chats.
Describe the Agricultural Adjustment Act.
Set up to increase farm prices and farmers' income.
Production levels had to drop.
Government paid farmers to produce less.
5 million pigs killed and thousands of hectares of cotton were ploughed back into the ground.
By 1936 income was 1.5 times higher than in 1933.
The Act was rejected by the Supreme Court in 1936.
Describe the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Created jobs for men aged between 18-25 who were hobos or living in Hoovervilles.
Planted trees to avoid soil erosion.
Received clothes,food and $1 a day.
August 1933-250,000 men in the CCC
1941-More than 2 million members.
Describe the Civil Works Administration
Created public jobs.
January 1934-4 million unskilled Americans on the CWA's payroll.
Some built roads however some jobs were laughed at such as scaring birds away from buildings and sweeping leaves in parks.
Describe the Emergency Banking Act
Set up to restore confidence in the banking system.
Prevented banks from investing savings deposits in the stock markets which was too unpredictable to guarantee the safety of those funds.
Describe the Farm Credit Act
Gave low-interest loans to farmers to help them pay their debts such as mortgages.
20% of farmers benefited from the scheme.
Describe the Federal Emergency Relief Administration
Provided $500 million for emergency relief through grants to state and local agencies.
Temporary because Roosevelt did not want his opponents to think the government was just handing money out to the unemployed.
Describe the National Recovery Administration
Set fair prices,wages and working conditions such as maximum hours and minimum wage.
Publicity campaign to get business leaders to comply.
Blue eagle poster and asked people to only buy goods displaying the poster.
Removed by the Supreme Court in 1935.
Describe the Public Works Administration and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.
PWA-Spent $3.3 billion on large scale public works.
RFC-Roosevelt pumped $15 billion into Hoover's agency.Banks and businesses were able to use the money to restart
Describe the Tennessee Valley Association
Aimed at regenerating the Tennessee Valley region which was one of the most depressed regions in America.
Half of the population of 2.5 million receiving relief and annual flood damage of 1.75 million.
Created damns to generate electricity and controlled flooding.
Built recreational areas as well as health and welfare facilities.
Covered 7 states and 104,000 km2 of land with a population of 7 million people.
Opposition from farmers whose land was flooded and some big businesses who felt the US was moving towards socialism.
Describe the second New Deal.
End of 1934-Still 10 million unemployed Americans.
January 1935-Roosevelt introduced his second New Deal to reform America.
Describe the Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Headed by Harry Hopkins-previously in charge of FERA.
Funded building projects.
Organised a $4.8 billion relief programme.
Put unemployed teachers back to work.
Created community service schemes to employ creative professions.
Describe The National Labour Relations Act
The Wagner Act.
Boosted workers rights.
Trade union membership increased from 3 million in 1933 to 9 million in 1939.
Set up National Relations Board which was given the power to act against employers who were unfair to workers.
Describe the Fair Labour Standards Act
Minimum wage established.
Maximum working hours established.
300,000 workers secured higher wages.
Over a million workers had a shorter working week.
Child labour was only allowed on farms.
Describe the Social Security Act
Government accepted full responsibility for meeting the basic needs of its citizens.
Gave pension benefits to elderly,orphaned and those injured in industrial accidents.
Gave unemployment benefits funded by a tax on the payrolls of employers.
How did the New Deal change the role of the President?
Restored the faith of people in the government after Hoover's laissez-faire approach.
Preserved democracy and ensured that there was no mass support for right-winged politicians.
Extended the role of central government and the President.
Federal government became directly involved in areas previously run by state governments. [Show Less]