Lead-Up
What the time just before the Great Depression when people were spending (and paying by installment) frivolously was called.
What were the Roaring '20s?
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During the Roaring '20s paying by credit became increasingly popular, and so did mass consumerism. People ended up overspending into debt and spending everything they had in stocks to "make their fortune."
Being in poverty to the point of no longer having somewhere to live, and often resorting to living on the streets
What is homelessness?
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Because of the lack of employment opportunities and the amount of debt people were in, the rates of homelessness increased dramatically during the Great Depression.
The first President in office during the Great Depression.
Who was President Hoover?
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He was a strong believer in "Laissez-faire," meaning that the government should stay out of the lives of Americans versus helping struggling citizens. This was a defining characteristic of his presidency.
The beginning period of FDR's presidency was when his goal was to pass a series of laws to help citizens hit hardest recover from the Great Depression.
What were the 100 days?
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Mitigating the economic hardships of struggling citizens through the Federal Emergency Relif Administration (FERA), Agricultural Adjust Act, and Civilian Conservation Corps (and a few other programs but those were the main two).
What is RELIF?
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This was one portion of FDR's plan to help citizens in crisis, especially focusing on struggling farmers and unemployed young men. The Agricultural Adjust Act reduced the supply of produce, which had been creating disasterous effects in the farming industry and leaving farms over-producing and under-selling. The government paid farmers to leave unplanted land on their properties to reduce crop production and boost prices. The Emergency Unemployment Relief Act invented tons of employment opprotunities for people out of work, in addition to the Civilian Conservation Corps, divised by the FERA, which opened up natural conservation jobs for young men. All of these programs helped stabalize the economy and help lower unemployment rates.
When independent investors pulled out of the stock market in mass numbers
What was the stock market crash?
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During the roaring '20s when people were investing, many put all of their money into buying stocks. In the '30s however, mass hysteria led to swarms of people looking to pull their money out of the stock market. Companies lost money for their investments, banks and brokers started to fail because people panicked and took their money out of the banks. Many think this crisis caused the Great Depression, but it was really just the disconnect of the "economy of wallstreet" and the rest of the country catching up with it.
Widespread panic which often leads large amounts of people to make irrational decisions.
What is mass hysteria?
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The spread of panic, or mass hysteria, over losing investments led to the crash of the stock market, so mass numbers panic-sold their assets, many losing substantial amounts of money in doing so.
Initially, Hoover didn't do anything, thinking that the critical economic would just solve itself, but later on he took small steps to try and resolve the situation.
What was Hoover's response to the Great Depression?
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President Hoover's reaction was too little too late, speaking to buisness leaders, lending money to banks, and giving money to assist housing. None of these ended up being particularly helpful, and most Americans were resentful of him, resulting in one of the most drastic presidential election landslides in history, favoring his opponent, FDR.
A law passed which created a program providing finnancial assistence to the elderly, part of the money coming from the person, partly coming from the government.
What is the Social Security Act?
Changing the banking system and stock market to better protect citizens from corruption/bankrupcy.
What is REFORM?
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The Banking Act was passed which guerenteed money back if someone's bank collapsed, and the Federal Security Act, which enforced order in the stock exchange (it had previously been a free-for-all).
Thousands of Americans lost their jobs.
What is mass unemployment?
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Due to men returning from war, jobs were scarce with the influx of people. Also, companies, factories, and banks losing money and going bankrupt from the stock market crash, so suddenly employers were losing the funds to keep people on their payroll. This created a huge population of people who couldn't find work, some of which also in credit debt, and became homeless.
How people (illegally) left far from home to make money elsewhere during the Great Depression.
What is a freight train?
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During the Great Depression, many families struggled with their finances and sent out their teenagers to make money or to just fend for themselves, others ran away from poor living conditions or for adventure. They hopped freight trains and "rode the rails" to the East (often New York in search of factory work) or West (often California in search of farming work) hoping to find employment and a new life where they could "make their fortune." Most people did not, in fact, make their fortune, but instead ended up as "hobos," and living out on the streets, begging for food and/or money.
A group of WWI veterans and families of veterans who marched to D.C. to demand their military bonuses.
What was the Bonus Army?
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The Army was promised a veteran bonus to their family after they passed, and the Bonus Army marchers were advocating to collect their bonues now. They protested, being humored by President Hoover who refused them their bonuses because he didn't want to give "handouts," and said that if he gave them money, he'd have to give everyone money. The Bonus Army was made up of (mostly) homeless and/or unemployed veterans living in extreme poverty, and they were so desperate for their bonuses that they set up an encampment in D.C., and theoretically staying there until their demands were met. Hoover got tired of their demands, saying that they were communists and didn't deserve the money anyways, and then he sent troops to break down the encampments, ending in tons of injuries and even a few deaths. As you can imagine, this added on to Americans' shared distain for Hoover.
Some people thought it was too radical, and that the government was giving handouts, others thought the New Deal wasn't radical enough.
What was the backlash on the New Deal?
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There was lots of backlash from businesspeople and the wealthy, who didn’t want their taxes to go up, and strongly disaproved of the estate tax. The Surpreme Court felt similarly, saying that the government was overstepping, and overturned most of the New Deal laws that were passed (FDR tried to later pack the court). Three main reactions from citizens was that they wanted the government in control of banks, a pension system for the elderly, and/or for all of the wealth to be shared.
Creating standard regulations of work hours, pay rates, and prices.
What is RECOVERY?
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A federal standard was set for working hours and minimum wage as well as set prices of products. Changes were made via the Federal Housing Admin and Home Owners Loan Corps to help people avoid forclosure and start to resolve the homelessness crisis giving loans to lower income households.
People stuck in a cycle of losing money, due to the (no longer needed) surplus of food after WWI, the state of the economy, and the dust bowl.
What are (post-WWI) farmers?
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An overproduction of food after huge profits during the war led produce prices to planting more crops to improve their profits, only to lose more money. Some were also hit by the dust bowl, which made the land unsustainable for farming. Many farmers went homeless and fled to the West in search of new employment, most often in California.
Hobo encampments on the side of traintracks which harbored people waiting to catch their next freight train.
What is a jungle?
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Hopping freight trains, homelessness, unemployment, extreme poverty, living on the side of tracks, and even starvation, these are simply a few of the many hardships faced by thousands and thousands during the Great Depression. These people had no one to turn to, and nothing to rely on; living/staying in a jungle was among the list of better case scenarios.
The majority of the U.S. disapproving of Hoover's unresponsivness to the Great Depression led to this.
Why did FDR win the election?
They weren't supported much (if at all) by the New Deal because of prejudices keeping them from entering the workforce and therefore got no real benefit from the relief efforts.
What are minorities/marginalized groups?
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People of color and women were left out of the relief efforts of the New Deal. Women, Black people, and other minorities had trouble getting hired, especially with competition against all of the young White men in search of employment at the time.
The goal was achieving changes in citizens' lives via the New Deal laws to help people with their financial hardships.
What is the goal of the three R's?
Owing substantial amounts of money, often from credit or loans.
What is being in debt?
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The popularization of buying through installment in the '20s, especially money spent and lost in the stock market, left many people in huge amounts of debt.
The common phrase (and attitude) of Americans which emphasizes the importance of self-reliance.
What was "pulling yourself up by the bootstraps?"
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During this time period, especially before the start of the Great Depression and when FDR was elected, most Americans had the notion that they had to do things entirely on their own in order to succeed and achieve fufillment.
A week in which all banks were closed to re-boot the American banking system.
What is a Bank Holiday?
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The first thing FDR did during his presidency was establishing a bank holiday, meaning all of the banks would be closed for a week. Over the course of that week he conducted a series of fireside chats via radio, where he'd calmly reassure the public which restored the faith of Americans in the banking system, so that after the end of the bank holiday people would put their money back into banks (most took their money out of banks during the stock market crisis, causing banks to fail and more people to lose their money) to re-boot the system. FDR's administration put safeguards in place so that if people lost their money in a bank that then collapsed, they'd still get their money.
Due to FDR's administration providing relief and recovery to citizens in crisis, the US government has since taken a more active role in supporting citizens, providing a "safety net" for those who are struggling (i.e. hunger, houselessness).
How did the New Deal change the role of government in the US?
Social Security, federal work hour and pay rate standards.
What aspects of the New Deal are still in place today?
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While many programs didn't last (due to surpreme court and changing circumstances), and the New Deal didn't solve the Great Depression, it did create the foundation of a safety net and active involvment from the federal government in the affairs of citizens.