FDR & the New Deal 22.2 and 23.1

22-2:

1. Describe how people struggled to survive during the depression.
-There were deadly dust storms that people in the middle of the country had to survive.

-In cities people lost their jobs, were kicked out of their homes and had to live on the streets. Shantytowns, small towns with many shacks made out of scrap material that homeless people made, were common. Soup kitchens and bread lines offered poor people food for little money. African Americans and Latinos were increasingly being discriminated against, and there was a lot of racial violence. Mexicans in the southwest were being deported, even though many had been born in America.

-In rural areas most farmers could grow food for their families. But with falling prices and rising debt, many farmers lost their land.

2. How was what happened to men during the Great Depression different from what happened to women? Children?

-Many men were used to having a job to support their families so when they lost their jobs during the Great Depression, they didn't know what to do. Some left their families.

-Women worked hard to help their families. Many women canned food and sewed clothes. They also managed household budgets. Many had jobs but a lot of people thought that women shouldn't work when there were unemployed men. Many women were too ashamed to reveal their hardship and refused to beg.

-Children's poor diets and lack of health care led to serious health problems. The school year was shortened and some schools were closed. Many children worked in sweatshops instead of going to school. Some teenagers traveled around the country looking for work and adventure. This was dangerous and many of them were beaten or jailed by freight yard patrolmen.

3. Describe the causes and effects (on people) because of the Dust Bowl.
The Dust Bowl (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado) was caused because farmers had used tractors to prepare the grasslands for crops. This had removed the thick protective layer of prairie grasses and then the farmers ruined the land through overproduction of crops. In the early 1930s a drought and winds caused big dust storms because there wasn't any grass or trees to hold the soil down. The dust traveled hundreds of miles.

Because of the Dust Bowl, thousands of farmers left their land behind and headed to California. Some of them found work as farmhands but many didn't find work.

23-1 through page 696:

Objective: Summarize the initial steps Franklin D. Roosevelt took to reform banking and finance.
4. What was the New Deal and its three general goals? (The 3 Rs)
The New Deal was a program that FDR designed to alleviate the problems of the Great Depression, specifically relief for the needy, economic recovery, and financial reform.

5. What did Roosevelt do during the Hundred Days?
Congress passed more than 15 major pieces of New Deal legislation. These laws expanded the federal government's role in the nation's economy.

Roosevelt declared a bank holiday to prevent further withdrawals. He persuaded congress to pass the Emergency Banking Relief Act which authorized the Treasury Department to inspect the country's banks. The ones that were stable reopened and the ones that were unable to pay their debts stayed closed.

6. Why were Roosevelt's fireside chats significant?
FDR's fireside chats were important because they made Americans feel as if the president were talking directly to them and explained the New Deal measures in simple language. This brought the country closer together because the average American could get direct information about what was happening with the country.

7. Describe four significant agencies and/or bills that tightened regulation of banking and finance.

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation which provided federal insurance for individual bank accounts, reassuring millions of bank customers that their money was safe.

The Federal Securities Act of 1933 required corporations to provide complete information on all stock offerings and made them liable for any misrepresentations.

In June of 1934, Congress created the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the stock market. One goal of this commission was to prevent people with inside information about companies from rigging the stock market for their own profit.

Causes of the Great Depression Outline

Pretend you are getting ready to write a mini-essay (P1 Q#4) Create a thesis statement from the following prompt and THEN develop an outline of your main points and evidence that supports your main points. Your main points should directly relate to your thesis statement.
Prompt: To what extent was the Wall Street Crash a cause of the Great Depression of 1929? Support your argument with specific examples.

Thesis: The Wall Street Crash was not a major cause of the Great Depression as there were many other factors that contributed equally if not more, such as consumers purchasing less, an unequal distribution of income and a crisis in the farm sector.

I.The Wall Street Crash

a.the Wall Street Crash was caused by other, more important things

b.it was a cycle of events and many other factors contributed more to the Great Depression

II. Consumers Purchasing Less
a. availability of credit
b. the stock market crash
III. An Unequal Distribution of Income

a.more and more people losing their jobs and aren't able to live off of their income

b.these people are not helping the economy

IV.Crisis in the Farm Sector

a.farmers bought a lot of land during WWI because demand was high, now demand is low because consumers are purchasing less, high supply and low demand

b.it took more money to make the products than the farmers received from people purchasing them

Conclusion

Causes & Early Effects of the Great Depression-22-1&2

22-1-The Nations Economy

1. What happened on "Black Tuesday"?
On October 29th, Black Tuesday, the bottom fell out of the market and the nations confidence collapsed.

2. How did the economic trends of the 1920s in industry, agriculture, and with consumers help cause the Great Depression?

-Industries like railroads, textiles and steel were making little profit. Railroads lost business to new forms of transportation like trucks, buses and private automobiles. Mining and lumbering were no longer in high demand. Coal mining was no longer as important since there were other forms of energy becoming popular such as hydroelectric power, fuel oil and natural gas. An important economic indicator that declined during this time was the number of new houses being built was declining. When this happens, many people's jobs are hurt such as furniture making and lumbering.

-During WWI, prices rose and international demand for crops like wheat and corn rose. After the war, demand fell and crop prices declined by more than 40%. Farmers though that producing more crops would sell more, but this depressed prices further. Farm income dropped from $10 billion to $4 billion from 1919-1921. Farmers in debt had difficulty paying it off, causing many rural banks to begin to fail. Congress tried to help with the McNary-Haugen bill which called for federal price-supports for key products like corn, wheat, cotton and tobacco. This meant that the government would buy surplus crops at guaranteed prices and sell them on the world market. President Coolidge vetoed the bill twice.

-Consumers have less money to spend. Their incomes fell and prices rose so they bought fewer things. There was an uneven distribution of income. The gap was widening between the rich and the poor because production expanded faster than wages. Half of the homes in many cities had electric lights or a furnace for heat. One city home in ten had an electric refrigerator. Most americans couldn't fully enjoy the economic advances of the 1920s. During the 1920s, credit was popular, which mean that consumers agreed to buy now and pay later. This created a lot of consumer debt.

-Many people were becoming involved with the stock market. They bought stocks and bonds without ignoring the risks and just thought they might be lucky and become rich. People were buying on margin, which meant that they payed a small percentage of a stock's price as a down payment and borrowed the rest. If the value of stocks declined, people who had bought on margin had no way of paying off the loans. In September 1929, stock priced peaked and fell. On October 24, the market plunged and panicked investors unloaded their shares. On October 29th, Black Tuesday, the bottom fell out of the market and the nations confidence collapsed. Many people were stuck with huge debts, and many others lost most of their saving. This signaled the beginning of the Great Depression (1929-1940).

3. According to your reading, what are the major causes of the Great Depression?
-The Crash of the Stock Market

-Uneven Distribution of Income

-Industries in Debt

-Consumers Having Less Money to Spend

22-3-Hoover Struggles With The Depression

4. What was Hoover’s philosophy of government?

He thought that the governments role was to encourage and facilitate cooperation between competing groups and interests in society. He opposed any form of federal welfare, or direct relief to the needy. He believed that this would weaken people's self-respect.

He thought that periods of rapid economic growth were naturally followed by periods of depression. Hoover felt that the government could play a limited role in helping to solve problems.

5. What was Hoover’s initial reaction to the stock market crash of 1929?

President Hoover tried to reassure Americans that the nation's economy was okay. He thought that the important thing was for Americans to remain optimistic and to go about their business as usual. Americans believed that this as a normal part of the business cycle. He called together key leaders in the fields of business and banking and labor and urged them to work together to find solutions. He asked the employers not to cut wages of lay off workers and asked labor leaders not to demand higher wages or go on strike.

6. What was the nation’s economic situation in 1930?

The economy was still shrinking and unemployment was still rising. Many more companies went out of business.

7. How did voters in 1930 respond to this situation?

As the country's economic difficulties kept increasing, the political tide turned against Hoover and the Republicans. Democrats won in the 1930 congressional elections.

8. What did Hoover do about the economic situation?

-The Boulder Dam (the Hoover Dam), was a dam on the Colorado River which provided electricity, flood control and a water supply.

-He negotiated agreements among private entities, reflecting his belief in a small government. He backed the creations of the Federal Farm Board which intended to raise crops prices by helping members to buy crops and keep them off the market temporarily until prices rose.

-He tried to prop up the banking system by persuading the nations largest banks to establish the National Credit Corporation which loaned money to smaller banks which helped them not go bankrupt.

-By late 1931, people could see that what he had done failed to turn the economy around, so Hoover appealed to congress to pass a series of measures to reform banking, provide mortgage relief, and funnel more federal money into business investment. In 1932, Hoover signed the Federal Home Loan Bank Act, which lowered mortgage rates for homeowners and allowed farmers to refinance their farm loans and avoid foreclosure.

-The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) authorized $2 billion for emergency financing for banks, life insurance companies, railroads and other large businesses. He believed that the money would trickle down to the average citizen

9. How did the economy respond to his efforts?

The RFC loaned money to large corporations, but business failures continued. This was an example of federal involvement in a peacetime economy, but it was too late.

The Twenties Woman

Read Chapter 21-2 (page 646) and answer the following questions.

1. Note two ways women's fashions changed.

Close fitting felt hats, bright waistless short dresses, skin toned silk stockings, and sleek pumps, instead of dark long dresses, corsets and petticoats. Women clipped their long hair into boyish buns and dyed it black.

2. Note two ways women's social behavior changed.
Many women became more assertive and wanted an equal social status with men. Some began to smoke and drink in public.

3. Note two words that describe the attitude reflected by these changes.
Flapper and double standard.

4. Note one way women's work opportunities improved.
A booming industrial economy opened new work opportunities for women in offices, factories, stores, and professions. Many female college graduates became nurses and teachers. There was a large demand for typists, filing clerks and secretaries.

5. Note two ways women's home and family life improved.

The industrial boom created time saving appliances and products that reshaped the roles of housewives and mothers. There was an availability of ready made clothes, sliced bread, and canned foods. Also there were public health clinics. Workers' compensation assisted those who weren't able to work. These things made it possible for the housewife to focus on their families rather than housework.
Marriages were more equal.

6. Note three negative effects that accompanied women's changing roles in the 1920s.

Women had to struggle with juggling work and family. Some mothers had to struggle with rebellious adolescents. Teens spent more time with other teens than with their families. There was an increase of peer pressure.

Prohibition and the Scopes Trial

Read Chapter 21-1, Changing Ways of Life, and answer the question below in at least two paragraphs. Make sure you include specific references from the reading to support your answer

Do you think the passage of the Volstead Act and the ruling in the Scopes trial represented genuine triumphs for traditional values? Think About:

• changes in urban life in the 1920s

• the effects of Prohibition

• the legacy of the Scopes trial

I think that the passage of the Volstead Act and the ruling in the Scopes trial did not represent genuine triumphs for the traditional values. The Volstead act established a Prohibition Bureau in the Treasury Department in 1919, but the agency was underfunded. This led to many poorly paid federal agents and local police having to do the hard job of patrolling the coast, searching for illegal stills and watching over the industries involving alcohol to make sure they weren't using it illegally. This was largely ineffective. Moving into cities in the U.S. became popular among citizens and the cities became over crowded, which led to more problems. There was an increase of crime in order for people to obtain alcohol, for example there were speakeasies, which were hidden night clubs where alcohol was illegally sold. In the end, the passage of the Volstead Act only made matters worse. It didn't stop people from drinking and it caused them to find illegal ways to obtain alcohol.

Scopes, a biology teacher in Tennessee, where the teaching of evolution was made illegal, was arrested when he read a passage from a book talking about evolution. His trial was more about evolution and the role of science and religion in public schools than his actions. He was found guilty and was fined &100, and the outlawing of the teaching of evolution remained in place. This trial failed to disprove anything, and didn't change the law. This was about beliefs and theories rather than facts, which is where there can be many discrepancies. The ruling of the Scopes trial did not represent a genuine triumph for traditional values because although Scopes was found guilty and the law remained, the trial failed to prove or disprove anything, giving neither side the victory.

Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues

20-1, Page 618

After World War I, many Americans feared that Communists would take over the country.

1. How did the Justice Department under A. Mitchell Palmer respond to this fear?

A. Mitchell Palmer and his assistant, Hoover, and their agents hunted down suspected communists, socialists and anarchists (who opposed any form of government). They deported many foreign radicals without trials and invaded people's privacy without legal counseling.

2. Why did Palmer eventually lose his standing with the American public?

Palmer's raids didn't help find evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy. The public thought that Palmer was just trying to get people to support his presidential aspirations. The public stopped believing Palmer.

3. How did the Ku Klux Klan respond to this fear?

They were extremely prejudiced; they were against blacks, Roman Catholics and Jews and foreign born people. They wanted to drive them out of America. They destroyed saloons and opposed unions.

4. Why did the Klan eventually lose popularity and membership?

The Klan's criminal activity led to a decrease in power.

5. Briefly describe how Sacco and Vanzetti became victims of the Red Scare.

They were arrested and charged for robbery and murder. It was based on the fact that they were both Italians, which goes along with the Red Scare because the country was against foreign born people. They were sentenced to death.

Public opinion turned against labor unions as many Americans came to believe that unions encouraged communism.

6. Why was the strike by Boston police unpopular with the public?

The Boston police strike was unpopular with the public because if the policemen were on strike, the public safety would be at risk. With the policemen not doing their job, there would be chaos.

7. Why did Massachusetts governor Calvin Coolidge become so popular?

Massachusetts governor Calvin Coolidge became so popular because he hired new policemen and the public believed that he saved Boston from communism and anarchy.

8. Why was the strike at U.S. Steel unpopular?

The steel mill strike was unpopular because the strikers were linked to communists.

9. How did President Wilson respond to the steel strike?

President Wilson made a plea to the negotiators (between labor and management). The plea stated that in a time when the world is trying to stay out of war, the industrial workers and leaders should also try to avoid disputes.