THE GREAT

DEPRESSION
BEGINS
 Economic Boom
• An economic boom occurs when
people are spending money, have
jobs, buy homes, and stock prices are
up.
• The 1920’s was an economic boom for
America.
Industries that started decreasing:

• Agriculture
• Railroads
• Textiles
• Auto
• Housing
• Consumer goods
• Agriculture was the
hardest hit.
• Farmers produced
more food during
WWI. After the
war, people didn’t
buy as much.
 Credit vs. Debt
• Credit
– Borrowing money that
you don’t have and
paying it back over
time. • Debt
• Credit cards – The amount of the
• Loans money you owe
• Mortgages
• Car loans
HOOVER WINS
1928 ELECTION
Stocks
• Stocks are pieces of a
company that people
can buy. If a company
does well, the value of
the stock rises. If it
doesn’t do well, the
value drops.
 The Stock Market
Stock Market Success Stock Market Fail
• Wal-Mart stock prices • Blockbuster Video
are around $45 for one stocks were $35 a
share. If you buy 100 share. You bought 100
shares, it would cost shares for $3500. The
you $4500. The company goes
company does well and bankrupt and you are
next year the value is forced to sell your
$50 a share. Now, you shares for $10 each.
have $5000 in stock. You lost $2500.
You made $500 in one
year.
 THE 1929 CRASH

• On October 29, 1929,

now known as Black
Tuesday, stocks
dropped.
• People who had
bought stocks on
credit were stuck with
huge debts.
• Black Tuesday was the beginning of
the Great Depression.
• The Great Depression lasted from
1929-1940.
 Banking
• After the crash, many
Americans withdrew
their money from
banks.
• Banks had bought
stocks.
• By 1933 – 11,000 of
the 25,000 banks
nationwide had
collapsed.
CAUSES OF THE GREAT
DEPRESSION
• Tariffs & war debt
• U.S. demand low,
despite factories
producing more
• Farm crisis
• Easy credit
• Unequal distribution
of income
• People lost
their jobs and
their homes.
• Shantytowns
called
Hoovervilles
developed.
 • Soup kitchens
and bread lines
began.

Unemployed men wait in line for food

– this particular soup kitchen was
sponsored by Al Capone
 THE DUST BOWL
• A severe drought
gripped the Great
Plains in the early
1930s.

Kansas Farmer, 1933

Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas - 1934
Storm approaching Elkhart,
Kansas in 1937
Dust buried cars and wagons in South Dakota
in 1936
 • Kansas, Oklahoma,
Texas, New Mexico,
and Colorado were
the hardest hit during
the Dust Bowl.
• Many farmers
migrated to
California.
Boy covers his mouth to avoid
dust, 1935
Photographer Dorothea Lange captures a family
headed west to escape the dust storms
Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• Wins the 1932

election over
Hoover.
 New Deal
• A set of acts to
help citizens
during the
depression.
 Social Security
• People pay taxes when
they work.
• When they reach 65, they
get the money back each
month like a paycheck.
Civilian Conservation
Corps
• This program
provided jobs
to young men.
FDIC
• Provides insurance
to people who put
money in banks. If
the bank closes,
people can still get
their money.
 TVA
• The Tennessee Valley
Authority provides
electricity. It was the
first time the gov’t got
involved in a utility
company.
Cumberland
Homesteads
• The gov’t
provided farm
lands and
houses to help
poor farmers.
Great Smoky
Mountains
• A park owned
by the federal
gov’t.