The Great
Depression
Black Tuesday & the Great
Crash
• bull market – rising stock prices (way too fast) 
plummeted to bear market
– falling stock prices
– business community with
big profits
• investors tried to sell their
stocks before prices fell any
lower  too many selling
• stock market collapsed!
• Dropped $30 billion in 1st
week
The Bank
• loans busted because of stock
investments  banks closing
• people panicked & rushed to
withdraw their money  banks
don’t keep a lot on hand, they ran
out of money  banks closed
Business Failures
• when banks closed, many
businesses lost their corporate
savings & operating accounts
 businesses closed or cutback
on production & workforce
• Unemployment increases (rate
= 25%)
Causes of the Great
Depression
• overproduction – production
exceeded consumption &
surpluses piled up
• global trade problems –
world trade declined
(Europe recovering from
WWI)  not a lot of aid
• the Dust Bowl
President Hoover
• thought that relief and
recovery should come largely
through voluntary
cooperation rather than
federal efforts
• created the RFC
(Reconstruction Finance
Corporation) – direct relief to
unemployed; loaned money to
railroads and banks
• lowered taxes to stimulate the
economy
• did not realize how severe the
depression was
Election of 1932
• FDR (NY governor/D)
vs. Hoover (U.S.
President/R)  FDR
won
• Roosevelt promised
relief, recovery, and
reform
• A new deal for the
American people
with federal help
The New Deal
• federal govt. approved and
financed programs that
battled the depression
• How did they afford this?
– Raise taxes
– Inflation
Farmers
• as prices bottomed out, many
farmers could not sell their crops
• without income, they could not
repay their house and land loans
• banks foreclosed on their homes &
land
• If things weren’t bad enough,
drought struck!
• Dust Bowl – dust storms on the Great
Plains
• families migrated west for a new life
(to California)
Family Life
• divorce rates increase, marriage
& birth rates decreased
• men left their families (some in
search of jobs)
• children dropped out of school to
help make money (hoboes)
• food lines (aka soup kitchens,
bread lines) – fed the poor
SUMMARY
QUIZ TIME
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM
• 1. T/F Consumerism of the 1920s was
a contributing factor of the Great
Depression.
• 2. T/F Unemployment reached 50%
during the Great Depression.
• 3. Which of the following was NOT a
cause of the Great Depression?
– a.
– b.
– c.
– d.
overproduction
global trade problems
America’s involvement in WWI
the Dust Bowl
• 4. Which president was blamed for the
Great Depression?
– a.
– b.
– c.
– d.
Woodrow Wilson
Herbert Hoover
FDR
Teddy Roosevelt
• 5. Which president was credited with
saving the country from the Great
Depression?
– a.
– b.
– c.
– d.
Woodrow Wilson
Herbert Hoover
FDR
Teddy Roosevelt