Goal 9.02: Analyze the extent of prosperity for different segments of society during this period.

I.Herbert Hoover’s Presidency

  1. The ______
  2. From 1930 – 36, a terrible drought, coupled with decades of damage to the topsoil from plowing, led to wind erosion and huge dust clouds
  3. Thousands of farmers lost everything and were forced to move west and work as migrant farmers
  4. Dorothea ______(1895 – 1965)
  5. Photojournalist
  6. Lange's photographs humanized the tragic consequences of the Great Depression and profoundly influenced the development of documentary photography
  7. John ______(1902 – 1968)
  8. Author of The Grapes of Wrath, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the tragedies which befell his fictional family of Oklahoma farmers during the Dust Bowl
  9. Also wrote Of Mice and Men, a story about the tragic relationship between two poor migrant farmers
  10. Hoover’s Response to “Black Tuesday”
  11. Hoover’s Public Response
  12. After “Black Tuesday,” Hoover worked hard to assure Americans that the economy would recover quickly
  13. Hoover stepped up a propaganda campaign aimed at boosting consumer confidence
  14. Hoover’s Private Response
  15. Hoover, however, knew that the economy was extremely unstable
  16. He held multiple meetings with business leaders trying to win pledges that factories would remain open, but to no avail
  17. ______Corporation (NCC)
  18. Hoover tried to ease the nation’s credit crisis by creating the NCC
  19. The NCC held a pool of private money that it could lend to banks so that banks could continue to offer loans; the NCC, however, never had enough cash to meet the demand and so was a failure
  20. ______Corporation (RFC)
  21. When the NCC failed, Hoover resorted to government lending
  22. The RFC was created to makegovernment loans to banks & railroads
  23. Even the RFC could not meet the demands for loans, and the economy continued to fail
  24. Emergency Relief and Construction Act
  25. In desperation, the government approved $1.5 billion in spending on public works projects and an additional $300 million to provide “______” – money provided directly to families in need
  26. Ways in Which Poverty Affected Life in US
  27. Hunger Marches
  28. Crowds of the unemployed and hungry began to hold large-scale demonstrations across the US
  29. The largest was organized by the American ______Party in Washington DC; protesters chanting “Feed the hungry, tax the rich” were blocked from marching by the police
  30. Desperate Farmers
  31. Meanwhile, desperate farmers began to ______their crops and produce in an effort to increase prices
  32. Some even resorted to burning their crops for heat in their home
  33. Anger continued to grow as more and more farmers had their land ______on by banks
  34. Breadlines & Soup Kitchens
  35. As unemployment approached ______, many people began to rely heavily on soup kitchens and breadlines run by churches, charitable organizations, & some city governments in order to survive
  36. ______
  37. In large cities, as people could no longer afford to pay rent, they were forced into homelessness
  38. Many began to live in homemade shacks that they built in any open space available – whole villages of such shacks began to appear, mockingly referred to as “Hoovervilles”
  39. ______
  40. Hundreds of thousands of homeless, jobless men began to live a nomadic lifestyle, moving from place to place usually by illegally hiding on freight trains
  41. Often lived in temporary Hoovervilles called “______” along the railroad tracks
  42. The ______
  43. In 1924, Congress had promised to pay every WWI veteran a $1000 bonus in 1945
  44. May 1932 – over 15,000 vets arrived in DC to lobby Congress to move the bonuses up – Congress voted against the idea
  45. After the vote, much of the Bonus Army remained in Washington, living in Hoovervilles and vacant buildings
  46. Pres. Hoover ordered them dispersed; after the DC police failed, Hoover sent in US Army, who used tear gas and bayonets to clear the Bonus Army out
  47. Incident was highly publicized and badly damaged Hoover’s already poor reputation
  48. The Election of 1932
  49. Republicans nominated Hoover, while Democrats ran NY Gov. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  50. Hoover continued his mantra that recovery was just around the corner, while Roosevelt pledged himself to a “______” for the American people
  51. Roosevelt won easily
  52. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 – 1945)
  53. 32nd President (1933-45)
  54. President throughout most of the ______and ______; elected President 4 times (1932, 1936, 1940, & 1944)
  55. Roosevelt had been paralyzed from the waist down from polio since 1921, making him our only physically disabled president, however, he carefully controlled his public appearances so that the public wasn’t constantly reminded of his disability