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Unit 3 SS5H3

The Great Depression and The New Deal

In this unit, students will understand the cause of the Great Depression and its impact on American life. Students will learn how Americans and Franklin Roosevelt responded to the effects of the Great Depression with the creation of New Deal programs. They will also learn about the cultural changes made by Duke Ellington, Margaret Mitchell, and Jesse Owens during this time period.

SS5H3 Explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.

Quizlet Vocabulary Practice

a. Discuss the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, the Dust Bowl, and soup kitchens.

I can identify Herbert Hoover. (Knowledge)
I can identify Franklin Roosevelt. (Knowledge)
I can discuss the events and factors that led to the Stock Market Crash of 1929. (Knowledge)
I can discuss how the Stock Market Crash of 1929 contributed to the Great Depression. (Reasoning)
I can define Dust Bowl and discuss how it affected the lives of Americans during the Great Depression. (Knowledge)
I can identify soup kitchens and can discuss the role they played during the Great Depression. (Knowledge)
I can explain how the Great Depression affected the lives of millions of Americans. (Knowledge)

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), America’s 31st president, took office in 1929, the year the U.S. economy plummeted into the Great Depression. Although his predecessors’ policies undoubtedly contributed to the crisis, which lasted over a decade, Hoover bore much of the blame in the minds of the American people.

Herbert Hoover with president elect Franklin D. Roosevelt as they leave the White House on the way to the inauguration ceremonies.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

FDR became President in 1932, he introduced the New Deal and deficit spending. The New Deal, a series of programs and legislation that was initiated by President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR), was developed to provide economic assistance to struggling Americans and to bring an end to the Great Depression. Beginning with Roosevelt’s inauguration in 1933, the programs revolved around three concepts. The three concepts were relief for those suffering from poverty, recovery to help the nation get back on its feet economically, and reform to prevent a similar economic situation in the future.

Stock Market Crash of 1929, The start of the Great Depression

Timeline

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 ended a decade of growth in the Stock Market that occurred during the Roaring Twenties. The “crash” occurred on October 29, 1929, when 16 million shares were traded in a single day causing thousands to lose their investments and billions of dollars in loss. This period known as the Great Depression was a period of high unemployment and a lack of confidence in financial institutions. During this time, many Americans faced unemployment and lacked the financial means to support themselves. Soup kitchens served hot meals to the unemployed and homeless.

During the Great Depression preceding the passage of the Social Security Act, "soup kitchens" provided the only free meals some, poor unemployed Americans had. This particular soup kitchen was sponsored by the Chicago gangster Al Capone.

Hoovervilles

Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl forced many Midwest farmers to leave their farms and move to other parts of the country in hopes of starting over. The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken southern plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a drought in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region. The windstorms and drought of the Dust Bowl ruined crops, making farming nearly impossible. Farms had little to sell which caused economic hardship/ bankruptcy for many farms. As a result of the Dust Bowl, farmers often lost their jobs and homes and many reacted by moving west, often to California, in search of better opportunities. The Dust Bowl intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression and drove many farming families on a desperate migration in search of work and better living conditions.

During the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted about a decade, shantytowns appeared across America as unemployed people were evicted from their homes. As the Depression worsened in the 1930s many looked to the federal government for assistance. When the government failed to provide relief, President Herbert Hoover was blamed for the intolerable economic and social conditions, so the shantytowns that cropped up became known as Hoovervilles.

"Hooverville" was a deliberately politicized label, emphasizing that President Herbert Hoover and the Republican Party were to be held responsible for the economic crisis and its miseries

b. Analyze the main features of the New Deal; include the significance of the Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Progress Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

I can define the New Deal and describe its main features. (Knowledge)
I can define the Civilian Conservation Corps and explain its significance to the New Deal. (Reasoning)
I can define the Works Progress Administration and explain its significance to the New Deal. (Reasoning)
I can define the Tennessee Valley Authority and explain its significance to the New Deal. (Reasoning)
I can analyze the main features of the New Deal and explain how the New Deal affected lives of millions of Americans. (Reasoning)

The Great Depression and the New Deal

The programs focused on what historians refer to as the "3 R's": relief for the unemployed and for the poor, recovery of the economy back to normal levels, and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.

The New Deal

Was a set of government programs that was introduced by FDR, it was a way of trying new things to deal with the Depression and required deficit spending. Some U.S. Citizens opposed the New Deal, because they thought the government was spending too much money.

The Great Depression

The Great Depression brought about large social change from a time of high unemployment and poverty. One of the largest movements in response to the Great Depression was the United States Government’s “New Deal,” enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939. The New Deal brought about many large Federal Agencies such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, CCC, the Works Progress Administration, the Public Works Administration and the National Youth Administration.

More Power, please!

In showing Roosevelt as Oliver Twist the author shows that the president was dependent on Congress to pass the New Deal legislation. However, the size of the president compared to Congress, the bowl labeled “power,” and the demand for more, shows that the author believed that Roosevelt was using the New Deal “reorganization program” to enlarge the power of the executive branch at the expense of the legislative branch.

Civilian Conservation Corps

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a New Deal Program which provided employment for young, unmarried men who worked in the national parks. Established in 1933 to employ young men, the CCC worked to preserve natural resources and areas, with the goal of conservation for future generations. The CCC dug canals, restored historic battlefields, built wildlife shelters, and established more than 800 parks. The CCC employed nearly 3 million young men.

Works Progress Administration

The Works Progress Administration

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was part of a second group of New Deal programs, sometimes called the Second New Deal. It provided jobs for unskilled workers who built government buildings, roads, and other public projects. It also provided money for the arts. Established in 1935, the largest of the New Deal programs affected the lives of millions of Americans. It provided jobs for over 8.5 million unemployed people, and simultaneously allowed for the development of the American infrastructure, especially public buildings and roads. The WPA also supported the work of artists, academics, and others in such activities as recording American history, creating public art, and sponsoring public musical performances.

As the Great Depression of the 1930s deepened, Americans increasingly supported the idea of government ownership of utilities, particularly hydroelectric power plants. Established in 1933 to rejuvenate the Tennessee River Valley, the TVA supported farmers in investigating modern farming practices, and created a network of dams and power plants that supplied electricity to a large region that had never seen it before. The TVA helped bring relief from the Great Depression by creating dams and suppling electricity to large regions and helping to reduce land associated problems by supporting farmers in using better farming methods. Still in existence today, the TVA continues to work to provide power to the region while managing its natural resources.

Three Purposes:

to manufacture fertilizer for farmers in Tennessee
to promote economic development in Tennessee
to generate low-cost electricity for Tennessee

Tennessee Valley Authority created, May 18, 1933

c. Discuss important cultural elements of the 1930s; include Duke Ellington, Margaret Mitchell, and Jesse Owens.

I can identify Duke Ellington and discuss the cultural contributions of Duke Ellington during the 1930s. (Knowledge)
I can identify Margaret Mitchell and can explain the cultural contributions of Margaret Mitchell during the 1930s. (Knowledge)
I can identify Jesse Owens and explain the cultural contributions of Jesse Owens during the 1930's. (Knowledge)

Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington, was a talented musician who increased the popularity of jazz and big band music, in the 1930’s and 1940’s he assembled one of the most talented jazz orchestras in history, recorded many jazz classics and appeared in movies. He was considered one of America’s most prolific composers, created many notable pieces of music in a variety of genres, including blues, jazz, and swing. He traveled the country with his orchestra, and his music entered the homes of many Americans due to the popularity of radio.

Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens was an African American or Black who was a successful track and field athlete at Ohio State University and held several world records. He, along with several other AfricanAmerican or Black athletes, was selected for the United States Olympic team. At the Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Owens’ earned four gold medals. This contradicted Hitler’s Nazi Party, which believed in the myth of German racial superiority. Owens’ success as an African-American or Black earned him hero status when he returned to the United States, but even though he returned to the United States a hero, he still faced racial discrimination. Jesse Owens’s success at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany was important because It proved that Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party’s racist ideas were wrong.

Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell, was an important author of the 1930’s, winning the 1937 Pulitzer Prize when she wrote Gone with the Wind, a best-selling novel whose setting was near Jonesboro, Georgia. Later, it became one of the most famous movies of all time. She was a newspaper reporter and author in Atlanta, created her famous 1936 work, Gone with the Wind. Her book sold a million copies in six months during the height of the Great Depression. Mitchell’s story described the story of a Georgia plantation family before, during, and after the Civil War.

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