Background .... The Great Depression

1. What was the Great Depression?
An economic crisis, worldwide economic depression and mass unemployment

2. When did it occur? How long did it last?
1929 About 10 years

3. What is considered to be the starting point?
Black Thursday, 10-24-29

4. Explain the top five causes of the Great Depression.
• Stock Market Crash
a steep fall in stock prices, due to financial panic.
• Bank Failures (Website?
banks failed because the panic caused people to withdraw their money from banks
• Reduction in Purchasing
people panicked and stopped buying things, this caused unemployment which meant people couldn't buy
• American Economic Policies with Europe
taxes on imports meant that trade with the US slowed.

• Drought Conditions
Drought in the Mississippi Valley in 1930, farmers couldn't pay bills and lost theirs farms etc.
5. Who was the president at the beginning of the Great Depression?
Herbert Hoover

6. What was the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act? Why did it cause more problems?
It put taxes on imports, trade stopped

7. Explain three programs of The New Deal introduced by president Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Agricultural Adjustment Act AAA 1933 Protected farmers from price drops by providing crop subsidies to reduce production, educational programs to teach methods of preventing soil erosion
.
Civil Works Administration CWA 1933 Provided public works jobs at $15/week to four million workers in 1934.

Civilian Conservation Corps CCC 1933 Sent 250,000 young men to work camps to perform reforestation and conservation tasks. Removed surplus of workers from cities, provided healthy conditions for boys, provided money for families.

Federal Emergency Relief Act FERA 1933 Distributed millions of dollars of direct aid to unemployed workers.

Glass-Steagall Act FDIC 1933 Created federally insured bank deposits ($2500 per investor at first) to prevent bank failures.

National Industrial Recovery Act NIRA 1933 Created NRA to enforce codes of fair competition, minimum wages, and to permit collective bargaining of workers.

National Youth Administration NYA 1935 Provided part-time employment to more than two million college and high school students.

Public Works Administration PWA 1933 Received $3.3 billion appropriation from Congress for public works projects.

Rural Electrification Administration REA 1935 Encouraged farmers to join cooperatives to bring electricity to farms. Despite its efforts, by 1940 only 40% of American farms were electrified.

Securities and Exchange Commission SEC 1934 Regulated stock market and restricted margin buying.

Social Security Act
1935 Response to critics (Dr. Townsend and Huey Long), it provided pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to blind, deaf, disabled, and dependent children.

Tennessee Valley Authority TVA 1933 Federal government build series of dams to prevent flooding and sell electricity. First public competition with private power industries

Wagner Act NLRB 1935 Allowed workers to join unions and outlawed union-busting tactics by management.

Works Progress Administration WPA 1935 Employed 8.5 million workers in construction and other jobs, but more importantly provided work in arts, theater, and literary projects.

8. What happened that ended the Great Depression?
World War II