changing life in the USA, 1930-2000

What were the main influences on American life between 1930 and 1945?

the impact of the wall street crash

• rising unemployment- factories, banks and businesses collapsed; unemployment rose dramatically
• family life- no system of social security so many forced to rely on charity and handouts; sharp rise in suicides, fall in birth rate
• depression in the cities- could not pay rent and became homeless, forced to live in shanty towns called hoovervilles
• depression in the countryside- many farmers unable to sell produce and became bankrupt; many evicted and became hobos searching for work; a drought caused soil in Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Kansas to turn to dust; dust storms created a dust bowl

the response by President Hoover to the depression

• believed in balancing the budget and refused to borrow money to help create jobs
• believed in rugged individualism
• the bonus army of unemployed veterans marched on washington to demand the early payment of war bonuses due in 1945; set up a huge hooverville oustside the white house; hoover sent in troops to remove them and burn down the shanty down
• helped to create an image of a president who did not care
• reconstruction finance corporation- gave 2 billion dollars of federal aid to banks, insurance companies and railroads
• emergency relief act- gave 300 million dollars to state governments to help the unemployed
• home loan bank act- twelve regional banks set up to stimulate house building and house ownership

1932 presidential election

• repulican Herbert Hoover- deeply unpopular; republicans blamed for the depression; criticised for harsh treatment of bonus army; relief schemes too small and too late; seemed to offer nothing new
• democrat- Franklin D Roosevelt- democrats offered more caring image; had overcome personal hardship, suffered from polio, he was a fighter; kept his message simple, promised a New Deal

Roosevelt and the New Deal

• emergency banking act- americans had little confidence in the banks; many banks had gone bankrupt; government closed all banks for ten days; officially backed 5000 banks which helped restore confidence
• federal emergency relief administration- poverty and unemployment; provided 500 million dollars for emergency relief to help poor and homeless
• civilian conservation corps- unemployment among young people; provided 6 months of work for men aged between 18 and 25 in conservation projects
• public works administration- unemployment; spent 3,300 million dollars on public works projects for the unemployed
• agricultural adjustment administration- rural poverty, low crop prices; was intended to help farmers increase their profits; subsidies paid to farmers to destroy their crops and slaughter animals in an effort to push up prices
• national industrial recovery act- poor economic condition of the usa- led to the setting up of National Recovery Administration to encourage employers to improve conditions; introduced codes of practice for minimum wages, hours and conditions
• tennessee valley authority- agricultural overproduction; regular flooding in tennessee valley; public works programme set up to build 21 dams to irrigate the land and generate hydroelectric power; farmers given loans and training in soil conservation

second new deal

• works progress…