The Great Depression

Front 1

CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION; 1920’s

Back 1

• tariffs eliminating foreign markets
o retaliatory tariffs: tariffs formed on US goods by other countries in response to tariffs we form on them
• crisis in farm sector: farmers overproducing goods
• easy credit available to customers
• unequal income distribution (wealthy people not investing money in raising wages)
o profits not invested in wages; inflation; rising prices
• stock market: buying on the margin

Front 2

BONUS ARMY; 1932

Back 2

• Patman Bill of 1924 declares that $500 be paid in 1945 to all WWI veterans
• These veterans (AKA the “Bonus Army”) demand the payment early because of the Depression
• 2,000 veterans stay in DC Hoovervilles demanding money
• Hoover orders attack led by McArthur and Eisenhower to clear them out; $ given out in 1945 as planned

Front 3

THE NEW DEAL; 1930’s

Back 3

• FDR’s plan to relief, recover, and reform the economy during the Great Depression
• Three R’s: Relief, (food/needs) recovery, (jobs) and reform (long-term improvement)
• Created series of “Alphabet Soup” agencies and passing legislature during what was called the “Hundred Days” (FDR’s first 100 days); all which gave the government more control, moving us farther from laissez-faire economics
o Examples: AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act) created to reduce surplus of crops, increasing their value and therefore giving farmers “stability”; Emergency Banking Relief Act—forced banks to close, only allowing the stable ones to stay open…which restored faith in the banking system

Front 4

COURT PACKING SCHEME; 1937

Back 4

• FDR fed up with the Supreme Court (resisting/dissing the AAA, etc)
• “ Proposes that for every SC judge over the age of 70 refusing to retire, FDR should appoint one or more
• Doesn’t pass, seems like a scheme to dilute judge’s power; backfires on FDR and some lose credibility with him
• Shows FDR’s struggle for power to improve the nation

Front 5

INTERPRETATIONS OF 1930’s ART

Back 5

• American Gothic by Grant Wood
o Shows a farmer and his daughter during the Depression; man holding pitchfork=hard labor; unhappy expressions
• Migrant Mother by Dorthea Lange
o Shows despair of Hoovervilles/Depression

Front 6

GOOD/BAD IMPACT OF THE NEW DEAL; 1930’s

Back 6

The Good
• avoided mass starvation
• American system/capitalism survives
• Avoided a revolution
The Bad
• Created welfare state (laziness)
• $ 40 billion deficit
• Moving towards communism
• Wasteful (jobs being done over and over)
• Too many Jews in agencies

Front 7

LEND-LEASE ACT; 1941

Back 7

• FDR says we need to help Brits or else we’ll lose our allies to the Nazis
• After trying to sell the British weapons (they have no money), we settle for lending them weapons in exchange for a 99 year lease on their naval bases
• THIS IS THE END OF THE US’ ECONOMIC NUETRALITY

Front 8

FACISM; 1920’s

Back 8

• Mussolini installs facist gov’t in Italy 1922
o Characteristics
 Centralized authority (dictator)
 Stringent economic controls
 Suppression of opposition through terror and censorship
 Nationalism and racism

Front 9

INTERNATIONAL GANGERSTERISM 1930’s

Back 9

• Germany rearms secretly while Hitler and Mussolini have loose alliance
• Italy invades Ethiopia
• Japan quits League of Nations and expands navy
• Stalin responsible for 8-13 million deaths

Front 10

NEUTRALITY ACTS 1935-37

Back 10

• Declares that if a war breaks out, there shall be no travel, sale of arms, or loans by the United States to a belligerent country
• Shows how much we fear involvement in another war

Front 11

SPANISH CIVIL WAR 1935-39

Back 11

• Franco (facist rebel) VS Loyalists
o Hitler and Mussolini support Franco; US neutral…surprise surprise!
 US neutral because we don’t support Loyalists, but we don’t want to side with the Soviets
• Franco wins; foreshadows WWII events

Front 12

RECIPRICOL TRADE AGREEMENT ACT; 1934

Back 12

• lowers tariffs; spurs free trade
• we open international trade again by knocking down tariff walls on both sides
• improves economy; reversal of imperialism

Front 13

NAZI AGGRESSION; LATE 1930’s

Back 13

• Hitler occupies Rhineland, violating Treaty of Versailles, knowing the League of Nations will do nothing
• 3rd 1,000 Year Reich supposed to last 1,000 years
• Annex Austria 1938
• Try Sudentanland, Czecs resist
o Nazis make up rumors that people are being mistreated there to get it
• Leads to Munich Conference

Front 14

MUNICH AGREEMENT

Back 14

• Between Brit and France in late 1930s
• Agree to let Hitler annex Sudetenland (promised it would be his last demand)
• Policy of appeasement (Neville Chamberlain) used with Germany
• PM of Brit Neville Chamberlain received as a hero, “We have achieved peace in our time”, Churchill skeptical
• Impt. b/c shows how tough the rest of Europe was on dictators

Front 15

BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Back 15

• Summer and Fall of 1940
• Luftwaffe vs. RAF, Nazis use nightly air raids on military targets, later London to try to pound the Brits into submission
• Citizens take to subways, blackout for safety
• Brits use spitfire, RADAR, to turn the tide
• Impt. b/c Hitler temporarily postpones the invasion, Britain saved