Life in the Great Depression

By 1933 about a quarter of workers were unemployed; thousands of banks failed; drought and dust storms drove families from the Plains (the Dust Bowl); Hoover's Reconstruction Finance Corporation lent to banks and businesses, and the Bonus Army was driven from Washington (1932).

The Crash was followed by three years of decline. Factories closed, farms were lost, and banks failed, taking families' savings with them. There was no federal deposit insurance and, for most workers, no unemployment insurance.

Key idea

By 1933 about a quarter of workers were unemployed; thousands of banks failed; drought and dust storms drove families from the Plains (the Dust Bowl). Herbert Hoover's Reconstruction Finance Corporation (1932) lent to banks and businesses, and the Bonus Army was driven from Washington (1932).

Why it works

Life changed for almost everyone. Families doubled up in apartments, delayed marriage and children, and stood in bread lines. Shantytowns of the homeless were called Hoovervilles. On the southern Plains, years of plowing up grasslands followed by drought let the wind strip the soil; on "Black Sunday," April 14, 1935, a vast dust storm turned day into night. Hundreds of thousands of people, many from Oklahoma, moved west to California looking for work. Between about 400,000 and a million people of Mexican descent, many of them U.S. citizens, left or were pushed out of the country in "repatriation" drives.

Hoover believed direct federal relief would weaken self-reliance ("rugged individualism").
Hoover did	Hoover would not
Asked business leaders to keep wages up (1929)	Give federal money directly to the unemployed
Expanded public works, including the dam later named for him	Run a large budget deficit for long
Created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (January 1932) to lend to banks, railroads and businesses	Accept that charity and local government could not meet the need
Signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930), now widely blamed for shrinking trade

In the summer of 1932, thousands of World War I veterans and their families, the Bonus Army, camped in Washington to ask for early payment of a bonus promised for 1945. Congress refused. On July 28, after a clash with police, Army troops under General Douglas MacArthur drove the veterans out and burned their camp. The scene hurt Hoover badly in the election that fall.

Work it through

Worked example: Judging a record fairly

A student writes, "Hoover did nothing about the Depression." Correct the claim using evidence.

Hoover did more than earlier presidents in downturns: public works and the RFC (1932).
But he opposed direct federal relief to individuals and hoped confidence and voluntary action would bring recovery.
So the fair claim: he acted, but within limits, and the slump deepened.

Answer: Hoover acted (public works, the RFC) but refused direct federal relief.

Common mistake

Many students think Hoover did nothing. He did more than earlier presidents in downturns (public works, the RFC) but opposed direct federal relief to individuals. Another slip: the Dust Bowl was not caused by the Crash. It came from drought and farming practices on the southern Plains.

Life in the Great Depression

Work it through

Practice

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Sources and further reading