Great Depression Dbq

The Great Depression

October 29 1929… What does this date mean to us in the U.S.? It means a great deal-For that is the day that we started what we thought was the beginning of the end. It was the beginning of what many would call the Great Depression.

What caused the Great Depression?

The Great Depression was caused by the stock market crash. The stock market crash was an event that happened on October 29, 1929. The crash was caused by overproduction in the United States and high import tariffs in Europe.

What happened leading up to the the Stock Market Crash?

The boom in the stock market caused people to buy on margin. Buying on margin is when you make a small cash payment as little as 10% of purchase price. In fact before the crash,

nearly forty cents of every dollar loaned in America was used to buy stocks (Staff, Investopedia).
On March 25 and throughout the summer, the market endured brief panics; they were corrected by more vigorous trading.

(Pusey)

On Oct. 19, 1987, a day that became known as “Black Monday,” the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6 percent in value, its largest single-day percentage drop. The crash came after a two-week period in which the Dow dropped 15 percent. According to the Oct. 20 New York Times, “Business leaders were shaken by the collapse, which wiped out huge amounts of the market value of their companies. And they seemed to have been caught by surprise. But many leaders were confident the panic would

pass.”(IWB)
But then on October 28th 1929 everyone tried to sell. So much was traded so quickly that hundreds of extra runners had to be recruited from nearby telegraph offices (Pusey). Then On October 29 1929 everything crashed.
What effect did the Great Depression on the U.S.?
Banks Closed due to their own speculation in the market or taking risk by the betting the market would continue to rise. Money was becoming harder and harder to obtain. Businesses shuttered up and closed down. Unemployment spiked and was at its peak. People lost their homes. They also had to put their kids up for adoption becauses they know they could not take care of them and knew it would be the best chance for them.
What did Hoover do?
Hoover was the 31st President of the United States.

Hoover did not do a whole lot he thought the stock market would get better by itself. It just kept getting worse. Hoover would not spend money that the U.S. did not have aka Deficit spending. Meaning he wouldn’t put the United States in debt. Seeming as then we did not have a single penny in debt. He did not have very many public works projects. In fact Hoover had only one public works project the Hoover Dam which only employed 5000 men for 5 years. Hoover’s inability to help people in U.S. made him a very unpopular president.

And then when the Bonus Army or soldiers from WWⅠ showed up to collect their Bonuses the government had Promised them. Hoover would not give it to them their bonuses so they set up camp on the National Mall. Hoover got tired of them so he ordered Douglas MacArthur to clear out the Bonus army. MacArthur used the U.S. Army to clear them out.

The infantry and cavalry deployed through the camp, rousting out the inhabitants then setting fire to the shacks. Eugene King, seven years old, taxed a soldier’s patience when he stopped to rescue his pet rabbit; the trooper plunged his bayonet through the child’s leg. It was not an isolated incident—there would be more than one hundred casualties that night, including an infant whose body was found among the smoldering ruins the next morning. (Thomas

Craughwell)
The Bonus Army Fiasco would ruin Hoover’s chance of being reelected.
In 1933 President Roosevelt was elected 32nd president of the United States of America. Roosevelt would be different Roosevelt would pass Fifteen separate bills in his first 100 days.
The day after his inauguration, FDR declared a "bank holiday," closing all banks in the country to prevent a collapse of the banking system. With the banks closed, Roosevelt took measures to restore the public's confidence in the financial systems; when the banks reopened a week later, the panic was over. (Shmoop Editorial Team.)
Roosevelt set up programs for three reasons to help with Employment, for Public Works Programs, and for Agriculture, Industry, and Housing. The following programs were set up to help improve employment: CWA, the CCC, the FLSA, the NLRA, the PWA, the SSA, and the WPA. The following programs were Public Works Programs: the CWA, the CCC, the FERA, the PWA, and the TVA. Finally the following programs were set up for Agriculture, Industry, and Housing: the AAA, the EBRA, the FCA, the FSA, the FDIC, the HOLC, the NHA, the NRA, the SEC, and the NIRA. The AAA or the Agricultural Adjustment Act helped reduce agricultural and raised prices for struggling farmers. The CWA or the Civil Works Administration provided employment in construction of airports, parks, schools, and roads.The CCC or the Civil Conservation Corps, also known as the tree army, employed single men, ages 18-25,for natural resource conservation. The EBRA or the Emergency Banking Relief Act required federal examiners to issue licences to banks that are financially secure. The FLSA or the Fair Labors Standards Act protected workers, abolished child labor, and 40 hour work week. The FCA or the Farm Credit Administration Helped Farmers refinance their mortgages. The FSA or the Farm Security Administration gave loans to tenant farmers to purchase farms. The FDIC or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation guaranteed bank deposits. The FERA or the Federal Emergency Relief Administration sent money directly to states to fund public works projects. The HOLC or the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation bought and reconstructed the mortgages of many homeowners who were behind on payments. The NHA or the National Housing Act, subsidize loans for builders willing to buy blocks of slums and build low cost housing. The NLRA or the National Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing workers the right to organize unions. The NRA or the National Recovery Administration, urged consumers to buy only from companies with the NRA’s approval. The PWA or the Public Works Administration, is a series of construction projects meant to create jobs and improve public infrastructure. The SEC or the Securities and Exchange Commission, regulated the stock market to avoid dishonest practices in the stock market. The TVA or the Tennessee Valley Authority, was in charge of building hydroelectric power plants and dams in Southern states to provide power and protect the region from flooding which in result attracted industry to the South. The NIRA or the National Industrial Recovery Act, controlled industrial production and prices with industry created codes for fair compensation. The SSA or the Social Security Act, created a unemployment system, disability insurance, old age pensions, and child welfare benefits. The WPA or the Work Progress Administration, combated unemployment and created jobs throughout economy.(Underberg)
The stock market crash was beginning time for The U.S. And it would take a Devastating war to get out of it WWII where the U.S. payed to get shut down up and running and making war supplies and getting people to work and we also payed our soldiers.