The New Deal

In his inaugural address on March 4, 1933, he declared: "This nation asks for action and action now."  With the famous phrase, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," he promised to exercise "broad executive power to wage war against [the Depression]."  What followed was a dizzying array of initiatives.  Roosevelt immediately gathered a "Brain Trust" of economic advisers and instructed his staff to "take a method and try it.  If it fails, try another.  But above all try something."  

In his first hundred days in office, Roosevelt called Congress into emergency session and launched a record fifteen major pieces of legislation.  Between 1933 and 1938 the administration and Congress created dozens of federal programs collectively known as the New Deal, and often referred to as the "Alphabet Agencies."  

This brief video explains the New Deal Reforms. 

Comment on the Blog: Which agency do YOU think was a really good choice for FDR to create? 

Riding the Rails

   
During the Great Depression, children suffered a lot. They no longer had the joys and freedoms of childhood, and often shared their parents' burdens and issues on money. For Christmas and birthdays, very few children were able to have fancy toy. Some families made gifts themselves, but many others could not afford food at all. For most people, the only way to celebrate holidays with gifts, were to window-shop. Since children lacked food, they often suffered from malnutrition.


        Sometimes, children left home. They either did not want to burden their families,were tired of their boring and poor living, or just wanted an adventure. Some left with their families' blessings, but others escaped from the house overnight. Most of them traveled on boxcars, sections of trains, and helped each other. They shared routes, tips, and information. Children got on boxcars after trains started moving, so it was very possible for them to get injured if they missed their footing. In one case, a northern white boy, who had heard of segeration, but had not experienced it, helped on another, near midnight. They talked through the night of their exciting adventure, and when daybreak came, the boy realized his friend was African-American.

        If a person was caught riding a boxcar, he or she would be taken off it, and depending on state rule, possibly punished. Some states were cruel, sentencing community labor, and others were nicer, letting the person stay overnight with food supply. In between, were states that just escorted the person to  the state border, and telling them to never return again. Girls also were travelers. Some disguised themselves as boys, but some found advantages as being a girl. Some nice people would give girls the food and board they could offer that would not be given to boys.

        Children of the Great Depression suffered heavily physically, with diseases like malnutrition, but even more suffered mentally, knowing that in a split second, within the blink of an eye, their lives might just change.

Get comfortable, have a piece of paper with you so you can jot down some notes and watch this 15 minute video that tells the story of Riding the Rails. 
Write one paragraph summarizing what you learned from this video. 

Fireside Chat

What were the Fireside Chats? 

When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president he wanted a way to communicate his ideas directly to the American people. He did this through a number of radio speeches called fireside chats. He would address issues and explain what was going on in the country. He used these speeches to encourage the American people during times of trouble. 

Where did the name come from? 

From the name of these speeches you might at first think that President Roosevelt was sitting by a cozy fire telling stories, but he actually sat at his desk talking into a microphone. The name "fireside chats" came from a reporter named Harry Butcher. He first called the speeches fireside chats because 1) many Americans listened to the speeches in their living room near their fireplaces and 2) President Roosevelt talked in an informal manner as if he were chatting with a friend rather than giving a speech. 

What were the chats about? 

The chats were about the current issues of the day. When President Roosevelt first entered office the country was in an economic crisis called the Great Depression. He discussed issues such as his New Deal Program, drought conditions, and unemployment. Later, during World War II, he talked about the war and what the people of America could do to help. 

Were the chats popular? 

Yes, the fireside chats were very popular. The radio was one of the main sources of news and information of the day. The family would often gather around the radio and listen to different radio shows. The fireside chats were one of the most listened to radio events of the time. 

The First Fireside Chat 

The first fireside chat was held on March 12, 1933. This was just a few days after President Roosevelt started his first term in office. He talked about a banking crisis that was going on at the time. He explained how banks work and what was going wrong. He also explained what the government was doing to fix the problem. He then asked the American people not to panic. 

The Great Depression 

Many of the early fireside chats had to do with the economy and the Great Depression. The president talked about unemployment, the New Deal, the drought in the Midwest, the U.S. currency, and more. He tried to explain it to people so they would understand what was going on throughout the country and what the government was doing to try and make things better. 

World War II 

When World War II began, the fireside chats turned to the subject of war. On December 9, 1941, the president told the American people that the country was joining the Allies and going to war against Germany and Japan. Later, he would outline the progress of the war. He asked families to listen to the chats with a world map in the room so they could locate where American troops were fighting. He asked the American people to work hard to build planes, weapons, tanks, and ships to help win the war. 

Interesting Facts about the Fireside Chats:

Many of the talks began with the phrase "Good evening, friends."

President Roosevelt gave a total of 30 fireside chats.

Roosevelt compared World War II with the American Revolution.

Around 90 percent of American households owned a radio during Roosevelt's presidency.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" played at the end of each speech.

Listen to FDR's first Fireside Chat. It is 9 minutes long. You don't need to listen to the entire thing but try to stick it out for at least half of it. :) 

You will write your own Fireside Chat. Using the worksheet that you completed on a New Deal Agency complete the following writing assignment: 

Requirements/Rubric: Fireside Chat   -50 Points

1. A full explanation of the program.  –10 points

2. A description of “who” the program will benefit. –10 points

3. An appeal for the support of the American People. –10 points

4. Be persuasive in both your writing and speaking. –10 points

5. Speak clearly and convincingly. –10 points

The Dirty Thirties

“The Dirty Thirties” takes place within the context of the Great Depression. During the 1930s, winds stripped the soil from the dry drought-stricken fields of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. This area was called, “The Dust Bowl.” 

“Brown earth rained down from sky. I could not catch my breath the way the dust pressed on my chest and wouldn’t stop. The dirt blew down so thick it scratched my eyes and stung my tender skin; it plugged my nose and filled inside my mouth. No matter how I pressed my lips together, the dust made muddy tracks across my tongue.” 

World War I pumped new life into the United States economy as the war required the ramping up of agricultural production and manufacturing in the United States. Unemployment numbers fell greatly between 1920 and 1929. The U.S. replaced Russia as a global agricultural supplier and the prices for grain rose to an all-time high. 

Agricultural workers on the Great Plains, specifically in south eastern Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma, began taking out loans to buy more land and the latest farming equipment. 

Farmers, using tractors, could plant and harvest an acre in three hours instead of the three days it took by hand with manual labor, converting millions of acres of native grassland, previously used for grazing, into wheat fields to keep up with the rising demand. 

Following WWI, there was a steep decline in demand for goods. Industries struggled and the price of crops dropped by as much as 40%. To compensate for the price drop, farmers grew more crops—but instead of bringing in revenue, it further depressed the market, lowering the price of grain in 1929 from $3.00 to $0.40 per bushel. 

Farmers who had taken out loans faced foreclosure. In fact, from 1929-1932, four million farms were lost to foreclosure. When Black Tuesday hit on October 29, 1929, the United States experienced a financial collapse that ushered in the Great Depression.

 During the Great Depression, life in rural areas was not as difficult as urban areas because rural people could produce their own food. When the Great Plains drought struck in the 1930s, rural areas where people had plowed up the drought-resistant native grasses to grow grain were the next to suffer. The grain withered and died from lack of rain and the ground lay barren exposing 2-3 inches of nutrient rich topsoil to the elements. 

The depletion of vegetation meant that no roots were left to stabilize the soil and resulted in the Dust Bowl. The topsoil was carried by the wind in dust storms that were deemed black blizzards because the dust was so thick it would blot out the sun. 

The wind carried off an estimated total of 350 million tons of soil (enough top soil to fill enough dump trucks to circle the earth twice). When the worst black blizzard on record hit in 1934, towers of dust 10,000 feet high moved soil from Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma 1,500 miles east to the Atlantic Ocean. 

An estimated twelve million pounds of soil or “dust” hit Chicago (four pounds of soil per citizen) during this one storm. Some ships out at sea in the Atlantic Ocean were left with a quarter inch of dust on their decks. 

Topsoil was not the only thing leaving the Dust Bowl. Continual black blizzards contributed to the poverty of the people in the affected states and more than 2.5 million people fled the region—most taking Route 66 west. Nearly 10% of people fleeing the Dust Bowl relocated to California. 

Franklin D. Roosevelt, (FDR) was aware of farmers suffering (30% of the population at that time were farmers) and the country’s struggle. When he took office in 1933 FDR had already assembled  new policies that became known as the New Deal. New Deal programs included the AAA, CCC, PWA, and the SCS. The goal of these New Deal programs was to ensure that the country recovered economically as well as environmentally. 

The Soil Conservation Service (SCS) was specifically implemented to reduce soil erosion and promote soil conservation to prevent another Dust Bowl.

Watch the following videos:

Uncovering the Dust Bowl

Okies 

The Dust Bowl

Route 66

Comment on this blog.  List five things you learned either from the videos, the blog text, or a combination of both.  

Complete your worksheet on the Dust Bowl 
and bring it to class in January. :) 

The Dust Bowl

 By the 1910s, rising wheat prices, a war in Europe, and several years of unusually high rainfall created a land boom known as the “Great Plow-Up.” Millions of acres of thick native grassland were converted into wheat fields virtually overnight. People swept into the area like locusts, buying up land, building boom towns, hoping to hit it rich and achieve the American dream.

By 1931, the Southern Plains were on their way to a near decade-long natural disaster of Biblical proportions. The constant plowing of the land upset the delicate balance and exposed huge swaths of once native grassland to dry weather and high winds. At its peak, 100 million acres in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico were hit with dust storms that rose 10,000 feet into the air and 2.5 million desperate Americans left their homes in a massive exodus to start new lives.

Watch this brief video on the Dust Bowl. Travel through the Dust Bowl, choosing each step of the way. Complete your worksheet as you progress and be prepared to turn it in on Monday. 

Great Depression overview

• Herbert Hoover was president when the Great Depression began. He declared in March 1930, that the U.S. had “passed the worst” and argued that the economy would sort itself out. The worst, however, had just begun and would last until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
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• As news of the stock market crash spread, customers rushed to their banks to withdraw their money, causing disastrous “bank runs.” People who had been very wealthy lost everything they had and some committed suicide. Many companies went out of business and huge numbers of people lost their jobs. At the peak of the depression, 1 out of every 4 people were without a job. Between 1930 and 1935, nearly 750,000 farms were lost through bankruptcy or sheriff sales.
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• Some people who became homeless would ride on railroad cars, because they didn’t have money to travel. Some believe that more than 50,000 people were injured or killed while jumping trains. Many of these people traveled together and were called hobos.
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• Almost half of the children who were living in the United States at that time did not have enough food, shelter, or medical care. Many suffered diseases. By the 1930s, thousands of schools were operating on reduced hours or were closed down entirely. Some three million children had left school, and at least 200,000 took to riding the rails either with their parents or as orphans.
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• African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans and women were bitterly discriminated and the hardest hit during the Great Depression. They were looked at as the groups that could take jobs away from white men. The Great Depression also changed the family in several ways. Many couples delayed getting married, and divorce rates and birth rates dropped. Some men also abandoned their families. A 1940 poll revealed that 1.5 million married women had been abandoned by their husbands.
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• The board game Monopoly, which first became available in 1935, became popular because players could become rich during the playing of the game. The “Three Little Pigs“was seen as a symbol of the Great Depression, with the wolf representing the Depression and the three little pigs representing average citizens who eventually succeeded by working together.
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• Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) became president in March 1933, and promised a “New Deal for the American people.”

Watch this five minute video about The Great Depression.

 Read the following website, Great Depression: American Teenagers in Hard Times, and comment on the blog. Tell us what you found interesting, surprising, or shocking about the information you read on the website. 

Bonus Army

In 1924, a grateful Congress voted to give a bonus to World War I veterans - $1.25 for each day served overseas, $1.00 for each day served in the States. The catch was that payment would not be made until 1945. 

 However, by 1932 the nation had slipped into the dark days of the Depression and the unemployed veterans wanted their money immediately.

In May of that year, some 15,000 veterans, many unemployed and destitute, descended on Washington, D.C. to demand immediate payment of their bonus. They proclaimed themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force but the public dubbed them the "Bonus Army." Raising ramshackle camps at various places around the city, they waited.

The veterans made their largest camp at Anacostia Flats across the river from the Capitol. Approximately 10,000 veterans, women and children lived in the shelters built from materials dragged out of a junk pile nearby - old lumber, packing boxes and scrap tin covered with roofs of thatched straw.

Discipline in the camp was good, Streets were laid out, latrines dug, and formations held daily. Newcomers were required to register and prove they were real veterans who had been honorably discharged. 

June 17 was described by a local newspaper as "the tensest day in the capital since the war." The Senate was voting on the bill already passed by the House to immediately give the vets their bonus money. By dusk, 10,000 marchers crowded the Capitol grounds expectantly awaiting the outcome. Walter Waters, leader of the Bonus Expeditionary Force, appeared with bad news. The Senate had defeated the bill by a vote of 62 to 18. The crowd reacted with stunned silence. 

A month later, on July 28, Attorney General Mitchell ordered the evacuation of the veterans from all government property, Entrusted with the job, the Washington police met with resistance, shots were fired and two marchers killed. Learning of the shooting at lunch, President Hoover ordered the army to clear out the veterans. Infantry Troops prepare to evacuate the Bonus Army July 28, 1932 and cavalry supported by six tanks were dispatched with Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur in command. Major Dwight D. Eisenhower served as his liaison with Washington police and Major George Patton led the cavalry.

By 4:45 P.M. the troops were massed on Pennsylvania Ave. below the Capitol. Thousands of Civil Service employees spilled out of work and lined the streets to watch. The veterans, assuming the military display was in their honor, cheered. Suddenly Patton's troopers turned and charged. "Shame, Shame" the spectators cried. Soldiers with fixed bayonets followed, hurling tear gas into the crowd.

By nightfall the BEF had retreated across the Anacostia River where Hoover ordered MacArthur to stop. Ignoring the command, the general led his infantry to the main camp. By early morning the 10,000 inhabitants were routed and the camp in flames. Two babies died and nearby hospitals overwhelmed with casualties. Eisenhower later wrote, "the whole scene was pitiful. The veterans were ragged, ill-fed, and felt themselves badly abused. To suddenly see the whole encampment going up in flames just added to the pity.

credit: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief4.htm 

Watch this brief video about the Bonus Army.