This is a PowerPoint presentation on the Great Depression which I use to teach the subject to my classes. This will help show you I am quite adept on using the program and conducting research to create visually appealing presentations.

1. The Great Depression
1929-1941

2. Introduction
• Began on October 29,
1929.
• What is remarkable
about crisis is not that
it occurred; but that it
was so severe and
lasted so long.

3. How did this happen?
• Farmers were deeply in debt, their land mortgaged, crop
prices were too low to allow pay off of what they owed.
• Farm economy continued through 1930’s to produce far
more food than Americans can afford to buy.
• Late in 1920’s, European demand for US goods
declined. European industry and agriculture becoming
more productive and some European countries were
having financial difficulties of their own and could not
afford to buy goods overseas.
• Farm income declined 60%, many farmers lost their
land.

4. Bank System Collapse
• Small banks tied to agricultural
economy had customers
(farmers) default on their
loans; many small banks
failed.
• Big banks invested recklessly
in stocks, made unwise loans.
When stock market crashed,
many banks suffered losses
greater than they could absorb.
• Over 9,000 banks went
bankrupt or closed their doors.
• Depositors lost $2.5 billion in
deposits.

5. Dust Bowl
• Great Plains of South and
West had worst drought in
history.
• The “Dust Bowl” stretched
north from Texas into the
Dakotas.
• Drought turned fertile farm
regions into deserts.
• Swarms of grasshoppers
moved from region to region
devouring what meager crops
farmers were able to raise.
• Many left their homes to
search for work. Hundreds of
thousands of families from
Dust Bowl traveled to
California and other states.

7. No Hope in Sight
• Relief collapsed – private
charities tried to help, but
problems were far
beyond their capabilities.
• Unemployed workers
walked through streets
day after day looking for
jobs that did not exist.
• Thousands of people
sifted through garbage
cans for scraps of food or
waited outside restaurant
kitchens in hopes of
receiving plate scrapings.

8. The Peak
• By 1932, 25% (1 out of 4) of Americans were
unemployed.

9. President Roosevelt
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(FDR) was a distant cousin of
Theodore Roosevelt.
• In 1921, FDR contracted polio
from a vacation at his family’s
summer home in Campobello
Island in Canada.
• He recovered, but was
paralyzed from the waist down.
• In 1928, FDR became the
governor of New York.
• FDR became the 32nd
President in 1932.

10. President of Action
• FDR was the first president who used
radios
• He created the “Fire Side” chats where
he told people on how to help the
country.
• Two days after taking office, FDR closed
all banks for four days until Congress
could consider a banking-reform
legislation.
• Congress passed the Emergency
Banking Act which protected the larger
banks from being dragged down by the
weakness of smaller ones.
• Bill provided for Treasury Department to
inspect all banks before they would be
allowed to reopen and federal assistance
to some troubled institutions.
• Most banks in Federal Reserve system
reopened within the next three days.
Banking crisis was over.

11. The New Deal
• FDR created the New Deal, which
were numerous acts and programs
to try to take America out of the
depression.
• P.W.A. (Public Works
Administration) was created to hire
people to do public work, such as
construction.
• C.C.C. (Civilian Conservative Corps)
created to get young men to do
conservation work, such as plant
trees, clean lakes, etc.
• W.P.A. (Works Progress
Administration) responsible for
building and renovating 110,000
public buildings, 600 airports,
500,000 miles of road, and 100,000
bridges.
• In 1935, Social Security Act was
passed.

12. No End in Sight
• One thing the New Deal had not done was end
the Great Depression, it just stopped it from
getting worse after 1933.
• By the end of 1939, 15% of the population still
remained unemployed.

13. Depression Life: Comic Books
• Modern comics began on the “funny pages”
of American newspapers in the 1890s.
• In 1930s, some artists and businessmen
began to see new possibilities.
• Detective Comics (DC) began in 1937 and
designed new comic magazines called
Action Comics.
• In 1938, what character made his debut on
the first issue of Action Comics?
• Superman comics were selling over 1.2
million comics each issue to both boys and
girls.
• By early 1940s, Superman had been joined
by Batman, the Flash, and Wonder Woman.
• In 1939, a second great comic book
publisher appeared – Marvel Comics, with
one of their earliest heroes being Captain
America.

14. Depression Life: Movies
• Movies were less expensive entertainment option that many other possibilities.
• Many films explored social questions, such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington (1939), but most were adventure, fantasy, and comedies,
such as King Kong (1933) and The Wizard of Oz (1939).
• The 1930s saw the beginning of Walt Disney’s long reign as the champion of
animation and children’s entertainment.
• Mickey Mouse made his debut in 1928.
• Disney began producing feature-length animated films, the first being Snow White
(1937).

15. Depression Life: Radio
• Almost every American family had a radio in the 1930s.
• Radio drew parents and children together to listen to
favorite programs.
• Staple of broadcasting was escapism: comedies,
adventures, soap operas, and other entertainment
programs. One of the most popular to children was the
Superman radio show.
• Soap Operas were popular to women. The reason they
are known as “soap operas” is because soap companies
at the time – whose advertising was targeted at women –
generally sponsored them.