Exam tip
Try to group reasons together and, where possible, show how one event led to another. If you can show this technique in your exam it will get you higher marks.
Outcomes of the Crash
The Wall Street Crash brought the Roaring Twenties to an end and led to a Depression in America. What effect did this have on American society?
Here are some examples of how times changed after the Wall Street Crash.
- President Hoover and the belief in prosperity
- The growth of shanty towns
- Food shortages
- Farming
- Franklin Roosevelt - a new President
Read on to find out the reasons for these changes and what their effects were on society.
President Hoover and the belief in prosperity
Herbert Hoover became President in 1928. When the Wall Street Crash happened he tried to reassure Americans that it was just temporary and that 'prosperity is just around the corner'. Although things showed no signs of improving, he was reluctant to help those affected by the Depression.
Unemployment rose, homelessness increased, and soup kitchens and bread queues became a familiar sight in American cities, but still Hoover did very little to help. He believed in 'rugged individualism' (people should look after themselves and stand on their own two feet). He appealed to businesses and charities to do what they could to help. By the time his government began to take action in 1932 it was too late. Hoover had lost the trust of the people. 'In Hoover we trusted, now we are busted,' became a popular saying.
The growth of shanty towns
Hoovervilles were the names given to the areas where homeless people lived in shacks that they had built out of wood, boxes and any other materials that they had managed to find on dumps. Due to unemployment or the loss of life savings, these people could no longer afford to pay their mortgages or rent. They had lost their homes and now had nowhere to live. The fact that these areas were called Hoovervilles shows what the people thought of President Hoover. They even called the newspapers that they covered themselves to sleep with 'Hoover blankets'.
Food shortages
Many unemployed people could not afford the basics and spent hours queuing for free soup or bread, handed out by charities or businesses. Unemployed workers in America received no help from the government. They had to resort to charity, begging and even theft to feed themselves and their families. People were hungry and many felt worthless and ashamed.
Farming
Farmers, who had already missed out on the boom of the 1920s, were also affected by the Depression. Low agricultural prices meant that in some places farmers could not afford to harvest or market their crops, which were left in the fields to rot. With unemployment rising throughout America, people could no longer afford to buy the farmers' produce, even at low prices. In some areas, for example Oklahoma, terrible soil erosion meant that farmers could not even attempt to grow any crops. Many of these, having lost their homes and farms, left with their families to search for work elsewhere.
Franklin Roosevelt – a new President On 9 November 1932, Americans voted in the presidential election. The Democrat Franklin Roosevelt stood against Hoover. The voters did not believe that Hoover had taken the Depression seriously enough or done enough to help them. Roosevelt was elected by one of the largest majorities in American history.
The Wall Street Crash led to the Depression because it increased the numbers of people out of work. The Crash happened as a result of overproduction. Businesses were making more goods than were needed. People had either bought them already or could not afford to buy them, yet goods were still being produced. They could not be sold in the markets abroad as many foreign countries had put high tariffs on American goods in retaliation for the tariffs that America had imposed on goods entering the USA. Even before the Crash happened, companies were already beginning to cut wages or make some workers unemployed because of these problems.
All of this was made worse when the Wall Street Crash happened in October 1929. Companies went out of business as their share prices tumbled or banks called in their loans. As more businesses collapsed, more and more people became unemployed. They now had no money and therefore were unable to buy any of the goods that were still being produced. This of course led to the closure of more factories and more workers becoming unemployed. Businesses and unemployed workers could not afford to repay their loans and so banks went out of business, causing more hardship as people lost their savings.
All of these problems were made worse by Hoover's policy of 'rugged individualism' that is, leaving people to stand on their own two feet and not offering government help. Hoover also believed that the Depression would not last long but, as this essay shows, America was now in a cycle of depression that was going to be very difficult to get out of.
Roosevelt's reforms
Roosevelt took some immediate action to try to boost peoples' confidence.
- He closed all the banks for four days to allow things to calm down.
- He began to give 'fireside chats' every week. These were radio broadcasts explaining to people what he was doing.
- He said that all letters to the President must be answered.
- He set up a series of organisations that were designed to help America get over the Depression. These became known as the Alphabet Agencies.
The Alphabet Agencies
Here is a list of those five agencies and what their aims were to help America get over the Depression.
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CCC - The Civilian Conservation Corps gave work to 4,000, 000 young Americans in the countryside; clearing forests, replanting trees, mending fences etc.
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PWA - The Public Works Administration began to build public buildings all over the country, schools, hospitals etc.
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AAA - The Agricultural Adjustment Act tried to help farmers by encouraging them to switch to new crops.
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TVA - The Tennessee Valley Authority built a whole series of dams to control the flood waters of the Tennessee River. This meant that the land could be farmed and it also provided electricity.
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NRA - The National Recovery Administration persuaded employers to allow trade unions to represent workers and to give them higher wages and better conditions.
Roosevelt's successes
The success of Roosevelt's actions can be measured from the following outcomes.
- Roosevelt was elected President for a second term in 1936.
- Americans began to regain confidence in the system, for example they started to put their savings into banks again.
- By 1940 unemployment in America had fallen by about 40% since 1933.
- Most people trusted him and believed that he was doing his best to tackle the problems America faced.
- In 1937 Roosevelt tried to cut spending and unemployment went up again.
Roosevelt's failures
The limitations of Roosevelt's actions can be measured from the following outcomes.
- Some people criticised Roosevelt for not providing enough help for the poor.
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Many Alphabet Agencies only provided short-term relief for the unemployed. For example, the CCC provided work for six to nine months only.
- The Depression did not really end until World War II broke out.
- The rich resented having to pay higher taxes to help the poor, and many of them switched away from supporting the Democratic Party as a result of Roosevelt's policies.
- Roosevelt was accused of weakening the power of Congress by trying to bulldoze measures through as if he were a dictator.
Exam tips
- When using the Alphabet Agencies as examples of Roosevelt's policies, you need to show that you know what the letters mean and explain what the agencies did.
- If you are asked to explain how successful something was, you need to write about the successes and failures as well as giving your own overall conclusion.
Civil rights
Martin Luther King wanted the civil rights protest to be non-violent. He believed that peaceful protests, with no threats and no bullying, such as the boycott of buses, would help the blacks achieve equality. Even if violence was used towards them King did not believe that civil rights campaigners should respond. He had seen the success of this method of peaceful protest in India where Gandhi had used it to campaign for independence. He made this speech during the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, which was when King emerged as leader of the civil rights movement.
