The Great Depression and New Deal 1929 1939 Rural Protest o Looked at cities as cities of evil crime atheism commies saloons o 1920 Sacco and Vanzet Foreign born viewed with hostility Arrested for murder and payroll robbery Convicted for ideals and differences not evidence Those anarchist bastards Judge Both died in electric chair August 1927 Fate of these men shows intolerance of differences o 18th amendment Congress adopted prohibition of sale and consumption of alcohol 1920 Volstead Act banned beverages that contained 5 alcohol Anti Saloon League Rural against saloons and totalitarian people Did reduce drinking alcohol dropped in rural and working classes Became too expensive Wealthy drinking became fashionable act of civil disobedience Repealed 1933 o The Ku Klux Klan Rebirth in Georgia Thanksgiving 1915 by Colonel Simmons Started as fraternal group became hate group Only native whites allowed Grows slowly in WW1 and Mushroomed after Sought men worried about changing society Targeted blacks aliens Italians and Russians and Jews and Catholics Punish blacks immigrants and women who don t know their place Beat flog or murder those who threaten self image Klan enters politics remarkable strength in Texas Offers peace for whites from changing environment 1920 s membership near 5 million Drops even faster violent activities offend nation s conscience Grand Dragon Stephenson tortured raped and murdered school teacher Madge Oberholtzer He received life sentence o Nativism All American superiority and fear of those different Most successful outlet in immigration legislations 1917 literacy test reduces number of immigrants War also slowed down immigration 1900 14 1 mil year 1918 110k year After Armistice Congress concerned about immigration increase 1921 Emergency Immigration Act o Reduce immigration from Europe to 3 nationals in US in 1910 1924 National Origins Quota Act o Limit immigration from Europe to 150k year o Allocates most slots to Britain Ireland Germany Scandanavia o Ban entirely all Asian immigrants New legislation did not stop Mexican labor working farms shit whites wont o Fundamentalist Challenge The Scopes Trial Christians refused to teach evolution in public schools William Jennings Bryan on crusade against Evolution Chief witness against John Scopes he taught evolution and it was illegal in Tennessee Clarence Darrow compose articulate defending Scopes Scopes found guilty despite Darrow s eloquence and had small fine Fragmenting Christian America Middle Upper class went into genteel Christianity that combines evolution and Christianity support good works Renaissance in the Cities Rev Norris builds 4k seat sanctuary in Fort Worth Texas Fundamentalism strong it city and countryside Politics of the 1920 s o Presidents Harding Cooligdge and Hoover Normalcy 1920 Warren G Harding becomes president Sabotaged by corrupt officials Teapot Dome scandal Oil Co gives bribes to secretary of interior Fall Fall helped secure Teapot Dome in Wyoming along with other leases 1923 Coolidge becomes president after Harding s Heart Attack Famous for Business of America is Business He was to preside benignly and not govern nation He is reelected in 1924 Coolidge known as Do Nothing President 1928 Herbert Hoover wins election Epitomizes American self made man orphan to famous engineer Idea of business and government as partners to help all Americans achieved greatest prosperity in 1920 s but economy was fragile The Great Depression o Review Consumer Revolution and the fragility of prosperity 1927 slight recession sales reduced and homes stopped being built Federal Reserve Board lowered discount rate to stimulate economy Most investment went to stock market not industry New speculation about stock market Investors ignored declining figures in production Believed could live off stock market Investors began speculating on credit 1929 Speculative Frenzy Everyone was invested it seemed 29 Oct 1929 Black Tuesday Prices faltered and investors began to sell Speculators panicked and prices fell more Banks lost heavy in the market forced to cut back lending Factories began cutng back production and laying off workers Many plants closed entirely Downward spiral continues for 4 years By 1932 unemployment rates at 25 Steel production reduced by 88 o Causes of the Great Depression Overproduction Factories produced more goods than American could buy Global Depression Agricultural Decline since end of WW1 Corporate mismanagement and excessive speculation Uneven distribution of wealth too much went into investors not workers o Depression No respecter of race or class Africans lost jobs and Mexicans deported in droves Working class survived better than most due to surviving in poverty Middle class hit hard loses homes Many became mobile looking for work Kept on move to avoid vagrancy created hobo jungles Appeared along major railway routes Migrants found place to eat sleep and visit Hoover Solutions Hoover believes in voluntary not government efforts to help people Relies on cooperation with leaders of industry Tells industry to keep high prices and wages business could not take high wage Calls on private charities and local governments to help those in need Resources quickly exhausted Has to make government measures after depression deepens 1929 Federal Farm Board Bought up surplus crops and loan money to assist farms 1932 Reconstruction Finance Corporation Loan money to banks and financial institutions to save from bankruptcy Public image suffers with the 1932 Bonus Army A group of 43k marchers including WW1 veterans Soldiers were given service certificates for serving in war o Redeem in 1945 for bonus money Marched for early cash pay for certificates Hoover sent Gen MacArthur to remove the veterans MacArthur s troops blinded veterans with tear gas and burning shacks Rush on the banks to withdraw money Causes bank failures to rise and national bank structure near collapse FDR s New Deal o Democrat FDR won 1932 election Agile mind likable good politician Took advantage of political opportunity of Depression Defeated Hoover in a landslide o Bank Closures Roosevelt won first New Deal victory by saving nations banks o o o o o o o o Closes banks for national bank holiday to present new banks to congress Allowed government to aid and supervise banks Strong ones would be reopened and weak closed Fireside Chats FDR would address nation by radio with conversational tones Earlier chats assured people government was