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Overview: The Great Depression
"This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive, and will prosp er ... "
Franklin D. Roosevelt
March 4, 1933
As Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke these simple and inspiring words , Americans from coast
to coast, weary from years of economic hardship, were willing to take the freshly minted
President at his word. He was offering them hope, which was all that many people had
left. The economic hardships brought on by the Great Depression had reached a pinnacle
by the spring of 1933. The banking system was near collapse, a quarter of the labor force
was unemployed, and prices and production were down by a third from their 1929 levels.
Just a few short years before, Herbert Hoover had proclaimed, "We in America today are
nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. " How
could things have gone so wrong, so fast?
Conventional wisdom places the beginning of the Great Depression on "Black Tuesday"
October 29, 1929, but the factors undermining the economic stability of American and
world markets had been in play for some time. One of those factors was a lack of
diversification in the American economy throughout the 1920's. American prosperity
had been built on a few core industries, most noteworthy automobiles and construction.
As the 1920 's progressed, market saturation began to take hold and automobile and
construction expenditures began to drop dramatically.
In addition to the declining demand for products, purchasing power began to skew
against those at the lower end of the economic ladder. As demand for products
decreased, so did wages - especially for farmers and factory workers. More and more
consumers found themselves unable to afford the goods and services the economy was
producing. This resulted in even less demand and sparked layoffs and factory shut
downs.
Yet another factor contributing to the economic woes of the nation was the dubious debt
structure of the economy. Farmers who traditionally lived on or near the edge of
economic prosperity, were being hit with the double whammy of declining crop prices
and a continuing drought that was literally turning their land to unusable dust. Crop
prices were too low to cover the fixed costs of machinery, taxes , mortgages and other
debts. By1933 , nearly 45 percent of farms were behind in their mortgage payments and
faced foreclosure. Many farmers in the southwest region of the country that had come to
be called the Dust Bowl simply abandoned their farms. These "Arkies" and "Oakies"
loaded up their families and whatever possessions they could carry and headed west.
A final factor came from beyond our borders. When World War I finally concluded, the
Allied nations of Europe owed American banks huge sums of money. With the European
economies in shambles, not even the victorious countries were able to make their
payments to American banking institutions. They had insisted on reparations from the
defeated nations in hopes of using those resources to repay their American creditors. The
defeated nations were even less able to muster the necessary funds. American banks
refused to forgive the debts , but they did allow European governments to take out
additional loans to pay down the original debts. This created a dangerous cycle of paying
debts by incurring still more debt. By the end of the 1920's , the American economy was
beginning to weaken due to the factors mentioned above. In an effort to protect
American manufacturing, protective tariffs were put in place making it more and more
difficult for European goods to enter the United States , and many soon defaulted on their
loans bringing about a world wide economic crisis.
Overview: The New Deal
Upon taking office , the new President began immediately to make good on his pledge to
get the country moving again. The pace of his first one hundred days in office, beginning
in March of 1933, was a whirlwind which produced and passed no less than fifteen major
pieces of legislation. Roosevelt sought to establish broad relief measures , major new
programs in industrial and agricultural planning, and banking reform. Though the scope
of the programs he proposed seemed to some to go in all directions, the threads that held
the New Deal together were Roosevelt's unbridled confidence in himself and the
American People, and his commitment to bring about three R 's - Relief, Recovery and
Reform.
Relief for the millions of Americans who suddenly found themselves without work,
without food, without shelter and without hope, was the President's first priority. He had
concluded that help for the down-trodden must come from beyond the traditional private
or local government sources. He believed that the federal government needed to take on
a larger role in providing for the well-being of the American people. Though today this
concept seems quite natural , the idea of such government involvement in the affairs of
business and industry was relatively new and untested in FOR's time. Critics from the
political right accused him of exerting too much government influence, while critics from
the left complained his programs were not ambitious enough. Roosevelt steered a steady
course and kept the American public informed about his plans and their progress through
a series of radio addresses that came to be called "fireside chats". These broadcasts were
centered on specific topics and issues, and were delivered in warm, folksy language that
made people feel they were partners in the efforts the President was putting forth.
The experiment of the New Deal yielded varied results. Some programs were nearly
universally applauded such as the CCC, TVA, or the FDIC. Others such as the NRA were
attacked in the media or overturned in the courts. Still others such as Social Security
have become so interwoven in our social and political fabric that it is difficult to imagine
a time when they did not exist. Regardless of the fate of the individual programs, the fact
remains that the New Deal forever changed the political, social, and economic landscape
of the United States. Historians and scholars continue to debate just how successful the
relief, recovery and reform efforts of the New Deal programs were and their lingering
impacts today.
Curriculum Guide
"This Great Nation Will Endure": Photographs of the Great Depression
Thumbnails: FSA Photographs
This curriculum guide contains a complete class set of FSA photographs. So that students may draw their own conclusions about the meaning and significance of the images , we have deliberately not identified the place , date , subj ect or photographer on the student copies. These thumbnails provide that information and can be shared with the students at the teacher's discretion.
Arthur Rothstein Furmers at auction, Zimmerman farm near Hastings, Nebraska. March 1940
Arth ur Rothstein Father and Sons Walking in the Face of a Dust Storm. April 1936
N':::::!Ii~I'1¥'~ ' " ..~ ~ "'. " ". ~. .,'.<~'F" )... ' • (^) Russell Lee
c: "'r 't '4 ~ • Tent home^ offamily living in a community camp, Oklahoma
-. .-Jo, (^) City, Oklahoma.
, ,( July 1939
1tC^ If:^ ~· • (^) ~ p^ e@ C: l
Russell Lee Christmas dinner in the home of Earl Pauley near Smithfield, Iowa. Dinner consisted ofpotatoes, cabbage and pie. December 1936
- •••••• • f1" an klin o() ~ Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum •••••• •• •• • • • •
The Pare Lorentz Film Center at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential library and Museum 25
4079 Albany Post Road Hyde Park, NY 12538 1-800-FDR-VISIT www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu
Curriculum Guide
"This Great Nation Will Endure": Photographs of the Great Depression
Dorothea Lange
Toward Los Angeles, California. March 1937
fl r ~ - -/! (^) Dorothea Lange Unemployment benefits aid begins .• Line of men inside a ,',^ .r division office of the State Employment Service office at San Francisco , California, waiting to register for benefits on one of the first days the office was open. III (^) January 1938
Dorothea Lange
Migrant Mother. February 1936
Russell Lee Labor contractor's crew picking peas, Nampa, idaho. June 1941
Dorothea Lange
~~ (^) Migrant workers' camp, outskirts of Marysville, California. The ~. ..-- -.-- : I ":,,' - .... -..•JI! new migratory camps being built by the Resettlement
. ~.:; ",: ~ ~J '::,"..J " ,1' Administration will remove people from unsatisfactory living ,.-~.- ,- (^) ' ... .-. - .. - (^) ..- ~ ~ ""'".." (^) , - (^) (&.. (^) ' conditions such as these and substitute at least the minimum of ..i...•.:..,'t (^) '" ~. ...•: • ....'.. ... c comfort and sanitation.
"-'-b i. .-. _
~
April 1935
- •• •• •• • frank!;n ()! Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum •••••••••••••• The Pare Lorentz Film Center at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum 27 4079 Albany Post Road Hyde Park, NY 12538 1-800-FpR-YISIT www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu
Curriculum Guide
"This Great Nation Will Endure": Photographs of the Great Depression
~ " 4Ii.^ "{ "". - ,.. (^) _A destitute family, Ozark Mountains area, Arkansas._ ~rJ~,! , __~ ~ (^) October 1935 , ~ **Ben Shahn** _Untitled [Pulaski County, Arkansas]._ October 1935 **Arthur Rothstein** _Picking beans, Belle Glade, Florida :_ January 1937 **Edwin Rosskam** _Sugar workers taking a drink of water on a plantation, Ponc e (vicinity), Puerto Rico._ January 1938 **Edwin Rosskam** _Funeral of a child, Ponce, Puerto Rico._ January 1938 - - •••••• **• franklin o[)! Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum ••••••••••** (^) • • • • ## The Pare Lorentz Film Center at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential library and Museum 28 4079 Albany Post Road Hyde Park, NY 12538 1-800-FDR-VISIT www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu **Curriculum Guide** _"This Great Nation Will Endure": Photographs of the Great Depression_ M a r iun Po st Wulcott _Children and old home 011 badly eroded land near Wades boro, North Carolina._ December 1938 Ben Shahn _Colton pickers. Pulaski Co unty. Arkansas._ October 1935 M a r ion Po st Wolcott _Children in the bedroom o ft heir home. Charleston. West Virginia, 77 1(:ir mother has tubercu losis._ September 1938 A rt h u r Rothst ein _flumes ofoys ter pack inghouse workers. Shellpile._ .\"(' \\' _Jersey._ October 193 Russell Lee _Unemp loy ed workers infront a/ a shack with Chris t mas free. East [2rlt Su'eel. New York, New York._ January 1938 Ben Shahn _Young boy who sa lvages coa[ j 1'01 11 the slag heaps, Nan ty Glo, Pennsy lvania._ 1937 "* *' * * Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum * * * '* The Pare Lorentz Film Center at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum **30** 4079 Albany Post Road Hyde Park, NY 12538 1 · 8 00· F 0 ~ ·V I S IT ww w.i drlibrary.marist.edu ## Related Documents ### President Roosevelt's 1933 Inaugural Address ### In August 1928, shortly before his election to the presidency, Herbert Hoover had ### proclaimed, "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever ### before in the history of any land." Yet by the end of his term nothing could have been ### farther from the truth. The Great Depression had reached a pinnacle by the spring of ### 1933. The banking system was ncar collapse, a quarter of the labor force was ### unemployed, and prices and production were down by a third from their 1929 levels. ### The nation was looking for new leadership, and it found it in Franklin D. Roosevelt, the ### two-term Governor of New York. As a candidate for the presidency, Roosevelt had ### promised, 'a New Deal for the American people.' Upon taking office, he began ### immediately to make good on his pledge. Roosevelt seemed fully aware of the challenges ### he and the nation faced and he spoke with confidence and determination. His inaugural ### address, delivered on the steps of the United States Capitol building on March 4, 1933 ### gave the weary nation a much needed glimmer of hope. - • • .::., , ; ',;') r^ ~, IlAUotIUL .&.DIUSS 0' PUSIDDl1' F1l.lRLIJ D. B.l~!V'EL1' JL\ICH '. lellS. ; (j 1 .. _7l't.. J;'" ..._ 'I~ _0-''1_ ~t _/:/J.,., ..._ ~ <'/j" ~;..~ I ... o.rtdn tb&t my t.llow .berle.... npeot tb&t on _'1l1_ lr>duot ### iJltlo the rruldlDG7 I ,,111 ad,," .. tho. nth .. oLl:l40r LD4 .. dloll1011 "'loh the preunt dtuation or our nation lJIlpel.. 1'h1l 11 pr"~lltly the ### tbe to .petJI: the t:nzth. the 1rbo1e t:nzth. 1"ru1Icly ..r>d boldly. 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