Lesson 3: The Depression Worsens

Lesson Focus

As the Great Depression intensified, the U.S. economy reached its lowest point. We'll explore the severe hardships faced by workers and farmers, the widespread despair, and the social unrest leading up to the pivotal 1932 presidential election.

People to Know

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover

Learning Objectives

• Compare the dire conditions and distinct struggles faced by both American workers and farmers during the early 1930s.
• Analyze the nation's mood of despair and anger, and understand how it shaped the crucial presidential election of 1932.

As the Depression deepened after 1929, businesses failed and unemployment soared, with wages for those still working cut drastically.

This caused immense suffering, as families lost their homes and were forced to live in makeshift shantytowns called Hoovervilles or wait in long breadlines for food.

The widespread human cost created a national mood of fear and despair, with rising health problems and children playing games named “Eviction” that reflected the era’s tragedies.

While city dwellers went hungry, farmers faced ruin from their own productivity, growing more food than they could profitably sell.

In protest of collapsing prices, farmers declared “farmers’ holidays,” blockading roads to stop food shipments and destroying their own crops and livestock rather than selling them at a loss.

This created the great irony of the Depression: starvation existed in a land of plenty, highlighting the complete breakdown of the economic system.

In May 1932, thousands of unemployed veterans, known as the Bonus Army, marched on Washington to demand early payment of a promised bonus.

After Congress refused, President Hoover ordered the army to remove the remaining protesters. General Douglas MacArthur used tanks and tear gas to drive the veterans out and burn their camp.

Note that this use of force against veterans horrified the public, cementing Hoover’s image as a heartless leader out of touch with the people's suffering.

The widespread unrest and desperation led some to fear a revolution, which gave hope to Socialists and Communists who claimed capitalism had failed.

These radical groups proposed government control of the economy but were weakened by their opposition to each other and failed to gain broad support.

As a result, most Americans rejected these radical alternatives, choosing instead to express their anger and desire for change through the existing democratic process at the ballot box.

As the Election of 1932 approached, Americans overwhelmingly blamed President Hoover for the worsening Depression and his administration's response.

Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigned on a message of hope, promising a “new deal for the American people” and an active government that would help citizens.

Roosevelt won in a landslide, signaling a clear public mandate for the government to take direct action to provide relief and guide economic recovery.

In the four months between Roosevelt’s election and his inauguration, public confidence completely collapsed.

Fearing the economy’s total failure, depositors rushed to banks to withdraw their money, causing a nationwide banking panic that forced state governors to declare bank holidays.

By Inauguration Day in March 1933, the nation's financial system was paralyzed, leaving Americans anxiously waiting to see what their new president would do to address the crisis.