In this book you will read about a period of United States history called the Great Depression.. It had a great impact on people at the time, and its effects are still felt today.. Photo
Trang 1Scott Foresman Social Studies
Nonfi ction Summarize • Captions
• Glossary
ISBN 0-328-14906-3
ì<(sk$m)=bejagd< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U
by Scott Gillam
Fascinating Facts
Thomas A Edison, Inc., posted this notice: “President
Roosevelt has done his part; now you do something
It doesn’t matter what you do—but get going and keep
going This old world is starting to move.”
introduced fifteen major laws, gave fifteen messages
to Congress, and held press conferences and cabinet
meetings twice a week
Conservation Corps More than 100,000 of the men
learned to read and write
Scott Foresman Social Studies
Nonfi ction Summarize • Captions
• Glossary
ISBN 0-328-14906-3
ì<(sk$m)=bejagd< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U
by Scott Gillam
Fascinating Facts
Thomas A Edison, Inc., posted this notice: “President
Roosevelt has done his part; now you do something
It doesn’t matter what you do—but get going and keep
going This old world is starting to move.”
introduced fifteen major laws, gave fifteen messages
to Congress, and held press conferences and cabinet
meetings twice a week
Conservation Corps More than 100,000 of the men
learned to read and write
Trang 2In this book you will read about a period of
United States history called the Great Depression
This period began in October 1929 and ended in
December 1941 It had a great impact on people at
the time, and its effects are still felt today
ISBN: 0-328-14906-3
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc
All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America This publication is protected
by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise For information regarding
permission(s), write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,
Glenview, Illinois 60025.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Write to It!
Take the part of a newspaper reporter during the Depression Write a two-paragraph article describing what caused the Depression and how people reacted to it
Write your article on a separate sheet of paper.
Photographs
Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.
Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education.
Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R) Background (Bkgd) Opener: Corbis
2 ©Bettmann/Corbis
4 ©Library of Congress/Bridgeman Art Library
6 ©Getty Images
9 ©Corbis
10 ©Bettmann/ Corbis
11 ©Corbis
12 ©Corbis
13 ©Corbis
14 ©Underwood & Underwood/Corbis
Vocabulary
stock market crash unemployment depression migrant worker
Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois • Parsippany, New Jersey • New York, New York Sales Offices: Needham, Massachusetts • Duluth, Georgia • Glenview, Illinois Coppell, Texas • Sacramento, California • Mesa, Arizona
by Scott Gillam
Trang 3Times Get Tough
In the 1920s many people had invested their money in
the stock market The stock market is where stocks, or
money invested in companies, are traded The prices of
stocks, however, sometimes rose higher than the stocks’ real
value This inflation was partly caused by people borrowing
money to buy the stocks When too many people tried to
make money by selling their stocks, the prices fell sharply
and quickly A stock market crash was the result A crash is
a sudden and severe decline in business In this stock market
crash, some people lost large amounts of money overnight
Many people, especially the poor, suffered greatly Food,
clothing, and good housing were hard to find without
money
By 1932 the rate of unemployment was still growing
One out of every four people did not have a job With so many people out of work, stores closed because no one had money to spend Many people did not have enough to eat or lived in poor housing Nearly one out of every five farmers had to sell their farms Many of these farmers lost their homes and moved to areas where they could find a job A period of severe decline in an economy is called a
depression From October 1929 until December 1941,
the United States went through a period known as the Great Depression
Many people lost large amounts of money
in the stock market crash of 1929.
Trang 4Before the Depression
During the 1920s thousands of small companies were
taken over by larger companies Membership in labor unions
fell sharply By 1929 two hundred corporations controlled
more than half of America’s industries An average of six
hundred banks failed, or went broke, every year By 1929,
75 percent of all families made less than $3,000 a year
During the early years of the Depression, people who lost their
jobs and had no money depended on private charity for help.
5
Herbert Hoover
President Herbert Hoover, who was elected in 1928, tried
to reverse the stock market crash He asked businesses to put more money into the economy But this did not work
Between 1929 and 1932, investments in business fell by
98 percent, many banks went broke, and more people lost their jobs and homes To make things worse, there were
no government programs to provide aid People who had lost their homes often gathered in temporary towns called
“Hoovervilles.”
Trang 5During the Depression
In 1933, the worst year of the Depression, many
Americans lost their jobs Because they had no other sources
of income, many people sold their cars or homes to raise
money Others moved in with family members People who
had lost their homes sometimes moved, looking for a job
anywhere they could find them
7
The Problems of the Farmer
In addition to the problems faced by many people during the Depression, farmers had more challenges Many farms were suffering from drought Also, many farmers had borrowed money to buy more land and farm machinery during the early 1920s to take advantage of high food prices When the high prices fell, the farmers still had to pay interest, or additional money, on their loans Small farmers who rented land lost business to farmers who had machines
It was cheaper for large landowners to farm all the land themselves Thousands of people moved west, where they
hoped to find work as migrant workers These workers
traveled from one area to another in search of work on farms
Many farmers who lost their farms during the Depression traveled west
to California in search of jobs.
Trang 6The New Deal
Franklin Delano Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover and
became President in 1933 Hoover had asked businesses
to fight the Depression on their own Roosevelt, however,
believed that the government should help With new
government programs, called the New Deal, Roosevelt tried
to improve the economy
Some programs aimed at reforming, or improving
banks and the stock market The Securities and Exchange
Commission is a government agency that checks to see that
trading in the stock market is done in a fair manner The
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures peoples’ bank
savings in case of any loss Both programs were created by
the New Deal and still exist today
Among the New Deal programs that did not succeed
were the Civil Works Administration, which created
temporary jobs repairing the nation’s roads and bridges
Another program that failed was the National Recovery
Administration, which made rules for businesses to follow
and included a minimum wage The Supreme Court found
that the agency took over some of Congress’s powers
9
Franklin Delano Roosevelt became President in 1933.
Trang 7Fighting the Depression
Roosevelt’s first term as President was successful Banks
reopened, more people had jobs, and more goods and
services were being produced As a result, Roosevelt was
elected again in 1936 Some of Roosevelt’s success came
from his wife, Eleanor She visited New Deal projects across
the country, building public support for them She took a
special interest in the problems of the poor
Roosevelt gave informal talks, called “fireside chats,”
over the radio to explain his programs and plans Together,
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt helped to bring the nation
through a difficult time Despite their efforts, however, the
economy was still weak
Roosevelt’s “fireside
chats” made Americans
feel as if he were talking
directly to them.
11
Roosevelt was widely criticized for supporting labor unions Labor unions had used the sit-down strike, in which workers stay inside a factory and refuse to work in order to get higher pay Many people also did not like Roosevelt’s attempt to enlarge the Supreme Court to make it support his views When the United States entered World War II
in 1941, increased spending finally ended the twelve-year Depression
Trang 8America During the 1930s
Movies were the most popular kind of entertainment
during the Depression Many people went to the movies
once a week Movies revealed what people were thinking
about as the Depression developed Some movies reflected
the stock market boom of the 1920s and the resulting crash
of 1929 Musicals, however, revealed people’s need to
believe that better times were on the way
People lined up to see the movies during the Depression
Events around the world during the 1930s were not peaceful Japan’s invasion of China and Germany’s attacks
in Europe helped Roosevelt get congressional approval to increase the national defense After Germany defeated France in 1940, Congress passed the draft law As the nation got ready to fight a new enemy, the number of people without jobs decreased by half Men were called up
to serve in the armed forces Their places in the workforce were filled for the first time by women in large numbers
The economy was growing again, but the nation was also getting ready for war
In the late 1930s, as the United States prepared for war, many Americans got jobs building ships and airplanes.
Trang 9Today’s New Deal Programs
People disagree about how successful the New Deal was
in fighting the Depression But most agree that life today is
very different because of changes made by the New Deal
in the 1930s Many programs that were started during the
Depression are still around today These federal programs
would probably not exist if it had not been for the New
Deal
The Wilson Dam in Alabama was created by the Tennessee
Valley Authority.
15
How the Depression Still Affects America
In addition to the New Deal programs, we still feel other effects of the Great Depression During Roosevelt’s presidency, the size and power of the government increased greatly Once the economy began to improve, however, some businesses did not want the programs to continue
Today, people still disagree about how much power the government should have over the nation’s economy
Trang 10Glossary
crash a sudden and severe decline in business
depression a period of severe decline in an economy
migrant worker a worker who travels from one place
to another in search of work
stock market an organized market where stocks are
bought and sold
unemployment the number of workers who are
without jobs
In this book you will read about a period of
United States history called the Great Depression
This period began in October 1929 and ended in
December 1941 It had a great impact on people at
the time, and its effects are still felt today
ISBN: 0-328-14906-3
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc
All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America This publication is protected
by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise For information regarding
permission(s), write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,
Glenview, Illinois 60025.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Write to It!
Take the part of a newspaper reporter during the Depression Write a two-paragraph article describing what caused the Depression and how people reacted to it
Write your article on a separate sheet of paper.
Photographs
Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.
Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education.
Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R) Background (Bkgd) Opener: Corbis
2 ©Bettmann/Corbis
4 ©Library of Congress/Bridgeman Art Library
6 ©Getty Images
9 ©Corbis
10 ©Bettmann/ Corbis
11 ©Corbis
12 ©Corbis
13 ©Corbis
14 ©Underwood & Underwood/Corbis
Vocabulary
stock market crash unemployment depression migrant worker